I recently wrote up a post over at my LiveJournal where I listed and posted movies of the top ten video game moments that gave me goosebumps. Anyways, I had a lot of fun writing that post, and I figured I’d go ahead and make a similar post, except focusing on World of Warcraft, which would let me get away with posting it here! I also figured I’d make it more of a “Top Ten WoW Memories” post to broaden the criteria a bit… oh, and add commentary in lieu of having a video for everything.
And so, I present Pike’s Personal Top Ten WoW Moments…
10. The Gnome Rogue: You can read the full story here if you haven’t already; this is one of my favorite memories of PvP, period. To this day, I swear to you that you could see the shock on the poor guy’s face.
9. Ice Barbed Spear: For days I lived in Alterac Valley. For days we lost. For days I would push back dinner if it looked like we were in a winning game, which always turned out to be false, of course. And, then, one day… we won. I went from completely Neutral with Stormpike to halfway through Friendly by the time it happened. But we won. I have never seen a battleground chat so filled with shock and cheers. And I, at long last, had My Shiny.
8. The Safety Dance: Most of you who have been reading my blog in its WotLK incarnation for a while know about how Heigan was my Ultimate Nemesis for weeks. Every time I would go doggedly into Heigan, and every time, I would die on pretty much the first glimpse of green fire. Dead. Kaput. Tawyn Flatbread. It got worse as before long, most people I knew were talking about how easy it was. Not for me. And to add insult to injury, “The Safety Dance” is seriously one of my favorite songs of all time. How embarrassing.
Then, one day, in there with a PuG, a friend of mine gave me some brief last minute advice before I headed in. “Just keep moving.” Five minutes later…
The achievement. And the first time I survived. At the same time. I was on a high for days.
Since then I’ve only died on that fight if the disease on me isn’t cleansed fast enough. My druid even got the achievement on her first sojourn into Naxx. What was once my Fail Fight has become my speciality. Miracles can happen.
7. “We’re Going For the Epics. Epiiiiiiics!”: The boy and I were level 40ish, questing in Hinterlands, when my comrade-in-arms let out a gasp. I asked him what had happened, and he said, “I just got my first purple drop… and… I think… I am going to give it to you.”
It was called Bow of Searing Arrows, and it was my very first purple. I used it with pride for a very long time.
6. Home Sweet Home: I know I’ve written before about the feeling of flying into Elwynn and immediately feeling that very cozy “home” feeling so I’ll keep it brief; suffice to say it was one of the major motivators behind upgrading my Trial Account to a full-blown paid account. Because no video game had ever made me feel like that before.
5. My Kingdom for a Horse: The other big motivator behind upgrading my Trial Account was access to a mount. I decided early on that I wanted a horse rather than the typical Night Elf Cat, largely because of Tawyn’s RP backstory but also partially because I just really dislike the look of the cat mount. And so I began my long climb up the mountain that is Stormwind rep. Fortunately for me, Stormwind is arguably the easiest faction OF ALL TIME to gain rep for, so I was exalted at level 37– this was back when mounts were at 40, remember.
The boy and I were smack in the middle of Stranglethorn Vale quests when the big 4-0 happened for both of us; he got his special fiery warlock mount and I got my Chestnut Mare, which I promptly “named” Buckles. Then, the two of us rode up and down the entire southern half of Eastern Kingdoms together, simply out of the sheer joy of being able to do so.
4. Healing Naxx: This PuG Naxx10 was basically the culmination of a project involving my only non-hunter character to ever get anywhere near endgame– the final exam, so to speak, of my decision to doggedly level a druid as 100%-pure-Resto. I’d never healed a raid before (that wasn’t “Kara with 80s”, anyway) so I was ridiculously nervous, and then I found out that this group wanted to do it with only two healers: a trade of faster boss kills at the cost of less room for healer error, which absolutely terrified me.
And yet, one by one, all the bosses that I was afraid of as a healer… Patchwerk, Razuvious, Loatheb… went down to the healy might of a scrub tree druid in blues and the nice holy paladin who coached her and whispered her tips. At the climax of it all was a Kel’Thuzad kill during which, after a few false starts, not a single person died to one of my worst fears: Ice Blocks.
Most of the memories in this post are of my hunter(s), and naturally and understandably so, however, my healing alter-ego is very proud of what thus far is probably her finest hour.
3. “ENTELECHY GLORIAM!”: I have no doubt my fellow Silver Handers will recognize the guild that is involved in this story: a Paladins-only super-hardcore RP guild that focuses on, well– zealous paladins. They’re pretty well-known on our server, and as frequently happens with really well-known RP guilds, everybody starts tying in their RP with them. Our guild was really no different at the time; although we made a pretty conscious effort to have “our own RP” it was hard to not have tie-ins with the biggest RP guild on the server.
So it was that we held our weekly in-character guild meeting on the steps of the Stormwind Cathedral, against the in-character wishes of the Paladin guild. It wasn’t long before several members of said guild showed up and demanded that our little group of ragamuffins left; we countered that the Cathedral was for everybody. Now our guild meeting had had a rather impressive turnout that day, and it wasn’t long before, a good fifteen- or twenty- strong, we all marched right into that Cathedral. Paladins were yelling at us left and right to get out, and we were /yelling “ENTELECHY GLORIAM” which was actually sort of a spoof of the paladins themselves (hey, you can have some fun when you RP!) and we had a little gnome making “Myek!” noises and Trade Chat was hating on us and it was all around one of the greatest things of all time.
ENTELECHY GLORIAM, NEVER FORGET.
2. The Gift: This one was the mastermind of one of my bestest-WoW-friends. He had a level 80 hunter long before I did, and I idolized him for it, but he eventually perma-switched mains to Tanky Warrior and that’s how we all leveled up together. Anyways, one day, when I was level 65 or so, he asked me to meet him out in Blasted Lands. Mystified, I did, and when I got there, he traded me a present, all wrapped up. I opened it and inside was The Gunblade— it would be Tawyn’s very first gun.
He proceeded to show me how to level up my gun skill (from zero) on those mobs that never die, and as I did this, he performed a little mini-ceremony that was half-RP and half-not, about how he was proud to present to me the same ranged weapon he’d used to get his hunter to 70 (and how he liked to pretend it was the same gun), and how I was the best hunter he’d ever played with.
That gun is in my bank, and it is never going anywhere. <3 1. Karazhan: I’m sure you all saw this coming. The raid that is all at once the mystical awesome-land that I only heard about in hushed whispers on Trade Chat as a nubling, and the setting for my favorite Warcraft novel of all time, and the weekly watering hole and training grounds of a bunch of friends who were having the time of their lives in Ventrilo.
Not long after that guild gave up the ghost, I pulled together a montage of the things we did in there together and made a eulogy video of sorts, one I can’t watch without my eyes getting misty…
And that, well, sums that up better than any words I say ever could.
Well, that and the Outtakes, of course…
Phew! That was a tough list to write. Seriously, I had so many things I wanted to put on this list, and trimming down to what would make the final ten was tough. And ya know what, that’s really the point. I dare you all to think about your top ten best memories in game– write ’em down if that’s your thing, or just think about them otherwise. I sorta hate to be the stereotypical “count your blessings” guy, but really, I think you’ll find that there’s more of those memories than you thought there were. Don’t forget that…
Everyone needs a good dose of nostalgia now and then! Nice writeup Pike (I myself am quite a sucker for list based things so its a win-win :D). While i cant remember 10 best wow moments ( I can hardly remember what I had for dinner last night), one moment does stick with me. it was when I got my first epic on my first toon (now my main). I remember while level 40, i had just got my normal mount training, and was looking ahead to epic mount at 60, gawking at the seemingly impossible to get 1000 gold price tag, with another 90 gold added for the mount itself. So, looking in my bags and noticing I had about 4 gold, a hearthstone, and a crapload of clam meat, I vowed then and there to farm the BGs for the PVP epic mount cause, hell, it was free right!? So, out of a combination of cheapness, insanity, with just a pinch of masochism, I would farm the BGs as often as I could, with a healthy amount of leveling of course. Needless to say, by the time i hit 60, just a wee blood elf, I was staring wide eyed at those shiny pvp mounts, a mountain of bg tokens behind me, I bought my Epic mount, the Black War Wolf. I was about to leave, when I noticed that I had a whole bunch of leftover tokens and a boatload of Honor points. So I figured “Why the hell not?” and decided to buy those fancy PVp hunter shoulders with the spikes and the glowy green mist around them. Needless to say, I was ecstatic, and logged out knowing that I had achieved something that day (this was before achievements were put in place, so it was hard to tell when you should know you achieved something of course). After that, I didnt pvp for exactly 3 months. My second proudest moment was my first step through the Dark Portal, but thats a story for another day.
Whew, my fingers hurt. I’m taking a break now…
(Wall of poorly written, rambling text Crits you for 24,000 damage)
(You die)
(Your intelligence and sanity suffer %10 durability loss)
(corpse run)
I joined the game in the Burning Crusade era, so I missed a lot of those things. Still, more than one smile of recognition there!
At level 34, exalted with darnassus for my sabrecat mount (sorry, pike). Achievements had just gone in, I think ‘somebody likes me’ was my first one during actual gameplay. I was pretty happy!
Discovering Ironforge for the first time. Slackjawed in awe at this astonishing city in the mountain! It wasn’t long before I noticed that the guards directed you to a ‘tram’, with some mocking for my obvious reluctance to travel via traditional Gryphon. My astonishment at the tram and the entire other city that it linked to aside, I thought the stuff about flying on gryphons was just flavour text. I can still remember discovering that the guard wasn’t joking.
What else? Earning my netherwing drake, well into the Wrath era. Finding and taming Loque’nahak.
I want to write more, but this comment is probably long enough 😛
Who knows, maybe there’s room for another BM blogger now Klinderas has retired?
@Durkonkell – I joined the game in the Burning Crusade era as well! So you aren’t alone.
And I think there’s always room for more BM hunter bloggers!
Ah….there’s plenty of room for BM Hunter bloggers. We must unite and Intimidate! See what I did there?
Anyway…nice list, Pike. I didn’t know of the Gnome Rouge tale till now and that made me smile. Overall, the list was a great read and at some point, I really would like to go and explore Kara cause I managed to miss out on it when it was being raided properly.
I might do a top 10 moments list at some point since I feel inspired by this. The only problem is, I can’t seem to really recall anything even though I’ve had loads. Memory fail.
In no particular order:
Killing Van Cleef the first time.
That spiral ramp leading up to Glinid.
Zul’Farak stairs event (and subsequently soloing it at 70)
Blizzarding the living crap out of Alterac Valley.
First successful AoE blizzard pull on some Worgen in Duskwood.
Kiting Moroes adds.
Kiting 4 Devilsaurs at once at level 80.
Kiting zombie chow.
Ganked by a rogue in redridge mountains.
Killed by a Fel Reaver
For me, my favorite WoW moment by far would be entering the Dark Portal for the first time and leveling through the Outlands for the first time. You know, before you realize the whole place is a total drag and you just enjoy the new landscape and whole new world to explore.
second would be downing and healing through Mimiron on my Tree for the first time. (That fight is HARD o_o) And third would be flying over to Naxx for a raid on my hunter while silently debating with myself if I should just give up on BM and DPS SV instead. I look down and what do I see? Loque’nahak!
/dismount
/Squeal Over Vent
/Tame Beast
/joy
Karma ftw.
Mmmm, nostalgia tastes good with ketchup.
Jaerii/Veiyl
of Anvilmar
@ Penkii – awesome Loque taming story. Thanks for sharing ^_^
Definitely my top is finding and taming Loque’nahak. OMG I was shaking for a DAY after and just dumb in disbelief (I usually do NOT have that kind of luck)! Even now when I think of it, I get all sappy about it.
Pike, you are, by far, the finest blogger in WoW, hunter or otherwise.
While taming Loque is a high point in Kel’s life, I was so jaded by the search by then that it was more like, “YAY it’s finally over!!” /sleep.
One real high point that I will always remember, tho the details get kind of sketchy, was on my tauren shaman- (/apologize for inc massive wall of text)
It was the quest chain from the Fallen Hero of the Horde, in Blasted Lands, in vanilla WoW, so me and my friends were all 60. My sister has her troll rogue, a friend was on his UD warrior, and he had another friend on her(?) UD mage, with my then-elemental shaman. We were on the very last part, killing the demon boss. We had already wiped many many times, it was getting very late, and we were all tired and getting cranky. We took the little teleporter to the rise of the defiler for one more go, and once again he proceeded to mop the floor with us. My shammy was one of the first to go down. As the last person was being killed (i think it was the warrior), the rest of us watched the boss’s health bar go to almost nothing. Then, suddenly, I realized reincarnate was off cooldown (I had been using it a lot in the course of this quest chain). As the warrior (or whoever it was) dropped, I hit the ‘reincarnate’ button, and hit earth shock, and BOOM! boss dead. Much cheering ensued, my sister was so excited she actually texted my cell, telling me ‘that was the best ever’. That finish to such a long chain had to be the biggest high i have ever gotten in-game. And another good thing, that was after they had implemented max-lvl quests giving gold instead of xp, so even with all the deaths/repair bills, we all made a LOT of gold off it too. 😀
Bow of Searing Arrows was my very first world drop epic as well. My *druid* was in the Hinterlands grinding away on wolves and trolls when *pop* – a funny little purple bit of loot drop into my bag. I was so stunned. What sucked was that I simply couldn’t use it.
The sales proceeds for that bow ended up buying mounts for him and two other alts though 🙂
In the videos u make healing look so fun but with my dad always watching me and judging me so harshly I can’t enjoy it like I should so I hate doing raids witch is sad since the 80, (my 80 stinks cuz I can’t go in raids >.>)that I’ll be moving to my hunter’s server, is in a raiding guild that I am going to miss so much until I play my hunter on there :/ and I confussed myself again :p I love the hunter class again ^^ sry if this has nuthin to do with your post I do that a lot >.> :p
see I didn’t REALLY understand about PvP… I thought it was something other much higher characters did in higher level zones far far away from me. So there I was, level what?? 25 or so; and I was messing around the bridge from the Wetlands to Arathi (still one of my favorite spots), just kind of exploring and working on killing the crazy dwarves that lived there, and poking my nose into different places, and then I stealthed across the little hanging bridge to the explosives camp up on the cliffs … and spotted a troll rogue (I was a blood-elf rogue) in the camp, and I thought “why not?”. He was maybe a level or two lower than me, I had the drop on him, and he was IN MY SPOT! So I carefully stalked him, being careful to always stay behind, and waited until he had intitated combat with a dwarf, and then, with shaking hands and sweaty brow … I struck! We fought there on the cliffs high above the river for a few seconds, with the crazy dwarves beating on both of us… and I was WINNING! I was going to get my first honor kill! And then.. he ran and JUMPED OFF THE CLIFF, and he DIDN’T DIE! I followed him to the edge, with my real-life mouth literally hanging open … looking down into the mist for him. He was gone. I turned and finished off a dwarf or two, sat to eat and to ponder what had just happened. It never occured to me that one could escape by leaping off a cliff like that. I still go back to that spot occassionally and do some cliff-diving.
My favorite moment in WoW.
oops… I wasn’t a BLOOD-elf rogue, but rather a NIGHT-elf rogue… looked wrong when I typed it but couldn’t figure out why.