When I first started playing in WotLK, I made a dwarfadin, and leveled up to 10 in one day without venturing beyond the eastern half of Dun Morogh, eventually becoming the most well reputed paladin on the server.
I killed the level 11 elite Old Icebeard at level 6 (I called it a "skull-level" monster because it had a skull in the level spot) and started hurling myself at the level 12 Addled Lepers (also skull-level) at the entrance of Gnomeragan at level 7 after being distracted from a quest to get gears from the level 6 ones located nearby. Meanwhile, I believed death was permanent in WoW.
A few level 26-29 guys found me fighting those gnomes, and I tried to warn them about the scary midgets. I guess they were impressed or something because they helped me kill a few (probably bare-handed) and reach level 10, knowing nothing about talent points. That's when I found my first blue item (I was BS/Mining so I had a few greens, but this was mindblowing to me), Ironpatch Blade. So I asked them where I could learn to use swords, and they told me to go to SW.
I had seen 80s going up to IF, and assumed that, like the rest of the world, it was full of appropriately high level monsters and decided never to go there, meaning I never knew about the Deeprun Tram.
I looked at my map, zoomed out and realized that I couldn't get past the mountains on foot. It seemed obvious to me that I should swim there. So I thanked them, and set my sights on the nearest reachable coastline, eastern Wetlands, knowing full well the possibility that neither Wetlands nor Elwynn would have coastal access.
I ventured all the way to Menethil Harbor, staving off level 22 crocolisks all the way, by which point I had reached level 15, high enough to actually use the sword I found. Success was vital to me, everything I had worked for was coming to fruition.I jumped into the water and started swimming, walking on land whenever possible, and occasionally falling into the dangerous pitfalls of poorly programed geography.
Along the way, I met a Goblin, who sold me a BS plan I was very glad to receive, and shortly thereafter, the ports of SW came into sight. As I reunited with solid ground, a level 80 cat approached me (which was shocking enough on its own), asked me how I got to SW, and inquired why I didn't just take the tram from IF.
The last thing I expected was for him to turn into an absurdly tall elf and pull out a motorcycle, but that's what happened. He offered to take me to the weapon master, invited me to a group and told me to right-click his bike to get in. He showed me the entrance to the tram, told me about talent points, informed me that death was not permanent in WoW, and dropped me off at the shop, where he gave me 100 gold, druid buffs, before leaving.
AiyerisGuest
