My Top 5 Dungeons in World of Warcraft Classic

Hey all. Welcome back to my blog! Today, I wanted to post something a bit different from my Memories of Vanilla series, partially to break up the flow a little bit, and talk a little bit about something I care a lot about - dungeons.

Now, as you might recall from my initial introduction, I never really raided during official, retail Vanilla World of Warcraft. I did Onyxia once, as well as UBRS/LBRS (which might be considered raids, since they were 10-man when I did them), but that's about all I actually did. As such, my main instanced content from Level 1 until TBC was dungeons.

And man, I did a lot of them. Since my leveling experience took nearly a full year, and I was still a noob upon capping anyway, I spent a lot of time in dungeons. I've forgotten a lot about my experiences then, but looking back now, I still remember these five, for some reason or another, far more than the rest.

So without further ado, here are my top 5 Classic WoW dungeons:

#5 - Zul'Farrak (ZF)

Zul'Farrak

So back when I was first leveling my priest, Silvite, I hit a wall around level 45-52. I'd gone to Tanaris and eventually got a quest for this dungeon. Over the next few weeks of my time in this bracket, I must have run this dungeon at least 10 times. And many more since then.

Zul'Farrak is the quintessential dungeon for the late 40s in Classic WOW. There are tons of mobs which allow for great amounts of grinding experience, a bunch of quests (including the one that awards the "Carrot on a Stick" trinket), and, lots of great loot to be had within. Plus, it's got one of the most interesting boss fights in any vanilla dungeon in my opinion, the altar encounter where you release the prisoners, then fight hordes of trolls as they run up the stairs. Sure, it can be a bit time consuming if you clear everything along the way, but it's still a wonderful dungeon that has given me tons of memories and fun over the years.


#4 - Upper Blackrock Spire (UBRS)

Now I know this can technically be considered a raid, but if you asked anyone back in the day, they would've said it's a 10-man dungeon. You could also argue that LBRS and UBRS are the same dungeon, Blackrock Spire, which is true, but for me, UBRS will always be its own dungeon.

When I first hit level cap back in the day, this was one of the first dungeons I did with my friend, Leika. And though I'd done Stratholme and Scholomance by that point, this was where I really started to get a taste of the epicness of endgame content. Running around the dragon-infested halls with 9 other players, getting destroyed by whelps in the Rookery, and eventually (after many deaths) getting to the top just before the final boss and getting knocked off the bridge to my doom were some of the best memories I have of vanilla as a whole. Plus, as any World of Warcraft player knows, this is where the infamous Leeroy Jenkins video is set: 

I ran this dungeon so many times back in the day, for my chest piece and every time, I learned something new about myself as a priest, as a player, and as part of a team. And I loved every run we did. For that reason, it's my number 4.


#3 - Scarlet Monastery (SM)

Scarlet Monastery

Scarlet Monastery - THE dungeon for players in the 30-40 level range. With four wings, tons of bosses, and some of the best loot and quests until this point, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better place to go when you're sick of getting ganked in Stranglethorn Vale.

First off, the Graveyard. Now, this wing was super short and quick from what I can remember. And though there weren't really any quests for Alliance as far as I recall, it was still fun to do because you could start doing it from level 29 or so. The super-memorable boss Interrogator Vishas was in here as well, and his shouting about ripping the secrets from my flesh still ring in my mind whenever I think of this dungeon.

Across the hallway was the Library. Now, admittedly, I hardly ever did this level 33-34ish wing of the dungeon, but it was still necessary as it was how you got the Scarlet Key (the item that unlocked the Armory and Cathedral wings). There were some quests here if I remember correctly, but it was definitely less memorable for me than the other two wings.

The Armory, next to the Library wing, was definitely a big step up in difficulty and really started to show some difficulty for weaker groups. Tight packs of mobs, patrols, and some great and memorable experiences were had here. Plus, on my warrior and eventually on my paladin, this is where I got Herod's Shoulder, the last mail armor I'd get before level 40. Super fun and super memorable.

The Cathedral was my favorite though, as it just had some of the most epic pulls, and wipes, of any dungeon that I have ever experienced even to this day. It really felt like a big step up from the other three and added a level of progression even to this single multi-winged dungeon. The trash was TOUGH, with so many random patrols walking up and aggroing onto anyone that was stood slightly apart from the group. After getting up the stairs by the fountain and reaching the door, you had to clear EVERYTHING in the cathedral itself before pulling the boss, Scarlet Commander Mograine, otherwise mobs would run out from all of the rooms and the hallways and wipe the floor with you. Plus, after defeating Mograine and damaging High Inquisitor Whitemane enough, you had the epic moment when she would stun the whole party and resurrect him, making you fight both at once. Combine that with the hidden undead boss, High Inquisitor Fairbanks, behind the wall in a back room of the Cathedral, and you've got one engaging and fulfilling dungeon.

SM Cathedral

#2 - The Deadmines (VC)

The Deadmines

Ok, as a WoW player that started the game with a human priest, The Deadmines HAS to be on this list. It was my first dungeon and, as such, it holds tons of memories and nostalgia. Back in vanilla, you had to do a long and epic quest chain in Westfall to discover the mysteries of the Defias Brotherhood, eventually exposing Edwin VanCleef as the mastermind behind the organization. There was great lore behind the dungeon, and as such, you felt really invested when you went in.

Even getting to the dungeon felt like an adventure. As I described in my Memories of Vanilla series, it was easy to get lost in the caves underneath Moonbrook as a new player. There were tons of elite mobs and an entire undead section outside the dungeon to complete, so you really needed to have a group invested in completing everything if you wanted to get it all done.

Edwin VanCleef

Plus, when you finally reached the dungeon and made your way inside, you were greeted by winding tunnels, varied rooms and caverns, and a massive freaking ship behind a door that you had to blow up at the end. The bosses were fun, albeit simple, and the experience felt really rewarding for a new player. Plus, the last boss, Edwin VanCleef, had a really tough mechanic for unskilled groups - spawning bodyguard adds every so often that would need to be crowd controlled and/or killed ASAP, or they would destroy your healer and wipe your group. It really taught new players how to cope with unforeseen circumstances and come together to defeat a common enemy.

With interesting fights, tight packs of mobs, patrols, and the epic reveal of the ship at the end that you had to fight your way to the top of, The Deadmines has definitely earned its place in my top 5 Classic WoW dungeons.

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Honorable Mentions

Stratholme (STRATH)

Stratholme (UD)

A wonderful dungeon with two different paths - Live/Scarlet or Undead (UD), I did Stratholme many, many times back in the day. I remember that 45 minute Baron runs were all the rage, and SUPER tough to complete back then, which might seem absurd to a player of modern WoW. It was a dungeon that really taught me about mana management and careful pulling.

I'm sure a lot of WC3 players hold this dungeon near to their hearts, along with WotLK's The Culling of Stratholme. However, since I didn't play WC3 before doing this dungeon, it's just not quite as significant to me. Still a great dungeon with great bosses and awesome loot though.


Wailing Caverns (WC)

Wailing Caverns

As an Alliance player for most of classic, I never really had a reason to go to Wailing Caverns. However, I did go when eventually leveling a tauren druid towards the very end and this place blew me away. What VC is for Alliance, WC is for the Horde - a sprawling underground labyrinth with twisting passages, tons of bosses, and, of course, the single-greatest obstacle in vanilla - that one jump that everyone missed once. If you did WC back in the day, you know what I'm talking about.

Wailing Caverns is definitely not my favorite dungeon by any means, but it still deserves to be mentioned for what it was. And I'm glad that I'll get to experience it as it was again come next summer.


Mauradon (MARA)

Mauradon

Alright, so Mauradon is one of those dungeons that I have a love-hate relationship with. I love the huge, sprawling labyrinth that it is, with tons of bosses and good loot for the mid-40 range. However, I absolutely hated it for the same reasons: it never ends! Still, it deserves a spot on this list purely because of my memory of getting lost in it back when I did it for the first time on my friend's account. He actually came home from work early and started kicking me off the server until I called and begged for him to let me finish the dungeon.

It's also the dungeon that was used in one of my favorite WoW music videos of all time, "She's Too Fat For Me," which always reminds me of my adventures trying to finish this beast of a dungeon.

Yeah, my reasons are a bit personal and don't really reflect the dungeon itself, but it's because of these memories and experiences that I thought it deserved at least a mention.

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Dishonorable Mentions

Gnomeregan (GNOMER)

Gnomeregan

Long, confusing, crap quests, and overall just a horrible experience. I think I was able to finish it once or twice back in the day. The mobs are all too closely packed and it was possible to aggro the entirety of a wing at once by standing too close to the ledge going down to the final boss. Horrendous design.

It's one of the only places that I was happy to see redesigned and tuned as the game progressed over the years. Seriously, screw original Gnomeregan.


The Temple of Atal'Hakkar/Sunken Temple (ST)

Sunken Temple

Long, confusing, circular, and possibly the most convoluted dungeon experience in all of vanilla. Only a few quests led here AND is located in the Swamp of Sorrows, so it was a pain to get to as Alliance. Really though, the multiple floored circular design and the puzzles that needed to be completed in order to finish this dungeon just made it a headache and a half to complete.

Screw this place too.

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Ok, with all those out of the way, let's finally move on to my number one favorite Classic WoW dungeon of all...

#1 - Scholomance (SCHOLO)

Scholomance

If I had to choose one word to describe Scholomance as a Classic WoW dungeon, it would be this:

Perfect!

First and foremost, this dungeon is the conclusion of series of quests in the Western Plaguelands that sees you fight off tons of undead and uncover the true nature of this school of necromancy. Eventually, the quest chain rewards you with the Skeleton Key, allowing you to open the door to the dungeon and go face the monsters within. Lore-wise, it's amazing. It is pretty close to a flight point as well, being only a short run away from Chillwind Camp, so it's easily accessible for Alliance players (the Horde have a bit longer run from the Bulwark).

The dungeon itself is EPIC! Upon entering, you are greeted with two skeleton guards in front of a gate to be opened. After defeating them and entering the school proper, you get a view of the sheer number of mobs in this dungeon from the top of a staircase. I remember the first time going in here and thinking to myself..."Whoa. That's a lot of trash!" Well, before getting smacked around by the patrol that walked up and down the stairs there, that is.

Anyway, the trash is fun in its own right, with lots of cc opportunities (especially for priests with Shackle Undead), tight packs, and more than a few patrols spread throughout. On top of that, there are over 10 bosses in this place - 13 in total if you don't count the additional bosses for events and quest chains, and up to 17 if you include all bosses, mini-bosses, and event bosses. So in basically every room, you can expect to find a boss. Many of them are optional, however, such as Jandice Barov in the basement, but all of them had some bit of loot that a party member might need.

The Bosses of Scholomance

That's really one of the biggest reasons I loved classic Scholomance back in the day - the team effort it fostered. I noticed that as I got groups and ran with people, we all had different reasons for going to Scholo. One person might need Jandice for their Tier 0 piece, another might need the Paladin epic mount quest in Rattlegore's room, while another might just be there to finish up the questline. We'd all have to stick together though, as there was only one dungeon with all these paths. It wasn't a place that you could split into wings, like Live and Undead Stratholme or UBRS/LBRS. It was one place - Scholomance.

Darkmaster Gandling

Plus, once your party got through everything - cleared all the rooms and got Darkmaster Gandling to spawn at the end, you were in for a treat. Gandling is, by far, the most interesting dungeon boss in Classic World of Warcraft in my opinion. Sure at first it seems like a fairly normal tank&spank encounter, until he starts teleporting players into random rooms and locking them in! I remember as a priest AND the healer getting locked in a room and being unable to kill the skeleton adds fast enough to get out and back to my group. And I remember that this wasn't a one-time thing; it happened a lot! The teleport roulette made the boss fight interesting every time and always kept me on my toes whenever a group would fight this boss. Easily one of the most fun bosses I've ever fought in a World of Warcraft dungeon in any expansion.

Back in the summer of 2006, I ran this dungeon on a nearly daily basis and I never got sick of it. Eventually, I didn't need anything from it at all, but I still grouped with random PUGs just to do it, since I wasn't a raider and had lots of free time anyway. It was such a fun and engaging dungeon that I never got bored of it. Not even once.

The bosses, the atmosphere, the loot, and the teamwork - they all made Scholomance the amazing dungeon that it was. And while the other dungeons in this list were really hard to place, there was never any doubt in my mind as to what number 1 would be. Scholomance is, in my opinion, the best Classic World of Warcraft dungeon. And I can't wait to run it again when WoW Classic launches next summer!

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Thanks for reading this somewhat different post. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, let me know by posting a comment down below. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to my YouTube channel for videos with similar content! I look forward to seeing you there! Until next time guys, take it easy!

Memories of Vanilla #6 - Heading North

Hey dudes! Welcome back to Memories of Vanilla.

Last time, I told the story of how Stitches welcomed me to Duskwood. It was good times, but now we're really going to start flying forward.

It was around this time, or maybe a bit before this, that school had started again in real life, so my time to play World of Warcraft at my friend Leika's house was getting more and more limited. Being the bro that he was though, he said he'd help me out.

See, Leika's about four years older than me, so he was already working and earning his own money from a full-time job at this point while I was still a sophomore in high school. While I was studying, he was working and looking up new parts for his PC on Newegg. I'm not sure exactly when, but at
some point in the early fall, he had enough money to basically completely rebuild his PC. And so, as bros do, he took the parts from his old PC, got a new case, and built me a computer of my own.

It's worth mentioning that it wasn't my first PC. I actually forgot that I had a computer before this, but it was more than a piece of crap - 4GB hard drive, maybe 256mb of ram if I remember correctly, and an on-board graphics card that could barely run Windows 98 games. I'm also fairly certain that I'd killed it by this point, although I don't remember for sure what happened to it.

My Original PC

And so, when I got my new computer from Leika, I was stoked. I'd finally be able to play WoW at home!

Now, this was still before Blizzard allowed character transfers, even between one's own accounts if I remember correctly, so my priest was still on his account. Luckily though, I got home from school between 3-4PM most days, and he wouldn't get home from work until around 5 or 6, so I got a lot of gaming time in during the gap. Eventually though, I would get kicked off and have to go do something else.

Sven, the Questgiver

However, since I could play more, I began leveling much faster. I clearly remember that I was still in Duskwood when I got the computer, and quickly wrapped up the Raven Hill quests soon after. One quest, however, tasked me with going to a place called Menethil Harbor in the Wetlands. Confused, I opened my map and searched, eventually finding the Wetlands just north of Ironforge.

Now, since I was on my own at this point, drinking Mountain Dew at my own computer in the basement, I couldn't just ask Leika for help. I had to figure this out. Luckily, I had already been to Ironforge and Loch Modan before this, having completed a quest in Elwynn Forest that took me there, so I hopped on a gryphon, went afk (as you do), and came back about 10 minutes later as I was landing in Thelsamar.

Thus began my next epic journey: finding the right gate into the Wetlands.

Travelling north, I entered a gateway that took me into a snowy area - Dun Morogh - and followed the path for a while before realizing my mistake. Turning around, I made my way back into Loch Modan and ran around the north tower until I found the right gate. Sighing, I made my way through and down the twisty-turny path into the crocolisk-invested zone.

The Wetlands

I followed the path for what seemed like ages - after all, the harbor was on the westernmost point of the zone and I had entered at the south-eastern end of the path - before finally coming to a crossroads. Now, my gut told me to turn right and follow the path, but I thought that I should be a bit more careful, lest I end up going the wrong way again like I just had. Looking around, I noticed a signpost nearby. Scrolling my mouse over it, I found my answer.

<-----Menethil Harbor
-----> Arathi Highlands

Ok, so it's a good thing I didn't listen to my gut on that one.

Menethil Harbor - I Made It!

Continuing down the everlasting path, I eventually came to the bridge that marked the entrance to Menethil Harbor. With another sigh, I ran straight over to the flight master, got the flight path, and vowed to never make that trip on foot again.

I finished up the Morbent Fel quest shortly after that, doing the quests required of it in the Wetlands (albeit with several deaths to the ghosts in the shipwrecks to the north), flying back down to Duskwood, and taking him out with a party without significant trouble. But to this day, I still remember that epic journey north - the split paths that I faced and the feeling of achievement, and relief, when I finally reached my destination.

I hope you enjoyed this installment of Memories of Vanilla. If you did, leave a comment telling about your own memories of traversing the World of Warcraft back in the day. I'd love to hear your story. Also remember to check back for more content, as I plan to continue this series until World of Warcraft: Classic finally launches next summer. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter and check out my YouTube channel.

Until the next installment, take it easy!

Memories of Vanilla #5 - Stitches Brings Stitches

Hey dudes! Welcome back to "Memories of Vanilla," my reflective series about my adventures during original classic WoW.

Last time, I told the story of my first crack at a dungeon, The Deadmines, which went about as well as you'd expect for a noob. Well, as I said before, I'd eventually get that dungeon finished and move on with my adventure, though it wasn't for a few levels.

Today, I'd like to fast forward a little bit, the reason being that I don't really remember much of my first adventures in Redridge all that well (other than dying to that pack of 3 orcs hiding behind the tree and killing some condors at some point). So yes, as a human priest with little knowledge of what to do other than see what's nearby, the next step of my adventure was indeed Duskwood.

Pygmy Venomweb Spider

I remember first entering the zone by accident back when I was around level 7 or 8 by crossing the river in Elwynn Forest, then immediately being chased down by some giant spiders. The darkness of the zone
intrigued me, as it was definitely daylight back on the other side of the river, but here it was clearly night. I asked my friend about it at the time, but he said that I'd learn about it if I read the quests when I got there.

I returned to the zone once more when Magistrate Solomon of Lakeshire tasked me with visiting a town called Darkshire to ask for aid, at which point I headed down the path to enter the creepy zone. That was before I tried my hand at The Deadmines, if I remember correctly, so I must have been around level 15 at the time. I picked up the flight path and completed the quest, but being so low, there wasn't much else to do here yet.

However, after finally completing the Defias questline that had so long taunted me from my quest log, I returned to Darkshire once more. Now that I was around level 20 or so, I could actually pick up some of the quests in the town, so I got all the ones I could and made my way out onto the road. As I went, I noticed some black wolves, almost like shadows, prowling around the sides of the road. Unsure of where to go, I again asked my friend for advice, but he seemingly ignored me. Later, I found out that he'd just wanted me to get lost in the darkness. Jerk.

Darkshire

Anyway, as I stood still in the road, looking at my quest log and trying to figure out where to go from here, I noticed a shape down the road - a large, round shape of some sort of monster. "What's that?" I asked myself, moving the cursor over the being and clicking on it:

Stitches, Gift from the Embalmer

Stitches
Level ?? (Elite)

I wasn't sure what a level ?? was (though I must have seen it by this point, having died exploring several times at this point), but I knew it couldn't be good news. As fast as I could, I keyboard turned and began to run the other way, but it was too late. In my initial curiosity, I'd spent too much time and he'd gotten close enough to my squishy priest to notice me. In two hits, I was dead on the ground.

I ran back to my body, getting lost along the way somehow (though I don't remember how, I clearly remember it happening). When I arrived, I carefully looked around to make sure the beast known as Stitches was gone, then rezzed on top of my corpse.

After that, I knew to be wary in this zone. For if you're not careful, you'll be left in literal stitches...by Stitches.

I hope you enjoyed this brief memory of my first proper Duskwood experience. Next time, I'll talk about my new PC and continue the leveling journey with Duskwood and a long hike north. If you enjoyed this post, or found yourself nodding along as you read, leave a comment letting me know what you thought! Follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter (facebook.com/silvitesoltis and twitter.com/silvitesoltis respectively) or visit my YouTube channel here for updates and additional content.

Until next time, take it easy!

Memories of Vanilla #4 - The First Dungeon

Hey dudes! Silvite Soltis here to continue my Memories of Vanilla series.

As promised in the last installment, today I want to tell you about my first dungeon experience. This was, of course, The Deadmines.

The Deadmines Loading Screen

Being a human priest questing in Westfall, this was the obvious choice. Well that and it was the only dungeon I knew about, so really it was the only choice. And after finally finishing the escort quest, I was ready to dive into this dungeon and defeat Edwin VanCleef!

I remember it was early evening in my friend's bedroom - not quite sundown, but getting there. I logged in for a turn on the game and immediately began looking for a group in /y from Sentinel Hill:

"16 priest. Looking for Deadmines group!"

Of course, I didn't know that level 16 was considered too low for most dungeon groups. After spamming for about 10 minutes, however, an invite popped up. Eagerly, I smashed that button and found myself in a party of 3 - myself, the hunter who'd invited me, and a druid. Now at that time, I didn't know anything about groups or dungeon make-up, so I just said "Hey guys!"

I was met with some new jargon that I'd eventually figure out: "Hey! Now we just need a mage and a tank!" With a shrug, I began heading over to the entrance, hoping I'd figure it out soon enough. As I walked across the fields of Westfall, a warrior joined our group, apparently fulfilling the "tank" role. And as I finally reached the entrance, carefully clearing a path through the main road instead of going around the back (which would probably have been easier, now that I think about it), a mage joined. We were ready to go.

I stood inside the entrance, awaiting my party members' arrival while also avoiding any enemies lurking outside. One by one, they entered the battered old building just as the evening sun outside began to shine some glare through the window of my friend's small bedroom. I turned to my friend, as he was again playing Super Mario Bros. 3 on his NES while waiting for me to finish, and asked what I needed to do. He hopped up, looked at the group members, and told me:

"Heal. You're the only one who can."

Ok, so I had to heal - no biggie. We made our way through the caverns underneath Moonbrook, constantly searching for the instance entrance. Finding ourselves in a cavern with skeletons, I noticed my party members kept picking up cards of some kind. Curious, I asked where they'd gotten the quest. Luckily, one of them shared it with me and our journey continued.

We must have died during that initial quest outside of the instance, because I remember running back to my corpse and getting lost in the tunnels. The mage, who had also died, helped me to find my way back to our corpses by running alongside me, but our bodies were already surrounded by respawns. We rezzed, ran, died again, and re-rezzed before finally continuing our quest.

What's That Swirly Blue Thing?

Eventually, something like 45 minutes after starting, we found our way to the entrance of the dungeon. What's funny to me is that, I'd thought we were already DOING the dungeon. I had no idea what an instance was, so to me this was all part of the dungeon. I remember the large swirling blue portal, stood down to the right of the bridge in the caverns and thinking "What is that?" When we got to the bridge, with its elite Defias mobs stood in wait, our warrior told us to just run for it. With mobs chasing us the whole way, we all made it inside. I was the last with only a sliver of health left in my bar, having gotten dazed at the last second. But we'd made it! We were here at last!

The Deadmines!

After buffing, eating, and drinking up to full, we were ready to begin. Each pull the mage would sheep an add, and the other one or two would run to our warrior. I was told to wait for a second and not heal. If I somehow found an add on me, I should use "fade". I wasn't sure what Fade was, but I eventually found it in my spell book. I was also told that, since I was the lowest level in the group, still 16, I needed to stay far behind everyone else and move very carefully or I might facepull.

I didn't listen.

By the time we'd gotten to the first boss, we'd pulled every mob in the first hallway, wiped once, and I'd gotten lost in the caverns again. Not ideal, but hey - I was learning! I don't remember the boss fight all that well, but we must have killed it, because as I was standing around at the back, I got attacked by the patrols that spawn after defeating him. Oops!

The Forge

Well eventually I made my way back again (they'd killed the patrols while I lay lifeless on the ground) and we continued our adventure. I don't remember much for the next few rooms, so I don't think anything particularly bad happened.What I do know now is that we were going EXTREMELY slowly. Each room and hallway took us upwards of 15 minutes to clear fully, with food and mana breaks after every pack for me and the mage. When we got to the forge a goblin ran and pulled another group, causing us to wipe and all run back, wasting quite a bit of time. When we finally defeated the boss of that room, I was disappointed to lose the Lavishly Jeweled Ring  to the mage in the group, but nevertheless we pressed onward.


We made our way through that final hallway. Our hunter grabbed the gunpowder, we finished off the trash, and he shot the cannon at the door. And the booming voice of Mr. Smite scared the hell out of me:

"You there! Check out that noise!"

Now, not knowing what was happening, I had been standing right by the door. And, being startled by the sudden booming voice in the speakers, I looked around to try and see where it had come from. So naturally, when the adds came and saw my squishy level 17 priest (I'd leveled up at some point during the dungeon) standing at the front of the pack, they ran right up and ate me for breakfast.

We wiped again at that point. And though people were more than happy to run back and keep going, it was starting to get late. The sun had already set outside I was supposed to start heading home in about 10 minutes. Nevertheless, I ran back to my corpse, eager to finish off the dungeon I had started. After all, how much more could be left?

We ran through the plains, down into the caverns, across the bridge, and into the instance portal. And there, in defiance of the adventurers who had boldly sought to claim their master's head, they stood:

Respawns!

The entire entrance area was swarming with all the enemies we'd already killed. Confused, and defeated, I asked what was going on. When my friend saw what was going on, he told me the news. My dungeon was over - the only way we'd be able to finish is if we re-cleared all the trash to the final room where we'd wiped.

Defeated, we said our thanks to each other in party chat, added each other to our friends lists, clicked our Hearthstones, and returned to Sentinel Hill. I logged off that evening wondering if I'd ever be able to finish The Deadmines.

But it's funny. Though I had epically failed my first dungeon, I felt great that I had done it. I learned how to be careful not to pull extra trash, how to play my role as a healer, and what it meant to contribute to a party. I had tried my best and despite causing many problems for my group-mates, I felt we'd done a pretty good job.

I'll Get You Next Time!!!

Later on, I eventually finished the dungeon and got my Staff of Westfall for completing the quest chain, but it wasn't until level 21 or so. I'm not sure what I did in the meantime - probably Redridge quests killing gnolls or something like that. But that's a story for another time.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my story of my first dungeon experience. Next time, I'll fast forward a bit to my experiences with Stitches and the creepy atmosphere of Duskwood. For now, feel free to take a look at my Facebook page, follow me on Twitter @silvitesoltis, or check out my YouTube channel. And until next time...

Take it easy!

Memories of Vanilla #3 - Liverless Boars and Defias Pillagers

What's up again dudes!

Silvite Soltis back again to continue my "Memories of Vanilla" series. Today, I want to reminisce a bit about my time in Westfall. Though I don't explicitly remember when I finally made my way into Westfall, I distinctly remember a few bits and pieces of the zone. In particular, I remember getting the quest to pick up bags of oats near the starting zone for Old Blanchy, then dying several times to the Defias and harvesters in that first farm, right on the border of Elwynn Forest. Even now, I'm not really sure how I managed to die there, but it happened.

Anyway, after that, I made my way to Sentinel Hill since that's where my friend told me all the good quests were. I met up with Gryan Stoutmantle and began my journey to kill Defias, loot masks, and journey all over the farmlands. However, in my noobishness, I again forgot to set my Hearthstone (more on that later).

Unsure of exactly where to go, as I didn't really pay too much attention to quest text yet, I moved north and found a farm with a bunch of Harvest Golems. Being level 12 or so, I was terrified by these level 15 monstrosities. However, by the house there was a guy with a quest, so I carefully moved over to him, trying not to aggro any of the robots outside. Of course, he wanted me to kill those tough mobs, so I'd have to come back later when I was a bit stronger. I also grabbed the quest from his wife inside, who asked me to gather a few materials for "Westfall Stew" and "Goretusk Liver Pie." Simple enough.

Where's Your Liver?

And so, my adventure in Westfall truly began - hunting Goretusks for livers and snouts that don't exist. As I ran across the zone to the coast (where my friend told me the murlocs were), I killed every boar, vulture, and coyote along the way. Now I must have killed at least 15 boars as I crossed the map, but by the time I reached the murloc camps, I only had about 3 livers and 2 snouts. And the whole time I was running, I only came across 2 or 3 vultures. I figured this quest would probably take a while.

But one thing I will say is that I enjoyed every minute of it. Even after I'd played for over an hour running back and forth across the zone, slaughtering all manner of wildlife, I never got bored. Eventually, I completed the quests, having leveled up to around 15 in the process, and decided to make my way back to Farmer Saldean. I hit my Hearthstone and...

I was back in Goldshire.

The Bane of my Early WoW Existance

My friend laughed hysterically, my brother called me a noob, and I facepalmed before getting on the westward road and began the long run back to Westfall. 10 minutes of nonstop running later, I got back to the farm. And my God, it felt so good to get those two damn quests out of my quest log.

After that, I don't remember much of Westfall to be honest - the different Defias mobs all blended together, the gnolls were pretty much a copy+paste experience from Elwynn, and there were lots of corpse runs in the process of getting through the zone. But, of course, there's one quest that I'll never forget - escorting the Defias traitor to the Deadmines entrance.

It should be mentioned that the precursor to this quest, the one in which you have to track down the Defias Messenger, is usually remembered by most people for being particularly tedious. For me, though, I remember getting the quest, running to the road, and just getting him right away. So it wasn't really that much of a hassle for me. The escort quest, however, was another story entirely.

The Defias Traitor

The first time, I failed spectacularly. Not knowing what an escort quest was, I just blindly accepted the quest
that he had after finishing the previous part of the quest chain. Suddenly he started running off into the distance. I scrambled to keep up, but along the road I was attacked by a gnoll or something. We killed it, naturally, but as I sat to drink and regain my mana and health, he kept walking, got out of range, and I "failed" the quest.

Oops!

I didn't know what to do. I'd never failed a quest before - I didn't even know you COULD fail one. Turning to my friend, I asked what I could do now. His response was to go back and try again. So I ran over the hill to the north back to town, made my way over to the tower, and was shocked to find that there was no Defias Traitor. I waited and waited, but he didn't spawn.

I didn't get that quest done that session, but when I came back to the game the next time, I was determined to complete that quest. I made my way out from the inn and saw that he was there! However, I had no way to interact with him. He just stood there. Eventually, however, I got a whisper from someone nearby. I don't remember his name, but he was a level 17 warlock.

"You need the Defias Traitor quest?"

"Yeah."

*Warlock has invited you to a group.*

I was excited! As the NPC began running, we followed close. I wasn't going to make the same mistake as last time! We were going to get this quest done right!

Moonbrook

We moved with the traitor as he ran along the road to Moonbrook, where I'd killed Defias Pillagers and Looters at some point earlier. Carefully, we killed each mob and moved through the town, slowly. Hoping not to get too many and die. Eventually though, we made it. The Traitor stopped just outside a broken down building and told us it was the entrance to the "Deadmines". I was so excited. However, I noticed that nothing had changed. My quest still said failed.

"Thanks!" my new warlock friend said as he began his Hearthstone cast.

"But, my quest says failed!" I responded.

Confused and frustrated, I asked my friend what to do as I too hearthed back to Sentinel Hill. He asked if I'd abandoned the quest before doing it again.

Double oops.

Well, luckily for me, my warlock friend agreed to do the quest with me again since I hadn't gotten credit. This time, I went to my quest log, abandoned the quest, and we made our way back to the quest giver. I accepted as soon as he spawned and again, for a third time, I ran along that path to the Deadmines entrance.

I cannot express the nervousness I felt as we cleared the enemies of Moonbrook that time. I felt like any mistake I made would cost us the quest and I feared I'd have to repeat it a FOURTH time! Luckily, however, a random level 60 mage appeared and blew up all the enemies in the town on his way to boost someone through the dungeon. The traitor walked up to the entrance without issue, the "Complete" text appeared on my screen, and I sighed in relief.

"Got it!" I typed to my party and said aloud to the others in the room. And honestly, I don't know if I've ever been as relieved to finish a quest as I was back then.

For a new player, Westfall was a huge step up from the trivial kobolds and fuzzy forest creatures of Elwynn. It was challenging, and really made me think as I moved through the quests. But even as I turned in that quest, there still loomed one more challenge for me - my first dungeon. The Deadmines.

I hope you enjoyed my tale of my adventures in Westfall. Next time, I'll tell a short story recounting what I remember of my first dungeon experience. Man, that's a doozy! But for now, I'll leave the story of Westfall here in its own right. Let me know of your own experiences in Westfall - or whatever your second questing zone was. I'd love to read your comments or hear your stories.

Until next time guys. Take it easy!

Memories of Vanilla #2 - Elwynn Forest

What's up dudes!

Silvite Soltis back again to continue reminiscing about the good old days of Vanilla WoW. Last time, I told of how my brother and I created our characters and explored the world that is Northshire Abbey. Well today, I want to continue the journey.

I don't actually remember too much about completing the vineyard quests - only that I died a few times doing them before my turn on the game was finished and my brother took over for a second turn. So, while I waited for him to finish, I played some Super Mario 3 with our friend. I didn't want to spoil anything. Eventually though, I got my 2nd turn on the game and finally got up to the Garrick Padfoot quest that marked the end of Northshire.

That was a fun experience for a noob. The first time I pulled him, I didn't think to take out the two Defias bodyguard guys next to him. 3 tough enemies versus 1 nooby priest - it wasn't pretty. My brother laughed at me, as he'd done the quest with no issues apparently. Still, I learned pretty quick and tried to kill one bodyguard the next time and run from the others. Again, I died like a scrub.

After getting back to my body again, and fighting my way through the enemies that had respawned along the path, I found a group of people standing over by his shack, about to attack him. Luckily, they saw me approach and I was invited to a group. Great success! This time we easily beat the three enemies, with me using lesser heal probably way too much for the damage that was coming out. When we all collected his head, they said "Thanks".

I had no idea how to reply, so I just ran back to the abbey. Turning to my friend, who was playing NES with my brother at this point, I asked how to talk. He laughed at my ignorance, told me how, and BOOM - I had a way to communicate with others.

The world was opening up more and more.

I turned in the quests, checked my trainer for new spells (even though I was only level 5 and the new ones weren't available until level 6), and faced the wall out of the starting zone. Running along the path, I looked at all the surrounding sights - trees of the forest, cows and wolves running around, and a patrolling salesman walking along the road. I was entranced. Before long, I came to a small town, complete with only 2 or 3 buildings, but several people running to and fro. I had reached Goldshire.

Honestly, I don't remember much about exactly what I did in Goldshire at this point, but I know that I didn't know how to change my Hearthstone location, so later I would teleport all the way back to Northshire. One thing I do remember clearly, however, was the fact that there were profession trainers for blacksmithing and mining around one of the buildings. Curious, I asked my friend what these things were, again getting some laughter.

He explained that those were professions trainers and that you could train two of them. He told me that, as a priest, I shouldn't pick up mining or blacksmithing, but go with tailoring and enchanting because I could sew my own equipment and enchant it to be better - or disenchant old or useless items I didn't need. This is what he was doing on his mage, so I figured he knew what he was talking about and trained those two professions right away.

This is where my first day of WoW ended as far as I can remember. Eventually, I would drop enchanting, as I couldn't really figure out what the hell to do to get items to disenchant (in other words, I sucked), but I picked up skinning which remained my second skill for years to come.

Anyway, my journey through Elwynn forest continued for a few weeks - yes weeks. Since I didn't have a computer or a copy of World of Warcraft for myself, I could only level while over at my friend's house. Even then, my brother and I took turns if we were both over, so it took a long time. But it was an adventure all the way. I remember constantly looking forward to the dreaded orchard that my friend had told me about the first time I'd seen him play, but never getting a quest for it. Eventually I found out it was part of a mage class quest, so no wonder I never got the quest!

Again, my memories of Elwynn back in the day are fuzzy at this point, but there's one last memory that's still super-clear (for some reason). No, it's not the infamous Hogger quest or the murloc camp with the guards' corpses over by the Eastvale Logging Camp. I remember those from repetition later on, but not really from my first time. No the last real quest I remember doing before moving on to Westfall was the level 9 quest to kill Princess - the prized pig that was stealing the Stonefields vegetables. After getting the quest, I wandered back and forth between the Stonefield and Maclure farms, scouring the area for the right pig but never finding her. After wasting about 15 minutes, my friend asked me what I was doing running around in circles. When I told him I was looking for Princess, he chuckled and told me that he'd done the same thing. Then he said to read the quest text carefully.

A bit embarrassed at being so thick, I opened the quest log to find that I'd been searching all over the wrong farms all along. I had to go to the Brackwell pumpkin patch on the other side of the zone. Oops.

Well after a good 10 minutes of running around, I finally found the farm that I hadn't discovered yet. And there she was - a level 9 hostile pig with 2 other pigs patrolling the field. I was level 8 or 9 at this point, but I was still total crap when it came to multiple mobs at once. Still, I gave it a shot.

And I died.

So I ran back to my body to rez for what must have been the 10th time by this point, waited for health and mana, then hit /y...

"ANYONE DOING PRINCESS MUST DIE?"

Luckily, someone was nearby and must have noticed my red text because I got a group invite to a group with 3 others in it. As two of them made their way over from Goldshire, I watched Princess as she paced back and forth.

With 4 people, we made quick work of her and her entourage. As I looted her collar, I had a sensational feeling about this game and the comradery that it fostered among the players. Up until then, I'd mostly played single-player RPGs and never had the kinds of experiences I was having in this game. It really felt like a live and vibrant world.

Of Warcraft.

Anyway, that's basically the last memory I have of my first run through Elwynn Forest. I know there were a lot more things that happened, but I really can't tell much in detail. I got a purple robe from my class quest, fought Hogger, and killed some wildlife and Defias dudes around the zone, but it's all a blur at this point.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter of my story. If you did, feel free to leave a comment with your own starter zone stories. I'll be sure to read each one. In the next installment, I'll tell you all a bit about my adventures in Westfall killing boars with no livers, dying in Moonbrook, and my first WoW friend. But until then, take it easy!

Memories of Vanilla #1 - The Beginning

What's up dudes!

With Classic now slated to be released in the summer of next year, I thought it'd be interesting to reflect back on my own vanilla experiences while we all wait. If nothing else, it'll add to the hype train and give me a way to release my excitement. As you read, feel free to leave a comment with your own stories and experiences from way back when.

So without further ado, here's my classic World of Warcraft story...

Back in the summer of 2005, I was an excited young teenager just beginning to find my place in the world. I had a job at a local pizza restaurant and enjoyed hanging out with friends and playing my Nintendo Gamecube whenever I was free. Good times.

Well one day my brother and I went over to a buddy's house because he'd been raving about this new game he got. Some game where you could make your own character and run around with other people called "World of Warcraft." I'd never heard of it, or any of the other Warcraft games for that matter as I was strictly a console gamer until that point, but he seemed pretty into it. So, we hopped on our bikes and headed about 2 miles down the road to see what he was flipping out about.

When we arrived, I yelled up to the 2nd floor from outside to let him know we were there - he always had his window open in the summer, so he definitely heard me. With a thump, he jumped down the last 4 steps to the side door to let us in. We ran upstairs to his room where he had his own computer set up and I was taken aback by the game in front of me. There were people running around on the screen in a yellow, grassy place with half-built buildings. Stood at the center of the screen was a woman with a red ponytail and purple dress.

I had gotten my first glimpse of WoW.

Being the generous sort of soul he was, my buddy showed my brother and I around Westfall on his human mage, Leika, who he'd been apparently been playing for the last two days or so. He recounted tales of a place he called "The Orchard" and how the "Defias" there had killed him over and over as he'd attempted to finish a quest. Intrigued, I asked if I could try it out, to which he replied. "Yeah sure...after this quest."

Well, as we all know now, one quest led to another and we ended up watching him mess around for nearly 20 more minutes, casting blue spells of frost at robot-like things on a farm and collecting random items around the zone. Getting bored, we asked if one of us could just try it out. Finally, he agreed.

My brother went first, if I remember correctly, and created a human paladin - he was really big into Final Fantasy IV and Cecil was his favorite character, so it was just kind of to be expected. I watched, intrigued with the world around him as he killed wolves and kobolds around the Northshire Abbey. Before long, another hour had passed and it was my turn.

The next 20 minutes of my life, I sat fixed in front of the screen, trying to work out what to play. I thought that the Horde races looked pretty cool, but since my brother and friend had already rolled Alliance, I thought I should follow suit. Then, I had to look at the classes. Warlock stuck out to me in particular, as I was 15 and full of teenage angst, it seemed pretty appropriate. Demons and shadow magic - who doesn't love that?

However, just as I'd sort of settled on going with a human warlock, he suggested that if I really wanted to use shadow magic, I should consider rolling a priest instead, as they could become dark shadow priests with a cool purple glow AND could heal if needed. Upon hearing this, I clicked on the staff icon, entered the name "Silvite" (I was a huge Skies of Arcadia fan at the time) and hit enter.

My adventure had begun.

An amazing introduction!

Having wasted essentially 20 minutes of my hour of play time, I had my work cut out for me. My brother had already leveled up to 4, so I was well behind! But as I watched that opening cutscene, panning out from the majestic statues of Stormwind and flying over the bustling landscape of Elwynn Forest into Northshire, I knew that I'd just entered something magical.


The screen faded to black for a split second, then I was faced with the back of my character, Silvite - the level 1 human priestess. I looked around, spinning with the arrow keys in classic noob fashion before noticing a yellow exclamation mark above the head of some dude standing nearby. A quest giver, I was told. Pressing the up key, I moved over to him, right clicked as per my friend's instructions, and began to read.

Learning to quest

The remaining 30 minutes of my first crack at World of Warcraft are a bit blurry, as it's been over 13 years at this point. However, one thing I remember super clearly was the grape fields. As our friend had warned us about the orchard, I asked if this was where he died a lot, to which he replied no. That would come later, at around level 9. I looked at my lowly level 3 in the corner, then back to the time in the right-hand corner of the screen, and sighed. It would be a long time until I reached level 9.

Anyway, my first experience with WoW ended just before the grape fields of Northshire, but I was sure that I'd be back. In just 60 minutes, I was hooked and ready for more. Looking back now, I must have experienced that initial cutscene and those starter quests at least 50 times by this point, making and deleting alts, messing around on private servers, and the just generally enjoying the game, but even now I still remember that first experience so clearly.

I hope you enjoyed my little rant about my first WoW experience. If you liked it, share it around to spread the joy. Also, feel free to leave a comment below with your own first experience with World of Warcraft. I'd love to hear your story too.

Until next time guys. Take it easy!

WoW Classic - Summer 2019

Well guys. It's officially been announced! World of Warcraft: Classic is coming out sometime next summer. With all the excitement of BlizzCon, and of course everyone and their mother playing the demo, it's hard not to be hyped up about it.

Thinking forward, I don't think anyone could have asked for a better release date. Summer is a time of rest and relaxation for many, with kids out of school and time off work, depending on your career of course. And with 6-9 months of waiting ahead, we all still have time to get our ducks in a row in preparation for Classic's release.

For me personally, I'm looking forward to planning out my race/class. While I originally planned to play a troll priest, siding with the Horde this time around, lately I'm not so sure. A new class might be a really cool and interesting way to experience the game. With so much time before the release, I can carefully consider my options.

Anyway, there was a lot of other Classic news at BlizzCon on the 2nd day, most of which I got fashionably late due to being on the other side of the world, but from what I could tell, it looks like they're really planning on delivering the real experience, complete with old graphics capabilities, old school talents, and crappy lighting in the zones that had it (I'm looking at you Duskwood). And that's awesome. Though summer is still a ways off, the end is in sight and I can't wait to get there!

As if summer needed any more excitement, right?

BlizzCon 2018 Approaches!

Greetings again all. Silvite Soltis here.

As BlizzCon 2018 will be starting within the next day, I thought it would be a good time to discuss some of my thoughts leading up to it.

While I'm a huge fan of World of Warcraft, I've never been much into exactly what goes on at BlizzCon, though that's probably mostly due to the fact that I've never gone to it or bought a virtual ticket. This is the same for me this year, as 95% of the events and panels would be happening while I'm sleeping anyway.

However, this year they've really gotten my interest with the Classic WoW demo and related panel on day 2. I find myself wondering what will happen, how the demo will be, and what will be the same, and/or different with Vanilla this time around. Obviously, only time can tell, but my mind has been running like a racehorse around these ideas.

One thing I'm hoping to see, and the leaked screenshots seem to confirm this, is the option to keep graphics settings as they were in classic, or to upgrade them with modern PC capabilities. As my friends and family know, I love old games' graphics and typically enjoy what would now be considered retro games to newer ones. However, I think that having the option to crank it up a bit will help keep some more visually-focused players engaged and interested in the re-release.

I'm also greatly looking forward to seeing the panel on the development of WoW Classic to see how they've been able to create what they've done so far, as well as hear what some of the biggest problems and challenges have been. In particular, I'm curious whether they'll mention the "You think you do, but you don't" debacle as part of the development. Probably not (I'm sure J. Allen Brack wants to put that as far behind him as possible), but I think it'd be nice way for them to poke some fun at their own flub.

Anyway, I'm excited. Though I won't be able to see any of the announcements or the opening ceremony live this year (you know, halfway across the world with no virtual ticket), I can't wait to wake up tomorrow morning with all the news unfolding around me. I'm most hyped up for Classic news, as you can tell. But no matter who you are in the big Blizzard community, I'm sure there will be news and excitement for everyone this weekend!