Friday, August 14, 2015

Considering Rogue Order Hall Ideas

A few classes already have something like "Class Order Halls." Druids have had their own dedicated zone since vanilla in the Moonglade (not that there's a ton of stuff to do there.) Death Knights have what I personally think is the coolest in Acherus, the Ebon Hold (then again, I already think Death Knights are the coolest class, aesthetically, so I'm biased.) Monks have the Peak of Serenity.

It has not actually been confirmed that these existing class-specific areas will be or house the new order halls coming in Legion. We've heard the most about the Paladin one, and a bit about Warlocks and Shamans, as well as initial plans for Rogues, which brings us to the issue at hand.

Rogues actually had a class-specific area in vanilla as well - Ravenholdt Manor. Ravenholdt really didn't have a ton of interesting stuff to do until Cataclysm's 4.3 patch and the Fangs of the Father Legendary quest chain (lots of Rogue stuff on the blog lately - a coincidence as far as I know, but I only write the things.)

Blizzard mentioned off-hand that they were thinking they'd make the Dalaran Sewers the order hall for Rogues, and that has gotten a lot of people up in arms.

The flavor of a rogue is basically that they're probably a part of the criminal element, or even if not, they're definitely in the seedy underbelly of their society (acting perhaps not as thieves or thugs, but as spies and assassins.)

But "criminal" can have vastly different interpretations. You could be affiliated with the downtrodden and dangerous parts of urban areas, hiding secretly within the cities that house otherwise polite societies. Perhaps you live a tough life in which any job can be done if the money's good enough, and you're always just trying to stay ahead.

Yet the fantasy of Ravenholdt Manor is a different kind of Rogue - this is the career criminal who is good at what they do, and with that skill, they have acquired massive amounts of wealth and use that to live the good life - a life of luxury and refinement, all because you don't get squeamish about performing tasks that others would turn their nose up at.

I've always conceived of my Rogue as this latter kind - he may be undead, but in-character, he'd only drink the finest wines and eat endangered songbirds. He'd have a box seat reserved for him at the opera.

But I don't think that this urban, underground and hidden in the dangerous parts of town style of rogue is mutually exclusive with the urbane, cultured and fabulously wealthy variety. How to combine them?

Conspiracy!

If any class order ought to be some kind of ancient, society-controlling conspiracy - the way that uninformed or paranoid people think of the Masons or the Illuminati - it ought to be Rogues. Rogues are all about sneakiness, but that could extend to the kind of complex symbology and rituals that these organizations (at least the Masons) really do engage in, with some sinister plotting and criminal activities that make conspiracy theorists grab their tin-foil hats.

The thing about Dalaran is that it's so clearly a Mage city. While it doesn't currently really have Mage-specific anything, it's clearly the most Mage-centric location in the game. I'm fairly confident that we'll be seeing the Mage order headquartered here. Granted, it might not be a good idea to have any class order in the new capital city - the Order Halls should maybe be a place to avoid the inevitable Dala-lag.

Having a group of society-controlling Rogues in a Mage city might make some sense - the symbols that Mages are into, like the Violet Eye of Dalaran, could totally fit into a pseudo-masonic order of thieves.

But the place is going to be laggy enough with all the players hanging out there and the Mages probably getting their Order Hall there as well.

No, the place I'd want to see Rogues congregate if not Ravenholdt Manor is Gilneas City.

Gilneas City is one of the most gorgeous locations in the game. It's used quite well in the Worgen "kiddie pool" experience (first five-ish levels,) and then again during a rather rousing quest that sadly ends with Liam Greymane dead, and once more when Horde players go there to strike against the Alliance forces that are re-taking Gilneas. It's also used in the Rogue dagger quest chain (see the reset post.) But by default, the place, like the rest of Gilneas is totally abandoned.

I love the idea of a group of powerful conspirators setting up shop in an abandoned city. Perhaps they, ultimately, are the reason it remains abandoned - they maintain the stalemate so that no one will think to search the city for their secret cabal.

And to top it all off, it'd give us an excuse to go back to Gilneas!

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