World of Warcraft 2004 Release and Your Experience

Community General Discussion
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World of Warcraft has celebrated 18 years of gaming excellence.

What was your experience during the 2004 Release? When you first started playing Wow for the first time, while the game was brand new?

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It was an adventure, to say the least. I was a lot younger and a bit slower on the uptake; I remember putting my armor and weapons on the action bar thinking that was how I equipped them, and constantly hitting the auto-attack ability, thinking that was how I did melee swings.

What a time. Digging deeper though, I remember being amazed by the scope of the world; there was a particular moment in STV when I ran across a rope bridge. I stopped and just kept turning the camera around, amazed at the detail of the jungle. I really do miss being able to see the world for the first time.

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I didnt start until the 4th anniversary of wow on an old account i deleted back in bfa when i walked away from the game after the blitzchung incident. I really thought activision had completely taken over.

I remember questing in teldrassil on a night elf hunter for the first time then created a death knight after i hit level 70 on my hunter.

I quit and went to play city of heroes for a year until ulduar released and came back to the game.

I then wanted to heal so i created a holy paladin during ulduar and was terrible at it. So…

I wanted to aoe raid heal and figured resto druid could do it so i leveled through dungeon finder and alterac valley. (The xp gain was insane, 3 levels per AV at the time.)

I found out i was super terrible at tunneling so i went kitty druid and that was my main for 6 years. Fun times.

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I remember doing dps in Uldaman in bear form instead of cat form so I wouldn’t die as easily, before understanding the roles…:rofl: Then switching from feral to balance spec and pretty much just casting starfire/moonfire immediately followed by entangling roots over and over again because moonkin form didn’t exist yet and I was quite squishy, especially against devilsaurs! And then I eventually got a little better and switched to resto and had a blast running dungeons to collect my Wildheart set and raiding Molten Core and Onyxia for Cenarion gear. Always really enjoyed questing and just being immersed in the atmosphere of the Kalimdor zones, especially Teldrassil, Darkshore, Ashenvale, Moonglade, Felwood, Feralas, Un’goro, etc.

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I took numerous breaks during Vanilla. The game was okay but it was obvious that we were waiting on Burning Crusade to really kick things off. And then BC hit and delivered. Wow! Now BC was something else. It took this concept of a game and turned it into an actual game.

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My first experience was during the Fall 2004 beta stress test leveling contest. I came in first place for highest leveled paladin and nearly died reaching the goal. I think I had 6 hours sleep the entire week of the contest. But I won a beta key :dracthyr_uwahh_animated:

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It blew my mind. I had just spent 4 months playing my first MMO ever (Star Wars: Galaxies), and was immediately hooked (on WoW). I wanted to play for countless hours every day if I could. Some of the most memorable gaming times of my life for sure. I played a Forsaken Mage and loved every aspect of the experience.

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I had an active clan on WarCraft3: The Frozen Throne before WoW. When WoW got released, I have never seen any clanmate to pop out again on WarCraft 3. I was lonely.

I was not ready yet with WoW back then becoz I was still using dial-up. Later on December, I decided to get a Broadband internet. I figured to buy WoW as my Xmas present for me. I was leveling a NightElf on Christmas of 2004.

I was like a serious gamer before WoW and still a gamer today. And I was amazed how massive the maps of WoW compared to any games I played before. I have beaten Bard’s Tale 2 and Ultima 4 and 5, making my own maps. At least on WoW, I dont need to make my own maps.

Black Fathom Deep was my first dungeon and we wiped when opening the last chamber towards the last boss where all mobs pop out and overwhelmed us… Our group was composed of 2 Warrior Tanks, a DPS and a Druid Healer. We left the dungeon scared. ROFL.

While exploring and leveling, I realized many players has Blue gear. But getting a Blue gear from dungeons are hard. And I see low level players like mine almost fully decked with Blues. It must be a vendor. But I cant find a Blue gear from any Vendor. I have no time to click all the Vendors on Darnassus. On Ironforge, finally I got stumbled into a strange market room… the Auction House. Oh, so that’s where people get their Blues… LOL.

When I first saw Duskwood, it was so creepy as hell. I saw players attacking on the cemetery… Bunch of them attacking… It was Mor’ladim but he’s 5 levels above us. I joined them. But we got pwned. ROFL. So I ran… just to get stumbled to Strange mob walking on the street in the middle of the night… Stitches. I saw him 5 levels above me too so I didnt engage. I just followed him. Then near the town some players ambushed him. It’s like 7 players vs Stitches and the villagers NPC joined too. I joined of course. And still we got pwned. ROFL.

The first dungeon that really amazed me becoz of its nature beauty was Maraudon. Waterfalls all around… so pleasing to see. I have overheard that this dungeon has a Princess in the end. I thought at first, this must be a pretty maiden waiting to be rescued. I learned of her name … Princess Theradras only to be disappointed that this Princess is a monster. ROFL. It was a good fight… Of course, wipe again… Getting used to Wiping as part of experience. I did my best to run back to get back aggro becoz he has this pushback pushing me away and I was the Tank. It was a pleasure getting her killed. Then our tour guide player asked us to jump to the waterfalls afterwards just to see a humongous giant crocodile. We were all swimming. Then the tour guide asks me… go get him to us. Me? I forgot, I was the Tank. I was scared on this Boss. How would I tank this while swimming? ROFL. I think we have spent over 2 hours already on this dungeon. It was an Epic experience.

Then I stumbled on internet that there is an Amazing level 40 Blue 2 Handed Sword or Axe for Warriors as part of Warrior quest… The Whirlwind Axe. I think it was Thottbot or another website older than Thottbot. I forgot. But I followed the chain quests. Part of the Chain is to go to the Horde continent and I was an Alliance… running there on foot. ROFL. And I think I have to get something from Razorfen Kraul or Downs so I brought a friend with me. It’s hard to bring my Alliance friends to these far place on foot. I only got 1 friend… a Warrior too so she would know what to do when it’s time to get hers. And she helped me get my Whirlwind Axe.

I have tons of amazing adventures in Vanilla. I really have tons of them. I worked my way from Molten Core… getting maximum Fire Resists all the way to Naxx40. And I also did PvP too… endless fighting against the High Warlord groups on WSG and Arathi Basin. I just finished Lt Commander but I have Naxx 40 gear and weapons to make High Warlord groups scared of me.

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My experience at the launch of Vanilla was that I couldn’t find the game to buy it. I drove around multiple counties looking for it.

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I remember scooting around Durotar in the loot lag kneel.

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I got it that Christmas, made a troll mage and played all night. I was blown away with it.

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I will NEVER forget that experience. Especially having come from a previous MMO. There was actually something to compare it to.

I played Asheron’s Call (Morningthaw!) before WoW. The three main differences for this story is that: you might see 50+ people in the major trade hubs (Arwic, Subway, etc), but out and about questing or playing the game?? You NEVER saw more than 5-10 people at a time. Also, AC had no music. And AC had no mounts of any kind. You took portals EVERYWHERE.

Coming from that… I started on a throwaway chr, an undead warlock.

Logging in and just being amazed at the graphics of Deathknell. Quest givers clearly marked with their “!” and the MADNESS of seeing allllllll thoooosssee people!!! omg it was INSANE how many people were in Deathknell on opening day!! lolol

And then as I started to move away from the pack, the creepy music just made that zone such an EXPERIENCE. It literally took my breath away.

And as Forrest Gump said, there are certain things a man never forgets.

The next day, my gf called me at work. I answer the phone and she is giggling and laughing HYSTERICALLY. I’m like wtf… she says "OMG BABY! I’M RIDING A BAT!!! I’m taking a flight path somewhere… I’M RIDING ON A BAT!!! "

I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone so excited in all my life. <3

Those first 4-6 months of Vanilla were absolute magic.

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I one of the few launch day folks left. Actually there are more than you’d imagine, but still a low number.

Other than sever lag and disconnects, some amazing fun bugs that carried over from Alpha and Beta, the game was and still is a breath of fresh air.

I spent the first few hours getting my guild together and becoming the first guild on the server (not the guild I currently am in) and I still have that guild as well.

Just lots of fond memories from back then with some really chill folks. I also still play with a handful of those friends. 18 years and going strong :smiley:

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I didn’t play right away. I remember with War3 we’d gotten little teaser art for the MMO, and I admit I was interested, but I wasn’t running on my own disposable income and was in a position to be forced to see how it was on release before I could do any convincing to get it.

When I learned a bit, I just lost interest. It really seemed like a low effort Everquest clone to me, at the time. My opinion on that has changed, but I still really don’t like Vanilla. It’s a game that wasn’t sure yet what its gameplay identity should be.

I played Vanilla a very miniscule amount before BC, to my recollection didn’t play at all in BC and then picked the game up in earnest in WotLK.

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I started playing in may of 2005. I still remember doing the Darkshire quests and unleashing Stitches upon the town. The first time I stepped into Upper Blackrock Spire. That first run through the Timbermaw tunnel to get into Winterspring. That first time that Devilsaur appeared at the edge of the sad range my computer could render at the time.

The terror of traveling between continents. My PC was really bad at the time. Sometimes it would take so long to load in I would dc from inactivity. I was stuck in a loop and could not move. Having to walk backwards in SW just to see something other than intersecting plates of the 3d world. Once I upgraded later that summer all the problems went away. Well, ok the loading, the graphic problems with SW those went away. I still see the world with awe every expansion. Seeing the new zones. Truely only one xpac has been a disappointment to me, and that is SL. I just felt nothing towards it. Not love, not hate. Just indifference. Two characters at 60, and I have not even bothered to build the faction thing up. I tried, but I just could not care.

While I have fond memories of Vanilla, BC, Wrath, I don’t really want to try to relive them. classic is just not my thing. Hoping the next xpac will be fun. We shall see.

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I remember tanking in PVP gear in burning crusade.

Yeah…

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I missed the Nov 2004 launch by 3 months, Joining in Feb 2005. (This was due to my own procrastination as I knew the game launched in Nov 2004 but I just didn’t dive in at first).

The game was “awesome” dare I say (and also for lack of not knowing how better to say it) . I started on Elune and I still to this day consider Elune my “home realm” (even though I have characters, horde and alliance, spread across four different realms as I type this).

First character ever made was a dwarf paladin, I still have him (I deleted every other character over the years and made new ones – but I won’t delete that pally).

Anyway you asked about the experience – my best and probably my worse time in this game was 2005-2009, that for my personal perspective was the “glory days of WoW”.

But the “worse time” I hinted at above – I was likely on the verge of being addicted to the game (I mean like how a licensed therapist would classify someone has an addiction). I played the game almost more than the hours I put in at work, each week – 40+ hours into the game.

I had a great guild, so a big part of that was the social experience – every night (just about I think I did take Sundays off most weekends - that was family stuff) we’d be on Ventrilo just BSing (rarely talked about the game btw) , about 30 of us , men, women, all ages…from teens to college age to a few that were over 55.

We ran quests helping each other out, did BGs together, back then I raided a lot – well it was because of the people…they were fun to experience the game with.

Then the game itself was “awesome” because simply it was new. Back then every zone I entered was the FIRST time I saw that zone, walking into IF the first time ever was pretty cool. Each dungeon was new to me…so yeah it was a good time.

But my GF at the time didn’t like it, I played too much she said. As time went on I realized I played too much, and saving you the details of how I changed…well I wised up. Ever since late 2009 early 2010 I haven’t played half as much. But also all those friends in game broke apart, the guild had a falling out people left the game for good, etc.

I know most of them never even played past Cata at all.

I took breaks some a few months , one for a year, and I came back pretty regularly (about 10-15 hours a week played on average now) late last year.

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I was using the family PC for Diablo II in a big way at the time, and I had just saved enough money to get my first “gaming” PC specifically for WoW.
I had been playing all WC, SC and Diablo games by then and only realized at that moment that Blizz made both WC and Diablo.
So imagine the hype.

I was hoping WoW was going to be D&D brought to life virtually. EQ never grabbed me, seemed too rigid.

It was a fun experience. The very beginning was a tad awkward: I made a human paly with IRL friends and I guess I didn’t play open world games before that or do quest type hand ins? So I had trouble understanding a breadcrumb path and quests IIRC. I got lost around the Northshire Abby/Goldshire area and remember thinking it all looked the same no matter where I roamed xD

First WASD game I owned, but I got my legs under my feet pretty quick.

Duskwood really captured me. I loved the whole aesthetic. I love werewolves and zombies and play a Worgen DK and an Undead Rogue to this day. Mor’ladim and that whole crooked tree area? gd that was so cool back then.

I’ll never forget chillin’ in Darkshire and seeing an ARMY of a motley crew with orange names for the first time all over the outskirts of our town preparing an assault. It was probably a raid of 40 but felt like 1000.
I didn’t actually clue in as to what I was seeing at first. I remember randomly clicking into the blob of mobs from afar. I had something selected (later realizing it was a Tauren); in my targeting frame the combination of their facial features and gear half covering their face, I was completely confused by what I was looking at, it was certainly a monster.
But I also remember an Orc named “Claude” kinda in the front and was like “Blizz wouldn’t name an Orc ‘Claude’ would they?”
After mulling over this I eventually figured it out… these were opposing players, and I decided Claude was their leader.
Well, the Horde descended on us, I healed an Alliance player and suddenly it was red vs green. I fought valiantly and died a lot of warrior’s deaths during that attack on Darkshire, but it was the first time I got some real blood pumping “oh, I can get into this :smiling_imp:”

I remember a Hunter friend in Ventrilo wanted some rare pet in the Barrens and was lamenting she’d never get it because she was Alliance and the Barrens was Horde territory. I was like “whaddya mean? We can still go there, just be quick ;)”
I eventually convinced her we can tame her pet. We can take a boat to Ratchet, and I’ll escort her, we’ll be fine.
Boat ride over to Barrens, she was VERY nervous/anxious, as most PVERs are with the looming threat of surprise PVP. We stepped off the boat and booked it in whatever direction she said, on our mounts.
All seemed pretty quiet at first. A little too quiet.
Once we were out in the open, we saw 2 horde on mounts in the far distance.
It was so crazy how like, clearly we were trying to avoid conflict (just passin’ through, thanks!), and from afar you could see them notice us, turn to face us, and size us up. What I mean was there was interaction between our two groups even in this vague situation. There was a discussion within both parties, we took stock of each other. There was no apathy, neither of us dismissed the other. .

They were both skull level to me.
They start to pursue us.
My hunter buddy was level 60, but I was level 45.
I asked her what level they were, she said they were both 60.
I told her we’ll just keep going towards her pet and they’ll give up chase.
Turns out they had epic mounts, we did not.
They hit us up. My buddy basically froze from anxiety and expected to die and get camped. I could imagine her face was probably beet red.
I remember telling her to conc shot and scatter shot and maybe trap. I remember telling her to Flare because one of them was a rogue (who didn’t open with stealth, what a dummy…).
I remember dispelling us. HOJ. I remember side healing.
It became apparent we weren’t dying as fast as we expected.
I told her get ready to just run. I gave her Blessing of Freedom from some slow debuff she had and told her just run, run, I’ll hold them off!"
And she reluctantly did so, like “what about you?”
“I don’t matter, just go get your pet”.
She ran off, still in Ventrilo obviously.

Somehow. SOMEHOW. I got a kill.
I started inching in the direction of my buddy to kinda be like alright, fights over, gotta go! But I think we all know that wasn’t going to fly back then.
She says in Ventrilo “omg I see [my pet]!”
I guess we were close to XR, because the dead hordie spawned again really quick…
But I got another kill. I remember being oom and running in the general direction of my buddy before they finally bested me.
I asked her, “well, did you get your pet? xD”
“Taming it now… got it!”
For a looong time, she told everyone how “brave” I was lol
She stopped playing some time after TBC released, and we never kept up.

That little excursion may be nothing to modern WoW players; but back then, the game and the relationships were really quite visceral beyond min/maxing, pretty pixels, pay2win. People had reputations to maintain. Realms had communities. Nobody was anonymous. Everyone had individuality. There was a healthy economy and ecosystem. People coexisted, and that was the game.

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My very first char was a druid after reading up carefully, a nelf. But then i seen someone with a pet and it blew my mind, so i deleted the druid and made a hunter, which is still my main to this day.

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I actually started playing Everquest 2 first, but dropped that game completely by January 2005 or so when it became clear that World of Warcraft was the better MMO.

I played a Gnome Warlock, mostly because it was a pet class and looked more interesting to me than being a hunter.

It was a lot of fun. I went into the game with a friend of mine from school, but he ended up quitting before hitting level 60. I went on to join a casual raiding guild on my server and made it through Molten Core and Blackwing Lair, but we didn’t clear AQ40 before BC launched.

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