I’ve been thinking lately about moments in World of Warcraft that made me go all Keanu Reeves and say “…whoa”. There have been a lot of these moments. I decided to list them. When the list was threatening to become even longer than my blogroll, I had to make a rule that said “No boss kill/PvP/etc. moments”.

So without further ado…

Pike’s Five Most Epic WoW Moments (That Do Not Involve Boss Fights):

5. Like a Virgin… In Darnassus For the Very First Time
I know I’ve written about this before. I was level six on my very first character ever (who you may now know as “Tawyn”), in my very first MMORPG ever, and as far as I was concerned, my world was Teldrassil. This mysterious land of flowers and purple trees and boars and scary spider caves. And bunny critters that I kept accidentally shooting.

And then, somehow, I wandered into Darnassus, and I was floored. It felt like one of the biggest things I’d ever seen in a video game. The music helped to establish this impression. And suddenly there was a thing called “Trade Chat” which was filled with impossible-to-understand jargon like “WTS” and “LFG” and “DPS” and “My mats, your nether”. (haha, wow, who else remembers that one?)

This made a big impression on Wee Baby Pike, and to this day I am rather fond of Darnassus and I go there sometimes just to chill.

(…is that a summoning stone in the middle of Darnassus? WTB explanation.)

4. Blackrock Mountain: Wish I Knew How to Quit You
Blackrock Mountain, as a whole, is just the greatest thing ever. I mean… it’s a friggin’ volcano. With lava and giant crazy statues and stuff. I remember the first time I saw the Molten Core instance portal. It was one of those things where you just looked at it and you knew it was epic.

…Google Images is failing me here, but trust me, it was epic. Epic and huge. And you had to go through the longest (and one of the most awesomest) instances ever, BRD, to even get there and get “attuned”.

Also it just looks awesome from far away when you’re in Searing Gorge or Burning Steppes. So yeah.

3. Sparking Imaginations Since… Wait, it’s Frogger but with bombs?
When I went to fight Mimiron for the very first time I wasn’t expecting what I saw. I really wasn’t expecting it. So can you blame my jaw hitting the floor when an air-trolley-thing whisked me away to this?

Honestly I wish the picture did it justice. It really doesn’t. The place is huge. Huge and breathtaking and there are Frogger bombs at the bottom and a freaking Tesla coil in the center.

Okay, so, Tesla coils? Guys. Two reasons why Tesla coils are awesome.

First, this is the way Ghostbusters was meant to be played. (Don’t cross the streams!)

Secondly, there are three historical sciencey guys that I have a major crush on.* Those three guys are: Issac Newton, Charles Babbage, and Nikola freakin’ Tesla.

Therefore, anything involving a Tesla coil and/or PewPew Lasers is instant win.

Also, air-trolley ride? A+++++ would ride again.

2. Wrathgate: Bolvar is Not a Crook (But Arthas Is)
Obviously this one was going to be in here. I love Dragonblight. And I love this questline. And seriously… the chills down my back still happen:

Oh Bolvar. Come back to Stormwind and ditch the Wrynn guy. He doesn’t love you like I do!

1. The Dark Portal: Because The Outlands Is Not a Lie
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m not a big Hellfire Peninsula fan. I dunno, I know there’s some great quests and stuff there, but… but… ZANGARMARSH IS RIGHT THERE AND IT HAS GIANT MUSHROOMS. AND UNDERBOG.

However.

There is one thing in Hellfire Peninsula that kicks the pants off of pretty much anything else in this game.

And it’s not the Fel Reaver (anymore) and it’s not aggro’ing that one boss over and over and making him yell stuff.

…no, I want you to think back and remember when you first went through the Dark Portal. There, in front of you, was this war going on in front of your face and this giant level ?? demon thing who is waving his arms around and looking ready to turn you into his bedtime snack.

Every time… EVERY TIME I do it, it is just as epic.

Kudos, Blizz.

So, there ya have it.

I realize that I left out a lot of super epic stuff (for example, zombie invasion world event), but I was sort of trying to keep it down to… individual moments as best as I could, and the zombie invasion was more like an extended amount of awesome.

But what are some of your guys’ favorite epic moments?

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* Don’t get me started on historical author/writery guys.