My Vanilla Memories

[Shinrael]

Hey guys!
I'd like to start off with explaining what is the purpose of this thread. This is in no way a rage/flame/hate thread. I've played AND liked/enjoyed each WoW expansion including classic WoW. While each of these had its flaws I am not going to say any of these failed like most people do for Mists of Pandaria and Cataclysm especially. But I have my own memories from Vanilla and because they are so deeply tied to my childhood memories I sometimes nearly cry when I remember them. I am not a crybaby or something and I would never really cry for something like this. But honestly...I WANT to be able to cry when listening to Vanilla's login screen music. So...here goes:

EDIT: Please while reading the text below listen to this ( and also watch it after that. ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It_PKKbv36A

Well I already said it. Vanilla's login screen and its music. This is the first thing every veteran WoW player has seen and experienced. I will go as far as to say that EVERY SINGLE ONE of us, Vanilla WoW veterans perfectly remembers doing the following things: Staying in the login screen to hear the full soundtrack, listening to it ( if not for hours like me ) atleast 15 minutes while making his characters. Taking hours to decide what race or class or faction or zone to try out first. The login screen soundtrack...it always gave me shivers when I listened to it. That epic ending...the change from war music ( the drums ) to the calm and stretchy part and then suddenly it starts to build up into what would later turn out to be the most epic instrumental ever. Simple...yet amazing. Breathtaking. THE MUSIC OF WARCRAFT.

And then comes the rest. You enter Azeroth. There are the Valley of Trials and Northshire Abbey which we probably all started with ( ofcourse there were those who clearly new which race they wanted to play so they didn't experience it exactly this way ). We didn't even know what our class was. And if we did we had no idea how it worked. I remember going to STV with my level 6 priest only swimming through the river from wesbrook garrison. I remember going to the three corners between Redridge, Elwynn Forest and Duskwood. It all looked so spacious back then. The breathtaking feel of exploration.

I never got to try the end game content of Vanilla and TBC. All I had was a punny level 45 human mage with a borrowed horse parked in Stormwind City for my final day in WoW before my money ran out and my account expired. For the last 15 minutes before I logged out I kept yelling "FAREWELL EVERYONE THIS IS MY LAST DAY. IT WAS FUN!". I remember on the next day I desperately decided to try and login and it actually worked. Turns out I had half a day remaining. I went to Northshire Abbey ...where it had all started from. Between my first month and my 2 months ( pre-paid game time card ) I played around 10 trials while saving up money. But I couldn't get myself to keep doing it after the 2 months expired. You might wonder how did I play all the expansions when I stopped playing during BC ( I played some weeks before the release of tbc ). Well I admit it, I played lots of private servers. During WOTLK I played in a fully blizzlike server with lots of people online. Another unique experience.

Up to date I still find leveling more interesting than anything else in the game. I tried doing raids on the PTR but my fps just drops to 1 and it goes back to 15 when the boss fight is over and I am lying dead on the floor. I've tried PvP but I lag there too plus the combat isn't dynamic enough for me to be able to do anything. I often panic too. Still I remember world PvP at low levels. Dem level 30-40 fights in STV and Hillsbrad Foothills....

Mulgore. Hillsbrad Foothills. ALTERAC MOUNTAINS. Wetlands. Arathi Highlands particularly. Westfall. TANARIS. My favourite zones... All the memories...

What makes me say Mists of Pandaria is awesome is that...Valley of the Four Winds is like a fusion of Arathi Highlands, Wetlands and Mulgore. The grassy planes, the big sharp hills/cliffs ( or w/e they are ) reminding me of my favourite city Thunder Bluff. The big road connecting the 2 ends of the zone ( just like in Arathi Highlands ) and to further express the similarities. The road level is above the ground level. No need to point out what makes it look like Wetlands.

I've always enjoyed travelling in WoW. It's the fact I've done it so many many times that is the actual reason for WoW not being as popular nowadays. This is my own type of nostalgy. I regret not being able to do something for the first time once again. I regret not being able to log into Elwynn Forest and be like WOAH THIS PLACE IS AMAZING. So real! ... Now I know Azeroth by heart...I know where every elite mob is. I know where every quest leads to. I know which tree is behind which exact hill or rock. I miss not knowing these things.


So if you agree with me, please post below and tell me of your memories of Vanilla ( and the expansions too ). It must be a memory that you regret in the same way like me or atleast can get you to cry or close to doing so.

PLEASE: Try not to mention raiding memories. I know all of you people have memories mostly related to raiding but there have already been topics for that. Let's make this one topic unique. Tho low level dungeons memories are welcome

THANK YOU FOR READING AND HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT!

[Sturmbringe]

Great post.

I have an idea: Please post a screenshot of your most-loved Vanilla toon as a tribute to World of Warcraft and how much we miss it.

Please keep the resolution 800X600 or lower so as to make this thread viewable by as many people as possible.



Server: Emeriss (EU)
Name: Kveldulf
Guild: Antares
Class/Race: Night Elf Hunter
When: 2006

[Shinrael]

Very nice. Sadly my vanilla and tbc screenshots have disappeared. I cant find them...I had them all saved. Also please post a story or something related to your best moments in Azeroth Like mine for example. Thanks!

[grisset]

I never sat and listened to the login music... =/

[Ceece]

Let's see... memories. Summoning low level characters to the Nagrand arena, only to kill them in the process with some lovely moronic people. We made sure the people who died were awarded happily afterward. /drunk nights

[Shinrael]

I never sat and listened to the login music... =/

You missed something amazing then.

I just remembered getting kicked off a dungeon group in one of the Razorfen dungeons for ninja'ing a 2h str mace with my mage back then getting kicked actually meant something and it was feared. you get teleported to another continent up to 2 hours away from what you were originally doing and you get bad reputation ( sometimes )

[MOEEEE]

I miss Vanilla. But i can't deny that MoP is awesome...

[Sturmbringe]

Very nice. Sadly my vanilla and tbc screenshots have disappeared. I cant find them...I had them all saved. Also please post a story or something related to your best moments in Azeroth Like mine for example. Thanks!

Well, if you still have the hard disk drive that you used to play WoW back in Vanilla/TBC, you can use some undelete utilities on it to retrieve your old WoW installation alongwith your screenshots. Try it.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filere...y-programs.htm

[khalltusk]

My first character the Shaman khalltusk rolled on skullcrusher EU. Before my move to balnazzar EU.

http://i.imgur.com/Wvt6Yxr.jpg

My Brothers rogue,
http://i.imgur.com/gjH5bYP.jpg

I witnessed the first "ninja" in game for me when I was in wailing caverns. Someone looted and stole a green item that they did not need. I also remember being VERY excited when I first logged in. Do miss those times (not knowing anything of the game and being fresh to the game the game it self now is far better)

[grisset]

You missed something amazing then.

I don't think so. I mean most of the music in WoW is good, but I would rather play the game. And that's what I did. Instead of listening to the login music, I logged in and played (far too much).

Maybe I'm not clouded by nostalgia, or I'm jaded, but the only really good memories of Vanilla I have are Jailbreak, downing Rag, and getting Rhok'dellar. Everything else, I have better memories from TBC and WotLK.

[Odina]

If you are from vanilla this will bring back great memories and no need to explain where it is taken



O and outdoor bosses... when you use to freak out to get there before another guild saw they were up :P


O god forgot wall jumping into Hijal in vanilla ... this is what you saw

[Darsithis]

If you are from vanilla this will bring back great memories and no need to explain where it is taken



O and outdoor bosses... when you use to freak out to get there before another guild saw they were up :P

You don't even need to have been in classic for that. Even up into Cata people were ganking Crossroads; I did it myself in Wrath.

[MOEEEE]

I don't think so. I mean most of the music in WoW is good, but I would rather play the game. And that's what I did. Instead of listening to the login music, I logged in and played (far too much).

Maybe I'm not clouded by nostalgia, or I'm jaded, but the only really good memories of Vanilla I have are Jailbreak, downing Rag, and getting Rhok'dellar. Everything else, I have better memories from TBC and WotLK.

WotLK like he said, was far better than Vanilla and TBC for me... I had so many great memories from that expansion ... :'(

[Apollet]

In retrospect, the only thing the game hasn't really improved on (or taken steps back) is a fully immersive world. Even if it made some gameplay aspects inconvenient, it made the world truly feel alive. Stuff I'm talking about is like farming Dark Runes in Felwood. People up to Naxx level farmed those. High end dungeons were everywhere, causing people to adventure into the world to get to them. When you were new to the game and there were 20+ dungeons you'd never seen or heard of, you would be shocked when you find one. I remember questing in Ashenvale at 22 on my Paladin and I had noticed people saying in chat "LFM BFD" and I had no clue what that meant. I had just gotten my Smite's Might Hammer and was eager to fight something harder than the antelope outside of the Zoram Strand, so I ventured down into the cave by BFD and proceeded to get rolled by several rogue mobs. I regrouped and started hacking my way through the forest of mobs and eventually got to the end, where I was shocked to find a dungeon. I thought after an hour working through that maze, there'd be nothing left to do, but there was! I waited there for about an hour and eventually go invited into a group that was wandering in from Ashenvale. Luckily they knew where to go, because I was completely lost!

I think the game has made amazing strides in 95% of departments, but world immersion just doesn't happen on a grand scale anymore. After the initial 1 month leveling/daily grind, everyone retreats back to the vendors/cities/profession hubs and never ventures out again. I would love to see a WoW where there's still a significant amount of questing left to do when hitting max level; perhaps even zones that are tuned as an alternative to gearing from heroics (imagine a zone that gave ~460 ilevel greens/blues with much harder quests). MoP has recaptured some of that, but it is far too erratic and short lived (i.e. forming a group for 10 minutes to rape sha doesn't count).

[Sturmbringe]

Will keep posting various Vanilla screenies from my archive:



ZG raid
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Getting Darkmoon Card:Maelstrom (Darkmoon Faire)
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Killing Blood Lord Mandokir (ZG)
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Proud owner of "Royal Seal of Eldre' Thalas". You had to buy a book called "GARONA STUDY ON STEALTH AND TRICKERY" from the AH and then you had to go to Dire Maul and sneak to an area inside the dungeon where you delivered the book and got the trinket. This felt like a great adventure and made one very proud, it gave one a sense of accomplishment.

Gear carried: Krol Blade, Ancient Bone Bow, the OH dropped from Stratholme, and the eye patch is from UBRS.
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Exalted with Zandalar Tribe: I got Maelstrom's Wrath
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I'm off guys

[Wozzle83]

I've lost all my pre wrath screenies however getting my 1st epic mount, getting 8/8 tier 1 on my mage and my 1st rag kill come to mind as great memories!

Edit: I forgot about world bosses and everyone having low level warlocks parked near spawn points

[Pejo]

The part of Vanilla that I enjoyed was that it was new. Some have complained that the game is less immersive due to so many things including flying mounts but I still had this feeling in BC. Sometimes I do miss the 'simple times' of having to run to the dungeon - I actually tried to replicate this feeling in SWTOR (before their LFG) but it seems that part wasn't that fun, it was just relatively new still to me.

Some of my memories from Vanilla:
I started in 1.4 as a male human Mage, Pejo, on Smolderthorn. My friend wanted me to play and he actually worked as a GM for Blizzard. He met me in Northshire and gave me 10G and all 16 slot bags. As I was leaving Northshire, I met a female human warlock named Nadine. We started chatting and I ended up giving her a gold, led to an online friendship I had throughout all of Vanilla. There were good times after that but just standard stories of exploring this new world.

The first time I entered Lakeshire, it was being camped by a 60 rogue. I tried to escape and run away (polymorph which lasted forever, woooo). He camped me a huge amount over the next week, thus my first 'enemy' in WoW. I'll cut forward in this story to the moment I hit 60 - He was camping Lakeshire and I camped him for hours...definitely a proud moment.

I met people as I leveled but the moment I hit Tanaris, I befriended a group of 3 and we grouped together all the way to 60, all congratulating each other when we did. I remember aoe farming the undead in WPL by Uther's tomb - was fantastic.

At 60, I was well known for my ability to quickly react to a situation and to do 'good' damage when needed. I remember how quickly a Scholo run or Strat run could go wrong if you didn't control adds/eyes - was irritating yet fun. I was known on my server for kiting Drak in UBRS as a frost mage...you know, because only a hunter could do it

I met my guild, Not Gonna Get Us, at 60 when they were Pugging for ZG. We never made it far but I made a huge amount of friendships, I still speak to some of them today. We used to do nightly tribute runs, UBRS and keying for Onyxia. I actually met my wife in this guild, thus well worth failing my first year of university.

There are quite a bit more memories, (hardcore raiding, pvp, etc) but we'd be here all day for that. It was fun

[NotLuto]

I remember camping Nidhogg and running Dynamis during vanilla.

[McNeil]

I've met the Welcome Bear when traveling from Tirisfall to Western Plaguelands... that was scary for sure

[g3heim]

I remember camping Nidhogg and running Dynamis during vanilla.

haha tell me about it, always played WoW inbetween windows at Kings