10 Things I'm Absolutely NOT Going To Do Before/When/Immediately After Forever Launches Tomorrow...

LMAO

1. I have my characters' names reserved. I'll have a couple of more to make and then a bunch of runs to town for the "first to be banking rested experience."

I have never had a bank alt. Characters are fine parked in town for decades between plays. For one thing, it's expensive to mail shit back and forth. So each character manages their own banking and big loots or things crafted that can be sold get sent to a character standing in town gaining rested experience. I'd frankly rather run to town on the character involved so that they get the money directly from anything auctioned anyway.

This was a tip given to me by one of the people who taught me to play. "Why have some low level alt taking up space and spending your gold 60-90 copper at a time selling shit and mailing shit back to you?" He figured it made more sense to have the character you're not playing right now hanging out in town.

2. I know about the Legacy system, how important crafting is and that I'll need 120 gold for mount and training or Exalted Reputation if I want to save money to learn how to ride. I don't need to be told how to get either of these things achieved. The first one will suck and then by virtue of them being ahead, the others will be a little less painful.

The INSANE number of "10 THINGS YOU'LL BE SORRY YOU DIDN'T DO" and "MY FIRST 3 FISHING TIPS" and "DON'T MAKE THESE 18 MISTAKES ON LAUNCH" and "SHIT I'M TOO OLD FOR IN FOREVER" videos and Instagram posts are actually a little worrisome.

3. PvP happens in battlegrounds by entering with the knowledge that there are pre-defined rules. It also happens when you go anywhere your faction isn't supposed to go. I'm not being denied. Faction exists in a game with WAR as the first part of the name. Challenge accepted. *salute*

4. I choose my professions based on class/specialization benefits or alt army needs. I rarely craft my own gear or weapons and I never buy them.

Both factions will need a tailor. That's what I know for sure. "Need" may also include an enchanter as finding wands for casters SUCKS even in Retail/Live. Alchemy is always useful, though you can usually find someone to trade you herbs + vials + extra pieces and a little extra in exchange for crafting you what you need by just asking in /Trade. Same with things that give you buffs on armor etc... Familiarity with the crafting supplies and how to look them up will give you more in a massively multiplayer game than leveling the profession itself, IMO.

5. I earn money and spend very little if I don't have to. I know there are experience gain buffs if you cook and eat your own food, that's great if what I need for that food is clear and where I'm currently playing. If not, I can go without until I find something new. I'm certainly NOT going to go to the AH to BUY the meat/fish/herbalism extras for a +2% higher experience gain, the benefit of which was lost making the trek and spending the gold.

See, if you play smart, don't buy everything all the time and instead just wander, farm and play the game you will have most of the money you need when you get to your big landmarks. If you gamble on an unsettled economy, some guide from YouTube or a link on Instagram or the advice of influencers and twitch gamers then you'll have only your slice of the income possible based directly on the size of their audience.

6. I'm a process specialist. Patterns and how-to stick in my head. I don't want or need someone else to path my actions. My actions and outcomes will naturally path my next journey through the same situations, places and spaces.

7. I'm one of the old timey gamers who HATES it when someone just pops a fucking group invite on you without asking first. ALL of these guides and videos stress the importance of groups but not the importance of communication or protocol or politeness. It's going to be a real pain in the ass playing for awhile with people who see you near a mob and presume you're there for it and don't read their own /party chat when you say, "If you're killing Goldtooth I need the quest shared," before they pull him.

8. The more packed the playing area the less likely I am to do the expected things in that area. I'm weird that way. I've regularly fished, skinned, mined... anything other than doing the quests when there are too many people jammed into a small area. I learned this IN CLASSIC where single tags were the rule. 

See... you have 2 choices if you're going to do the kill quests in a game where only one person gets credit for the first hit... EITHER you race competitively with the determination of a ravenous predator and tag everything, whether you can kill it alone or can't... OR you spend hours trying to get a tag in against the group of predators. I prefer get the random respawns no one saw and keep getting other things I need in the meantime.

WoW makes the rules, we have to play in them. We DON'T have to become the players created by those rules. I prefer to let the asshats asshat and go away. See, I can be that asshat. I've been them. I don't enjoy it. I feel dirty and frustrated and anxious when I have to play that way. I yell at the screen and get so angry that my forehead hurts after just a little bit of time playing. So I don't let Blizzard decide what sort of player I'll be by setting up the environment.

9. I won't be skipping training for things I need just because I'll need more money in the game later because it's been decided that we need gold sinks in the economy of the game. For me the fantasy is based primarily in the class/specialization and faction of the given character. Part of that fantasy is earning the money needed to do the things that make playing that character a 3D experience. Sure I want to ride and not walk by the time I'm level 40. No, I don't give a single fuq if you got there first. I won't queue for a dungeon I can't get to, so my lack of riding skill by the time everyone said I should have had it doesn't mean anything to me OR them.  

10. I'm not the sort of player to camp the flagstones of the local capital city, exchange location or other places where all of the hanging out just talking in /chat happens. Not in Rift, not in Classic and not in Retail/Live or Remix. If I've seen your name too much in those channels I immediately discredit what you say over time because you certainly can't have done all that much all that well if you also spend all of the time I'm playing sitting in town typing. I don't participate and often don't read. I let it scroll past me and watch for the color of text I'm interested in.

Wow that's a long list of crabby crap. Only I don't REALLY feel like it is. There's a real lot of who I am and  testimony to how much I've done this up in that list. 

Truth be told, I'm one of the nicest, weirdest players you'll ever run into in the wild. Quick to share a food, drink or some muscle where it's needed, always ready to help solve a mystery, even if it's not my own quest we're solving and fast to /emote or /say something funny or silly or kind. There's a lot worse than that out there, trust me. That's why 1,000 people are making 10,000 videos telling 7-8 MILLION PLAYERS how to play the game. 

Less than 27 hours remain until login queues, people in Retail/Live complaining and YouTube/Twitch blowing up with videos of streams of people flooding the chat with Blizz hate and recriminations. 

mmm... the good old days... I love the smell of sweaty asses, cool ranch doritos and mountain dew in the morning... The next few weeks are going to be hilarious to complain about later. LOL

Remembering... A Walk Through Stormwind Before Forever Launches

My baby warlock (of the hijinx the other day, in fact) took on the heavy job of strolling through Stormwind and reminding me just how the hell different it is from the one I know best! LOL 

Quick back story. First character was Julienne. She didn't go to Stormwind until she was about level 11 because a friend offered to give me money and then had me run to him. LOL He suggested it was good to get there and look around. I did. I got 10 gold OMFG and a confusing and a little scary (I fell into the canals and freaked out because the breath bar appeared and I thought was going to be stuck or die in there and he had to get me to chill my tits and look around for a dock or a ramp because I was certainly not even the 1,000th player to fall into the canals and feel like I might die there so the developers gave us a way out.) Anyway... It was July 2008. Burning Crusades was almost done. And changes had already apparently taken place in Stormwind before I got there.

So... Mazzikim the Warlock heads off through Stormwind with her Imp on a tour for us all... 

No kidding... the statuary and grand theme still makes my heart thrill. I have a warm fondness for Undercity. I have a full on goosebump sense of pride when I get to Stormwind.

These covered hallways of stone that limit the ability to surge into the city as an invading army remind me of Stratholme and the dungeon in Wrath of the Lich King in the retail game that took us there before it was destroyed. Why did Blizzard decide to open Stormwind up so much in the redesign?

Trade District... there's an inn and many types of general goods vendors as well as your city bank.

Taking selfies in Classic is like taking them in real life. The trolls will troll. LOL I dont' know what spell effects you're seeing, I was just glad the Druid bear stopped tea bagging my head. 

Here is the Auction House, anyway.

And a meeting stone for Stockades, which I don't believe actually works? Like it's here but you can't summon your friends to this dungeon. I've had a sort of love/hate relationship with the Looking For Group feature since it was "perfected" in Cataclysm and beyond for the retail game. I don't like it.

Annnnnd... for a dungeon IN A CAPITAL CITY SURROUNDED BY GUARDS, honestly, Blizz... just add Stocks and Ragefire Chasm to the LFG button or put their summoning stones INSIDE THE INSTANCE. It just feels... crappy on PvE servers to make it such a dangerous run. Isn't Deadmines enough?

Top of the ramp into the Mage Tower in the Mage's Quarter. In view are an inn, the alchemy trainer and a small shop that sells some tailoring supplies but is more just part of a quest chain in another Stormwind. Annnnd...

A little shop where mages (and polite people who ask mages for favors) and other casters get their reagents so that they can do the fantastic tricks they do for everyone in their party or raid. I ALWAYS carry a few Runes of Portals and Teleportation. They're the perfect tip for POOR lowbies to give friendly helpful mages of any level willing to pop a window into another place for you.

I'd forgotten The Park was buried inside of a bunch of stone buildings and contained only 1 actual interactive shop and otherwise a bunch of empty spots where you should perhaps presume the Druids are out flying around being birds or something? LOL It's a lovely and totally Night Elven neighborhood.

The Cathedral shares it's Square with the City Hall, some other official looking buildings and...

the Orphanage. Which was the only other building I remembered actually having anything going on in the whole of the Cathedral Square. I do miss the warmth of the cemetary. 

No, really... the plants and benches and LAKE were a lovely addition to what is otherwise a really austere gray and white stone city with a few tress and plants stuck in stone planters or waving from over the top of really high solid stone walls.

Again, why was the decision made to make the city LESS defensible if not so we can have peace?

From the bridge over the canal between the Cathedral Square area and the Dwarven District where a high wall on the seaward side of Stormwind keeps us safe and secure. I'm not sure anyone in the city knew there was any water or shipping or a dock or anything out there, though. The trees would have suggested an entirely different habitat. *snort*

Standing on the steps of a Dwarven assembly building of some sort.

A building that would be delegated much less important as it becomes a bank soon.

The Stable Master in Dwarven District who is still there to help you find lost pets and to stable your hunter pets... and A WHOLE ASS HUNTER TRAINING CENTER IN THE BUILDING. That's what I get for leveling MY hunter on the Horde side in Eversong. 

VERY IMPORTANT REMINDER: Classic really sold the concept of a hunter and their pet being lifelong partners... you mostly train other pets to get them to teach fun shit to your best friend. This Dwarven lady is REALLY here so you can be forced to park your best friend to get out the pet the raid group wants you to bring for specific raid type buffs and abilities. LOL

The fountain in Old Town square. There's lots of leather and chainmail and weapon shops nearby. The barracks for the Stormwind Guard are also nearby.

Warrior Training, SI:7 (the actual Rogue Trainer is standing to the left of Mazzikim) and off to my unseen Right there's a PvP area for "KNIGHTS ONLY"

Onyxia (whose head was on the front gates, actually) and Fordragon as reagents for our poor abandoned Princeling, Anduin. Overnight he's going to go from being this lovely and very polite little boy, "Hello citizen." To a "real boy" with his father back. And then... well... shit happens. I'm curious to see what lateral story telling we'll get in the new old world that we're told might or might not have the same history as things may happen in different ways. :D I'm really excited about it. That's not sarcasm.

And what you can't really see here because I hate playing with nameplates on because they break my immersion... there are 3 or 4 fully geared level 60's with Marshal and Knight titles just sort of roaming the room... don't know if I missed a local channel "so and such is under attack" message or if it's just common on the weekends to have attacks on the Prince of Stormwind. There were more outside of the throne room and one standing around a corner in the hallway leading in from outside. Nice to know that security wasn't just built in at this level of Stormwind, it was trained into her hero players as well.

I had to look up this grate at the end of the canal here between Old Town and the Trade District next to the little flower shop because it has a swirly instance gate inside it. 

And now I'm actually peeved past the point of speech.

THIS WAS GOING TO BE PLAYER HOUSING. ON LAUNCH. FROM DAY ONE.

(note to those who do not know: we just got player housing in 2026... 20 years later)

This city is my home town. It is my home base. It is the place where Julienne walks the stones every time before I log out and await the new hysteria and mayhem of a new expansion and what launch day brings. This is the space that will be my first home in Forever as well. No meta gaming, no serious spoilers and... a whole lot of hope for some really fabulous new memories to go with the ones that I've been recalling every 2 years for 16 years.

Man I love this game. LOL