Hey dudes. Silvite Soltis here and today I'm back with a very important Memories story for you.
Ding, 60!
Back in the day, it took ages to get to max level in World of Warcraft. Like...months could go from the time you first created a character until you finally hit level 60. It was a grand adventure, and the feeling of accomplishment upon seeing that final yellow swirl glow around your character was one of the most amazing feelings in all of gaming, in my opinion.
Well after 27 episodes of leveling and adventuring through Azeroth, it's finally time to tell this particular story. Yes, today I'm going to share the story of how I finally hit level 60 in World of Warcraft. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the feels!
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It was the early summer of 2006. School had just let out and I had a decent amount of things on my plate - working part-time, preparing documents and things for my upcoming foreign exchange, and, of course, lots of World of Warcraft time. It had been nearly a year since I'd first stepped foot into Azeroth and I was determined to finally get to 60 and get into raiding before I headed out across the world.
And so, one evening, after finishing up work and taking a much-needed shower, I logged in and looked at my experience bar - just over halfway through level 58. I had nothing to do the next morning. It was time. I was finally going to hit level 60...
The Noxious Glade
The grind began. Having talked with Leika about it before going to work that day, I flew up to Light's Hope Chapel to make my way over to my grinding spot just past the Browman Mill - the Noxious Glade. This area was perfect for my priest, as I could shackle any extra undead I accidentally pulled, mind control the cultists in the area, and collect lots of Scourgestones from the enemies to increase my Argent Dawn reputation along the way. Plus, they dropped lots of cloth for my tailoring, so it was really the ideal place to go.
The grind began. At this point, I was tapped out of quests and I also knew that running dungeons at this point would be mostly futile - as the experience from mobs wasn't really worth forcing my priest into groups. For hours, I ran in a loop around the undead-filled wasteland - mowing down skeletons, ghouls, and cultists as efficiently as I could - all the while watching as my experience bar slowly filled up.
Dread Weaver (My Final Pre-60 Mob)
Around 10:30PM, I hit level 59. My rested experience was all but spent, and I started to doubt if I'd be able to make my goal, but nevertheless I persevered - slaying wave after wave of the scourge forces. Hours passed; cans of Mountain Dew littered the area around my feet; and my eyes and hands grew wearier and wearier.
But it was worth it. It was just after 7:30AM when I killed that final skeletal mage. A yellow aura surrounded my dark-purple shadow priest and I sighed. It was finished. I had reached level 60!
I picked up the phone and immediately called Leika, who was less than thrilled that I woke him up so early on a day he didn't have work. But when I told him I'd capped, he jumped onto his computer.
"Dude, let's go do Stratholme!"
"YEAH!" I agreed. I was super-hyped since it would be my first dungeon as a max level character. I was finally going to be able to enjoy the endgame of World of Warcraft!
Stratholme
When he logged in, I asked him to set up the group while I took a shower since I needed another one after pulling an all-nighter. He agreed and I left for about 20 minutes, sending Silvite off on a flight path back to Light's Hope after grabbing some new spells. However, when I returned to my PC, he'd only been able to find a hunter to join us. Feeling the exhaustion set in, I wearily typed a message to my groupmates:
"Actually guys, I'm super tired from pulling an all-nighter. Leika, let's do this later... I'm gonna hit the sack..."
"Sure thing bud. Good night!" he replied.
I went upstairs, opened my bedroom door, and immediately passed out - with a huge grin on my face.
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I hope you enjoyed this installment of Memories of Vanilla. This particular story is especially nostalgic for me, as you can probably imagine, as it was such a long time coming. Hitting level 60 was such a momentous occasion that to this day, I can't think of anything else in WoW that comes close to the feeling I experienced back then. Sure, Sarth +3 10 man and heroic Lich King 25 were big, but that first time hitting level 60 was just that much sweeter. And it's a memory of a time long past that I'll treasure forever.
But anyway, that's it for today. If you enjoyed this story, let me know by adding yourself to my email list and leaving a comment below. Also, follow me on Facebook and Twitter for content updates, and check out my videos over on YouTube for more! Finally, if you really enjoy my content like this, consider becoming one of my patrons over on Patreon as well, so that I can keep doing what I love in the future. I really appreciate the support. But for now, and as always, take it easy!
Hey dudes. Silvite Soltis here and today I've got another installment of Memories of Vanilla for your reading pleasure!
Maraudon Entrance
Last time, we dove into the dungeon known as Zul'Farrak for the first time. And while the adventures there were numerous, we eventually finished it up and headed out. Well today, we're going to fast forward a bit to another dungeon. After all, it's been like 13 years, and my memory of time is a bit sketchy anyway, so we might as well jump around a little bit, right?
Anyway, sit back, relax, and enjoy as I recount the tale of my first adventure in Maraudon. And, more specifically, the aftermath of my decision to tackle this massive cavernous labyrinth.
It was spring break 2006 - a few days of rest between the third and fourth semester of my sophomore year of high school - and I distinctly remember that I didn't have work at the local pizzeria that day. Waking up at 10AM or so, as you do when you're 16 and don't have school, I immediately fired up my computer and logged into World of Warcraft. After all, Leika was at work and I had the account all to myself for the next 6 hours or so.
And so, I began my adventures - running around in some high-40s zone. I don't remember exactly where I was in the wide World of Warcraft, but I do remember that at some point about an hour after logging in, I got a whisper from someone...
Maraudon Map (This Place is HUGE...)
"Wanna heal Maraudon?"
Well, I had time to kill, and since I'd never done this particular dungeon, I decided it could be a fun experience. So, I agreed. And what followed was among the most painful and intense experiences of my early WoW career...
I joined the group of 4 other adventurers who had clearly all been waiting for a healer for some time. Noticing that they were all around level 50 or so, I figured I might be too low at around level 48. However, they reassured me - saying that it would be fine as long as I stayed around the back of the group. With a sigh of relief, I headed over to everyone's favorite zone - Desolace - and began the first portion of the adventure...finding the entrance to the dungeon.
I had a general idea of where this dungeon was located, having accidentally run into the entrance back when I was questing in this zone a few months back, but nevertheless I ended up getting lost and needed the warlock in our group to summon me. Yeah, I was that guy...but eventually we were able to zone in and begin the dungeon itself.
Now this particular part of the story is quite fuzzy, as there were so many different sub-zones and monsters in this dungeon, but as we progressed (SLOWLY) through the caverns, I distinctly remember three events - the slow-moving slimes, the Satyr boss and loot drama, and the larvae spawning tube. I don't remember exactly what order they came in (even now, the full dungeon is too big and confusing for me to remember), but here's how it went...
Noxious Slime
First of all, the slimes. As we approached this large pack of slimes in one cavern, our tank warned us all not to get too close to them, as they would completely demolish anyone they touched. I, however, tried to keep everyone alive as they broke this rule, and subsequently got healing aggro and died from the slimes as a result. Luckily I was soulstoned, so I was able to rez and we narrowly avoided a wipe, but this was definitely a first. Who puts overpowered, but super-slow moving slimes in a dungeon anyway?
Anyway, after getting considerably lost in this massive labyrinth we came across another room - this time a large purple area with satyrs and treants spread througout. We fought our way through the demons, eventually coming across a room with a single named satyr stood in the center - Lord Vyletongue. Our tank, likely one of the least experienced ones I'd met until that point (which was saying a lot) charged right in, pulling the stealthed satyrs in the process. Oops...
Lord Vyletongue
As a result of the unexpected chaos, we wiped, then made our way back to the entrance. However, in the process of running back in, we all followed one person and ended up in a completely different entrance than the one we'd already cleared. Being noobs, however, none of us really knew why it was different and full of mobs, so we simply began pulling the trash and moving forward - again, as slowly as ever.
Eventually, we made it back to that room with the treants and satyrs. We carefully moved up the stairs to where Lord Vyletongue was located, this time ready to take him on. Using cc, line of sight, and careful kill targeting tactics, we defeated him and were rewarded with a dagger that had some bonus shadow damage as a chance-on-hit effect. Being a shadow priest, I instantly rolled need. After all, more shadow damage was always a plus, right?
Well...not exactly. See, we had a rogue in our group who was less than thrilled when I received a melee weapon. After all, the chance-on-hit was for MELEE attacks, not spells. And while I didn't really know the difference, he clearly did. Calling me a ninja (which, I mean, is fair), he dropped group and we had to head back out to find a replacement.
The Larvae-Spawning Tube
We'd been in here for a while now - getting lost and fighting slimes for something like 2 hours, but hey, I was enjoying it. I still had plenty of time until Leika would be getting home, so I could play to my heart's content! Eventually we got a replacement and headed back inside, making our way into a large orange room with a bunch of larvae creatures. We passed through with relative ease, but as we continued toward the water elemental boss, we kept getting attacked by randomly spawning larvae spawns that we thought we'd already killed. After about the 4th time this happened, we decided to backtrack and found that they were coming from a strange tube structure hanging from the ceiling. Definitely weird, but right-clicking on it destroyed it, and we were able to progress.
Time was flying by as we made our way down to the waterfall and into the final stretch of the zone. It was around 3PM by the time we started working our way up the rocky slopes and caverns that marked the near end of the dungeon, and I was super-eager to see the ending to this amazing place. However, as we made our way up a massive hill, a message popped up.
"Disconnected from server."
Weird. Naturally, I immediately logged back in and was greeted with my character on the screen. However, within a few minutes, it popped back up again...
"Disconnected from server"
Uh oh.
The Entrance to the Final Chamber...
Yes, Leika had gotten home from work. I had spent all afternoon running around Maraudon with this group and would not be able to finish it...or COULD I?
I called him up, explained the situation, and begged him to let me finish the dungeon. He wasn't in a great mood that day, but after a few minutes of begging, he agreed to let me have another hour or so, just to finish it up.
Delighted, I logged in, explained to my group that I had had some internet issues, but that I'd solved it (smooth lying, buddy. Don't wanna tell people you're breaking ToS!), and we moved on.
The final stretch of the dungeon was brutal though, with all mobs being significantly more challenging than they had been until then. Somehow, though, we persevered - albeit very slowly. Eventually, the last room was all that remained - with Princess Theradras waiting on her island in the middle.
Suddenly, my phone rang. It was Leika. Another hour had somehow passed as we slaughtered crocolisks and rock elementals... I answered, saying that we were literally at the princess despite having 2 more packs of stone giants standing between us and he very angrily told me that he didn't care. But, being the bro that he was (and through my pathetic begging), I convinced him to give me another 10 minutes.
Princess Theradras
It was do or die...
I told my group that I had to go to work in 10 minutes and that we HAD to finish this up now. We pushed through with renewed speed and swiftly pulled to that final boss. Now, through sheer dumb luck or whatever it was, I managed to keep up our tank despite nearly being pushed off the island into the water below. 8 minutes after the phone call from Leika, the princess fell. Collecting our loot, I sighed and thanked the group for the fun just in time...
I hope you enjoyed my rather long story of my adventures in Maraudon. This story in particular, while a bit foggy in my memory, is one of my fondest memories of classic WoW. Back when I had the time and reason to adventure in a dungeon for hours on end, not knowing what to expect with each turn. Also, it is the single event that resulted in Leika giving me the second account, paying to transfer Silvite from the first account to it. I don't remember if that was a feature when the game first came out, or if it came later, but I do remember that it was possible then. After all, Silvite made it safely from Account 1 to Account 2 somehow. And it only took 72 hours! Blazing speed!
All joking aside though, I'm really glad that all this happened, as eventually it meant I could play with my friend and brother, but it also meant that I now had to pay for my own account. No biggie - I had my local pizza job to take care of that $15 every month! And take care of it it did!
But anyway, that's it for today! If you enjoyed this story, remember to follow my blog for more in the future. Check me out over on Facebook and Twitter, and watch my videos over on YouTube if you're interested in video content too! Thanks for reading, and as always...
Hey dudes! Welcome back to Silvite Soltis' series, Memories of Vanilla. It's been a while, huh?
Last time, I recapped the story of how I ended up at the Altar of Zul in the Hinterlands by killing myself with a Violet Tragan and meeting a ragtag group of adventurers when I rezzed. Well today, we're going to continue that adventure.
If you enjoy this story, remember to check out my other content here, as well as over on YouTube. There's a lot more coming, so make sure to get notifications when new content is released.
Our group of four made our way over to the massive troll stronghold of Jintha'Alor and immediately knew we were in for a rough time. Lining the stairways heading up the mountain were packs upon packs of elite troll mobs.
I had no idea how many there were beyond that first stairway, but judging by the sheer size of the stronghold, I knew this was no 15 minute group quest.
Vilebranch Troll
And so, we began our ascent. Carefully pulling each troll back, we slowly made progress up the mountainous village. One by one and two by two, the vile forest trolls fell. But more than once we accidentally pulled extra mobs, either by standing too close to a patrol or when a low mob would attempt to flee, and our group wiped. Whenever this would happen, we'd sigh, run back, rez up, and continue our difficult endeavor.
It was a long, painstaking grind, but eventually after about an hour or so of getting lost and turned around in our climb, we reached the top. And there, locked in a cage on the other side of a cave, was a baby gryphon named Sharpbeak.
Back when I'd first visited the Hinterlands, I had started a quest chain in Aerie Peak to search for a baby gryphon - Swiftwing's heir - in different locations around the zone. And though one of the quests in that chain had required me to visit the Alter of Zul prior, at the time I had simply run up and completed the scouting mission without trying to defeat the two elite trolls there (I died, of course). So through my adventures in Azeroth and eventually running through ZF for the first time (a story for a later MoV installment), I'd managed to get to this final step of the chain. However, no matter how many times I clicked on the cage, it remained locked. Reading the quest text, I knew what needed to be done.
Jintha'Alor Altar
Our group backtracked a bit, searching for the Vile Priestess Hexx and the Jintha'Alor Altar simultaneously among all the high-level elite packs. Luckily for me, both were in the same location. Unfortunately, however, it took a long time for us to find it - getting lost in the various rooms and areas atop the mountain. At one point, we ended up in a room filled with slimes and had to fight our way out of the pit in the center which, while not particularly hard, did kill a good 5 minutes or so of our progress. Eventually, though, we did find the altar in the distance - and the Vile Priestess was just a few yards away, patrolling around the cave entrance nearby.
Buffing, drinking up, and preparing ourselves, we ran in to engage. After all, even if my group-mates didn't need her, she was too close to get to the altar without risking a facepull. If I remember correctly, she had a hex ability that turned us into frogs a few times as we battled her, but otherwise the fight was pretty straightforward. As she fell, I looted the key to Sharpbeak's cage and joined my party members over by the altar. Clicking the Sacred Mallet, I sighed in relief as it was transformed into the object we'd sought - The Mallet of Zul'Farrak!
One objective down, one to go.
We backtracked through the path we'd just cleared, killing the repops as they spawned, all the while making our way over to the cage where Sharpbeak lay. Looking from left to right, as to make sure no other trolls were waiting to eat my face, I carefully made my way over to the cage and clicked on it. Within seconds, it swung open and the baby gryphon flapped its wings once more.
Farewell, Sharpbeak! You're Free!
Sharpbeak was free!
My party enjoyed the short scripted event that followed - Sharpbeak fluttering over to the edge of the mountain as his parents flew overhead to greet him and take him home. Shedding a tear IRL, I nodded as the three gryphons flew off into the sunset and turned back to my party to ask...
I hope you enjoyed this installment of Memories of Vanilla. It was a really fun little tale to recount, especially after just discussing the Saving Sharpbeak quest chain in my most recent video. These two events - the quest and obtaining the mallet - were really powerful memories of my late 40s back in early 2006. Looking back, I'm really going to miss that long quest chain as I climb Jintha'Alor again on my troll priest for the mallet later this year. But I guess that's just the way it is, huh?
Anyway, that's all for now. If you like this post, follow my blog for more content later on, or check out my videos over on YouTube. Leave a comment letting me know about your own memories, and feel free to follow me on Facebook and Twitter for updates when new content is released. I try to make something every week or so, and with several months until WoW Classic is out, you can rest assured there's a lot more coming until I take a no-life neckbeard break for the first few weeks...But that's all I've got for today. See you next time! And as always...
Hey dudes! Silvite Soltis here again and today I'm happy to finally be doing another top 5 list. It's been a while since I played around with this - mostly due to lots of real-life commitments and the like - but since I'd really like to do at least one every month, now seems as good a time as ever to jump back into it.
So far, we've already covered my top 5 dungeons, zones, music tracks, and classes. Because of that, and the fact that my Memories of Vanilla series keeps reminding me of these, I've decided to head back out into the world and tell about my favorite quest chains in classic World of Warcraft.
Keep in mind that my vanilla experience has been basically entirely Alliance until now, so for this list I'm only going to focus on the Alliance quests. I'm planning to do another top 5 for Horde quest chains when I eventually complete many of them on WoW Classic later this year, but for now let's just get right into it. Here are my Top 5 Classic WoW Alliance Quest Chains!
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#5 - Saving Sharpbeak
The Feels...
Actually probably one of the more surprising entries on this list - especially for people like me that entirely forgot that the Hinterlands existed for a while - Saving Sharpbeak tells the heartwarming story of a Dwarf and his Gryphon. Or, rather, his search for the baby Gryphon. See, some evil troll dudes had apparently kidnapped Sharpbeak and were planning to sacrifice him or something like that. Of course, in the beginning we had no idea about any of that though. As the standard adventurer, it was the player's job to run around the zone of the Hinterlands, searching for clues as to where Sharpbeak might have been taken.
What follows is an adventure of epic proportions in which you travel the world - down to the Blasted Lands, across the ocean into Zul'Farrak, and eventually back to the Hinterlands - in search of the answer. What has happened to Swiftwing's heir? What has happened to Sharpbeak?
Eventually, we found out that the gryphon was atop the massive troll stronghold of Jintha'Alor and our objective is clear: We fight our way through the droves of elite forest troll enemies, kill one of the leaders there, steal the key, and then find and free Sharpbeak.
Honestly, I still get chills when I think of this quest. Even though it's only one of MANY amazing quest chains in classic WoW, and may honestly be forgotten by many, it's got a special place in my heart. Thus I believe it is a solid quest chain to start off this list.
#4 - The Embalmer
Just an Old Dude in a Graveyard. Nothing to See Here...
Ok so, there's this creepy old dude hanging out in a shack by a graveyard. Next to him is a giant crate with chains holding it shut. What do you do?
Well...literally everything he asks you to apparently.
All kidding aside though, this quest chain is absolutely amazing. You start out believing you're just performing some simple errands for a poor old man who has made himself a hermit out by the Raven Hill Cemetery. As you follow his instructions, however, things begin taking a darker and darker turn. Eventually, after many adventures throughout the Duskwood zone, you are tasked with delivering a letter to the town hall of Darkshire. Soon after, a roar is heard in the woods: Stitches has been unleashed.
The Embalmer questline (AKA Stitches) is an amazing story that really emphasizes the role we, the player, find ourselves in as we traverse the world of Azeroth. We are merely random dudes or dudettes looking for some loot, coin, and sweet exp from any quest giver we can find. And though this quest chain is littered with red flags in the dialogue, we didn't care as long as we got ours. (Plus, did anyone actually read the quest text the first time around?) But for those of us with a soul, and the patience to actually read what we were doing instead of tabbing to Thottbot for every quest, the guilt felt at the end of the chain about what we'd unleashed upon our fellow leveling players in Duskwood was real.
#3 - The Missing Diplomat
Holy massively long quest chain, Batman!
Wanna Go on an Adventure?
One of the only quest chains in this list that actually kept the same name throughout its entire duration, The Missing Diplomat begins by tasking the player with speaking with a bishop in Stormwind to discuss a highly confidential issue of great importance to the Alliance. As lowly level 28-30s, we had no idea what we were in for as we began this quest. But eventually, we'd unravel the mystery as the quest givers sent us from zone to zone, speaking with all sorts of undercover individuals, scouring a marsh, and just generally being badass detectives.
Fight me, Bro!
Eventually, we learn that the diplomat that went missing was the freaking KING OF STORMWIND! And that the Defias Brotherhood (you know...those guys we kicked out of Westfall back at level 20 or so) were behind his disappearance.
Is this Quest Chain Done Yet? Nope!
Honestly, I don't remember every step of this chain - mostly because it's close to 20 quests in total - but when I hear the name of this chain mentioned in other videos, I always get a tingle of nostalgia. The Missing Diplomat is, quite frankly, the first quest where we as a player begin to feel less like a nameless adventurer and more like a genuine hero of the Alliance. It's an absolute MUST to complete while leveling in Classic WoW and I look forward to doing it again (someday) on my Alliance alts.
#2 - The Defias Brotherhood
VanCleef
No matter what race or class you rolled, everyone that has played an Alliance character past level 20 has done this quest. It is possibly the most defining quest of lowbie Alliance questing and the first time we see ourselves really unraveling a serious mystery out in the world. Until this chain, our leveling experience mostly focused on "run over there and kill those guys," followed up by "ok, now go kill some of those slightly stronger guys" or "go pick up 10 of these and 3 of those" quests. The Defias Brotherhood, however, had us travel back and forth between zones to investigate this mysterious organization that has been causing all sorts of problems around the kingdom of Stormwind.
Eventually, we uncovered the true nature of this shady organization and dived into the Deadmines to take out the head - both figuratively and literally. And upon completing this task, we were rewarded with an object of great power - a blue quality item (the first for many of us back in the day - especially if you didn't get lucky in the dungeon).
Honestly, choosing between The Missing Diplomat and The Defias Brotherhood was a really hard decision to make, as both are EXTREMELY iconic Alliance quest chains that really showed our growth as characters in the story of Azeroth at that time. The only real reason I placed The Defias Brotherhood over The Missing Diplomat in the end is that it is just a bit more straightforward and widely known. Like I said, EVERYONE has done this quest, whereas my #3 was more exclusive due to its higher level requirement. The Defias Brotherhood also culminates in a dungeon, which is always a fun way to end a quest chain, in my opinion. All in all, a solid #2.
Honorable Mentions
In Defense of the King's Lands (Loch Modan)
The Maclures and the Stonefields (Elwynn Forest)
Beached Sea Creatures (Darkshore)
Literally every other quest chain in Duskwood... (Morbent Fel, Mor'Ladim, The Legend of Stalvan, etc.)
#1 - Onyxia Attunement
If you managed to make it this far in this list, I really doubt you're surprised by this choice of number 1. Everyone that talks about WoW Classic, and everyone I've ever spoken to about the quests, raves about this quest chain and how amazing it is. From start to finish, it's a roller coaster of adventure.
Stormwind Rendezvous
You start off with a simple unsuspecting quest in the Burning Steppes - kill some dragons. Easy enough. But before you know it you're diving into Blackrock Depths, running to Stormwind, searching for notes, and breaking a random dude in his boxers out of prison. All for what?
To go and slay a big freaking dragon that's manipulating your kingdom from the inside, that's what!
Ohai!
Seriously, the Onyxia attunement quest chain has got some of the most gripping and engaging storytelling in all of classic WoW. Telling the amazing story of Reginald Windsor, a character who is both badass and tragic, this questline really pulls in the player and makes you feel like a champion of the Alliance. Sure, some of the individual quests can be frustrating at times and it's not the most intuitive of quests - especially having to find the crumpled up note to continue in the middle, but honestly these aspects are what made it so intriguing. An unwary player could finish all the prerequisites, not knowing what it was leading to, find the note, and then be sucked right back into it!
Oshit!
Plus, after breaking Windsor out of prison, you got the single-greatest solo event in Classic - The Great Masquerade - in which you slowly walk through the city streets with the Alliance hero to confront the Brood Mother in the Keep. Ok yeah, the quest is labeled as a 60+ raid quest, but c'mon. Who actually did it in a raid group?
She Deep Breathes More...
But it didn't end there! Once you finally got that far, you had the super-vague task of finding some random person who can help you from there. And, of course, that person is on the opposite side of the world in the middle of nowhere in Winterspring...
Do a dungeon (UBRS this time), get some blood, empower a necklace, and go fight a big-ass dragon!
10/10 would do again.
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So, there you have it - my top 5 Alliance quest chains in World of Warcraft: Classic. Honestly, there are tons of amazing quests that all have a place in my heart, but these are the first and most powerful ones I could think of. It's also worth noting that I didn't focus much on the early Kalimdor zones back in the day, so I may have missed a few gems in places like Teldrassil, Darkshore, and Ashenvale. So, let me know if there were any particularly notable chains there if you like and I'll definitely check them out.
Initially, I was thinking maybe I should make a "Top 5 Classic Quests" post, but seeing as I'd never really played Horde back in the day, I decided to focus on one side here. As I've said before, I'm planning on maining Horde when WoW Classic launches in summer 2019, so I think when the time comes I'll make a list for Horde side to go with this one. And, of course, I'll make a list for neutral quests as well for good measure - as there are an absolute crap-ton of amazing chains that both sides can do.
But anyway, that's all for now. If you enjoyed this, make sure to follow my blog by adding yourself to my email list below. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and check out my video content over on YouTube. There's a lot more coming later on, but for now, take it easy!
Hey dudes. Silvite Soltis back again for my next chapter of Memories of Vanilla - my reflective series of my adventures back in original World of Warcraft from 2005 to 2007.
Last time, I told the brief story of how I ended up in Tanaris, as well as my most memorable adventures there. And while it was good times, I completely forgot about another zone that I leveled in for a bit back in the day - a foresty zone in the mountains nestled between Hillsbrad, Arathi, and the Alterac Mountains, the Hinterlands.
The Hinterlands (Map)
So sit back, relax, and enjoy, as I tell the story of what I remember of that scenic zone from back in the day...
Honestly, I don't remember the first time I went to this zone. I know most of the mobs here were in the early 40s, so I was probably here at some point before getting my mount. But really, I don't remember much about those quests. Something about necklaces and killing trolls and...I don't know - maybe wolves? Or owlkins?
Anyway, the things I really remember from this zone came later when I got a quest from a goblin in Tanaris to go collect something called a Violet Tragan, which could be found in a lake over in that faraway zone. I remember putting this quest off for a while as I finished up some other quests in Tanaris, but eventually deciding it would be a good idea to head over - just for completion sake.
A Violet Tragan
So, I made the long journey back to the Eastern Kingdoms, flew up to Aerie Peak, and began my search for the magic mushroom. I must have been somewhere around level 46 or 47 by this point, because the mobs scattered around the fields posed little threat as I ran past, searching for the lake. Eventually, I located it in the center of the zone as the quest had instructed. Diving deep underwater, I found the bottom of the lake littered with these mushrooms, so I collected one, swam up to the surface, and looked in my bags, just to make sure it was there.
Scrolling over the new item in my bags, I confirmed that I'd looted it and was about to hit my hearthstone to head back to Tanaris to finish this quest and the last few that lingered in my quest log for the desert. But then I noticed something, the item's use text:
"Don't eat me."
Ok so, something bad was probably going to happen. But being 15 and curious, I couldn't just IGNORE this mushroom's text. After all, if something tells a teenager NOT to do something, what do you think they're going to do?
So I clicked it. And panicked as I watched my health whittle away rapidly as a result of the potent poison's effect. Frantic, I attempted to spam my flash heal button, but it was no use - I was in Shadowform and couldn't cast holy spells. And so, I died. GG Silvite. GG...
I ran back to my body, deciding not to repeat that mistake again, and sat to eat and drink up to full. As I sat there though, I noticed a group running over to some pyramid-like structure nearby - the Altar of Zul. And while I wasn't really sure what there was to do there, I wouldn't have to wait long to find out.
The Altar of Zul
"Hey, Silvite. You're a priest! Would you mind coming and healing us for this? We're getting the Mallet of Zul'Farrak!" one of the players whispered me as I dived back into the water to collect my mushroom.
"Well..." I began replying. I had been planning to head back to Tanaris, but I'd heard about the Mallet before and was curious. So... "sure. Sounds like a plan to me!"
Up popped the invite and away we went. The trolls lining the pathway up the altar posed little threat to our party of four level 40-somethings, but what awaited us at the top was definitely more of a challenge. As I'd come to know, there were two level 50 elite troll mobs at the top that needed to be killed in order to claim the Mallet of Zul'Farrak - the Keepers, Morta'gya and Qiaga.
Morta'gya the Keeper
This battle was actually quite challenging for our group, as there were tons of other non-elite trolls at the top that we decided we'd have to pull separately. I mind soothed the one that was slightly closer, which allowed us to get just close enough to pull the mobs, but more than once we accidentally pulled the two elites and ran away - scared to face such a large pack without being properly prepared. Finally, however, we had just the keepers remaining and our plan was underway.
Our mage polymorphed the keeper closer to the stairs and we burned the other as fast as possible. I don't remember if she had any dangerous abilities, but with the careful pulling and crowd control, it ended fairly quickly. With her safely slain, we turned our attention to the other. All in all, the plan went swimmingly. Unlike my plan to get the mushroom initially had...
Anyway though, after both elites lay dead in front of us, we all looted their bodies. To my surprise, there was no Mallet of Zul'Farrak though - only an item called the Sacred Mallet.
"What about the Mallet of Zul'Farrak?" I asked in party chat.
"Oh man," one of my group-mates replied, "we're only getting started..."
I hope you enjoyed this tale of adventures in the Hinterlands. It's a zone that I honestly COMPLETELY forgot about when I started this series, but a good one nonetheless. When I think back now on everything I did there - both these memories, the ones before, and the many that came after - I really think that it's a bit of an underappreciated zone. Sure, it's not as forgettable as Desolace, but really...what is?
Anyway, that's it for today's installment. Next time, I'll round up the story of how I got the Mallet of Zul'Farrak, as well as how I saved a baby gryphon from some super-evil forest trolls. If you enjoyed this post, remember to follow my blog here, or check out my YouTube channel for additional content! Follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter for more updates or just to chitchat about WoW Classic. I'd love to hear your memories of the game back in the day as we all wait for that summer 2019 release. But anyway, for now...
Hey dudes. Silvite Soltis here today to finally conclude my Scarlet story.
Last time, we went into the Library to obtain Scarlet Keys. Along the way, we killed Houndmaster Loksey, got me a new dagger, and experienced the most epic soundtrack in World of Warcraft. Well, today, we're going to finish off my first trip to Scarlet Monastery with a trip to church. That's right, it's time to head in and face the final challenge - the Cathedral.
Before getting into it though, remember to follow my blog so you get more updates when additional stories are added here. With still roughly half a year until WoW Classic releases, it'll be lots of fun to keep the hype train going.
Our group ran back out of the Library, making our way over to the entrance of the Cathedral wing of the dungeon. Now that I had my key, I was looking forward to using it on the door. However, just as we approached, a group that was leaving the Cathedral opened the door and ran out, leaving the door open for us as I was about to click it. Oh well. So much for using my key!
SM Cathedral Map
Anyway, we entered the final wing of SM, ready to take out the baddies within and finally complete the quest. The first hall, while fairly long, was pretty straightforward. We'd learned to be careful of fleeing mobs as we killed each pack, thanks to the Armory, and so managed to clear it out without much trouble. One thing I noticed, however, was that this dungeon was a big step-up in difficulty for our group of 37-39 characters (a couple of us had leveled up through the experience), and I knew I'd have to bring my healing A-game.
When we reached the end of the first hall, the tank carefully looked ahead. This was apparently his first time in here as well, so he wasn't sure where the mobs were. Running a little way into the next room - where the fountain was located - he was greeted with a pack of mobs on each side, and one patrol, all of whom wanted him dead. We did our best to recover, but it was too much. We wiped.
Ok. Not the best start, but things happen, right?
We ran back and tried again. This time, he carefully used LoS to facepull the pack to the right of the doorway while not aggroing those on the left. The mage sheeped one add and we managed to get that pack squared away. We rinsed and repeated for the rest of the entryway until all was clear before actually stepping out into the gardens beyond. Now was the fun part.
See, the gardens were not only full of packs, but also patrols if I remember correctly. So as we made our way over to the fountain to climb the stairs, killing the packs to the left and right as we went, we had several instances of unintentional chain-pulls - where one mob would flee just close enough to a patrolling Scarlet soldier, or the next pack of mobs, and we'd have to improvise. We must have wiped at least 2 more times here, and my gear was starting to turn red from all the deaths. But nevertheless, we pushed on.
The Cathedral
Through careful vigilance and positioning, we slowly progressed up the stairs and over to the Cathedral's entrance - the gigantic doors looming in front of our party as we approached. The warrior made a point to clear out everything in front of the building, as he wasn't sure what would happen when we went inside, and before long, we stood there, ready to swing those huge doors wide open.
I don't remember who actually opened the door, because a bunch of us clicked it at around the same time, but then it happened. The doors opened and we saw, for the first time, the inside of the Scarlet-infested church.
SM Cathedral (Inside)
Our warrior took note of all the enemy packs, and quickly decided that the best way to deal with them would be to, as before, use line of sight to pull them out into the open space. We also agreed that the best course of action would be to clear out the right-hand side of the Cathedral, leaving the enemies on the left up. It was starting to get late and we were getting tired from sitting in this dungeon for what must have been over 2 hours at this point. The bosses were just up ahead, so surely it shouldn't take too long, right?
We pulled the first pack out, getting aggro on a random patrol that we'd somehow missed before opening the Cathedral doors. Our hunter, who had been standing in the back, lay dead and I had to resurrect him before we continued our assault. Well, so far so good.
Slowly, but surely, we progressed along the right-hand wall, clearing the rightmost and center-right packs as we did so. One by one, they fell and before long, we faced Mograine himself. Running up to the back wall along the right-hand side, we carefully positioned ourselves for battle.
Now as you probably guessed, especially if you know anything about SM, things didn't go as smoothly as we expected. Pulling Scarlet Commander Mograine triggered THE ENTIRE CATHEDRAL! Mobs ran out from every room, from every corner of the church, and within seconds, we were obliterated.
Seriously?
Now, my gear was all red at this point, but I wasn't about to let this stop me from finishing my quest. Sure, I had no idea where Inquisitor Whitemane was, but at very least I wanted this guy dead. So, we ran back, made the intelligent decision to clear everything in the building BEFORE attacking the boss, and began our renewed assault.
Scarlet Commander Mograine
With so little gear left, my heals barely did anything, so progress slowed to a crawl. Mob by mob, pack by pack, and room by room, we cleared. We even found this one undead guy in the back behind a hidden door who dropped some shoulders (lucky!). Eventually, however, it was time. We returned to the main chamber, rebuffed, and engaged the final boss.
I remember being thoroughly unimpressed with him, as he did pretty low damage to our tank and didn't seem to do much else throughout the fight. Eventually, he died, and I was excited to see my quest light up as complete, but it didn't. Instead, we were greeted by the back door of the chamber swinging open, and High Inquisitor Whitemane charging out at us.
Whoa!
Ok, so that explained where the final boss was for my quest. Now we just had to kill her. As before, she wasn't particularly challenging, and I thought maybe this would over fairly quickly. But, of course, I was wrong.
AoE stun! Resurrection! Didn't expect that!
High Inquisitor Whitemane
We were all a bit shocked when she stunned all of us and ran over to Mograine's lifeless body, and even more so when she rezzed him to full. Now I knew why these two weren't that challenging - this was the real boss - fighting them both together. Unfortunately, I had used all of my mana at this point, and we wiped from me being unable to heal at all.
"Guys, I have to go," one of the DPS (though I don't remember who) said in chat.
"Dude, it's the LAST boss! Let's just get it! Come on!" we begged. He must have agreed, because we made our way back inside just in time. As we ran through that first hall, respawns began appearing behind us. This really was the last chance we had.
We got back up to the Cathedral, faced Mograine and, now that we knew what to expect, were ready. Our warrior charged, and I wanded, hoping to conserve as much mana as possible over the course of the fight. The Scarlet Commander fell, and out came Whitemane. Again, knowing not to use my mana needlessly, we carefully took her down.
The stun went out, we all sighed. I had somewhere around 60% mana left at this point. This was it.
The two attacked and we focused all of our damage on Whitemane. Within seconds, she fell. My mana was running out, but I knew that we had this. Mograine hit the floor, and my quest lit up. All four bosses were defeated.
I hope you enjoyed my short saga of my Scarlet Monastery adventure. I'm sure you'll be happy to know that Whitemane dropped her hat, though the mage in our group ended up winning it that first run. I did eventually get it on a later run though, so things all worked out for everyone.
It's funny, but one of the clearest memories out of all of these stories was how our group almost fell apart at the very end of the dungeon. But through our joint camaraderie, we decided to stick it out and managed to achieve something great, even in a mid-level dungeon. That's something I really miss from the game nowadays, and something I can't wait for in WoW Classic - that feeling of obligation to your group-mates as you go through these challenges and trials. You can't just duck out right at the end, even if real life is pulling you to. You've got to be in it for the long-haul.
Anyway, if you enjoyed this story, or the other stories in this blog, let me know by leaving a comment. Follow me here, on Facebook, or on Twitter for more updates in the future, and check out my YouTube channel for more content. There's still a lot more to come, especially approaching that big level 4-0, so be ready for more.
Hey dudes. Silvite Soltis back again with another Memories of Vanilla post.
Today, we're going to continue the story of my first Scarlet Monastery run, as there's still a lot that happened on that cold December day in 2005. But before that, remember to follow my blog for more content like this in the future. We're down into the final stretch before WoW Classic releases, with only a few months to go, so it'll be lots of fun to reminisce about what we'll be reliving come summer.
We'd just finished up the Armory and were about to head over to the Cathedral. Running out of the instance, we noticed our rogue was sitting idle back in Herod's room, not moving out along with us. Confused, I asked in party chat what he was doing.
About 30 seconds later, he simply replied "gtg" before leaving the group. We were now down 1 and without a key as we exited the instance.
Of course...
Well, luckily, one of our party members had a hunter friend who had apparently just logged on, so filling the spot ended up being easier than expected. The only problem, however, was that we were still without a key. Our mage, however, had a solution:
SM Library Map
"Hey, if you guys have time, why don't we do Library first so we can get the key?"
My party members and I must have agreed, as within minutes, we were stood inside the Library, planning our moves.
The mobs in the library were much less challenging than the Armory had been, falling like dominoes to our level 37ish group. Before long, we'd cleared our way into the courtyard, similar to the first dungeon, and our tank managed to get us over to a small room off to the right. I smiled when I saw the boss within, standing together with three hyenas:
Houndmaster Loksey
Houndmaster Loksey.
Here he was! The 2nd enemy for the quest that I'd ventured here to complete. Our warrior marked them up, indicating we needed a sheep on one of the dogs. Then, he ran in, pulling the boss and the other two dogs as I scrambled to keep him alive. The damage wasn't too intense, but I had been distracted at the exact moment he went in, so I remember spamming Flash Heal really hard to get him back up.
Anyway, we managed to defeat him, as well as the three remaining dogs, without significant issue. My quest lit up again, as it had in the Armory just a few minutes prior, and we pressed on.
Within minutes of Houndmaster Loksey's demise, we found ourselves in a long hallway filled with several packs of Scarlets - at least 5 packs in total. I was amazed at how much trash there was in here compared to the Armory. Though the enemies were all fairly easily defeated, with us outleveling them all by roughly 3 or 4 levels, it still took quite a while to get through the long hallways leading up to the actual library portion of the instance.
Our tank paused at in front of a doorway, telling us to stay back and asking for the mage to polymorph the mob marked with the moon as soon as he'd pulled. Peering inside, I noticed that this was a large, square room with several packs lined around the pillars, along with a treasure chest nestled off to the left. As I was looking, however, the warrior pulled a group from within, and we scrambled to hide around the doorway to get out of line of sight. It was definitely time to focus on healing.
The next two rooms followed a similar pattern - the tank carefully pulling into the previous room using LoS, the mage sheeping one mob, and me spamming the crap out of Flash Heal to make sure no one died. When we'd finished the second of these large square rooms, we made our way into the final hallway of the Library, the long stretch filled with way more enemies than I'd imagined - even more than the Armory's final hallway.
A couple of my party members grabbed a book from the shelf off to the left. Naturally, I asked them to share the quest with me, so that I could complete that quest as well, but I don't actually remember if it was shareable or not. I feel like it was and that I managed to complete that quest too, but I'm not 100%. Either way, we began clearing that final hallway, slowly but surely making progress toward Arcanist Doan at the end.
Finally, after roughly 40 minutes of dungeoneering, we'd arrived at the end of the Library. We got our health and mana replenished, charged in, and were greeted with the most epic soundtrack that I've ever heard in World of Warcraft - even to this day: Legacy.
Arcanist Doan
If you saw my post on my Top 5 Classic WoW Music Tracks, you probably already know this, but this song is my absolute favorite song in all of World of Warcraft. It really felt as if we'd accomplished a great feat of exploration and were about to reap the rewards - taking the treasure of the Library for ourselves as we charged headlong into Doan's chambers.
Anyway, that was the first time I'd ever heard that track, and it really stirred something within the depths of my soul - I loved this feeling of adventuring with a group, diving into the dungeons and taking out the enemies within. As Doan fell, I felt one of the greatest senses of accomplishment that I'd felt until this point, despite it being a fairly simple and straightforward encounter. Quickly, however, I composed myself and braced for another onslaught of Scarlet Trainees that never came.
Doan was looted, and to my delight the Hypnotic Blade appeared at the bottom of the screen. Now, I had been hoping for the Illusionary Rod that Leika had gotten when he ran this dungeon so many months ago, but the dagger seemed a great prize too. So, the mage and I rolled need.
Hypnotic Blade
I won! I actually got an item from a dungeon! Woo!
I equipped my dagger, noticing in the process that I had no offhand to equip at the moment (doh!), and admired it for a few seconds before noticing that our warrior was jumping by a chest in the back of the room.
Running over, we rolled to see who would get the key - as we assumed it was a one-and-done deal. Again, I rolled a high number and was allowed to loot the chest for the key, much to the mage's dismay. Luckily, however, the chest didn't despawn after I got my Scarlet Key, and each of us managed to get our keys in time.
And so, with smiles of accomplishment, we backtracked through the Library and made our way over to the final destination - the Cathedral.
I hope you enjoyed this installment of MoV. To be completely honest, the Library is my favorite of the SM wings, so it was a pleasure to reminisce about it as I worked on this post. It's really surprising to me just how clearly I can recall some of these events, such as my Hypnotic Blade, the track 'Legacy' playing at the end, and even the treasure chest sitting off to the left in one of those square rooms. I think that it's really a testament to how well this dungeon was crafted, as well as how powerful these old experiences were on my 15-year-old mind. Truly a masterpiece.
Anyway, next time, we'll finish off the monastery with my 2nd favorite wing - the Cathedral, with all its zealots and surprises. And man, that's a real doozy of a story. Remember to follow my blog by adding yourself to the email list below so you don't miss that update when it comes out. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and check out my YouTube channel for more stories. If you enjoyed this, I'm sure you'll enjoy those too!
