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Millenium Interview with Anne Stickney and Katherine Bankson - Narrative and Lore Questions in Patch 10.2
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Publié
17/10/2023 à 14:25
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Looking forward to Dragonflight Patch 10.2, French gaming website
Millenium interviewed Lead Narrative Designer Anne Stickney and Assistant Lead Quest Designer Katherine Bankson
, discussing some burning lore questions in Guardians of the Dream.
See the original interview on Millenium.org
Rather than many interviews which focus on gameplay or technical aspects, these questions address some lore inconsistencies and questions raised by recent events. Please keep in mind that our coverage has also been translated from its original French.
How did Alexstrasza figure out Fyrakk was coming for Amirdrassil?
At the end of the quest linked to the Dungeon of the Dawn of the Infinite (Patch 10.1.5), Alexstrasza informs us of Fyrakk's imminent attack on Amidrassil and that we must warn Merithra. How can she know when at this point in history everyone was unaware that this was her plan?
Anne Stickney:
"There is a cutscene that plays at the end of the dungeon during which Nozdormu talks with Alexstrasza, and Nozdormu mentions that he "only sees fiery clouds." After that, Alexstrasza simply match the elements she has in her possession and supposes that these flames can only be those of Fyrakk, and that he would undoubtedly seek to attack the tree. This is why she believes that "We need to talk to Merithra soon, because if Nozdormu can see him then this is something we need to prepare for."
Blue-eyed Blood Elves are now canon. Man'ari Paladins might be.
Bringing new customizations for playable races is a great addition to Dragonflight. However, this seems to bring a lot of "errors" to the NPCs in the game. For example, I have already seen many Blood Elf guards with blue eyes. Do you manage the implementation of NPC customizations to avoid errors? Can we fear that Man'ari Paladins will one day be visible by mistake, for example?
Katherine Bankson:
"Blood Elves can have blue eyes now, it's not just a customization available to players! Time has passed since the game's debut, some Blood Elves have golden eyes now while others have returned to their original blue color. The fact that such guards exist is not only related to the customizations available to players, but also and above all to the fact that time has passed since Blood Elves found themselves infused with Fel, giving them this greenish eye tint."
"In that sense, I think that if we place a Man'ari Paladin in the world of Warcraft then it will be a deliberate choice, and then after all... who says the Man'ari can't defend the light ? I think this would be a very interesting character! If we were to add such a character into the game, it would not be a narrative error, it would be a deliberate choice on the part of one of our developers aimed at introducing an element that he considers interesting to develop. in the history of the game."
Anne Stickney:
"In Legion, there was for example a Nathrezim, Lothraxion, who chose to join the Army of Light. There are therefore indeed characters fel or infused by Fel who changed sides over the course of their lives. So it would truly be a deliberate choice ."
Evolving the narrative arc from Cataclysm to Dragonflight.
Patch 10.2 clearly echoes Patch 4.2 of Cataclysm (Tindral replaces Fandral as leader of the Druids of the Flame for example). Where do you want to go with such a creative process for the story? Do you think legacy is about reproducing the past?
Anne Stickney:
"I don't know if it's necessarily about 'reproducing the past' or just bringing a new perspective by evolving a narrative arc. We defeated Fandral in Cataclysm, but we didn't truly "sanitized" the ranks of the Druids of the Flame, they only sort of dispersed. Since then, they no longer really had anyone capable of listening to them. Fandral was obsessed with his quest for immortality, and for for him this could only be accomplished by taking the path of Fire."
"After the burning of Teldrassil, many Kaldorei found themselves more willing to listen to what the Druids of the Flame had to say. The idea is therefore to move this story forward rather than reproduce the past: since the Amidrassil tree is present, it is a plot very largely focused on the Night Elves and all this takes place in the Emerald Dream which is a place very linked to the Druids so it makes sense to bring back these antagonists and show what has happened to them over the last few years."
A gradual reveal as the Dragon Isles continue to awaken over time.
I have the feeling that there are serious context issues in the initiation of certain expansions. For example, the context of the awakening of the Dragon Islands is non-existent in game even though Steve Danuser revealed it to me during a previous interview. Is this a voluntary narrative process?
Katherine Bankson:
"I think we showed the awakening of the islands. You even played through it during the Dragonflight Pre-Patch. We revealed the intro cinematic for Dragonflight which represents the moment in which the islands awaken, but it wasn't a brief moment after which it stopped: the islands continued to awaken as players set foot on them, the entire world continued to awaken even as we walk these lands. So showing what was happening was a deliberate process."
Anne Stickney:
"The introductory cinematic of the expansion, the one with Koranos, "Stony Tony" as the community calls him, presented the latter in sleep before we see a temporal transition revealing to us that the years have passed and the islands woke up after a long, long time after the cutscene started. This is a sort of prologue to a story, and we didn't want to reveal all the details about it in a prologue. The goal was just to set the scene before letting the story be gradually revealed... And I think we were quite effective in that with Dragonflight!"
An alliance of convenience between the Primalists and Druids of the Flame.
The Primalists came out of nowhere with the Dragonflight Pre-Patch without any context in order to free the "big bads". They are now replaced by the Druids of the Flame with the same problems. Why not consider them simple Primalists?
Anne Stickney:
"We've spent the entire expansion dealing with the Primalists, there aren't many left (although there are still some), but they're no longer the invasion force they were represented at the start of the expansion. On the other hand, the Druids of the Flame have a certain interest in what is at stake in the Emerald Dream and on the side of Amidrassil. Are they working towards the liberation of "big bads"? No! They have their own goals, their own "agenda" so to speak. They are working for and with Fyrakk... for now! This is an important distinction to make: it is above all a question of an alliance of circumstances here! Contextually speaking, it seems to us to make sense to bring back these characters in order to make them evolve and show what has happened to them since our last meeting with them."
Katherine Bankson:
"The other thing to point out is that the Emerald Dream is a druidic realm. Therefore, Fyrakk had to find allies who could lead him into the Emerald Dream, and what allies are better placed to succeed in this task than Druids having a prior convergent interest? The powers of the Primalists are more shamanistic by nature, they could not have allowed him to enter the Dream, the Druids of the Flame are best placed for this precisely because they are Druids."
Humor offers breaks in the narrative.
There has been some criticism recently about the quests in Dragonflight, particularly about the quality of writing of some of the quests in the expansion, with many being considered too focused on humor and not enough on the evolution of the game. 'plot. In your opinion, hasn't the balance of this part of the narration been broken in favor of a little too much humor?
Katherine Bankson:
"WoW has always had humor, even in Vanilla! Humor and less serious quest lines are necessary because they offer a break, a way to breathe and settle down for a little while. A narrative that does not take the time to pause between all the serious intrigues that it involves can be felt as very, very stifling, not to mention the fact that if the players are too regularly confronted with the same narrative process they become get used to it and eventually get bored. So, if you are serious all the time, how do you tell your players that what is happening before their eyes is very, very serious? It is necessary to have a certain rhythm allowing serious elements to be put in place and then offering a break, before starting again. The offbeat quest sequences offer players a way to take a little break and contrast the narrative a lot to allow them to appreciate more greatly still the serious events that are approaching."
"We have a lot of quests relating to the evolution of the narrative of the expansion, the campaigns in particular which turn out to be rather serious. But even within these campaigns we need to offer these moments of respite to allow serious events to have a real impact."
Anne Stickney:
"I would also like to add that it was a real joy working on Dragonflight for everyone who contributed to it. So you can really feel this very joyful approach in everything that was created! So, if anyone wanted to create a quest that was fun and even a little crazy we just said "Sure, go for it!", the same way as if someone suggested we create something very sincere and deep. I think that all this humor is an excellent reflection of the joy that everyone was able to take in the design of this expansion."
Katherine Bankson:
"And to talk about the Bronze Dragon Flight for example, you are often dealing with this slightly ambient madness with completely offbeat quests and interactions. I think that when we have in our hands something so fantastic and wonderful that time it would be a shame not to exploit it in a light way, without forgetting some more sincere and serious elements, in order to allow the most important and heartbreaking elements to be highlighted in relation to the rest."
Exploring Tyr's purpose in Dragonflight.
We have a whole Dragonflight story arc aimed at resurrecting Tyr, so a flashback. While the theme of heritage is central to this expansion, what purpose would such a story bring?
Anne Stickney:
"I can't say too much about where this whole story is going since, you know...spoilers! Tyr and his involvement with the Dragonflights has been a big thing since the Flights' inception long ago, he helped out and created the Silver Hand even! He has a certain relationship with dragons, and we had to talk about that if we chose to talk about dragons. The Aspects were infused in part thanks to Tyr! His influence is therefore present everywhere on the Dragon Islands, so... why not bring him back? He is a Watcher, a creation of the Titans! If you can restart a Watcher, why not do it? Even more, if you can reboot a Watcher who was involved in what you are, why not do it? I have the feeling that the involvement of Vyranoth and other characters similar could allow them to ask a lot of questions to Tyr that they have kept within them for a long time. Will he have any answers to give them? It will no doubt be interesting to find out!”
Inconsistencies and narrative errors can be opportunities.
If you discovered what turned out to be a narrative error after the fact, how would you go about fixing it?
Katherine Bankson:
"When we see this type of inconsistent element, we always wonder if it's a narrative error or an unreliable narrator. Many stories in WoW were written by the Titans or from the perspective of the Titans or those who have only heard one sound of the bell. Recently and as we evolve the world of Warcraft we discover different points of view which contrast with what we've always been told. Is this an opportunity to show the world from a different perspective, or is it a pure contradiction preventing us from doing anything with it altogether? So we evaluate based on of this and seek the most suitable solution. These different perspectives sometimes allow us to create a more vibrant, more interesting world."
"WoW is a living world, it is not static. Therefore, certain elements may sometimes have been perceived as errors and we try to transform them into opportunities in order to create something coherent."
Anne Stickney:
"As a Narrative Designer, I'm regularly in touch with my colleagues in quest design who pitch me their ideas. Sometimes they pitch me great things but there's an element of the game's story that contradicts what they are proposing. So I explain to them that we will have to get around this problem which often turns out not even to be that huge... How? Already, I don't see the "narrative errors" like real mistakes. Like Kathy said when talking about the different perspectives, who was the narrator for example? Where did that piece of the story come from that you think is a mistake? Is that something we can work around or incorporate into the story, or is it really weird? And if it's so weird, do we really want to highlight that weirdness?"
"There are lots of ways to look at what you consider to be "mistakes" without necessarily seeing them as such. It’s often more about opportunities to be seized than mistakes!”
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