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 3 of 6)
firetruck66 Nov 23rd 2009 8:43AM
started playing wow in january '06, took forever to figure out the game, but it was the most fun learning the new characters. Didn't undertsand you could keep toons and reroll new ones, i deleted the lvl 36 warior i had and rolled a pally, been on him since.
Favorite memory?
I have made a lot of friends through wow, who i still interact with today. Being able to get on vent and tell my guild that my wife and i were expecting after a year of trying, only to tell them a couple months later we were having twins! Then to come home from the hospital and get on and tell everyone my boys were here and their names. The support was great as my wife had a difficult pregnancy. I had to send out 80 emails with pics to my guildies! When i took my 7 month hiatus after that, wow was still there when i was comfortable enough to get back in the game. Congrats Blizzard! Here's to another 5 years and 3 more expansions!
Wraithanne Nov 23rd 2009 8:46AM
Original F&F Alpha here. My best memories are just watching the evolution of the game. The first time I logged in the UI was very crude, you lost XP on death and you got abilities through skill points you earned on level ups.
Teldrassil looked much like it does now, beautiful. Ironforge was radically different, not the big circular layout we're used to now. Night Elves had to swim to Stormwind cause there was no way to get the flight point from Ironforge(waaaaaay pre-tram).
And speaking of flight points....let's just say you had to do lots of running back then.
Aside from a break here and there I've been playing nearly 5.5 years in the World....of Warcraft. Here's to 5 more.
Zakarii Nov 23rd 2009 8:47AM
About 3 years here. I started playing in around mid-BC as a Blood Elf Warlock, and then a Paladin. After leveling more characters to 70 and then 80 then I care to mention and a few faction transfers, I'm quite happy as a Human Paladin on Crushridge. (Meikos)
zaababy Nov 23rd 2009 8:48AM
I started in June of 2005. It's incredible to me that I've played this long! The first character that clicked was my troll mage. I leveled her through the battlegrounds and got her the nifty title of Blood Guard. She was my first 60, first 70, first 80. I didn't raid very much until bc came out, and discovered that side of WoW. Super fun! After all these years I finally went back and leveled my very first toon, a dwarf hunter, to 80. I have 3 80s, a 78, 76, 73, 71, and tons under that. I have one server for Horde, one for Alliance. The only serious break I've taken from the game was after I grinded for my netherdrake. I didn't play for a month after that! But it was so worth it. My mage has the violet proto drake, the fawn pet and the albino drake. She is my main, I guess. I miss some of the old things, such as the 40 mans we used to run, they were so great, but all in all I think the game has grown quite wonderfully. Good times, good friends, good memories.
mcnadeau Nov 23rd 2009 8:50AM
I started playing in June of 2008 after trying out my daughter's character on her account. Shortly afterward, I got the wife involved in it as well, now all 3 of us play! My most memorable experience was the Scourge Invasion and the launch of Wrath. In the relatively short time I've been playing, I've level 2 toons to 80 (hunter & mage), with several others in the 74 t0 40 range!
November 23rd is also my wedding anniversary date! A wonderful 18 years and counting!
Cyryus Nov 23rd 2009 9:54AM
Happy Anniversary! That is amazing :) Congrats!!
Deleth Nov 23rd 2009 8:53AM
About 3 years ago, I went the my grandparents house over Christmas to find my grandpa playing WoW. Back then I was 12. He let me watch him a little, and after that me and my friend play continious trail accounts because I wasn't allowed to have an account. When I came back over the summer, he let me play a little. I rolled a human warrior on Echo Isles, and got to level 13 in a week. I pretty much forgot about WoW for the rest of the year until we came back the summer after that, where I leveled my warrior to 19. For my birthday party, one of my friends gave me the Classical WoW, and I started playing with him on Moonrunner as an alliance warlock. This was about 2 weeks before Wrath came out. Around May of 2009, I hit level 55 on my lock and transferred over to Echo Isles because my friend had quit. I also bought Wrath that night, and rolled a DK. I forgot about my lock, and I have a 71 DK which hit 71 last night.
My best memory was realizing that level 20 was a pretty low level after getting my own account. :)
artifex Nov 26th 2009 11:45AM
Put some more time in, in Northrend, you'll be 80 in no time. But I think it's cool you're enjoying the scenery more, not racing to the end. Don't forget your lock forever, though, unless you really hate casting; it's useful to have a second high level, and you can certainly make use of his different professions.
Shay Nov 23rd 2009 8:52AM
I've been playing since the beta. At launch, my first (and still favorite toon) was a prot pally. WoW was my first MMO and I had no idea what I was doing. Went into my first instance, Deadmines. Had no idea that I was the "Tank", nor what a tank was. Had no idea what this silly thing called Aggro was or why the mobs kept going past me to get to the mage. All I knew was I liked the fact that as long as I was alive (trying to 'tank' and heal at the same time) the party was ok. Once I died, everyone else did in short order. That sense of being the lynchpin in the group set me on the path of tankdom that I've never stepped away from and I still love.
After countless wipes, we finally made it to the ship. Then, the Tauren First Mate quickly stomped us...all our gear was broke...and we had to leave the place broken-hearted. But the sight of that awesome ship, the huge cove, the sense of adventure and wonderment that Deadmines gave me was the hook that fully caught me in the throes of WoW-love. Even if trying to level a prot pally from 1-60 in vanilla WoW just about broke my spirit.
Hairfish Nov 23rd 2009 8:56AM
I rolled my first character, a Tauren Shaman, in January of 2007. She made it all the way to lvl 16. :P
My favorite memory is when my first *permanent* character ~ now my lvl 80 main ~ reached lvl 40 and got her mount. I hated that Elekk! So my second favorite memory is that same character reaching exalted with Darnassus and getting her Swift Frost-Sabre mount.
Bossy Nov 23rd 2009 8:56AM
2006. Best moment?
Mostly the last BG I win...
No doubt I'll play this game another 3 years.
Sad not being a noob anymore though.
thehoodie Nov 23rd 2009 8:57AM
I've been playing for about a year now, and loving every moment of it.
Thanks, World of Warcraft!
Hairfish Nov 23rd 2009 8:58AM
January, 2008. TWO-THOUSAND EIGHT. I'm coming up on my second anniversary with the game.
Damn typos.
Shethornclaw Nov 23rd 2009 8:59AM
I have been playing for a little over 3 years. And my best memory is leveling one of my first characters (a warlock) and having no earthly idea about how stats worked. For example I need rolled a Sword of the Monkey (Agility/Stamina) in a dungeon run because "I can use Swords!!!"
Batleth Nov 23rd 2009 9:00AM
I got WoW as a Christmas gift from wife in 2006. Unfortunately we were traveling for the holidays, so I didn't get to install and play it until a few days after New Years. Driving from Pittsburgh to Atlanta with a hot new game in your luggage is a nightmare! 8-)
When I did get in the game finally, the friend that got me into it was helping me set everything up and choose my professions. My first question (after many many years of Nintendo and Xbox) was "How do I save?" What a n00b...8-)
Needless to say I've been hooked since I chose my human warrior. He's still my main today!
Erudi Nov 23rd 2009 9:01AM
I've played since day one (Except for a 2 month break about 6 months in). I remember when it took THREE mages to open a portal and Tauren didn't have mounts, but rather had to quest for Plainsrunning! Ah, those were the days...we didn't have any of your fancy epic mounts (We had to wait until 40 and then 60 for our mounts!) or awesome non-combat pets, we were happy for the ones we could buy off the vendor! And now look at you youngins today...with your achievements and your epics in every slot so quickly...Hand me my Legacy of Thunder and that shield I got out of ToC last night. I'm going to go solo MC now to clear my head.
Joe Nov 23rd 2009 9:02AM
I've been playing on and off since mid-vanilla, well played and "quit" a few times.
probably my best memory would be from early BC when i was re-learning how to play, but i fell through the earth, and ended up being teleported to theramore by a GM who stayed and talked for about 10 minutes... then killed me with an el pollo de grande :P
egginthenest Nov 23rd 2009 9:03AM
5 years ago i never expected that i'd still be playing it 5 years on and hungering for the next patch.
darkkenchild Nov 23rd 2009 9:04AM
Wow... 5 years already...
I've been playing since about 2 days after launch (I preordered and Gamestop was slow in mailing it to me (I live in a town with no gaming shops)), and barring a few 1-2 month breaks here and there, I've been playing ever since.
Kinda scary to realize I've already devoted half a decade to this game...
Snowmane Nov 23rd 2009 9:08AM
I started at 7:11 PST on 11/23/04 and with the exception of a couple of days around that Thanksgiving have played every day since.
The memory that comes back is of that first login. Before me was a blurred stream of brand-new Night Elves. One after another, hundreds of them, perhaps thousands, packed so close together they made a solid line to the first quest giver. The colors and scenery were so stunning. By the time I figured out now to move nothing killable was alive in Shadowglen.
I’m a solo player and still have found enough in Azeroth to keep me happy. If my health holds I shall be here when they turn off the lights and lock the door. I’m still working on a way to sneak back in. hehe
Best O Luck
Snowmane
Thrall