Breakfast Topic: How did you get started?
by Olivia Grace 
Feb 3rd 2012 at 8:00AM
So the clue's in the name really: How did you get started playing WoW?
I was never really a big gamer before -- not to this extent, anyway. My brother and I had gotten an Amiga 500 as young kids, and we played a lot of a game I think was called Commander Keen and various others. Then, inevitably, we got Game Boys, and Zool was my favorite thing in the world. As we got into the N64, my role was mainly worker-out of puzzles, while the bits that required hand-eye coordination fell to my brother. I am consistently bad at jumping onto things in WoW; I still have dreams about wiping my raid's Nefarian attempts with pillar fails. I wish my brother could have stepped in for a second to do that for me.
But my friends from the local pub had started talking about this WoW game. One day, while I was sitting at one of their places enjoying Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls IV on their Xbox while they had a break, they mentioned that I would probably really like WoW, as it was kind of similar and a good few of them played it. I thought, "Nah, why would I do that? You have to pay every month for it." But then, bored between Christmas and New Year and feeling lonely (as I was on gardening leave and everyone else was working), I downloaded it and haven't looked back.
What got you started?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Lars Petersson Feb 3rd 2012 8:06AM
I played Warcraft 1, 2 & 3, The Lost Vikings and was always a fan of RPGs.
A friend was playing it and suggested I give it a go, this was back in 2005, and I've been hooked ever since.
I suspect that I won't be alone in having this kind of start...
jameslucas Feb 3rd 2012 8:51AM
I used to play D&D in High School and then discovered Warcraft and really enjoyed it. Then I got the free trial for WOW and was hooked with being a hunter and having pets to discover the world.
wollsmoth Feb 3rd 2012 8:06AM
A friend of mine that was taking physics class with me in my undergrad mentioned WoW and how she was looking for someone to play the game with. As soon as she mentioned shape-shifting druids, I was sold. Perhaps because she asked me around midterm season is why I was so keen to procrastinate and try it out...
Shoikler Feb 3rd 2012 8:13AM
Back in the early '90s, I spent a couple years really getting into MUDs (too much so for some of my grades), but after I got away from them, I didn't game much at all for more than a decade. When MMOs first came along, I couldn't have played them if I wanted -- in the interim, I'd become a Mac person -- and that was fine with me. Even when WoW came out and was a game I could play, I resisted until early 2008. The original and BC were both on sale, and I succumbed to the temptation. I've been playing ever since.
Matthew Feb 3rd 2012 7:07PM
Awesome Avatar btw :-)
Everclear Feb 3rd 2012 8:15AM
I lost a bet.
7 years and $1,460 dollars later (holy crap!), here I am.
FOR THE ALLIANCE!
Narayana Feb 3rd 2012 8:43AM
You're not supposed to add it up- you're not!
Olivia Grace Feb 3rd 2012 9:02AM
I agree. That is bad maths. Very bad maths.
Erm, math. Sorry.
Olivia
dmberreth Feb 3rd 2012 9:44AM
That really isn't bad math, there. That works out to about $0.57 per day. Which is the price of, say.. one small pack of ramen? Or part of a dollar menu item? Both of which are horribly unhealthy for you, and do not provide 24 potential hours of entertainment, mind you.
Try to figure out what you -actually- spend on food in a year, or gas, or other forms of entertainment, and then realize that you actually get some pretty sweet value out of that WoW subscription.
Spelio Feb 3rd 2012 10:06AM
@dmberreth
I could not agree with you more. 1,500$ is a small price to pay for 7 years of WoW. Fractions of a penny for an hour of play time..... That's a better price than just about anything else out there. Go to the bar? That's at least 20-40$ (for me anyways). Movie? Good lord don't take a date!! It costs 30$ for 2 tickets to a movie here (Denver BTW) and then you still have to pay for popcorn, soda, and anything else you want (you could sneak it in but no one would ever do that, right?).
The over-all value of the game subscription is well worth the cost if you ask me.
Noyou Feb 3rd 2012 11:41AM
I totally agree. WoW has to be one of the best, if not the best entertainment values for your dollar. It's funny how people will scoff at you for spending money on a video game when they spend more on coffee and donuts in one week than you do playing WoW for an entire month. ;)
bjorn9486 Feb 3rd 2012 8:15AM
A couple of my friends were playing and tried to convince me to start too. However, I waited until I finished my schooling before I started; one the best moves I've ever made.
cromahr Feb 3rd 2012 8:19AM
A good friend of mine and me, we were playing UO together, first on the official servers, then on a private one. We established our own private server (shard), which was fun for a while.
Then, suddenly, he kinda disappeared. I talked to a mutual friend, and he said "Oh yeah, he is playing WOW". So eventually, I talked to Tommy (that friend of mine) and he said "Yeah, Im playing that. But I recommend you don't start, because knowing you, you won't be able to stop playing anymore =)"
So of course, I HAD to try it. =) While installing, i read the manual and thought that the paladin sounded most interesting considering my playstyle. Soon after rolling one, I also rolled a mage... =)
Its been like 7 years now so I guess Tommy was right, I always keep coming back to WOW.
Berna Feb 3rd 2012 8:19AM
I bought a trial disk, way back in Vanilla.
Scunosi Feb 3rd 2012 1:15PM
Heh, me, too. Can you believe they used to charge for the trial back then? And nowadays it's pretty much a baby free account!
mvincett Feb 3rd 2012 4:23PM
I had played WC1, 2, and 3 but had no idea WoW existed untill I saw a friend playing it at his house in early TBC. Took a while after that but I finally got into the game and played it untill last year.
hufflebunny Feb 3rd 2012 8:26AM
I used to hate the prospect of WoW. I felt as though it was a waste of time and hated when my boyfriend played. One day, I ended up watching him, and he showed me his companion pets. My reaction was something similar to, "OMG, I CAN HAVE KITTIES IN THE GAME?"
I ended up making a Blood Elf Priest on his account, and getting to level 25. My boyfriend ended up buying me the game for Christmas, and I then rolled a Night Elf Druid and haven't looked back!
pokerbroad Feb 3rd 2012 8:36AM
I've always loved video games... have been playing them since pong. Had an Atari (loved the bouncing clowns, lol), then Nintendo, Playstations, etc. I'd always considered games such as WoW something that nerdy, basement confined teens got addicted to, was not interested in the least. Then a 6th grade girl who rode my school bus (I drive the bus) found out that I liked video games, and started telling me all about WoW, and how exciting it was that WotLK was coming out, how cool it was, etc. She asked me every day if I had tried the game yet, and finally, over Xmas break I decided to do the free trial...if for nothing else than to tell her I had tried it. Now I'm an Officer in a guild, plus have about 16 toons over 3 servers, including 5 level 85's, one who raids DS twice a week. Who'da thunk? lol
Revnah Feb 3rd 2012 8:32AM
I used to play Runescape - yes, really. Almost any game can be fun when you have nice people to play with. Then a disgruntled ex-clanleader (guilds are called clans there) came back and practically tore the clan apart.
I wanted to play less and less, and that's when I remembered WoW. My ex has been playing since release (people are often amazed how I, a "Wrath baby", know so many details of TBC raids and bosses, and what the game was like back then), and so an old Runescape friend and I got 10-day trials.
What follows was magical days running around Teldrassil, taking an absurdly long time to even get to level 7 or 8, and forgetting to eat and sleep, I was so fascinated. Still am, in fact, although I've long since managed to balance game and "real" life :-)
razion Feb 3rd 2012 8:32AM
I've shared this story before, and people seem to like it, so I'll put it here.
It starts with a group. A group of complete strangers--they got me into the game.
I believe WoW was entering the Burning Crusade some time in Junior High, and it was around that time before BC came out that I was sitting in the math classroom one day, and a small group of three to four next to me were conversing about World of Warcraft. I myself had played maybe one or two small-time online games in the past, but no MMOs. That said, I had heard about Warcraft in the classroom on occasion to know most of what they were talking about.
That said, I never really knew anyone in any of my classes--I was a lonely kid in school, when I think about it, and to this day I have no idea how they drew me into the conversation. I guess they assumed I was the gamer type, but whatever it was, they likely assumed I would click into the conversation.
I remember one of them turned to me and asked, "well, what do you play as?"
"Excuse me?"
"Your class? Race?"
I had heard a conversation a few days ago about some kind of nature spell-caster, and I thought that sounded pretty unique so I replied, "feral druid". I also remembered they were Alliance so I added, "night elf".
They inquired further, "DPS?"
Didn't know what that meant. I half-said half-asked, "no?"
"Tank, then?"
"... Yeah."
They never talked to me again. I guess Bears weren't too popular back in late Vanilla. Yet, despite any follow-up questions or later conversations with those people, I decided I'd see what all the fuss was about and researched it. I came across a couple Machinima--in particular Illegal Danish and The Grind. And so, with nothing better to do, I then took my first, intimidated steps into the World of Warcraft. But regardless of the intimidation the game gave me, I felt that my pride as a nerd/gamer would be dashed if I didn't stick with it for at least the first month I payed for.
I find it odd that here, six years later, I owe the best friendships I've ever had to people who I will probably never see again.