I've always liked Blizzard games. Since my early days in 5th grade playing Warcraft II on a shitty ass computer, Blizzard games have fascinated me. They have managed to create an interesting world based upon a rock solid lore background with a practically unlimited possibility of exploitation.
I've went through the normal game progression starting with Warcraft II, then Starcraft, Diablo, Diablo 2, Warcraft III and finally World of Warcraft. Funny thing is, if it wasn't for Warcraft III, I would have never started to play WoW. I was playing W3 hardcore in some clan on US East when WoW hit the shelves. 90% of the people I had known for more than a year were suddenly gone and I was left alone with some random newbies. I obviously had to try the game since apparently it was a big hit.
WoW was my first ever MMO. I'm not one of those guys who constantly bring up EQ and L2 with nostalgia; I was always under the impression MMOs were a huge waste of time. That impression hasn't changed but still, everyone knows WoW is special in some way, being a homogeneous mixture of elements from previous games with a touch of Blizz.
I was thrilled the first day I played WoW. The game looked great, what can I say. Extremely user friendly and easy to master, it turned out to be the best time filler I had ever come across. There were no real objectives in the game yet, nobody knew what a PvE raid was and the only raids that were going on were level 40s attacking Crossroads and Tarren Mill. Everyone and their mother had rolled a rogue after seeing probably the most famous WoW video ever released - Daddar from Goon Squad (Mal'Ganis US) killing Ironforge Bankers -, including me.
My little undead rogue was rising in levels relatively fast. There was no pressure, no time limit, no gear dilemmas, just the pure pleasure of ganking the f*ck out of people in all level ranges. Then came my final exams. I was reluctant towards stopping WoW, but I was forced, it was becoming an addiction. 3 months later, I unfroze my account and got back on track, anxious to reach level 60. By that time my server was already packed with people at level 60 and Orgrimmar was swarming with blue geared pros. Of course anyone who had reached level 60s must be godly at WoW. That was the general mentality back then.
After a few unsuccessful Zul'Farrak runs due to shitty tanks and healers, I decided I want to go up a step and play a character with more responsibility. My next character was an undead priest. Needless to say it got agonizingly boring around level 40, so I abandoned it to play DOTA for a while until I felt the urge to get it to 60. During this time, one of my IRL friends decided he wanted to try the game out. Next thing I knew I was playing a level 1 tauren warrior called Zooc in Mulgore. Everyone had told me not to roll warrior, it was the "hardest" class to play at that time. Fu*k them, everything that's considered hard has to a reward fitting the hassle.
I pushed my patience to the limits playing Zooc, it was the most annoying and retarded class one could imagine. Having to stop and eat every 2nd kill, dying to multi-mob pulls, doing crappy damage. It was all but rewarding, but the goal I had set for myself was to finally reach max level with at least one character. Around level 57 I had my first taste of what raiding really feels like. I was minding my own business in Eastern Plaguelands when someone suddenly asked me if I wanted to tank UBRS. My heart raced at the prospect of finally tasting the game as it was supposed to be played. I jumped on the opportunity and next thing I knew I was standing over Rend Blackhand's corpse with brand new shoulders and Blackhand's Doomsaw.
My prediction had finally come true, playing my warrior had paid off in full. From that moment on I put every single moment of my time in game into improving my gear and learning how to tank. At that time the server population consisted of 65% rogues, 10% tanks and the rest random classes. Needless to say I had the easiest time getting into groups for instances. There was nothing better than doing 10 man Scholomance or full Stratholme 4 hour runs. Every time someone complimented me on my tanking I felt a sense of achievement. It was normal; I was trying to be good at the game and people were acknowledging it.
Around one month later, I finally decided to take my chances and apply to the best guild on the server Zenedar. It was called DAWN, a guild run mainly by Chinese exchange students, with a progress to envy. They had 2 raids farming Molten Core and one elite raid just starting Blackwing Lair. I played it smart, I started doing 5-mans with a few of their members and showed my skills in all their glory. I slowly made friends in the guild and eventually talked to their warrior class leader. He was impressed with my application and in the middle of a Scholomance run I got my long awaited guild invite.
This was a breakthrough for me in the game, the possibility of getting epic gear and being part of a community was something irreplaceable. It was there where I met Buzzkill, one of the people that shared my views on the game and always had something to say about everything. Soon I made friends and I was actively participating in raids. It was all good until the Chinese leadership turned it all to shit. The extreme favorizing of Chinese players, skilled or not, led to disgruntlement. People that were giving all they had for the guild were not being rewarded accordingly, so next thing I knew I had gquit along with a dozen other people. We all wanted to raid, so we formed a guild called Whatever, out of lack of inspiration for a better name.
We built a name for ourselves on the server, having managed to finish Molten Core within one month with lesser geared people than required for the actual instance. It was a great feeling having built something from scratch. Some weeks later, with the opening of free transfers, an unknown guild called Voodoo suddenly appeared on our server. Their gear was insane for that time, almost full tier 2 with Sulfuras and such. They outplayed DAWN and managed to kill Nefarian earlier than them with new recruits from the server.
Clearly, joining them was the next step. We negotiated a package deal which consisted of them recruiting the 10-15 best players from Whatever. It worked out great, almost all of us proved to be assets. Some left, some stopped playing but the core of people I had something to talk to remained. With them I went through the process of learning BWL, later AQ and in the end Naxxramas. We were great, had almost all server first kills. Our only competition was Neophyte, a Swedish-only guild run by Melghor and a friend of his. Eventually Melghor joined Voodoo and was part of our core.
Towards the end of old WoW, Voodoo started to fall apart. I had maintained over 95% attendance for months, but I was among the few. It became frustrating not being able to play at the level I was hoping to. I still needed to improve my character and I wanted to see the end of Naxxramas, but the guild I was in wasn't going to offer me the chance. Melghor had already joined Nihilum 1 or 2 months earlier and talking to him made me want to move on to a higher level of play. Nihilum sounded scary, it sounded like a nazi concentration camp compared to what I was used to. I decided to apply though, I knew I had what it takes to make it here.
To my great surprise, I was accepted. Needless to say, I had achieved something few people dreamt of. Nihilum had already obtained the world first Kel'Thuzad kill and that alone was at the same time both terrifying and fascinating. I had no idea what was expected of me but I planned to do my best. My first raid with them was anything but comforting, mainly because I had forgotten my armor potions for Patchwerk. Fu*k me, how is that possible? I had 100 of every consumable in my bags but I had forgotten the most important thing. I didn't get any feedback for my performance, and shortly afterwards drama descended upon the guild. A few people including Kungen had tried out TBC beta and realized the gear we were farming for now would become obsolete. That concept was almost impossible to believe but all in all, Nihilum stopped raiding.
Devastated is what I felt at that time. I had paid 60 euros to move my 3 characters to Magtheridon to prove myself to the best guild in the world and that chance was being taken away from me. People were revolting, leaving the guild, rejoining and then leaving again. I had no idea what to say or do, who was who and what role they played, if I should listen to them or not. So I logged off and didn't come back for more than 2 months.
During that time I leveled a gnome mage on Alonsus, joined a guild of rerollers and plowed through MC and BWL in full greens. I was convinced I'd stop playing in Nihilum since it had all proved to be a big disappointment but once TBC came and I logged on Magtheridon, I was shocked. The guild list previously consisting of maximum 2-3 people was now at 45+. Everyone was playing non-stop, and this was the time where I got my first taste of real competition. People were playing day and night, trying to get 70 as fast as possible and I was the 2nd warrior in the guild to achieve that.
People of course had no idea who I was and what the hell I was doing there, but slowly I built up my reputation and started talking to people in the guild. Compared to my class knowledge now, I was a complete newbie back then. The guild I had played in hadn't given me the possibility to develop my skills as it should have. I was constantly trying to learn new things about my class and the people I dealt with.
My sense of competitiveness increased exponentially and I was constantly going head to head with everything, be it people or game situations. Sometimes people take it the wrong way but the single thing that will allow you to succeed in this game is the will to compete and wanting to be better than you are now. Without clear cut goals and objectives, WoW is nothing but a time filler. With them, however, it can prove to be more. That is what allowed me to succeed in WoW and in Nihilum, taking me to the position of Class Leader in the most successful guild.
I think this is enough for now. If you think it's boring kiss my ass.
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Not sure that's a challenge I care enough to tackle.
The story was nice too...
