Wow it’s 20 years old. There is no other game in which I have spent so much time. Over 10,000 hours. When I started in 2007 I wasn’t even a pioneer. Because by then I didn’t even care about role-playing games. I enjoyed the “Diablo” clone “Darkstone” in the 1990s; Later I played “Ragnarok Online” for about 40 hours. But this is my complete record for 2007. So neither my friends’ conversation in the evening bar about building a mechanical squirrel as an engineer nor their demonstration of the game appealed to me.
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The trigger for me came two years later in February 2007 with the first expansion: I saw a couple dancing around the last copy of the thick collector’s edition of “The Burning Crusade” in MediaMarket. With artwork book, soundtrack CD and mouse pad. They leave it there – and my hunting instincts awaken.
Click Boom Flash: New Podcast Episode “Water: Photos and Research”I will take it with me without any delay and play it during the free month. With a night elf warrior. The Night Elf is probably under the influence of “The Lord of the Rings”. And warriors, because I think: it’s something simple, you just attack with the sword. I call it Skartaris, after a mountain peak in the book “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” I solve quests in a small valley. this is fun. But I’m just amazed when I start to get an idea of ​​just how big Azeroth is. In Moon Festival I reach the beautiful capital Stormwind via teleport (and then I have to figure out how to travel there regularly from Teldrassil – it’s not that easy). A ship at the pier takes me to Darkshore and from there another to Azuremith Isle. All areas where I can grow.
Everyone is a pedestrian from the beginning
I like exploring many areas. Previously on foot: Back then you could only ride at level 40. Sometimes forest, sometimes desert, sometimes snow. Sometimes flat land and sometimes mountains. Sometimes dry, sometimes wet. I look at the map to see which places I can safely reach by swimming along the coast. There are also practical reasons for this: only places you initially go on foot can later be easily reached by plane using the Greifen Taxi.
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Even if I am not playing on a PvP (player vs player) server where I can be attacked by mob players in the open world, the enemy faction is always present. If you approach the Horde city, the guards will attack you. I carefully pass through a wooden wall that separates Ashental from the Barrens: my first time in Horde territory. I feel brave.
guild requires interview
However, I really enjoy playing with others the most. You form groups, add partners to your friend list and meet again and again to defeat stronger opponents.
My first challenge is to get accepted into a guild. Today it is probably enough to whisper “invite” to the guild leader: Invite, invite me. At that time the real job interview is necessary. I buy a headset, install TeamSpeak and enthusiastically ask questions. With success: I became a member of “SkyDragon”. Level 70 officer Doro “pulls” me through my first 5-man dungeon, called an example here. Many more will follow with the guild.
I don’t believe in being in voice chat all the time; But there is a guild meeting every few weeks; Mostly in Darnassus. The characters find themselves at a certain location, a canopy is set up and a picnic basket is handed over. You write in guild chat and are in teamspeak. Communication at three levels.
I get along particularly well with one player. Since she’s online much more often than I am, and we can’t properly quest together for long because she’s always several levels ahead, we create two new characters, this time the Horde, this time the PvP server, A beautiful blood elf – in my case a mage named Sibella. We just agreed to play both the characters together. It’s a lot of fun – until he suddenly disappears at Christmas 2007 and never appears again. As close and personal as relationships with online players can be, they are also non-binding. Some play for years, many only play for weeks or months. I will never touch Sibella again.
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