Ten Years, Ten Questions, Ten Answers

If you haven’t heard the Alt:ernative Chat blog has created a project titled Ten Years :: Ten Questions. In honor of World of Warcraft’s ten year anniversary she is asking players to submit their answers to ten questions about World of Warcraft. This is open to all players. You do not need to blog, podcast, or stream to participate. You just need to play or have played World of Warcraft. I highly encourage you to participate.

Without further ado here are my ten answers.

1. Why did you start playing World of Warcraft?

I started play WoW based on the recommendation of a friend. I wrote about that here. In October 2004, my friend e-mailed me to tell me about this new game he was beta testing.

He and a co-work of his were going to play at launch and thought it would be fun for the three of us to play together.

I purchased the game and on November 23, 2004 I began my legendary journey.

2. What is the first character you ever rolled?

The first character I even rolled was a Tauren Hunter named Bacala. I deleted him early on, as my friends and I were playing on the Mal’ganis realm and it performed horribly at launch. By the end of the first week we decided to change realms and factions.

The second character I rolled was also a Hunter named Phlox. He still lives on Stormscale and is level 20. I mention this because I’m know for playing Hunters. Although I started out with Hunters, I abandoned them early on.

My first meaningful character was a Paladin name Bacala. He too lives on Stormscale and is level 52. My first true main character was also a Paladin named Pasquale. He was my first level 60, and played him in Burning Crusade. He is still level 70 and now lives a lonely life on Drenden.

3. What factors determined your faction choice in game?

I definitely consider myself “For the Alliance”, but in the beginning I did not have any really allegiance to Horde or Alliance.

When the game launched I was playing with friends so I based my decisions on what they wanted to do. We started out as Horde and then switched to Alliance.

Once I began to level and spend time on the Alliance side I stuck with them in part because I bonded with them, and also because I became familiar with the quests and zones. Also, other than Tauren I really don’t care for the Horde races.

In Mists of Pandaria I finally leveled a couple of Horde toons, and while I’m not changing factions, I will level them in Warlords so I can experience the whole story.

4. What has been your most memorable moment in Warcraft and why?

After playing for ten years it’s impossible for me to choose a single moment that stands out above all others. I’m going to cheat and list several here for you.

• Logging into the game on November 23, 2004 (launch day). I was blown away by the game.
• My first level 60, A paladin name Pasquale. I hit 60 killing Furlbolgs in Felwood.
• My first Southshore vs. Tarren Mill PvP battle in December 2004.
• That Sunday where I spent the entire day running Eye of the Storm to complete the What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been achievement.
• Killing Heroic Deathwing towards the end of Cataclysm.
• Completing the Karazhan attunement.
• Completing the epic mount quest on my Paladin.
• Starting my first guild in Burning Crusade.
• Leaving the guild I started to join a raiding guild in Wrath of the Lich King.
• Meeting BigRedKitty in-game. We both played on Drenden.
• Starting this blog and the Hunting Party Podcast.
• Meeting fellow podcast hosts Frostheim and Euripides in person.
• Deciding to be a Hunter.
• Taming all four Spirit Beasts in Wrath of the Lich King.
• Getting into the Cataclysm beta.
• Accidentally vendoring Deathbringer’s Will.
• Darkbrew Lager, the best “unofficial” item name after a player.

I could go on and on and on, but there are more questions to answer.

5.  What is your favorite aspect of the game and has that always been the case?

My favorite aspect of the game is raiding. I love the group dynamics, and challenge of working together to overcome mechanics and defeat a boss.

I didn’t discover raiding until Wrath of the Lich King. Prior to that I truly enjoyed leveling and questing. That aspect of the game has changed quite a bit, and outside of the new leveling content, I don’t overly enjoy starting a new character and leveling through Azeroth, Outland and the older zones.

Raiding is my passion now.

6. Do you have an area in the game you always return to?

I don’t really have a go to location that I return to, but Un’Goro Crater has always been one of my favorite zones. It’s filled with dinosaurs, and I love the Land of the Lost pop-culture references. I was big fan of that show as a kid.

I also like to ride the Deep Run Tram and do the /train emote.

7. How long have you /played and has that been continuous?

Okay, my current /played on all of my characters totals 400 days. That’s over year of my life spent playing World of Warcraft.

I’ve spent 259 days playing Darkbrew; by far the most active of any of my toons.

Even spread out over ten years that still more than one month a year dedicated to playing World of Warcraft.

I often wonder what other activities in my life I’ve spent more time doing than WoW.

To answer the second part of this question, it has not been continuous. I started playing on launch day, but effectively quit the game in August 2005. I like to do the six month subscriptions, so my account was active until January 2006 when I did not renew.

In March 2006, I decided to come back and haven’t looked back. I have lulls every now and then, but August 2005 – January 2006 was the only time when I wasn’t playing WoW.

8. Admit it, do you read the quest text or not?

Sometimes. If I’m in an expansion beta I do read the text in part to test, and in part so I don’t have to when it goes live.

I remember when the game launched and the default was for the quest text to slowly paint it’s way on the screen. In fact, I should add disabling that to my list of memorable moments.

9. Are there any regrets from your time in game?

Yes. At the end of Burning Crusade I felt like there was a lot of content that I did not get to see. Mostly it was all of the raids, but in addition, I didn’t feel like I got the most out of that expansion on any one toon.

I had three level 70s, a Paladin, Shaman and Hunter. I spent nearly equal time playing each one and the experience felt incomplete.

I also regret abandoning my early Hunters and not sticking with them right from the start. I’m a big quality of life person, and having to buy ammo and sacrifice a bag slot was a big turn off for me.

I changed my approach to the game for Wrath of the Lich King and have few regrets since that time.

10. What effect has Warcraft had on your life outside of gaming?

Outside the game I’ve been inspired to blog and podcast. I’ve made many friends. I was married two year before the game was released, and I’m still married to the same person today.

That’s not to say it hasn’t been difficult at times. I remember committing to raid the night before leaving on vacation. That did not sit well with my wife, and I now respectfully decline invitations right before I leave for vacation.

Flying to Minnesota to do a live podcast with Frostheim and Euripides was truly a highlight of my WoW career.

Doing a podcast in general was an amazing experience. I love talking about WoW and getting to do it with some of the greatest players and personalities in the game was truly a pleasure.

Final Thoughts

I would like to thank the Alt:ernative Chat blog for starting this amazing project. It was privilege to partake in it.

Happy anniversary World of Warcraft! Here’s to the next ten years!