Quote Originally Posted by Arkevorkhat View Post
My point exactly.

It was shoved in after the fact. ShB was originally designed to stand on its own without completion of the Crystal Tower raids, as evidenced by the multiple dialogue lines, and complete lack of requirement until 5.3.

The developers do not give people choices if they want them to go one way more than the other. It is their way, or you can stop playing.
Except, it was pretty clearly written with the intent of the player knowing what the Crystal Tower is, given that it's such a central part of the plot. And the reveal of the Exarch's identity is completely meaningless if you haven't finished the quests.

ShB was written expecting people to have done it, but tried to accommodate people who hadn't, until 5.3 came around and it was just too much of a stretch to keep trying.