A few
bloggers are getting all nostalgic recently, such as the egotistical priest.
Vonya posted a nice piece on "the pivotal" event that shaped your
WoW play/life style and I felt like I wanted to yap on a little bit here about my pivotal moments in terms of what lead me to where I am today.
Day 1 was the decision to go buy this crack derived game! I did not think that I would be playing after a couple of months , let alone playing for years! I have a very low attention span for
pc/console games and 2 games have only ever gripped me.. Command and Conquer Red Alert and the Total War series for the PC. My only
MMO experience before
WoW was
Runescape. At the time the concept of
MMO blew my mind, what with all these real people out there interacting in a completely new phase of social interaction. I knew parts of
Runescape was what I wanted but
also that it wasn't right for me long term. Hence I did my research and ended up purchasing
WoW.
I remember clearly the day I purchased it and the excitement of reading the little game manual while I waited for it to load. Then came the first and last time I had to consider what class I wanted to play.( The decision to play alliance and the
Bronzebeard server were made for me, as a
wonderful lady I had met in a previous blogging life played on BB and was going to take me under her wing. The only problem was, we found out the next day, EU customers couldn't access USA servers and I had purchased the EU version in ignorance!
Doh.) It simply had to be a druid! Everything about them screamed versatility, variety and well, fun. From those early
beginnings in the druid
noob zone, to
outlands to
Northrend, my druid has been my only real
toon, no alliance alt has made it past 29. The druid is me, no other class has "felt" right....even down to not ever changing how he looks, with haircuts etc.
The second pivotal moment for the emerging
Boomdaddy was brought about by meeting the
Boomgrandaddy. Salmonella to be precise. He was one of the only balance druids at that time on our server and was also a
guidmate. He was THE only
Boomkin that you saw in
Stormwind, he was the guy everyone asked to dance because he was relatively unique. Sal was also a
guildie and helped me through the different druid quests, taught me to be less of a
noob, taught me where to fish Deviates (when it really was a secret on Alliance side) to make loads of cash in order to buy my first mount. He didn't boost me through stuff, he simply talked me through it, taught self reliance...he really was a true druid mentor and I think I would have given up years ago if he hadn't showed me the ropes. The pivotal day was when we both got trees for the first time and danced the night away in SW surrounded by shrubbery. That day the
Moonkin contract was signed in blood, there was no was any other class could be so full of win!
Guild politics and
Outlands cocktail, was really what led to the last defining moment. The casual social guild that I had belonged to split, for several reasons, but looking back I think there was an underlying frustration at not "raiding". Raiding was completely alien to me. Yes , I had run all of the instances in
Outlands but the emerging Kara was simply a pipe dream, something those hardcore guys in basements did whilst high on Red Bull and pro plus. A few of us stayed solo after the split but we shared a group calender and started to schedule runs into the new
fangled heroics. Tor the rogue, his brother Demon the lock, Sal, myself,
Letro the Pally (whose moustache alone can tank 3 mobs-true story),
Ysanne the priest hit the heroics most nights , sometimes 2 per night. We formed a great team, which looking back now feels like the first real exposure to mini raiding that I had. Bosses were tough, tactics were talked, we used in game voice chat. I read about recount and Omen, worked out threat and gear and suddenly started to absorb some of the plethora of resources out there for us all to use and learn from.
The team split up though, when the others up and joined this
weird social/raiding guild. I was sceptical and stayed away for a few months but one day went on a pug with a few of them by chance into the Slave Pens. That was the first time I met the
Moonkin , now known as the
Boommummy. A few days later I made an application (my God, imagine having to apply to a guild!!!) which probably to the horror now of my GM, was accepted. It was great to be back with old friends and seemed like a really new chapter had started in my
WoW "career". Then it happened. Kara.
I had been in a couple of times in a pug
wipefest on
Attumen, so was not completely green but
OMG what a different world, the first real world of raiding. Suddenly I found what I had always wanted out of this game, raiding. Hard fights where you were completely reliant on 9 other people to be at their best, to get you all through. Really learning how to squeeze every last drop of win out of your
toon. Learning strategies, rotations, threat and
mana management....simply awesome. A dedicated , social raiding guild. Casual in chat but in no way sloppy in raid. The thirst for raiding,
That's what Kara gave me. That was my pivotal moment.
What was yours?
