So this is another one of those ideas that they couldn't possibly include in the game without redesigning it from the game up... so uh... this is a suggestion for WoW 2? I don't know. I just get ideas like this and feel the desire to share them. (Though come to think of it, one of these ideas could work in the game with some re-working.)

So basically this is two ideas but I figured I might as well put them in one topic instead of 2.

So to start off, my morality idea would work pretty much like it does in KOTOR. You've got dark-side quests and light-side quests. (Except they're called 'diabolical' quests and 'heroic' quests. But that's just a flavour thing.) Diabolical quests give you rewards of the material variety, you get better loot from these quests. (Blue quality) Heroic quests give you other benefits, such as badges which will boost your rep with certain factions (hint: it's the factions that would be considered 'heroic'.).

Another thing I wanted to suggest was a way to sort of separate the Forsaken and Horde and Sentinels and Alliance a bit more. Essentially, what I see is that the only way to even cross continents is not immediately available like it is now. (i.e. no Zeppelin from Orgrimmar straight to Undercity. Or one from Auberdine to Stormwind/Menethil) Instead, you must take a zeppelin from Hammerfall to Splintertree or Sunrock Retreat or Thousand Needles or something about that level range. And the boat from Menethil to Theramore would be the Alliance-equivalent. And essentially instead of starting neutral with the opposite faction (Sentinels/Alliance, Undercity/Horde, like I said.) You start unfriendly, and have to do a medium-length questline in Hammerfall (for Horde), Tarren Mill (for Forsaken, remember the Orc who wants you to free his buddies in Alterac?) Theramore (for Alliance), and Nijel's Point (for Sentinels). Until this questline is done you cannot do anything with the opposing faction.

Also kinda counted into this is the morality system. There are far more heroic quests for example in Mulgore than there are in say Brill. (Where I imagine there to be only one: the one where you build a blanket for that lady.) This sort of gives the sense that it's much easier to be villainous as a Forsaken around Forsaken than it is for a Tauren to be villainous among Tauren. But it can be done, there can be a selfish Tauren or a heroic Forsaken.

Anyway, I have some other ideas for this, but I'll leave you all with what I've got so far. Give me your thoughts on this completely hypothetical idea.

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"The Demons did their job well. You creatures are as reckless and bloodthirsty as they ever were."

Sounds like an awesome idea. Only qualm with it would be that for someone who wanted to complete all quests, he'd be caught in some kind of equilibrium.

If anything, instead of doing Diabolical or Heroic quests, just give your character an option of how to end the quest, in a heroic or diabolical fashion.

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There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man.

Well, certain quests wouldn't be able to be done. For example there'd be a diabolical quest to kill the person who wants the blanket, for fear she might betray the Forsaken and give important information to the Scourge. If you kill her you can't exactly make her a blanket. And if you make her a blanket then you get reprimanded by the Forsaken commander in the town. (Though you can still kill her afterward to save face). So if you wanted to do EVERY quest in the game, you'd have to be very specific about what order you did it in.

But eh, I don't even think doing every quest in the game should be feasible.

That could work for certain quests, but I don't think it'd work for all of them, and that'd take some of the fun out of it.

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"The Demons did their job well. You creatures are as reckless and bloodthirsty as they ever were."

From what I've read, BioWare will be continuing this philosophy in their Old Republic MMO. Apparently, they want to give players the option of having a Light or Dark side character on both the Republic or Sith Empire. This will apply to non-Force using characters as well.

I fully support this idea. In every mmo I've ever played, the one thing missing is choice, real roleplaying. I understand that different races and cultures are meant to represantational of certian archetypes, but IMO you should be able to choose your path within the dictates of that setting. For example, an undead getting a quest to free the human prisoners in the Undercity would be "evil" to the Forsaken. I've heard the arguement, "if you wanted to be a good guy you should have rolled a human," but if that was the case, why include any non human races at all? What if I want to steal treasure from the Dwarves, or preform contract assasinations on my Alliance rogue*?

In the original WoW alpaha, Blizzard toyed with the idea of allowing players quests that made them Hostile to their own faction. I've never played either of the Everquest games, but from what others have told me you could choose your own morality and alliances, rather than being stuck with one side or the other. I do like EQ2's Betrayal Quest option, where you can always choose to corrupt or redeem your character. As long as the Heroic versus Diablolic quests focused more on story, rather than simply grinding one side or the other, they would be a great addition to WoW 2.

*There is one quest, A Noble Brew, where the warlock coven under The Slaughtered Lamb have you poison the Alliance noble investigating them. However, the fact that you can do this in full view of the guards and other nobles, pretty much negated the point of the quest for me.

Oh, well the intent would be to do the quests normally as you go along. Like all the Royal Apothecary Quests I'd imagine would be diabolical quests. And look how many of those there are, you kind of have to do them to even level. Though the system wouldn't really operate on points. You'd pretty much just be cut off from doing the diabolical quests or heroic quests in some cases, and in some cases either comes with heavy penalties. (Such as a rep cut if you do diabolical quests as certain races, and heroic quests as undead specifically. Though I suppose if you're a warlock/death knight/whatever, that'd apply too.)

<random tangent> Hm, though come to think of it, the only problem with the four factions thing is there'd be even less people who'd be able to play with eachother. Like if you want to play a night elf and your friend is a human... you'd have to wait thirty levels to meet up with them... huh... I guess that wouldn't be a problem in the new system where it's rather quick to level up.

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"The Demons did their job well. You creatures are as reckless and bloodthirsty as they ever were."

This would be a great idea if there were more neutral cities that allowed the outcasts to do everything they could do in their home faction city. I have a human rogue that I would love to RP as a merc assassin. I would like to see Ravenholdt manor have the ability to become a small hidden city. There would need to be all the trainers there and artisans available in that city. Also a linked auction house and bank. This is what would be necessary for there to be neutral players.

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There is no right or wrong, only the strong and the weak.

I would enjoy this quite a bit. I try to do all the quests in every zone, and that impinges on my ability to play an alt, since everything seems boring. With quest chains that go in different, mutually exclusive directions, it would add a lot of extra enjoyment to playing through a zone you've already seen.

That's my big draw to The Old Republic, by the way. I am ALL OVER that game.

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"Damn, snowcone, what were you for Halloween, a bitch? You best be ready for this shit, Cranberry Juice, cuz you bout to get FUCKED." -L Dubba E