The magic of WoW and my story therein!

[Diddums 4,346]

World of Warcraft has been popping up in our Whatsapp group and in various random spots around the forum, I'd like to create a new character and give it a go again but given how addictive it was last time, I will tread lightly and see how it goes.

 

Anyway, WoW has been without the most amazing game I have ever played, no game has ever encapsulated the feeling of freedom, awe, curiosity and dedication as World of Warcraft. It all started when I lived in Holland. I was about 20 at the time and a friend of mine disappeared off the map. He wasn't enough of a friend to go hunting for but enough to notice his absence in our social circles. He'd pop up now and again looking all scruffy and like a textbook basement dwelling gamer, probably living off Mountain Spew and Doritos. He was always very cagey about his activities and most of us put it down to drug addiction. One night he turned up at a party and had a few drinks, when he eventually said "I need to go home, my raidee is starting soon". That sentence marked the start of my WoW career. My curiosity piqued, I asked him what he meant and he said he played WoW and that his raid with his guild was starting in half an hour and he needed to be there. 

 

We all put this down to things like NERD and all the shite but in reality it always sat in the back of my mind, how someone could leave a party, with booze and weed and chicks and people and music and all the cool stuff to go home to play a video game. It made no sense to me but it did get my curiosity going and the seed was planted. A few years later I was living in London when this game made an appearance on South Park. This was another seed planted, another moment of wondering what it was all about and more progress towards me playing the game. After a few appearances in pop culture, on various TV shows, films, and magazines I could take it no more: I had to know why this game had the reputation it did. 

 

I downloaded the trial and that was that. Before I knew it I'd bought the Battlechest which contained the vanilla game, the Burning Crusade expansion and some guide books. I added some game time and I was set. I remember my first character like it was yesterday: A human warrior, fresh in the breeze of Elwynn Forest and no stranger to Northsire Abbey. This is where a half decade long adventure would begin, an adventure I will never forget, with highs, lows and everything in between. More politics than a Trump campaign and more drama than a Kardashian after a sex change.

 

Not long after killing the wolves, putting out fires, killing some thieves and other naughty people, I levelled up a few times. This brought me to Goldshire, or as many know it, the Duel capital of Azeroth. This is where I saw my first level 60 player. I was a wee little warrior wearing all the wrong stuff, all his talent points all over the place, staring at what was very clearly an end-game hero. Mounted upon a horse which looked like it came from another universe and in armour which was more brightly coloured than the RGB keyboard upon which I now type, this guy just stood there, so all us lesser mortals could admire the amazing power this guy had. He didn't move, he didn't accept any duels, he just stood there being amazing.

 

In hindsight he probably went for a shit or something but I like to think that old Spotty McSpottyface on the other end of the internet was basking in the glory of being stood amongst us peons like a god. Anyway, this was my first taste of the real game and what I wanted: I wanted a character like Spotty McSpottyface. There and then I grabbed all the quests I could and ventured out, eventually killing Hogger which any WoW vet will know was the hardest boss in the game, often requiring multiple 40 man raids to kill. I eventually solo'd him and that was the end of that. 

 

Slowly I made my way through all the world zones in the game, venturing off the beaten path and getting absolutely buttfucked in the process by creatures I had no chance of defeating. I eventually started making a few friends, joined a guild, got some professions, learned how the auction house worked, farmed loads of materials, killed loads of Chinese gold farmers, and became a bit of a vet myself, albeit with Kronenbourg rather than Mountain Spew.

 

I started doing dungeons, one of which I will never forget, it was with Leonvegas, MK_Ul7tra and a few others from our guild at the time. It took us longer to kill the first boss of that dungeon than it took most guilds to clear an entire raid but we did it, and man were we proud. I'm not joking when I say it probably took us two hours to kill a boss that an end game character could kill with one shot. We laughed, we absolutely hosed ourselves but in the end we got there.

 

I eventually inherited a guild called Proud Guardians, and single handedly grew this guild to over 1000 members, some of which I became good friends with. 

 

This adventure goes on and on, I'll leave it at this for now but if there's enough interest I'll type out the next one. I genuinely hope we can make a group of folks who want to give it a go as it's genuinely one of the most relaxing, chilled out games around, until you hit the arena. 

 

For some arena action, Swifty was always my go to guy, I love this dude. And trust me, Arena is srs bznz. 

 

Watch this for a taster:

 

 

 

 

@GazzaGarratt @crispymorgan @Bluebear Someone tag Hamish please. @phil bottle @tronic44 @Sennex

[phil bottle 9,758]

Make a calendar event for it. Initiation night or something...
I'll give it a bash if we have a few willing FGers on board.

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[VGon_BGon48 207]

Cool I’m avoiding WOW because ex plays it like it’s going out of style but great to see others enjoying the game as well good on ya @Diddums

[The3rdWalker 1,271]

I played WoW early on when I was younger and banned for power leveling an account. Years later when Mists launches I gave it a try because a rugby buddy asked me to get back into it. With RAF (refer a friend) I managed to level 6 lv.70 characters in that short span.

I would like to go back to horde though.

Wow has always been solid.


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[Sennex 1,903]

I jumped from DAoC to WoW when it launched. There are a ton of good memories, the blood plague when ZG opened up.

 

Battling in world PVP at the Crossroads in the Barrens. Or even out near Tarren Mill!

 

Harvesting random supplies for the battles to open AQ (which no one fucking saw because the servers crashed)

 

Everything in and around Wrath of the Lich King. So much damn fun! I remember my coming home from work when LK came out, my wife decided to not go to work that day, and had been leveling all day, and didn't tell me.

 

My only regret was not switching to a Paladin sooner. It really was the best Tanking class there towards the end, and I stubbornly wanted to make a DK or Warrior work.

 

Cataclysm was okay, but Mists killed the game for me. No part of it did I enjoy.

 

I have no place in my house currently for a gaming PC. The one I do own is actually broken down in a storage bin next to my 2 monitors. So as much as i would like to give this game a go again, it isn't happening sadly.

[Rumelylady 188]

@Diddums keep sharing. Your writing is engaging and you've basically described the feels I've had getting back into it.

 

1 hour ago, The3rdWalker said:

I would like to go back to horde though.

My guild wants to recruit more people. Legacy on Blade's Edge. They aren't super hardcore, so if you want to play somewhat casually but still see endgame content they're pretty good. At least half a dozen got to 120 within the first week. 

[The3rdWalker 1,271]

56 minutes ago, Rumelylady said:

@Diddums keep sharing. Your writing is engaging and you've basically described the feels I've had getting back into it.

 

My guild wants to recruit more people. Legacy on Blade's Edge. They aren't super hardcore, so if you want to play somewhat casually but still see endgame content they're pretty good. At least half a dozen got to 120 within the first week. 

 

Neat, I may buy BFA, then make a new character and pay to max him out. I'm not leveling another character again and tanking is tanking. 

[Sennex 1,903]

Tanking is the fastest way to level.

 

I have no idea if Heirlooms still work, but shit man, it took me maybe 2 days to get my paladin from 1 to max level in Cataclysm. Granted it was a long 2 days, but once I got to around level 20 (i think), I just kept queuing for instances. If anyone talked shit about my playing as a paladin, I would vote kick. Aint nobody going to argue with a tank or healer in instance queues

[Rumelylady 188]

7 minutes ago, The3rdWalker said:

 

Neat, I may buy BFA, then make a new character and pay to max him out. I'm not leveling another character again and tanking is tanking. 

Expansion come with a boost to lvl 110, so you would only have to do new content.

[Rumelylady 188]

4 minutes ago, Sennex said:

Tanking is the fastest way to level.

 

I have no idea if Heirlooms still work, but shit man, it took me maybe 2 days to get my paladin from 1 to max level in Cataclysm. Granted it was a long 2 days, but once I got to around level 20 (i think), I just kept queuing for instances. If anyone talked shit about my playing as a paladin, I would vote kick. Aint nobody going to argue with a tank or healer in instance queues

Heirloom still work. The base heirloom will only take you so far, but you can buy an augmentation type thing that will let them last longer. Queuing as a tank or healer while leveling is amazing. My priest zips right along whenever I play her.

[Bluebear 336]

LFM naked hogger raid gnomes only pls

Via the FG App

[Diddums 4,346]

Pretty sure I've got all the heirlooms all on my account but I'll be shunning those to enjoy the game with the noobs if I decide to play. It would be really ace if we could get this off the ground, I know @GazzaGarratt would take to it like a duck to water. 

[GazzaGarratt 11,049]

16 hours ago, Diddums said:

Pretty sure I've got all the heirlooms all on my account but I'll be shunning those to enjoy the game with the noobs if I decide to play. It would be really ace if we could get this off the ground, I know @GazzaGarratt would take to it like a duck to water. 

I think I'm scared of falling in...but I'd do it you know.  I wouldn't want to play it exclusively though, I have too much fun with everybody around here.

 

Definitely interested to see where this goes. I'm up for setting a good few sessions once I'm back from hols.

[crispymorgan 1,054]

This thread is literally nonsense words to me.

[Plumbers Crack 4,062]

^ what Crispy said ^ probably makes more sense in WingDings font!

[BO7H B4RRELS 2,453]

Never played it. I've always been intrigued. I just wish it wasn't a month subscription. Can't get over that aspect.

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[Diddums 4,346]

Well I floated the idea by Kyla yesterday. The answer... well, let's just say it was a no

 

Fair enough, the shit I put her through last time I played this game was retarded, she deserves a medal.

 

 

Amusingly she said I was an idiot, if I'd just done it she probably wouldn't have recognised the game anyway, but now that I've told her she knows

[phil bottle 9,758]

Well I floated the idea by Kyla yesterday. The answer... well, let's just say it was a no [emoji3]
 
Fair enough, the shit I put her through last time I played this game was retarded, she deserves a medal.
 
 
Amusingly she said I was an idiot, if I'd just done it she probably wouldn't have recognised the game anyway, but now that I've told her she knows [emoji14]

Fucking twat... but nice one as you've saved me having to say I don't want to pay no murder ferking subscription. [emoji3]

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[The3rdWalker 1,271]

1 hour ago, Diddums said:

Well I floated the idea by Kyla yesterday. The answer... well, let's just say it was a no

 

Fair enough, the shit I put her through last time I played this game was retarded, she deserves a medal.

 

 

Amusingly she said I was an idiot, if I'd just done it she probably wouldn't have recognised the game anyway, but now that I've told her she knows

 

Someone is getting a sub gifted to them! Love you Kyla! 

[BO7H B4RRELS 2,453]

I installed Guild Wars 2 tonight.  So far it's pretty cool.  Never played anything like this before.  It's weird moving around w/ ASWD, then using 1,2,3,4,5, etc. for spells/attacks.  The controls will take me a bit to get used to.  Probably need to bind some stuff to my mouse buttons as well.  

 

Anyone else play it? 

 

 

[Diddums 4,346]

4 hours ago, BO7H B4RRELS said:

I installed Guild Wars 2 tonight.  So far it's pretty cool.  Never played anything like this before.  It's weird moving around w/ ASWD, then using 1,2,3,4,5, etc. for spells/attacks.  The controls will take me a bit to get used to.  Probably need to bind some stuff to my mouse buttons as well.  

 

Anyone else play it? 

 

 

 

 

I tried it for a while, in fact I've still got it but it never grabbed me like WoW did. I think I was looking for something close to WoW and although it is similar in many aspects, it just doesn't have that atmosphere. A good free MMO was Rift, @Sennex got me in to this one but for some reason I only played it a short while. The end game was severely lacking iirc, don't quote me on that though, I only made it to about level 12 before getting bored, but it might be worth giving it a go if you're interested.

 

 

Another MMO which might be worth your time given your love of the Elder Scrolls stuff is Elder Scrolls Online. This is on all platforms and like every other Elder Scrolls game, I lasted about 30 seconds before getting bored. You can probably bag a copy for £lol nowadays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

//That all being said, I fired up WoW last night on my old account and it was fantastic seeing all my old characters there, sadly none of them show up in the Armory as they've been dormant for so long but seeing Heretician (85 pally tank), Kreex (85 DK Tank) and Diddumss (85 holy priest) in such a long time brough back so many memories. 

 

Thing is, if I manage to get some time in I'll want to start fresh, the game has no doubt changed so much since I last played it that most of my knowledge is probably completely out of date. It's also much more fun rolling with some friends at the same level and trying to figure shit out. 

 

I just spoke to @crispymorgan who's in for some shenanigans tonight, @phil bottle @tronic44 @Bluebear you fellas in? We'll be starting from level 1 with whatever you fellas choose. Can the Muricans play on EU servers nau? I know it was a huge thing when I last played, @Rumelylady @Sennex @The3rdWalker can you lot comment?

 

 

Oh and one more thing, I saw that you can now buy your monthly subs with GOLD! Yes, that's right, you can now buy game time with in-game currency but I have no idea how much grinding and farming will need to be done. What I do know is that I had quite a bit of bank when I quit, but that would probably be worth fuck all now. 

[tronic44 3,642]

I might jump on this one day but really not in the mood for figuring it all out tbh.

[Diddums 4,346]

3 minutes ago, tronic44 said:

I might jump on this one day but really not in the mood for figuring it all out tbh.

 

Fairy's muff fella, I forgot about Lex's nephew, hope you guys are all ok ❤️ 

[Bluebear 336]

I'm good with whichever server. I have a load of chars on Dunemaul but that is a PvP server.

 

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[BO7H B4RRELS 2,453]

@Diddums

I've got ESO on PS4.  I really like it.  I think it's completely underrated.  

I tried Rift for about 20 minutes a few years ago, but something about it put me off.  I can't remember what it was. 

I'm gonna stick with Guild Wars 2 for a bit to learn the basics of the MMO world.  I feel like a total noob.  

I might try out some WoW once I've got a good grasp of Guild Wars.  

Does any of my experience playing ESO on PS4 translate to any of these PC MMORPG games?  I always assumed ESO was just kind of its own thing.  Didn't know if it followed the ways of other MMORPGs.