WoW: Because Koltira that's why. XD

[yukie]

So as you start to do the Matthias Lehner questchains, you get a dialogue option when you turn stuff in to cranky Sir Deathweaver.

"Koltira...this might sound strange...but i keep seeing some kid's ghost. Matthias Lehner... Does the name mean anything to you?"

His reply?

"All this fighting is finally getting to you. Don't worry, I won't divulge your little secret--lest the others think you're mad. Get some rest. it'll do you good."



This is one of a fucktillion reasons why I love this guy and why I'm so annoyed that he likely got written out on account of homophobic little stank-baby douchechildren. While he's snarking you into next week, he's also looking out for you, and does give a fuck in his own cantankerous way. You're a comrade--an annoying one, but still.

KOLTIRA IS AWESOME-SAUCE KTHXBAI and I'm sure Thassarian concurs XD XD

Als, my god, Icecrown is so damn much more atmospheric and scary than Twilight Highlands. I'll gush about why when I'm not ridonkulous from Benadryl. XD

Comments

[kintotech]

Icecrown is also eerily pretty.

[yukie]

Oh yessssss

I mean, I have this massive collection of screenshots that JUST KEEPS GROWING because every time I'm flying around there I'm like OMG OMG DETAILS WEIRD FREAKY RUNES GLOWY THINGS SQUEEEEEE.

Who knew Arthas had an interest in architecture? XD

[silverr]

Concur on all points.

(TwiHi was supposed to be scary?)

[yukie]

I'm guessing Twilight Highands area near Cho'gall's Pointy Spire of Doomy Doom was supposed to be scary or at least ominous, and in some ways it was--the weird purple ruptures in the ground were freaky, and those readi-gro metal squigglies look plenty sharp. But...it's way too sprawling. it's too open and too random. There aren't enough guards. There's too many places where I can just cut and run, or go flapping off into the distance on whatever soarbeast I desire. After a few feet I've cleared the spikies and I'm golden.

So it's a little spooky, and Iso'rath was sufficiently what-the-crap (even though the idea of OBVIOUS ELDER GODS N' MINIONS THEREOF makes me want to groan), but...

All of the stuff going on there is recent. Readi-gro metal squigglies means they could have put up the Twilight Citadel (which looks like a wrought-iron trellis thingy I saw once, no word of a lie) overnight. And their organization overall sucks. I mean yeah chaos cult but GUYS REALLY.

Compare and contrast the ICC complex, which is firmly entrenched in the landscape, is fortified all to hell, is bloody damned HUGE (it takes up a whole zone instead of just a third of a one), is protected by an oh-so-very-organized-it's-terrifying, ever-growing force of various creepy people, and is full of gates and spires and pointy things and generally feels like a prison. Add onto that the sort of spirally path you take through the four gates to ICC itself and you have a lovely parallel for "oh, by the way, you're being drawn here because the Big Bad wants you here, and you have no choice but to come!"

Yes it looks very LotR in places, but it works. And I noticed too, flying over it, that the weird ridged surface of the walls on all the buildings makes the whole complex look like any one of those round guardpost tower things like the Shadow Vault could just start turning slowly and start moving along the nearest wall like a bigass gear. And of course all I can think whenever I look at it is "You're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan"...

Yeah. ICC is unnerving. I know it's just funtiem gaems, but I've always had an imagination in overdrive and whenever I'm flying around ICC I'm like "Oh christ, Arthas is SO breathing down my neck here."

Twilight Highlands didn't have anything liek that going for it. It had a gronn (Cho'gall, you are the only one around here who thinks that's a god--ask anyone what happened to Gruul) and some ettins and...yeah. I know it's not THE END DUNGEON TYPE AREA so I'm probably making some crappy comparisons here but generally when it comes to ominous architecture the Scourge beats the PANTS off the Twihards.

[silverr]

*nods* absolutely - Icecrown was ... sprawling yet oppressive. The perpetual gloomy light and overall near colorless sterility of the zone added its own crepe drapery.

And yeah, I can so see what you mean about the ribbed buildings. That'd be very Unstoppable Juggernaut of Death-y.

(Part of my "Huh? Scary? Really?" over TwiHi is that I've done it 7 or 8 times as Ally, a huge chunk of whose quests are related to a rollickin' Wildhammer weddin' (Twihards crash it, but that hardly makes a dent in the levity). ~ So I tend to see the place as more Highlands than Twilight.

[yukie]

Oh yes. I mean, yes they probably used up all the blue pixels ever in that zone, but that overall made it looks darker and added to the sense of foreboding.

COLOUR SCIENCE NERDTIME: As the sun goes down and our pitiful human vision gets wussier, the colour we stop seeing first is red. Long wavelengths go first. (This may be why red light doesn't pwn night vision.) Blue vanishes last. That's part of why it always looks so gloomy around ICC--we have no sun to give us those longer light wavelengths. Sure we see them on robes and armour and things, but even then they're usually muted and dulled down. My two main guys are Blood Elves--pally Aerionn has bright red hair and DK Ishandarr's got the mahogany brown hair. I fly around ICC and both of them lose their mad bright hair--the blue light dulls it waaaay down. Everything just gets swallowed up in the gloam.

And--well, there's a very lizard-brain reaction we have to that. Human night vision is overall ASS as compared to, say, cats' or elfpires'. We know damn well that things can hide from us in the dark if we got no flashlight. There's a LOT working together design wise in Icecrown to make you feel small and vulnerable and liable to be ganked at any moment by Azeroth's biggest troll (and I'm not talking about Gan'zulah).

And HEE that wedding sounds epic forever, now I want to level my allyside characters so's I can see it. (And see how hard Valanar trolls everyone in Northrend. And hug Thassarian.)

[silverr]

yup.

(And yeah, that color-sucking is of course what's always mades Baron Sliver look so garish to me, since I extrapolate from the muddy colors all the way back to gaudy for some reason.

Yet another under-appreciated NPC.

[yukie]

More colour bollocks is at work with Baron Sliver (and he IS under-appreciated dangit)! The Baron has brrrright orange hair and blue and orange are complements, so his hair in goodish light is--startling. XD

...Man, I really want to know why in hell's restroom Blizzard apparently forgot how the fcuk colour theory and colour science works in Firelands. I really want to choke the team that designed it, because it is honestly a visual DISASTER, and I don't mean graphics-wise. To sum up: making everything warm colours pushes it all forward in the picture plane, and so firelands looks kind of flat and I have this annoying 'where the FCUK is this supposed to goddamn BE!?' effect hitting me all the time when I'm trying to determine what's where. My friends who raid have it even WORSE--some of them get motion sick because of the crappy visual effect, and some get eye strain! Seirously if I ever meet the nincompoop who thought Beth'tilac's arena was a good idea, I'm slapping them into next year. EVERYTHING IS RED AND YOU DID THAT STUPID DIFFUSE GLOW BLOOMY DEATH THING ALL OVER SO IT ALL BLENDS TOGETHER WHAT WERE YOU EVEN THINKING HOW THE HELL IS ANYONE SUPPOSED TO SEE WHERE THE SPIDER EVEN IS YOU SDHGJDJYLdfgNhdfgklaf.

*delicate cough*

[silverr]

"Noted."

* pat pat pat *

[silverr]

heh, yeah, TwiHi is kinda fun ally side. Among other things, you get to chose if Russell Browerdorf (who himself looks quite dwarf-like, who knew?) will write a bawdy, romantic, or humorous song for the ceremony.

[yukie]

oh dude I saw a beta run of that on youtube and cried laughing XD

[thewheelofdeath]

Threadjack to say that my own headcanon on why the walls are all ridged like that is because Saronite breathes, and needs to have room to expand and contract without cracking.

overthinking powers activate.

[thewheelofdeath]

Gushing yes <3

Also, it can't be THAT unusual to see ghosts in Icecrown. Maybe the fact that it was a ghost that still remembered its name.

[yukie]

(heck yeah teron gorefiend XD The nly WC2 stuff I really know is via WoW, but I still gotta say That Quest Chain In Shadowmoon is just epic forever and ever. Go Teron go, you troll those adventurers into getting your stuff back! I'd get it myself except the stupid dragon won't come down. Maybe I need to throw more rocks. Or insult its mom.)

Hee! I found out that Thassarian actually comments on that, like; "You look like you've seen a ghost--not that it'd be weird to see a ghost around here, of course..."

It probably is the retained memory that's startling, because most things that get conscripted by Arthas either can't remember their past or dgaf.

[thewheelofdeath]

Oh man. Read Beyond the Dark Portal. It's actually well-written unlike Stormrage/Shattering/Thrall/Wolfheart/etc. Teron is in it. Garrosh throws up on Kargath Bladefist's shoes. Ner'zhul is pathologically terrified of Death Knights. Khadgar crunches Deathwing like a soda can. A dude gets wind sheared to death.

*clears throat*

Anyway. Yes. Icecrown. I wonder if the name Matthias Lehner has any significance to those who served under Arthas? That would be another explanation, but probably one we're never going to get context for.