World of Warcraft/Tropes Q-Z

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


More tropes present in World of Warcraft.

  • The Quisling: Drakuru sells out the drakkari ice trolls to the Lich King, starting out by tricking players into breaking down the last magical barrier keeping the scourge out of Zul'Drak.
    • The game just gives the impression you're just empowering Drakuru with some artifacts you blindly give him and has you killing the last defenders and an Undead wind serpent thing that may or may not be affiliated with the Scourge. Mind Screw from bad writing was all most players got from that quest chain
  • Random Drop: This seems to have been majorly overhauled since Cataclysm, if logic dictates they should always drop the item you're after (like the infamous raptor heads), it will be a 100% drop rate, if not, they may drop grey items that are damaged versions of what you're after. You still find Zhevra that apparently lack legs and some birds don't always drop feathers, but it's not so ridiculous now.
  • Ranged Emergency Weapon: All ranged weapons, for all classes except Hunters. Their most common use is initiating battle from a distance in order to lure mobs to a more favourable position, although some abilities, such as Death Grip and Heroic Throw, have similar effects. For casters, wands are a backup weapon for when they run low on Mana.
    • Mists of Pandaria will do away with the ranged weapon slot. Hunters will use ranged weapons as their main weapon, and can use it in melee range instead of swapping between weapons; while wands will become a main weapon, and magic users can use them in place of a melee weapon.
  • A Rare Sentence: From the quest text for "A Wolf in Bear's Clothing"

These Worgen take us for fools! One would think that only an idiot would mistake one of their druids in bear form as a real bear. Unfortunately, there are many idiots here at the Forsaken Front. We've already lost a few battalions to organized worgen bear attacks. Yes, it's even more idiotic than it sounds.

  • Real Is Brown: Originally it was going to look more realistic and darker coloured; but they didn't feel it met the artstyle well and thought it looked boring.
    • This was a big criticism of Wrath Of The Lich King, with many players feeling that every single piece of gear in Northrend looked identical because everything was drab shades of brown, black, gray, ect.
    • It's also a criticism of the Gilneas region - that it is dark and gloomy even during the 'day'.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: The old world (Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms) hasn't aged well in the 10+ years since the game originally came out. Numbers of new players have been dropping due to the low level content having such relatively low quality compared to the newer stuff, as well as how players with alts didn't have much new to look forward to since the lower level areas were forgotten since Maraudon. so the developers want to revamp it to make it more fun and visually appealing. So now we conveniently have the Cataclysm, which affects and fundamentally changes that whole area, giving the developers an excuse to remake everything. Many people approve the new changes; such as how Thousand Needles is considered a great zone.
  • Really Gets Around: Marcus, the main character of A Steamy Romance Novel and its sequels.
  • Real Money Trade: Despite intensive efforts by Blizzard to prevent it, a massive black market exists for gold-buying and powerleveling services. In the old ad-setup on TV Tropes, odds were that the ad banner on the left of the very screen was for such a service. Though as some people likely found out, if you do this and get caught, you will lose your account -- if not to Blizzard, then to the hackers you stupidly gave your password to.
    • Just clicking on one of those gold-selling ads could take you to a website that would infect your PC with keylogging spyware. Much of the in-game gold sold at those sites is taken from accounts that have been hacked and stripped bare of all gold and items. Getting a SecureKey tied to your account makes it more difficult for hackers, but there are a few cases of even that protection being hacked through.
      • The point of said protection was not so much to provide absolute protection, but to make it so difficult for the average hacker to get into your account as to make it 'unprofitable' to devote the effort to it. Since most hackers are just 'average', you're mostly safe...mostly.
  • Red Shirt: Lampshaded. In a quest named "Madness" in the Twilight Highlands, you're to accompany a Horde negotiator to speak with the leader of a clan of orcs who you're informed the previous two negotiators sent in have not returned from. The quest giver is confident that the player's presence will change this situation, but when talked to the negotiator asks you, "Hey, does this red shirt make me look expendable?" In an attempt to doom himself even further, he invokes Retirony in telling you that "After these negotiations, I am looking forward to a long and prosperous life." Guess how the negotiations fare for him?
    • And then of course, Red Shirt Guy himself. Eh? Eh?
  • Red Light District: Goldshire has become this, not that the developers want it to be one. (It's hardly a secret, either.) As hard as it is to believe, players with female characters will often use them as strippers, prostitutes, or both, them for laughs, gold, or even actual money. Some role-players have begun to call it "Whoreshire", "Pornshire", or a "Noob" hangout because of this, (Or by players who don't object, "The Las Vegas of WoW".)
  • Red Shirt Army:
    • In the Pit of Saron dungeon, most of the Alliance/Horde soldiers backing you up are killed and reanimated as skeletons in one blast by the last boss of the instance (complete with a curse from your guide) and by the time you reach the end, only the players and said guide are left. It's still possible to save some living slaves and hostages, but they all run when the second boss is killed. And the few who stay to fight die in one shot, unless they're mages who can Ice Block.
    • The withered become this to your character in some World Quests of Legion, once you acquire the magic to calm and control them. For these World Quests, they blindly throw themselves at enemy mobs, with no concern for their own safety. Ironically, this is a better fate than the mindless, ravenous existence they had before, where they attacked anything that moved out of insatiable hunger; being a Red Shirt at lets them strike at the enemies of the Nightfallen.
    • While followers for the Class Hall are, like your character, immortal, you can use Resources to recruit troops for missions to increase chances of success, and while said recruits can survive one or two of them, they'll perish eventually. The idea of recruiting young soldiers and sending them to their deaths can often weigh heavy at times.
  • Redundant Rescue: In the Alliance quest line to unite the Wildhammer dwarf sub-clans in Twilight Highlands, you need to rescue Fanny Thundermar, who has been kidnapped by ogres. When you find her in the ogre den, she's already killed her guards (she said they started to get too "handsy"). Keegan Firebeard arrives shortly afterward, and he finds the fact that Fanny can take down ogres with her bare hands to be incredibly hot, which bodes well for the marriage pact involving him and Fanny that has been proposed in order to heal the rift between the Firebeards and Thundermars (luckily, the attraction is mutual).
  • Reference Overdosed
  • Reformed but Rejected: One of the main reasons the game even exists is due to the lack of trust the Alliance side has for the Horde, in particular the orcs who used to be demonically possessed invaders.
    • The Scryers in Shattrath may have turned their backs on Kael'thas and pledged support to the Naaru, but the Aldor are finding it hard to forgive them after the bloody war they went through.
    • Death Knights face this initially, until they talk with King Varian or Warchief Thrall who declares them allies.
  • Refusal of the Call: When you slay the final boss in the Return to Karazhan dungeon, Archmage Khadgar appears to thank Medivh for the aid, and offers him a position in the Legionfall army, saying they'll need all the help they can get. However, given all he's been through, Medivh just gives a tired sigh and says his purpose "lies elsewhere", pointing out that his forces are powerful enough now. (Indicating the players.
  • Religion Is Magic: Shamans, Priests, Paladins and Druids. All of them get their powers from their respective spiritual authorities: elemental and ancestral spirits for Shamans, the Holy Light for Paladins, the Holy Light or deities such as Elune or the loa or the shadow for Priests, and nature itself for Druids.
  • Religion of Evil: The Cult of the Damned (for the Scourge), the Twilight's Hammer (for the Old Gods) and the cults following the Burning Legion.
  • Remembered I Could Fly: In "The Day Deathwing Came", Martek remembers that his motorcycle can fly, and uses it to fly up to Deathwing to challenge him to a knife fight; this was after driving through a dangerous obstacle course, and he notes that flying would've been useful then.
  • The Remnant: The Alliance navy and the Dark Horde.

The RPG sourcebook: "They are fighting a war which nobody told them was over. Nobody believes that they will win the war, not even themselves, and that makes them very dangerous."

  • Repeatable Quest: In classic WoW, many collection and/or turn-in quests were able to be repeated indefinitely until your goal (usually reputation) was reached. Later expansions added the concept of daily and weekly quests, which can only be completed once per day/week but otherwise fit the trope.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The only hostile "normal" druids (the Druids of the Flame turned their back on nature entirely) are the Druids of the Fang (corrupted disciples of Naralex), who can turn into snakes. And also the Naga, one of the only Exclusively Evil races.
    • Of the Trolls' animalistic gods, who span the gamut of alignments, the snake/reptile ones always seem to be the most evil.
    • On the flip-side, the player trolls have a great affinity with reptiles, preferring them over mammals or birds as mounts, companions, familiars, and even deities.
  • Rescue Arc: Several questlines have you rescuing various NPCs, but the record for the longest in time from the kidnapping to the rescue, is the lashtail raptor rescue in Zul'Gurub. Players in North Stranglethorn are befriended by a raptor hatching, which is soon stolen by a Gurubashi Troll, and an attempt to rescue the raptor then and there is foiled; to save the raptor for real, players have to defeat the raptor trainer in Zul'Gurub. North Stranglethorn is a level 25-30 area, while Zul'Gurub is a level 85 Heroic dungeon.
  • Reset Button: The Halls of Origination is a planetary Reset Button left by the Titans, who contained the Old Gods and created many of the lifeforms on Azeroth; if anything goes wrong, it's purpose is to reduce Azeroth to a planet sized cloud of dust and start over. The quests in this dungeon involve stopping it from going off.
    • Due note that this is the SECOND time the player has to stop it. The first time was when it was remotely set off by Algalon the Observer from Ulduar until the player and their raid defeat him, where upon he hands over the item used to turn it off before it starts up completely.
  • Resurrected for a Job: Argent Crusader Olakin Sainrith is killed by the Scourge, and his body dissected to make abominations; Darkrider Arly realizes that they really do need him, so she sends the player on quests to retrieve his body parts, and resurrect him.
  • Resurrection Sickness: Characters who choose to use a spirit healer rather than find their corpse lose 75% of their stats and damage for 10 minutes.
  • Retcon: A LOT of Warcraft's lore has been retconned throughout WoW's history. Here are a few examples:
    • Probably the most notable and important retcon is the orcs' transition (between WC2 and WC3) from Exclusively Evil to an enslaved and manipulated culture of formerly (mostly) peaceful Noble Savages.
    • When the draenei were revealed as a playable race in The Burning Crusade, their backstory explained how the eredar who fight for the Burning Legion were once peaceful, and the draenei are exiles who refused to join Sargeras with their brethren. However, a line in the Warcraft III manual had said the eredar had always been evil, and in fact were one of the races which made Sargeras lose faith in the idea of a perfectly ordered universe. The backlash over this small change was so enormous, Chris Metzen wrote a public apology on the official forums, stating it was a genuine oversight on his part, but they were going to run with the new lore because it was cooler than the old lore.
      • While on the subject of the draenei, the 'original' draenei which appeared in The Frozen Throne were revealed to be 'Lost Ones'; devolved forms of the original draenei who had become decripit and lost their minds. On top of that, the draenei led by Akama, who aided Illidan in TFT, were retconed into 'Broken' draenei, a half-state between normal draenei and the fully devolved Lost Ones. To add further to this confusion, in TFT, Akama and his followers had the appearance of the Lost Ones, and weren't even called Broken (or their proper tribe name; The Ashtongue Deathsworn) until The Burning Crusade.
    • Garona Halforcen was originally described in The Last Guardian as a half-orc, half-human. However, as Warcraft lore continued to develop, this made increasingly no sense, as it was revealed there were no humans on Draenor, and even assuming she was birthed after the opening of the Dark Portal, there would have been no time for her to mature. To mix things up, Community Manager Caydiem once said Garona was half-orc, half-draenei (noting this was BEFORE the revelation of the playable draenei in TBC). Eventually, it was revealed in the comics that Garona was half-orc half-draenei, and even recieved physical changes to match such as glowing eyes, a larger forehead and hoof-like feet. The half-human plot was Hand Waved as Gul'dan convincing her as such so she could get closer to Medivh and King Llane more easily.
    • Vol'jin was originally an elderly witch doctor in Warcraft III. In WoW, he is a Shadow Hunter, and seems to be much younger than in his original appearance.
    • In Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Illidan defeats Magtheridon at the Black Citadel in Hellfire Peninsula. In Burning Crusade, however, he rules over the Black Temple in Shadowmoon Valley. Word of God states that the two are the same structure. As if to add to the confusion deliberately, there is a citadel in Hellfire Peninsula with Magtheridon locked in the basement.
    • Worgen were originally extra-dimensional hellhounds who seemed to be fighting the Burning Legion, by observations, being fed by energy from wherever they came from. Cataclysm retconned them to be a disgraced, insane, and formerly Sealed Evil in a Can druids whose attempts to be (quadrupedal) wolf shifters twisted them into infectious werewolves with the standard Horror Hunger for human(oid) flesh.
  • Retirony: Lampshaded. A horde negotiator in the Cataclysm quest "Madness" informs you on the way to negotiate with the leader of the Dragonmaw clan of orcs that "After these negotiations, I am looking forward to a long and prosperous life." He also asks "Hey, does this Red Shirt make me look expendable?" Guess how the quest ends for him?

Warchief Mor'Ghor: "This is DRAGONMAW!"

  • Revealing Coverup: In Deepholm, the Horde finds the missing piece of the World Pillar and tries to return it to the Earthen Ring, only to be shot down by the Alliance. While it seems pretty clear the Alliance did it, the Earthen Ring thinks its too obvious, and investigates the nearby gunship; they find it commandeered by the Twilight's Hammer.
  • Revenue Enhancing Devices: The WoW TCG (which contains codes redeemable for cosmetic in-game items), paid server transfers and character race/faction/name changes, and the Pet Store.
  • Reverse Mole: Yarzill the Merc, a Netherwing Dragon posing as a Goblin mercenary and hired by the Dragonmaw Orcs; he sends players on missions to retrieve dragon eggs, relics, and to poison the Orcs' food supply.
  • Ribcage Ridge: A very popular terrain feature, notably in Tanaris.
  • Rouge Angles of Satin: In-game chat is loaded with some of the most execrable grammar and spelling imaginable, as are the official forums. Even after you take into account the younger players, those for whom English is not a first language, and people typing in a hurry, there's still a lot of shame to go around, sometimes to the point that you literally can't tell what the typist at the other end is even trying to say. And may the gods help you if you're trying to read the trade channel when a Grammar Nazi gets wound up.
    • The popular yet elusive "Rouge" class has become something of a Memetic Mutation.
  • Rousing Speech: The nobles of Gilneas are fond of these. They give speeches so inspiring that you get powerful health buffs just from being near them. Prince Liam's speech directly before the Battle for Gilneas City is itself based on Winston Churchill's famous "We will fight them on the beaches" speech.
  • Rule of Cool: Everything from names to titles to armor to technology. Chris Metzen basically said in a recent interview that the game's mythology is based initially on Tolkien with added Rule of Cool craziness whenever possible.
    • The quest "The Day Deathwing Came" runs off this.
  • Rule of Three: In the Western Plaguelands, there are a trio of quests to train a druid troll named Zen'kiki. In the first two missions he proves completely useless; he can't control his transformations, and his aim when firing spells is terrible. After a few quests, players go back for a third quest where you have Zen'kiki try to remove the plague from some bears, and he does it, even his teacher is impressed.
  • Sadistic Choice:
    • In Sholazar Basin, Artruis the Heartless has imprisoned an Oracle and a Frenzyheart; when players fight him, he shields himself and mind controls his captives to attack. Killing one frees the other and makes Artruis attackable, but it also makes you hated by the faction of the one you killed and friendly with the one you freed. The only way to recover your reputation with the hated faction, is to redo the Artruis fight, and make the other choice, which makes the other faction hate you.
    • Lord Greymane and his followers had one that many would see as a MortonsFork, either join the Worgen voluntarily or be forcibly converted by the Forsaken. (Both choices required giving up their humanity and becoming monstrous.) Greymane himself chose the Worgen, but many, like Godfry, Walden and Ashbury, preferred death and undeath to becoming something they despised.
  • Rule 34: The Steamy Romance Novels. (in-universe examples)
  • Safe Zone Hope Spot: [[spoiler: Argus is not a very friendly place, but Vindicar is one settlement not controlled by the Legion. An orbiting town inside a spaceship (much like the Exodar, only this one takes you to Argus), it serves the same function as Flight Paths, but with portals, and as a home base for the Legionfall armies.]]
  • Saharan Shipwreck
  • Sanity Meter: Present with a couple bosses:
    • For the BossBattle with Yogg-Saron in Uldum, sanity is measured via a stacked buff, and many of Yogg-Saron's attacks can lower it. If sanity reaches zero, the player is controlled by Yogg-Saron and turns on other raid members, dealing more damage and gaining health equal to triple his base. (If this happens to a player, the other raid members have to kill him, as the only means to cure it is to slay Yogg-Saron.)
    • Xavius - from the Emerald Nightmare - gives the players each a Corruption Meter, which is similar. Many of Xavius' attacks cause the meter to increase, with cumulative worsening debuffs at 33%, and 66%. If it reaches 100%, a player becomes mind controlled by the boss. However, the players have an ally here; when Xavius is reduced to 95% and 60% of his health, the Dream of Ysera spawns and half the players (chosen randomly) enter a Dream state where their own meters cannot increase for the Dream's duration. (But cannot directly attack Xavius.)
  • Sapient Steed: Drakes, hippogryphs and wyverns are as intelligent as a humanoid, and drakes can speak (in story, some can even turn into a humanoid). Not that you can see it in the game, though.
    • There are exceptions. Some drake-mounts provided for quests may give you advice on how to advance. And the nether drakes in Shattrath greet you before you choose your mount.
    • Despite a blatant desire to investigate your intestines, Raptor nests contain crude huts made of skin, and what appear to be decorative dreamcatchers.
  • Sanity Meter: Present with a couple bosses:
    • For the BossBattle with Yogg-Saron in Uldum, sanity is measured via a stacked buff, and many of Yogg-Saron's attacks can lower it. If sanity reaches zero, the player is controlled by Yogg-Saron and turns on other raid members, dealing more damage and gaining health equal to triple his base. (If this happens to a player, the other raid members have to kill him, as the only means to cure it is to slay Yogg-Saron.)
    • Xavius - from the Emerald Nightmare - gives the players each a Corruption Meter, which is similar. Many of Xavius' attacks cause the meter to increase, with cumulative worsening debuffs at 33%, and 66%. If it reaches 100%, a player becomes mind controlled by the boss. However, the players have Assist Character an ally here; when Xavius is reduced to 95% and 60% of his health, the Dream of Ysera spawns and half the players (chosen randomly) enter a Dream state where their own meters cannot increase for the Dream's duration. (but cannot directly attack Xavius.)
  • Sassy Secretary: As a goblin, you spend most of your time early on consulting with your personal assistant, Servile Snarker Sassy Hardwrench.
  • Save Scumming: Inverted, or played straight depending on your point of view. An exploit introduced in 4.3 allowed for you and your raid to get as much loot as you wanted using LFR, with the top guilds, like Paragon or Method, acquiring the 4-pc bonuses on all their raiders in a span of 48 hours. By comparison, it normally takes you between 2 weeks and several months to normally gear yourself that well.
    • This ended with several of the top guilds across the world banned for a whole week, setting them back in the race to world first. The Korean guild "Happy Raiders" eventually won the race over usual favorites Paragon, Method, Ensidia and Blood Legion.
  • Save the Princess:
    • A quest charges you with rescuing the dwarven princess Moira Bronzebeard from the emperor of the Dark Iron dwarves. In a subversion, she's pregnant with said emperor's child, does not want to be saved, and is slated to replace her deceased husband as the new leader of the Dark Iron Dwarves in Cataclysm. On the other hand she seems to be representing them at the table in Ironforge on an equal footing with the Bronzebeard and Wildhammer dwarves signaling a possible shift in Dark Iron allegiance.
    • Another dwarf princess, Fanny Thundermar (the sister of her clan's leader so close enough) is captured by ogres; this is another subversion as when the player and Keegan Firebeard rescue her, they find she has already started her own rescue, killing three ogres with her bare hands.
    • Subverted with Moira once you know the whole story. [[spoiler:Dagran Thaurissan did originally kidnap her to try to get concessions from Ironforge. However, Moira states that he in fact never used any kind of mind control on her, and she legitimately fell in love with him because he treated her well and showed her respect. At the same time, she was angry and bitter that her father (Magni Bronzebeard) never respected her, and in fact resented her because he wanted a male heir. So she ended up choosing to stay and marry Dagran until the adventurers came and "saved" her. After Ragnaros was defeated, a great deal of the Dark Irons chose to follow her, prompting a HeelFaceTurn of most of the race. Moira now sits on the Council of Three Hammers as the Dark Iron representative, and the 3 dwarven clans are showing signs of reuniting.]]
    • Another dwarf princess, Fanny Thundermar (the sister of her clan's leader so close enough) is captured by ogres; this is another subversion as when the player and Keegan Firebeard rescue her, they find she has already started her own rescue, killing three ogres with her bare hands.
    • Mizrael is indeed a princess who needs rescue, pleading for help from her prison via several obelisks she can communicate from. [[spoiler: Thing is, she's been corrupted by the Old Gods, and when freed, will reward her chivalrous savior with death. (As in, she's the last boss of the quest line. By the way, she's a titan princess who harnesses powerful earth magic and not exactly a slouch., but freeing her a little too early with help from the Quest Giver gives you a better chance.)]]
    • Princess Poobah is a tauren princess who legitimately needs and desires saving (from a giant ape with more than a little resemblance to another famous one but she's a Royal Brat who insists you recover her scepter, tiara, slippers, and diary first. (She does not want to be rescued while looking like a prisoner.) She does give some heartfelt thanks when actually freed, however.
  • Scary Impractical Armor: The Lich King -- this is even lampshaded in the hilarious Scourge Vent Recordings; Arthas complains about his armor. "No, it's not okay, I have skulls...on....my....kneecaps!"
    • Can also apply to the shoulder armor for all classes starting from the first tier sets onwards. Especially obvious when said shoulders have spikes. For most races, if they sit down and they're wearing shoulders with giant spikes on them, they end up stabbing themselves through the brain.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: Lord Godfrey has a wonderful pair on, especially during the post infection worgen cutscene. Bonus points for the reflection of the worgen's eyes in the glasses.
  • Scenery Porn: Take a look at any zone. You will see at least seven instances of this.
  • Schizo-Tech: Troll, orc, and tauren civilization is mainly early Iron Age, and human civilization is stock Renaissance[1] Europe, dwarves have siege tanks, while gnomes have nuclear energy and cybernetics, and the draenei capital city is a crashed interdimensional spaceship...sort of. Goblins are very industrialized and have cars, rockets, oil wells, Mini-Mecha, high-grade explosives, and implied with "Goblin Gentleman's Magazine", the printing press.
  • Schmuck Bait: A quest for the Argent Dawn has the player sabotaging a death cult's plague cauldron by adding a very reactive counter-agent. The instructions say to only add a single drop; players can add a single drop, and complete the quest, or they could throw in a whole flask or 12.
  • Screaming Warrior:
    • Grom Hellscream is the trope's current page image.
    • The Warrior ability "Battle Shout" acts as a rallying cry to temporarily boost his and his party members' strength and agility. There are also demoralizing attacks which intimidate enemies into lowering their attack power such as Demoralizing Shout, Demoralizing Roar and Demoralizing Mmmrrrggglll.
    • There are several spells that cause the user to let out an audible scream such as the Warrior's Heroic Fury and Inner Fury and the Hunter's Deterrence.
    • JOHN J. KEESHAN. Summed up perfectly with the quest "AHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHH!!!", where the player takes control of a tank while the game's resident Rambo Expy mows down 200 Blackrock Orcs with a machine gun.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Ragnaros, the Old Gods, and countless other examples. Bolvar's ultimate fate is to willingly become the "Can" for the Scourge.
    • There is also Nihil the Banished, a black dragon that you may accidentally release when questing in Blade's Edge. However, you can use the temporal modulator again on him, and he will be banished again with a Big No.
  • Second-Hour Superpower: Both the Worgen and Goblins have racial abilities that have to be unlocked. Worgen players start human, and half way through the starting zone are infected and become worgen, gaining their Darkflight and Two Forms abilities. Goblins gain a hobgoblin servant when they join the Horde at the end of their starting experience.
  • Self-Deprecation: The [Unethical Adventurers], a Wolf Pack Boss in Highmountain. Clearly intended to parody quarreling groups of "n00b" players, as veteran players have quickly recognized.
  • Sequel Hook: Plenty of these are created with each expansion. One of the more recent and mysterious ones revolves around the Lich King's sword, Frostmourne. Though it was shattered when the Lich King was defeated, its final fate was rather unclear. Blizzard later had this to say:

Q: What happened to Frostmourne after it was shattered?
A: While this is a closely guarded secret, we'll trust you to be discreet: no one knows where the remnants of Frostmourne are now.

    • Ragnaros (at least in Molten Core) and Kil'jaeden aren't killed, merely banished.
      • And guess which fire lord Deathwing decides to resurrect in Cataclysm. (Hint: it's not Kil'jaeden.)
    • They've been building up Deathwing as a future Big Bad since classic.
      • Guess who was Big Bad in Cataclysm?
    • Also, Bolvar Fordragon could be corrupted by the Lich King's Helm of Command.
    • Sargeras and Ner'zhul were Put on a Bus.
    • The Infinite Dragonflight.
    • After defeating Kel'Thuzad in Classic WoW, players were tricked into giving his phylactery to someone implied (and later confirmed) to be allied with the scourge. When Kel'Thuzad returned in Wrath of the Lich King and was defeated for the second time, his phylactery was nowhere to be found.
    • The Burning Legion is still out there on their crusade to unmake the universe, and Kil'jaedin isn't killed in the Sunwell Plateau raid, merely banished.
    • Harbinger Skyriss, a boss in the Arcatraz in Burning Crusade, makes a few ominous comments during his fight, saying that he bears "allegiance to powers untouched by time, unmoved by fate", that rival the Burning Legion in strength. Who could they be?
      • Especially strong, now that Blizzard mentioned that while the five Old Gods are the only ones trapped in Azeroth, they are not the only Old Gods in existence. Yep...
    • There are a lot of powerful artifacts and important people that have mysteriously gone missing over the years...
    • Queen Azshara appears in Cataclysm, but isn't a fightable boss or a major villain in that expansion, apart from her past self in Well of Eternity.
  • Serious Business:
    • Brewing is a pretty serious one for dwarves and even more of one for Pandaren; one dungeon in Pandara is a brewery where an alchemist creates Alementals. Some Night Elves are just as obsessed with wine; a place in Azuna is full of restless spirits trying to protect the vineyards from intruders. (Having said that, the wine itself is rather potent.)
    • Felling timber is a pretty serious one. Garrison lumberjacks employ Commandojacks (tough-looking guys with a rotary saw on each arm) for mid-sized trees, and powered armor for big ones. When you mark a tree, they grapple down from flying machines to fell it.
    • A darker example is the Leyweavers, a tailor's guild in Suramar. To put it bluntly, they support Elisandre's pact with the Legion in order to gain an enchanted loom that allows production of Imbued Silkweave. (Meaning they're okay with the death and suffering the Legion causes in exchange for more exotic textiles.) At least one of them is smart enough to back the resistance, but only because he knows of a potentially better way to make it.
    • Every character, no matter how evil or vile, takes the holidays seriously. Dark temples to evil gods are decorated with wreathes and holly during Winter's Veil, and bosses wear hats sold by the special vendors. (And that's just one example.)
  • Shaggy Dog Story: The quest to get a baby raptor you befriended out of Zul'Gurub. You get to control her and the adult raptors will tell you how to do things, and some parts of it are genuinely challenging. At the end? The Zul'Gurub boss shows up at the exit and captures you personally, ending the quest. The quest giver then tells you that you'll have to go into the dungeon and rescue her personally when you're stronger. Joke's on you, sucker -- there is no Zul'Gurub dungeon any more!
    • Zul'Gurub is accessible again, which makes this Foreshadowing of a most ominous sort. When the quest was first available, this was the only hint that the Gurubashi Trolls might be returning, and back they are -- with a vengeance.
  • Shapeshifter Showdown: These can and will happen between druids of the opposing factions in PvP, and they can go on for a long time.
  • Shark Tunnel: The Deeprun Tram.
  • Shattered World: Outland, and later Azeroth itself in Cataclysm.
  • Ship Sinking: Thrall and Jaina have been increasingly sunk as the storyline progresses, but the nail in the coffin comes with the quests surrounding the Firelands raid, in which Thrall and Aggra become life-mates, with Jaina present at the ceremony.
    • Also, if you wait around long enough, you can catch Jaina crying after the ceremony ends.
      • That's not as significant as you might think. She does another tear jerker when Varian does his Pet The Dog thing in Icecrown Citadel. Jaina's tear output is the main reason Theramore never built a fountain.
  • Ship Tease: "Thrall and Jaina sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G".
  • Shock and Awe: The elemental Shaman's specialty!
  • Shoe Slap: Are you an Overseer, or someone magically disguised as an Overseer to infiltrate the organization? Do you have peons who refuse to work, sleep on the job, or are just being more clueless than normal? Then you need the Booterang! A tough boot that flies through the air, smacks worthless peons in the head, and returns to sender; and you can stay mounted while using it so you can fly through the air meeting out discipline as needed, or more than needed.
  • Shoot the Medic First: A basic tactic in both PvE and PvP combat. In PvP, healers are a primary target. In PvE, if a group of mobs has a healer, you'd better take it out first or your fight will be very long, if not impossible. This is hilariously lampshaded by one of the villains.

Lord Victor Nefarius: "Foolsss...Kill the one in the dress!"

    • This one is particurlarly amusing if you remember that due to itemization in those days, you had a lot of healing paladins wearing cloth robes.
  • Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The extensively long Myzrael questline is this if one thing happens: If you try to solo her before you're ready and die, you have no way to fight her again, because the item to summon her disappears after she's summoned and you specifically have no way to remake it. You would need to run it with somebody who hasn't already run it. At least, until they fixed the quest.
  • Shoulder-Sized Dragon: Players can get dragon whelplings as non-combat pets.
  • Shoulders of Doom: And how.
  • Shout-Out: There are more shout outs in the game than any sane person can count. Here is an attempt to categorize them.
  • Shrine to the Fallen: There are a couple of in-game places that commemorate deceased Blizzard employees or their relatives.
  • Sibling Rivalry: Valiona and Theralion were supposed to be the greatest members of the Twilight Dragonflight, instead this brother/sister pair bickered and tried to outdo each other.
  • Sickly Green Glow: The Legion loves the color green, it seems. Wherever they hold power, there are rivers of green slime, magic has bright green hues, fel-corrupted mortals and animals have green scars, they use green portals to travel. To be blunt, if a place is thick with this trope, it's likely thick with demons too.
  • Signature Move: Each of the 10 classes are almost completely different, but each of the three specializations within each class has two skills which could be referred to as "signature moves". The first is learned at level 10 when the character first chooses his specialization (or "spec"). The second is learned at the very end of the spec tree, obtained at level 69.
  • Sidequest Sidestory: Too many to mention.
  • Sidetracked By the Golden Saucer: There are weekly fishing tournaments, holidays, dailies, the monthly Darkmoon Faire...
  • Signed Up for the Dental: Tony Two-Tusk might offer the player a job on his pirate crew--it's just chatter, players cannot accept--pointing out his benefits package, which includes a dental plan.
  • Silly Reason for War: Or at least a silly reason for a murdering spree; one dwarf in the Explorer's League asks players to kill a bunch of Dark Iron Dwarves, not because they're stealing valuable artifacts, or plotting to take over the Badlands, but because he's thirsty and they have beer.
    • There's an even worse one than that in Searing Gorge, where a Dwarf sends you to kill several Dark Irons because....he's stuck in an outhouse with no toilet paper and wants you to rip off some shreds of their clothing so he can improvise...
  • Skeleton Key: Subverted; the key to open the Scholomance door is called the Skeleton Key and has a skull-shaped bow, but otherwise is apparently just a normal key that opens one particular door.
  • Skeletons in the Coat Closet: A recurring theme throughout Wrath of the Lich King. Look no further than the Wrath loading screen for a perfect example.
    • Played straight in a Forsaken quest in Silverpine, where you and an undead spy hide in a closet to find out the Worgen's plans.
  • Sliding Scale of Unavoidable Versus Unforgivable: The Huojin and Tushui philosophies the Pandaren follow are on opposite sides of the scale; Huojin followers believe that the ends can justify the means, while Tushui followers reject victory through immoral actions. This also provides the distinction that leads some Pandaren to joining the Horde or Alliance, as they believe the Horde and Alliance exemplify the Huojin and Tushui philosophies respectively.
  • Sliding Scale of Undead Regeneration
  • Slippy-Slidey Ice World: A part of the Slave Pens dungeon becomes this during the seasonal boss fight with Ahune (of melting ice stone infamy). Many zones feature ice and snow motifs, but these do not hinder movement in any way.
  • Snake People - The Naga, obviously.
  • Solo Class: Several classes have gained and lost this designation due to Blizzard's constant rebalancing, though Hunters, Paladins and Death Knights have been especially persistent examples in players' eyes. The discovery that any class can solo group content at its original recommended level is usually followed by calls for a Nerf.
  • Sophisticated As Hell: The Worgen are the most "Victorian" of the races, in both look and voice. They are also the most raunchy when it comes to jokes, and are shameless perverts.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil:
    • The leveling up process, combined with the need for enemies to challenge higher level players, often results in such ridiculous juxtapositions as a Northrend bear cub being fifty-plus levels higher than the leader of the Defias Brotherhood, or the minor bosses of Naxxramas being far stronger than the Lord of Elemental Fire. Onyxia, a challenge for forty level 60 players when she first appeared, was soloed by level 70+ players before she was revamped and buffed to match current levels.
    • An interesting Subversion with the Cataclysm expansion, as the infamous Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep instances are getting level 85 heroic versions, and Ragnaros is coming back as a 85 raid boss. Blizzard themselves have stated that a boss' level is a gameplay mechanic, and shouldn't be the sole measure of their strength in the greater scheme of the lore. However, the algorithm has also been specifically invoked with respect to the relative strength of Arthas and Deathwing. Essentially: "Arthas is Badass, sure. But Deathwing is more powerful than all the other dragonflights combined. He deliberately bided his time until he was sure nothing in Azeroth could withstand him."
  • Soul Jar: As the Lich King is a lich, Ner'Zhul/Arthas has one; part of becoming a lich is extracting your soul and putting it somewhere safe. In this case, it's the sword Frostmourne, which is what you're trying to destroy when you run through Icecrown Citadel. The problem is if you touch it unguarded, your soul is extracted/tortured/eaten by the blade, and your body becomes the Lich King's undead thrall.
  • Space Compression: Obviously this had to happen. As a result, the game only loads when entering and exiting instances, switching from one landmass to the next, and content from one expansion to the next (such as going from the Blood Elf and Draenei starting areas)
    • Players with way too much time on their hands have estimated that, if a player's standard running speed is roughly equivalent to a Real Life human's average running speed, and then using that as a baseline measurement, the main land masses of Azeroth are roughly 40 miles long (from North to South).
  • Spanner in the Works: Frequently the players, who after going along with villains' schemes Because Thou Must, promptly turn around and kill them.
    • The Elemental Invasion has the player join the Twilight's Hammer cultists in Stormwind/Orgrimmar, work their way up to being entrusted with finishing the summoning rituals in Orgrimmar, and then... interrupt the summoning processes by saying the wrong words for the ritual.
    • The sheer number of times Garrosh Hellscream has averted peace and understanding due to his own lack of tact and violent tendencies rivals Kaiser Wilhelm's.
  • The Spartan Way: Many Death Knight Initiates are found wanting, and do not live long enough to become real Death Knights. Those who do reach Death Knight status are not only allowed, but actively encouraged to fight each other and see who is stronger.
  • Spikes of Doom / Spikes of Vilainy: While normally seen on Scary Impractical Armor as of WotLK, it's now taken to Beyond the Impossible levels in Orgrimmar for Cataclysm, as just about every inch of the city is covered in spikes.
  • Square Race Round Class: Grimnur Stonebrand, the Ironforge fishing trainer. When he gives you a quest to seek out Nat Pagle, he points out the absurdity of a dwarf, who are traditionally miners and blacksmiths, are built like stone, and live in a cavernous city with lava pools, being a fisherman.
    • Tauren Rogues exist. Yes, Tauren (Males of which average 7 1/2 feet in height and 400lbs in weight) Rogues.
      • "Have you ever seen a Tauren stalk a python? Of course you haven't, that's cause they're adept at blending in with their surroundings." - Tauren male joke
  • Stable Time Loop: The "Mysteries of the Infinite" and "Mysteries of the Infinite, Redux" quests involve this. The Caverns of Time instances have the Infinite Dragonflight trying to destabilize various time loops, so of course you have to stop them.
  • Standard Hero Reward: Not for the player, but in the Twilight Highlands, Keegan Firebeard rescues Fanny Thundermar from ogres, and later they get married. Subverted in that the two Wildhammer clans were trying to arrange the marriage before the kidnapping, and Fanny had partially rescued herself before Keegan arrived; also inverted as it was Fanny's pounding on three ogres that impressed Keegan enough to seal the deal.
  • Standard Status Effects: Pretty much every single one of them.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers:
    • Alliance players encounter a set of them early on in Elwynn Forest. Maybell and Tommy Joe can't be together because their families (a ShoutOut to the Hattfield - McCoy feud) hate each other; the player can help them by gaining an invisibility potion and giving it to Maybell to help them elope.
    • Much later, the aptly named "Forbidden Love" quest in Draenor deconstructs the Trope. The quest involves finding Kral'za, an orc who has run off with a Ner'zhu, a void witch and member of the Shadowmoon Clan. When you find him, it's clear that Ner'zhu had far more sinister motives and that Kral'za should have listened to his mother. (Fortunately, he escapes what she has planned for him.)
    • Horde players in Frostfire Ridge can come across [the Young Orc Traveller] and/or [the Young Orc Woman.] Each can be looted for an item and a note suggesting where the other is, fleshing out the story. It's a story in which the lovers (one was a Frostwolf, while the other was from the Thunderlord clan) were planning to run away to Nagrand together to start a new life. Sadly, the male was set upon and killed by wolves while the female froze to death waiting for him. Worse, combining the two items forms a pendant called "Talisman of Yearning Unfulfilled". Right in the feels.
  • The Starscream:
    • Varimathras. Kael'thas Sunstrider is this for Illidan as well.
    • Lord Godfry is a Starscream twice over. An unrepentant bigot who hates the worgen, he first betrays Greymane (and the player, if you're using a worgen) and leaps off a cliff to his death trying to flee. He is then restored as undead and recruited into the Forsaken, only to double-cross the Banshee Queen too. As a result, he's hated by both the Alliance and Horde, giving both factions ample reason to fight him when he makes his final stand at Shadowfang Keep.
  • Star-Spangled Spandex: Algalon the Raid Destroyer.
  • Stationary Boss: Several:
    • Kil'jaeden in the Sunwell.
    • Kologarn in Ulduar.
    • Sinestra in Heroic Bastion of Twilight.
    • Ragnaros is fought three times, and is stationary in all three, except Heroic Firelands where he sprouts legs for the last phase of the fight.
    • Both Ultraxion (halfway through) and the Madness of Deathwing (at the end) in Dragon Soul.
  • Status Quo Is God: Played straight for the first few years while each expansion starts to subvert it little by little. Cataclysm, however supposedly takes this trope and delivers it a swift kick in the crotch with a steel-toe boot.

I knew it! Looks like Yowler is behind this uprising - which is incredible, because we keep killing gnolls named Yowler. I don't know how many sons the original Yowler had, but it's got to be close to a hundred. Well, looks like we got ourselves another Yowler to kill.

    • Similarly, Fungalmancer Glop apparently had a son before his untimely death. He named his son Glop. Said son also had a son, named Glop. Who had a son, named- well, it should be obvious.
    • The "phasing" technology introduced in Wrath and utilized heavily in Cataclysm averts this, in certain areas and for individual characters. If a given portion of the game use this technology, then changes made to that portion of the game are, for the character in question, persistent.
      • Although the Firelands dailies subvert that as well. Once you have everything unlocked (which is done with persistent phasing effects as above) you get a choice between two portions of the dailies, which have temporary phasing effects.
  • Statuesque Stunner: Succubi can range from slightly taller than the human norm to about fourteen feet tall. Shivan are often even taller. Female vrykul tend to qualify too.
  • Staying Alive: Muradin, Baelgun, Magtheridon, Mal'Ganis and Balnazzar were given on-screen "deaths" and still came back. Justified Trope in the case of dreadlords like Mal'Ganis, who are repeatedly hinted to be immortal, or at least able to come back from the dead.
    • Justified in Muradin's case, too; we only saw him getting hit on the head with a blunt piece of ice (which could just as easily cause a concussion as death), only Arthas said that Muradin was dead, and Arthas had already proven himself to be an Unreliable Narrator.
      • Additionally, in the novel, Arthas, the titular character would've just healed Muradin if he wasn't tempted by the sword that was trapped in the ice. So he was still alive after being hit, he was just ditched afterwards. Probably a retcon to match with his survival though.
  • Stealth Pun: On the frost talent tree for Death Knights there's a talent that makes your mount move faster. The talent's name is, of course, On a Pale Horse.
    • An additional example comes from the goblin starting areas, where a quest sends you in search of "Intact Naga Hides." If you don't get it off the bat, say "naga hides" quickly.
  • Steampunk: The engineering profession is essentially this, and it inspires most of the gnomish, dwarven and goblin technology.
  • Sticks to the Back: Every two-handed melee weapon (and a few one-handed ones) do this. Most one-handed weapons are on your hips. Bows, crossbows, guns, thrown weapons, and wands (all the ranged weapons) are hidden unless they're being used.
  • Stock Sound Effects: Not quite Doom Doors, but when you hit a deer mob, they make noises that any Doom player will recognize as the cries of human enemies and imps from that game.
  • Stop Being Stereotypical: The new (playable) Horde's view of the Old Horde. The fan's view of Garrosh Hellscream can also be summed up as this.
    • An NPC in Swamp of Sorrows yells at her succubus for this reason.

"Oh would you please stop checking your nails and spanking yourself for one moment? Really, no one cares!"

  • Stop Poking Me: Well, naturally. You're right inside the trope namer's universe, after all.
  • Stripperific: Alexstrasza is the leader of the Red Dragonflight, who are responsible for maintaining all life on Azeroth. Her outfit makes sense in a certain way, if you know what I mean.
    • Ysera's humanoid form shares the same model with Alexstrasza, being the Aspect of Nature, the costume makes sense in a different way.
    • Sylvanas has a very similar outfit, but she has no excuse.
  • Strange Pond Woman: While several quest givers can be said to fill this trope, two are especially noteworthy:
    • Lampshaded, deconstructed and played with with the Argent Tournament. There is now an actual sword-distributing strange woman in EVERY lake of the northern continent.
    • Another noteworthy WoW example is the wise old ogre who crowns the character king or Queen of Ogri'La. Since the quest is a group quest and was quite popular back in its days, it rarely took long until a new batch of five new kings & queens was publicly announced by the same old ogre.
    • A third example from the Wrath of the Lich King expansion is the Battered Hilt quest chain, which leads to an actual sword as a reward and your name being announced across Dalaran. (If the player's class can't use a sword, it is conveniently traded in for an equivalent usable item.)
  • Stuck Items: You can't unequip or replace the backpack that your character starts with. Quite frustrating, as there are readily-available bags with more storage space. Word of God says that removing your backpack is not in the cards, as canny players would inevitably figure out some way to lose all their inventory slots. Upgrades are a possibility, though, for future content.
  • Stupid Evil: In the Howling Fjord, you run a line of quests for a gang of pirates, the final one involving taking down their leader, Jonah Sterling at the behest of his Dragon with an Agenda, Annie Bonn. Annie's description of Jonah's plans are indeed rather absurd, claiming he plans to attack the Alliance and Horde simultaneously and sell the tuskarr on a slave market. (They can't survive outside the climate of Northend; doing so would make any customers furious.) Jonah shows stupidity when the player confronts him too, trying to sic a trained bear on the player, who is not as trained as he thought; it turns on him. Clearly his dumbest act was trusting Annie in the first place, as she claims he called her his "wench" when she rewards the player and never suspected a thing.
  • Suicide Mission: Thassarian, one of the Knights of the Ebon Blade, gets sent on one because the Alliance is unwilling to accept him as a Death Knight.
  • Summon Magic: Primarily Warlocks, who can summon a demon (out of several) to aid them in battle. Mages who specialize in Frost magic can also summon a permanent Water Elemental. Death Knights of the Unholy specialization can also summon a permanent ghoul. Several other classes can summon magical helpers but only for a short time.
    • Hunter pets must be found in the wild and tamed, but once the hunter has tamed a beast it is added to a roster of active pets they can select at will and summon. Where such hunter abilities lie on the game/story spectrum, however, is not fully explained.
  • Super Fun Happy Thing of Doom
  • Super Not-Drowning Skills: While there's a limited amount of time you can hold your breath, swimming isn't a problem. Your player can even swim in armor if he/she has to, and fight underwater. (This goes for mobs too, incidentally, so diving into a lake won't stop them from following. Even fire elementals can do so without harm, defying all logic.)
  • Supporting Protagonist: Both subverted and played straight, depending on the quest. While you've definitely done your fair share of heroics, most of the major story arcs will have another character who takes part in the story, and if the event is referenced again later in the game, will inevitably get all the credit. The most obvious example is Tirion Fordring in Wrath of the Lich King.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: While questing as an Alliance character in Twilight Highlands, one quest has an NPC instruct you to go into a hut in the ruins of his village, which has been razed and captured by the enemy, in search of ale. Inside the hut is a sign that says "Ale downstairs. Do not touch. Sincerely, not the bad guys." Definitely not a trap.
  • Symbol Swearing: How the chat filters work, though you can disable this if you choose to. NPCs avert this, as their swearing isn't censored.
  • Take a Number: The first encounter with Nexus-Prince Haramad has him telling you that "If you are here to kill me, please take a number and wait for your turn."
  • Take That: One of the /silly emotes for the female Worgen goes At least we don't sparkle."
  • Take That Us / Take That, Audience!: Blizzard has been known to deliver these, even themselves. During a quest where you save Earthen Ring shamans from nightmares, one of them says that Shaman healing is a fine art and that you can't just use Chain Heal all day, and another says that he dreamt he was trapped inside a fiery cave dropping totems, healing ungrateful warriors, and never seeing a single piece of shaman gear.
  • Taken for Granite:
    • In Cataclysm, Magni Bronzebeard performs a ritual in Old Ironforge to protect the city against the titular event and uses himself as a sacrifice, which turns him to stone. As his heir and grandson, Fenran Dagran Thaurissan II, is currently only a toddler, the rule of Ironforge is now being taken up by Muradin Bronzebeard, Magni's brother, Falstad Wildhammer, the high thane of the Wildhammer clan, and Moira Thaurissan, Magni's daughter.
    • The Stoneblood Harpys in Legion have an attack that does this, gleefully laughing "Flesh and bone to earth and stone!" as they attack the player. Some collect and display petrified victims, but one Elite mob says you're "too ugly to keep" and that she'll "only" kill you.
  • Talking Is a Free Action: Nothing will stop a boss from talking. Keristraza can rant at you while using her breath weapon. Half-averted for the players -- you have to, y'know, type to talk, meaning you're not firing off your abilities -- but you can make a simple macro beforehand...
  • Talking to Himself: Michael McConnohie as Lich King and spirit of Uther in Halls of Reflection. Also Chris Metzen as both Thrall and Varian.
  • Taxidermy Terror: There is a boss fight with one of these. It begins with two of four (on heroic difficulty, all four) random trophy monsters unfreezing, attacking you. Then Gortok Palehoof unfreezes from the other side of the room and charges your group, starting the actual boss fight.
  • Ted Baxter: Johnny Awesome.
  • Teleporter Accident:
    • Using the Gnome-made Ultrasafe Transporter at Toshley's Station or the Goblin-made Dimensional Ripper at Area 52 can cause a malfunction; it may increase of decrease your size, change your species, or replace you with your Evil Twin from another dimension. Those are all harmless debuffs that wear off soon, but there's a risk it can also turn you into a black chicken for a minute or so, or even cause you to appear high above the telepad, where taking even a step will cause you to plummet.
    • Wormhole Generators, which the player can build with the Engineering skill, are worse. While guaranteed to take you to the correct zone, they have two or three predetermined locations per zone, and about half of them causes you to appear in mid-air, some of them causing you to appear over lava or on a ledge you can't safely descend from without a flying mount. All them cause you to appear in places with hostile mobs. (It's a good idea to have a parachute or hang glider handy if you use these, the latter of which can also be built using Engineering.)
    • One quest in Surumar involves Chief Telemancer Oculeth telling the player to recover parts of his teleportation device that have been stolen. Using the device, unfortunately. Using the option marked Library teleports your character to a void-like area called The Drift (you'll go there again later for a Boss Battle) while taking the one marked Breakfast Nook teleports you thousands of feet above a city. (Fortunately, Oculeth is able to teleport you back before you hit ground.)
    • There's also the Last Relic of Argus, an artifact you can assemble with the archaeology skill which is supposedly "one of the few things the draenei were able to take with them on their flight from Argus." It claims to teleport the user to any desired location, "so long as you aren't too picky". (In truth, it teleports you randomly to one of 25 locations. Justified in that the device was broken and the player cobbled it together; it was likely far more accurate when new.)
  • trope.
  • Tell Me About My Father: Arator the Redeemer (with Danath Trollbane) in Honor Hold. Garrosh Hellscream (with Thrall) in Garadar. Thrall also applies, with Drek'thar, Orgrim Doomhammer and Grom Hellscream before the events of the game, and with Greatmother Geyah in Garadar.
  • Tempting Fate: A Goblin rocket called the "Uncrashable", not surprising that it looks like it's on the verge of exploding, but the real shocker is that occasionally it lives up to its name, and reaches its destination safely.
  • That Russian Squat Dance: Part of the male dwarf dance.
  • That Thing Is Not My Child: This is Alexstrazsa's response after finding out Deathwing has corrupted a large number of young red dragons (and is using them to attack her and the players):

Alexstrazsa: They are...my clutch no longer. Bring them down.

  • Theme Naming: Most of the Dragons:
    • Red dragons: names end with -strasz (males) or -strasza (females).
    • Blue dragons: names end with -gos (males) or -gosa (female); also Colourful Theme Naming with blue (Azuregos, Cyanigosa, Colbatann...) or sometimes a reference to magic (Manaclaw, Arcanagos, Spellmaw).
    • Green dragons: references to dreams (Somnus, Weaver, Morphaz, several begining with Dream- ), and some Colourful Theme Naming (Jade, Emeriss...).
    • Bronze dragons: names end with -ormu (males, and Chronormu / Chromie) or -ormi (females); Temporal Theme Naming (Chronormu, Anachronos, Eternos, Chronalis...).
    • Their evil counterpart, the Infinite Dragonflight, also have Temporal Theme Naming (Temporus, Aeonus, Epoch Hunter, Chrono Lord Deja)
    • Black dragons: Colourful Theme Naming with black (Rivendark, Blackscale, Sabellion/Sablemane...) and/or Rock Theme Naming (Ebonroc, Obsidia, Onyxia...), or reference to something bad (Nefarian, Smolderwing, Insidion, Nihil, Sinestra...oh yeah and DEATHWING), or something related to fire/heat (Flamegor, Searinox, Emberstrife, Firemaw, Singe ...), or ending in -ithria/-ia for females and -ithrian/-ian/-ion for males.
    • Nether dragons: names usually (not always) ends with -aku or -us, otherwise it is because someone already give them their names.
    • Twilight dragons, who use -ion for males and -iona for females.
    • Most elementals are named after something related to their respective elements.
    • Lordaeron soldiers name their beloved steeds after favorable qualities (Steadfast, Courage, Invincible).
  • Theme Song: "Power of the Horde" for (Horde) shamans, "Rogues Do It From Behind" is obviously for rogues. "I am Murloc" for...Murlocs. Both of these were done by Tenth Level 60 70 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain.
    • Nightfall for Death Knights.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: In Cataclysm, the goblins put a cannon [dead link] in Azshara. It is large.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: In the worgen starting area, you have to throw barrels of gunpowder at Horrid Abominations, leading to the amusing sight of a giant undead monster with its head stuck in a barrel; some of which give this one liner:

Horrid Abomination: Uh-oh... this gonna hurts me...

  • This Is My Side: Whenever the Horde and Alliance are forced to occupy the same space, without fighting each other, they invariably divide the area into two separate camps.
    • At the Speedbarge, Goblins are on one half, Gnomes on the other.
    • On both ends of the Dark Portal, Alliance on one side, Horde on the other.
    • In Shattrath, the rival Aldor and Scryers have their own tiers. While the Aldor are draenei and the Scryers are blood elves, neither are affiliated with the Alliance or Horde, so there's nothing stopping a Horde Aldor, or an Alliance Scryer. However, draenei begin at Friendly with the Aldor and opposite with the Scryers, and the opposite is true for blood elves.
    • At the Wrathgate, the Alliance and Horde each had their own camps.
    • In Dalaran, each has their own section of the city where the other is not allowed to enter; any players who go where they're not allowed, are teleported out by the Kirin Tor, instead of attacked.
    • At the Argent Tournament, each had their own tent and training area.
    • At the Temple of Earth in Deepholm, a wing of the temple was reserved for each side.
    • Several civilians from both factions attend the Darkmoon Faire, but at places like the food court and bleachers, they only sit with their own group.
  • This Loser Is You: Everything your 'Future You' says in the quest 'Mysteries of the Infinite' is a direct attack on the player. Never mind the fact that you're both wearing the same kind of equipment... and that the NPC comments on your "old gear." Of course, you can later get revenge of sorts 'when you get to repeat the quest at 80 and be the "Future You" for now "Past You." Past you also comments on how much better your gear has gotten.... despite visually wearing the same gear.
    • Especially if you go back in the future wearing equipment that your past self not only has not yet acquired, but cannot wear at his or her level.
    • The Horde quest "Welcome to the Machine" has players becoming a quest giver, complete with yellow "!" over their heads, handing out quests to three "players" that represent various bad stereotypes: a perpetual n00b, an over-leveled blowhard, and a pompous jerk who acts big due to his Heirloom equipment and mount.
  • This Was His True Form: Druids revert to their caster form upon death, as do polymorphed players and mobs (notably, worgen stay in their worgen form, re-affirming that it's human form that's the shapeshift, and they're truly biologically worgen now).
  • Those Wacky Nazis: Schnottz and his army. Yes, we have a Goblin Hitler and his stormtroopers, the birth of Fashionism, a Desert Fox, a turkey named Gobbles, and a perfectly plausible scenario in which said Goblin Hitler angrily yells "NINE! NINE! NINE! NINE! NINE!" Many a line was crossed, and a good time was had by all (Except Gobbles.).
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Lunk in the Searing Gorge is an Ogre who sought adventure, but was frustrated that a lot of quests involve killing things. He interrupts the player on two such quests to give an alternate non-lethal approach to completing the objective.
  • Throwing Your Shield Always Works: Paladins have Avenger's Shield. Justified in that this is not the shield doing wonky things with the laws of physics, but a spell.
  • Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Warriors have Heroic Throw and Shattering Throw.
  • Time Keeps On Slipping: Subverted.
  • Time Skip: The original game picks up four years after the ending of Warcraft III.
    • Cataclysm takes place several months after Deathwing has already torn Azeroth apart.
    • There is also one incorporated into the worgen starting zone. The first half shows the player getting infected and becoming a feral worgen; the second half takes place some weeks/months later, after the player is captured, and given an antidote to restore their human minds.
  • Title Drop: In Wrath of the Lich King you can quest for a faction of freed Death Knights, one of them does an in-dialog title drop, as seen here. There's another one in the name of a quest received in the Halls of Reflection dungeon.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Dumass. Rescuing him is an optional sidequest and, if you decide to help him, you get an Escort Mission where the predictable happens. Get him back to the quest giver, and you'll be berated for interfering with a fundamental law of nature: Survival of the Fittest.
  • Took a Level in Badass: After the Cataclysm, Mankrik quits moping about his missing wife and goes after the quilboars. As Blademaster!
    • Mankrik now also shows up in Mount Hyjal to assist players in killing lvl 85 elite mobs for part of a daily quest.
    • Gamon used to be the Butt Monkey of Orgrimmar, slain by practically every Horde member over level 20 just for being there. Not anymore.
    • Baine Bloodhoof, current Chieftain of the tauren, gained levels at an even more alarming rate - prior to Cataclysm, he was a measly level 10. As of Cataclysm he's a level 88 elite, and a raid is required to take him down.
    • Shandris Feathermoon, a night elf warrior who was promoted to General of the Sentinels, was raised from level 62 to boss level and given upwards of 68 mil HP. Until a hotfix rendered it impossible, she was a popular target for players to kite to Orgrimmar for fun and mayhem, as many YouTube videos attest. Several show her taking out Garrosh Hellscream himself.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Fandral Staghelm (after the death of his son), Varian Wrynn (after his return to Stormwind and blaming the entire Horde for the actions of Varimathras and Putress' faction) and Garrosh Hellscream (after believing that the Alliance is encroaching on the Horde and is a threat Thrall did not deal with appropriately).
  • Torture Always Works: This quest.
    • Subverted with a Death Knight starting quest that gives you two red-hot metal rods and tells you to hit people with them. You can torture tens of people to death until they finally talk.
  • To Serve Man: As a Shout-Out, the name of a Vendor Trash item drop from pickpocketing midlevel mobs is "To Serve Man - A Cookbook".
  • Totally Eighteen: The spring festival Noble Garden includes an achievement where you are supposed to put bunny ears on one female character of each race, and it has to be a character that is at least level 18.
  • Tragic Monster: Deathbringer Saurfang, Keristrasza, and the entire Forsaken race, to name a few.
  • Tranquil Fury: An ability inside the Arms talent tree for Warriors for the Cataclysm expansion seemed to be named for this - "Deadly Calm". It causes the warrior's abilities to temperorarily cost no rage while they continue to generate it. As a warrior who hits the maximum for rage will do extra damage while it would normally cost more rage, their calm will certainly prove to dangerous for their enemies.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: The promotional materials for Patch 4.3 do nothing at all to hide the fact that the mysterious leader of the Twilight Hammer is Archbishop Benedictus, which, admittedly, first came to light in Thrall Twilight of the Aspects.
  • Training Dummy: One actually is a trainer, for newbie goblin warriors.
  • Tribal Face Paint: Trolls have an option for different face paints, ranging from a few lines on their cheeks to covering the entire face.
  • Truce Zone: Called Sanctuaries, they include the neutral Goblin cities, Shattrath, Dalaran, and Moonglade for Druids.
    • In Northrend, there are Blue Dragons at the Wyrmrest Temple, even though the Blue Dragonflight is warring with the other four flights right outside; even the Black Dragon representative points out how they are allowed there, despite their own schemes. Even when Wyrmrest Temple gets assaulted in the Dragon Soul raid, some of the dead Drakonid guardians are black dragons.
    • Zandalar is this for Trolls, despite the hostilities between the tribes, and every six years their leaders gather to discuss general Troll affairs. This is in lore only, as Zandalar trolls are now a real troll threat to the rest of the world with their new mission of remaking the Troll Empires.
  • Trojan Prisoner: One of many atrocities Elisandre commits late in the Suramar storyline is to hand many "undesirable" civilians over to Felsoul Hold. (Where, you discover, they are to be used as fuel for a Soul Engine.) Rescuing them requires the player to pull off this maneuver. it also requires you to trust two recent recruits to the resistance, defectors, no less. Fortunately, it works.)
  • True Love's Kiss: One Argent Tournament quest requires you to apply this to the Maiden of the Lake in Grizzly Hills; this poor girl was turned into a frog in order to protect the weapon required by the Quest Giver. Unfortunately, there are quite a few frogs there, and you have to kiss quite a few before finding her. (The QuestGiver gives you a flask of "Wart B Gone", which must be applied before each kiss attempt.)
  • Turns Red: A few non-boss enemies enrage at low health (or when an ally falls), and many bosses power up as the fight goes on. A number of bosses also go "berserk" after a set time limit, promptly causing a Party Wipe. It sometimes makes sense, such as Mimiron Hard Mode where you activate a self destruct mechanism.
    • Players can do it too with some buffs.
  • Turtle Island: Shen-zin Su, the Wandering Isle is the Pandaren starting zone.
  • Twenty Bear Asses: Its fanbase coined the term.
  • Überwald: Gilneas in Cataclysm is a dreary, menacing-looking city with constant rain. Which makes thematic sense, as its inhabitants are civilized Worgen.
    • Duskwood, Silverpine Forest and Tirisfal Glades are similar, minus the rain, and are inhabited by revenants.
  • Undeath Always Ends: Subverted to Hell and back with the Forsaken, who make it very clear that they're here to stay and that the world just has to deal with it. Some of them (like Sylvanas herself) are still trying to find a way to undo their curse, while the more fanatical ones seek to kill everyone else instead.
  • Under the Sea: The Cataclysm added zone Vashj'ir.
  • Underwater Ruins: The Sunken Temple and Blackfathom Deeps dungeons, many quest areas, and the Vashj'ir zone in Cataclysm.
  • Undignified Death:
    • Arguably the most embarrassing way to be killed in this game is to not notice that you're losing HP due to standing in fire, lava, acid, or slime, often spewed by whatever boss your party is fighting. (You get an achievement for this when the boss in question is Deathwing.) Very few players can honestly say this hasn't happened to them.
  • Unknown Rival: As early as level 26, an Alliance player can undertake a quest in Ashenvale where a representative of the Burning Legion has set a trap specifically for the player. Why the Legion would single out someone who is, at that time, little more than an Alliance recruit is never revealed (especially since, fifty levels later, you'll be in Outland wiping out armies of them on their front door).
  • Unexpected Gameplay Change: Tons of Cataclysm quests.
  • Unhand Them, Villain!: In Deepholm, a cultist is taken prisoner by a Dwarf on a gryphon, he demands to be released, until he looks down and realizes just how high off the ground they are.

Mor'norokk the Hateful: You! Let me go now! Wait... no! Don't let go!

  • The Unintelligible: The Leaper, a geist in the Shadow Vault talks in a series of muffled sounds. It turns out he can speak quite well but suffers from a phlegm problem.
  • Units Not to Scale: Buildings and other interior environments are absurdly spacious compared to player models. Likely a part of both stylized looks and an attempt to prevent cramping and camera issues.
    • Also applies to actual creatures. While differences in size between, say, dragons are hardly surprising, even ordinary human or orc NPCs inexplicably are twice as large as players, if they happen to be a raid boss or the resident Big Good.
  • Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: An epic mace named Unstoppable Force and an Epic shield named Immovable Object. When a Blizzard moderator was asked what would happen if they met, he postulated, "Chuck Norris dies." Parodied in later content with the poor quality items The Stoppable Force and The Movable Object.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: It's reasonable that NPCs never think twice about people wearing spiky armour and wielding heavy weapons. It is a world of Warcraft after all. However, they never think twice about summoned demons, in spite of the burning legion and Scourge being one of the primary enemies of all life & the very existence of the world itself (the same for death knights and ghouls). It's been confirmed that this is just a game mechanic, but it's still odd. This is averted only in the Death Knight quest chain, in which the citizens of Stormwind or Orgrimmar will hurl vile epithets at new DKs until their respective faction leader declares them to be allies.
  • Unknown Rival: As early as level 26, an Alliance player can undertake a quest in Ashenvale where a representative of the Burning Legion has set a trap specifically for the player. Why the Legion would single out someone who is, at that time, little more than an Alliance recruit is never revealed (especially since, fifty levels later, you'll be in Outland wiping out armies of them on their front door).
  • Unwitting Pawn: You. Between Abercrombie (Alliance only) in Duskwood, Myzrael in Arathi Highlands, Kalaran the Deceiver in Searing Gorge, Teron Gorefiend in Shadowmoon Valley, Drakuru in Grizzly Hills, and Loken in the Storm Peaks, there are plenty of examples of villains using the player to accomplish their evil goals. Since these quests are a part of zone progression, the Violation of Common Sense is enforced. It's worth noting that nearly all of these quest lines have you go back and defeat the guy afterwards, however.
    • Most of the Scarlet Crusade genuinely believes in their cause, wanting to expel the undead (Scourge and Forsaken) from Lordaeron, and hating non-humans. It turns out that Balnazzar is manipulating them in the guise of their leader for the Burning Legion's ends.
  • Urban Legend of Zelda: Some of these urban legends were actually true. Some places actually were accessible in the game (unfinished Ahn'Qiraj on the other side of the Scarab Wall when Silithus's map was much bigger and the map was cut off, it was possible to explore a beta version of this place called "The Crypt" in Deadwind pass, Old Ironforge did exist, there was a way to get onto the gates of Ironforge....but there were all sorts of ways to obtain Ashbringer before it was possible to get into the game...and don't get me started on all these various rumours that went around. (Such as how Alliance would supposedly get Worgen in Burning Crusade or the Horde would get Furbolgs.)
    • "The Crypt" was opened in Patch 4.3 as part of the Fangs of the Father questline.
  • Useless Accessory: In an underwater area like Vashj'ir, a diving helmet and breathing apparatus would be a must, unless you're a shaman with a breathing buff. The "Great" Sambino adds a layer of stupid on top in that he deliberately didn't learn water breathing because he likes his custom made helmet instead, which bites him in the ass when his helmet gets a leak and you need to retrieve a replacement part and a fresh air supply for him.

The Great Sambino: If only those water breathing spells came with stylish helmets!

  • Vampiric Draining: The Blood Elves who drink your... magic to sate their mana addiction. The Darkfallen, corrupted elves in the service of the Lich King, take this further by actually consuming blood.
  • Vendor Trash: Lampshaded with a fish named "Goldenscale Vendorfish". Enforced by the need to avert having Money Spiders, although it amounts to the same thing due to We Buy Anything.
  • Video Game Caring Potential: In one quest in Hillsbrad, you're given the choice to free buried human survivors who are being left to rot in the Sludge Fields. This is surprising because it's a Forsaken-granted quest...you know, the same guys who've been killing everyone with a deadly plague and ressurecting enemy soldiers to replenish their numbers.
    • Fridge Logic messes with this, as one need only look around to see that all the exits are blocked by guard who try to gas everything that tries to escape. Either they die at your hands, at the guards' hands, or are used for experimentation once the player leaves.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: Just remember that every time you kill Varian Wrynn, you're doing so in front of his son.
    • And in the above mentioned Forsaken quest in the Sludge Fields, instead of freeing the human captors you can bash their skulls in with a shovel. I mean, it ends their suffering, right?
      • The game itself even calls you out on how horrible it is with a debuff.
    • At the conclusion of the U'Goro Crater quest line, the female titan gives you four tests that all involve assuming the form of one of the mobs in the Crater. One involves taking raptor form and attacking the guys Marshal's Stand. (Meaning, in short, that this involves turning on your allies and devouring them with no consequences. They'll be there again when you return with your reputation intact, and won't even remember it.)
    • World Quests, plain and simple. Everyone does them, and as such, it's easy to feel like a bully when you're one of about 20 players ganging up on one of the bosses or mobs, who are much easier to beat than, say, a Raid or Dungeon boss, even though for many of them, their health scales relative to the number of people attacking.
    • If you ever want to feel like a Mean Boss, one mission (so to speak) you can assign a Garrison follower is to Clean the Latrine. (Of course, this one has a 100% chance of success and takes five minutes, so said follower pretty much gets 100 XP for nothing.)
    • One Winter's Veil quest requires hitting Muradin Bronzebeard (if you're in the Alliance) or Baine Bloodhoof (if Horde) with a snowball; while this doesn't seem all-too "cruel", don't forget, every player in your faction is going to hit the poor guy with a snowball, likely on the same day. (Of course, they do get a lot of valentines from the players at another event.)
  • Video Game Cruelty Punishment: North of Stormwind is a secret (well, kind of) lodge that can only be reached via flying mount where three retired adventurers live. It has a cozy campfire, relaxing atmosphere, and a herd of adorable, fluffy sheep. And players who act like dicks and try to kill said adorable fluffy sheep are in for a surprise, as one is an automaton with a bomb that goes off should such a dick try it.
  • Video Game Lives: Players can resurrect themselves whenever they die, but the Bloodlord Mandokir fight in Zul'Gurub is based on this. The arena where he fights has eight Troll Shaman spirits surrounding it, and whenever a player dies, one of them will sacrifice itself to raise the player to full health; Mandokir has a One Hit KO attack, and an undead raptor that will eat said spirits, so the fight is a race to kill Mandokir before groups lose their eight extra lives, and the one each player came in with.
  • Vigilante Execution: Your goal for every World Quest done for the Wardens. They rarely try to hide it, going so far as to call you their assassin in some of them.
  • Villain Ball: Subverted with the Lich King, who appears to be acting stupidly all throughout Northrend in letting adventurers destroy all his minions and fight their way to his very throne. Of course, it's not quite as simple as that.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Arthas experiences this after his defeat, realizing that after all the evil he's done, he's going to die alone.
    • Of note, Kael'thas Sunstrider gives a textbook example after being defeated at the end of Magister's Terrace:

Kaelthas: My demise accomnplishes nothing! The Master will have you! You will drown in your own blood! The world shall burn! *screams*

    • Archimonde in the Battle for Mount Hyjal raid.
    • Putress in the Battle for the Undercity.
  • Villain Protagonist: Most Player Characters cannot truly be called this, as while you do quite a few morally ambiguous things, most of them at least count towards supporting your own faction or race while opposing greater evil. Death Knights, however, start off playing the Trope straight, as servants of the Lich King himself and doing pretty evil things, like killing innocents. (Eventually, however, having to execute an old friend results in Heel Realization and Heel Face Turn.)
  • Villains Out Shopping:
    • One mission on Outland requires disguising yourself to infiltrate an evil cult; the cultists often talk about starting a "leatherball" game and going into town for drinks, sometimes even inviting you to come. (Kind of makes a player feel bad later when he has to slaughter them...)
    • The nobility of Suramar seem to have social events and parties a lot, which is often seen as callous, given the nature of the city. The player first obtains his/her Nightborne disguise by infiltrating a masquerade ball, and the goal of the Court of Stars dungeon is to assassinate Elisandre as she attends a gala. (Unfortunately, she's onto you, being a lot smarter than her foolish servants.)
    • Right after the second boss in Neltharion's Lair, a group of mooks are racing pet snails. (Making it easier to avoid them.)
  • Violation of Common Sense: Lots of achievements centered on events require you to get closer to the enemy factions' strongholds than most of their leaders would recommend; for instance, the Halloween event requires dousing their wicker man, the Thanksgiving event requires sitting at their communal table, and one (optional) Christmas achievement event requires hitting each faction leader with a BB gun. (Expect to be killed a lot while making the attempt.)
  • The Virus: The Plague of Undeath explicitly works this way. Demonic corruption has a way of transforming its victims as well, due to Evil Feels Good.
    • Of particular interest was a brief in-game plague of sorts. One of the bosses in the Zul'Gurub instance hit raiders with a debuff called "Corrupted Blood" that dealt damage over time...but the status effect could land on things like vanity pets. Players would stow these infected pets, then bring them out in major cities where the contagion would jump to any nearby players or NPCs. As Zul'Gurub was an endgame dungeon at the time of its release, the plague quickly cut through weaker characters, turning cities such as Orgrimmar and Ironforge into charnel houses.
    • This particular virus attracted serious academic attention, as researchers realized the WoW game environment had grown in size and population enough to serve as a legitimate model for plague and pandemic spread (though this was somewhat subverted by the fact that a number of players were deliberately helping the plague spread).
    • It's quite likely that the Corrupted Blood event inspired the undead plague from the Scourge Invasion just prior to the launch of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, which turned both PCs and NPCs into members of an undead army. Many players considered this a fun departure from routine gameplay, but naturally, plenty of others complained because they were getting killed in normally safe areas, even on Player Versus Environment servers that are made specifically to avoid that.
    • The Worgen Curse appears to be like this at first, at least until they form a partial cure that removes the less desirable side effect of the transformation.
  • Visual Pun: Cho'gall can drop a healer mace know as Twilight's Hammer, the same name as the clan he is leader of.
  • Voice of the Legion: Death Knights and Arthas, appropriately. Also the Infinite Dragonflight bosses in Cavern of Time and the Corrupted Ashbringer if you are holding it.
    • Used in the transition to Phase 2 Yogg-Saron with Sara and Yogg-Saron.

"I am the lucid dream. The monster in your nightmares. The fiend of a thousand faces. Cower before my true form. BOW DOWN BEFORE THE GOD OF DEATH!"

  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Druids transform into a number of animal forms, and properly talented warlocks can turn into a demon form for a short amount of time. Shamans can turn into ghost wolves, used as a traveling form before obtaining a mount.
    • There are many quests and items that temporarily transform or disguise the player, and players will sometimes deliberately game the system by not turning in the quest so they can keep the item (Dartol's Rod of Transformation being one of the biggest examples). These rarely have any direct impact on gameplay, except for the specific quest lines in which they appear.
  • Walk Into Mordor: Simply walking into a territory, city, town, or stronghold held by the enemy faction using the front door is unwise; guards are usually max level, and attack on sight. Sneaking in is hard too, as zones tend to be bordered by impassible mountains and other natural barriers. Unfortunately, it can often be hard to tell you're in such a place until the guards attack; and it's easy to be killed without even seeing the assailant.
  • Warp Whistle: Hearthstones are the most ubiquitous example, but there are many others, including mage portals, warlock summons, a shaman spell, summoning stones, various items with teleport properties, and intra-dungeon portals designed to cut down on run-back time after a raid wipe.
  • Warrior Therapist: You. Yes, you, the player. Several dungeon and raid bosses have your party whaling on the boss until he comes to his or her senses, usually ending with the recipient of the assault thanking you. Examples include Algalon the Observer, who decides to stick around to watch the people of Azeroth and find out what makes them so special, and Keristrasza, who opts for Suicide by Cop after being mind-controlled and raped by Malygos as his mental domination over her means she can't kill herself.
  • We Buy Anything: Such as Troll sweat and boar toenails, but not quest items, keys, and items purchased with nonstandard currency. Justified as preventing exploits, but still annoying to the player base.
  • We Have Reserves: Both undead and the demons follow that line of thinking. The undead because they can raise the casualties of both sides, the demons just don't care.
    • Especially in the case of the undead, the cannon fodder would get slaughtered and the necromancers would raise twice their number worth of skeletons. By the time the elites showed up, they'd be little left to do other than mop up. In the Pit of Saron, Tyrannus even mocks you after you kill the first boss, saying "Another will take his place, you waste your time." (He changes his tune quickly after you kill the second one.)
    • The human commander who sends the Blood Elves to face the Undead with no support, because "The only good nonhuman... Is a dead nonhuman", even though the Alliance is already desperately short against the Undead already.
    • The Battle for Light's Hope Chapel, where Arthas ordered his death knights to attack in order to draw out Tirion Fordring, and when he appears explains he expected them to get cut down. As death knights are his few free-willed servants, they were not pleased.
    • On the other side of that, you can get gold selling your old equipment of epic quality to poor beggars in the street, who are tyring to get by selling cheap things.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Kael'Thas Sunstrider consorts with demonic powers in an attempt to rescue his people from their magic addiction. Of course, Evil Is Not a Toy, and he ends up playing The Renfield to Kil'jaeden.
    • Malygos, who's correct that the use of magic is harming Azeroth, but goes about solving the problem in a manner that's guaranteed to leave Azeroth defenseless if not completely destroy it, forcing the other Dragonflights to fight him.
    • The Zandalari are trying to reform the Troll Empire over concerns the infighting, and threats like the Scourge are leading them to extinction; however, this puts them on a collision course with the people who now occupy their old land, the Horde and the Alliance. Or at least that's the story Vol'jin heard before he left.
  • Wham! Episode: The "Wrathgate" in-game cutscene is one of these, killing off two canonical Badass heroes and reigniting the war between Alliance and Horde. The Cataclysm expansion could also be seen as this, given the massive changes it made to old Azeroth.
    • The conclusion of the new Silverpine Forest quest chain in Cataclysm. Although we'd be loathe to ruin it, let's just say that you're not the only one who literally won't see it coming...
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Epicus Maximus.
  • What Have I Done: Garrosh attempts to inflict one of these unsuccesfully on Warlord Krom'gar. He quickly realizes that Krom'gar felt no guilt or remorse for what he had done and quickly gets rid of him.

Garrosh: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

  • What Happened to the Mouse?: The Vashj'ir storyline involves a new island that formed during the Cataclysm just off Stormwind's coast; the Horde wants it because they could disrupt and/or attack Stormwind from that location, and the Alliance wants it to protect Stormwind from any such attack. When they get there, they are both attacked by naga who are trying to break into Neptulon's domain, and the island's strategic importance is forgotten.
    • After the battle of Andorhal, Thassarian says he's going to go rescue Koltira. The two haven't been brought up since - except when Thassarian shows up in Hyjal as part of a quest that may or may not be entirely canon.
  • What Measure Is a Mook?: The Fangs of the Father questline involves assassinating two Black Dragons, as the quests are for Rogues, the point is to sneak past the minions and only kill the targets. Afterwards, Wrathion says that he wanted them killed this way because the mortals are being manipulated by the Black Dragons and shouldn't be punished for their masters' evil.
  • What's Up King/Warchief Dude: You can walk right into the faction leaders' chambers as a level 1 nobody, with no heroic accomplishments under your belt, and talk to the chief of any race that's on your side and no one bats an eye. Security probably isn't much of a concern for them, though, as all of them are far, FAR stronger than any of their guards.
    • Justified Trope with the Trolls and Worgen. The Darkspear Trolls are a fairly small tribe, so Vol'jin is a pretty hands-on leader. Meanwhile, Gilneas is under attack by feral Worgen and the Forsaken, so King Greymane himself leads his people to safety; by the time they escape, his haughty attitude is very much broken.
    • Lady Silvanus takes this even further, trusting a Forsaken player enough to talk to him/her like the typical Mr. Exposition while riding from one camp to another. At the time, the player is around level 10 and really no more than a Horde conscript. Possibly, Sylvanus just likes talking about herself.
    • Inverted Trope with the Goblin's Trade Prince Gallywix as players start out as his second-in-command, a title which is taken away partway through the starting experience; and after the Goblins join the Horde, Gallywix is never seen again. Boss Mida [2] is the leader you see in the Goblin sector of Orgrimmar.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: One Alliance Hellfire Penninsula questgiver sends you to kill some (innocent) Mag'har orcs as part of a Cycle of Revenge, which gets you called out by a different NPC and sent on another quest to make amends.
    • Garrosh treats Krom'gar to one of these after he murders an entire school of innocent druids and burns down Cliffwalker Post because the High Chieftain dared to avenge his son's murder by his subordinate.
    • You get the same after completing a quest for Zenn Foulhoof the satyr in Teldrassil, and are sent on a series of quests to both punish Foulhoof and eliminate his allies.
  • White Magic: Consists of Holy magic (used by Paladins and Priests) and Nature magic (used by Druids and Shamans). In lore, these are the only pure sources of power; all other types are either corrupt to begin with or inevitably lead there. See Black Magic in A-H.
  • Who's Laughing Now?: Centuries ago, Goblins were not as smart as they are now, and used to be slaves to the Trolls on Kezan who used them to mine the kaja'mite ore they needed for their rituals. Exposure to said ore caused the Goblins' intelligence to increase dramatically, and they eventually overthrow and enslave the Trolls to work in the mines.
  • Who Wears Short Shorts?: The barmaid at the Speedbarge, and who used to be the flag girl at the Mirage Raceway before Thousand Needles was flooded, wears blue shorts. Her name is Daisy.
  • Wide Open Sandbox
  • William Telling: This quest is an obvious parody.
  • Windmill Crusader: Players take on the Sancho Panza role to a Don Quixote expy, Maximillian of Northshire, with one quest rewarding a toy windmill.
  • With Us or Against Us: Aside from the Alliance and Horde, there are also several independent factions that are hostile to each other, so befriending one will make you hated by the other:
    • Aldor vs. Scryers. They work together to fight the Burning Legion, but only by creating the Shattered Sun Offensive, the Aldor and Scryers outside the SSO are still opposed to each other.
    • Frenzyheart vs. Oracles
    • Booty Bay vs. Bloodsail Buccaneers. Because Booty Bay is also opposed to the Venture Company, it's possible to become friendly with both by attacking Booty Bay to befriend the Buccaneers, then attacking the Venture Company to befriend Booty Bay.
  • Wire Dilemma: In the Halls of Origination, Brann Bronzebeard tries to stop the Reorigination mechanism, by breaking into the main control panel, and finds two fuses, a red one, and a blue one. The one he breaks depends on the player's faction (Horde - red, Alliance - blue), and either one works to stop it.
  • Womb Level: In Cataclysm there is a gigantic sea creature called Nespirah, and you end up questing inside it. Turns out, it's sentient and the naga are trying to bend it to their will and use it as an engine of destruction.
  • Word of God: Blizzard has had two 'Ask the Creative Development Team' threads, in which they answer questions regarding the game's lore. A number of answers have debunked speculation, cleared up ambiguous plot points and even offered new insights that weren't being sought after, but are interesting none the less. And then there are some which are met with a dismissive Shrug of God.
  • The Worf Effect: Various NPC battles with the Lich King seem to be for the sole purpose of showing off how strong he is in comparison, with the fight in the Halls of Reflection being just the latest.
    • The Tauren have been playing this role in Cataclysm--both the Earthen Ring and the Cenarion Circle have lost high-ranking tauren members to show the threats PC's must face.
    • The Chickified night elves play this role in the interfaction war in Cataclysm, used to show how much of a threat the orcs are, and to justify the presence of their allies in the worgen and Varian Wrynn.
  • World of Ham: To the point that World of Hamcraft would not be an unfitting title. Nearly every voiced line in the game is so overblown you'd think the collective cast is starved on a regular basis.
  • Worlds Smallest Violin: There is an Emote Command, /violin, which displays "You begin to play the world's smallest violin." If you have something targeted, it displays "You begin to play the world's smallest violin for [target]."
  • Worth It: Kingslayer Orkus (according to him) once met Varok Saurfang and asked the High Overlord to autograph his massive pectorals; instead, Saurfang backhanded him, and now Orkus has trouble remembering things. It was totally worth it.
  • Xanatos Gambit: The entire Wrath of the Lich King expansion is built on this, as players find out to their dismay during the Lich King encounter in Icecrown Citadel. Every challenge presented to you within Icecrown Citadel was just a test so that only the greatest champions of Azeroth would reach the Lich King. At 10%, he instantly kills your entire raid, announces this was his plan all along, then begins to harvest your soul and reanimate you as a champion of the Scourge. It doesn't work out for him.
  • Xanatos Roulette: In the original game, Onyxia had an extremely complex scheme going on to manipulate herself into absolute control of the throne of Stormwind. This quest sequence was removed after King Varian Wrynn returned in Wrath of the Lich King and Onyxia's schemes were canonically thwarted.
  • Yin-Yang Bomb: The monk class, who use light and dark energies to deliver powerful bare-handed attacks.
  • You Bastard:
    • Defeating some Pet Trainers can do this. Lindsay is a little girl in Hillsbrand and an Aspiring Trainer; when you defeat her Rabbits she sobs, "Why did you... k-kill my bunny?" (Hopefully she'll feel better when she learns how easy it is to revive them, but it still seems mean.)
    • A very subtle one: In Hillsbrad, you come across a group of humans who are buried neck-deep by the Forsaken and are at the mercy of the surrounding ghouls. Your character spots a shovel nearby and decides the "do the right thing". The quest that follows gives you the option to dig the humans out or bash their brains in with the shovel. Should you choose to do the latter, you get a debuff that tells you to "rethink your definition of "right"".
    • Hunter player characters are often avid collectors, and will search the game world for "rare spawn" beasts that appear periodically. As such, if you kill such a beast in a Cataclysm zone, your reward is the Crystalline Tear of Loyalty, which is described as "The desire to serve as a loyal companion, coalesced into a single priceless crystal". It doesn't do anything, but you can sell it for 25 gold. You bastard.
    • One of the harshest reminders that War Is Hell comes during a quest in Dragonblight where the quest giver tells you to kill an officer and use her device to gain information on Ley Lines. If her cry of "Sorry Daddy," right before you kill her doesn't make you feel like a monster, [this letter on her corpse] certainly will.
    • Very subtle one happens in Karazhan. In the Raid version hallways leading up to the Maiden of Virtue's room, the players run into [Concubines], which are succubi trying the usual tricks of such demons. In the dungeon version of the place (which is done later, chronologically) the Concubines are now called [Reformed Maidens]. Compare the quotes, and the realization hits hard. The Maiden was trying to reform them and was making progress until you ruined it by attacking them!
  • You Can See Me?: Players use mind control to help a raptor escape from Zul'Gurub, only to be caught at the very end by Jin'do the Hexxer. At first it seems like the trolls are just going to put the raptor in a cage, but Jin'do is a powerful Witch Doctor, and knows the player is mind controlling the raptor; he ends the quest by calling out to the player, and breaks the mind control.
    • Same thing happens in the Twilight Highlands, when Cho'gall notices the player spying on him with a magic scrying device.
  • You Have No Chance to Survive: C'thun spends the entire time you are inside his lair (Temple of Ahn'Qiraj) taunting you with this, before you even get to him.

C'thun: "You are already dead."

  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In the Arcatraz dungeon, Warden Mellichar, under the influence of mind control, releases Harbinger Skyriss, and is promptly killed by him.
  • Also called out by name in the quest 'Dread Head Redemption.'
  • You Killed My Sister: In Blackwing Depths, you fight Nefarian and Onyxia, the former having reanimated the latter. Subverted as when you kill Onyxia, again, Nefarian doesn't seem so hurt over losing his sister, instead berating you for "callous disregard for one's possessions".
  • You Mean "Xmas": Azeroth has several holidays that are based on real world holidays including: Noble Garden (Easter), Hallow's End (Halloween), and the Feast of Winter Veil (Christmas). They even have Pirate's Day (Talk Like a Pirate Day).
  • You No Take Candle: The Trope Namer phrase is said by kobolds in Elwynn Forest, who attempt to protect the candles on their heads.
  • Your Princess Is in Another Castle: The Wrathgate event in Lich King. No, Bolvar Fordragon and Saurfang the Younger aren't going to defeat Arthas halfway through Dragonblight, so you just know this isn't going to end well.
    • The battle between Alexstrasza and Deathwing in the Twilight Highlands ends with a badly injured Alexstrasza and a dead Deathwing. He gets better real fast.
  • Your Soul Is Mine: The Lich King's modus operandi. "Frostmourne hungers."
  • Yo-Yo Plot Point: Warcraft started with the Orc invasion of Azeroth, until Warcraft 3 revealed the Orcs were demonically possessed and not all bad, and had to join forces with the Alliance and the Night Elves to defeat the Burning Legion. Some years later, relations between the two have turned sour, sparking a renewed Alliance/Horde war. Burning Crusade sees the return of the Burning Legion, and the two having to work together to defeat the demons again. This continues into Wrath of the Lich King where a cooperative effort to fight the Lich King is ruined by a traitorous faction of Forsaken, which leads to infighting that widens the Alliance/Horde rift. Garrosh Hellscream takes over the Horde and declares open war on the Alliance, just as Deathwing emerges and threatens all of Azeroth; leaving guys like Thrall and Malfurion Stormrage trying to get the Alliance and Horde to focus their attention on the world ending threat instead of each other.
  • Zerg Rush: A common tactic in PvP battlegrounds. Also the main reason for the Death Knight ability Army of the Dead, which summons eight ghouls that swarm anything in range, drawing the attention away from the Death Knight and their group.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: The Scourge Invasion.
  • Zip Mode: You can pay to fly yourself from city to city (as long as you've visited enough cities to unlock the "flight path"). It essentially replicates the effect of flying mounts (which were introduced long after the fast travel system) but automatically follows a set path. They are often ignored by high-level characters due to their circuitous paths that, despite the greater speed of the flight path, end up taking longer than flying yourself, especially if you're already in the field, far from the point that you can get on the FP. Any distance less than 1/3 of a continent is usually best done manually (However, they move at the second fastest flying speed, and being automatic means you can take a break for a moment on the way).
    • On the plus side, players also note that the animation gives you a great scenic view of the world when you're just starting out.
  1. ↑ Reliable firearms and ocean-ready ships ? we're not in Middle Age anymore
  2. ↑ who was added after one of the longest threads in Blizzard forum history called for a female Trade Prince
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