Aledar's Reappearance And Other Silent Expanse Opinions

I've just now finished the new Silent Expanse quests in all three of my main classes and I feel finally confident enough to make this post with some of my thoughts on them.

First, I must say, even though this was one of the shortest updates in terms of sheer gameplay time, it was also the most enjoyable for me. This was the only time that I felt actually threatened by a boss in Wynn, because of the whole years of build up and the fact that it has actual gameplay mechanics to learn how to avoid and counter. Moreover, just the atmosphere of the expanse alone was already enough to give me the chills.

However, the intent of this post is to talk about something that goes beyond just the Road to Dern, and that could affect the entire game, in all of it's levels


*REAPEARING CHARACTERS:

Knowing that we, the player, are not the only part of this world that is going forward and evolving, changes Wynn in an unimaginable way. The fact that NPC's such as Aledar had a whole life while we were exploring the provinces, gives the world a life that it didn't have before.

This fact means that, from now on, the people we meet in our journey are not rendered instantaneously useless after their quest is over, they still could have more stories to tell. If the Content Team manages to apply the same concept they did with Aledar to other NPC's, suddenly we have a reason to care about them, because they could come back and have an actual impact in the main story.


*SOME SUGGESTIONS AND CRITIQUES:

First of all, this is in no way a rant, in fact, it's quite the opposite, it's more of an ode to what Wynncraft could be in the future.

So... remember what I said about Aledar? Well, although revolutionary, his reappearance doesn't exactly work in the intended way. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that I had just started a new Shaman class when I did the "A journey beyond" on my old Mage account, I probably wouldn't have even considered Aledar being someone I had already met (despite the very obvious clues).

The problem is that most NPC's feel irrelevant during the entire gameplay, and only having them reappear 90 levels afterwards doesn't change this.

I have a couple of suggestions that could maybe help solve this and they involve sprinkling cameos and participations in low and mid level quests. For example:

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-ENZAN's BROTHER:

This quest got very weird over time. It used to introduce powders, but now it has no gameplay mechanics, no new features being introduced, and the whole quest is literally just walking forward, which, in my opinion, is even worse than a simple fetch quest.

I have always wondered why you're the only soldier taking requests from citizens (I mean, I know corruption hit the government pretty bad, but it's not like we're a one man army), so this quest would also help explain this.

Instead of giving the quest to you, Enzan would give it to another soldier (Aledar), and he would then ask you to go with him. During the walk, Aledar would talk to you about his plans for the future, that he heard of a Tower that helps people remembering what happened in Fruma (to build up for Recover the Past, in which he would also appear).
Then, in the middle of the road, a citizen will ask for Aledar's help to cure their son's wounds with one of his potions. Aledar then asks you to go meet Enzan's brother while he aids the other NPC's.

Aledar could also appear in RECOVER THE PAST; As a student in THE ORDER OF THE GROOK; some of the DUNGEON QUESTS (instead of random mages); amongst other quests.


-MAXIE (FROM CORKUS):

Maxie is another character that was very loved when the Corkus' quests came out, but get's introduced and dished out very fast.
For him, I think it would be interesting to include him in THE ORDER OF THE GROOK, as a student having trouble learning electromagic in the thunder class.

Besides, he could also be the one operating some of the machines (drills) from Corkus that never work (such as the ones in the quests FROST BITE and DWARVES AND DOGUNS I) to make his redemption in finally learning electromagic feel more meaningful -- By the way, I'm aware D&D1 comes after the Corkus quests and am not sure how to solve this.


-KING BURTAN (THE DWARVEN KING OF THANOS):

Speaking of D&D... We all know it is not perfect, but it's still very good and could be even better. I've seen in the forums a post suggesting some changes to be made in the quest line itself.

However, what I want to suggest here is to create a lower level quest in the first Dwarven city you visit (Thanos), introducing you to the Rodoroc drama involving the Dwarves and the Doguns, being told to you from the point of view of the Dwarves. That way the D&D quest line would be less of a black and white scenario and have a bigger surprise when you learn the truth.

Besides, KING BURTAN, whom you helped in THE BELLY OF THE BEAST, could come back in D&D4 to assist you convince the KING OF RODOROC to stop the war.


-OTHER RANDOM THINGS:

The miner from TUNNEL TROUBLE should reappear in THE CANNARY CALLS.
All of the GENERALS OF LLEVIGAR should have a quest uniting them.

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*TL;DR: Charcter's reappearing is very cool, do it more + some suggestions.

Looking forward to hear your opinions.


Edit: Fixed some writing mistakes. Also would like to acknowledge that Drale and the Ragni Chef also reappear later on in the game, although in a more joking way

 

yes

 

I would really like there to be small cameo like encounters with characters that have appeared/will appear for example: Seeing Aledar at the play in D&D1 or seeing doctor legendary travelling on an airship maybe seeing Tasim's corpse (Assumming he is dead) as a ulitmate discovery. Maybe Drale in Gavel with the cows in a church or in a camp at the other side of the large hills near Gavel. Seeing some people like Tom in Grookwarts. Maybe finding Enzan in a bar. This would make the world feel alive.
Also about Enzan's brother I think it is meant to be a quest where you head along the road and get introduced to the gameplay and the build quality and stuff like that. Also I know this may be hard but I would like to see music playing based on what quest you're doing.

 

It's a yes for me.

An absolute yes.

 

This is exactly what a lot of the quests and NPCs have been missing in my opinion. The only NPCs I have cared about enough to remember have been Ooni, Yahya and his brothers, and Amadel. Other than that, it's just people telling me to do stuff and giving me cash. I liked the end of the Wynnexc series when you talked with the king of Ragni for your reward, because it implied some change over time and because it tied together the one of the last quests (at the time) and the very first one.

 

Should this be in suggestions?

 

I fucking love this and Salted needs to see it.

 

Orikal comes from nesaak, maybe let him be the NPC for the ice barrows quest? Or just play a role in it. The order of the grook is a great quest and gives a lot of lore stuff, I think grookwarts can be serve a bigger purpose and can be reused for future quests. The headmaster can appear in future quests. Rayshyroth can appear in corruption class in order of the grook, Ragon can appear in order of the grook, and in journey beyond(the darkness and elements part). And hey, you can consult the headmaster instead of some random blacksmith about the darkness too.

this idea has a big YES from me

 

Aledar isn't the first time that an NPC reappears– Drale is in Tunnel Trouble and later reappears in Cowfusion.

Chef Hamsey from Recipe for Disaster is the same person as The Cook from Cook Assistant.

 

Maxi should appear in Fallen Factory. There's no reason that after all you've gone through he just sits behind and doesn't attempt to help you destroy the factory.

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Mentions of the doguns being a demonic evil should be sprinkled throughout Gavellian dialogues.

 

yes but make it for quests that no one does so they are done again (looking at you, CotL)

 

Also Ragni’s King appears in both Kings Recruit and Wynnex 4

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That said Aledar is probably the most in depth example

 

Um, are y'all forgetting TASIM? Yes, we do (SPOILER) see him in a Hunter's Calling but that was a alternate universe (or maybe timeline) I'm interested about Tasim as he's the last living person we met when we began our journey and would fill up Aledar's loss as your only "friend"

 

The only cameos I really remember are the Yahya cameos, which are always a highlight might I add

 

This is a bit wild, but what if previous completed quests affected new quests, almost undertale-style?
(would have to somehow implement this in a not-aldorei's-secret-way or else the items would get out of hand)

Ex. If you helped Maxie out before starting DnD, he would help you out at the drill part (even something as small as giving you longer time to solve the puzzle)
And he wouldn't appear if you hadn't done the corkus quests.

Would make the world feel more connected and overall just really neat to see an old friend pop up

 

The characters don't even have to appear directly, maybe just indirectly. For example, something I really liked about Wynncraft is that during Beyond the Grave, there's a room in Death's Mansion that has a bunch of hourglasses. Death explains that the hourglasses represent how much time people have left. There are a bunch of hourglasses for NPCs we already know, eg. Referick (The Headless Hunt), Amadel, Worid (Jungle Fever), etc. in my opinion, Wynncraft should really do this more, along with the idea that you mentioned.

 

It should be put in suggestion I think too.
@The Fool