A nice reward for "saving the world"

Despite it's general classification, I think most people would agree that roleplaying is not a very key element for most WoW players. Sure, there's RP realms, but I know very few (okay, zero) people that play on them. This isn't specific to Wow, most MMORPGS have a lot more MMO than RPG in them.

So, it's nice when you find a nice little touch of roleplay written into the game. It's extra nice when your actions have an effect on the game other than littering the ground with corpses. For example, I just like the way the NPCs talk to you on the Island once you've gotten exalted with the Shattered Sun Offensive (e.g., "we never could have done this without you, Cailee"). It's meaningless from a game stats perspective, but still nice to hear.

But I hit a fantastic example of this that I'd never seen before today on one of my low-level alts. It's a quest in Bloodmyst that only draenei can get. It's one of those "only you can save us" quests, but instead of a "thanks -- here's some gold/gear," after you turn it in, there's more. First, you get the "All hail" zone yell like you get when you kill VanCleef, but it doesn't end there. Next, you walk outside the turn-in building and there's a bunch of soldiers kneeling to you as you come out. At the bottom of the path there's about a dozen of so people clapping and cheering for you. And these aren't random NPCs -- these are quest-givers and other NPCs you've met for the past 20 levels while you were questing. You can even chat with some of them and they have some nice little comments. Finally, no less than Prophet Velen waits at the bottom to greet and reward you. You complete this quest around level 20, and it's pretty much your last quest on the zone, so it provides a nice send-off to the great, big world.

So if you're leveling a draenei alt, I highly recommend you give Ending their World a shot. It's listed as a two-person group quest and it also involves escorting a fairly aggro-happy NPC, but on the plus side, he's pretty tough. I did it solo with a ret pally and spend most fights healing him (poorly, I might add) and meleeing. If you fail the first time, the respawns are slow enough that it makes it easier if you try again. Also, you can die and run back and he'll often still be alive. It took me two shots, but frankly, the difficulty makes finishing it that much more satisfying. The quest rewards are pretty good and you also get a one-of-a-kind tabard, but don't do it for that -- do it for the feeling you get seeing all those NPCs cheering you on and the Big Kahuna telling you that you saved us all, but your destiny lies in Outland: it's the best feeling I've ever gotten out of quest!