Killing a boss for the second time.

[Cetan]

So, I had a question for the folks of the Ward of Lore: How are killable NPCs handled when you kill them, and they "come back" or you kill them "a second time"?nnI could have easily missed an official stance from Blizzard, but as far as I've looked, I can't find anything on how the RP side of "Boss is dead this week, alive the next" is explained, and was curious as to how the guild handles events like that.nnAre enemies capable of resurrections after lengthy periods (i.e. a week lockout)? And what of those characters who, canonically, don't resurrect (i.e. Like King Llane after his assassination?)?nnOr is a second foray and kill of a boss like a "re-telling" of the old story? Is it a flashback?nnOr is anything beyond the first raid and kill omitted (ignored/glossed over OOCly?) Is every time the "first time?"nnThe reason I ask is that I've been apart of a few guilds with alts on other servers, and I've seen quite a few explanations. Is there an "official" Nyx perspective on this?

[Aitana]

My take on it is that their spirit returns after some fashion just as my spirit returns. Good and evil are locked in a constant battle and it is only under extreme measures that somebody is truly dead to the point that their spirit cannot come back.

[Leothiel]

I take the initial slaughter of a boss as my own timeline. I treat subsequent kills as either "returned from the spirit healer" or "slaying the shadows of the fallen."

[Ennuo]

I personally treat it like the infinite dragonflight had some doings with it. Visiting the past and so on.nBut for other non-major storyline bosses like archavon/anub'arak i treat it like their spirits returning to their bodies as aitana suggests.nOr not that but they lie unconscious for a time, archavon does complain in his journal about the adventurers beating him up for his baubles.

[Shimmerwind]

I don't know that you can earnestly track subsequent killings of the same boss in the same IC continuity without getting cutesy or clever about it. I personally don't bother. If interesting role-play happens along the way of a subsequent killing, I figure a way to make it fit in my internal monologue of cannon happenings. nnBut honestly, it doesn't come up much -- the need to delineate why you're killing the same dude a hundred times. Its a caveat of the genre that most MMO role-players neatly gloss over ICly, simply because of how instrumental to the genre it is. Much like the Forsaken and Blood Elves forgetting how to speak common and the Blood Elves being unable to speak Darnassian, its a bit of game-play mechanics we mentally sweep under the rug and pretend isn't there. MMO-RPers have a tendency to ostrich a lot when it comes to logical storytelling versus game mechanics.nnIf you absolutely need to come up with some sort of solution to make your brain wrap around it, the Rules of Repetition and Martyrs might work. There's a couple of theories among collegiate level historians called the Rule of Repetition and the Rule of the Martyr. The Rule of Repetition can more or less be summed up by the old axiom, "those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it", but assumes that most people will ultimately fail in the attempt. The rule is more or less, if it has happened, its bound to happen again. The Rule of the Martyr is similar; the rule basically states that no matter how brilliant the inspiring leader, those who follow him and rise up in his place will not only repeat his mistakes, but add to them with their own.nnIf you apply those to World of Warcraft or any MMO where RP exists, you can sort of make the buy that -- okay, you killed the dudes in Blackrock -- but Rend's nephew, best friend, shoe-shine lackey, or whomever rises up, assumes the name (because with the name comes a certain amount of respect and power), and tries to succeed where the former despot failed. MOST of the instances can be sort of glossed-over mentally in this fashion. Certain raids, it gets harder to do that with; Malygos, Magtheridon, ect. it requires a bigger mental buy to make those leaps, but... nnAreas like the Caverns of Time have a built in methodology for making that aspect of the game work in a logical sense; when you mess with time-travel to create paradox, you run the risk of having to patch the same hole multiple times. The person you're fighting can go back to before you stopped them and try again, and you end up in a tug-of-war mitigated by seconds.nnKarazhan also had a sort of built-in excuse. If memory serves, one of the Violet Eye mages outside tells you about how the magic surrounding the tower is unstable and thus, every several days, seems to cause everything inside to jump backward in time a week. Which I remember thinking was a clever excuse for going in and grinding Kara again and again.nnPoking around WoWWiki and seeing if there are any built in reasons as to why we're stabbing the same dude twenty nine times to Sunday might not hurt. It might not turn up anything productive, but occasionally, the developers throw us RPers a bone to help protect our fragile sanities.

[Myyah]

What I am most impressed by in this thread is the intelligence of our players that it uncovers. nnBasharn, I am very impressed by your intellectual prowess. I am glad you have returned to us from the Aethers. nnI notice that you straddle the Wards of Lore and G&N .. both Wards need assistance. nnCome see me if you wish to become more active in G&N, Sai.

[Shimmerwind]

What I am most impressed by in this thread is the intelligence of our players that it uncovers. nnBasharn, I am very impressed by your intellectual prowess. I am glad you have returned to us from the Aethers. nnI notice that you straddle the Wards of Lore and G&N .. both Wards need assistance. nnCome see me if you wish to become more active in G&N, Sai.

nnYou made me blush! Thank you for the compliment!nnIt's really good to be back. The last couple weeks have been more busy than I would have liked; I've been spending a higher-than-average time babysitting my goddaughters, writing for a couple of anime rags, and dealing with familial/holiday stuff, so I've not as much time as I would've liked to be online. And I will confess to spending the great majority of that time grinding badges on my priest so that I can buy heirlooms for Basharn, Roton, and my goblin shaman who will be coming in the Cataclysmic future. But hopefully I will be done with that in a few days, I'll transfer my DK with the heirlooms to ED, and be back to grinding levels out on Bashy.nnI'll gladly put in time and effort toward any of the four Wards. If it's in my power and ability, consider it done.