Hello There.
I've been reading blogs for a few years now, mostly to do with World of Warcraft. There's been some very good ones out there, and those ones I'll go to each time hoping to see an update, even if it's just some random ramblings. Two that I follow quite frequently, and enjoy tremendously are ones you should stop by and check out:
http://eightyearsinazeroth.blogspot.ca/
and
http://thebigbearbutt.com/
Forgive the crappy links here, I'm just getting this blogging thing figured out. They'll get better as I learn, I promise.
You get to know people through blogs, or at least their projected persona. For the most part, I've really enjoyed getting to know the people behind the blogs. Those are the ones I keep coming back to time and time again.
Hopefully, I'll inject some of these Wanderings with enough entertainment to have you come back, and, if you have any interest in the man behind the curtain, perhaps some insight into that as well.
Most great stories start at the beginning, unless you're Quentin Tarantino...the man can start anywhere in a story and have me right from wherever it is. I'm a fan of following with what works. Re-inventing the wheel isn't my specialty, as you'll see.
The Beginnings...
I've been a gamer for most of my life. I got my first computer when I was 13, a Christmas present from my parents. The old Commodore Vic-20. I'd been playing around with my friends' computers for a few years, but this one was different. It was mine! I remember unwrapping the box and being blown away that my technologically impaired parents had actually bought me an real computer!
Later the next year I entered High School, and met up with a man who's been an incredible influence on my life. He was my English teacher then, and became a close friend I've valued through the years up to the present day. One incredible gift he gave me, was that he brought this 'new' game to our school. Dungeons and Dragons. Yepper, good ol' D&D. Fantasy. Killing stuff. Figuring out puzzles. Hanging out with friends for hours. Rolling Dice (primitive RNG). Character Sheets. Stats. Weapons. Equipment. Armor.
How little did I know that in about 20 years, there'd be the embodiment of that genre wrapped into a computer game that millions of people would play.
Eventually I stumbled into the world of online gaming, with the discovery of text-based MUDs. Multi-User Dungeons. Meet people online, go adventuring with them, create characters, all based on that same fantasy type D&D genre. Muds were good to me, spent many an hour getting to know each of the classes, the fights, the paths all around the virtual world. I played extensively on one called "Prophecy: The Mud", which was a world based on the Belgariad and Mallorean series of books by David Eddings. I'd been reading and re-reading those 2 series since they were released, and it was fantastic to boogie around in that world. This was my origins of becoming an altoholic. Level 91 was the max at the time, and I'd created, levelled and equipped about 40 toons by the time the new revolution came about...
World of Warcraft. WoW!
A friend of mine started talking about this new MMO coming out. He was very excited, planned to line up outside the store to get the release copy as soon as it was available. I'd played some of the Warcraft RTS games, and liked the genre (of course, Civilization type strategy with Orcs? I'm in!). However, the subscription fee was new to me, and I was already spending tons of time on an excellent MUD, where it was free to play. I kept on with Prophecy: The MUD for another 6 months, all the while hearing about how amazing WoW was from that friend.
Eventually, one of my Prophecy online friends started a WoW account, and sent me a trial 10 day subscription. She said 'it's incredible, come play'. The free offer made sense to me, to check it out. So, I created the account, and logged in, creating a Night Elf Druid. One of my favourite characters from D&D was an Elf Druid, shapechanging and all, so I figured this would be a fun way to start. I named him after that D&D character, Gerrymander and waited for the load screen to complete...
Holy crap Batman, it's alive, it's aliiiiive.....
What an incredible experience. Over 8 years ago, and I still remember what it was like the first few moments. The game that I'd already been playing for years now had a 3 dimensional representation in front of me. The world was rich in colour and graphics. (Please note, I'm Canadian...not only do we say 'aboot', but we use 'u' in words, just to complicate matters). My MUD friend was sitting there waiting for me, and we spent the next few minutes getting me up to speed on the controls. I was eager to dive right in, and the quest givers were ready to get me going. Unfortunately my friend couldn't stay long online, so I was left to my own devices. After a bit of questing and getting my bag figured out (man, picking up everything in sight was going to be tough, especially with that starter bag only), I retired for the night, pretty sure that this game was going to take most of my attention.
I logged in the next day, and seeing a screen with only one toon on it, I took the obvious step...
I made an alt.
I don't even remember which class it was, because after that first druid, I went ahead and populated my server with 10 toons. I knew I'd be playing them all. The experiences of mudding told me I'd be happily moving from class to class and loving every minute of it. I wasn't wrong.
I didn't even get through my full 10 day trial before I was at the store, buying my copy of Vanilla WoW, and launching myself into what has been an awesome 8 and a half year journey.
...as well as 50 toons levelled to 85 and beyond...
Wylset
