Playing WoW my way, Hyug the Barbarian

Jaqen-grobbulus · May 24, 2020, 3:48am

So one of the coolest things about this game is being able to play your way. Did you read about that kid with 49 lvl 120 warriors? Did you read about the Panda that made it to 120 picking flowers and never left Pandaria? Ever read about the Ironman challenge or Barbarian challenge? Ever play as an end game raider? What about getting past rank 10 in classic PvP? All are cool ways to play. I even have a friend that has one of every class to 120 on both horde and alliance, and at least one 120 of every race too (or close on the races). Did you hear about that dude that grinded to 60 just killing boars?

I’m old now, heck I was “older” when vanilla came out. I always wanted to raid but was never “good” enough or didn’t have the time. I did raid in BC and WotLK though a bit. I did PvP some too. I always just kind of enjoyed leveling and doing the quests. I did get loremaster in retail.

So I got my 2nd lvl 60 in classic into a very skilled raiding guild. Guess what I don’t like all the time and work that entails. Sure killing Rag a few times, killing Ony and beating up on Hakkar was fun, but it takes too much time. The guild has BWL on farm, but as a non-hardcore bench raider I’ve never been. I probably could’ve been by now, but I have not. Getting all your world buffs, farming all the mats or gold for consumes and waiting to see if you get a spot or not, is a lot of investment of time and energy.

So I’ve dabbled in Ironman challenge and the Barbarian challenge.

So tonight I decided to level to 60 in classic again, but make it way harder and do it on my own with no help. I’m doing my own “Barbarian” style challenge. Meet Hyug, a now lvl 6 warrior on Bloodsail. I started as a dwarf on a normal server but soon had a major issue.

Rule 1 I made for myself. No magic rock. I threw away my hearthstone.
Rule 2, leatherworking, cooking, first aid, skinning and fishing only; real Barbarian skills.
Rule 3, and this one will be a real problem. Barbarians would be scared to death of big crowded cities. Small towns maybe not so much, but cities are SCARY! So how to get LWing and Skinning? Well the only starter lvl LW and skinning trainers not in a city are in Elwynn. So abandon dwarf and reroll Hyug as human.
I want to use 2H maces or axes barbarian style… but as a human I started and have a 1H sword :(. This means I need to go into the city and get training. It also means I need 20 silver, and either train 2H swords / maces or need to get to IF somehow for 2H axes. I don’t see a Barbarian hopping on the tram so IF is out until I’m almost 60.

Next items… Ironman is grey and white lvl items only. But I’m a Barbarian. What if I find a green or two lying around? Would I use them? What if I learn to make some greens and blues as a LWer? Would I wear them? And can I wear cloth cloaks? My first one was cloth, and I made a leather one as soon as I could.

Bags… oh bags. Luckily one dropped for me in the starting area.

Firm rule for my Barbarian! NO QUESTS! That’s right I do what I want when I want, and I don’t run errands for anyone.

I also have a non-firm guideline on attacking humanoids. I do not, but if they attack me game on. I hunt, fish, skin, cook and make leather stuff. That’s the Barbarian life, and it’s a barbarian life for me.

I took screen shots at lvl 5 and lvl6. I’m not sure how I feel about “streaming” my gameplay. I’m pretty casual so this is going to take a long time. I’m also not very good, and this play style would be quite boring to watch I think. Maybe blog it with the screens along the way?

I would join a guild, and partake in OOC chat and IC chat. If you talk to Hyug in the world he is definitely IC. Hyug runs a lot since he is a busy Barbarian, and he probably doesn’t know a lot of words. He might trade you some fish bones or something or is trading off the table since it is help? I don’t like shiny things or people wearing really shiny armor. They scare me. That ruled out quest #1 in Northshire valley.

Supertroll-atiesh · May 24, 2020, 4:44am

I’ve always wondered why people view “barbarians” as a little dim and unsophisticated. They’re just as smart as anyone else and probably have a sophisticated trade network. You can bet when they got their hands on a piece of “modern” armor they wore the heck out of it.

Jaqen-grobbulus · May 24, 2020, 4:59am

I like that idea. I just crafted my first green and am wondering if I should put it on. That +2 stamina and additional leather armor may help a lot. I’m still rocking my starter area sword. I did get two more 6 slot bag drops. If I don’t get a weapon soon, when I hit lvl 10, it’s going to get really hard.

I can also tell I’m always going to be cash poor for training and getting added skills. I can train cooking, skinning and LWing right now, but I really need to save for 2H weapon training.

I’m lvl 7 and 7 or bubbles or so. I will push to 10 or so tomorrow and re-evaluate again.

Teckynate-remulos · May 24, 2020, 5:34am

How you plan to play appears to be going against how the game is intended for players to play.

I suggest that you be banned!

Chronotigger-benediction · May 24, 2020, 5:35am

I suggest exile from civilization!

Wait…

Battlebuddy-windseeker · May 24, 2020, 5:46am

Where is Blizzards rules saying “This is how we expect you play our game!”?

Ardenns-rexxar · May 24, 2020, 5:58am

I’d like to meet the player who beat the Warcraft III campaign by picking flowers.

Donkles-bloodsail-buccaneers · May 24, 2020, 6:11am

IIRC conan the barbarian had no problem going to cities. He went to the city, killed their leader, became the king, no problem.

I like your rules except for that one, tbh. Barbarians isn’t afraid of nuthin, least of all cities.

Khlause-kurinnaxx · May 24, 2020, 6:12am

You have embodied the greatness of vanilla wow. It’s one of the things about this game that very well may be unmatched by any other version of wow. Even my favorite expansions in some ways don’t compare to the better features of vanilla.

Blizzard could learn a lot from this, but I fear instead will only look at numbers and metrics that they assume means we are having fun and totally miss the point.

Drain-windseeker · May 24, 2020, 7:14am

If you want to be a “barbarian”, it probably would have made more sense to go orc. Regarding professions, leatherworking is a real bad choice for warrior. That would have made more sense on a rogue. Why don’t you just go orc rogue and spec into combat? That’s basically a leather clad warrior.

Jaqen-grobbulus · May 24, 2020, 7:28am

If I want to play an orc combat rogue, then I could raid too… which is not what I want to do.

Leatherworking is inline with barbarians living off the land. I skin use, and cook every animal I kill. I’m not trying for “ideal” professions.

Drain-windseeker · May 24, 2020, 7:33am

Then you’ll have a profession that is totally useless to the class you rolled. If that’s what you want to do, go right ahead, but it doesn’t sound like this game is going to properly support what you want to do. Perhaps it would make more sense to just roll on a singleplayer RPG.

Mangkyung-tichondrius · May 24, 2020, 9:05am

He’s roleplaying… clearly. Let him have this one, bro. It’s a cool idea

black dragonscale btw.

Maiverick-kromcrush · May 24, 2020, 12:07pm

Yeah, I agree. Leatherworking allows for some pretty cool mail armory items and mail armor kits which seems appropriate for this play style.

I can absolutely see a barbarian adding metal bits and dragonscale to leather armor

And I think trading would a completely reasonable thing to do.

Drain-windseeker · May 24, 2020, 4:05pm

Blacksmithing makes gear a warrior can use from 1 to 300, and it’s their best armor, not inferior for the class like leather/mail. Black dragon btw is a big waste unless you’re going into raiding. It’s made for fire resist, no other reason.

But he can do what he wants, as I’ve said. I just pointed out that it’s not a logical combination and suggested one that makes more sense. What he does with his gametime is up to him. Some people play gnome warriors/rogue, even though that’s clearly the worst race in the game for those classes (yay intellect boost on a class with no mana!). But I don’t judge. Play what you want.

Teckynate-remulos · May 24, 2020, 4:49pm

facepalm

Jaqen-grobbulus · May 24, 2020, 8:54pm

Played more and thought about this more. Name is Hyug and pronounced YOOG.

Yes, LWing and dragonscale is cool.

Simple rules:

NO DYING, NO Auction House, NO Hearthstone, No help from others (trades, freebies, gifting to alts, etc.), no portals, no summons, NO QUESTS.
Guidelines: Do not kill non-hostile humanoids.
Professions, first aid, cooking, fishing, skinning and LWing.
If you can make it or loot it then you can use / wear it.
You can use weaponmasters to train whatever you can train. You can ride blimps, trains, and go into cities; just don’t really enjoy it.
You can be in a guild for social reasons, but no guild groups, no guild runs, no guild gear (aka no assistance).
If a random player buffs you, you can use it. Ony drops when you are in SW, your lucky day. Getting buffed by all your guildees before a day of work, that’s in poor taste.

You kill it, you skin it and you cook it if you can. No buying gear from vendors, although you can sell junk to them and buy thread, dye, new recipes for cooking and LWing, etc.

Exception to quest rule: Hunter pet quest. Barbarians can be hunters or warriors, other classes just don’t make sense. Any race is fine with me, although I think being a zombie may be tough to tie into this.

Made it to lvl 9; also got a grey lvl 4 2H mace drop. I went and got it trained and am way more powerful. I need to find something better by lvl 12-15 or so though. The weapon issue is going to be a lot worse than the armor issue I feel. I plan on keeping every weapon I ever use in the bank as a memento. Grinding enough skins to afford weapon training is problematic. I also skilled up my unarmed, because I would hate to get killed by a mob with a disarm ability for no good reason.

Hyug is back in Elwynn. I think I can farm the boars until 10 or 11 and then farm the wolves and bears by the logging camp until lvl 14 or so. Then it will be time to move onto the boars, wolves, and vultures of Westfall while being very wary of the Defias. That will probably take a week or two. This type of play really slows down rapidly after each new level.

Malipho-kelthuzad · May 24, 2020, 9:21pm

This here folks, is how to ‘play’

Awesome work OP.

Skoldier-fairbanks · May 24, 2020, 9:26pm

Pretty sure that’s the point, he’s doing a fun challenge and roleplay for himself. And the game does properly support him for this, warriors can wear leather and take leatherworking. What you probably mean to say is that it’s not optimal, which it isn’t but who cares. It’s like when people prefer to wear gear that looks cool compared to if it’s “BIS” or rolling a gnome warrior because it looks cool not because it’s optimal.

Think of it this way, who is having more fun with the game:
The min maxers who rushed through the content and are crying for it to be pumped out faster, or the guy who makes up fun challenges for himself to test the game and roleplay his ideal class fantasy?

Also I love this by the way, this is what WoW classic is for. Keep up the good work Jaqen .

Thunderkoww-mankrik · May 24, 2020, 9:33pm

Obviously since there’s cities it’s intended for players to live there! /s