World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic from the Perspective of a WoW Newbie

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I was seven when World of Warcraft launched the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, arguably the best addition in the game's history. I remember my brother playing the game on his small laptop and me sitting beside him, desperately wishing I could play too. He told me I couldn’t play because “I’d ruin his game.” But whenever he left the house, I’d secretly hop on to his account, roam around elven woods and mountains, killing bears and murlocs, and then return to the same spot his character was before logging off. Funnily, he never noticed anything wrong, plus I don’t think he’d question why his character was a few levels higher than before.

Those sneaky times have passed, but reminiscing the good ole’ days, in some way and form, World of Warcraft shaped my childhood. Back then, the thought of dark woods and caverns scared me deeply. I mean, if you were a kid, wouldn’t you be too, when you’re all alone at night, venturing into strange woods? In saying so, these fears didn’t deter me from being an explorer. It didn’t dissuade me from doing the impossible, and it surely didn’t stop me from playing on my brother’s laptop until the very last minute when his car came into the driveway.

I’m in my early 20s now, and I can only recall remnants of happy times. It’s honestly extremely bittersweet because most of my creativity, imagination, and love for MMORPGs is because of World of Warcraft, despite playing so little of it.

Despite this bittersweetness, I still feel grateful to be able to revisit these memories, feelings, and many experiences through Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft: Classic, which dives deep into its initial patches, and expansions and allows players to travel through the game once again, from the very start.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been playing World of Warcraft: Classic, all in time for the arrival of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, so for the most part, I’ve been grinding quests and levels during the pre-expansion phase (which is a period where players can enjoy the expansion’s minor changes, getting them ready for the main event).

During the pre-expansion phase, I played on the Alliance side, which I can say is way, way better than the Horde. I played a frost-wielding human mage and spent most of my time split between grinding towards level 70 and scouring the fields for herbs to make potions, elixirs, and flasks. Here's my character.

One feature I’ve always relished deeply in any game is making food, potions, or items and selling them. Whenever I play an MMORPG, I live by this motto: being rich is always better than being strong. World of Warcraft allowed me to explore my deepest desires to create hundreds of consumables and sell them to the public.

I even came up with the idea of third-party selling items in bulk and using this to create my own store. So, imagine instead of using the auction house, I’d sell fifty potions for seventy percent of the cost on the market and either send these items directly through mail after receiving payment or in a trade. I basically created the most wholesome black market in World of Warcraft, where players got cheaper stuff, I made a profit, and all my items sold immediately. Now, that’s proper grinding, I say. Possibly bannable too. Not sure.

Leveling, questing, and generally, actually grinding was the most dreadful part of World of Warcraft. Yesterday, I spent twelve hours playing the game and leveled up six times. SIX TIMES! Now, I can say, at the very least, it wasn’t boring, just a slow journey. On the brighter side, the dungeons I explored always took around thirty minutes to over an hour to complete. I enjoyed that there was always something new to explore, something different to see during dungeon diving. I normally wouldn’t repeat the dungeon more than twice, too, mainly because I’d out-level the dungeon limit, making the XP points I’d receive pretty much worthless.

During these dungeon runs, I’d always be accompanied by other players. I mean, it was practically a standard occurrence since these dungeons were crazily difficult to beat alone. In saying so, I loved interacting with other people. Noting that most of my multiplayer experience across games comes from League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the community, was less harsh, toxic, and probably the kindest I’ve ever encountered. Whenever there was a rare item, everyone would ask each other if they could take it, which was wholesome.

Now, I know I have so much to do and a long, long journey to go in World of Warcraft before the official Wrath of the Lich King expansion hits, but so far, I’ve been having a great time. For someone who’s been playing games their entire life, World of Warcraft was one of the few games I enjoyed playing, not because I was obligated to or because someone wanted to play the game with me, but because I genuinely liked the game.

My life revolves around games; it’s the air that I breathe, so sometimes, it can become a bit boring, lackluster, or in other words, ordinary when I play them. So, it's always a blessing when a game that transcends others comes along. World of Warcraft was that extraordinary game I feel over the moon to know it still has the magic that once filled my life as a kid. As I continue exploring World of Warcraft, I only hope its magic doesn't fade.

💬 Have you ever played World of Warcraft? If so, what side are you? Alliance or Horde? And what character race are you?

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