Memories of TBC - Chapter 1: Dem Greens Tho!

This time, I'll be prepared...

Hey dudes, Silvite Soltis here. And today, I'm proud to be starting a new series of posts...

Since that Blizzard survey about potential TBC server launch styles came out a few weeks back, I've been getting more and more excited about the near certainty of an eventual Classic TBC. As such, I thought it might be fun to reminisce about some of my fondest TBC memories from way back when, in order to keep my hype train going. So, here we are!

Before I get started though, I just want to note that because I played so much more TBC than Vanilla, my memories are a lot more blended together than my Memories of Vanilla. As such this series will definitely be less chronological. That said, I hope it will be just as entertaining for everyone looking forward to storming the dark portal someday. 

Anyway, with that small disclaimer out of the way, let's get right into the first story... 

Memories of TBC
Chapter 1: Dem Greens Tho!

Best year of my young life...despite no TBC...

It was a cold January day when The Burning Crusade released. I remember well the anticipation that was welling up inside me as the date had grown steadily closer, but unfortunately for teenage me, I wasn't able to start the expansion at the dark portal with the millions of other players who were waiting. See, I was in the middle of my year abroad in Japan as a Rotary Youth Exchange student. My priorities in life at that time were making the most of that year - learning the language and culture of Japan, making friends, and generally doing everything new that I could. That being said, I was quite bummed out when January 16th rolled around and everyone else moved forward in WoW without me. But, that's the way it had to be...



I sat there in my host family's house, watching others grow in power from level 60 to 70 while I sat behind. I remember the world first level 70 capping in something like 26 hours after the expansion dropped and thinking "Wow, it must be pretty hard to put down," only to find that they cheesed their way to 70 by tagging mobs and getting help from guildies. Still, I was pretty hyped up for the expansion, and eventually started bugging my friend Leika, and my brother Zelos to get me a copy. However they both basically told me to suck it up and wait til I got back to the US. Typical...

Spent entirely too much time here...

Deciding to make the most of my time, I continued slowly leveling my warrior alt, Aoyamamotoko, up through the 30s during my free time while still enjoying an active social and family life in Japan. When I got bored with the warrior (which happened quite frequently), I farmed Timbermaw rep on my priest. This was quite slow, however, as I was still wearing dungeon blues from Strat and Scholo and never really learned how to properly play my class. Combined with the fact that everyone else was in Outland at this point, I was all by myself in Felwood for these sessions.

Goodbye gold. Hello greens!

Then, one day, someone (probably Leika or Zelos) told me about the amazing green BoE items they were getting in the new expansion. Curious, I traveled to the auction house and looked for myself. And, oh man, was I surprised...these items were AMAZING! Though I didn't have a lot of gold, I had enough to buy a few Laughing Skull pieces with intellect and spell damage, then returned to the grind in Felwood. The difference was night and day. In just a few minutes I went from doing what was probably around 150 dps and needing to drink after every 3 mobs to what must have been 300 or more. I remember still needing to drink a lot, but with how fast those bear dudes were falling, I really didn't care.

So yeah, you could say that my first TBC experience was pleasant, albeit a bit different from most people's...

A fun satyr to troll people with!

In any case, I continued with my furbolg grind through much of February, or maybe March - I don't really recall the dates clearly anymore. Eventually, I reached exalted with the Timbermaw Hold and Darnassus (as I was a big fan of night elves back in the day), and saved enough gold for my epic mount along the way (yes, I had a 60% mount until well after TBC's launch). Being unable to progress beyond level 60, there wasn't much else I could do, so I bought myself a nightsaber mount, grabbed the final quest from Timbermaw Hold, and camped outside High Chief Winterfall's cave to continuously unleash the demon, Xandivious, on unsuspecting players leveling in the village below.

Good times...


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I hope you enjoyed this brief story of my initial adventures in The Burning Crusade. As you can tell, my experience is a bit different than most people's, but it was definitely fun nonetheless. TBC was definitely a fun adventure from start to finish for me, and I really can't wait to share some more of my stories in installments still to come. In any case, this is how my story started, but I'd love to know your story as well. So, if you're willing to share, feel free to leave a comment down below telling about your earliest TBC memories!

In any case though, that's it for today. If you liked this story, why not follow my blog or subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can get more in the future. Also, consider following me on Twitter so you don't miss out on any other updates - be they guides, stories, top 5s, or anything else that I create. Thanks for reading, and I'll catch you next time!

Take it easy!