History WorldOfWarcraft / TropesAToB

** Played perfectly straight in Mists of Pandaria - all Monks parry with their bare hands, even while they have perfectly usable weapons sheathed on their backs!

* BarrierWarrior: Priests in general, but Discipline Priests take it UpToEleven: they can cast a stronger barrier more frequently; their barriers can [[AttackReflector reflect some damage back at the attacker]], and heal anyone the barrier is cast on. According to the preview of the Cataclysm game expansion, discipline priests will be able to [[HolyHandGrenade effectively attack enemies]] and create a new, larger barrier that multiple people can hide in.

* ArtifactMook: Rockflayers are creatures natives of Draenor, but somehow, they can also be found in Deepholme, the ElementalPlane of another world.

** Thorim's [[LargeHam "In the mountains!"]] line in Uldum was referenced in a later content patch, with the Pit of Saron's second boss, Scourgelord Tyrannus, yelling "Perhaps you should have stayed in the mountains!" when killing a player.

** Players who die from standing in damaging effects on the ground (especially flames) or other easily avoidable causes are derided as "standing in the fire". In Cataclysm, there is an achievement for being killed by Deathwing (who randomly attacks zones, leaving behind large flames) that is called "Stood in the Fire", and [[spoiler:Fandral Staghelm]] yells "You stood in the fire!" sometimes when killing players; one of his attacks creates a damaging circle of fire on the ground. And finally, heroic Deadmines achievement is called "Raid Ready", which is awarded when you manage to not get hurt by a rotating wall of fire.
** [[invoked]]Local ButtMonkey NPC Gamon suddenly gained a surge of popularity when he was remade into a near-unstoppable killing machine in ''Cataclysm'', becoming a Memetic Badass as a result. In the Siege of Orgrimmar raid, [[spoiler:Gamon helps players in the fight against General Nazgrim and there's special dialogue and an achievement if Gamon is alive when Nazgrim is defeated.]]
* AtlantisIsBoring: Seemed to be the case before ''Cataclysm''. Most of the underwater areas were quite plain, the few UnderwaterRuins all looked similar and inhabited by Naga. ''Cataclysm'' introduced Vashj'ir which features a [[SceneryPorn beautiful scenery]] and a continuous and very dark storyline that spans across all three of its subzones.
** Not helped by the fact that underwater gameplay was very frustrating before ''Cataclysm'', drowning, slow movement, line of sight issues and mobs that love to immobilize players and all. ''Cataclysm'' introduced unique mechanics in each underwater area, usually eliminating the first two problems entirely and the others generally avoided through design choices.
* TheAtoner: (Most of) The Horde. The Knights of the Ebon Blade in ''Wrath of the Lich King''. The Blood Elves, or at least their Paladins, post-''Burning Crusade''. The Blue Dragonflight in Cataclysm, as they chose Kalecgos, a dragon who believes they must take responsibility for their actions in the Nexus War, as their next Aspect.

* ALighterShadeOfGrey: The Alliance compared to the Horde, in the light of recent actions taken by Hellscream and Sylvanas. It was more equal from Warcraft III until then.

** Xuen's children. Though it's an {{Informed ability}} but they at least have the same health as a typical level 90.

%%** The Crowleys
** The Bronzebeards brothers are all famous for their martial prowess; the oldest brother is a king and one of the faction leaders pre-''Cataclysm'', the middle one is a very skilled fighter, and the youngest is a famous archaeologist. Lampshaded in one of Muradin's quotes from ''Warcraft 3'', in which he says that with his older brother as King and his younger brother as a famous adventurer, he'd [[BadassBoast feel a tad awkward if he didn't kick so much ass]].

** Monks from ''Mists of Pandaria'' also count to some degree, with even their healing skills being based more on brewing. Though some of their Chi abilities are kinda pushing it, and as healers they do have a mana bar unlike the other 3 (hunters used to use mana until ''Cataclysm''

* BaitAndSwitchBoss: The end boss of Arcatraz, and again with the first boss of the Stonecore. Notably, both encounters have [[FaceHeelTurn a character in common]].

** In addition to the GoldSilverCopperStandard, the game has ''dozens'' of types of currency dropped by specific enemies or for specific {{Reputation Level}}s. They used to be separate items and compete for inventory slots with gear and quest rewards, but have long since been organized into a tab of their own that takes up no space.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: A ''lot'' of these were added to the game, not notably the DungeonFinder and being able to purchase gear.

** A more personal example (connected to the Titans, in fact) is the mogu. Several thousand years before even the sundering, the mogu ruled Pandaria with an iron fist and and made every other race (except the mantid) slaves dominated through fear. Their cruelty is the stuff of nightmares, from abuses to sending slaves to be fodder, to even [[AndIMustScream putting their dead slaves' souls into statues brainwashed to serve them.]] And all this, justified by the not-altogether-inaccurate belief that it is the Titans' will.

* BoozeBasedBuff: Alcohol will blur your vision, make your character walk crooked, and make you misjudge enemies' levels if you drink enough of it, but specific types of booze increase some stats temporarily. The chat box displays your intoxication level as feeling tipsy, drunk, etc. When you get to "completely smashed" you start to have hallucinations and your character starts vomiting. Additionally, some booze buffs have other effects, from breathing fire to slowing your fall in the Storm Peaks (in a possible ShoutOut to FamilyGuy's parody of CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory, "beer that never goes flat.")

** You can also buy Level 90 character boosts, which even provide you with a set of gear appropriate for your character's new level, so that players who don't have endgame-level characters can actually play the new level 90+ content that the upcoming expansion introduces. However, at $60 a pop they are prohibitively expensive, and don't really put you at an advantage compared to other level 90 characters. Thankfully, Level 90 boosts are given away as preorder bonuses for the expansion pack, so that players don't have to pay for OneGameForThePriceOfTwo.

** You can also buy Level 90 character boosts, which even provide you with a set of gear appropriate for your character's new level. However, at $60 a pop they are prohibitively expensive, and don't really put you at an advantage compared to other level 90 characters, so that players who don't have endgame-level characters can actually play the new level 90+ content that the expansion introduces. Thankfully, Level 90 boosts are given away as preorder bonuses for the expansion pack, so that players don't have to pay for OneGameForThePriceOfTwo.

* AttackReflector: The Warrior ability Spell Reflect, plus a variety of similar abilities used by various creatures and bosses. Priests and mages can optionally enhance their [[BarrierWarrior magic shields]] to reflect damage, though mages' shields are limited to reflecting magic damage. Ozruk also has an ability that reflects spells back at players, and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard players must take advantage of this to reflect a damage over time spell on themselves to break his paralyzing effect and be able to move to avoid his Shatter ability]]. Windwalker Monks get the touch of karma ability, which converts all damage the monk takes up to thier max health in damage, making use of this ability when a boss uses their most damaging ability an increadibly effective (if somewhat risky) way of squeezing in more damage.

* AnimateDead: The modus operandi of the Scourge, obviously. The Death kKnight class in particular has spells to produce ghouls from corpses, with the Unholy spec allowing it to be a full-time minion and the Blood spec also allowing the Death Knight to summon a small army of ghouls for a limited time. As of ''Cataclysm,'' the Forsaken are getting in on the act, as well.

* AnimateDead: The modus operandi of the Scourge, obviously. The death knight class in particular has spells to produce ghouls from corpses, lasting from a few seconds to "until killed by an enemy/[[VideoGameCrueltyPotential by the DK to restore health]]", and can even animate a fallen PC, giving the player a few minutes to actually play the resulting ghoul. As of ''Cataclysm,'' the Forsaken are getting in on the act, as well.

** Some of the robes [[http://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/screenshots/normal/309796.jpg even give the males some nice]] [[AbsoluteCleavage]].

** Averted later though - while heavy female armour is definitely more ''shapely'' than any male equivalent, for the most part it's realistically concealing.

* AutomatonHorses: The mounts never need rest, feed, or in the case of mechanical ones, repair (not to mention fitting in your backpack for a good chunk of the game's history). The flying ones can hover indefinitely, in quiet defiance of logic (possibly because the controls for flying are the same as for swimming).

* BalefulPolymorph: Mages' "Polymorph" spells can turn an opponent into one of the following: sheep, pig, rabbit, turtle, cat, or penguin. All look different but are functionally identical: they make the victim unable to use any abilities or control their movement. Meanwhile, Shaman have a spell called "Hex" that turns an opponent into a frog. Quite a few mobs and bosses have access to these spells as well.

** On the Wandering Isle, Jojo Ironbrow is looking for ever stronger items to break; until the player finds a Jade Tiger Pillar, which even he can't break.

* BritishAccents: The Gilnean accent for many peasants is so strong they sound like somebody crammed a Cockney down their throats. A popular phrase is, "get gabbin' or get goin'!". On the other hand, many Gilnean nobles sound like complete snobs, speaking with Recieved Pronunciation.

** The Siege of Orgrimmar: [[spoiler:Garrosh is deposed, Vol'Jin becomes Warchief, and relations between the Horde and the Alliance seem to cool of to ''some'' degree, but Pandaria, the Vale of Eternal Blossoms especially, has a ''long'' road to recovery ahead of it, there's still a ''lot'' of tension between the factions, Jaina's personality shift to aggresiveness starts to show signs of becoming full blown SanitySlippage, and Slyvanas, infuriated that a [[FantasticRacism Troll]] is now the Horde's leader, is implied to be up to something sinister.]]

** The Siege of Orgrimmar: [[spoiler:Garrosh is deposed, Vol'Jin becomes Warchief, and relations between the Horde and the Alliance seem to cool of to ''some'' degree, but Pandaria, the Vale of Eternal Blossoms especially, has a ''long'' road to recovery ahead of it, there's still a ''lot'' of tension between the factions, Jaina's personality shift to aggresiveness starts to show signs of becoming full blown SanitySlippage, and Slyvanas is implied to be up to something sinister.]]

* BreakTheHaughty: Greymane's had it rough. After cutting his nation off from the rest of the world in spite towards the Alliance, he had to deal both with rebels who didn't agree with his decision, and more notably the outbreak of a werewolf curse that quickly spread amongst his closed-off nation. After most of the population [[spoiler: and Greymane himself]] get infected with the curse, they come under attack from the Forsaken, and Greymane is forced to ask for help from the Alliance. Oh, and [[spoiler: his son Liam dies in the fighting]]. Greymane's been eating a bit of humble pie since the Cataclysm hit.

** In the Valley of the Four Winds, players undergo training where they learn how to break bricks; it becomes ChekhovsSkill when players use it [[spoiler: to kill an enormous mantid, by punching it to death [[EatMe from the inside]] ]].

** Though ''Cataclysm'' was good at tying up loose ends from previous storylines, and setting up threads for future expansions, there was an aborted arc in Vashj'ir. Several places in the game have the Naga plotting to overthrow Water Lord Neptulon, which they do using the kraken Ozumat. The Throne of Tides dungeon has players rescuing Neptulon and fighting back against the Naga and Ozumat, but ends with Ozumat retreating and Neptulon just disappearing without a thank you, giving the impression that he had been abducted. A second instance, Abyssal Maw was supposed to finish the arc, but was dropped.
*** If you watch Ozumat flee, you can see that in his tentacles he is carrying [[spoiler: Neptulon]], so he really has been kidnapped.

** Mimiron from Ulduar is found in a workshop with a Big Red Button on the back, labeled "[[SchmuckBait DO NOT PRESS]]". If you press it, it starts the encounter in heroic mode. And Mimiron will berate you for pushing it.

** The Legendary Cloak questline in ''Mists'' will avert this. Most Legendaries come from grinding the last tier of raids, so like the above gear example, it means you really don't need them to do the content. For the cloak, the questline started when ''Mists'' launched and has run through every patch since; but Wrathion will upgrade the player's cloak to the Legendary ''before'' entering the Siege of Orgrimmar, so they'll have it when they need it most.

* BroughtDownToNormal: In terms of ''political'' power instead of super power, this happens to Goblin players. Players start out as the proteges of [[JerkAss Trade Prince Gallywix]], being groomed as the next trade prince(ss); but when [[BigBad Deathwing]] arrives to spoil the party, leaving you all on his ship fleeing Kezan, he decides you're more useful as slave labor.
** [[spoiler:The surviving Dragon Aspects]] at the end of Cataclysm.