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.
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| The Deadmines Loading Screen |
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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| What's That Swirly Blue Thing? |
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 |
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.
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| 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!
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