Memories of TBC - Episode 4: Through the Dark Portal

Hey dudes - Silvite Soltis here and today I'm back with the next installment of Memories of TBC: my reflective series of my Burning Crusade adventures.

Last time, I told the story of how I met Thrillseeker - one of my longest in-game friends to date. And though that was one of my fondest WoW memories from 2007, it did take place on Azeroth, and not really in Burning Crusade content. Well today, we're finally ready to step through the Dark Portal and enter the fantastical realm of Outland. I hope you enjoy! If you do, then add yourself to my mailing list below, and leave a comment letting me know what memories you have from back in the day. I'd love to hear your stories as well!

So, sit back, relax and enjoy as I recount my first true Burning Crusade experience...

Memories of TBC
Episode 4: Through the Dark Portal

It was sometime around the early summer of 2007. As usual, the exact date eludes me, but since I was comfortably seated at my final host family's coffee table in Gifu, Japan, I'm sure it was probably around June. My study abroad was winding down at that point and though I was sad to be leaving the country that I'd come to love so much, I was also excited to get my hands on my own copy of The Burning Crusade when I got home.

TBC Free Trial (Advertisement)

Well, as fate would have it, I didn't need to wait - at least not for a taste. You see, Blizzard implemented a free trial of The Burning Crusade to players who hadn't upgraded their accounts by that point. After hearing this news from Leika, I exploded with excitement. Even though it would only be for ten days (and I wouldn't be able to actually level up), I would finally be able to see what was beyond the dark portal for myself!

So on that hot summer day, I fired up the family laptop, activated the free trial, and logged onto my priest to begin my Outland journey. As usual, Silvite was parked in Ironforge, so I had to wait for the long flight down south to Nethergarde Keep, but that only increased the excitement welling up within me. By the time the gryphon had landed, I was quite literally trembling. I mounted my Stormsaber, which I was still mighty proud of attaining as a human mind you, and I headed south toward where the Dark Portal stood.

The Dark Portal (Blasted Lands)

By this point in TBC, the crater was completely deserted. Everyone who was interested in the expansion had come and passed through months ago, but that allowed me to take in everything that was there - the NPCs standing around outside, the two massive statues that I'd seen on the loading screen so many times over the past two years, and of course the massive green swirly portal that beckoned me toward it. Finally, I decided it was time, and I charged forward.

Hellfire Peninsula

After a full minute or so stuck on the loading screen, I found myself on the Stair of Destiny facing an alien world. And while I'm sure many people's first memories of Outland are of the massive army fighting the pit lord's forces at the base of the portal, mine was the sky. The glowing green lights and many celestial orbs high above the zone absolutely enthralled me - especially when I looked down to see the barren, hellish wasteland that was Hellfire Peninsula. Running forward down the first portion of the steps, I found the first quest giver for the zone.

"Take the flight to Honor Hold!" he told me.

"Well alright. I guess I'm heading to Honor Hold." I thought to myself as I hopped on the gryphon he provided. Over the wasteland Silvite flew and again, I took in all the sights I could. There was a road running along the middle of the zone, as well as swarms of elite demons on the ground below. I looked up at the sky again, amazed by its appearance. Why was this world so different from Azeroth? And why exactly were we here? I didn't have the faintest clue about the lore of Outland, but I was ready to find out.

But, one thing at a time! To start, I had some quests to do. Upon landing in Honor Hold, I set about exploring - finding the inn and setting my hearthstone there, running to the top of the keep, and checking out the towers on the outskirts of town. At this point in my adventure, all of the quests and events start to blur together into a mass of Hellfire Peninsula, so I'm not 100% sure of exactly how each bit went over that few days of the trial. Still, there is one quest that I do remember vividly - the gathering quest Waste Not, Want Not.

Tagar Spinebreaker

The general premise of this quest was, and still is, very simple: go gather some wood and metal in the area just north of Honor Hold. However, as I was still a noob even at level 60, this quest took me far longer than I would like to admit. You see, there were lots of fel orcs spread throughout this area that liked to wander back and forth around the edge of the cliff. The casters and normal orcs weren't too difficult on their own, but more than once I was caught off guard by one of the wolf riders wandering nearby. To make matters worse, there was also a level 61 elite patrol, Tagar Spinebreaker, who snuck up on me more than once when I got too far to the left.

The worst part about doing this quest, however, was actually finding the metal and wood. Having taken nearly a year to level to 60 back in Vanilla, I was no stranger to item collection quests, but on the family laptop I was using at the time, I had a very hard time distinguishing what objects were metals for the quest, or part of the broken-down catapults that I couldn't click on. Combine this with the numerous fel orcs swarming the area and my own incompetence as a player back then, and you can see how this quest gave me so much trouble.

Eventually, after probably a full hour of killing orcs and clicking on scenery, I finished that quest and headed back toward Honor Hold to turn it in. And while the reward options weren't useful to me as a priest, I felt great that my adventure in Outland had finally begun...


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I hope you enjoyed this brief story about my first proper Burning Crusade experience. I had many more adventures during that 10 day expansion trial, but since I stopped questing in Hellfire when my experience capped (1 away from leveling up to 61), I'm not really sure where I finally finished. Still, it was fun for sure, and I was really happy to finally step into that crazy outer-space realm. And now more than ever, I'm super-stoked to do it all again when Classic TBC is out!

But anyway, that's it for today. If you enjoyed this post, let me know by leaving a comment down below! Also, consider adding yourself to my mailing list so you don't miss out on more stories like this in the future. Follow me over on Twitter for updates as well, and consider checking out my YouTube channel if you enjoy video content too! Thanks for reading, have an amazing day, and as always...

Take it easy!

Top 5 - Playable Races of TBC

Hey dudes. Silvite Soltis here. And today I'm back with another Top 5 post!

As we all know, The Burning Crusade brought with it some amazing new features - new zones, professions, and even flying mounts. But as you might remember, one of the most anticipated additions to the game back at the time wasn't any of these changes, but rather the addition of two new races - the Blood Elves and the Draenei. The addition of these two races brought the total number of playable races in Azeroth up to 10, and also gave access to Paladins and Shamans to Horde and Alliance, respectively. It was a big change.

So, since we're all getting hyped about the eventual Classic TBC release, and we'll have 10 races to choose from with this shift, I thought it might be fun to explore what playable races I think are the coolest in The Burning Crusade. Before getting started though, make sure you add yourself to my mailing list below and consider following me over on Twitter, so you don't miss out on content like this in the future. Also, I'd just like to say that this list is entirely my opinion, and it's not really based on any race/class combinations, or anything like that, but rather looks, lore, and just the general badassness I feel when I think about these fantastic races.

So yeah, without further ado, here are my Top 5 Playable Races of TBC!

#5 -  Night Elves

Night Elves

Starting off my list here is the race that was my personal favorite back in Vanilla. The OG of WoW elves, the purple-skinned sexy dancing Kaldorei - the night elves.

As an avid fan of high fantasy, the night elves were the first race in WoW that really stuck out to me after I started playing. And though my first character was a human, I always loved the way of life of the night elf people - living out in trees, communing with nature, and of course, dancing on mailboxes.

In the Burning Crusade, the night elves don't do anything too spectacularly different than they did in Vanilla, but they are still the Alliance's only druid race. And considering the major buffs that druids got to their tanking and dpsing in TBC, it's definitely safe to say that you'll see a lot more of them in the expansion's re-release than we do now in Classic.

So yeah. night elves are pretty awesome. And for that reason, I put them up here at number 5.

#4 - Orcs 

Orc

Alright, I have to come clean - I never really liked orcs before Classic. They're big, bulky rage-monsters that I imagine smell like kodo-dung. BUT in the Burning Crusade, we get to travel to their homeworld of Draenor to learn of their origins. And man, that really makes a difference to me. Running across the plains of Nagrand, meeting Garrosh, son of the legendary Grom Hellscream, and uncovering the story of the Mag'har was one of the coolest bits of lore to me personally playing TBC back in the day. And now that I've leveled an orc shaman in Classic, it seems all that much cooler.

For players, orcs still have some of the strongest racials in the game as well - beneficial for tanking and melee dps in particular, but also PVP situations for those who enjoy that content. Furthermore, male orcs get to dance like MC Hammer, which is always entertaining to see. So, though I didn't really like these big green guys a lot when I was younger, I can definitely say that they've grown on me. And so, I've put them up here at number 4.

#3 - Dwarfs

Dwarf

"Interest ya in a pint?" Possibly my all-time favorite fantasy race, the dwarfs take my number 3 spot for the Burning Crusade. Though they don't really have any changes whatsoever in terms of lore and racials compared to Classic, the simple fact of the matter is that I love these little drunkards. They've got kick-ass beards, love beer (like me), and look so damn funny when they run.

It's pretty well-known that I'm planning on making my dwarf prot paladin my main come Classic TBC. And though we don't know exactly how Blizzard will handle the transition, I'm fairly confident that I'll have a good time running around with a 4-foot-tall holy warrior decked out in Justicar Armor come December 2021.

So yeah, dwarfs are my number 3. And I'll drink to that!

#2 - Blood Elves

Blood Elves

Alright, here we go - one of the races that I'm sure EVERYONE expected to see here. The blood elves, also known as Sin'dorei, are the first "pretty" race that the Horde got. And while many Alliance players were upset back in the day at the treachery of the former high elves, I think it's fair to say that they were just jealous...and for good reason!

The introduction of blood elves in The Burning Crusade provides the Horde with their very own Paladins - which have solid dps, great AoE tanking, awesome tank healing, and, most importantly, blessings! No longer do the dps classes of the Horde need to hold back their damage for fear of pulling aggro from the tank! It's really a dream come true.

Moreover, these beautiful elves also provide unparalleled fabulousity to the Horde as well - with their long elegant locks, deep green eyes, and silly jokes about addiction - they really raise the property value of Orgrimmar with their presence within the city limits. Plus, they have, arguably, some of the best racials in the game for TBC - with a racial silence, a mana-tap, and the ability to ride Chocobos! What's not to love?

But that's not all! Lore-wise, the Blood Elves have an epic backstory full of adversity, betrayal, and a search for their place in the world. And though we can play the protagonist faction of blood elves, led by Lor'themar Theron, there's a whole other faction of this race that's loyal to one of the main antagonists of the expansion as well - Kael'Thas's blood elf army. It's actually hard for me to think of another race in this expansion that has such depth of lore. And it's for all these reasons that I think blood elves are the 2nd coolest playable race in TBC. However, there's one more race that I think is just a bit more awesome...

Honorable Mention - Trolls

Before getting to the number 1 spot, I just want to give a quick shoutout to all the trolls. Having mained a troll priest thus far in Classic, I feel obligated to mention how much I love this race. There's basically no change for them in TBC though. And so, though I like them (and would likely have placed them as number 6 if this were a top 10 list), they just barely missed a spot. Sorry Classic Silvite...

#1 - Draenei

Draenei

Two words: Butt. Waggle.

Yes, as you might have guessed, my personal favorite race in The Burning Crusade, and all of Warcraft actually, is the squid-faced blue aliens that hail from the planet Argus. The draenei, formerly known as Eredar, are a race that has faced greater trials and tribulations than probably any other playable race in the Warcraft lore - having been the first to defy the Burning Legion and losing their home not once, but twice. But just like Chumbawamba, no matter how many times the draenei get knocked down, they get back up again. And in TBC, they end up joining the Alliance in their fight against the Burning Legion...and the Horde, of course.

Similar to the blood elves, the draenei bring a new class to the Alliance - shamans. And because of this, the two factions become more balanced than ever. This means that the Alliance gains access to the great totem buffs such as Windfury and Mana Tide - amazing boons to any raid team! And though I would definitely argue that the Horde gaining access to paladins is definitely a greater boost to their raids overall, there's one last thing that the fabulous elves just can't compete with, in my opinion...

The looks.

Throughout Classic, the Horde had access to massive towering behemoths for their characters. What's more, all of the Horde races were unique from each other - green orcs, tall lanky trolls, actual zombies, and the grass-fed tauren. Sure, they were all hunched over, but they were different. The Alliance, on the other hand, had purple elves, and then three slightly different heights of what were essentially humans - visually anyway.

But in TBC, this all changes. Finally, the Alliance gets a massive blue blob - the male draenei. And though it's cool as hell to watch these beasts do their work, it's even better when they dance. The Tunak Tunak Tun dance has got to be my personal favorite in the game.

The female draenei are great too, though. Despite their considerably smaller size, they still manage to look badass when tanking, healing, or dealing damage. Though, I must admit, my favorite part of the female draenei is probably their dance as well. Like I said...dat butt waggle.

So yeah, with an epic backstory, a big tanky type male model, hilarious jokes, awesome dances, and more, I 100% believe that the draenei are the greatest playable race in The Burning Crusade. And I can't wait to roll one come Classic TBC...

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it - my top 5 playable races of The Burning Crusade. Honestly, every race has its perks - whether it's their racials, looks, or race/class combination, but as far as I'm concerned, these are the best ones. However, I'd love to know what you think? Do you just LOVE your undead? Maybe female tauren are your thing? Whatever you like, let me know by leaving a comment down below. If you'd like to see more content like this in the future, add yourself to my mailing list below as well, or follow me over on Twitter, as I post updates on content regularly over there. Also consider checking out my videos over on YouTube if you prefer that content medium, as I turn all of my posts here into videos there shortly after writing them here. In any case, thanks again for reading, have an awesome day, and as always...

Take it easy!

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!

Classic TBC? My Thoughts and Plans

Hey dudes, Silvite Soltis here. And today, I've got another quick thoughts post for you.

As I'm sure everyone is aware of at this point, Blizzard recently sent out a survey asking players which method of character progression they'd be most in favor of to transition from Classic to The Burning Crusade if they were to release TBC servers. The four options given were essentially:

1 - Your whole server progresses to TBC, but you can transfer off to stay capped at 60 vanilla.
2 - You start fresh at level 1 on a TBC server.
3 - You start fresh at level 58 on a TBC server.
4 - Your server stays capped at 60, but you can transfer off to progress into TBC content.

Obviously, options #1 and #4 are the most likely scenarios, with #4 being my personal preference, but the most important aspect of this survey isn't really HOW they plan to progress into TBC, but the fact that it's basically confirmed.

So, though we don't have an official announcement of a Burning Crusade rerelease quite yet, I thought it might be fun to just discuss some of my thoughts and plans for when it is eventually released...

What will I do?

Got'em!

So, since we don't know exactly when Classic TBC will come out, it's hard to say for certain what I'll do. Though I would very much like to clear Naxxramas, I can't say that I'm really devoted enough to farm out consumables, past tiers of raiding content, and progress through the raid every week. Blackwing Lair took my guild 7 weeks to clear, due to our condensed 1-night raiding schedule, and the prospect of trying to clear BWL, AQ and Naxx while also taking care of my work and family life does seem too be quite daunting.

7/8 of the only set I care about

So, basically, I think that I'll most likely jump over to Classic TBC immediately when it releases - whenever that is. I've completed two of my biggest Classic goals at this point - slaying Nefarian and obtaining Benediction - and the third and final one is within my reach (currently at 7/8 Prophecy with only the helm left to collect). Sure, it'd be nice to kill Kel'Thuzad and get decked out in full T3, but unless we've got a full year or so of Phase 6, it just isn't a feasible goal for me.

What will I roll?

Hello, New Main!

Throughout Classic thus far, my priest has been absolutely amazing. I can say that I've truly enjoyed everything about leveling as a Horde character, and learning how to properly heal the dungeons and raids of original WoW. That being said, I do feel that I missed out a lot of adventures with my family by not playing Alliance - which both of my brothers and my sister-in-law rolled. Plus, I did level multiple characters - both Alliance and Horde - up to 70 during the Burning Crusade back in the day (Priest, Warrior, Druid, and Mage). So I don't think I'm missing anything in terms of quests and storylines like I did in vanilla.

As such, I've got two options that I'm considering very heavily. If we get to copy/transfer our Classic characters, I'll be maining my dwarf protection paladin, as 1- tanks are always in high demand, 2 - he's already level 47, and 3 - I love playing it, even in Classic! However, if we do end up starting completely fresh, I'll definitely roll a draenei enhancement shaman, as it's another class I've learned to love through leveling one in Classic. I may go resto at level cap, as I do love healing, but since I've never mained a melee dps, I'd probably stick to enhancement if that ends up being the case. Still though, the paladin is my hope.

So...when do I think it will come out?

Though I've been thinking a lot about this since the survey came out a couple of days ago, I honestly don't think that Classic TBC will be out for a while. For starters, we're not even into phase 4 of Classic yet, meaning that we still have at least 7 full months left - assuming phases 4 through 6 last as long as phases 1 through 3 did (and phase 6 will probably be much longer). Moreover, the new expansion to retail - Shadowlands - is still set for a 2020 release as far as I'm aware. So since it wouldn't make much sense to release two big WoW subscription-drivers in the same year, I'm going to guess Classic TBC will release in mid-2021 - most likely in July or so. Though Blizzard seems to really enjoy their August releases in recent years, they have been pumping Classic out a bit faster than originally anticipated to meet the players' demand for more content. As such, I don't think we'll have a full two years of original Classic. But really, that's just speculation and only a select few in Blizzard know for sure.

Final Thoughts

Looking Forward to This Place Again

Obviously, all we have to go on right now is a survey that was only sent to a few people, but for me, that's enough. I'm still enjoying Classic a lot, but I am getting more and more hyped thinking about TBC with every passing hour. As a senior in high school back in the day, I played the hell out of it, but I was about 8 months late to the party - only really starting around August of 2007. So though I did get to raid through tier 4, and later tier 6 content on my shadow priest back when it was relevant, I skipped over tier 5 almost entirely due to the availability of catch-up gear. This time, I'm looking forward to doing everything, but as a different role. And even if my real life responsibilities keep me from doing that, at very least I know that I can do some Karazhan with my family every week. And that'll be a blast...

Anyway, that's it for today. If you enjoyed reading me ramble about my excitement for the most-likely upcoming TBC rerelease for Classic, let me know by leaving a comment down below! And if you'd like to see more content in the future, add yourself to my mailing list, or follow me on Facebook or Twitter while you're at it! Also, consider checking out my videos on YouTube for more Classic, and eventually TBC related content! Thanks a lot for reading, have an awesome day, and as always...

Take it easy!