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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria 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 4 of 6)
ddaz Nov 23rd 2009 9:10AM
I am comming up on my 3 year anniversary of the game. I grew up in the era of the D&D paper rpg, Ultima and Zelda. I never had a chance to play a MMORPG before. When I finally had a decent computer I started playing WoW. There are so many great memories but the first thing that caught my attention was the scope of the game. I just couldn't believe all the things I could do and places I could go. I remember the first time I played and the cinematic scrolling over Stormwind and Elwynn into Northshire Abbey gave me chills. I knew I was in for something special.
This is the only game that I play and I will play it for as long as Blizzard keeps it going.
Keveline Nov 23rd 2009 9:12AM
I gave the game a shot when it first came out, said 'meh' and put it away and went back to single player rpg's. Last year around Christmas, both of my kids had been playing for awhile and convinced me to pick it up again. So I signed up for the free trial and ended up getting hooked this time. I started playing 'seriously' (as in putting in lots of time, I'm not a spreadsheet guy, never will be) after a motorcycle accident a few months back that had me trapped in hospital/rehab with nothing much else to do.
I finally joined a more or less casual guild (which both of my kids are in with me) and have really been enjoying that experience now. Up til then WoW was largely single player for me.
I'm now leveling my first 'serious' alt, a mage, and am pretty thoroughly in love with the game, even with some of its warts. =)
sugcalif Nov 23rd 2009 9:16AM
Started playing Dec 6, 2005. Always wished I could have experienced more of vanilla WOW, but my game friends and I were rushing to level up to 60 before the expansion ( TBC) came out.
Best Memories? Going through the portal to Outland for the first time with my buddies, who I still play with to this day. I was so amazed by the environment and the story line, and when I up my graphic card it was like playing a brand new game. I love the game, but I feel like all things must come to and end, and for me that time will come onces I get to down Arthas.
Suzaku Nov 23rd 2009 9:37AM
Started playing in April 2005, making the transition from EverQuest.
Everything in WoW, especially in those early days, was exciting. The opening narration, voice acting, quest text, and especially the flight paths. All of them blew EQ away. Flying from Undercity to the Sepulcher for the first time is definitely one of my favorite memories, even though flight paths have started to feel like more of an inconvenience than convenience in the subsequent four and a half years...
Shadowhaxor Nov 23rd 2009 10:03AM
Is that screenshot from an old story from Computer and Gaming Magazine? I still have that issue. The way WoW looked then and looking at WoW when it was released is like day and night.
Centipede Nov 23rd 2009 9:34AM
I have been playing for 5 years now. The funny thing is: I have 1 character I play with... a Tauren Druid. I have played him for 5 years and loving it!!!
Too bad I only saw a handful of instances, because of my very casual approach to WoW. So my promise for the next 5 years is: my new Goblin Hunter will see a lot of instances!!!
Sinnh Nov 23rd 2009 9:36AM
it took me a while to get into wow. i first gave it a try summer 2006 when i started going out with my now husband. we had only dated a couple of months but he really wanted me to try it out, so i started a tauren shaman on his account. i tried it out for a week, and it didn't click so i stopped. he tried to get me to play again a few months later, this time buying me my own account. i started a night elf warrior cause they were "the prettiest." that went a bit better and i got all the way to 22, then i lost interest again. my husband always played during that time and finally, watching him play, i saw how cool the zones were. i started a troll shaman, just like him, so i wouldn't be completely lost. i fell in love. not sure what clicked for me then but now i play the game even more than he does.
the strongest memory i have of starting out was when i was a night elf, i was completing some quest to kill a certain number of people. i had died and decided to rez so i wouldn't have to run all the way back. someone else invited me to group up to finish the quest and i accepted (that was probably my first ever group with a stranger). i had no idea what rez sickness was...went in, pulled about two or three guys, and got both of us killed. the other guy just left the party without saying anything. i felt so bad i started crying, my husband was laughing about it all night :)
Joakim Nov 23rd 2009 9:46AM
What a long strange trip it has been ...
I got curious on that "WoW" 2006, as a pretty intense debate raged across swedish media and swedish bloggosphere about "the dangers of computer games". Alas, my old computer wasn't up to the trial version, and thus it took another year until ...
But that's not entirely true. 'cause in late 2006 I was at a (girl)friends party and in between the R&R she convinced me to roll a char on WoW - and I did. An orc warrior. I can remember the joy of hunting boars in The Den and ... erhm. Then WoW had to be on hiatus for more R&R.
2007, I think it was, when I finally got my hands on my own WoW, first a trial account - and I was extremely annoyed as I thought that Blizzard had botched the game, I couldn't go on a zep from Kalimdor to Eastern Kingdoms! ... but it was a trial version ...
From my first very own char, an orc warrior named Taramek (who got lost in The Den, wound up on the cliffs of the Secret Path (?) and once in the water towards Ratchet got eaten by a lvl 11 elite shark (!) - and onward ... I bet the bones of Taramek still lies at the bottom of the ocean, bad thing you can't collect them. That's an incentive for a quest, right? "Collect 263 orcbones and return to whomever in Durotar".
Funny thing is, I haven't made it to endgame. I kina get bored after lvl 71 and roll another char. It's the ding, I guess. On the other hand, I have slightly mastered almost all of the classes saved DK and druid.
And thus, finally, I feel at home. A month ago or two I rolled a paladin on Alliance- and my, oh my, what a class! :)
bmiller Nov 23rd 2009 11:31AM
I did the same thing on my orc hunter. Ohh, a "Secret Path", that looks interesting.
Oh, no I'm on the edge of a cliff, how do I get back? I'll just jump down there. That was close, I barely survived that fall.
Oh, no why is that lobster guy attacking me, why did I die so fast? What level is skull?
There's a goblin place, are they friendly? How do I get back to Durotar?
(30-40 mins later of dying and walking through Barrens). Ahh, back to the starter area.
I didn't log in for a week after that.
Dwobwocket Nov 24th 2009 5:50PM
I did the same thing when I first started in open beta. I ended up just deleting the character and rolling a new one.
David Nov 23rd 2009 9:55AM
I played intermittently from 2006 to 2008, and have been playing steadily since fall of 2008. It's interesting, I've played many other MMOs, but this is the one I keep coming back to. I think it's the most dynamic of MMOs, as there seems to always be something to do. This in spite of the fact that they only release expansions every 2 years or so.
Stormscape Nov 23rd 2009 9:52AM
My favorite memory from early WoW is back in december of 2004 when there was only one lvl 60 on the entire server. I played a balance druid and as soon as me and two of my druid guildies got our Cat Forms, we decided to go into the Barrens and have some fun.
We brought a lvl15 warlock guildy with us to act as bait, then stealthed and walked along around him as he strolled through the barrens. It was hilarious that again and again and again, some slightly higher level hordie saw him, ran straight for him and attempted to gank him, only for us three druids to pop out of stealth and countergank.
You'd think they would have caught on, but we kept doing it all day. (Anyone who didn't try to gank our bait, we left alone.)
stacy Nov 23rd 2009 10:00AM
I'd love to see more old screenshots like that!
I remember seeing a beta video when female trolls were also haunched and extremely ugly.. quite different!
Lissanna Nov 23rd 2009 10:03AM
I remember leveling up with my friends. It was hard to solo a druid back then, so if my RL friends weren't on, I'd make new friends to level up with. Just about anyone liked having a pocket resto druid follow them around! I miss some of my old friends that I used to play with. Some of them have since either quit the game, or I don't talk to them anymore after I transferred servers.
Spiraea Nov 23rd 2009 10:10AM
Started a few months before BC came out when a friend got me hooked on it. In all honesty, I didn't even know of World of Warcraft or even seen or played a MMO in my life (always been big on RPGs though). I was also on dial-up back then so I didn't consider playing a major online game due to knowing what my limitations would be. My limitations were actually smaller than I figured they would be as I was able to enjoy the solo part of the game and questing with friends. Now I have 2 80s, a paladin and a shaman, that I raid with and consideration on leveling a third to max level before Cataclysm (probably druid or priest). Pretty crazy if you stop to think about it all.
Favorite memory is probably being ever so confused about things from the start and now being the one that tells confused people about them :P
Nolan Rumble Nov 23rd 2009 10:13AM
Three years going strong for me! Of all of the video games ever made, World of Warcraft is by far the best. For the inexperienced solo player to the dedicated raider, Wow has continually engaged, entertained, and kept players attentions. This. game. is. HUGE. And it's fun. And it's challenging. Grats Wow! Keep it up. I'll be here 'til you are done.
Mike Nov 23rd 2009 10:16AM
I started back in October '05, rolled a Human Paladin, and levelled Holy as I wanted Holy Shock as I thought it ludicrous that Paladins didn't have any ranged. I played for about 4 months and got to level 41 before I stopped. The second highest level character I had at that point was a level 22 Druid. Between then and January 09 I renewed my account a handful of times but usually gave up quickly. I renewed again in January, thinking maybe Wrath polished things up enough for me to stick, and it was. I rerolled a Draenei Paladin, levelled to 55 and rolled a Death Knight, suffered through the DK stigma throughout 3.0 and 3.1 (since I genuinely liked the melee caster attribute of the class), and finally hit the level cap in March. I'm now going back and working on my Paladin to 80 (just short of dinging 71), though I've since discovered that everything I liked about Unholy Death Knights I like about Enhancement Shamans even more (melee casters), so I'm working on getting that class to 80 too to take over as my new main (however I may wait until Cataclysm as I hate levelling 20-58).
ShamanHealer Nov 23rd 2009 10:29AM
Could this be the only time an article has not one downrated posting amongst the comments? It would, in itself, be a nice way to celebrate a great game.
I got the game as an Xmas present in 2007 and loved it. Did lots of embarassing things as a newbie on my 1st character (human warlock), but soon discovered the vast amount of information on the internet and things took off from there.
WoW is an amazing immersive game with such a vast fantastic world. I hope it continues for many years to come.
crunk Nov 23rd 2009 10:23AM
I started playing WoW back in March of 2007. I started out a BloodElf Hunter. Leveled him up to 45. Then I had to stop playing for a while due to financial problems and such. So my younger brother gave me his old WoW account, which had about 90 days on it, so I could still play. I decided to start over, rolled another Hunter, this time a Dwarf, so I could play with my brother and some friends. Been playing the Hunter ever since.
seraph Nov 23rd 2009 10:49AM
i started playing in nov. of 2005... both bf and i rolled balance druids... (lol, mistake) but we got them up to 60 eventually and had a lot of fun doing it. my favorite memories would be running ZG with my guild... and eventually downing hakkar... :)