Thread by @MatthewWRossi

People are justifiably sick of the whole "MY WoW story starts in Vanilla" because it reeks of gatekeeping and status seeking, an attempt to say you love WoW best because you were there when it started. I understand that sentiment.

I started playing WoW because of my wife

She came to stay with me back in 2004, and she'd been in the beta, and thought I'd like WoW. I was leery of it. It sounded like something that would take up a lot of my time and I liked single player games better because I could pick them up and then put them down.

But she insisted, and so I rolled a paladin and played it for a while. I liked playing Paladins in D&D, and I figured it would be about the same. I considered Hunter, because I often play RANGERS in D&D, but the hunter was too much about shooting for me. I liked melee too much.

I played and enjoyed the Paladin for about 16 levels. I had a hammer which I used to hit people. There was a weird bug I don't really even remember that made him very strong, and then Blizzard fixed it so he was less strong, but it was still a nice, basic class. Swing hammer.

So there I was, hammering things, and I got invited to run Deadmines. I had no idea what that entailed. So I ran south, found the Deadmine's entrance, which meant getting past a LOT of hostile stuff back then, and finally zoned in.

And within one pull I realized my problem.

WoW is not D&D. In D&D, a Paladin has extremely limited healing, even now. A Paladin in D&D is basically a front line melee who focuses on using holy power to do vengeful stuff to people. Ret paladins are the closest WoW gets to D&D paladins.

I didn't understand healing.

So there I am, expected to heal a party of five people on a character who I didn't even know HAD healing spells, because all I'd done with him was use a hammer and maybe throw seals around. I honestly barely remember the mechanics.

It was not a fun run for me.

Afterwards, I deleted that Paladin and I was going to quit. I didn't want to heal dungeons. I didn't want to sit in the back and shoot things while my pet does the stuff I consider fun. And I, despite playing D&D for years, have literally NEVER played a mage or wizard.

My wife, because @JulianJRossi is wiser than I, suggested I try out Warriors. I read the class description and thought "They sound really generic." I mean, I like Fighters in D&D, but I still usually end up as a Barbarian or Ranger or Paladin because those guys have flavor

So I was leery of the Warrior. I've played Fighters -- one of my favorite AD&D characters was a Fighter -- but I didn't get the sense that WoW had done anything interesting. I rolled one, an Orc (yes, my first Warrior was an Orc) on Azjol-Nerub. And for nine levels I hated it.

I mean, God.
This was the December 2004 Warrior. Those nine levels were torture. Autoattack until you had enough rage to hit Heroic Strike. No stances. No cool abilities. Couldn't even DW back then. I was using a grey 2h axe I'd started with killing scorpids and looking for caves

But I figured "Well, I'll at least finish to 10" and so, sometime around leaving the start zone to carry bread to an inn at Razor Hill, I dinged 10 and I gained an ability.

"Huh. Charge. Wonder what this does."

Yes, you got Charge at level 10 back then.

It is not possible for you, if you started playing WoW say in Cata, to understand how my entire world changed in December of 2004 when I decided to test out my new ability on a Scorpid I saw on the way to Razor Hill.

Hurling my character INTO melee? Oh my, yes. Yes please.

Now, other people will tell you how beautiful the starting zones were, or how expansive the world felt. They could go on adventures! Explore a vast place that felt huge and alive. And all that's true, and great.

But for me WoW really took off when I charged a Scorpid.

Pretty much every WoW expansion from that point on, every dungeons I've done, every raid I've cleared, every level I've attained have happened because, in my heart, I'm still reeling from pushing that button and launching myself like an arbalest firing at the enemy.

And you really have to have been there to understand it. As much better as the game is now -- and it IS, in almost every way it's improved dramatically -- there was a sense of "OH HOLY SH-" as you discovered things you had no idea about.

For me, it was Charge. It decided things.

I have loved WoW for 14 years this year. I've not always enjoyed the story. I've not always loved the mechanics. I've had good years and bad years. My blindness has hampered me from playing the game the way I used to. I've switched characters, although I've stayed a Warrior.

Because it was playing that Orc Warrior outside of Razor Hill that finally said "Here. You've been waiting. Here it is." And I've never forgotten it, and I've never wanted to abandon it. I love WoW and Warriors and Charge.