Memories of Vanilla #16 - Silvite's Shadowform

Hey dudes! Silvite Soltis here again to bring you another installment of Memories of Vanilla - my reflective series about my memories of original World of Warcraft from 2005 to 2007.

Silvite in Shadowform (2006)

Recently, I concluded the story of my first journey to the Scarlet Monastery and the adventures that ensued there. Well, today we're heading back to the jungle to make it to the "halfway" point of leveling back in the day. That magical level where you get your big talent, buy your mount, and start to really feel like a baller - level 40.

Before that though, remember to follow my blog by adding yourself to my mailing list so you don't miss any updates going forward. Also, check out my YouTube channel for video versions of my stories and posts. I'm sure you'll love it.

But for now, on with the story...

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It was January of 2006 and my priest was back in STV doing some quests. I had just gotten back from my part-time job at a local pizza restaurant and was really looking forward to hitting this massive milestone. After all, I was level 39 now, and from what I'd heard from Leika, level 40 was where the game really began to pick up. Sure, I didn't have the 100 gold needed for my mount, but with the level 40 talent, Shadowform, I figured I could grind it out soon enough.

And so, I departed Booty Bay and made my way down the small dirt path leading to the beach directly to the left of the pirate town's entrance. As I ran, I looked at my experience bar - this was it. Only 5 bars of experience to go!

Where I was Grinding

My killing-spree began. As I had basically no quests left here at this point (at least, none that I was high enough level to complete anyway), I spent the better part of the next hour of my life carefully pulling pirate after pirate away from the campfire to get that sweet sweet exp. Whenever I'd get aggro on more than one, I would run back to the entryway and let the guards help me finish them off. Not that they ever really did - most of the time the mob would run back before getting within range.

The pirates fell, one after another. And slowly, each experience bubble filled. 5 bars left. 4 bars left. 3...2...Finally, the last bar was all that remained to be filled as I sat to drink and replenished my mana. Wasting little time, I steeled my resolve. This was it! It was time to finally get my Shadowform! Putting myself into overdrive, I renewed my slaughter.

The Campsite

Unfortunately, though, I was a bit too ambitious in my eagerness to get that last bit of experience. After I killed about 3 pirates around the edges of the beach, I ventured a bit too close to the campfire just as two pirates respawned. Not noticing them right away was my first mistake, and trying to fight them at half health and low mana was my second. I turned to head up the hill, just as I'd done in similar dire situations over the past hour and a half. This time, however, I barely crawled forward, having gotten dazed. My hp drained away as I attempted to flee and I sighed. I was going to die again.

Or maybe not.

My Savior...Moo...

Running down the hill came a tauren hunter. Though I don't remember what level she was (it was a female tauren, by the way - hence why it was so memorable. Who plays those?), a flurry of arrows struck one of my attackers as I spammed my Psychic Scream key in an attempt to fear them off of me. Without stopping or looking back, I ran as far up the hill as I could with the last of my HP. Ducking into the Booty Bay entrance, I noticed that I'd dropped combat and sighed again as I sat to eat and drink. 

That tauren had just saved my ass something big. 

With my health and mana back to full, I made my way back down the hill where my savior stood waiting. I did a /bow and /cheer, as I typically always did when encountering a helpful Horde player, and continued back down to the camp.

The camp was cleared, so I ventured a bit further along the coast, killing some pirates on the other side of a bridge until I encountered some naga along the shore. There was only a tiny sliver of exp left to obtain before that big yellow aura swirled around my character and I was as determined as ever to get it. One naga. Two naga. Three naga... 

Ding!

I'd done it! Level 40 was mine! Immediately, I smashed my 'N' key, pulling up the talent window, and clicked that amazing icon at the bottom of the shadow tree. Shadowform was mine!

I'll never forget the feeling of the first time I cast that aura on myself. The power I felt with the purple glow surrounding my priest - fading her features into a blurry silhouette of raw darkness. Leika had been right - priest was way better than a warlock.

Excited to test my new abilities, I ran back towards Booty Bay and attacked some of the respawned pirates as I did so. I was amazed at how much faster they seemed to die. Even though it was probably only like 3 seconds faster, it felt like I was obliterating them with lightning speed. Pleased, I made my way back into town, over to the flight master, and headed up to Stormwind to learn my other new spells...

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I hope you enjoyed this short story of how I hit level 40 and got Shadowform. Really, the feeling of accomplishment I got from that one event topped basically every other achievement I'd made in the game until that point - even finishing the Deadmines and SM. Having seen other priests running around in Stormwind and Ironforge with this amazing aura, I was super-hyped to get it myself.

Though I know that I won't get the same satisfaction from reaching level 40 in WoW Classic that I had back in the day, what with it being a repeated experience at this point, I still look forward to that day this autumn when I unlock the spell again. And, of course, I fully intend to go back to that shoreline in Stranglethorn to grind out that last purple bubble again.

Anyway though, if you enjoyed this post, why not follow my blog for more content in the future. Or, if you're less inclined to read, head over to my YouTube channel for video adaptations. I try to post at least one every week, so it's worth subscribing so you can stay up to date. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for more updates, but until next time...

Take it easy!