Sagacyte's BG corner

Hello! Let’s all tread together the treacherous path of the final day of the work week joined by some great music!

Almost a decade ago, while I was teaching web stuff in a local institute, some students tried to convince me to try World of Warcraft. I was adamant. You see, back then the concept of paying a monthly fee for games was new for me. I was also an MMO newbie and my only other experience with the genre was the terribly flawed (yet at the time, newish) Silkroad Online (which is free to play).

Eventually they convinced me to try my hand at the wildly popular MMO, in no small part due to the announcement that an upcoming expansion was to deal with my favorite Warcraft character ever: Arthas. And so, I entered the deep waters of Azeroth in the most common fashion in these parts: a pirate (private) server. For those not in the know, in most South American countries piracy was rampant - as a related example, my experiences with Warcraft III (my first game in the series) were with a pirated copy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTnWoMl0Jew

I remember two things very well from my forays as a young Forsaken Rogue. One was that I was having a LOT of fun with WoW, the game felt like such an upgrade from Silkroad! The other was that this private server had a nasty issue with wall clipping. In the island in the middle of Silverpine Lake, the mobs in the castle and village would come at me through walls, overwhelming me and making it impossible to progress. I could have grinded a few extra levels and then move on, but as a gamer who's very much into the story of the games I play, this was unacceptable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4CN0Uh3x04

And thus, a choice was made: if I wanted to see more of this fascinating game world, I would have to go "legit". I found that, thankfully, Blizzard wasn't picky with where you were in the world or which credit card you used - something that back in those days Square Enix was TERRIBLE at, which is the main reason I never got into Final Fantasy XI - so I got someone to get me a WoW Battle Chest and had no problems making an account. Very soon I was beginning anew as a Forsaken Rogue, but this time there would be no overpowered friends to help me, showing off their undead mounts that for their commonality were an incredible sight for a level 1 Forsaken. Around that time, Blizzard also announced Latin American servers, and everyone I knew recommended the Ragnaros server - a big mistake since it was a PvP server, but one I learned to live with.

Five years of my life were spent in Azeroth. Even during a couple of rough years when I lost my job I was lucky enough for my wife to tell me to keep my sub going (maybe she was afraid I would get depressed if I didn't have a distraction) - this was during the time of Cataclysm. I tried to get some real life friends in it, but save for one they all couldn't get past the graphical quality. I met them all: fantastic players, great friends, and douchebags of the highest caliber. My adventures were a part of my life, and even when the spark died a bit after Wrath ended and Cataclysm left us with long patch lulls, I kept playing up until the second-to-last patch of Mists of Pandaria.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvwQsk982c0

By that time, my raid group had disbanded, my guild was losing steam, and a lot of people were starting to grow more vocal on the lack of relevance that Pandaria brought to us. Also around that time another MMO was showing up in the world. One I would randomly try for a Beta key, which I got. One that captured me in the way WoW did at the beginning. One that would become my "WoW Killer". I guess you can imagine which MMO that is.

And so ended the days of Sagacyte the Forsaken Rogue. If it were up to me (a.k.a. "if I had unlimited money) I would remain subbed to WoW even today, though I would play much less in favor of my main MMO now, but there is a charm to it. The style, the world, the music. It's like visiting and old home, and old school... a piece of your past that will always be there. With the coming of Legion I see current players excited, and with the release of the Warcraft movie today, I cannot help but reminisce of the wonderful world of Azeroth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alWTyJr1Gro

My vacations start tonight, so I won't be able to see the Warcraft movie until at least next week. But Twitter lets me participate of the hype. And so I reminisce. Of my strolls through Tirisfal, my conquer of Outland, the chill of Northrend, the fires of Cataclysm and the beauty of Pandaria.

For the Horde.

Game on.
- Sagacyte