Memories Of A World Long Gone

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Late-ish last year, I got an email from iam8bit, purveyors of funky vinyl and gaming releases. I’ve ordered from them before, getting both the Wrath of the Lich King and Diablo 2: Resurrected soundtracks. They sound amazing on vinyl, the audio is clear and full, filling the room in a way that digital music doesn’t quite manage to. Yes, it’s true, I’ve turned into a nerdy vinyl collector, and make no apologies for it.

The mailshot in question made me (nearly quite literally) jump out of my seat though. Vinyl editions of the original World of Warcraft and Burning Crusade soundtracks were being launched! These had previously been very hard to find. There were some limited copies available at Blizzcon in previous years, but they were snapped up faster than Shadowfrost Shards in Icecrown Citadel. They were going on sale a week later at the start of the day, Pacific Time. With the help of the Android alarm clock, the order was placed, and a couple of weeks later, I was able to listen to both albums. They did not disappoint.

Initially, I was more excited about the original soundtrack, but it was while I was listening to the Burning Crusade music that I was struck by something. The memories and emotions that I felt while listening made me realise that, while WotLK was the expansion that I enjoyed the most, it was the Burning Crusade that had impacted me the most out of any game I’ve ever played.

Exploring The World#

Like a lot of other folks, I discovered World of Warcraft around 2004 and was immediately hooked. There was simply nothing like it out there. The continents were massive, the graphics were fantastically styled, and the gameplay was nothing short of crack-level addiction¹. I’d never really played any online style games, apart from a small stint on Unreal Tournament, but it didn’t take me long to realise the importance of grouping up with people to finish dungeons and take on harder mobs. This meant that finding a guild was something that had to be done early on to really engage with everything that Azeroth had to offer.

I originally started playing on a US server for reasons (hi SFU!), so the timings were a bit odd, as by the time I’d finish work in the UK and log on to quest or run instances, a lot of the US folks were still at work. This left me a lot of time on my own to explore the world, getting to know the various nooks and crannies, and engaging in the various world-wide events that 1.x patches brought (the Scourge Invasion was a particular favourite).

Life was good in Azeroth. I learned to ride mounts. I bested all of the instances (apart from the Stockade). I even dabbled a little in PvP, although this didn’t really float my boat that much. My guildies were fun to chat with in /g. The only thing missing from the experience was raiding, but given the time zone differences, I figured this was one of those things that I’d just skip, and that the rest of the game was enough to keep me satisfied.

Spoiler alert: You silly fool.

Journey Into Outland#

When The Burning Crusade expansion was announced, the list of new features was enough to blow everyone’s mind. A whole new world to explore, class additions for the two factions (which eventually led to my main change from an Undead frost mage to a Blood Elf paladin), and the biggest change of all - the prospect of actually flying in-game. To say that every man, woman, and murloc were unable to wait is the understatement of the decade. When it finally launched, I was a few days late starting out, as back then (in the olden days of 2007), we had to wait for a physical copy to arrive to install - none of this new-fangled downloading lark. Once it finally landed on my doorstep from across the Atlantic, I quickly set it up, launched it, stared at the new login screen for approximately 0.793 seconds, and logged in.

Having been parked outside the Dark Portal beforehand, I charged through to the other side. I was greeted by the sight of an eerie ethereal sky, under which Pit Lords and other demonic minions unleashed ferocious attacks against those holding the portal. After a bit of banter with the resident Horde representative, the inevitable wave of “Kill 10 used car salesmen” and “Collect the unusually shaped apples carried by the demons” quests were given. Quickly smashing mindlessly through these, I was then given a free ride over the new terrain on the way to the local Horde establishment.

Unlike the wyverns that took you across the land masses of Azeroth, the flight from the Portal to Thrallmar (with the wonderfully named innkeeper Floyd Pinkus) felt different. A little slower and more cinematic perhaps. A hint of things to come once we could get our OWN FRICKIN’ FLYING MOUNTS.

This was just the start of the journey through Outland. Each of the main areas felt completely different to anything in the original release. The level of difficulty meant that it took time to progress, and things like crowd control became important tools to avoid pulling too many mobs at once. There was also, in this writer’s opinion, a more structured story this time around, one that was planned out to last the entire expansion. The patches in the original World of Warcraft sometimes felt a little piecemeal in their direction, whereas the Burning Crusade’s patches and raid cycles let the story progress smoothly across the entire expansion².

Rose Tinted Memories#

With instances being much shorter to run (no more Sunken Temple- or Blackrock Depths-length instances), it was much easier to jump in each day and get shit done. Character progression felt more palpable. I began to read more guides on how to play my toons better (hi Elitist Jerks!). I was still, let’s be honest, pretty crap, but getting less so by the day. I started to target specific upgrades to improve my DPS, running some of the instances more than 30 times before the right piece of tier gear dropped. Yet it never felt too painful (well, maybe a little). The guildies were happy to help when I needed some extra bodies to complete quests, and it began to feel like home when logging in.

A fateful change in the way I approached the game was staying up until 4am UK time on a long weekend to take a spare raid slot in Serpentshrine Cavern, spending most of the night on Morogrim. Given that I’d never raided before, this was a mind-blowing experience. The coordination! The damage! The sheer scale of the place! And of course, facing that first boss, failing, and then beating it was an unforgettable experience³.

Off the back of this excitement, I managed to get enough folks to sign up to a weekly Karazhan raid early in the morning US time, mid-afternoon UK time. We did this for a couple of months. Given it was very tired people playing their alts, we never got further than the Curator, but it really did open my eyes as to what was possible in a game.

Eventually, it hit me that I wanted more. I faced the realisation that I had to change server to play in a local time zone if I wanted to progress further. Given Blizzard’s stupidity stubbornness reluctance to let me transfer characters internationally, I was forced to restart from scratch on the same server as a former work colleague. Luckily, he set me up with bags and some basic gear, so it wasn’t too painful. I eventually joined a 3-nights-a-week raiding guild, who were at the Serpentshrine Cavern/Tempest Keep phase of the game. We never got further than the start of the Black Temple, but it was more fun that I could have possibly hoped.

Onwards to Northrend#

Wrath of the Lich King took things up another level when it launched. Not that I’d have known this at the time. Despite taking two days off work to play it, installation problems, plus an Enslaved gig on the first night (with an inhuman amount of beer being drunk) meant that I skipped the second day altogether. Ahem.

Still, when I actually got to play it, it was mind-blowing. The graphics seemed even better than those that had come before. The gameplay was more refined in many ways, and with more talents to unlock in what seemed like an insanely complicated talent tree (Path of Exile would like a word), I was reading up more online than ever before. The storyline was much better than the Burning Crusade too, with Arthas frequently popping up as you levelled to always keep you aware of the bigger picture.

Early raids into Naxx were another revelation. Having never seen the original instance, this was like treading on hallowed ground. Beating Kel’Thuzad for the first time was the biggest rush I could remember I’d ever felt gaming. And this was before Ulduar was even on the horizon, which rapidly became (and still is) my favourite WoW raid instance. The guild’s main tank also angrily declared (midway through a Naxx 25 run) that he was sick of… something… which led to my changing mains to my pally tank until I quit playing in Crapaclysm.

We never did conquer Ulduar, but beat the 10-man version of the Trial of the Grand Crusader, and after I and a significant chunk of our 25-man guild left to form a smaller 10-man hardish-core raiding guild, we eventually beat Arthas in Heroic mode before the Ruby Sanctum launched. It was an amazing time to be gaming.

Picking A Favourite#

Both the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King were formative gaming experiences for me. Looking back now, nothing else really compares. I enjoyed Guild Wars 2 for a bit, but found it a bit lacking in coherence and drive. Elden Ring has come close (and in fact, I realised that the reason I liked it so much was that it is basically WoW raid bosses for single players - constantly practicing until you perfect the dance routine). Other smaller games have been fun too, but nothing has really compared to WoW in its hey-day.

Of those two expansions though, while WotLK was the one where I was most successful in terms of game achievements and progression, the leap between vanilla WoW and the Burning Crusade felt like a much bigger shift for me. The Burning Crusade was far more impactful in making me realise what games could be.

Of course, Cataclysm came along and promptly dropped the quality level somewhat (AMG’s Law of Diminishing Returns doesn’t just apply to music, it seems), and I found that trying to run a guild as one of the officers was effectively a second full-time job, just as kids were appearing on the scene in Grumpy Manor. At this point, Azeroth addiction had set in, so it was hard to let go, but I did eventually, and didn’t really look back (much). Like all old-timers, I definitely considered going back when WoW Classic launched, but I’ve resisted that pull easily enough this time around the loop. You can’t recapture that moment, as it was so much more than just the game, and I don’t want to tarnish those memories.

Still, between reading the excellent Eight Years in Azeroth blog from the start, and listening to those gorgeous soundtracks, the memories themselves have come to life again. And for me, this has been the best way to relive those glory years of gaming.