#18 - Sept. 15, 2009, 2:33 a.m.
Q u o t e:
When creating WotLK, Blizzard contrasted their intentions for Arthas' role in the expansion with Illidan's presence in BC and Outland. They stated that they wanted everyone to get a sense of the character and his impact as they progress through WotLK and the story. I personally think that that is a great idea and hope that they continue with that thinking with Deathwing in Cataclysm.
However, has Blizzard thought about how they're going to go about doing this and whether or not they're satisfied with their portrayal of Arthas since the expansion? If you ask me, Arthas has turned into a kind of failure antagonist the likes of Elmer Fudd, Tom, Team Rocket, Wiley Coyote, or Boris and Natasha. The cartoon villain comparison seems fairly accurate given Arthas' new "I'll get you next time!" (/shakesfist) persona.
TLDR: Are you planning on making Deathwing a more badass villain than Arthas was? Granted sundering Azeroth from the get-go puts him head and shoulders above Arthas already, but I'm still curious.
Well, to be clear we do like giving players of all types a better sense of the primary antagonist of any expansion, whether they prefer solo content, small group play, or raiding. In that same regard, we're not done yet either (you'll have to wait until patch 3.3 rears its head to find out more about that). We're pretty happy overall with how Arthas's presence has been weaved into this expansion versus the very hidden role of Illidan during The Burning Crusade.
In contrast though, Arthas as the Lich King is a
very different character than Deathwing. People can probably more easily identify with his history. They can better understand how a person who is, at the very least, morally neutral can be swayed toward darkness, whether or not his intentions were good or the ends justified the means. Deathwing is
vastly alternative. Since his return to Azeroth will drastically alter the planet, we definitely want players to be familiar with him. We want newer players to know more about his long and troubled history as they're leveling through the refurbished 1-55 zones or the brand new 78-85 zones.
At the same time though he doesn't have quite the personality as someone like Arthas, with whom people can identify on some level as I previously mentioned. He may not be as directly involved in your game play experience as you're questing, but we fully intend to give him a considerable presence in Cataclysm. Well... to an extent. Given his power, if he showed up in front of you in his current form while you're questing, your jaw would be molten liquid before it could drop to the floor. ;)
