Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsBreakfast Topic: Five years
by Michael Sacco 
Nov 23rd 2009 at 8:00AM
Thankfully, Blizzard has made WoW a living, breathing document, a world that constantly changes and evolves to match its players, which is what makes it so accessible. Throughout dozens of patches, tiers upon tiers of raid bosses, waves of dailies, faction grinds and honor grinds, legendaries and greens, WoW has managed to keep growing and growing along with its subscriber count. And of course, you've been there, too. Maybe not for the whole five years like some of us, but everyone's experienced the game in their own way.
So what about you? How long have you been with the game? What's your favorite memory of "growing up" in WoW? Will you keep playing for another five years?
Happy anniversary, everybody. Here's to five more!
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 6)
Hansbo Nov 23rd 2009 8:18AM
I've been in the game since the closed beta. And boy, what a long, strange trip it's been!
theminifig Nov 23rd 2009 8:21AM
I've been playing for the whole five years, though, I could not remember the account I used to play on after I took a break for a while. So I resigned up with one with my real name, and I've been playing since. I think that's been three years.
Lur Nov 23rd 2009 8:25AM
I've been around since Nov 2005 and I'm amazed every day at how much has changed and how outdated Azeroth feels now. So many people that play now just have no idea where to find something they need in the old world. I'm looking forward to the update in Cataclysm. Hopefully running around in 1 - 60 zones won't feel so out of date with the rest of the game then.
My favorite moment is still the AQ world event and invasion... I played Horde on Moonrunner at the time. :o)
Fizzlle Nov 23rd 2009 8:25AM
I started playing WoW a few months after launch. My favorite memory is when how to play WoW "clicked" in my head. It took me all of vanilla WoW and most of BC before it happened. I didn't hit 60 on my first toon until 4 days before BC. I didn't hit 70 on that toon until 2 months before Wrath. Then one day a guildie of mine let me play on his epic'd out pally to level him on my account. CLICK! I understood how to play. As it stands I have 5 80's, a 74, a 72 and a 70. I love this game!
Valt Nov 23rd 2009 8:26AM
January 2007 started my journey. I made warrior and night elf. Night elf because I thought back then that only nelfs could turn into cats like in trailer.
My favorite moments were running from wetlands to IF. Not that I ever knew the way to IF or why I wanted to go there..but back then I just explored a lot of places. When I finally got to Dun Morogh I was going in the road totally lost till I found 2 gnome mages. I asked them way to IF. They were helpful and it really felt nice. If I would've done that nowdays I prolly would get "lol ur toal nooob look wowhead".
My favorite instance runs were Deadmines and Blackfatom.. naturally as tank. I still remember time when I was offtank in deadmines. Vancleef was so bad ass then I had to offtank the adds he had. Oh how has time gone thro. After BC came I ditched my warrior to 49 and occasionally pvp'd with it. Leaving it only alliance I had. So I leveled my warlock to 50 or so and stopped playing for year. Came back in 2.3 leveled to 70, got S2 gear and started raiding. Now in wotlk I leveled my nelf to 70 and faction transferred it. I play my warrior now more than my main I had. From depths of deadmines I've tanked lots of stuff, mainly current content(10man) and uld10 hardmodes (thorim, freya3, hodir..) and I love playing my warrior even after all these years.
Valt Nov 23rd 2009 8:31AM
leveled warrior to 80*. and "TL;DR": The best part of this game has been exploring every place there is. I have never liked RPG games but wow made it so "simple" that I could pick it up and play. And it was arguably biggest game I've played ever. There was so much stuff to explore it was amazing. Every corner of every place felt new and intresting.
Lur Nov 23rd 2009 8:42AM
Not everyone is rude to new players these days... For the last week I've been helping out a new player who's got a Troll Shaman that I bumped into while leveling my Mage. Also, when I was doing Pilgrim's Bounty quests in Durotar, I noticed someone complaining about the absence of bags dropping from mobs in the starting area. So, I rummaged through my bank for some 10 slotters that where just taking up space and rode out and gave them to him.
Some people get off on feeling "superior" because they've got a decked out end game toon. They forget that WoW is actually a game and chances are someone else can come along and accomplish everything they have, and better. I pity those folks, because they have to have something important missing in their life to derive their self-worth from the accomplishments in a video game.
Mike the DK Nov 23rd 2009 11:56AM
don't you mean you "pity the fools" ? on a side note, i've been playing this game since just a lil' bit before BC came out; i still remember grinding mistvale gorillas for $ to pay for my level 40 mount...oh how the days have changed *sighs in melancholy
dawnseven Nov 23rd 2009 8:26AM
I started playing in July 2006 (Patch 1.11). Other games come and go, but my WoW account has always been active. I have so much fun, time, and effort invested in it I can't imagine not playing it anymore. There are many good memories to list.
zweitblom Nov 23rd 2009 8:28AM
Why does that char look so much better than the human female model we ended up with?
theminifig Nov 23rd 2009 8:31AM
I've been making posts in the Cataclysm section of the official forums that if they have time to re-do everything they should re-do all the older player models too.. :[
Jessca Nov 23rd 2009 8:29AM
I've been playing since just before Halloween 2006. My friend was showing me around the game and he reminded me to trick-or-treat every hour. I thought the fact that Blizzard would put trick-or-treating in the game was just the sweetest thing. It was like Blizzard wasn't taking themselves too seriously.
I remember my first instance was blackfathom, and even at lvl 25ish my little troll had never been outside of Durotar and the Barrens. Running from Crossroads to Zoram'gar and being enveloped in the new scenery and music of Ashenvale was a huge epic adventure for me. I sat at my computer, looking like an idiot I'm sure, mouth open, gazing at purple trees and night elf architecture, turning up the soothing enya-like music, reaching the ocean at Zoram'gar and thinking it was really nifty that I had crossed a whole continent and was seeing the ocean on the other side. The world Blizzard had created seemed so much more complete than I had imagined.
Elwoods Nov 23rd 2009 8:28AM
Best memory?
1) Walking up to Ironforge as a fresh little dwarf hunter - man the place looked so BIG.
2) Making my first friends in WoW - some of whom I still actually talk to.
3) Making friends in WoW period! :)
Tri Nov 24th 2009 4:43AM
Yeah I remember seeing IF for the first time.. it was before I developed a sense of direction in the game.. I got so lost I ended up creating a new character (a night elf)!
I love this game.. met some awesome people that I really enjoy playing and chatting with..
Heleos Nov 23rd 2009 8:32AM
Its my birthday today, this time 5 years ago I was given WoW as a gift and I've been playing ever since.
Zakarii Nov 23rd 2009 8:51AM
Happy Birthday!
ratmaggot Nov 23rd 2009 8:31AM
4years 1month for me... so many "wow!" memories but still one of the first was as an utter beginner, not understanding how BIG the world was and finding Elwynn Forest "wow, this is big!". Ten mins later I found SW and crossing over that bridge... just... blew me away.
I didn't last as a human though.
HHUK Nov 23rd 2009 8:34AM
I started playing a few days after launch, one of the guys at my college was playing it from day one and he was telling me how awesome it was, he sent me a few screenshots and I was sold.
It was a few days in and the starter area was so packed, it was hard to even tag quest mobs and it seemed to take months to level up, back in the days before quest helper and reliable information.
I played with that from college alot until recently, he took pride in being one of the best tanks on the server and all the gear/badge changes just pissed him off, he saw alot of new, inexperienced players get gear as good as his Ulduar gear within weeks, he found his new guild to prefer certain people who didn't even know the tactics to raid fights...
He sold his account. I don't know if I'd sell my WoW account for £200, it has too much history for me. Plus, I know I'd wanna play again one day.
Katarr Nov 23rd 2009 10:31AM
Five years ago, I sat in a Wal-Mart at midnight waiting for this new MMORPG based on the Warcraft universe. My best friend and I were sure that the game would be popular, so we showed up two hours early to stand in line, on my birthday. We were the only ones who showed up.
We went home, more excited than we'd been for a while, opened our boxes (my friend bought a collector's edition,) logged in, and we've been playing ever since.
My paladin has been with me ever since that day, through the race to beat MC (We were on Shattered Hand, one of the top servers at launch,) lazy days 40-manning it through Molten Core, the introduction of ZG, the Hakkari plague, Burning Crusade (still got my tabard from the opening event,) tanking Kara, the introduction of dailies, The Zombie Invasion, Wrath, up to today.
Things I remember:
When crafted items meant something, then didn't, then did again.
When maximum sized raids of Horde and Alliance would duke it out for Doom Lord Kazzak. (and the nerfs that accompanied it)
When Mara was patched in (yes, it was a patch.)
When Dire Maul was patched in, and everyone was soooo happy that we had another 3 end-game 5-mans to run (Up from the 4 at the time.)
When warlocks were the scariest guys on two legs (and Doomgards killed a person when you summoned them)
When all of those places in the old world that were full of Elites got nerfed.
Furbolg rep.
I continue to play to this day, and likely will play long into the future. LONG LIVE WORLD OF WARCRAFT.
youngshinobi Nov 23rd 2009 8:41AM
i started in BC and pretty much enjoyed leveling and world pvp when it exsisted.