Memories of Vanilla #27 - How to Become a Guild Officer

Hey dudes, Silvite Soltis here. And welcome back to another episode of Memories of Vanilla - my reflective series of my early adventures in World of Warcraft.

The Deadmines

Last time, I told about my warrior's bo staff and how exciting it was to bonk enemies in the face with a wooden stick. Well today, we're going to continue that story a bit with another warrior story. One of daring and adventure in every Alliance player's favorite leveling dungeon, the Deadmines.

Before starting though, remember to follow my blog by adding yourself to my mailing list below, should you enjoy my content. There's a lot more coming between now and August 27th, and I'm sure you don't want to miss out on it! But with that out of the way, let's get right into the story:



Back in 2006, I was a guild officer in a small, casual leveling guild on Whisperwind called "The Guardians of Azeroth." I don't remember why or how I became an officer - likely just the fact that I was one of the few members that was online all the time - but I do remember that around this time, we were looking to expand and bolster our ranks.

So, in an effort to do this, the GM and I decided to hold a test for interested participants. As far as I recall, exactly one person expressed interest - a level 35 warrior named Liberate.

Twin Cruel Barbs

And so, we had our candidate. Now what we needed was a test to see if he was worthy of the title of "Officer." Well, at this time, my warrior was around level 17 and I was planning to stop leveling at 19 to do some BG twinking, so I thought it would be cool if I could snag twin Cruel Barbs from the Deadmines in order to wreck some face in Warsong Gulch. And since Liberate was level 35, I devised what I thought would be a unique test of his skill.

He would have to run my warrior, Aoyamamotoko, through the Deadmines.

So, with a plan in mind, the instructions were given and we headed over to the dungeon. Within minutes of arriving outside, we stood at the instance portal, ready to face the challenge ahead.

Liberate moved in carefully, pulling packs of mobs back into the entryway and taking them down one by one. To be honest, though, I busied myself with looting everything rather than actually paying much attention to how he was doing. Moving through the caverns, we defeated each boss in time, though much like my initial run of the dungeon on Silvite, I accidentally pulled the patrols that spawned behind us after one of the bosses' demise. Oops.

Edwin VanCleef

Eventually, after wiping about 3 times from the high damage that elite mobs can inflict even on a level 35 warrior, we made it to the ship at the end of the dungeon. This was the final test. I stood pretty far back as Liberate ran forward and cleared the pirates and their parrots, only following when he beckoned me over. At last, we stood in front of him - Edwin VanCleef. It was the final test.

Liberate charged in and quickly dispatched the two bodyguards before focusing on VC himself. Throughout the fight, he got pretty low due to the damage of the additional bodyguards that spawned, but with some Sweeping Strikes and Retaliation, he was able to finish them all off. The boss fell, a new officer rose, and a nooby warrior got a shiny new sword.





I hope you enjoyed this story of my first guild's somewhat ridiculous officer-promotion protocol. It's one of those experiences from back in the day that I'll never forget. Liberate stayed with our guild all the way through vanilla, though we did part ways sometime around the beginning of TBC when our guild basically fell apart. I did meet him again later on during the daily grind on the Isle of Quel'Danas towards the end of that expansion, though, and we have been friends in the game ever since. Hell, he might even be reading this right now.

But anyway, that's all for today. If you enjoyed this story and would like to see more in the future, follow my blog by adding yourself to my email list below. Also, consider supporting me over on Patreon so that I can continue creating content like this and my videos in the future. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for updates when more content is posted, but until next time...

Take it easy!

Memories of Vanilla #26 - Ao's Staff

Hey dudes. Silvite Soltis here with another fun story for you!

Warrior Time!

After talking about Silvite's grande adventures in high-level dungeons and zones for the past few installments, I thought it might be time to revisit my alt, Aoyamamotoko, back in Westfall for a bit. After all, vanilla was a time of learning in many different ways and I can definitely say that I learned a lot from leveling a warrior. It's an interesting class with a lot of different skills and intricacies involved, and I'm really happy that it was my first real alt because of this.

Anyway, sit back, relax and enjoy as I tell the story of Aoyamamotoko and her bo staff.

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What I Thought Warriors Looked Like...

I have no idea when this story takes place in the timeline of vanilla, but I do know that at this time, Ao was traversing the plains of Westfall. I'd just finished some quests around one of the farms in the zone and was heading over to Sentinel Hill. I'm not sure why, but I had made it my mission to kill any living thing along the way - probably to try and collect Goretusk livers or something. But on the corpse of one fallen foe, I found a green item - a staff.

Donatello

Now, my image of warriors was that they were badass metal-wearing sons-of-bitches who ran up to enemies with swords flailing about. However, noticing this staff had some strength on it, I decided "eh, what the hell" and equipped it to see how it looked. Immediately I was hooked.

My New Best Friend (for about 5 levels)

See, this staff was super basic - essentially just a stick with some wrapping around the middle. But it reminded me of my favorite Ninja Turtle from my childhood - Donatello. When I considered this alongside the fact that my previous weapon was some white quality quest reward from Elwynn Forest, I knew I wasn't going back. This was my new weapon for a while.

And so, my purple warrior with blue-green hair set off across the plains of Westfall with her new bo staff - smacking to death any enemies that dared to cross her path. Of course, using a staff as a warrior wasn't without its challenges though. In the beginning, I had no weapon skill, and subsequently died to about 3 mobs before I could finally reliably hit them. Still, it was good times. 

More than once, I noticed a /lol from random players as I 'donked' mobs across the face with my wooden ally, but being the carefree noob that I was, I shrugged it off. After all, I'm sure I was making lots of mistakes other than using a staff, right?

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Anyway that's pretty much it for my story of my bo staff. Looking back now, it's not so much of a story, as it is a fun little memory of my noobishness in early WoW. To be fair, I have learned now that using a staff with higher damage IS actually the correct choice for a warrior, but considering my reasons for doing it back in the day, I think I was just lucky.

But that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed this super-short anecdote of my warrior alt's bo staff adventures. I did eventually replace it when I was chain-boosted through the Deadmines in an attempt to collect twin Cruel Barbs, but that's a story for another time. If you enjoyed this story, remember to follow my blog by adding your email to my mailing list below. Also, leave a comment telling of your nooby stories of early leveling in vanilla or beyond. I look forward to reading them. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for updates as well, and check out my videos over on YouTube for more content. I'm sure you enjoy that as well.

But for now guys, take it easy!

Memories of Vanilla #18 - Enter, the Warrior

Hey dudes! Silvite Soltis back again for another installment of Memories of Vanilla, my reflective series about what I remember of my adventures in original World of Warcraft back in 2005-2007.

Aoyamamotoko, 2006

Now that I've covered pretty much everything I remember from level 1-40 on my main character, I think it's time that I introduce my first, and most played, alt: Aoyamamotoko. Before that though, remember to follow my blog for more updates when additional stories are posted, and check out my video content over on YouTube. I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

But without further ado, join me as I take a journey from Shadowglen all the way to Elwynn as I recount the beginnings of my female night elf warrior's story...

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I don't actually remember when this story took place, but I know it was before I got my own account. You see, back when Leika and I still shared our account, he actually decided to buy a second account, so he could level two characters together when he was playing, as well as to allow us to play together by each of us having our own characters on the other account (i.e., my priest could help his paladin, and his mage could help my soon-to-be warrior). And so, rather than me just getting my own account, we began sharing two accounts (ToS violation!!!!!!).

A Teenage Gamer's Fuel

Anyway, one day I was over at Leika's house, as was pretty common on days I didn't work. The night before, he'd told me how he'd gotten the second account, so I came over to make my first real alt in the same place that I'd created Silvite several months prior. Having played for a while at this point, I always thought one race kind of stuck out a bit more than the rest - the night elves. So, while I sat at his computer desk, drinking a Mountain Dew in classic gamer teen fashion, I clicked that purple race and began making my new character.

Similar to Silvite, I wanted a female avatar for...obvious reasons. Hey, I was 15 - what do you expect? Anyway, I now had to pick a class. Since Silvite was a priest, I thought maybe I should try something completely different from a ranged or a caster. Plus, I knew that most dungeons took warriors to tank, so my decision was made rather quickly.

Aoyama Motoko (from the Love Hina Anime)

I quickly flipped through the features, finding a cool set of face markings I liked (now called "Bear" I think, though I'm not 100%), decided on a name based off my favorite character in a manga series I was into at the time, Love Hina, and boom - Aoyamamotoko the Night Elf warrior was born!

I entered the world and was immediately greeted by the wonderful sight of Teldrassil, as well as the backstory of the night elves that I had never heard until this point. And when the screen faded and I was greeted with the user interface, I knew this was the beginning of a new adventure.

I ran around the purple forest for some time, following the instructions of the quest-givers around the area and slaying boars, cats, and spiders to my heart's content. However, after reaching level 5 or so and heading home for the night, I had reached a decision - I was going to go to Elwynn.

Because One Horse Wasn't Enough

You see, somewhere along my adventures on Silvite, I'd learned that if one got enough reputation with the other cities of the Alliance, the other mounts could be obtained. I had already started working on Darnassus reputation on Silvite (probably a good part of the reason it took so long for me to level, now that I think about it), so I thought it would be fun to work on Stormwind reputation on my night elf.  

So, once I got back home, I called Leika up and asked for his assistance. Logging onto his account, I saw my new warrior stood in wait. I entered the world, and within seconds was whispered by my mage friend. Was I sure I wanted to do this?

Absolutely!

With that, he ran from Darnassus and met me right there in the starting zone. Casting a portal, he waved as I cheered IRL. I was going to level up in Elwynn again! As a night elf! How weird! 

Well, that's how it felt at the time anyway. 

And that's the story of how Aoyamamotoko went from Teldrassil to Elwynn Forest in 5 levels, 1 hour played, and without making the Wetlands run.

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Aoyamamotoko on a Boat, 2007

I hope you enjoyed this short story of my first alt. Actually, Leika and I had played a bit on a couple of other alts before this, like an undead warrior and a night elf hunter (we joked around during the intro cutscene, hence my not knowing what the night elves were about), but none that ended up being characters I really played. Ao was my first, and still is my only, real warrior in World of Warcraft, as well as the only character that ever became my main other than Silvite (briefly for Karazhan in TBC). And the memories I have with her are all fond ones to this day.

But anyway, if you enjoyed this story, remember to follow my blog for more content going forward in the future. Also, leave a comment telling about your first alt in World of Warcraft. I look forward to your stories. Check out my YouTube channel for Classic WoW videos, and follow me on Facebook and Twitter for updates!

That's all for today! Until next time everyone, take it easy!