#teldrassil and tirisfal glades so awesome

[immren]

my mom letting me play wow on her computer back in 2004. she has no idea how big of an impact these two starting zones will have on my brain

[ingloriousbi]

Classic thoughts so far:

Way too many people to make questing a genuinely fun experience since everything is always dead and theres no loot/experience sharing. but in between everything I’ve found questing to be the most fun and relaxing part of vanilla thus far. Its way more grindy than it is now, which has its downsides (boring… drop rate is frustrating…) but also kind of fun and really inspires grouping up with randoms, even if just for 10 minutes to share the kill credit on whatever quest.

Old orgrimmar is literally better than I remember it. I love it, it’s easier to navigate then new orgrimmar, thrall is awesome (i forgot how much i genuinely loved the hidden enemies quest line and the text for it which probably sounds weird but i have vivid memories about it), the city feels lived in and real, like a much more worthy parallel to Stormwind despite its smaller size. My first character was an undead, so taking the zeppelin from brill, arriving outside orgrimmar, walking through the gates – that whole experience was really nice to relive after over a decade considering the first time I did that is a special memory to me

Old undead char opening monologue is v good and the current writers on the retail team need it tattooed in their eyelids for what theyre doing to sylvanas. classic is one big reminder to the fuck you the lore has become, even if gameplay has arguably largely improved

I knew a lot of shit – arrows, no hunter pet till level 10, weapon skills, being too broke to buy your class spells etc. – were waiting for me but there’s always another “oh ja kennis” moment and its really fun to re-explore everything I loved about classes back in the day, even if mana management is a pain in my ass and two spells into casting my mage is oom. I especially love that I have to read the quests again and how much more immersive the game is when there’s no icons on your map or blue areas marked for you. I think I read more quests than the average person and try to turn off icons on maps etc but the difference was v noticeable in a good way.

Professions are relevant again – this is prolly largely due to low level influx of players since no one is 60 yet, but the fact that I can make dresses and have them be useful long term and have the stats be meaningful is really… pure. It’s a pure experience and I enjoy being tailoring/enchanting; it doesn’t feel like a requirement to grind out useless shit until I can sell bags; I am using the shit I make, and if I don’t use it I know others will have use for it. Two out of three in my party are clothies also so the usefulness is exponential and It feels nice

Conjuring water/food and not being able to get rank 2 but having the rank 1 shit be useless, and then finally getting rank 2, costs half my damn mana to conjure water and I ONLY GET 2 WATER… boooooyyyyyy fuck you.

I forgot resisting spells was a thing mobs do and let me tell you I do not care for that shit

A lot of quality of life shit I miss (e.g. reagents, or just having a quest list right on my screen, even just “talk to dick mcdickerson” would be useful) but there’s something really charming about the barebones necessity shit of a lot of gameplay and UI. It might just be novelty, we will see if it wears off over time

i am embarrassed by the amount of fucking initialism i remember as i see it pass in trade. teen me was a loser and should be made fun of with the utmost prejudice for crystallizing this knowledge so good my adult ass still knows

People jerk off too much in the general chat of whatever place. Its nice to see the community alive again but they wont shut the fuck up and its all circlejerking abt who has the most vanilla knowledge vs “the loosers” that started in wotlk or after, and theres too much back-patting themselves for “being social again” bc general and trade chat isn’t dead anymore. Look, barrens chat was nice, but there was a reason it’s a meme and I sure as fuck don’t want durotar, or teldrassil, or fucking tirisfal glades to be full of non-stop shit in general chat. Every so often there will be a period of time where its really nice and just people grouping up, asking for and then receiving help, its really nice and talking about how fun it is, and then after those 15 min the Men come back and its all a circlejerk again abt whatever they can think of. haha mankriks wife jokes. haha mounts at 40. haha weapons trainer in UC for daggers, cant do it in org... shut the fuck up. we all remember - or are re-remembering - all this shit as we go. i do not need some dude with a stick up his ass who reread vanilla vs retail differences lists to give live-commentary on my rediscovery of a beloved childhood videogame.

[for-the-fel-of-it-blog]

Roleplay Tips; Night Elf Weddings

So, do you too roleplay a Night Elf? Are they too getting married? Good luck. The entirety of the canon lore we have on Kaldorei weddings are the last two pages of the Stormrage novel… But there’s some issues with this; - This is essentially a royal wedding. Tyrande and Malfurion are as close to Queen and King as the Kaldorei have since Azshara. - The guests in attendance include many important lore characters. Cenarius, Broll Bearmantle, Shandris Feathermoon. - The ceremony was conducted by two of the goddamn Aspects. - Being only two pages, there’s not a great amount of detail.

So, what to do? Well, despite how unhelpful the lore is in actually figuring out what a normal wedding for the race is, there are some key details we can pick up on;

- There are no rings exchanged - The ceremony is conducted by a close friend, not a priest as in human culture - The concept of best man and maid of honour exist, but they don’t call them that. When Malfurion asks Broll to be his best man the question is “I can think of no one else I’d rather have stand by me as my witness” or something to that affect, so I’d suggest using the word Witness. - Fancy clothing is worn, so go nuts on the tmog. - There is no bridal walk up the aisle. Instead, the bride and groom enter together with their witnesses (quite possible the ceremony’s conductor as well. That’s harder to guess since the Aspects just flew in at the same I me) - Riding sabercats seems traditional throughout the wedding.

So there we have some basic details. That’s all the canon we have, sadly. So, how exactly do you turn random details into a ceremony that your RP pals will go ‘woooah’ at? That’s entirely up to yourself, however as a framework, the way my own Night Elf’s ceremony went was;

- The friend who was chosen to conduct the ceremony, let’s call him the MC, leads the guests to the location. - He comes back, and the bride, groom and their witnesses ride up to the venue. I’d suggest having the MC first and in the middle, then the bride and groom beside each other, and then the witnesses beside each other. - Choreography. As a location, we picked the whispering forest in Tirisfall. So we just rode in a little circle around the mushrooms where the guests where before riding into the centre of it. - The MC gives a speech about the couple. - The MC invites either the bride or groom to say their vows. I’d suggest making it the bride, since Night Elf culture is a matriarchy. - The bride says her vows, really more of a speech or a promise to her other half. - The MC invites the brides witness to confirm she isn’t lying and her intentions are pure. - The MC then repeats. Ask the groom to give his vows. - Ask the groom’s witness to confirm he isn’t lying. - And there we go, the MC announces the couple as married. Let’s get the party on, reception time. - The friend that was picked to conduct my Nelf’s ceremony was actually a human, which might be a good idea. Then if anything seems too humany, you can pass it off as the MC just assuming Elf weddings are pretty much the same.

Bonus Round. I spent a few days exploring everywhere for a good location, honestly. I have the explorer achievement now. Some good venues would be;

- The Whispering Forest, Tirisfal Glades. This is where we picked. There’s a mushroom ring, fey dragons that sing every ten minutes, and maybe a void monster living under the lake. Oops. There’s also stag, who are uncorrupted, while the doe are all plagued. Aesthetic. Would work well for a polar opposites couple. Kaldorei and Highborne, Illidari and a Druid, that kind of thing. - Nordrassil, Mount Hyjal. For the more traditional couple, there’s always the second well of eternity. It’s one of the few places in the zone that aren’t a warzone or on fire, and pretty much screams Night Elf. The downside is, Hyjal is zoned depending on what quests you have done. - Darnassus, Teldrassil. Why not make use of that lovely Kaldorei capital before it gets turned to a smouldering pile of ash? There are several walk ways that lead to no where and over look the water, which could prove pretty. There’s also that weird lake directly south of Darnassus, up in the branches of Teldrassil, which could work well. - The Grove of Cenarius, Val'Sharah. I mean, not much has to be said about this. If a Demi-God of nature hangs out there, it’s awesome. It’s a really pretty spot with a lot of deer hanging around. Downside is the fact as it is a high level zone, people need to be high level to get there AND unless you want surprise guests of Cenarius, Malfurion and Ysera clogging up your wedding, you’ll have to do the quests to get ‘em to move! - Nagrand, Outland/Draenor. I don’t need to sing the praises of this zone to you, do I? It’s gorgeous. Both old and new. I’d say new Nagrand is maybe a little prettier but the new version has more issues, like a higher level requirement and absolutely no connection to the Night Elves. Outland Nagrand on the other hand has a smaller level requirement and might make sense if your Kaldorei served in Outland at any point. They may well have fond memories of the place. I would! - Goblin Resort, Feralas. Or is your Elf a 'party Elf ™ ’ ? Well look no further than the Goblin Resort in Feralas. They’ve got weird fish burgers, Gordon Tramsay and a mammoth wash. What more do you need? And even if it doesn’t float your boat, and it really has boats, it’d make a great reception. - Lake Kel'Theril or Frostwhisper Gorge, Winterspring. For those Winter Veil weddings, where else but Winterspring? Lake Kel'Theril has some mobs lurking around but is well worth it. Both locations have a great view of old times ruins on a snowy backdrop. Frostwhisper even has a dramatic cliff to stand on the edge of.

And there we go, you’re probably saying right now 'the heck you going on about?’ but there we go. I spent a lot of time on this because of how little there is on the subject and I thought, rather than me forget all of this information, I’d post it here. I hope it’s of use to… Someone.