My Journey to 60: A WoW Classic Story

Hey dudes. Silvite Soltis here. It's been a while, huh?

Well, I've finally done it. I capped my troll priest over on Mankrik US a few weeks back, dabbled in dungeons, and finally gotten to enjoy some Molten Core and Onyxia as relevant content. But unfortunately, that's meant that I haven't really been making content like I should have. Sorry for that.

But, now that things have settled a bit, I thought it might be a good idea to get back into the swing of things. And what better way to resume my content creation than by making a quick snapshot of my Classic journey thus far?

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy as I recount my adventures in Azeroth over the past 4 months...

The Early Days

The Beginning

End of Day 1.

The first day of Classic was amazing. I had only recently started a new job over here in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and since it was 6AM when the game launched, I ended up not being able to play until I got home in the evening. But oh man! Once I got home, I logged 3 and a half hours straight. Not much if you compare to others, but it's what I could manage. I got to around level 10 in that first session and I enjoyed every minute of it. Best of all, I had little to no competition for mobs because of the early morning hours on Mankrik. It was pretty much the best launch I could imagine.

Over the next week or so, I leveled slowly - finishing off Durotar on the 2nd day of play and moving into the Barrens. Somewhere in the third day or so, I knocked out Ragefire Chasm as well, much to the dismay of my wife. See, I had forgotten just how long Classic dungeons took and estimated I'd be in there for between 30-45 minutes. After all, it wasn't particularly long or difficult, so I assumed it would be quick. An hour and a half later, however, I realized just how different the game was from my memory...

Anyway, I progressed pretty slowly, as you all know. Silvite the troll priest hit level 18 or so somewhere in the 2nd week after the game's launch and I managed to knock out Wailing Caverns shortly after that. The next few weeks, however, proved to be quite challenging...

Levels 20-35: The Grind (Weeks 2-6)

Leveling through a mix of The Barrens, Ashenvale, Thousand Needles, and even a bit of Hillsbrad, I came to realize just how annoying this level bracket could be. Quests were sparse and many of them took me all over the map. Combine this with the fact that I was trying to juggle my new job, my content creation, AND my family and you can imagine just how frustrating this portion of the leveling process was.

To be honest, this portion of the leveling is already quite blurry to me, as I basically ran all over the world frantically trying to find Silk Cloth for my tailoring while also completing whatever quests I could find in the ~40 minutes I could play each night after my kids slept. One thing that I do clearly remember, however, was my first SM Library run - completed in the early hours of a Sunday morning before my family woke up. I didn't have any idea of how long this dungeon would take - only that I really wanted to do it. So, with my priest at level 34, I found a group, made my way over to the dungeon, and got ready to clear it...

That dungeon wasn't particularly challenging - as any of you out there who have run it at this point probably know. But it was epic. And from the final boss, Arcanist Doan, I received two items: the Robes of Doan and, just like my first priest, the Hypnotic Blade. This was definitely one of the finer highlights of my leveling journey...

Levels 36-40: The Longest Mile (October 2019)

Enjoying SM

Somewhere in the early 30s, I dabbled a bit in Stranglethorn Vale, everyone's favorite questing zone. Being on a PVE server, I can truly say that I enjoyed every minute of my time there. However, around the middle of the 30s bracket, my quests there were drying up and I needed to find a new area to quest in. And so, I headed to another level 30 zone - Desolace.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

Back before Classic was out, I dedicated one of my Memories of Vanilla stories to this barren wasteland of a zone, saying how enjoyable I found it back in the day. But my god, this place SUCKS so bad for Horde. The flight path is all the way in the south, the quests are spread out all over the place, and you don't even have a mount to make this even the slightest bit better. I tried really hard to enjoy my time here, but it...just sucked.

But wait, there's more!

Because I was starting to feel more pressure to game less while at home, I played less for about 2 full weeks in this range. It wasn't until my school went on fall break in mid-October that I was finally able to speed up a bit. At that point, I was around level 37 or so and I wanted more than anything to hit level 40 and get my shiny Emerald Raptor mount.

Razorfen Downs

And so, this last stretch began. The first day of the break, I managed to hit 39 by running some of the various wings of Scarlet Monastery and questing in STV. Pretty good, but not enough. The next day, I knocked out Razorfen Downs, hung around killing pirates outside of Booty Bay, and finally dinged that magical number - 40! This meant that I could finally run down to Sen'jin Village and...



...not get my mount because I was 20 gold short. GG...

The Mount

I was a bit bummed out that I couldn't get my mount as soon as I hit level 40, but since there wasn't much else I could do about it, I just continued questing and selling literally everything I acquired - other than cloth, that is. It was a long and arduous level, but shortly after reaching level 41, I knew I'd have enough. I traveled to Orgrimmar, put some greens and a blue item that I'd looted off some random mob in STV into the auction house, and logged out for the day.

Got My Mount!

The next morning, I was surprised to see that ALL of my auctions had sold overnight, and so I made the final journey on foot that any Classic character has to make - the run to the riding trainer. As you can see on my YouTube channel, I recorded the occasion as I bought the skill, then my Emerald Raptor mount. I was PUMPED! And even now, this is still one of the best feelings I've experienced in Classic.

...But that's old news now, isn't it?

Fabulous Feralas - The 40s

The rest of my fall break was devoted to getting as far into the 40s as I could. I set an ambitious goal of reaching level 45 by Friday, but by Wednesday I'd only hit 41. Needless to say, I didn't achieve this goal with my pace of play. I did, however, get to fully enjoy what is now one of my favorite zones in Classic: Feralas. As a Horde player this time around, I got to experience just how awesome this zone is for leveling. Loads of the quests are near Camp Mojache, there are tons of ogres with cloth and beasts to skin, and the entire zone is a vibrant green - my favorite color. Every time I left this zone to quest somewhere else, I found myself longing to come back. I really enjoyed it...

But anyway, other than Feralas, I dabbled a bit in the Hinterlands and Tanaris - a zone I really enjoyed back in the day. The desert scenery was nice and the quests were plenty, but soon enough my week off was finished and I had to say goodbye to my long WoW sessions at a mere level 44 - only slightly over the real 'halfway' point of the leveling process.

The Blurry Levels - 45-50

The Infamous Stairs in Zul'Farrak

I made it to level 45 or so by the middle of October, about a week after Dire Maul's release. I managed to run Zul'Farrak around this time, knocking out all of the quests that I'd been working on in Tanaris, and then made my way over to the Hinterlands for an extended stay. This beautiful forest was serene and great for my level range, but to be honest, I don't really remember much about what I did here. I killed a bunch of trolls and wolves and owlkin, I think, but yeah. It just...sorta happened.

Eventually I hit level 50 and I began planning for the endgame. I wondered just how early I could start running BRD to get gear and quests knocked out; what gear could I afford in the auction house; and where the heck I could quest next. After a while, I decided to go to what is now another of my favorite zones in Classic: Un'Goro Crater.

Un'Goro

Un'Goro: A Great Place to Quest!

I didn't realize this the first time I leveled in vanilla, but this zone is absolutely PACKED with quests. Though there are no humanoids to kill, and thus no cloth for my tailoring, the sheer number of quests I was able to collect and work on simultaneously made this an absolute must stop zone for my leveling adventure.

While in this lush prehistoric jungle, I made friends with a druid who I ran into repeatedly, got killed by a bunch of silithid while rubbing some lotion on a crystal, and tried to solo Blazerunner at level 54 only to get absolutely demolished. All in all, it was good times and I'm actually really looking forward to doing it again with an alt at some point.

So, the lesson of my leveling journey thus far is this: do Feralas and Un'Goro no matter what.

The First BRD Run

Knocking Out Some BRD Arena

When I hit level 53, I knew I would be pretty much good to go for most of, if not all of, Blackrock Depths. And since there's a ton of loot in there for priests, I started searching for groups. The first time I ran this dungeon was in early November. The goal was simple: get the Shadowforge Key for everyone in the group. Our tank, a warrior, was level 60, so things went really well to be honest. We made our way through the arena where the Ban'thok Sash dropped (I passed so the mage could get it because I'm a nice guy), then progressed up towards the statue where one puts the hammer to get the key. Some party members had already gotten the hammer from Fineous Darkvire in a previous run, but since a couple of us hadn't, we continued toward him.


When we got to Lord Incendius, we hopped down, thinking it would somehow be a shortcut, instead of just making our way through the golem room we needed to go through. And so, after he died, we had to pull every single mob of the golem room in order to run back to the statue. Still, it was experience, so I didn't complain.

I didn't get my Senior Designer's Pantaloons that run, but I did get them in the 3rd run I did later that week (I did early BRD like 4 days in a row, mind you). For that first run, I was fully satisfied with just getting my key. I logged off that night with a smile on my face, then had trouble sleeping because I couldn't stop thinking about WoW...

The Final Stretch - 55-60

Ahh, what's often considered to be the longest mile. In mid-November, I only had 5 levels to go to hit that sweet, sweet level 60, and I did everything I could to get ready. As soon as I hit level 55, I picked up my MC attunement quest and got my Princess quest chain started, snatching up some nice shoulders in the process. I bought gear from the auction  house with raw +healing that I ended up not even equipping because I'd eventually get better items before going full holy. And I did quest after quest after quest.

Of course, this was aided by the fact that my wife was abroad for work for about 10 days, so there was little to no pressure NOT to do dungeons during this time. I smashed out dungeon quests, most of the Ony attunement, and the last few levels during this time. But the most badass memory I have was on the Thursday, November 21st.

I had set up a group for BRD to knock out the MC attunement and to NOT kill the Princess at the end. Tanks were scarce, so I ended up just taking 4 other level 60s and healing it myself of course as a level 57 shadow priest. We steamrolled most of the dungeon with ease, but halfway through the Lyceum at the end, the dreaded timer came up: SERVER SHUTDOWN IN 15:00.

All of a sudden, it became a race against the clock. We smashed our way through those dwarf packs, accidentally losing a torch and messing up that whole bit at the end where you have to light those braziers. Somehow, we finished it though, and sped into the last hallway. The big lava giant guy was easy enough, but with only 8 minutes remaining when we entered the final chamber, we didn't know if we could make it.

The "tank" pulled pack after pack - knowing full well that we needed to clear the entire room before engaging the boss. Whenever the dps started killing the final mob, I was already near the next pack and spamming my Morning Glory Dew icon. With 1:15 left on the clock, the final mob fell and I shot my wand at the Emperor of the Dark Iron Dwarves.

Down he went. I somehow reminded everyone not to kill the Princess, hoping that somehow we'd make it. And luckily, we did. Loot popped up - caster robes. I needed them while running frantically over to the princess of Ironforge with less than  30 seconds left before the servers shut off. I clicked through the dialogue, thanking God that there was no 'wait for me to say a million  things before you can accept the next part' shenanigans like some quests have. And then, just as I hopped off the throne and said thanks to my group, I got disconnected.

Yeah...that was probably the most epic moment I've had in Classic so far. Not gonna lie...

Just Made It...

Level 60 - What Now?

Ding!

I reached level 60 on November 23rd, exactly 15 years after the game initially launched. And for good measure, I made sure to cap in EXACTLY the same place with EXACTLY the same type of mob that had given me that final yellow swirly around my character 13 years ago - the caster guys in the Noxious Glade of the EPL. And, of course, I recorded that event and uploaded it to YouTube right away as well.

My First Molten Core Raid. 11/24/2019

Though I was excited to finally reach level cap, I also realized that the game was only just beginning for me here. I'd managed to get attuned to Molten Core and I'd recently swapped guilds to a newly formed guild that had better raid times for my unique geographical and family situation, but I still needed to get gear that wasn't terrible, finish my Onyxia attunement, and actually start raiding.

My First Onyxia Raid, 12/1/2019

Well, luckily I managed to do all of those things within one week of capping. And though I'd like to be able to say I can raid regularly and get geared to the tits, I'm not sure what my future in the game looks like. Still, it was a hell of a journey and I'm hoping to continue raiding MC and Ony for months to come, but stories like that will have to wait for another day...

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed my long, adventurous tale of my priest's journey to level 60. There are, obviously, many more things that happened along the way, at 60, and things still to come, but I feel that I've included most of the most important and enjoyable memories here. I would like to thank everyone who has been supportive in my journey to 60, including my wife who dealt with all of my gaming, and my YouTube subscribers who have been left without regular content for a few months now while I've been playing a 15 year old video game that we all love. If YOU liked this story, remember to check back later for more stories and content, as there's definitely more coming in the weeks ahead. Also, consider checking out my YouTube channel and follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks again for reading. And as always...

Take it easy!

Silvite Today (12/14/2019)