The Radish Reward

EDIT: This has turned into a 4-part series! For the full story, read all 4 posts:
Emblems of Easymode
Badges, and Emblems, and Carrots Oh My!
The Carrot Complex
The Radish Reward

So in yesterday’s very long post I came to the conclusion that what I’m really looking for is an iconic piece of gear that provides a visual indicator that the player is skilled.

Really, it’s what I was trying to get at.

I want something I can work towards that cannot be handed to me and that I cannot be carried to. In turn, for this item to have this worth to me I would want the others sporting it to have faced the same trials and tribulations that I did to earn the piece.

It would be like our secret symbol. We pass each other on the streets of Dalaran and nod at each other, recognizing each other as a brother in arms.

My current carrot is the tier gear but the upcoming changes to badges will make it even easier (just time consuming) for any player to get their hands on my carrot.

Much as the ice stone has melted, my carrot has wilted.

Instead of looking for a carrot, I now want a radish.

One of the things that I enjoyed in the lower levels was that most of my characters were given some sort of class-specific quest chain.

Go out in the world, brave, young [insert class here] and learn how to wield this power of [insert ability here]. Return to me when you have completed this arduous task.

It was like mini-rites of passage for learning some of the beefier spells in your book.

It was also a supreme opportunity for the developers to steep you in the lore of your specific class (and sometimes race).

I know I’ve briefly mentioned it before, but the difference in learning to resurrect someone from the perspective of a dwarf paladin to that of a blood elf paladin is just incredible. I really got a feel for the difference in how each representative of the class fit into the bigger picture.

Alas, with an interest in making leveling less of a pain in the ass, Blizzard has set about removing these long, painstaking quest lines.

Hmmm…. learning to use iconic class abilities were removed in the interest of making leveling easier so people can get to end-game content faster.

At end game, there are a lot of different play styles ranging from the hardcore raiders spending hours upon hours learning to defeat the newest challenges to the ultra casuals that only get to log on once or twice a week for a few hours at a time.

I want my radish to be an indicator that an individual knows how to play well. Not only that, but it’s important to me that it be an indicator that they can play their chosen class well. The radish should be accessible to individuals and not require the support of 24 other people.

How about…

(Prepare for my idea of awesomeness that will never see the light of day inside the game but would make me the happiest player ever.)

Moving the iconic class quests to end game?

They would be completely optional, as most quests are, but would provide a plump, red radish for a lot of us.

These quest chains would have to be epic. Not long, drawn-out, tedious grinding of reputation. Not kill 25 of these and bring me 40 ears off creatures that seem to not have ears upon closer examination of their corpses. But truly epic.

These would be quest chains that would test your knowledge and your limits as a player of your class. I would expect them to be difficult enough that most people would fail them a few times.

Now here’s where the trick would be. If I were to run out to Icecrown and finish questing there (hell, if I were to ever get off my ass and START questing there), I can bring a whole pack of friends with me. Even if there is a stipulation in the quest that I can have no one else in the party (like some of the bombing run achievements), I can still have a horde of helpfuls easing my way.

The quests would have to be phased or instanced to avoid this. This should be mano-a-questo. No outside interference.

What about hybrid classes?

The developers would hate this… but the hybrid classes would need to have options.

Do you want to prove yourself as a tank, a healer, or a DPS? A separate quest line for each viable role would need to be created.

Don’t ask me what the quests would look like, that would be up to the very talented people at Blizzard.

But I do have a couple ideas.

Particularly for healers and tanks (so I think the format should spill over to DPS), they don’t shine on their own. They are an integral part of a group.

Therefore, they should be in a group. A group of non-retarded NPCs (the developers would hate that too). They’ve done this sort of thing before, think Wrathgate.

Imagine you’re a healer given a quest to join Thrall a la Durnholde Keep in Caverns of Time. You’ve also got the troll leader there (sorry, can’t remember his name and can’t be buggered to go find it) and their top generals. They are on some very important mission and it’s your responsibility to keep them alive.

Rogues could have to infiltrate some fortress and meet up with their contacts inside. Not just stealth right through the gates, but actually stick to walls, watch the movements of patrols, distract the guards, avoid the detector hounds. Once met up with the contacts, the group heads deeper into the keep and pilfers important documents, poisons a traitor, and does other rogue-type stuff.

Tanks are given the task to escort a group of refugees through hostile territory. As they are ambushed, the warrior tank has to intervene to the rescue, the paladin throws sacred shields around, whatever they do.

Mages would actually have to fucking remove curses on people in the party!!!! (Not that I’m bitter or anything about some mages not even having Remove Curse on their toolbar…)

Stuff like that.

Each class (and role within) would have these crazy, exciting quests where you could experience parts of the story that they haven’t been able to show before.

At the culmination of your quest chain you get the radish.

What should the radish be?

A title could be cool.

But quite a few titles are available through just repetitive grinds.

Arioch of Silvermoon here. And Orgrimmar. And Undercity. And Sen’Jin. Am I done jousting yet? Please? I’m tired of spamming 1.

How about a tabard?

Meh.

Are they ever going to change the graphics so it doesn’t look like I’m tucking mine in like a freaky bib? What if I want to show my guild pride? Or what if I’m still grinding rep in instances with the Ebon Blade? What if I want to stand on the steps of the bank in Dal flexing bare-chested?

It’s got to be a piece of gear.

I’m honestly thinking a weapon.

Something equivalent to the best in slot weapon available in raiding.

And since each class role would have a separate quest line, the weapon could be specific to that purpose. Wouldn’t want to give the prot pally a bunch of +spellpower and haste, would we?

I’m thinking with dual spec, classes with multiple roles would be eligible to take on each quest line available for their class. This way they could have the appropriate radish for the role they are using in the game at the appropriate time. And since it’s happening at end game, you don’t have to worry about giving experience for these quests.

For single-role classes (*cough* mage *cough*) they might have to offer a selection of weapons. I know fire likes their crit, but as arcane, I really want the haste. Maybe have some sort of exchange system if specs are changed.

And of course, the visuals on these would have to be out of the park. Beautiful and detailed. With sparkles.

It would replace that missing element of each class being special.

It would be available to the casuals and the hardcores alike.

It would require that you actually are a good player.

Most importantly…

It would fill my need to obsess over a salad fixing.