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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Moments of pleasant surprise
by Josh Rose 
Dec 12th 2010 at 8:00AM
Everyone who plays WoW has horror stories. Awful PUGs, bad groups, guild drama, the time you got that item ninjaed. We often pull out these horror stories in games of one-upmanship about who has had the worst experience with friends and guildies. Or when recruiting a new member to your guild, the bad memories often outweigh the good when it comes to certain players.
However, if WoW were merely a collection of awful experiences and drama, there would not be millions of people paying 15 bucks a month to keep playing it. This is about those moments in which you were pleasantly surprised.
I have had several throughout the six years of WoW, varying from random, in-game good luck to things that resonate in real life. One of the most pleasant surprises for me was meeting an-in game friend during a dungeon, eventually joining his guild and becoming a main tank for that guild -- the guild I still raid with to this day. I also got Undying on an 8-man Naxx run the day I turned 80 on my paladin tank alt. Friends of mine met through WoW and are now married. One of my relatives went to BlizzCon only to find a coworker also there; neither of them had known the other played, and they found out they are on the same server. Even recently, a doctor of mine saw a WoW shirt I was wearing and asked what server and faction I was, then made a joke about not knowing if he could heal me since I play Alliance.
So what are your moments in which you were pleasantly surprised? What moments have made your day or left you feeling relieved and happy? Have you had the simple, in-game moments of joy that bring a smile to your face, or have you had in-game moments that affected your real life as well?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
MusedMoose Dec 12th 2010 9:21AM
I think this was back in patch 3.2 or 3.3, when I was running heroic dungeons with my mage just trying to get some decent gear. I ended up with a group of very capable players, so much that the five of us ended up running four heroics in a row, just about perfect runs, upgrades for everyone. I don't think anyone actually wanted to leave, but other obligations called them away. Every time I have a really good run, I wonder if it's one of those peoples' alts. ^_^
Also, and a bit more interesting, is what happened shortly after 3.3 dropped. I was queueing as usual, and I ended up in Forge of Souls for the first time. I'd heard about how hard the new ICC 5-mans were, so I was nervous, but the group was good and we made it through. They actually stopped to talk tactics and such for the new bosses, a rarity at the time. We hit Pit of Saron after that, and I was just thrilled to be going through the new stuff with a good, competent group. They wanted to hit Halls of Reflection next, and I begged off; I'd heard the escape from Arthas was a real gear check and I didn't think I was ready. So, regretfully, I left the group, then queued again. The window pops up in about a minute, and I find myself.... in HoR, with the exact same group. After some laughter and one call of "Hey, it's (my mage's name) again!", we plowed through HoR without any trouble.
Good times, man, good times.
Nakor Dec 12th 2010 9:24AM
My favorite moment was being randomly invited to a guild when I was first starting vanilla wow and getting to know my guildies and becoming close friends with them. It felt good having people to rely on for help and laughs :D
azuremoonchild06 Dec 12th 2010 9:34AM
My favorite moment is also my saddest. I joined the server i am on now because of a guild i wanted a fresh start and got mine. I spent a good ammount of time with that guild and only 2 months ago apped to another one. The guild leader was the best raid leader i have ever had. He was calm understanding and never yelled i was so damn happy to feel i had found my guild home. He announced one raid that he was quitting the game come cata and my heart dropped. Dec 7th came around and in my mailbox was a letter and a gift. He had divided up all of his gold and told us all good luck and that if cata was awesome he would be there. It was the coolest thing anyone had ever done in my mind. And i will always remember that guy as the coolest guild master ever" its not broken its advanced!" Hope to see you in cata dude. You made raids awesome
Ragequit Dec 12th 2010 9:53AM
Had a ton. Blizz's rip on real life stuff was pleasantly surprising. One i remember vividly was on my 1st toon, a night elf hunter. I'd just hit 68 and was all excited about going to Northrend. I take the boat to Borean tundra and get off at valiance keep. I used to try and explore zones. As i ran down the road from the keep, i see this small group of druids calling themselves 'D.E.H.T.A.'. Boy, was i shocked. I so loved it, i kept asking every ohter person i met on gchat and in random groups if they'd seen the epic D.E.H.T.A.
Another one i was really happy about was during the annual kid's week event. After doing the Kalu'k daily to pickup baby wolvar, i was left wishing they'd give me one. Lo and behold, i got an orpahaned one.
Fefferman Dec 12th 2010 10:15AM
I first started playing WoW because my family got me into it. My cousin told me about it at a family gathering, said I'd like it, and that even his mom played. I thought it was amazing that there was a game out there that my Aunt and my cousin both enjoyed together, so I downloaded the trial and was pretty much hooked from that point onward. I remember when I first started out, I would log in and at random times, there'd be 'presents' from my Aunt in my mailbox, always with a little note to say she'd had a good day on the AH, so here was a little treat to help me as I levelled. Most of the time it was a chunk of gold. I remember once she sent me 5g and to a little level five hunter who'd never seen that much coinage all at once, it was such a big deal!
My other great memory is a more recent one. A few weeks ago I was trying to solo Last Rites and was woefully under-prepared to do so. But part of me felt I might be able to pull it off, so I tried it anyway. I went for it, but somebody else did at the same time so I didn't get the credit for the kill. The shaman then offered to stick around and help me kill the bad guy as I'd just helped her. Suffice it to say, I died on the second try! But she still waited around for me to get my butt back there and she helped me take him down on the third try. She was in no way obligated to stick around and help me out, either time, but she did, and I was so grateful. I love it when I bump into in-game good Samaritans!
Othgan Dec 12th 2010 10:22AM
I havent had a single bad group in the dungeon finder since cataclysm. I may just be lucky though since my best run in BRC was the only one I had where we needed to explain the fights
Sabiah Dec 12th 2010 10:23AM
I am on a PvP server where horde dominate and I play ally, so most of the time I just get ganked. However, right after Wrath came out and I was in Sholazar Basin another warlock attacked me, and we fought a one-on-one battle for over half an hour, neither of us pulling other mobs into the fight. I defeated him at the end (though it was definitely close) and when he came back to life he /bow ed to me and flew off. It was the greatest pvp I've ever experienced in world pvp and a moment that I look back on fondly :)
Binarycontrol Dec 12th 2010 11:10AM
Showing my wife how to build a character, she was interested because it was kinda like the sims... within 3 weeks her mage was 5 levels ahead of me. She then went on to be the Tank mage for Gruul's lair and garnered quite the reputation as to even be recruited by other guilds for such a task...
Shade Dec 12th 2010 11:14AM
Making someone really, really happy by doing something of little consequence to me. Once, my miner was in WG and it seemed that every time I hit a node, this poor druid was always just half a second behind me. So the next time, I stopped halfway through a mine (dig? pick? tap?) and let him grab a titanium node. He flew circles around me in bird form for a while before he left.
For some reason these things warm my withered, grinch-like heart.
Roddo Dec 12th 2010 11:18AM
I remember when I was just starting out as a Dwarf hunter. I always logged out at an inn in Ironforge to beat video lag logging in (my pc at the time sucked). I stepped around a corner and there was an Orc warrior standing there. He emoted /shhh to me and I /nodded in reply. He was decked in MC gear and looked awesome. Every time I played I thought of that guy. A couple days later I rolled an Orc warrior of my own and I've been Horde ever since. Thanks Cataklysmic!
Quasi Dec 12th 2010 11:22AM
Any time someone from the other faction seems to realize there is a real person on the other end of their computer. Like when you are outnumbered by mobs and about to die and that random opposing player jumps in and helps AoE em all down instead of watching you die, or when you stop to help them finish a quest so they stick around to help you on the respawn. Respectfully backing off a node or plant when you are fighting on top of it. Or any world pvp that doesnt result in 45 minutes of camping, because there's no reason to do that to someone, unless you are a closet psycho.
Just any time that someone treats another player with respect when there's no other reason to then to maintain their own integrity. The lack of available communication between the 2 factions truly is a remarkable psychological tool, and its nice to see people rise above it once in a while.
Kelly Dec 12th 2010 11:36AM
Being healing officer and having a druid healer app .. that I ended up meeting and marrying. We've been together three years now, still play WoW and are still crazy in love.
Paladious Dec 12th 2010 11:37AM
I am pleasently suprised with the new "sturdy treasure chest"s. Iv find two in the barrens and got a blue drop from both of them.
AllOneWord Dec 12th 2010 12:06PM
A close friend of mine ran me threw The Deadmines when I was but a noob resulting in my first ever dungeon run ( of sorts ) I've been hooked on PvE ever since.
Necromann Dec 12th 2010 11:59AM
Taming Skoll and Articus in the same week.
mibu.work1 Dec 12th 2010 12:17PM
During vanilla, when I was struggling to get my first mount on my first character. I had failed at the auctions, never got any good drops, and didn't have a profitable profession (I was an engineer), so I was out 50 gold from my mount at level 46, and my guildies all banded together and bought me my mount and training.
About a year later, I had matured a bit, I was one of our best raid DPSers, and my mining and marketing savvy had made me the fel iron king of my server (for about a month), so I started helping newer guildies buy their mounts of all levels (except epic flying, they had to WORK for that like I did).
Nicolasa Dec 12th 2010 12:46PM
I meet my now wife on wow over a year ago. A friend of mine was saying "Hey there is this rp guild recruiting. Make a Horde toon and come over its fun." So I did * laughs* and i hit it off with the GM really quickly and now over a year later She is here with me and I haven't been this happy in a very VERY long time.
Mperiolat Dec 12th 2010 12:57PM
Let me start out with a blasphemy: I hate dungeons. I just cannot stand them. I don't have patience for them, they take too long and it's VERY hard to find a good team for them, even in my guild. I'm a quester, so I've usually outleveled most of the places so I can't use random.
So imagine my surprise one night when the GM and two other guildies said "OK, let's run Blackrock."
Not the Depths, not the Lower, not the Upper, the ENTIRE spire, except the raid.
Honestly, it was so much fun because we were working together, collecting quests, making sure everyone got everything (Smolderweb and worg pets and LEEEEEROY!!! achievement included). But the real highlight of the night was getting into Beast's Lair and most of the group had never been there. So you can imagine how shocked the two 80s were when Beast came out and they saw a skull on him. Our gnome healer was just like "BEEP! BEEP! Back up! Back up!" ad I just said "Relax, we can handle him."
We got him. No deaths, no wipes. Also worth it to hear everyone crack up when we skinned the Beast and discovered the gnome inside.
I still look back on that night fondly. Probably the best night I've ever had in WoW to date.
Ghrinedhur Dec 12th 2010 1:14PM
Months and months ago, I was trying to get good enough gear to run ICC - without the help of a guild. So I was running through heroics on my hunter, attempting to get all the sweet drops I could, including the barbed choker of y'*achoo* from the crazy frost giant blacksmith in the Pit of Saron. Finally, the necklace dropped for me, and there were no hunters, rogues, or shaman in the group that would want the thing. ...And a death knight needed on it, and got it. When I called him out, and told him that for me the necklace was very important for me, but it would be quickly replaced for him - he fed me a line of B.S. that it was just as important for him, agility and all. I was fairly angry, (and by "I was fairly angry," I mean I swore sweet revenge on the guy,) but I kept playing through the Pit of Saron, as to not screw the rest of the group over. At the end of the dungeon, Darth Lord Tyranus himself dropped the Tyranical Beheader, a great two handed axe for melee DPS. ...I needed on it at the same time he did, and won. As everyone in the group stood around dumbfounded, I proposed a trade. Getting the necklace wasn't what made me incredibly happy, but the diabolical plan I hatched did.
Baba Dec 12th 2010 4:35PM
You, sir, should roll a warlock >:D
JOIN US BROTHER!