Remembering... A Walk Through Undercity Before Forever Launches

each new release comes with a nostalgia and a sense of time gone by...

THIS release is sort of the opposite. It's a return to a time before everything today and yet... also a new beginning. 

Usually Julienne takes a slow walk (or RP walk as some people call it since the vast majority of players are actually pre-set and STAY on the run setting) through Stormwind the night before the new launch. A complete tour of the city and everything it holds while I remember. For me it's a place to cement in my mind the parts of the game that I loved most and a reminder that regardless how stressful or frustrating the next few days or months may be, I have loved this game since my first view of the Abbey or Goldshire and that the gates of Stormwind took my breath away and made my pulse race. It's a reminder that I used to get lost in the streets of the Capital that is now so familiar in all of her faces (it had a HUGE remake that brought my warrior a "new" warrior King when Varian returned.)

Dramatic, I know. I DID say I'm too RP for PvE and PvP and not even close to RP enough for the RP servers. LOL

Well... Julienne can't walk through the OLD spaces, so my Classic toons will have to do it for her.

Dimma the baby Shadow Priest walks through Undercity...

Lots of people get lost in Undercity and complain that it's too confusing to get around in. There are too many "dumb" things in the way of getting inside. Maybe it's just because I've seen old British castles and keeps, or because I've read SO much high fantasy and played so much Dungeons and Dragons... I'm stunned that Stormwind is so easy to get into from BOTH sides. It's a very poorly protected keep and is clearly experiencing an era of peace and prosperity on the home front.

Those twists and turns bottleneck invaders to a keep that is on the border with the wild world outside of the Human Kingdoms. The constantly narrowing or confusing turns are designed to be that way. From the front gate all the way to the Audience Chamber and beyond into the newer additions to the city everything is designed to make invasion too hard to accomplish. This little walk through will give you a clearer vision of what's happening as you enter and perhaps give you a road map.

For those of you planning to pilliage our city and murder our Queen, the front door is NOT the way to do it. There's a better way. It's clear on the map and is how I personally have done it a number of times in pursuit of my For the Alliance! achievement. It won't be easy. Trust me, that Banshee is a bitch with that bow, and she's not alone in that room.

The front gates of the Ruins of Lordaeron

From the courtyard you can glimpse the statuary that protects the main entrance.

Around the first section of wall there's a ruined bell to remind us all that Undercity replaces the magnificent old city of Lordaeron, one of the many Human Kingdoms under Stromgarde in the Arathi Highlands (that also included Stormwind as a member.)

The undead scourge with Prince Arthas Menethil at their head destroyed Lordaeron and surrounding areas and Undercity was built beneath the ruins of that former kingdom.

Until Sylvanas took it upon herself to start "replacing" her undead citizens by using plague wagons perfected in Northrend, all Undead were original Humans who survived the mind breaking and soul bending transition from being murdered and brought back to life by the Lich King's magic.

From the Audience Chamber there are 2 doors to journey deeper into the city.

A jack-o-lantern blocks your view of the throne in this room.

Here it is... just had to get around the Hallow's End decorations.

Around the corner and down to the next chamber. I believe this is a new home for the last King's casket.

This space probably held guards and possibly a steward to advise visitors where to find what they were looking for before Lordaeron was destroyed and had to be "rebuilt."

Here lies Lordaeron's Last King... Terenas Menethil II, father of Calia and Arthas Menethil

From behind the King laid in State you can see one of three entrances down into the Undercity. Big abominations guard the doors to protect the undead citizens and their banshee Queen.

The Upper Ring as you enter Undercity is teaming with vendors for your every need. A lovely inn to rest in if you're weary from your journey up from Deathknell or other local locations awaits visitors.

The bankers fill the center of the room, ready to store or retrieve your goods.

Down and to your right you may be able to glimpse Jer... he's our local cockroach trader and will happily part with one of his friends for a few silver if you promise to care for it properly.

The city is built in a standard reminiscent of most Human capital cities, it is just odd because it is underground and so built in rings rather than squares connected by boulevards the way that the Ruins of Stromgarde Keep still display and that Stormwind still is. 

If you feel lost, ask a guard or open your complimentary map and see which way to go.

Auctioneers are located on rises just outside of the central public hub of the city.

Venturing just a little deeper will bring you to the artisans and crafting experts of the city where you can obtain apprenticeships and special crafted wares from the Masters. Behind me here is the tailor's shop where you can purchase tailoring goods, become an apprentice and even graduate to Master!

To have an Audience with our Queen you must enter the Royal Quarter which is housed under the Apothecarium. There is a sign post, and I find it easier to remember that her Royal Guards stand on either side of the grand entrance leading down to her chambers. There's 14 guards posted between the front door and her chamber! She's VERY well protected!

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, Queen of Undercity

I know... silly... and still... while traversing the depths of Undercity is a little confusing, you have to remember... it's self contained because it's UNDERGROUND. You'll find what you're looking for.

Is it just me or does Sylvanas look a hell of a lot more like a Night Elf than she will with the next expansion when they introduce Blood Elves? LOL

Just Pre-Forever Hijinx

If you have never played a game like World of Warcraft you may be unfamiliar with the week before launch malaise. You've done it all (I have not... and still) and now are just wandering the same old streets waiting for that new thing to come.

I'm trying to avoid ALL of the spoilers, hints, tips etc... and it's just impossible if you're on Instagram for even 10 minutes a day or YouTube AT ALL... so... I've tried to click on things NOT Forever related and I came across this fabulous video by Spirit called Exploring a Dead Game: World of Warcraft and laughed and laughed and laughed.

And at the same time I thought to myself that while I didn't know his "hack" I am certain the drama of his death runs could have been avoided by just swimming on autorun (press the numlock key on your keyboard while moving) starting at the coast of Westfall and not stopping until you climb the plank out of the water in Booty Bay (or in his case come up onto the rocks at the edge of the jungle that border the back of the Gurubashi Arena.)

My favorite game partner fell into the Stranglethorn side of the mountain range while mining in Westfall and decided, "What the fuck... I'm here... there's a neutral auction house down there somewhere in a town called Booty Bay. That could be useful if there's a flight point." And away he went. And he died. And he died. And he died. And he never stopped healing himself and continuing to run. And he had the damned flight point AND saw the auction house in less time than really should have been possible.

With that as my personal experience (I was in Ventrilo with him the whole time because we'd planned to do Deadmines and I was waiting) I didn't want to die and run and die and run like that so I swam. Being already "at level" for the content on the beach by the Westfall Lighthouse, I didn't even die. Just swam.

Many years later I did the same run with the friend I was playing Classic with because we needed a "fast" way to get to Kalimdor from Eastern Kingdoms and the boat from Booty Bay to Ratchet is really superior to having to travel down into Menethil Harbor for the Theramore boat. We also hiked off the coast of Westfall and swam. We cut too close to shore, though, and I'm thankful she played a priest because OMG it was danger business staying alive.

Today I grabbed the little level 6 warlock I created on Classic when we heard about Forever (I'd made her just to see what I thought of the leveling in certain areas and to remind myself what it's like to play in a world where nothing is about your quality of life and everything is about the player versus the environment they're in. LOL) and away Mazzikim went... her mission? To go from Elwynn Forest to Booty Bay with as few death runs as possible.

Five. I did five death runs. Wolves and *shudder* murlocs.

On the way across Westfall directly to the coast I found out I'd forgotten what the "aggro radius" is on creatures that are double your level (it is VERY big) and a Packleader wolf tried and failed to kill her... then, while recovering from the fight which had required a health potion and a lot of me holding my breath before sitting to eat and drink afterwards I was ganked by another wolf. Another wolf got me right at the lip of the coast where I was trying to figure out level and range from hilltop to avoid murlocs. 

Murlocs are a real issue. I've designed my own very cute plushie after one that WoW released for our houses and insists on giving us over and over and over in different colorations (I have them all. Remember, it's part of the contract with our subs to hate them for giving us what we want.) They're very cute. And NO player who has managed to level all the way from 1-60 (or higher) can avoid murlocs. Fishy guys who have this spine freezing mrglglg sound and come running at you.

in the game

in housing and on my Etsy shop

Anyway... I distract myself. 

Murlocs suck. They're prolific and 99.9% of the time hostile to the player. I died on the edge overlooking the beach to a murloc who aggroed from the bottom of the hill. I died to a pair of murlocs on the coast trying to get to the safety of the water. And I died again to a bastard murloc hiding under the water way out from shore.

And then I was home free. Between the coast and the deadly dark water (in WoW the "dark water" saps life and kills you. it's a preventative at the edge of "known world" that keeps players MOSTLY where they belong. nothing keeps us ENTIRELY where we belong... and dark water does a good job of making it a massive challenge to have oceanic adventures where they don't want us to have them) there's a very clear and VERY LONNNNNNG swim available.

44 minutes from the door of the Lion's Pride Inn in Goldshire, Elwynn Forest to the lovely Dwarven flight master in Booty Bay, Cape of Stranglethorn. 

pictured: Mazzikim with the Lion's Pride Inn to her back, smithy in the foreground.

clock under mini-map in upper right corner

pictured: Mazzakim on a raised section of dock beside the Booty Bay flight master 

with the Ratchet boat at dock below

clock under mini-map in upper right corner

I didn't fly back to Stormwind... it cost 5 silver and I only have 6 on the character. She hearthed home to the Lion's Pride.

So... it doesn't HAVE to be constant death. It can just be very boring and mostly safe.

Mazzakim may or may not survive. I'd parked Gruffudd after moving her up from Classic to Burning Crusade and she was honestly the only Classic character I'd planned to have. I learned what I wanted to learn from these characters.

Pre-Launch Forever Name Reservation

SHOULD have been at 2 p.m. MDT on 10/27

Was a little delayed by problems.

I still had my characters names reserved by 5 p.m. MDT on 10/27, so there can be no real complaining.

There will actually be 4... you can only reserve 3... I'm leaving my 3rd space open for that favorite playmate to screw around with in case he wants to see the appearances and which races can be which classes (he mostly has this memorized, and... LOL)

Julienne Griffith and her brother... I'm not sure if he's a paladin named justis or just Jules or... yeah. at a loss. She'll for sure be joined on the Alliance side by a gnome mage (don't start with the gnome hate... talk to Blizzard about the racials) and right now her name is Kilowatta Bumbleburr because I think I want to try arcane for the first time ever.

And Myrkr Haugan, an undead priest who will shadow all things around her. I've really fallen in love with my shadow priests in Live/Retail and so I'm really hoping to love (and hate?) the squishy horror that is solo leveling a priest from 1-60. Her guildmate Sirius Graves will be born when the most of the undead paladins have moved along and I can play without them everywhere all the time. I'll let Myrkr bask in the joy that is a paladin at every corner to draft on.

And so it begins Wednesday... the level for awhile and park in an inn and move to the next one so that they're all IN an inn and so that they're all gaining rested experience to use when I want to level them.

To sum up... that's a Human Warrior, a Gnome Mage, an Undead Priest and probably a Skyborne Hunter, eventually... like the Undead Paladin, I think a Skyborne will be insanely tight and cramped leveling in a game where first to tag is the only person who gets credit or loot from the mob. I'll wait.

4 p.m. 11/4... a new journey begins. Hopefully. It may be delayed. It's a "thing" that happens with Warcraft launches.

LOL A Psychiatrist's Advice Before You Play WoW Forever

I find it hilarious that this needs to be spelled out.

I was keeping this blog to document my return to solo play and setting boundaries as well as to share Warcraft Forever as I explore it...

Theory Forge's Video

I honestly just have to laugh. Where was this guy 14 years ago when I was desperately trying to figure out why I was having such a lousy time playing. Or 12 years ago? Or even 6 years ago when I tied my FIRST exploration into Classic to a new friend I hardly knew? Or the first time my friend leveled without me all night so I had to catch up or just go without doing things to try to catch up to her fast? LMAO I had to figure it out for myself over this past few months and decide that I'd do it his way before I knew he had a his way.

It Isn't Selfish And I'm Not Sorry

 This isn't going to be nice to "hear" and I'm just 

going to say it anyway.

I don't care if you feel like I've abandoned you. You play for you and I'll play for me and if me being there defined you being there then maybe you need to decide where you'd rather be.

I don't care if you feel like I'm being antisocial. I don't want you in my ears 24/7 while I'm doing my own thing. I don't and have never needed you there to play my game. I particularly don't like and never have liked voice apps that prioritize anything you want to say, grunt or sing aloud to over the game and my experience of it. I'm an auditory person and NEVER turn off the sounds of the game because they inform how I play.

I also don't care if you don't like to read text or follow the in-game chat system and I don't care if you're pissed that I didn't see your message come through and immediately answer you. I'm clearly too busy doing something that I want to do to notice. 

I don't care if you think it's fucking bizarre that I am not in a hurry to get ANYWHERE for ANY REASON that you may think is very important.

When I want to know what you or some asshole on YouTube or some guy writing a guide thinks about the game, my class or spec or the order I'm choosing to level my professions, I'll ask you. This is LITERALLY my first time in a NEW MMO to experience everything for the first time ON MY OWN and I don't want you or anyone else to change that experience.

See...

*sigh*

I've fucking hated this game for 14 years and had to plug in any "group time" or "self competition" or "achievement hound" substitution for having fun that I could find. It's exhasting and self-defeating so I'm not doing it anymore.

I don't want you to define my time in any game. I don't want you to click on, interact with or otherwise take away my experience of anything in this game. I REALLY just want to play for myself and not sense some need to apologize all the fucking time for not making it TOTALLY enjoyable for someone else. I don't have any hurry to get anywhere because I don't have any plans for end-game that will limit my gaming enthusiasm or enjoyment IN ANY WAY. I am, in fact, ever-so-slightly worried that you'll pee on my experience no matter what happens because you'll be in the zones where I am and hurrying your ass off without a thought to your effect on everyone else playing around you.

I'm not co-leveling ANYTHING with ANYONE anymore. I don't enjoy it. (I say this knowing that there is one person for whom this rule has never and will never apply and for him I'll co-level even my main because she was born to play with him in the first place.)

I'm not going to "pre-schedule and be on time for" ANY variant of World of Warcraft like it's a fucking job anymore. I'm just not. Hey, fabulous... you're around... are you available? No? See you next time. HOW FUCKING HARD IS THAT? Hey, fabulous... you're around... are you available? Yes? Wanna go do [whatever thing]? HOLY SHIT. As if people have lives AND play the game as a part of them. *sigh*

I'm not spending the evening of November 4th clicking on the game launcher every 10 seconds and getting frustrated because I can't get in and I won't be there to listen while you do it, either. This is how WoW has been for the ENTIRE time I've played it. There's a love/hate requirement for the fans of this game and I no longer want any part of it. I'm not hating on them because too many of us love it and want to get in to see it. I'm just not.

I'm not going to Live/Retail and whining that I can't get into Forever and I'm not gonna hang out while everyone does this. See reasons above. Y'all are addicted to hating on the thing you're so addicted to. It's part of the compulsion. I don't want any part of it or you when you're being that way.

I'm not time-stamping each level-up with a big star on social media (you know, I say this and perhaps I actually WILL... hmmm... idea forming. Perhaps this blog and my personal Insta will become the time-stamp of each fun achievement that brings me joy regardless of what the big kids think should be achieved. hmmm... ideas.)

Right now my plan is this... 

• inform my regular gaming partners that I'll only be available a few hours a week for awhile in Live/Retail
• make myself available in the Blizz voice app while I'm playing Forever only irregularly and as I want to (it is VERY important that it not become any form of habit or regular pattern so that the "want to join voice" is the question and not "why aren't you in voice" as an expectation.)
• I want to form a guild. I won't do it right away.

I've beat myself up for more than 12 years for just not being able to build a good guild and it's come to me over time that no one can. The big raid guys have bowls of piranhas and are constantly managing and feeding them exactly what they need and culling the ones that cannot be satiated and even THEY mostly don't last. Eventually they eat themselves from the inside out and don't survive. The rest? Define friendship. Define a great gaming experience. Now compare that to everyone you meet until you find someone whose definitions even remotely match yours. There... you're a guild of two searching for more. Have fun. 

See... I mistook being overly accommodating and generous for being a nice person and made myself absolutely miserable in the process. That's on me. This time I'm just playing and finding out if the original magic can strike twice or if there's a new magic waiting just around the corner in a zone I've seen before and never in quite the same way. 

Continuity... Am I broken or are they?

 LOL

Ok, so I'm broken. We all know that.

And still... all of my characters share one bar layout with very similar button positions for each class. If it interrupts or saves your life it's in one place on all bars. If it saves everyone it's in another. If it buffs... you get the picture. It helps me play so many alts to have a "system" - lots of them even have the single button rotation assistant thingy now for moments when I'm too tired and have an obligation or... you know... haven't played that class in months.

Freysdottir - Marksman Hunter

(character 5 - born a Blood Elf on Farstriders, RPG server)

Julienne - Fury Warrior

(character 1 - born a Human on Uldaman, PVE server

spent a short period of time named Allumette on Baelgun after transfer)

Myrkr - Shadow Priest

(character 19? - born a Horde Drakthyr in Legion Remix, Doomhammer, PVE server)

Oh, they also all have rotation assistant/suggestion thingymajigger turned on just to see what choices I'm making that it suggests I do something else and sometimes to train me muscle memory without the single button thing wrecking DPS AND muscle memory at once.

Well, I'm having some issues with my "main" and am waiting to fix them for a new feature.

Supposedly we're getting a feature that will remember the little things you have to set up for every character individually (how many action bars need turned on, auto loot - I mean who the fuq wants to pick up items individually on only one of 20 characters? OMG) will supposedly now share a profile - or at least when it comes out.

See... they're all the same. If I delete the saved folder to clear the slate and stop some of the weird errors... ummm... I'll have to do it all 20 times and I really don't want to. So I'm waiting. When we have the feature then I can set it all up once and they'll all just match with a couple of button clicks.

Broken. LMFAO

Ask about my banks sometime. They're all the same category of things on the same tabs. *snort*

In my defense, I have friends who can't keep their characters straight, don't have "rotations" and struggle to find a way through the rotations that aren't the same or haven't been used. So... it COULD be worse. 

Are They Afraid To Say Faction?

When I started playing World of Warcraft I played simultaneously on a PvE server (Uldaman) and a PvP server (Akama) as I believe I have already told you.

I learned A LOT of what I know about warrioring by asking other warriors for help IN THE GAME - live and in person I would approach and ask them for mentoring. It's amazing how many people, even the hardcore raiders, who will stop, listen and try to answer when you sincerely ask them for information they clearly have that you do not. That is PARTICULARLY true when you're asking about a hobby they're passionate about. Trust me.

We used to be able to exploit an overlooked ability to type in real English using the /emote command in the game (they patched it out along with a bunch of other stuff with the release of Wrath.) I actually asked a Warrior holding an entire Alliance hub alone on the PvP server HOW he was so tough and could actually do it because I was new and had no idea how to keep my flimsy little level 40 Warrior alive. He stopped what he was doing and taught me by letting me hit him and giving me instructions. No shit. I wasn't going to HURT him, my level couldn't damage him much. And I've never forgotten some of his tips and tricks. We met up later at a hill in Westfall that doesn't even exist anymore. Horde and Alliance always met there "in the olden days." He'd actually strip and let me attack him. The hill was our neutral area. PLAYER DESIGNED. Rebellious, huh? LMAO We NEVER forgot we were Alliance and Horde.

And as a "proof of concept"... My PvE character was on a run with my favorite person to play with because he'd started a Dranei and wanted to level that starting zone so he made the level 4 run through wetlands to Elwynn and picked me up at level 4 or 5 and together we did the whole very long stressful and multiple death-run adventure all the way back. At Auberdine we were going to have to wait for the boat to the Exodar. My friend said, "Oh hell. Stay here." I turned my camera, saw some commotion at the end of the dock and realized what I was seeing were a Troll and some other clearly NOT Alliance characters. Ignoring his wise warning, I ran down the dock, targeted the Troll mage and charged as soon as I was able... and died on impact. The mage did NOTHING until AFTER my reckless misadventure left my character face down on the wooden planks. THEN his character model swiveled in place while lots of "kek" happened in chat bubbles over the heads of everyone around him. Even on PvE servers we were VERY aware of our factions.

I've never once had to ask anyone about my FACTION. There are two playable factions in World of Warcraft. You can be Alliance or you can be Horde. This is a distinction so clear that in Warcraft Forever you cannot be both on a PvP server - because the asshats will asshat if given even the tiniest of spaces to do so, and spies were a real problem back in the "good ole days."

1. I find it offputting that they're STILL selling Horde as the underdog and Alliance as the stereo-typical "good guys" who are now no different than the white colonialist assholes the whole world hates on Earth and so are constantly cast in the hyper-real light of a documentary of how bad they are. Honestly. The Horde has been so powerful that their "Warchief" has saved Azeroth twice, tried to wreck Azeroth twice and in the process once sent us into an alternate timeline and the other shattered the veil between living and the dead and sent us into the afterlife in search of a way to shut that door again. (We will just ignore that SHE was created by another guy who started out Alliance and became a deadly third faction responsible for the foundation of a whole segment of the Horde.)

We have just been told that the Elves, who we have known all along are all one race, are also the Trolls. Hard to swallow and still fine with me. I mean, picturing Night Elves becoming Blood Elves was a little rough for me anyway. The story that they shrank while wandering the wilderness in search of a source of power was... the most awkward part for me. LOL

And the story of the Tauren is about to blow up and out in ways that are spectacular because they've been on Azeroth a hell of a lot longer than anyone thinks or cares to explore. :D

2. MANY of us have tried for decades to have a unified world with uncivilized and dangerous areas between those unified hubs. Give us world PvP between the neutral zones. Areas where NO character should go if they are not seeking a fight. Drop bars in neutral cities where you're more likely to get shived by a Rogue than to have a relaxed evening out. Drop DMZs for us to patrol when we're in a mood for some throwing down. STOP MAKING IT US/THEM FOR EVERYTHING and instead make it just a little rocky in spots. 

ANYWAY... the US/THEM "thing" has been the foundation of World of WARCRAFT, It's in the name. We cannot actually eliminate the WAR part of WARcraft. We CAN define it. I think they're not going to. I'm not the only batshit crazy player to suggest a more realistic blending of the world after 18 years of working together to fix the messes created by FACTION leaders from both sides. 

The jewelry shown below, to give credit where it is due.

This does NOT represent CLASS.

Alliance is a FACTION.

Horde is a FACTION.

Warrior is a CLASS. One of A LOT of classes in World of Warcraft.

I'm not being pedantic, I'm being ACCURATE. Words have meanings, yo. 

See, some time ago Blizzard/Activision/Microsoft laid off a BUNCH of Blizzard employees and one group that was annihilated was the group responsible for social media and advertising. At first it all felt like they'd been replaced by AI - lots of strange errors that are the flavor and color of the errors you get if you search online and read what the AI Assistant offers you in the way of answers. Now it's like the people they hired are relying on AI and no one is checking them for accuracy.

I do VERY MUCH like that Alliance ring. I came into the game Alliance and, as a Warrior, was also "front and center" in the battle to reign in insane Blood Elves in the Outlands and then shipped off immediately to the frozen North of Northrend to find and destroy the Lich King. That ring speaks to me. The Horde one is less a favorite because rings and jewelry with pointy bits always eat my hair and clothes until the pointy bits have worn down and this doesn't look like a ring that would wear down gracefully. I'd be happier to fly my Horde pride with a fabulous Orcish or Troll-style necklace. (HINT HINT, Blizz... umm...)

While I'm asking for the moon, how about you put the /emote exploit BACK in Warcraft Forever. Or better... give us a WORLD common language (like Goblin?) Players can opt in or not ever turn it on.

I play World of Warcraft. I play Alliance and I play Horde. I used to have NINE warriors. I'm down to six now. They're not quite evenly split, and there ARE Warriors (plural) on both sides of my character selection page. And there ARE two sides of my character selection page.

Why Would You Want To Play An MMO Alone?

It's kind of funny, in a way. And every attempt I've made to cut this down has led to more explaining, so it's getting longer. I'm just gonna post it.

When we started 18 years ago we all sort of played alone and occasionally tried leveling together and there are "contracts" you enter when you are leveling together. No finishing a quest without your buddy. No out-stripping their level while they're not there by going somewhere else. Together is TOGETHER. When you have 3 characters and one of them is an occasional alt you don't mind letting them sit. Until you do. And then it's a constant drag to wait. Life happens. (Ask any group trying to organize regular Dungeons and Dragons groups, or any league... everyone starts to have conflicts and some of them seem pretty petty to the regulars who always show up.)

WELL... I blame the raid guilds. They leveled together to make it go faster because it was all about the dungeons and higher game content and getting the gear before progression could begin in the raid. Suddenly there was no "hey, what's in this little house over here?" No one ever went to the top of every hill to find out iif anything was there to see. It was just GO! GO! GO!

Then the game began to change a very short time after I started playing and I spent a LOT of years resisting the Classic nerd bros' assertion that Wrath "ruined the game." For one thing, if it's selling then it's clearly not ruined for everyone, just those who liked it another way. And yet... being able to queue for dungeons immediately out of the gate and not needing to actually "touch grass" or openly communicate what you're looking to do and how in the game (as the LFG chat channel required) has made for a totally different community with a broader sense of entitlement and even more hate at Blizzard for anything that limits the ability to level from 1 to 90 in 20 hours, as a friend of mine just did. Now I'm just not sure. The game is NOT ruined. And the nerd bro Classic heads don't make it any better than the race to the top and never touch the ground folks do.

Right now I have less time to play. My regular dates are with a friend who never got any of the early lessons and didn't retain the ones my friends and I imparted along the way. It's fine, WoW is full of casual players who never DID know the "contracts" or "social MMO ettiquette." Their play style is actually almost entirely opposite those early rules and contracts. 

I play faster and still itemize better because once you've raided you never completely forget how to push that ilevel and those stats or optimize your build. You just don't. I'm also more compatible with the hardmode asshats and even the PvP set and I'll farm and get my gear in the ways we've insisted that Blizzard make them available to us. So things die much faster, in much tighter pulls (even when they're huge) and in a much more aggressive way than when my friend plays alone. There is ALWAYS a plan or a verbalization of some surprised sound and then silence or frantic out-loud instructions to myself as I go about clearing the accidental extra enemies.

And I play more graciously because of those old contracts and rules from the olden days. If we need 10 things I'll pick up 5 and wait for my friend to get their share because it feels more like playing together that way. I check the quest objective constantly to see which needs us to each get the items or will count no matter who collects it. And because I'm "gracious with a dash of passive aggressive" I'll say out loud, "Do these count for both? It does. So if it's sparkling click it." And if it doesn't I'll see if my friend can ALSO loot it or if we're on our own and I'll say THAT out loud. *sigh* I'll wait to solve puzzles together. I don't pick the herb or mine the mine or loot the chest until we're together and I don't fish up a whole pool if we're fishing together. I take my one or two fish and let them also fish from the pool. It's honestly just HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE. 

HOW VERY OLD FASHIONED AND A LITTLE BIT DEMANDING OF ME TO EVEN THINK SUCH A THING, DON'T YOU THINK? LOL

One friend will run around the room grabbing shineys whether they count for both or not and will race away to the next room while I'm first killing everything pulled in one room then ripping ass around trying to collect my OWN collection of shiney things while my friend cusses and screams at the game because the things accidentally pulled in the other room do not have me to kill them while my friend gathers all the shiney things THERE. 

When I play with another friend the experience is totally different and even more unfulfilling. They push so hard and fast that they never stop. Everything has been interacted with, completed or killed before you enter the room. And when I said something I was told I needed to be ok with them playing faster. It isn't the FASTER that's the problem. It's feeling played AT rather than WITH that is the problem. I HATE having to apologize for being slower or repeat requests to slow down. 

I've had puzzles and quests I had to "solve" alone two months after everyone else has fucked off because they have been there and done that. Because I literally never saw them. And I'd watch the objective complete on my quest log and say, "What did you do? I didn't see that..." and they'd say something offhand like, "I clicked the thing?" In once case it meant go into a room, do a puzzle in the correct order and then open things along the way, and return to the start if you get anything wrong. I was furious to have had that particular quest complete for everyone if only done by one. And now I reflexively panic every single time it happens because I won't know until I'm there alone later in the days after they've stopped playing what a total pain in the ass it is going to be to complete whatever they did down the hall in another room from me.

Another friend told me my way of picking up all quests in a hub and then doing them and coming back and not doing one at a fucking time back and forth and back and forth and back and forth was me being bossy and rude. Their experience was apparently damaged by my method and I wasn't allowed to do it anymore. So I didn't. I left my level 61 warrior parked in the first quest hub of Outlands and never returned. IF the game didn't delete her, Gruffudd is still sitting there in the Inn. I just didn't have 10 more levels of always doing it the wrong way left in me after the first 60. 

So... yeah. I'll play alone. My first play through of Forever will be headphones, game or music up and read and explore and NOT spending my time racing trying to get a chance to click on even one glowing or sparkling thing out of the 10 I'm required to get. Not flying through the content constantly saying, "I'll be right there." "I'm trying to catch up." "You know I don't have stealth/wings/leap like you do." It just starts to feel whiney or, gods of homeworld help me, demanding.

You see, while everyone fucked off and it was just my one friend and myself still in the game I started playing alone. I could clear 10 levels on an alt in a couple of afternoons. I know what's in all the side chambers of most of the dungeons and delves. I've seen "tips and tricks" to share that I'm not sure most of my friends even know exist (or care, if I'm honest with myself.) And I SMILED while I played, or laughed out loud while I called my character dirty names. I also got my main's iLevel up to the max I could achieve. I maxed my delve assistant. There wasn't any content that didn't involve LFG or LFR that gave me even a split second of pause.

I realized it was never me. I don't plod along. I'm not fucking bossy or demanding or entitled or any of those other things I've been feeling. I'm not so bad at the game that I'm being carried and I'm actually NOT BAD AT THE GAME. My friends are. Each in their own way, my friends aren't as good at this game as I am. Not as well rounded. Sure, one can plow through the content like their balls are on fire and they have to earn the water to put them out by being the first done. One will pull two extra camps of mobs and then fuck off to mine or pick up a shiney somewhere else while I fight or die to clean it all up. They'll solve the puzzle and get three rooms away or think it's normal to stealth through two full rooms of mobs and leave their companion to fight their way through because they can't stealth just because it's a class feature of the character they're playing. Too bad to be you. *sigh*

Frankly, I'm tired of racing with my ass on fire and my loot on the floor just because the tank gets a hard on when he can be at the boss while the rest of us are tangled in the stairs and labrythian hallways so far behind that the shit that is leashing off of him has started beating us to death on our way to try to catch up in literally 90% of LFG dungeons. If player kills were allowed in-faction I'd kill them myself while they were busy mitigating the damage from the expected directions and their healer is desperately trying to drink to regain mana between attacks they have to fight or die through alone. I can't. More's the pity, I suppose.

Alone. 

Forever's first play through will be alone. I mean, of course I'll join to do dungeons or whatever. If I'm going to resent and hate the tank a little for tearing ass off through the dungeon like the end of the known universe is on our asses, it might as well be a friend, right? And otherwise I kind of need to remember that I'm not the problem in my own gaming. I don't hold myself back. I'm actually faster than something like 70% of players if the overall game statistics can be believed? I really want to enjoy this new world and see if it's for me.

And I have my doubts. Not enough will change from Classic that the nerd bros won't already have 10,000 little things we're supposed to have done before they'll let us do any content with them at the end. I'm used to that. I didn't start in Vanilla... by the time I got to the game those nerd bros and hardcore assholes were aleady "in charge." I still managed to make it to raiding and raid leader in Wrath in time for Naxxramas. On two servers, even. And one of them was a PvP server! *gasp* Yeah, take THAT to /Trade and find out what it doesn't buy you. LOL

Sadly, this will be Classic+ and... well... not being a nerd bro or hardcore asshole may out. Those Classic nerd bros will still have their "I've done this since Vanilla and if you don't do it [whatever way they say that is different from what other people say but still THEIR ONLY WAY] then you're doing it wrong and will hold us all back so you can't come with us." And because the hardcore assholes will be following every guide, watching every popular video on YouTube and taking notes or screen caps or making spreadsheets and will have a list of addon's or achievements and a required gear set or iLevel or whatever benchmark means you're 1337 or leet (gamer speak for elite.)

Azeroth is my favorite fucking world to escape to. I wasn't kidding when I said I was taught early to explore always and find all the coolest shit before anyone can tell you about them. These days the frickin' data mining and 500 "See it first here" YouTube and Twitch content creators make NOT finding out before you get there sort of the biggest challenge. You can just follow other players like ants in a trail up a hill or around a corner to "discover" the Easter Eggs they already know are there because they saw it online.

and yet... maybe... just maybe... on my own without them except when I have to deal with them... I can find a little bit of the play time that wooed me and made me a player forever. stranger shit has happened. 

I mean, I'm still here, right? 18 years later. LOL 

I'll just have to do it first alone. In a Massively Multi-player Online game.