It was a slippery slope, my friends. Only a couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about how I Said That I'd Never Play WoW Again, referring to a private collection of servers called Project Ascension.
That tiny nudge sent me spiraling into nostalgia, remembering old friendships, reliving old memories, and, well, more nostalgia. That tiny nudge... and also my daily perusal of the #steemace tag. You're all to blame as well. 😊
Someone posted their WoW stream yesterday, and I didn't watch it. I'm not much of a gaming video person unless your name is Robbaz and you're the King of Sweden and you happen to have a pet Walrus. But because it wasn't Steem Monsters or Next Colony or Drug Wars or whatever other Blockchain games exist, I threw them an upvote... and then it happened.
It just smacked into me. The need to join in. To be a part of it. Of something. And I figured it would tide me over until SWTOR's next expansion. Also, Archeage Unchained. Argh! It's all happening all at once.
Anyway. It was 6 in the morning. I probably wasn't thinking straight. And this happened:
I also flew into my friends list since 3 people were online and yelled at one them, "I AM NOT DOWNLOADING WOW CLASSIC. STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT."
An hour later I knew which server my friend was on, had a list of recommended addons, and an eagerness to begin my journey anew. Arugal, Oceanic PVP server. My home for the month.
I'm planning on playing every single day this month, not because of some inherent need to play World of Warcraft but because the subscription was nearly $25 with the cursed AUD/USD exchange rate at the moment. $16.50 is nothing -- over $20 is a little bit more cringe inducing. Now I have to justify the money spent. So I had better enjoy this very valuable time. ~shakes fist~
I thought long and hard about what character I wanted to play. My first ever character in retail World of Warcraft was a human warrior named Byndii. But I shunned humans and their Alliance long ago. So I made a troll warrior instead, favouring their Berserk ability, health regeneration, and their superior throwing capabilities. A choice that has proved valuable.
What I really wanted to play though, was a priest. A Holy Priest. But solo play on a pvp server... a healer probably wouldn't be the best option.
In saying that though, I spent the day slowly wheedling and coaxing my friend... and convinced him to start a new character, despite the fact his main is in sight of current endgame, and later today we'll be playing these brand new characters! I made my priest last night before bed and walked all the way to the Troll/Orc starting area to be ready. All set!
Anyway. Back to my troll warrior! I would just like to say here that I have never died so much in a game in my life. This is my first time experiencing Classic WoW -- I originally started playing mid-Lich King -- and woah... death lurks around every corner.
My warrior has to pull one enemy at a time. Hooray for throwing knives, because if I charge into half of these things I'll have two or three on me and that equals certain death. And heaven help her if an enemy has magic, or can heal itself! Like some certain Voodoo Trolls on some certain Echo Islands...
One surprising thing my warrior survived through, though, was a rare enemy that was two levels higher! I didn't even realise it was a rare until a threw my first knife at it, then I saw the silver portrait and froze.
"Eeeeeek! What have I done!?" I inwardly screeched, and then logic kicked in.
One of my previous quest rewards was a net that would stop movement for 10 seconds. I threw it at it. Then I proceeded to throw knives at it until it broke free and closed the distance. And then I killed it, with maybe 5 health points to spare. 😁 The accomplishment felt was massive!!
Most quest rewards were useless, and the gear drop-rate from murdered creatures was abysmal. So I took matters into my own hands and picked up mining and blacksmithing. If I couldn't find good gear, I would make my own! and make a fortune on the Auction House by selling all my ore.
I love Auction Houses and the whole selling thing in most games.
I made $120 from Diablo 3's real money Auction House before it was shut down. I'm a multi-millionaire in ESO, have hundreds of millions in SWTOR, and that was one of the main things that peeved me in ArcheAge. The Labor System that restricted my mindless farming. I can phase out for hours as I wander around and find nodes to harvest, and then rub my hands together gleefully as I sell my goods. I couldn't do that in ArcheAge. 🙁 I wouldn't be able to quest, or open coin purses, or anything, if I spent all my Labor farming. Sigh. Hopefully Unchained increases the cap on that or removes it altogether.
ANYWAY.
My troll made it to level 12 last night, has at least 2 gold worth of stuff waiting to be sold on the AH, has reached around 70 skill in mining and blacksmithing, and thanks to playing her, I've regained contact with a few friends and now have people to play other games with once more. Like SWTOR. 😁
There's also something I couldn't help but notice in my Day #1 of Classic Wow yesterday. The willingness to help one another. I found myself in so many random groups, helping one another kill quest bosses and whatnot. I don't recall that ever happening during my last time playing WoW.
Most people would zoom in and kill something before you could. Then laugh at you as you sat around waiting for the respawn. There was none of that yesterday! And people actually threw random buffs at me as they were running past, being helpful. And the amount of people in Orgrimmar! It was crazy! I've never seen so many people in the cities before.
I'm guessing WoW Classic is proving popular. 😊
I do like Project Ascension. But the amount of people in this seriously trumps the private server experience. As much as I love solo play, there is no point playing an MMO without other people. AND THERE ARE JUST SO MANY OHMYGOD.
Looking forward to seeing what today brings. The Barrens await. (and then priesthood when my friend finishes work! Woo!)
Thank you for stopping by 😊
All screenshots were taken by me, 