Memories of Vanilla #9 - The Ninja Priest

Hey dudes! Welcome back to my blog. It's been a while, so today, I want to continue my Memories of Vanilla series with a short story I hinted about in the last post.

I am, of course, talking about the time I accidentally became a ninja looter. It's definitely a doozy of a story, filled with anger, noobishness, and all the sorts of things we all remember from the good ole days. Before you read on though, remember to follow my blog for more content in the future. Especially going forward into 2019, it'll be fun to reminisce about classic as the date gets closer and closer.

Well now, with that out of the way, let's get on with the story!

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A Bloodscalp Troll

I was questing in Stranglethorn Vale, as we all did back then, killing some various trolls and tigers as I attempted to finish off a quest in the area.
I don't remember exactly what quest I was on at that moment, but I think it had to do with the trolls by the coast - the ones between Grom'gol and Nesingwary's camp. I must have been around level 33 or so at this point, because I had started getting used to the feel of STV. As I turned the corner by some ruins, I was greeted by a rogue, running away from a group of Bloodscalp trolls with only a sliver of health left. Naturally, being the friendly player I was, I healed him up, subsequently getting aggro on 2 of the trolls and saving his life. He turned around, finished off the initial mob he had been trying to kill, and we defeated the group together.

"Hey, you need these guys?" he asked in /say. Before I could respond, I got a group invite.

Knowing that it was always safer to group up for quests, I accepted and we began working together to clear out the trolls. We made a good team, the rogue and I. He would sap one mob, we'd burn the other one or

The Ruins of Zul'Kunda

two nearby. If there were a lot super close, I'd wand-pull and he'd cheap shot. And all the while, I kept us both alive with my healing. All in all it was a good time.

We'd just about finished up the quest, because we were on our way out of the area and heading back towards the quest giver when it happened. A troll fell dead, and in the bottom of the screen, the window popped up:

Tigerstrike Mantle

Need          Greed          Pass

Tigerstrike Mantle

A new cloak! Awesome! I opened my character tab, looked over at my current cloak, and made my decision. Compared to my Yeti Fur Cloak, with its 6 agility and 3 spirit, this was a huge upgrade! 8 agility and 7 stamina, awesome!

So, naturally, I hit 'Need'. Within seconds, the roll was won, the cloak went into my bags, and I immediately equipped my new gear! All was great with the world...

"WTF dude? Why'd you need that? Ninja!"

Confused, I replied in what I now realize was a terrible answer.

"I needed it!"

Capslock Engaged:

"OH MY GOD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU NOOB? WHY ARE YOU F***ING PRIEST NEEDING ON A CLOAK WITH AGI ON IT? WHAT THE F***! WHAT'S YOUR GUILD? GUARDIANS OF AZEROTH? I KNOW YOUR GM! I'M GONNA GET HIM TO KICK YOU OUT!"

Needless to say, I was quite confused at all this. After all, the stats on this gear totaled to a higher number, so CLEARLY it was an upgrade. I simply replied "Ok."

Now I had, at some point, joined a guild called The Guardians of Azeroth. Our GM, Luv, was someone who was always on no matter what time of day it was, so a lot of people knew him. So, he was messaged, and in order to solve the issue, he flew down to STV to meet us in a classic, RP style (though now that I think about it, this probably could have been solved by just messaging). When he arrived, he inspected me and asked what I'd been wearing before needing on the cloak. So, I swapped back and forth between the new and old cloaks, to show that I'd actually equipped the item and that it was an upgrade, and he declared that it had simply been a misunderstanding.

MFW I Made a Mistake Back in 2005...

My rogue companion of 20 minutes of troll-slaying still wasn't happy, but accepted the fate of the Tigerstrike Mantle; my priest would don it for the time being until it was eventually replaced. However, he and Luv both warned me that, as a priest, I shouldn't need roll on items with agility, but rather try to find ones with intellect and/or spirit. I thanked them both for the lesson, and we moved on with our lives, but I never forgot that encounter in the jungle and the rage that it brought.

The Tigerstrike Mantle incident, while unfortunate for the rogue, was a turning point in my early World of Warcraft career. It taught me not to think only of myself, but also of the other players I was grouping with - what they need, and what stats are better suited for them. Sure, 6 agi and 3 spirit weren't the best stats on a cloak for a priest and the blue cloak was technically an upgrade, but I could have held out for a cloak with intellect just a level or two later if I had known or considered it.

That's one thing I really miss from back in the day - the sense that you really cared about upgrades. Every stat mattered. But so did your relationships with other players. The risk of being labelled a ninja was a scary prospect, and I really did feel that I needed to prove my innocence. And in doing so, I was left with this powerful memory.

I hope you enjoyed this installment. Next time, I'll either tell my story of Desolace and my views on  the Gelkis Clan centaur there, or my first time visiting the Arathi Highlands on my way to Southshore. Follow me here, on Facebook, and on Twitter for updates when that comes out. Also, check out my YouTube channel for regular video content. And no matter what, until next time:

Take it easy.

Memories of Vanilla #8 - Tigers and Panthers and Raptors, Oh My!

Hey all! Silvite Soltis back again for another installment in my Memories of Vanilla series.

Now that I've gotten to the point where I had my own PC at home, the memories I had of events over the course of leveling have really started to blur together, so from here on out, the series may not be as chronological as it has been until now. Nevertheless, I still have lots of memories to share of my pre-TBC experience.

Today, we're stepping into the jungle. That wondrous zone of tigers, Samantha Swifthoof, and ganktasticness that is, Stranglethorn Vale!

Stranglethorn Vale

As with everything else on this series, it's been like 13 years since this happened, so a lot of the specifics are fuzzy at this point, but I know I entered STV by accident one day while leveling in Duskwood. While running to Raven Hill Cemetery, I turned south at the crossroads in the middle of the zone and found myself in a jungle. Not knowing what this zone was, I started exploring a bit, finding a camp with NPCs up a hill down the road. I must have been in the mid to late 20s at that point, as there weren't any quests available. Of course, I didn't know this was a questing hub though, and so I shrugged and headed back down the road to head deeper into the jungle.

Priest-Eater

Turning right along the road, I passed through the mountainous pass that lead to a rickety wooden rope bridge. As I approached, something caught my eye from the side of the road - a blur of orange and black amidst the grass. Before I knew it, I was dead on the ground, having been mauled to death by a tiger.

Now, I probably could have healed through the minuscule damage of a level 30 tiger, or at least gotten out of range if I'd tried hard enough, but being a noob of epic proportions, I didn't. Running back to my corpse, I carefully rezzed as far up the road as I could, as to avoid getting attacked again, then retreated back to Duskwood without delay.

Thanks for the Quests, Bro.

Of course, being vanilla WoW, there was no avoiding this zone. And so when I eventually reached level 30 or 31, I returned to the jungle to begin the quests. My friend, Leika, had since told me about the Nesingwary quests and that they were just to the right of the main road after crossing the first river, though there were no quests leading there if I remember correctly. When I found that camp of hunters, I was amazed at the sheer number of quests I was able to pick up - something like 7 or 8 at once. Remember, this was back when quests were few and far between and your quest log could only hold 20 quests at a time. So picking up so many quests at once was amazing.

Anyway, with quests accepted and not a clue where to go, I began my long hunt of tigers and panthers in the jungle.

Where Are You, Young Panther?

The tigers were easy enough to find and kill, since they were in the area just outside the Nesingwary camp, plus one had eaten me for lunch previously so I finished that quest without any problems. However, finding the panthers was another story. No matter how long I looked, I just couldn't find them. And so, I started exploring again.

Heading west along the river and up a hill, I found an area with what I was looking for. Panthers! Lots and lots of panthers! Excited, I began my killing spree. Panther after panther fell. And, as a skinner, I left behind no trace of the carnage. After about 10 minutes of relentless slaughter, however, I paused. Something was wrong.

I looked to the right-hand side of my screen. Nothing was being tracked. I opened my quest log, clicked on "Panther Mastery," and, with a sigh, realized my mistake:

Where I Was...

Young Panther Slain 0/10

I was killing the wrong panthers.

How many times had I done something like this? Surely by now I knew better. Apparently not. I sighed, jumped down over the hill, and made my way back to the camp.

Where the RIGHT Panthers Were...

I hope you enjoyed my tale of my initial flubbing around in Stranglethorn Vale. As you probably guessed, I didn't play on a PVP server back in the day. If I had, I'm sure there would've been some ganktastic goodness in this story. Of course, this did occur later in STV when I'd encounter a flagged Horde, attack, and get demolished by his level 60 rogue buddy, but I really don't remember many of the details related to that, so I probably won't go to far into that. Next time, I'll continue telling about my time in STV with a short story of how I became a ninja looter by accident. Remember to follow me here on Blogspot, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for regular updates and content.

But until then, take it easy!