Destiny’s head Luke Smith ends his emails quite curiously: Smith signs off as “Scarab Lord.” The reason for this is an event from World of Warcraft that has shaped him.
Most people in the gaming field will likely know Luke Smith as the Game Director of Destiny 2. But like many in the industry, he is also a passionate gamer and was shaped by a special event – in World of Warcraft.
This is also the reason why he ends his emails with a strange addition: “Luke Smith, Scarab Lord”.
What is the “Scarab Lord”? It is a title in World of Warcraft that only a few players possess. Per server, only a single character could receive this title during “Classic”.
This title was linked to the event “The Opening of Ahn’Qiraj,” perhaps the largest event that World of Warcraft has ever had.
What was the Opening of Ahn’Qiraj? To open a new raid, an entire WoW server had to cooperate. This was in 2006. Several hundred thousand resources had to be gathered.
At the same time, several guilds had to work together to guide a chosen character through a difficult quest, so that in the end, he could open the gate to a new raid for everyone.
Exactly this chosen one was on the Eredar server the character Aganathyre, a Tauren Shaman in the service of the Horde and the avatar of Luke Smith.
Event success was the achievement of the whole server
This is what Luke Smith says: In an interview with PCGamer, Smith still raves about the time and explains how much this experience has shaped him. It was “the chisel that has given him his current form.”
The reason for this was the special experience and the collective cooperation during the event. Hundreds of players cooperated to help Smith with the quests. They fought side by side into the capital Stormwind to steal a page of a book.
To increase reputation with a specific faction, players had to appoint other characters as “Emissaries,” who could then also gather reputation for the one champion.
However, Smith was also always pressed for time during this action, as Alliance players were also trying to prepare their champion for the opening of the gate. This is also why Smith shared his account with other players, so that 24/7 work could be done towards this goal.
At the very end of the quest line, Smith was then allowed to strike the gong that would open the gate. He describes it as follows:
“I went to the gong, and the game was running with a pretty bad frame rate. It felt like I was playing a slideshow, but it didn’t feel like that at the time.”
When he struck the gong, he completed the quest and received the title “Scarab Lord” – Scarab Lord as the only person on his server.
And that is why Smith still attaches the title “Scarab Lord” at the end of his emails today – because this experience in World of Warcraft has shaped him so much.
Have you also experienced a story in an MMORPG or participated in a special event that has shaped you like the opening of Ahn’Qiraj did for the Game Director of Destiny 2?
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