World of Warcraft: An Addict's Look back, Part One

(Due to the length of this article, I decided to split it into two parts)

For those of you who know me personally, and those who have read this site since its origin, have most certainly noticed how little I have participated with the critical-hits discussions. I am, in fact, good friends with all of the primary writers on the site: The Game, Bartoneus, etc. While they know I am a student attending veterinary school, they also know the primary reason is due to my addiction to the digital heroin that is World of Warcraft. My only previous experience with an MMORPG was back when Shadowbane came out with much hype, only to end up being the biggest waste of time I’ve ever experienced. Leaving a sour taste in my mouth, I was turned off from the whole MMO genre. But then came the turn of the year 2005, when World of Warcraft was birthed from its demon Blizzard seed onto this world. I wouldn’t have looked twice if it hadn’t been for the fact that Bartoneus, The Game, Justin and some other friends all either pre-ordered it or waited in line for the midnight pick-up. Having been revolted so much by Shadowbane, it took some championship peer-pressure from Bartoneus for me to purchase WoW. Little did he know what monster he was about to spawn.

I read up on all that WoW had to offer and it certainly seemed appealing, but what sealed the deal was playing the beta on my former roommate’s (Dr Scotto) computer. Having played a Tauren up to level 3, I decided to request it from my parents that year for Christmas. Fortunately for me, I still had two weeks left on my winter break for me to indulge; unfortunately, I wanted to play Horde while the only other person who thought like me was Justin. Bartoneus and Sucilaria formed an alliance guild in which they already had loyal members from the beta-test joining, plus the additions of The Game and Joshx0rfz. It was apparent through my pain-staking Shadowbane experience that WoW would be most enjoyed whilst playing with real-life friends so I “rolled” alliance only to find that my greatest desire of playing an “elven mage” was not possible. The closest thing was a druid, so I figured “What the hell…I never play them in D&D so why not give them a shot.” From that thought Cailthor was born and who would later become my first level 60 character.

Two years and well over 100 days of recorded, logged-in playtime later (that is not an exaggeration, folks), this guy had five level 60 characters, one in the 30’s, and a couple in the 20’s. After getting Cailthor to level 60 and becoming tired of achieving an end-game armor set, I decided to have my human rogue, Khalmarus, ascend in power to level 60 as well. By that time Bartoneus, Sucilaria, The Game, and Joshx0rfz had all bailed from WoW (and wisely I might add), leaving only Justin on the horde side around. I will note however that I bamboozled Steve into playing who rolled alliance. He did very well in WoW and got absurdly geared (much better than I did). By that time though I became too interested in the Horde and produced: Necrocian, my level 60 Undead warlock, Deathhorn, my level 60 Tauren Warrior, and Magmakhan, my level 60 Tauren Shaman. It was on the Horde side as well that I joined the raiding guild KoA and did my share of raiding with my warlock. A couple of months ago, The Burning Crusade came out and I only took Magmakhan to level 70 and acquired a flying mount for him.

So over the past two years I crafted a level 70, 4 level 60’s, ran every dungeon and 40-man raid dungeon multiple times, participated in a large, end-game raiding guild, created a guild, carved a bloody path through the battlegrounds enough to get a near full epic PvP armor set on my warrior, got epic mounts and a flying mount, ganked and got ganked more times than I can count, and played on a carebear server, PvP server and an RP server. Yeah that’s right….I played on an RP server. Actually, that is where Magmakhan was born. Our friend Albert, who I believe still plays and has achievements greater than mine, convinced a bunch of us to play on an RP server. He leveled to 60 much faster than the rest of us, convinced me to join a large roleplaying guild on the server, then left. I decided to stick it out with them until level 48, but I learned the hard way that RP servers should be labeled DQ instead: for Drama Queen. You might be thinking to yourself “Zomg O, that must mean you transferred Magmakhan across a server….u 4 serious?!?!1” Yes, that’s right I paid the $25 fee, flame on. It was well worth it as he became my primary character post expansion.

All in all, I feel that I’ve had a pretty good run with the game. However, the digital heroin aspect didn’t really rear its ugly head until this year. There was a major defection in KoA just before the expansion was released, halving the guild’s numbers. I took this opportunity to step up in the guild and make Magmakhan my main character since there were few shamans left, and leveled him to 70 as fast as I could. Once 70 I became absorbed with getting the necessary gear to start raiding the prelimary raid dungeon, Kharazhan, and began raiding there 2-4 times per week. Since this past September when I first started to raid, my grades have declined, I hermetically-sealed myself from many social activities with my classmates, spent very little time with my new wife, and really started to neglect my many pets (which really looks bad considering the profession I am entering). In what I consider the most perfect of timing, KoA fell apart about 3 weeks ago, just in time for my mid-term exams. I was invited to join Justin in his raiding guild and join the guild of KoA members who defected previously, but one evening while studying it just hit me like a freight train…it was time to let go. Having my mid-term exams would help ween me off the game and I knew that if I could make it through my spring break without playing, I was in the clear. So far I am more than halfway through my break and I have had no interest in playing again. Interestingly enough, I said to myself I wouldn’t play again, but couldn’t bring myself to officially canceling my account. But one day I was talking to Bartoneus about my decision and he said to me, “Just cancel it right now…..it’s now or never.” The same person who recruited and initiated me aided my intervention, and to him I am grateful. So overall I feel it’s been a great ride and I will look back on my WoW experience as a positive one. While it did have a negative impact on my real life, I had a blast adventuring in Azeroth and wish the best of luck to those players who have lands yet to travel and dungeons yet to claim.