You know how when you first start playing a game, it's very basic and the
subtleties and nuances don't show themselves for a while? Can't remember what
that's like? Start playing a new game, or have a friend join you on one of yours
while you walk that friend through it all. It'll come back to you just how much
there is to learn.
I'm quite the newbie when it comes to World of Warcraft. Despite the hours
I’ve spent in the game learning the fundamentals and trying out different
classes to find what I like best, I had an experience that reminded me my
noobness. (Actually, it was less a gentle reminder and more an
in-my-face-pounding-it-into-my-head experience.)
Here are some things to keep in mind as I tell you my tale:
1) I started playing WoW because a friend of mine plays it. Her husband
likes to play PvP, so the server we play on is a PvP server.
2) I had a very pleasant episode a few weeks ago of exploring.
3) I'm used to CoH/V
where running actually allows you to be able to outrun enemies.
4) I have map issues. It bugs me when there's any fog of war or unexplored
area. I will waste time and risk my life just to uncover the whole map.
5) Sometimes, I'm an idiot.
I'm a level 17 Night Elf Hunter. I read somewhere on some site about how
the elves are cut off from the other Alliance races, and here's how you get to
Stormwind or Ironforge, and I really wanted to go to Stormwind in order to train
in two-handed weapons (I looted a great two-handed sword). I read all this stuff
about how dangerous the trip is, but when I did it, I didn't run into an
ounce of danger. So I was pretty confident in my exploration abilities, and it's
possible (OK, probable) that I confused skills with luck.
I got a couple quests which required my traveling to Ashenvale Forest
region. I had a pleasant little walk to where I was going, and decided to
venture further in order to expose my map a bit more. Even though I knew I was
in contested territory. Even though I knew I was only level 17, and some of the
beasts I was seeing in my field of vision were 22+.
So I wandered. I discovered a few regions and enjoyed the little bit of XP
I was getting from them. I kept going. I looked at a larger map online and saw
that I was getting close to Astraanar and decided I wanted to visit the
Hippogryph Master there to open up a new flight path. As I was closing in on
Astraanar, I saw a target come up on my screen showing that I was being
attacked, not by a beast of the forest, but by a member of the Horde. I pretty
much knew I was screwed at this point, so I just crossed my fingers and kept
running. As I strode into Astraanar territory and got the XP for it, I checked
my health. It was so low that I couldn’t even see a sliver of it.
Don't ask me how I survived, because I don't know. But I did. And all of a
sudden, I was invincible!
I revived my crab pet (Alaskan) who had unfortunately perished while I
fled for my life, rested a bit, explored a little, and decided to move on
further. I was quite emboldened by the fact that I survived my first PvP attack.
If I knew how to send a taunting tell to the guy who attacked me, I would have.
(It's probably good that I didn't know how to do that.)
I kept rolling along, and based on my map on-screen and the map I had open
in my browser, I saw that I was coming upon another little city and thought I'd
like to get another flight path opened up.
Making an incredibly brilliant decision, I decided that instead of
sticking to the road like I knew I should in order to keep relatively safe, I
was going to take a shortcut through a little valley in the woods. As I got
about halfway through, a level 24 bear attacked me. An eeep! escaped my lips and
I started running, in the process aggroing two more bears and a really hairy
spider. I survived much longer than I should have.
I ran my wispy spirit back to my body and resurrected, immediately
aggroing a bear behind me that I didn't see. I ran a little further. Died.
Repeated a good 3 more times, until I died at the edge of a river.
Thinking I would be safe now, I brought my spirit back, rezzed on the
river bank and tried to stealth myself so I could heal and move on. Nope,
couldn't do that because "You are in combat." Some freaky protector-looking
beast rose OUT OF THE RIVER to kill me. He also brought a bear along with him
for good measure.
At this point, two of my equipped items were broken, and the rest damaged.
There was no hope. But did I give up?? NO! I AM INVINCIBLE!
I ran my spirit back to my body and once again rose from the dead.
Miraculously, nothing aggroed and I carefully moved myself along to the next
city, Splintertree Post.
Now, here's the really hilarious part: Spintertree Post is a freaking
Horde village! It didn't even dawn on my brilliantly invincible brain that there
are Horde villages and cities! I was running my happy little relieved Night Elf
who thinks she made it through the depths of hell to get this flight path toward
the village - and running at me from the village was a Horde guard who
immediately started attacking my pants off. Before I could even process what
idiot mistake I've made, I'm dead.
My spirit at the graveyard, I realized that every single equipped item is
red and broken. Whee! Still not learning my lesson, I decided to run back to my
body. Again. I positioned my spirit as far as possible from the guards while
still in rez range, hoping to not aggro them.
I rose. Quickly checking to make sure no guards were out for my blood, I
opened my pack and clicked on my hearthstone, ready to go home to Auberdine. As
I was clicking, I noticed a Horde player come running out of Splintertree Post.
Straight. At. Me. There was not much I could do except pray at this point, which
I did with all my might. He got close and as the animation completed which
whisked me away to my home, I saw an attack go off. By the looks of what was
thrown, it was a warlock. Or possibly a mage. I don't know; it was something
evil and meant to kill me, and that's all that matters.
BUT I WON! I GOT TO AUBERDINE, ALIVE!!!
Standing next to the innkeeper, I took a few deep breaths, and chuckled to
myself about how lucky I was to have barely made it out of that PvP moment. Out
of curiosity, I hovered my mouse over the two icons that had shown up next to my
compass, thinking again about my mad hearthstoning skillz, not registering that
those icons were there because they were successful damage-over-time attacks.
When my body dropped dead to the floor, it finally dawned on me.
I died so many times that when I get my spirit back to my body again, I
had to wait a few minutes before I was allowed to resurrect. The cost to repair
all my items was insanely high for my level.
Still, after all that, you know what bugs me? How much was left unexplored
on my map.
[Author’s note: This was actually written a couple months ago, before I
found ToG. I now play a mildly-successful, mid-30s Human Rogue who has benefited
from my previous learning experiences. I am, however, a bit embarrassed to admit
that even a few days ago, I died because I went exploring, trying to get part of
my map to appear.]
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