Summer arrived, and life in Azeroth generally took a turn for the better.
Previously: WoW Player Diary. Part 3. From Ironforge to Darkshore
Mining ore and skinning provided a modest but steady income, which I mainly used to upgrade my armor and weapons. I’d also discovered useful websites like Thottbot and Wowhead, and my interface was now enhanced with a collection of add-ons, with Questhelper holding a prime position. Back then, the default UI didn’t show targets on the map or the quest givers to whom you had to deliver your hard-earned horns and hooves. Having a better understanding of my class mechanics meant that I no longer had to run from the graveyard as often, and each new location I discovered brought a wave of puppy-like delight, along with a flurry of PrintScreen captures.
My leveling route took me through the locations of Kalimdor, with occasional detours to the Eastern Kingdoms. Darkshore, Ashenvale, the Stonetalon Mountains, and then Desolace, which became one of my favorite spots in the game. Before the Cataclysm, there wasn’t an oasis in the middle of Desolace, but there was a kodo graveyard, the remnants of the Burning Legion, and throngs of naga along the coastline. The ancient elven ruins were captivating in their regal desolation, and the sea sunsets in sandy-gray tones often filled me with a quiet melancholy.
Yet, Desolace had one significant drawback. To complete some quests, you had to cross the entire zone, which, at the time, was no small feat. You weren’t able to buy your first mount until level 40, meaning you had to hoof it everywhere or use the air taxi, which, annoyingly, didn’t fly to the coast. After several months of just questing, I began to feel a bit weary. At the same time, there was a whole other layer of group content I knew about but hadn’t yet explored—the five-person instances, often referred to as dungeons or 5ppl.
Two reasons held me back from venturing into these instances. The first was that I wasn’t very confident in my skills. It wasn’t that I was thin-skinned, but I didn’t want to let down any strangers I encountered. Things weren’t working out with the guild either; everyone there was already at the level cap and wasn’t very keen on running low-level instances. The second reason was the time and hassle involved in assembling a group, traveling to the dungeon, and then actually completing it. This second factor was the main deterrent.
The automatic group-finding system wouldn’t appear until patch 3.3, in the middle of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Before that, player searches and group formations were done manually via the /4 chat channel and the player search window. Those who had been playing for some time also had an established friends list. To make matters worse, only battlegrounds were cross-server at the time. You had to rely solely on players from your own server.
If luck was on your side, you could gather a group in 5-10 minutes. If not, you might not be able to assemble a group at all, especially for a sprawling and intricate dungeon like Blackrock Depths. Once assembled, the group would have to travel to the location. The air taxi network wasn’t that developed then—it was redesigned after the Cataclysm. Flying wasn’t available either. You had to travel on foot or by mount. If it was a shorter instance like Gnomeregan or Uldaman, the journey wouldn’t take long. But getting to Maraudon often took longer. If someone was already at the summoning stone and could summon the rest of the party, that was great. If not, an often lengthy run was inevitable. So, you’d assemble, finally enter the instance, and start trekking towards the trash and bosses. It was great if everyone knew the mechanics, but if not, the adventure could drag on. And of course, there were those dreaded “corpse runs,” when you had to run back from the graveyard after a wipe. This was particularly fun to do after wiping in Blackrock Depths, since the closest graveyard was located in the Thorium Brotherhood Camp.
The real headache came when someone left the party mid-instance. It wasn’t so bad if it was a damage dealer, but losing a tank or healer could quickly lead to a group disband. In such cases, you’d start looking for a replacement, and if all went well, you’d have to run back to the instance entrance to summon the new member.
But it wasn’t all bad, of course. It was rare for players to be kicked from groups for minor mistakes, and insults were practically unheard of. The first reaction was always to offer advice, explain tactics, and recommend useful add-ons. Since a trip through the long instances of the Old World could easily take an hour and a half, you’d often find yourself actually communicating with your fellow party members. It’s no wonder that if people noticed you knew what you were doing, you’d quickly end up on their friend list, or they’d end up on yours.
Sadly, much of the above has vanished from WoW over the past several years, unless, of course, you’re in a guild group or running some mythic-plus content.
The first instance I ever entered was the Scarlet Monastery. I still remember the overwhelming feeling of being swarmed by elite mobs and the sheer chaos of it all. The group I was with was friendly, and we chatted about where we were all from and had a quick exchange about the football championship that was happening at the time. The final boss dropped a “blue” neck piece. All in all, I really enjoyed the activity.
It was likely during that run that I was advised to install an add-on that measured threat, or “aggro.” Not damage, but aggro. This was crucial, because losing aggro on a boss or trash mob in those days could very easily lead to a group wipe. Instances weren’t the faceroll experiences they are now, where players decked out in heirlooms just blast through, barely noticing the difference between trash mobs and bosses. Of course, it wasn’t as difficult as raiding, but it was still quite challenging. Moreover, as veterans of the game often pointed out, 5ppl had been nerfed since the original WoW, where they were even harder.
In addition to that, vanilla instances had another unique aspect: they were long and confusing. This was partly because some of them were designed for groups of ten players, like Stratholme. Each trip was less of a quick run for experience and more like an hour-and-a-half-long adventure. However, sometimes the confusion was extreme, as was the case with Blackrock Depths. Players who had a firm grasp of the dungeon were rare, and sometimes when assembling a group there, people would ask how well the person knew Shadowforge.
My second dungeon was Uldaman. That ancient bunker of the Titan Keepers made a much stronger impression than the Scarlet Monastery had. It was from that time that the theme of the Titans cemented itself as one of my favorite aspects of the Warcraft lore. Another detail that made that run memorable was that our tank was a shaman.
In short, 5ppl made a lasting impression with the atmosphere, the cooperative gameplay, and, of course, the loot and experience. Somewhere around the end of June, I started doing them frequently. Zul’Farrak, Scarlet Monastery, Maraudon, the Sunken Temple, Blackrock Depths, Dire Maul, Necropolis, and Stratholme—of course, those weren’t their localized names back then. This new hobby lasted for almost all of July, and during that time, we formed something of a static group of characters from levels 40-50. We got to know each other, invited each other to parties, and sometimes even chatted in private messages.
I even cleared several dungeons with Dima Rommel, who had a character on Moonglade. I particularly remember our run through the Sunken Temple, when one of the players dropped out of the group, and while waiting for a replacement, we had a bit of a disco by turning into naked, fiery draenei.
These frequent trips to instances meant that I was geared up mostly in “blue” items and had become a regular at the auction house. And yes, I spent a fair bit of gold, even on epics—those coveted “purple pixels” that are usually associated with raiding. People in the know advised against buying epics before reaching the level cap, saying that “blue” items from higher-level instances were much better. But I couldn’t resist. My most expensive purchase was the Dwarven Hand Cannon, an epic gun that set me back four hundred gold coins, a truly significant amount for me at the time, representing about two-thirds of my total savings.
All of that combined probably made that the most enjoyable period of my leveling experience before the level cap. Neither before nor since have I had that much fun and those kinds of interesting trips.
Next: WoW Player Diary. Part 5. Outland and pre-patch WoTLK
