The new Human Heritage questline in World of Warcraft changes if players complete a certain raid from Vanilla WoW. Players who completed the old attunement quests for the iconic raid get a slightly different version of the dialogue and cutscenes other World of Warcraft players receive.In World of Warcraft Patch 10.0.7, players who reach level 50 with a Human character that is Exalted with Stormwind can accept the Heritage questline. Along with spymaster Matthias Shaw and former Defias Brotherhood leader Vanessa VanCleef, players uncover a plot by a Stormwind noble to seize power from the city.During the questline, players learn that the Drakefire Amulet–a powerful artifact used by Onyxia to control Stormwind’s leadership in Vanilla World of Warcraft–has been stolen. A special cutscene shows the events leading to Onyxia’s human guise being revealed, leading up to her original defeat. However, if players complete this quest on a character who did The Great Masquerade questline preceding the Onyxia raid in Vanilla WoW, their character will appear in the cutscene instead of a generic Stormwind guard. Several of Shaw’s lines of dialogue also change to indicate the character’s presence, including that the Drakefire Amulet remained in their possession.
Players later meet a character named Ragged John, who played a role during the Vanilla questline as well. All players speak with him to progress the quest, but players who completed the Vanilla Drakefire Amulet story get special dialogue options with the Dwarf in World of Warcraft, though he is too drunk to recognize the character.
World of Warcraft has been providing special dialogue options more often in recent history. All throughout the Dragon Isles, Dracthyr Evoker characters have had several unique quests and text blocks, and the new Orc Priest NPCs in Dragonflight also have special dialogue for characters who completed the Nagrand story in Burning Crusade. The Orc Heritage questline from Patch 10.0.7 also has several unique lines players can see if they completed the Shaman Order Hall campaign in Legion or the Maldraxxus campaign from Shadowlands.
Small details like these dialogue options delight many players. Though they seem like insignificant changes at first, NPCs recognizing the achievements of a player character is something that lets players feel important. These special lines of dialogue and special interactions help make World of Warcraft fans feel like a part of a living, breathing world. Hopefully, World of Warcraft will continue to add similar references to the past actions of characters in Embers of Neltharion and the patches and expansions that follow.
World of Warcraft is available now for PC.