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Reuniting with Old Friends

thextera — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 18:20:16 +0000

My World of Warcraft Story

Reuniting with old friends [Part 2]

The departure of Dimitri marked the start of a new phase in my journey. For a time, I traveled World of Warcraft alone. Among the memories that stand out most is my first dungeon run: The Deadmines. Located in a desert area, Westfall. The Deadmines is the first dungeon for Alliance players and requires a group of five: a healer, a tank, and 3 DPS. I didn’t know much about the process at first, but that’s when I met my first online friend: Gilfrod.

Yes, I still remember his name. Gilfrod, a dwarf hunter. To this day, I wonder what it would be like to speak with him again, after all these years. Together, we explored The Deadmines countless times, helping him collect pieces of a special armor set. Some of the pieces were very rare, but the connection and experiences we built during those runs made it worthwhile.

Meeting Old Friends

As I continued to level up, I discovered something exciting: two friends from the previous school year, Tanguy and Sim, also played World of Warcraft. Unlike me though, they played on the Stormrage-EU realm as Horde characters. They were both undead priests.

Excited to play with them, I created a temporary undead priest on their server. They came to find me in Tirisfal Glades, the starting zone of the undead. Unlike Teldrassil, this was an area full of dead trees. After fooling around for a bit, my friends marked me with a cross icon and claimed I was now “able to be attacked.” I fell for their prank, believing I was truly in danger. It turned out the mark was simply a tool for strategy, often used to designate which enemies to attack. Their laughter set the tone for our friendship in the game.

Inspired by this fresh start, I decided to leave behind Stormkill and Swordblade on the Skullcrusher realm and start a brand-new adventure on Stormrage. This time, I chose a Tauren druid and named him Quickness. Little did I know, this would be a character I would play for years to come.

The Twinking Dream

As I leveled up, I often participated in battlegrounds. The game’s dedicated PVP mode. It was the Alliance vs. The Horde. Scenarios like Warsong Gulch, a capture-the-flag game, had teams of 10 battle against each other. Battlegrounds were divided into level brackets, ensuring fair matchups: 10-19, 20-29, and so on. This system created a unique type of character: a Twink. Twinks were characters locked at specific levels to dominate their brackets, decked out in the best gear and enchantments. The idea was interesting to me. I wanted to create a Twink of my own later.

By the time my druid finally hit level 70, Sim had already quit the game. Just like Dimitri before him. Now, the only real-life friend I had left in Azeroth was Tanguy.

My focus in the game began to change. The interest in endgame content didn’t impress me at the time in comparison to creating this “Twink”. So I began brainstorming on which class I should pick. I ended up chosing a priest who I named Betrayed. Focused not on dealing damage like most Twinks, but on healing. Keeping my team alive at all costs. I decided I wanted to become a level 29 Twink. This didn’t require a long leveling grind, and you still had a good number of abilities compared to level 19. As race I picked blood elf for their unique ability to silence enemies and restore mana, an invaluable skill in PVP. So, here she is in all the glory:

Gearing Up

My main character became a money-making machine, funding Betrayed’s journey to acquire the best gear and enchantments available.

Some notable items I collected:

Deadman’s Hand:

An epic-quality ring with a rare drop rate from the final boss of the Scarlet Monastery Library. I devised a clever strategy: clear the dungeon with my main character, wait for the loot to become available, and log in as Betrayed to claim it.

Arena Grand Master:

A trinket offering an incredible shield, able to absorb almost an entire health pool at that level. This was obtained by looting a chest that would spawn every 3 hours. This area had forced PVP enabled and was always heavily contested. You had to loot the chest 12 times before you could obtain the Arena Grand Master. My strategy was to clear the arena with my main before switching to Betrayed to loot the chest.

Power of the Scource shoulder Enchant:

A very rare shoulder enchant removed with the release of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. It required a player who had cleared one of the final bosses in the level 60 Naxxramas raid. This shoulder enchant was not tradeable, so the person had to enchant it on a piece of armor and then trade the armor. With Tanguy’s financial help, I acquired it through a neutral auction house since the seller was Alliance.
My quest for the best gear wasn’t perfect, and one elusive item haunted me for years.

Hotshot Pilot’s Gloves:

A best-in-slot item for level 29 priests. These gloves, with their low drop rate, could only be found on specific mobs within the Alliance-controlled Gnomeregan dungeon. Being Horde made getting them even harder. Not many people would run this dungeon which meant less people were trying to sell it.
I ran Gnomeregan over 300 times with my level 70 character, but the gloves never dropped. Twice, I found several equally rare items, like Petrolspill Leggings, but never the gloves I needed. Frustrated but undeterred, I created an Alliance character named Hotbuyer, hoping to buy the gloves directly from the Alliance. Despite my efforts, no one ever came through. The Hotshot Pilot’s Gloves became my ultimate unattainable treasure.

The battle is on

Betrayed evolved into a god. Through countless battles, I achieved exalted reputation status with Warsong Gulch and came close to the same with Arathi Basin, dedicating myself to countless hours in battlegrounds. Over time, I managed to achieve 38,393 honorable kills. Honorable kills were earned by either killing other players or helping other players kill them.

From both battlegrounds, Warsong Gulch held a special place in my journey. It became my favorite with 358 matches played. Some of these stretched on for hours. Back then, there were no timers to cut the action short, sometimes leading to extremely long battles.

I loved keeping people alive. My focus wasn’t on flashy damage numbers but on ensuring my teammates survived as long as possible!

Doing so, I build a bunch of friendships too. People I would see and play with often. There’s even people that had some amazing comments like these:

The End of an Era

But all good things come to an end. Fast forward a year after the release of Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard dropped a bomb:

Even though they allowed players to turn off experience gain, it just wasn’t popular enough. It separated Twinks from the general players. This decision led to excessively long queue times, effectively killing the Twink scene. Even though I joined efforts to revive the community by transferring servers, where I also changed my name to Thextera, the glory days of Betrayed were over.

Today, that same character sits at level 13 due to level scaling from future expansions, still decked out in her hard-earned gear. The missing Hotshot Pilot’s Gloves remain a bittersweet reminder of those days.

Looking Ahead

As this chapter of my World of Warcraft journey ends, the story is far from over. In the next part, I’ll share how the Wrath of the Lich King expansion took my addiction to new levels. From late-night leveling sessions to growing closer to Tanguy. That is until he disappeared forever. This period was unforgettable. I also joined the best raiding guild on the server and stepped into competitive Arena for the first time. Stay tuned!

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the-journey-begins

thextera — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 20:36:28 +0000

My World of Warcraft Story

The Journey Begins! [Part 1]

It all started when I was around 16 or 17 years old, just stepping into my fourth year of middle school. Back then, I was studying printing. I was learning to operate massive printers and dive into the world of colors and designs. A year before, my life looked completely different. I was in another school, studying something else entirely, and didn’t know anyone when I made the switch. I wanted to make some friends.

Meeting Dimitri

That’s when I met Dimitri. We hit it off pretty quickly, and soon enough, he started talking about this game called World of Warcraft. He went on and on about it. I had no clue what it was all about, but he had a lot of excitement for the game. One day, he invited me over to his house to try it out for myself.

My First Steps in Azeroth

That first time playing World of Warcraft is something I’ll never forget. Dimitri sat me down at his PC and walked me through the character creation process. There were two factions to choose from: the Alliance and the Horde. Dimitri was all about the Alliance, so I went with that too. I created a Night Elf male. Probably a rogue, though honestly, I’ve forgotten the exact class. Rogues dual-wield swords or daggers and look like sneaky assassins, so it seemed cool at the time.

My first glimpse of the game’s world was the Night Elf starting zone, Teldrassil. It was breathtaking. A lush, forested area full of trees and, at its heart, a massive tree with NPCs all around it. Some of them had quests, others ran shops. It felt alive.

First Contact

Dimitri watched as I moved around for the first time, grinning as I clumsily got the hang of the controls. Then I saw another player. A real person and froze. I wanted to talk to them so badly but had no idea how. “Omg, how do I talk to them?!” I kept hitting random keys, trying to figure it out. Dimitri just sat there, clearly enjoying my struggle, before finally telling me to press Enter. It was just that simple! I typed my first message, thrilled to interact with another player.

Hooked

I don’t remember anything that happened after that, but one thing was crystal clear: I wanted to play this game. I was hooked. Back then, World of Warcraft required a monthly subscription, and my parents didn’t have a credit card. The only way for me to play was by buying physical game time cards. I remember saving up to get them, and when I finally had the game, I created my own account. My first character? Another Night Elf rogue. I named him Swordblade. Seemed fitting for someone wielding swords, right?

Switching Gears

I started playing on the same server as Dimitri. Skullcrusher-EU. But as I leveled up, I realized the rogue playstyle didn’t suit me. By the time Swordblade reached level 30-40, I was ready for a change. After exploring the other classes, I decided to try a druid. I named him Stormkill. Don’t ask me where I got these names—they sounded cool to me at the time!

Swordblade’s Legacy

That druid became my main character, the one I stuck with for the rest of my World of Warcraft journey. Eventually, I leveled Swordblade to max level too, but Stormkill was special. And Swordblade? He earned a PvP title. “Sergeant”. Something my druid never achieved, as PvP titles were removed shortly after.

This is him now, after all these years… Still on Skullcrusher-EU.

The Long Road to Level 60

Leveling in World of Warcraft wasn’t a quick task back then. For the average player, reaching the maximum level could take months. Dimitri, of course, was already at max level when I started. He played a gnome warlock in a guild called Veni Vidi Vici. One day, he showed me a raid he was part of: Molten Core. It was incredible. 40 players battling against fiery enemies. I remember being amazed, thinking, I want to do that someday.

Grinding Through Azeroth

So I kept leveling, grinding my way through the zones and quests. But then, Dimitri dropped a bombshell: he didn’t want to play anymore. He wanted to focus on his social life instead. I was crushed. He’d introduced me to this incredible world, only to leave a few months later. There I was, still leveling my druid Stormkill, now completely on my own.

A Solo Journey

Thankfully, I didn’t stay alone for long. As fate would have it, I discovered that some friends from my third year of middle school were also playing World of Warcraft. With them, the adventure truly began…

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