Memories of Vanilla #8 - Tigers and Panthers and Raptors, Oh My!

Hey all! Silvite Soltis back again for another installment in my Memories of Vanilla series.

Now that I've gotten to the point where I had my own PC at home, the memories I had of events over the course of leveling have really started to blur together, so from here on out, the series may not be as chronological as it has been until now. Nevertheless, I still have lots of memories to share of my pre-TBC experience.

Today, we're stepping into the jungle. That wondrous zone of tigers, Samantha Swifthoof, and ganktasticness that is, Stranglethorn Vale!

Stranglethorn Vale

As with everything else on this series, it's been like 13 years since this happened, so a lot of the specifics are fuzzy at this point, but I know I entered STV by accident one day while leveling in Duskwood. While running to Raven Hill Cemetery, I turned south at the crossroads in the middle of the zone and found myself in a jungle. Not knowing what this zone was, I started exploring a bit, finding a camp with NPCs up a hill down the road. I must have been in the mid to late 20s at that point, as there weren't any quests available. Of course, I didn't know this was a questing hub though, and so I shrugged and headed back down the road to head deeper into the jungle.

Priest-Eater

Turning right along the road, I passed through the mountainous pass that lead to a rickety wooden rope bridge. As I approached, something caught my eye from the side of the road - a blur of orange and black amidst the grass. Before I knew it, I was dead on the ground, having been mauled to death by a tiger.

Now, I probably could have healed through the minuscule damage of a level 30 tiger, or at least gotten out of range if I'd tried hard enough, but being a noob of epic proportions, I didn't. Running back to my corpse, I carefully rezzed as far up the road as I could, as to avoid getting attacked again, then retreated back to Duskwood without delay.

Thanks for the Quests, Bro.

Of course, being vanilla WoW, there was no avoiding this zone. And so when I eventually reached level 30 or 31, I returned to the jungle to begin the quests. My friend, Leika, had since told me about the Nesingwary quests and that they were just to the right of the main road after crossing the first river, though there were no quests leading there if I remember correctly. When I found that camp of hunters, I was amazed at the sheer number of quests I was able to pick up - something like 7 or 8 at once. Remember, this was back when quests were few and far between and your quest log could only hold 20 quests at a time. So picking up so many quests at once was amazing.

Anyway, with quests accepted and not a clue where to go, I began my long hunt of tigers and panthers in the jungle.

Where Are You, Young Panther?

The tigers were easy enough to find and kill, since they were in the area just outside the Nesingwary camp, plus one had eaten me for lunch previously so I finished that quest without any problems. However, finding the panthers was another story. No matter how long I looked, I just couldn't find them. And so, I started exploring again.

Heading west along the river and up a hill, I found an area with what I was looking for. Panthers! Lots and lots of panthers! Excited, I began my killing spree. Panther after panther fell. And, as a skinner, I left behind no trace of the carnage. After about 10 minutes of relentless slaughter, however, I paused. Something was wrong.

I looked to the right-hand side of my screen. Nothing was being tracked. I opened my quest log, clicked on "Panther Mastery," and, with a sigh, realized my mistake:

Where I Was...

Young Panther Slain 0/10

I was killing the wrong panthers.

How many times had I done something like this? Surely by now I knew better. Apparently not. I sighed, jumped down over the hill, and made my way back to the camp.

Where the RIGHT Panthers Were...

I hope you enjoyed my tale of my initial flubbing around in Stranglethorn Vale. As you probably guessed, I didn't play on a PVP server back in the day. If I had, I'm sure there would've been some ganktastic goodness in this story. Of course, this did occur later in STV when I'd encounter a flagged Horde, attack, and get demolished by his level 60 rogue buddy, but I really don't remember many of the details related to that, so I probably won't go to far into that. Next time, I'll continue telling about my time in STV with a short story of how I became a ninja looter by accident. Remember to follow me here on Blogspot, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for regular updates and content.

But until then, take it easy!