Breakfast Topic: David and Goliath moments
by Jennie Lees 
Feb 13th 2006 at 8:00AM
Sometimes it's hard to suspend your disbelief
in the game; one such moment happened to me yesterday as I watched an undead rogue finish off several ogres in quick
succession while only being as tall as their knees. Playing a gnome alt, there are plenty of times when I wonder
"how on earth did this little creature get the capacity to deal so much damage?", especially as almost
everything she fights is bigger than her.Have you had a favourite "David and Goliath" moment? Of course, downing bosses can definitely give you the same feeling, but somehow it seems OK for a lot of people to bring down something much bigger than them.
Filed under: Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mike Feb 13th 2006 8:30AM
Well that huge boss in Wailing Caverns was definitely the first of those moments for me, but it was in a group. I've not yet faced anything solo that was much larger than me. However, I have gotten that "David and Goliath" feeling when wandering around Ashenvale and the Wandering Protector just happens by.
Then there's the reverse feeling: when I was around 20 or 21 fighting silithids in the Southern Barrens and the little bastards were taking me down to like 25% health every fight.
Brad Feb 13th 2006 9:16AM
I agree with Mike. The end boss in WC was the first "big monster" that I ever fought. I'm sure its many other peoples as well.
RighteousDork Feb 13th 2006 11:35AM
Not so much with fighting but I have been trying to collect all of the coins of ancestry with my Level 30 Hunter. It took multiple deaths and a lot of cash to recover from the durability hit, but I was able to get the coin from Thunder Bluff. That's right...a Level 30 Dwarf tried running into the Tauren capital city just to grab a stupid coin. It was a very humbling experience and I still can't believe I managed to pull it off. It felt pretty good just getting the one from Crossroads but this was a completely different kind of high. I've been trying to get the one in Azshara and was roaming around in spirit form when I came across the spirit of a dragon just walking around. Between those and the Ancients in Darnassus, there are a lot of those moments when you feel so insignificant. I would not want to be a Horde trying to take down one of those ancients. The ground shakes when they walk people! That's incredible. When I first saw the Wandering Protector in Ashenvale, I felt certain that he was going to crush me. Turns out he's cool. Just wandering, you know.
Jim Feb 13th 2006 11:42AM
Agreed. The first time my warrior soloed one of the giants wandering around Desolace, my mental reaction was "I'll bite your kneecaps off!".
It makes more sense for ranged combat, really. A hunter firing off arrows into precisely aimed weak spots, a mage funneling arcane energies... just seems a lot more likely to take down some immense creature than a wee rogue whacking away at the beast's ankles.
James Feb 13th 2006 1:28PM
Yeah, the first time you go flying in the air vs. Taragaman in RageFire Chasm is kinda fun. I'd been knocked to the ground, but never up in the air. Wheeee!
Mike Feb 13th 2006 2:36PM
Ya, Ursangous in Ashenvale was the first time I got tossed up in the air. Although, Ursangous is not nearly as large as Tarragaman [sic].
Sam Mellick Feb 13th 2006 3:41PM
As people have mentioned, the WC boss. I got amazed by this and every now and again, I stealth run it just for funsies and to show off to my brother (who doesn't know it is 25 levels below me).
-Sam
Dick Feb 13th 2006 8:47PM
I was trying to do the king of the foulweave quest where you put a flag on a mound and a bunch of furbolgs attack you. We were halfway done and the wandering protector suddenly took up my whole screen. Not so much of a david and goliath moment though because he proceeded to destroy us.
Jorrdan Feb 14th 2006 5:35PM
When I was a lvl 57 dwarf hunter I killled one of the giant T-Rexs in Un Goro. Pretty cool felling to take down a dino 4 stories tall.
Acceptable Risk Feb 15th 2006 1:47PM
Sort of a big monster story.
Probably, the best time I've had in an instance was a while back when two buddies and I ran through Black Fathom Deep. We were pretty under-leveled at the time and two men short of the normal group. I wanna say we were something like level 26 Warrior, 26 Warlock, and 21 Druid. It was an uphill battle the whole way through but our coordination was astounding.
I (Warlock) was switching between voidwalker and succubus every couple of fights to most effectively off-tank/seduce. It's a lot to watch out for when you're playing tank (voidwalker) on top of the somewhat complicated DPS of the warlock. It was kinda tough juggling all of the DoT's and managing my DPS so as to not pull too much on myself. And keeping track of which murlock is about to run and hit him with Recklessness at just the right time is tricky when you don't have much experience. Another cool trick I discovered at the time (but everyone else probably knows) is using Drain Mana to pull the casters. You suck all of their mana out and they'll run right for you.
Our warrior was in a constant struggle to hold the aggro and was guzzling potions and healthstones like crazy to keep his HP up. I'd often have to pull a mob onto myself so that the druid would have enough time to get off a healing touch at just the last second.
Our druid was always shifting roles from off-tank, to rogue, to healer and back again. He did a hell of a job, especially for being such a low level. He'd heal, pull aggro, switch to the bear and tank it out until the warrior and I finished the main threat, then the warrior would pull the guy off and our druid would switch back, heal warrior, heal himself, then pop into cat form and DPS the last couple of guys to death. For having only played a couple of weeks, this guy was on top of things.
The tensest moment of the whole thing was probably when I died to one of the big elementals near the end. Our Druid's resurrection was on cooldown so I was running back. I managed to catch the very first crab we killed repopulating and it chased me through the whole instance. I had to use Fear to keep him off of me but of course that led to him running into some groups that we'd left alone. So by the time I got back to my friends, I had a train of four or five mobs trailing me. It was kind of rough getting that back under control.
The hydra is where the big monster part comes in, but that was relatively easy compared to the rest. The way we dealt with it was kind of slick, though. I soul stoned our druid and we luckily managed to work it out so he pulled aggro with a heal using the last of his mana. So the hydra pretty much just eats him alive and goes back to the warrior. He pops the SS and comes back nearly full mana, plenty to keep the tank healed for the rest of the fight.
I gotta say, that was probably the most fun I've had with this game.
jennie Feb 15th 2006 4:19PM
Acceptable Risk, your story reminds me why I love being a druid so much :-)
Uthelm Feb 17th 2006 10:45AM
I would have to say the first time I was thrown into the air was in Zul'Farrak when we fought Gahz'rilla. I had never run it before and we start the fight and the next thing I know I am 50 feet in the air, lol. Gahz'rilla is huge and watching people hack at its feet kills me everytime!!