It’s been a little over 2 weeks since Classic launched and I figured it’s time for me to write down my experience of the game somewhere. I figured, why not do it here.
It was really fun seeing all the hundreds of players on the first day, logging into Northshire, tagging wolves, grp up for Kobolds, etc. For the first time since I’ve been playing this game, it felt… alive. I felt like I was actually playing with people and not NPCs. This makes me want to have been born a few years earlier, just so I could have experienced vanilla when it came out. Even for a brief moment…
Leveling is tough but believable. I’m not some Exalted Hero that gets his boots licked by the questivers, I’m a simple adventurer trying to make a living by fishing and killing crabs. I occasionally kill some robbers and marauders, maybe find a necklace or two underwater and once in a while go deep into an unknown dungeon and get lucky with a blue item. Simplicity at it’s finest.
However, this game’s greatest strength is it’s greatest flaw.
I had made a severe miscalculation, one that would probably prevent me from reaching level 60. A mistake that was so devastating to my leveling experience and to the enjoyment of the game that I find myself logging off out of sheer frustration. A mistake that takes away from the fun and adds up to the stress.
Yes, I miscalculated… and picked Alliance.
To be quite frank, I have always been an Alliance guy, since I just can’t seem to associate myself with the Horde. Their beliefs and theyr methodology is just too foreign to me. With that being said, I should have rolled a Horde character for Classic. Maybe then I would have been able to have a better leveling experience.
Right now, as I am writing this, I am sitting in ghost form near Nesingwary Camp. Why, you ask? It is because I dared to piss off the Horde by joining a grp about killing said Horde. Let me elaborate: I got sick and tired of getting kileld by grps of Horde mages/rogues/warriors that are 5+ levels above me every 5 minutes. I wanted to fight back. I wanted to show that I am not a coward and that I would not lie down and surrender. I’ve never really been a quitter and even now I am desperately trying to fight back.
Anyway, we got a small grp of about 5-6 guys and we killed Horde players near Nesingwary camp. For about 2 minutes we were the baddies. I… enjoyed it. I’m ashamed to say it, but I enjoyed killing a priest 4 levels lower than me. I enjoyed my 347 dmg execute crit. I finally saw what it’s like to be playing the game.
And then, the 2 minutes passed. And suddenly, as if the ground split asunder and and Hell itself came to Stranglethorn, Horde players swarmed the camp. 2 minutes - it was all it took them to come and reclaim the camp from our withered corpses. For 2 minutes, were dared to dream of a better world. For 2 minutes, we sampled a taste of strength. For 2 minutes only, perhaps the only 2 minutes of classic that I had the feeling of superiority.
What shook me was the fact it wasn’t 1 huge Horde raid, but countless small Horde parties. As if an alarm had gotten off and like bees swarming to defend their queen Hordes upon Horde of red players spilled our blood. The sheer numbers of those parties was despair-inducing. We had to squabble amongst ourselves for hours until we managed to find 6 players willing to fight. It took the Horde 2 minutes to retaliate.
I am still unable to safely recover my corpse, for I know that my insolence has landed me on the blacklist of a number of high-level Hordes. Stranglethorn shall be forever hostile to me. Not because I broke the rules, not because I hacked, not even because I was rude. But because I… I tried to play.
I still think this game is amazing. It is truly extraordinary. Revolutionary, even. 14 years after it’s conception, it is still able to birth such feelings and emotions in players’ hearts. Sadly, for me and for many others, this game will be restricted to the starting zones. For dare we venture forward, certain death would await.
FAQ:
A: Why didn’t you join a PvE server if you hate PvP so much?
B: There were 1-2 normal servers on launch and they were high pop or full. I wanted a low-medium pop server and those were all PvP.
A: Stop crying, leave this game if you don’t like it so much!
B: That is for me to decide.
A: obligatory mother insult
B: Thanks.
A: I feel you man but you can just change zones and avoid Horde, right?
B: Not at high-end zones I can’t.
A: obligatory l2p and get better comment
B: I am trying.