World of Warcraft®

Hello. Maybe this question actually belongs to Raids and Dungeons section, but I still would like to ask lore-wise people :
In this game we often fight huge dragons in raids and dungeons. Huge enough to just stomp the player or swallow him whole. Yet, I have never seen it happening. Onyxia, Nefarian, Valiona and Teralion, Synestra, Ultraxion, Deathwing himself - they all use some kind of "Super-damaging ray of death" magic but never ever actually tried to just nom one of the raiders.
I don't know much about lore - so I'd like to ask, if there were any cases in WoW history when dragon actually ate his enemy. The only one I know about was Alextraza, eating her orc-captor

Funny... I can't actually think of a single instance when a dragon just ate his enemies either...

I did find this little essay on the subject of dragons in combat, but since it's from the RPG, it's non-canon: http://www.wowpedia.org/Dragon#Tactics

While on the subject, why is there no achievement for killing every dragon boss in the game?

Because every patch/expansion brings some new boss, and many of them are dragons, or draconic at least :)

Anyway, yeah, it's silly from the point of lore, but it would not be fun gamewise if dragons simply chomped everything in their path. Although they can.

Given that C'thun, some fish in Vashj'ir and a few proto-drakes has tried to eat me I don't see implementing a way for dragons to do the same as a problem. Most likely it could be done as a quick time event or similar.

Realistically, how do you see yourself going toe to toe with a giant dragon?

Even if you had 1000 years of training and the fitness of a super athletic, it would be suicide.

Remember Nefarian?

If he had gone berserk on that little plateau, none of the 40 people would stand a chance against the hundred tonne heavy lizard lounging and stomping everywhere.

Killing a DRAGON (not drake, but DRAGON) without either 1. Heavy weapons, 2 another big beastie or 3. A VERY Powerful mage just isn't going to happen.

Just look at the enemies in WoW, and their sizes.
If WoW had been realistic in terms of size and strenght most of the raids wouldn't be possible .P

27/04/2012 09:53Posted by Bebbix

Given that C'thun, some fish in Vashj'ir and a few proto-drakes has tried to eat me I don't see implementing a way for dragons to do the same as a problem. Most likely it could be done as a quick time event or similar.

Dragons can crush metal with their jaws.

I don't see how you can survive if you get caught in their maw of death :P

There was that quest in Dragonblight where you rode a dragon who regained health by eating ghouls(though in hindsight, that may be why that dragon died later in the quest). Discounting that, well, it wouldn't make for a very exciting fight. No raid group actually kill a full-grown dragon. Even discounting their magic, the scales and mass of a dragon would make most attacks bounce off, and the dragon would just need to stomp around for a while until it eventually had killed everyone in the chaos. With their magic... Oh boy. Nefarian had this Shadowflame attack he would use at the beginning of his dragon phase. If you didn't have a cloak of black dragon scales from Onyxia or took cover somewhere, that attack would kill you. I think that gives a pretty good picture of just how impossible it would be to defeat a full-grown dragon without, say, your own dragon, or cannons, or something similar.

27/04/2012 10:39Posted by Malizïa

Given that C'thun, some fish in Vashj'ir and a few proto-drakes has tried to eat me I don't see implementing a way for dragons to do the same as a problem. Most likely it could be done as a quick time event or similar.

Dragons can crush metal with their jaws.

I don't see how you can survive if you get caught in their maw of death :P

Do you have any source of that? I mean Titansteal or true gold are some pretty tough materials.

Also WoW is a story of legendary heroes and I don't think it is unfitting of a legendary hero to escape from the maws of death.

Yes-yes, I understand that game-mechanic-wise, being eaten alive during boss fight could be hard to implement (though some units in WC3, including dragons, had such ability, and you could even free your eaten comrades, by killing the beasts before unit is digested)
That's why I'm asking it in Story section - are there any known cases of (semi)-famous dragon eating someone ? Except the one with Alextraza, I mentioned before.

Do you have any source of that? I mean Titansteal or true gold are some pretty tough materials.

Also WoW is a story of legendary heroes and I don't think it is unfitting of a legendary hero to escape from the maws of death.

A dragon's maw is completely different from just any other dangerous situation.

And even if the dragon's teeth don't pierce the armor, they'll break your bones and turn you into a gory sloushie inside of your armor.

Being 'legendary' simply means your character has achieved things others would think impossible.
Being 'legendary' does not mean you'll survive an arrow to the throat, being hit by a cannonball or a dragon's bite.

You're not superman. You're just a very skilled and gifted individual.

I think dragons avoid using their own maws as weapons for the simple facts that 1) they're not animals, and probably consider it beneath them during their lucid moments, and 2) sentient creatures taste bad. 'cept for gnomes.

27/04/2012 19:58Posted by Kurgul

1) they're not animals, and probably consider it beneath them during their lucid moments

I think this, personally.

It's a bit weird, but I think in the case of Onyxia, the first major Dragon we faced she was preferring to toy with people and presumably the tank was too fast on his feet for her to bite him. Obviously, the more dragon's we've faced, the stranger it seems that they don't just snatch and eat one target, but that's game mechanics I suppose.

I think dragons avoid using their own maws as weapons for the simple facts that 1) they're not animals, and probably consider it beneath them during their lucid moments.

Hardly. Perhaps if you didn't notice, a dragon is a giant machine of destruction with some claws and a big maw.

It'd been the same as if a humanoid decided to 'Hey, let's drop the weapon. I'll beat them with my fist!'

Also, I doubt the dragons care about how they kill stuff.
Kind'a like how we don't care if we squash a bug by stepping on it or whacking it with the newspaper.

And on top of it all, eating a lesser race is a good way of teaching them who's ontop of the food chain.

Do you have any source of that? I mean Titansteal or true gold are some pretty tough materials.

Also WoW is a story of legendary heroes and I don't think it is unfitting of a legendary hero to escape from the maws of death.

For Light's sake, man, sheer size of the dragon means nothing? Even if metal survives the impact, I'm sure the armor wearer won't be that resilient, and no, resilience won't fix it :P I guess some interesting mechanic can be done if dragon swallows someone whole, without chewing, or taking a single bite, but without including stuff like omgzuperpowa, we can safely assume that dragon bite is deadly.

Come back to this topic after you killed Deathwing (again). At one time, while you jump from platform to platform, take a look at the size of that beast. Then return here and tell how you still need proof or source or original document with valid signature which claims that dragon can actually kill :)

If we followed that logic, no fully grown dragon would be able to die by most mortal hands. Most classes will be worthless against dragons, such as warriors or rogues. It is just game mechanics.

28/04/2012 12:27Posted by Forumdwarf

I guess some interesting mechanic can be done if dragon swallows someone whole

- Dispell player XXX, he got debuff "Swallowed alive"
- Umm ... It says "no line of sight"
- Combatrez him ffs
- He's still alive, derp
(Player XXX) - Yeeew, it smells in here ... Oh look, this skeleton holds some epicz

Yeah, which is why this topic kinda makes no sense in the first place :) It would be fun, however, if someone attempts to solo a dragon boss, to see dragon simply swallows him with Yao Ming face.

28/04/2012 12:34Posted by Элькабелька

I guess some interesting mechanic can be done if dragon swallows someone whole

- Dispell player XXX, he got debuff "Swallowed alive"
- Umm ... It says "no line of sight"
- Combatrez him ffs
- He's still alive, derp
(Player XXX) - Yeeew, it smells in here ... Oh look, this skeleton holds some epicz

Well, not really, but something like C'thun, for example, like goblin above me mentioned.

28/04/2012 12:31Posted by Skrauhg

If we followed that logic, no fully grown dragon would be able to die by most mortal hands. Most classes will be worthless against dragons, such as warriors or rogues. It is just game mechanics.

A reasonable point. If we had been realistic, only a super powerful archmage or grand Warlock could hope to stand against a dragon in one on one.

It would force Blizzard to really reduce to the amount of dragons ingame, but that would be a big no-no, as they're avid dragon fans!

Do you have any source of that? I mean Titansteal or true gold are some pretty tough materials.

Also WoW is a story of legendary heroes and I don't think it is unfitting of a legendary hero to escape from the maws of death.

For Light's sake, man, sheer size of the dragon means nothing? Even if metal survives the impact, I'm sure the armor wearer won't be that resilient, and no, resilience won't fix it :P I guess some interesting mechanic can be done if dragon swallows someone whole, without chewing, or taking a single bite,

Dragons have an extremely strong belly acid, and anyone who isn't undead would lose consciousness after a few seconds from the lack of air, so even 'just' swallowing is certain death :P

Plus, how'd you cut a dragon up in time? (Add the time it takes to kill it ontop of that!)

Only way to save someone who got swallowed by a dragon is to feed it with a truckload of diet coke and mentos right away.

True, but C'thun had the exact mechanic: you had to leave in time. It does not make total sense, but neither swimming in lava does, yet I can do that :)