One of the things that always amuses me about WoW and related games is that after saving the city/realm/village/whatever, you are offered a reward. Yet, unfortunately, most of the time said reward is useless. It is indeed a very fine cloth hat with incredible intelligence bonuses, but I’m a warrior and have little use for such things. Conversely, the average mage won’t need a two-handed hammer.
Yet, the text is generally written in such a way to convey the enormous magnitude of the reward. The villager/prince/duke/king/weird-vegetable-man is genuinely grateful for your slaying of the ogre/titan/dragon/15 rats and wants you to have his/her/its prized possession.
Which you can’t use.
Of course, what do you do with it (barring giving it to a friend or alt)? You sell it, of course. Though pragmatic, it is rather un-heroic. Would you pawn your Congressional Medal of Honor? Probably not. The key to a city given to you by a grateful mayor? I don’t know, that would probably depend on the city.
However much you might like to keep said treasure, bank space is limited and you can’t really afford to keep the doohickey around, so you really have to sell it.
The question, of course, is how would that work?
The king, an ornate crown upon his head and precious jewels upon his fingers, leaned forward. “Tell me, noble KillZer, have you defeated the dread dragon of Pointy Mountain?”
KillZer shrugged. “Uh, yeah. Here’s his head.”
‘Plop.’
The king recoiled a bit, as the blood splashed on the hem of his gold-threaded robe. “Umm, I really would have taken your word for it. And the Bandit Lord? Have you bested him as well?”
“Yep,” KillZer said, opening his bag. “Got his hea-“
“No need! Really,” the king said. “Ahem, yes. And finally, Phil the Horribly-Beweaponed. Have you finally ended his twelve-year reign of terror?”
“Sure. Got his left arm here somewhere and a toe or two . . . “ KillZer began rummaging through his backpack.
“Please, no proof other than your word is necessary,” The king said, holding up his hands. “Then, allow me to name you a Knight of this kingdom and bestow upon you this!” At his signal, a page came forward, carrying a long staff covered in intricate runes upon a pillow. “The Staff of Shrieking Fiery Death! Our greatest treasure!”
“Ah.” KillZer scratched his head. “That’s a real nice stick, but do you happen to have any two-handers back there? I really need an upgrade for my sword.”
“Sorry?”
Tomorrow: Part 2
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3 comments:
One of my biggest complaints, not just with WoW, but any game that allows you to build a reputation with in game factions: if I'm this amazing hero who's saved the realm/country/world from the brink of doom three times this week, why aren't treated like one?
Plenty of games have no problems penalizing you for being a fiend or brigand (my most treasured memories of the first Baldur's Gate for PC was being hounded by the Flaming Fist), but not rewarding your for being a selfless savior. Sure, I get a 15% discount at merchants, but is that really all my effort is worth?
Where are my parades? Where is my fan club that meets every other Thursday? Where are the saucy wenches that hit on me in taverns, and where are the grateful peasants that buy me a pint? The closest I've seen is in Fable, where people cheer your name in the streets, and the bards sing of your deeds, but that just seems like lip service.
Well, Sha'tari Skyguard all cheer in WoW, and say things like "There's ace pilot so and so", and Wyrmrest in Wrath, when you do the daily at the Temple. While your faction goes up when you get on the dragon to defend the temple he says things like "I've only heard stories about you" or "With you on the team this will be easy."
I am working on more exalted factions in Wrath, maybe there will be an obscure one that will give me things.... Wait! That reminds me, I should go hit up the Consortium guy in Nagrand. The gems are basically useless now, but I could level my alt's JCing.
As to what I do with all those nifty rewards - I disenchant them behind the king's back so I can at least get some use from it :D
Actually, the best game for that sort of thing was City of Heroes. The civilians would talk about your recent exploits as you passed by and they did a really good job of making you feel like a hero.
Well, that and you got to beat the tar out of people with your fists. Nothin' more heroic than that :)
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