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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What was your turning point in WoW?
by Chris Clow 
Nov 27th 2011 at 8:00AM
Everyone took a path to get where they are in the today, both in life and in Azeroth. Whether you're a heroic raider, an Auction House kingpin, a rabid collector, or even an ex-WoW player, at some point you stood at the crossroads and chose the path that got you where you are. Likewise, there is often a moment that crystallizes your desires and sends you decisively down the road. That moment is the turning point.
I spent a good amount of my time in WoW raiding. I eventually wound up as the GM of a raiding guild during patch 3.1. We were previously a fairly casual guild, but a few of us wanted to try our hands at hard modes. I found the prospect intriguing, so we went into Ulduar and began knocking down four-tower Flame Leviathan, Heartbreaker, and I Choose You Steelbreaker and pushed into the Keepers of Ulduar. This was fairly late in the Ulduar cycle, so we had the best gear we could get from normal mode content. We tore through the content at a rapid pace, with none of the encounters taking more than a raid night to knock down.
Then came Firefighter; for those who never had the privilege of attempting this encounter at level, Mimiron hard mode takes what was already the most difficult of the keepers and cranks it up beyond 11. It had massive tank damage, obscene raid damage, hunter tanking, and DPS coordination. Oh, and the floor is covered in fire that chases you the whole time. It was our first real challenge in progression raiding. We wiped to it for a month, and over 220 attempts later, we got our last sigil to unlock Algalon. We rose to the occasion, and from that point on, we were heroic progression raiders.
What was your turning point?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Sloegin Nov 27th 2011 7:49PM
Swimming for a half dozen hours per week in Vashj'ir, or circling the Twilight highlands for the same amount of time for raiding mats.
Ten thousand random stupid things causing wipes in Blackwing Descent, Bastion of Twilight, and Four Winds, normal and heroic.
The completely ridiculous difficulty level of Four Winds brought on by trying to make something difficult for people who have played the game for over 5 years.
PVP raid dungeon on a 3-1 faction imbalance server.
Turning my favorite class into a PVP monster, gutting it's PVE fun.
Having 50 percent more kit in my bags for the changes in the stat weights every couple of weeks.
Reforging my kit every time I got a new item, and eventually realizing that it didn't matter.
None of the above really matters as much as the fact that I'd just played the game too damn long and eventually realized it.
zappel Nov 27th 2011 9:22PM
my turning point came early in my wow gaming life. i started with a dwarf priest cos it was a guild need for future raiding in classic wow. as i started to accumulate gold, materials, recipes and gear i cant use, i wondered what i could do about it. initially, i only intended to have 1 toon - 1 main and be the best.
so i decided why not create a whole set of alts and each with a diff class/race/prof so that all the stuff i had picked up so far could be used?
as a result, i spend far more time on levelling and profs than raiding, and eventually settled on just being a casual or non-raider.
Dea ex Machina Nov 28th 2011 1:40AM
I rolled my first toon on the first server Blizz recommended, without really understanding what servers were or putting much thought into the choice. I got sick of getting spammed by random g-invites every few minutes, so I finally joined the first guild that actually whispered me first and asked nicely, again, not putting much thought into the choice. The guild was... nice enough, but they were a family and friends guild, and not MY family and friends, so I always felt on the outside of a lot of conversations. Then the GL got pregnant, and she and her husband pretty much disappeared from the game. So did everyone else. G-chat was pretty much dead. I was happy for the GL, and understood completely, but I still felt pretty lonely. I didn't know anyone, and had no one to talk to.
I started seriously thinking about server transfer. My sister urged me to join her on her main's server, but I wasn't sure I'd fit with her guild, who were a bit more hardcore.
I was more and more curious about Roleplay servers. I'd heard a lot of great things about Wyrmrest Accord. THIS time, I did my research. I read the realm forums, I looked up different guild sites, and I rolled an alt to test the waters and see if I liked the community.
I liked what I saw, ponyed up my cash to move, and applied to a big casual social guild whose recruitment posts I'd liked the look of. I haven't looked back. My guildies are amazing, friendly and goofy. They're always grand fun to hang out with, and always eager to offer help. I've seen SO much more of this game, thanks to them. And the community at large is amazing too! Roleplay events means there always SOMETHING going on. My toon has danced and flirted and gotten drunk off her butt in a Goblin dance club, and comforted a dying patient during an epidemic. RP makes it SO much easier to break the ice and meet people, and I've made a bunch of friends in and out of guild.
My sister made an alt to check Wyrmrest out. Now SHE'S planning to server hop and join ME. XD
Hatred Nov 28th 2011 1:43AM
Wrath and that million times.
I played in BC in a very nice guild that had a awesome time in Kara but it was Wrath when I joined to guild that really had power to raid. It unfortunately ended up breaking apart but from the ashes rose the best 10man progression guild in our realm and that was the BEST ONLINE GAMING i have ever had since. We stormed Ulduar, ToC and ICC with most fabulous way.
Thanks to Blizzard Cata ended it all... and now they all are gone while I am logging alone into game I used to love so MUCH :(
Garwulf Nov 28th 2011 3:26AM
Like some of you...I have had a few "Points" in my WoW "Life". I was a Vanilla Raider..Was a Warrior back then figured out how to tank in 10 man...YES TEN MAN Scholo/Strat/Ubrs. We took our guild into ZG,and AQ with a few fillers...and MC With a roughly half- and -half mix of 2 guilds. Our first week of MC we killed 4 Up to Geddon.The Baron kept us stymied however.We farmed what we could every week till BC rolled around.
In BC I was one of the first 5 Ally Shamans to raid anything and LOVED it.My healing wasent so great though and RL forced me to walk away for awhile.Passed my acct. to a friend and shut the door.
Six months later and a new acct. I had a Hunter up and raiding within a month and got back to the "End Game" asap. I got the see Kara,again,and SSC/TK as well. Had a pally alt at that time leveled and commenced to Healadin in BT.Never expierenced SW.
Once Wrath hit I went to DK( like everyone else ) and raced to 80. Tanked 25 Naxx,Sarth,and Maly on him...then my guild fell apart.I bounced into a "Better" guild right after Ulduar opened and went to Shadowpriesting and melting faces.That got old in ToC which is where I found my real love...my Rogue! Alas mid ICC THAT guild ups and X-fers off server.Joined another great guild, kill Arthas and a load of Heroic ICC...then THAT one too,sigh,.....falls apart.
At this point I said *#%@ the Alliance and faction swapped to my current guild. I have alot of old friends and former guildies Ally side still...and we talk all the time.Maybe one day they will join me.
ben Nov 28th 2011 4:23AM
my turning point was a simple one, I was a noob that made other noobs seem pro, I leveled slowly via mob grinding (damn you, samuel's remains!) and eventually got picked up by a small guild, after a while, they decided I needed a title, setting out to blackrock spire, we went and got me a jenkins family name.
realizing that I could alter my name and show off 100% of the time, (as opposed to the fractions of times allowed by mounts or achievements) I set off on a hunt for more titles, later on I scored the kingslayer, the patient, a few of the holiday titles - and continued on to collect over 20 titles, after about 15 or so, I noticed the existence of a certain title, and decided to step up my title hunt.
some time later (and a lot of cursing), I became known as Khijin the Insane and am currently (albeit slowly) working on increasing my title count up to 30.
I know title-hunter's aren't wow's most common player type, but somehow, I feel a sense of pride having got to where I am now, and cringe in pain when I remember that time long before my first trophy.
needless to say, my turning point in wow, was probably the day Lahar and Aresko of the no-homers in Nagrand invited me into their guild :D
rodmin Nov 28th 2011 5:14AM
The biggest turning point i did was during vanila times.
I reached lvl 60 at Searing Gorge (while killing some golems for the last bit of exp). And, after some time trying out the max level, my friendly guild decided to tackle ZG at the time.
We always managed to kill Venoxis, but upon reaching Jeklik we wiped and wiped and wiped on phase 2, never passing beyond the bat bombardment.
Seeing all those failures made me decide that in order to improve i had to move along. I started to check town chat and forums until i discovered the raiding guilds. Guilds that focused on raiding the toughest challenges.
After a lot of thought, i decided to join the ranks of a raiding guild, bidding a tear-full farewell at my other guild. And after some gear upgrades, attunement runs, and a thrash run at Molten Core, i still remember the words: "Guys, you're now official Molten Core raiders."
That was my turning point. Downing raid bosses, killing Jeklik with ease, getting my first two epics (yup, not 1, but 2!), and killing Ragnaros and Onyxia for the first time while screaming like a nerd.
Ah, the good old times.
(P.S.: Luckly, i still have contacts with my former friendly guild. Just because i left the guild didn't meant i left the friends in it ;-) )
Daryl Nov 28th 2011 6:03AM
for me it was when Blizzard allowed realm transfers.
I had a mage on a carebear server and the lock on a pvp server and I hated all the ganking as I just enjoyed doing all the quests.
I rolled on a pvp just to see something different but realized that questing was difficult. I asked Blizz for a transfer because I knew they sometimes granted one under some circumstances but the answer was no and I got a lecture about life's decisions blah blah.
So at 60 I mothballed the lock and rolled another one on a carebear server and then Blizz allowed server transfers and my old lock was transferred that day to the same server as the mage and in the same guild.
Coldelis Nov 28th 2011 7:44AM
Well. My first character was a dwarf warrior named Goldenblade on Illidan. This story begins back in 2005. I believe right before the AQ or nax patch. Anyway. I remeber I had just hit level 60. From grinding on those damn yetis in winterspring from 57-60. Back then I believe that was the fastest way. I made my way to western plaguelands. I always went there because I loved Hearthglen. Along the way I encountered my first world pvp. I still remeber. A NE druid was in bear form and was being attacked by two horde. I immediately charged in and it was quite the little battle but we won!
After that he talked to me and thanked me a ton and asked if I wanted to come do an instance. I said sure but I don't know how to tank. He said he was a tank and that his guild was just going to run through a bunch of dungeons tonight. Needless to say by the end of the night which was like 5 in the morning I had my entire valor set. I did not realize the significance of it at the time but my friends were blown away when they logged on the next day. They had been playing since realease.
Ever since then I was a raider.
Sorry for the wall of text. Doing this from my phone.
Havock Nov 28th 2011 11:59AM
Classic Naxx,
Getting the key and then working through the instance.
Amaxe Nov 28th 2011 4:50PM
How did I get to where I am today?
I think ultimately I got to the point where I did not want to run yet another character through Deepholm, and walked away from the game. Maybe it's temporary, maybe it's permanent.
In other words, bored and burnt out. Burnt out is my fault. Bored is Blizz' fault.
StClair Nov 28th 2011 5:38PM
Cataclysm, or rather, the wait for it and the wind-down of Wrath. My guild, having "done" Icecrown, drifted away; I admit, I rarely logged in myself except for dailies. Finally I just decided I was done. I'd gotten into the game to see the world and do the leveling content, both of which were about to be transformed radically... I might have stayed and seen it for myself, but I think after BC and WotLK, I was tired.
So now, I read about it instead of playing it. (Not that I'm not still tempted now and then.)
Gozzix Goldgear Nov 29th 2011 10:22PM
My turning point was the Operation Gnomeregan event way back in Wrath. I had always had a fascination with Warcraft's lore and characters, but roleplaying just seemed to be... not for me. I spent most of my time on WoW raiding with my guild.
However, when wow.com made that event, I decided I'd give it a go. I made a gnome, joined the guild, and found I really love roleplaying. I still raid every now and then, but roleplaying's become my focus whenever I log into the game.