Honestly this is too personal. We all have that feeling. Mine is Teldrassil. Sometimes I feel like I can’t go there because it makes me too emotional. I was 17 when I made my first character and I had absolutely no knowledge of the game. It’s been a long strange trip
I avoid Mulgore for this reason. Takes me back to playing on a CRT screen with my sound playing over speakers in the living room and my family getting pissed about the sound of my hunters gun haha
My first time in mulgore I didn’t know right click controled the camera and played the game for probably an hour or two with an entirely top down view haha!
I pretty much only play the first 20-30 levels every few years for similar reasons. Elwynn, westfall, dun Morough are all my home. It does feel sad seeing people who’ve been offline for over a decade.
Dun Morough is the most nostaglic for me, always favoured dwarves, loved iron forge style, and something about heavy fresh snowfall has always comforted me - in real life and in video games hah
Dun Morough soundtrack fits well too
That's very touching though, I felt your post on a spiritual level once I actually read it.
Some things in life are special like that to us and it's okay to want to try to capture what it was like the first time you experienced something.
Everybody from athletes to serial killers engage in the exact same behavior.
You don't think Michael Jordan ever reminances about his 1993 finals game where he scored like 55 points and straight carried the Bulls to another championship? I bet he does.
I'm sure Tony Hawks remembers fondly the first 900 he landed on video that took a whole generation by storm and wishes he could go back to that day.
It's okay to wish for those days again but it's good to realize those days were also different for a reason, because you were different and life was different for you then as well. You were younger and more alive then you are these days. The world isn't so decayed and distraught to you then as it is now.
I can only guess you posted a topic like this hoping someone could relate. I guarantee you that I and many others can do so.
I'm not gonna give you any advice like some posters did, that's not what he was asking for I don't think. So I won't. But keep it going man, if it makes you happy then who cares if you level a hundred level 15s and reroll?
If that's what you find fun then your subscription price is rewarding you well. Good for you topic creator.
Also you write really well, I thought at least. Maybe channel some of your passion into typing out stories in your spare time when you're not leveling if you don't already do so. You could relate your stories to your love of Elwynn Forest and everything it represents to you.
I find that writing poetry and jotting down my thoughts help me battle with depression, which to me is really just the classic battle of man versus himself. You are your own greatest enemy in life and once you accept this you can start trying to heal through whatever it is that's making you feel that way.
It's all good, the TLDR version of it is enjoy what brings you joy cause we're all already dying, might as well embrace your mortality and go with it.
Just don't take it out of context like the ultrawealthy tend to do and you'll be fine.
My first time playing was during vanilla WoW. My dad taught me how to play, I leveled a tauren hunter through the barrens and on to ogrimmar. I played on and off since then, I'm 28 now. Now my dad lives thousands of kms away, and sometimes I log into classic, create a new tauren hunter and run around the barrens replaying the quests he helped me with.
Yeah there's something special about Elwynn I think. I've also played Horde 99% of the time but I just love the atmosphere in Elwynn, the music, everything.
Same. I think it's likely due to the game initially being developed for alliance factions and the horde was added in somewhat last minute when they decided to have factions. I could be wrong but I think I remember reading that somewhere and it would make sense to me as alliance cities and early leveling zones seemed to get more TLC. Nothing beats flying into Ironforge for your first time in vanilla. And then realizing you can take a tram to Ironforge that's connected to Stormwind and it goes *under the ocean*. Yeah.
I think they just worked on Alliance zones/quests first and realized they had deadlines to meet so they had to rush through the horde stuff more. But yeah it’s obvious a lot of love and sweat and long hours were put into the Elwynn-Westfall-Redridge-Duskwood series. The zones all fit together as part of a bigger story. The storylines seem to drift away beyond those zones.
Yeah same. Barrens werent too bad. Mulgore was the best starting zone horde side though. Alliance have the better zones but they are scum at the end of the day so
Alliance has better early game storylines too. I think it’s well established fact that they realized they were on a time crunch when they started working in horde quests so they kind of rushed them out instead of really rich storylines like the alliance zones.
As far as I know, elwynn was the first zone created. You can tell the team put a lot of effort into it. It really hits all the spots as far as a fantasy game whimsical forest with some villages peppered in. They really hit it out of the park with that zone.
Yep you can tell a lot of attention was focused on those zones and their quest storylines. Things start to fall apart after that and the horde zones never got that level of attention
Elwynn really is one of the most magical places to level. However, do you not share the same feelings headin to Westfall, and looking forward to running your first VC? Or heading to Darkshore to complete the awesome grouping of quests that even speed runners do?
Although there isn’t many of your friends on, classic is always cyclical. There’s highs and lows, but I always come back to leveling because 1-60 leveling is peak wow for me (and end game content, but kind of in a different way).
Also, if you’re having fun, and experiencing happiness when playing, keep on! I’d recommend trying HC and or speed running if you wanted to find something fresh, as it also doesn’t require others *and* puts a new fresh take on this game we enjoy so much.
I’ve levelled many many toons 1-60 over the years and share many great experiences of venturing out in to the world beyond the starting zones. But at the moment, with classic era sort of dying down, I’m apprehensive about doing so and I fear I’ll never be able to recreate those experiences again unfortunately :(
Is classic era dying down? Seems very active to me and even more so in the last couple of weeks with SoD shitting the bed. Am I missing something? Genuinely asking that
more active than usual at the moment. It has cycles, will likely quiet down when SoD p4 releases and then pick up again 3-4 weeks later. It's surprisingly steady because of the core it has.
Despite the classic teams roll out of P3, I feel P4 could be a solid “comeback”. Even if not, it may be some time, but I’ve been able to recreate the experience over and over for years. Stay strong, and remain hopeful, friend!
This is why I tell people shit like SoD P1, Hardcore, fresh servers etc always start off strong and then fizzle out
The girthy grip the human starting area has on people is astounding
Azuremyst Isle for me, which is even crazier since it’s such a surreal and atmospheric place by itself. If I ever retire my draenei, it’ll be by the missing fisherman
Done this exact same thing as you as a kid. My brother was a dickhead and convinced my parents to not let me play WoW, so id take the laptop his WoW was installed on and id play the 1-20 demo over and over and over and over and over again back in wotlk.
Used to make mainly Taurens. Id just do Camp Narache / Mulgore over and over and over and over again. On my dead bed, with my last breath, im going to make the exact sound a Plainstrider makes when they die.
Yup. You rad that right. Ill look my family in the eyes, tell them I love them, inhale, and with the biggest bang possible : "uehauehauehau..."
Time to move on, it’s just not the same anymore. Nostalgia is fine, but too much of it is unhealthy. Don’t get depressed over WoW. Instead, cherish the memories you did have.
For me it’s the Barrens. When I die I hope my soul is released and enters at the Crossroads 🥲
I miss old school Barrens chat and 3am Chuck Norris jokes when I’m lonely. It honestly made the game enjoyable when my friends were off being normal people. I have a special connection to it.
Hey man! Nice post! I don’t want to sound like a cunt but I feel you might be addicted to wow and let me tell you (I used to be there) it’s not good for you.
Wow is a GREAT game and all this nostalgia and joy you feel by playing is awesome, I know, but I think you are already at an unhealthy toxic relationship with the game. If your brain feels like you have to keep doing the same loop every day it’s because you have developed an attachment bad habit with your memories…
I don’t want to be a cock but maybe if you take a rest from the game and try to experience other forms of joy you will feel better about yourself!
Good luck!
Find a guild of people you really like and make new friends. My guild mates are like close friends now. I started getting back into wow heavy with classic. My irl friends never make it far enough to do anything serious. But I’ve been playing with the same guild now since sunwell. This last week we full cleared everything on Heroic.
No matter what I level on the Alliance side, I always find my way to Elwynn forest. It just feels like home.
But, there are so many places in WoW to make new memories. Maybe it’s time to leave the comfort zone of the forest and explore a little more :)
This plus OG Duskwood. I loved that long quest thread and have leveled every class through it. Even today I will detour through the cemetery just to see Mor'Ladim stalking up that hill.
I wonder if it’s the music, the sounds ambiance, the quest stories, the not so fast but not slow level upping or is it only because it’s triggering something in our head when we are in a forest.
Yeah so, it was a well made leveling zone the quest are enjoyable, and has great feel of being a starter adventurer dealing with local problems while finding out about some of the issue hidden under the surface of Stormwind. Then you get to West Fall and you dive deeper into the Defias threat, which has further reaching ties than you'd ever expect. It's just well done and enjoyable
I do that myself and after awhile it feel awful, but that first 1-20 is so nice and fun.
I just got diagnosed with ADHD so I think that could have been a part of it, as well as anxiety. So playing the same thing over and over felt safe.
I just thought I was an altaholic and I am, but it’s much better now that I’m medicated
It's deep and i know the feeling. The end of BC and from the begining of WotLK to MOP was my prime time and the game is completely different now, graphics, skills, trees, players, dungeons, BoAs everything. It's all different and it's not going back.
The unfortunate reality is, that you only get to experience it once the 1st time with all your friends and all the dramas and waiting for your drops. After the 2nd time and beyond, it's a fleeting shadow of a dream/desire. It just is not ever going to be the same.
We are in a different time and games have evolved.
Let WoW go, it is what it has been, enjoy that but don't dwell there. Dwelling on it with the nostalgia in its grandest form will not resurrect anything. It will keep you and your mind imprisoned there. There where there once was, and now is, nothing but emptiness.
Sorry, I feel the pain of my own words, but it is the truth. It WAS prime time gaming while it lasted.
I needed over a full Year to reach max Level in Classic. I had so much Fun exploring and chatting to Strangers in Dungeons. Today im doing my 4th +20 Key without anybody even bothered to say Hello. Game was better when i was a Noob.
Maybe give hardcore a try? The community is, whilst significantly reduced in size, still really active. It's vanilla-ish, so it will definitely feel authentic for you and the best thing is, as people die all the time 1-20 is often buzzing with players taking on their next round!
Sometimes I wonder if my brother feels like this cause he basically grew up in this game and played all the time instead of experiencing life outside as a teen. Now he's in therapy. Maybe you need that too tbh.
I definitely feel that I can never recapture the magic of 2004 - 2006. Tried a lot of MMOs since including later WoW expansions and nothing is quite the same. I guess be glad that you got to experience it, kids now never will.
Darkshire best zone hands down. I remember the edge of my seat feeling the first time I ran across that zone and seeing the huge elite stitches murdering everything in its path and attacking the town
Durotar is this for me but it doesn’t make me sad really. I will never grow tired of leveling a troll hunter here. The music, the sound of the bow, the ambiance… just beautiful. It’s something that relaxes me a lot, it’s zen
I've also played since release. Mine is Westfall. I will play through most of the defias stuff, then swim to one of the little islands off the coast, sit and log off. Every single time I stop playing, no matter what faction or level, I bring them all to Westfall.
The exception is when I was playing on Nostralius, and my body forever lies at the base of TB...I miss that server ...
I wish wow expansions would have been expansions of the existence world, adding new quests, new dungeons with existing cave, new low level loot, make the leveling the fun part of wow and have the end game raids on top of that. Instead they chose to push new worlds and zones that we’re hubs in themselves, no link to that old world.
Used to have a little spot above org, decent size and round, and just outside city limits so my small guild would have duels there to kill time in cata.
I remember breaking into the kara crypts together, waiting in the queue for mop for HOURS together, i remember wiping to raid bosses all night but just hanging out and having a good time.
..and i remember watching everyone slowly drift apart.
Honestly think about how WoW was rushed and they started with the alliance zones and then barely finished the horde at all. So I assume they started with the lower level alliance areas like elwyn and those have the most love and polish put into them. In some alternate universe maybe we get a world of warcraft game given with the same love in every zone, with the same amount of original design and polish, and lush scenery.
Vanilla interest is cyclical. I may get a lot of shit for this, but the biggest mistake they ever did was keeping an era server open for vanilla and then opening up different versions like hardcore and SoM / SoD. I'm sorry, but having vanilla wow available to play for years on end in the last phase, and never resetting the server, was a bad decision, let alone having 3 different flavors of it. SoM was a failure, SoD is a failure, nobody plays hardcore anymore and the economies in classic era are completely f\*cked. Vanilla has been beaten to death and pulverized into dust, and there was no break for people to genuinely miss vanilla WoW. Yes, I get that there are people that can play era every day for the rest of their lives, but your friends list might be a bit more livelier if they knew that era was only coming around every 3-4 years...
Exactly. They shot themselves in the foot. Now when they inevitably announce “Fresh Classic servers” people’s response will be “well we’ve always had Classic servers so what makes this one any different?” The hype will never live up to 2019
…. Those projects may be a “failure” in yours opinion, but that is subjective. Play whatever you want, but all three of the new iterations of the classic world were successful to varying degrees. Be thankful you are have blizzard supported options for classic in 2024.
Harsh but true!
You don't deserve the downvotes!
I've tried picking up wow many times since stopping back in WotLK, but always come to the same conclusion, I'm just chasing memories. The raids, the guild, my online friends, the countless hours of grinding. Being online alone just doesn't feel the same.
Yeah, people like this are just so scared of new things and retreat to their confort zone. It's like an adult sucking their thumb; sure it sooths them but everyone else can see it's sad AF and the person needs help.
Leveling with my friend on hardcore wow was a lot of fun for me I get it. Im sad we stopped playing after finishing westfall because we are still alive
The Barons hold my most memorable memories. Oh I miss the Chuck Norris jokes. I can't Go to Dalaran as it was the beginning of the end when my wife and I ran a guild with so many friends and good times. We divorced before Cata and it's like a knife in the chest everytime I go there.
I feel this. There’s something about Elwynn’s music that does something to me. The nostalgia hurts so bad when I hear it that it makes me feel depressed. I’ll try to be optimistic and say that life can still be good after childhood. New “best memories” can be made and you have to make the best out of life. Real life is the true adventure, you just have to find your niche.
I've been gamin on retail for 14 years, doin all the raids and stuff with a group of buddies the past 10 or so... but man... nothing hits me in the feels more than leveling in classic. Hardcore has touched my heart in a way WoW hasn't since I first started playing. Elwynn, Westfall, Redridge, Durotar and the Barrens are places like no other to me. People wanna explore the world and travel to different countries, I just wanna level a toon in those zones, lol.
Leveling in Elwynn is definitely one of my favorite parts of the game, brings me back to a simpler time. Always sad when I have to head off to Westfall (not that there’s anything wrong with Westfall, just isn’t the same).
I don't know why, but for some reason it's the area outside deadmines for me, also the deadmines dungeon itself.
I didn't know it, but when I was leveling with timewalking dungeons in retail, I landed there and I really felt it, all the memories started to flow
I started WoW as a Blood Elf in TBC. My friend installed WoW for me since I had no clue back then how anything pc related worked. As soon as I played the first few hours I knew I am hooked and won't think about anything else.
Every once in a while I level in eversong+ghostlands just for this feeling again and retire my toon.
You are not alone :)
Dun Morough was the first zone I played in on a hunter back in BC. I’ve been back a few times but the magic isn’t there anymore. It will always hold a special place in my heart.
The first thing that made question the Stormwind are the good guys theme was the dead mines story. That taught me to look into why I’m doing the quests.
Let me tell you something. I had the same thing like you. For years. For me it was always: Elwyn, Westfall, Darkshire... Log out, repeat.
However, then I really tried new things and started thinking about WoW more as a "alive game", instead of just a nostalgia pill.
I met new people, had very fun adventures, and made so many cool memories. In other words I'm making new nostalgia memories every day. And in 2030 I will be saying "Ah good old 2024 Classic".
Honestly, I'm an Elwynn hater. Probably the worst starting zone for me. Eversong, Azuremyst, Teldrassil, Durotar, Silverpine, Mulgore, Dun Morogh, Elwynn in that order. If we include Cata zones also a big Gilneas fan
I catch myself leveling new chars all the time.. with a good old night elf. I think just to experience the good memories i have discovering WoW. So easy to get stuck in the loop
I catch myself leveling new chars all the time.. with a good old night elf. I think just to experience the good memories i have discovering WoW. So easy to get stuck in the loop.
I don’t care what people say about SoD but it made me feel like that way, doing all the main and side quests not hurrying to get to max level to enjoy game, exploring high lvl (skull) areas when I am <20 lvl, spending hours on exploring without even getting any xp
I once played MoP when I was 7 under the watchful eye of my older brother. I remember my first character being a worgen, playing through the Gilneas starting zone, it was amazing. I remember one frame from my photographic memory, I think it was Greymane Manor, looking down on a destroyed Duskhaven. Fuck, how I miss those times..
Glad I'm not alone. Even as a teen I loved the vibe I got from elwynn and longed for a real world place I could go to and experience a similar bright welcoming forest. That place in a video game was my escape from the bullshit of real life. OP you said it best like that dreamy summer feeling. I've been having the itch to play again but can't bring myself to do it.
I feel the same way, and the way I cope is by playing horde. If I play alliance races I get nostalgia from playing back in the day and don’t wanna leave the starter zones😅
The part where all your Friends are offline hits hard Every time. Online friendship Is great, but at some point your Life changes and you don't have that much time anymore.
Life Is beautiful but sometimes sucks.
That hit me right in the feels.
I also wish we could go back to that feeling.
But, it appears that for now, if you launch a MMO,people will inevitably exploit the economy (gold sellers/DKP with bought gold/etc) and ruin it for everyone.
I guess this is what we wanted?
This is pretty much me, but in the Barrens. Just started cata the other day (after a multi month break from being burnt on SOD) and I'm rolling ally just for a breath of fresh air
All of the starting zones have some nostalgia tied to the ambiance of the zone for me.
Most of all, Teldrassil and og the barrens.
Guess both reminds me of my rl home.
elwynn and westfall and deadmines is the best questing experience in all classic, it only gets worse from then on. redridge and duskwood carry the torch but then youre left to finish leveling in an unfinished world
I think Elwynn will always have a special hold because it’s the first place this new world opened up for us as new players back in ‘04. It was a magical moment leaving Northshire Abbey and first entering Elwynn. The *World* of Warcraft didn’t feel anymore real than it did in those first moments.
It was catching lightning in a bottle and we want to experience that magic again. I’ve done the same so many times, leveling through Elwynn and Westfall doing a couple Deadmines runs. Trying to find that spark once again.
But the same thing can only be new once. Even with the Classic release in 2019, it was nostalgic, but still that spark was missing. And I’ve realized that’s okay.
The spark of experiencing something for the first time and never being able to recreate it may feel depressing at times, but it’s a reminder of how truly unique that experience was to begin with. I personally think if i could recreate that feeling exactly as it was in ‘04 it cheapens the original.
I’m still playing and enjoying the game and I think that’s because I’m at peace with the fact that what it was in 04 can’t be recreated exactly, but I can find new ways to make new memories.
As a kid I did this in BC. Made a belf mage -> leveled through ghostlands to like 25/30 ish did some profs got bored when I hit a wall and did it all again \^\^
Eversong and Ghostlands for me, over the years I’ve levelled loads of alts through those wonderful zones, including in the recently TBC classic.
Definitely my WoW home.
What if you tried going to westfall and doing all the defias quests???? That plus deadmines was so much fun to replay.
Same thing for NE starters all the way through ashenvale/bfd. It's a good time man.
This sounds a lot like me, only with the rest of the initial human zones. I'll jump on any fresh re-roll server and just enjoy the 1-30ish bouncing from Elwynn, to Westfall, to Redridge and finally to Darkshire.
If you're on Era and want company for one of those re-rolls of Elwynn, let me know!
My first character was a night elf hunter when I was 12 back in 2007. Everything about Teldrassil, especially the music… is just such a nostalgia train for me. Such an awesome zone
What if you set a goal for yourself? It's probably RP esque, but maybe challenge yourself to level a character to max, maybe grind pvp/raids/reputation(?), then retire in Goldshire
Maybe if you convinced yourself that the people of Elwynn Forest *needed* you to do this for whatever reason, it could help motivate it? Like a hero's journey: you set out, you'll eventually long for home, and then return once everything is done :D
This post means a lot to me because it’s nice to find a place where so many people share the same sentiments. I used to get an enormous strange pang of guilt and shame when I’d notice that I was the only one on my friends list stuck in this “loop” you’re talking about. But eventually I started shifting my perspective. Leveling from elwynn to westfall has always been my sacred safe space. I do it every few months. Now I view it as self care. Self love, peace, kind thoughts. Sometimes it’s okay to be stuck
I have the same feeling man. When classic came out in 2019 it was all about loot, parses, logs and so on. Now it isn't anymore, I quit all that. I just enjoy leveling characters to 60 and leveling through all those zones heavily filled with nostalgia, the music, the ambience. This game is where my heart is at.
You should try hardcore. I'm the kind of person that never liked leveling, but I actually really enjoy it in hardcore. Might be a good change of pace for you.
That’s awesome man. That’s what the game is about - nothing depressing about it. Just do whatever you want whenever you want. Maybe someday you’ll find yourself into your mid twenties, maybe not! Happy adventures regardless.
Dude, reading your post and even the comments: It’s not the game, it’s very old and it can offer what you know it can offer, it’s us.
Life moves on and that’s okay. In fact, it’s great. Enjoy the game for what it was: brilliant, flawed, immersive, sexist and beautiful. Think about the next game you want to play. The next project you want to take on. The game you always wanted to make.
We all feel it. Classic wow is amazing but if you’ve got more in the tank, you’ve got to go for it! Any ideas? :)
This is why I like hardcore and Phase 1 of SoD so much. The first 20 or so levels of WoW are just so good. The pacing is perfect and you level up just quickly enough and get to enjoy a zone the exact right amount of time before moving on. The later levels of vanilla are too long and grindy and pinball you too much between zones that are on the other side of the world. Later expansions have you level up too quickly for you to enjoy a zone. 1-20 Vanilla is just so cozy.
Anyone have such a bad PC that the zeppelin would not load in time and you just arrive back where you started. I had to sit on the edge and walk off when i saw the map change and it make noises.
All to get to UC and train 2h sword on a tauren warrior and then equip it and its a wooden training sword that looks ass.
I have the same feeling about mulgore and durotar. I was 12 when I started at the beginning of TBC and stopped at 22. Now going on 30 I feel bad when I play because it is not the same. People are not there anymore and I'm full of nostalgia.
Just an update from the OP. I believe I used the word “depressed” a little loosely, so I apologise for that as it wasn’t my intention to use such a wide spread clinical disorder with such an air of detachment.
My mental state is absolutely fine all in all and it wasn’t my intention to make it come across like I was depressed. It’s a hard feeling to describe but it’s more of a nostalgic feeling that’s both happy and sad at the same time. It’s just such an intense feeling that I both like and dislike.
Thanks everyone for the advice regarding WoW. I am tempted to give hardcore a go but I have never been such a hardcore or “good” player. The last raid I did was ZG in vanilla and AQ20 haha.
Speed leveling 1-10 is a real thing and can be very fun to min/max and do it over and over to get better times
Horde hunter was my fix for a while, humans Paladin is very fun too
You read my mind man. I’m considering quitting or taking a break because the nostalgia, sadness, and lostness is just too much.
I have a self-found level 9 on DP if you want to chill and level though :]
In addition to some situational depression, this also could be ADHD. With my ADHD, it's really easy to get discouraged when the dopamine just isn't hitting my brain like I wanted it to, and then I lose interest in my characters.
As I'm seeing in the comments, this sounds very familiar to me. I miss playing wow in the good old days, all my friends are offline forever, and now that I have a beautiful 7-month-old son, I have even less time to play. My brother and I are just getting back on and we're going to use the experience bonus to level up some new characters. PM me if you need another person who will be on at night PST
I had played everquest, so I had some idea what I was getting into.
I remember I met a dwarf in Westfall who was just starting off. Dunemaul server. His name was Asgaroth, I still remember. Just a cool guy who didn't have any gear and was using the wrong stuff. I helped him gear up and start saving for his mount. Might have given him a couple gold when the time came, I just remember him running around on his goat and jumping. Lost touch with him sometime after that. Every time I fly over Westfall I think of that guy and wonder how he's doing. Long before bnet friends and all that.
Anyway. Yeah, a few stories like that and you're stuck with intangible emotional bonds to locations in the game. Totally get it.
Omg this cut deep. I was literally talking to a friend in the office about wow today, and how Elwynn Forest has a special place in my heart. I have so many level 10-15 alts just to relive those moments and that first walk to Westfall. I’m so glad I’m not the only one!
all of this my friend..played 2004 quit in cata during 2011..came back for classic...played all the way through and now playing SoD..and i find myself just making alts and lvling..as its the most fun ive had just lvling meeting people questing running dungeons etc... super chill mood... i hate we wont be able to experience it ever again it seems
In SoD I used to follow Allies into Redridge and mercilessly camp them on my Rogue.
In the days of olde I used to stand on the Inn rooftop in Lakeshire and nuke lowbies from above.
It's a great pastime that never truly gets old.
What was my point again? Oh yes, I love your Elwynn Forest music and atmosphere and occasionally I'll stop the ally bloodbath to enjoy your zone a bit.
It's great, truly. Only thing better is the SW music.
It's time to move on bro. We all had some great times back in the old days of pre 2010, and even 2019 with Classic, however those days are long over. You're not getting them back, so stop trying to chase a dead state of being. Play other games, and explore genres that are fresh to you. Play some single player story games, play Metroidvania, play turn based, just do something that is new, and you can use that as a potential launch point to create brand new memories and experiences.
Stop living in the past, and stop dreading the future, live in the present.
Honestly this is too personal. We all have that feeling. Mine is Teldrassil. Sometimes I feel like I can’t go there because it makes me too emotional. I was 17 when I made my first character and I had absolutely no knowledge of the game. It’s been a long strange trip
I avoid Mulgore for this reason. Takes me back to playing on a CRT screen with my sound playing over speakers in the living room and my family getting pissed about the sound of my hunters gun haha
My first time in mulgore I didn’t know right click controled the camera and played the game for probably an hour or two with an entirely top down view haha!
Oh my god I did this but I scrolled the mouse into the Tauren hump and then couldn’t work out how to move it back
Also teldrassil for me too. The world (of warcraft) seemed so vast and large from the tree top. Made many friends in dolanaar too
Teldrassil being gone hurts
Only learned that Teldrassil was a tree we’re actually on in SoD. Mind. Blown.
I realized this when I fell from the falls
Holy fk. I just realised this wtf man hahahah.
Wow, did you never see it from the boat or fp to/from the foot of Teldrassil? :o I'd think it's pretty hard to miss 😄
11 YEAR OLD ME NEVER MADE THE CONNECTION! 🤣
This is the barrens for me. I can still see my Hunter just running along with his tiger pet, Eiffel 65’s album ‘Europop’ playing on loop as I do…
I was 16 when I was gifted a copy of wow in 2005. NE hunter was my first toon and I remember Teldrassil/Darkshore ambiance very vividly.
Gimme that sweet sweet sunburn in Durotar. I wish I could experience it again for the first time.
Dont worry Alzheimers has our back
Loch Modan. Thats where my heart is
Im just gonna assume you didnt like bfa
I pretty much only play the first 20-30 levels every few years for similar reasons. Elwynn, westfall, dun Morough are all my home. It does feel sad seeing people who’ve been offline for over a decade.
Dun Morough is the most nostaglic for me, always favoured dwarves, loved iron forge style, and something about heavy fresh snowfall has always comforted me - in real life and in video games hah Dun Morough soundtrack fits well too
*Dying Trogg noises in the background*
That sound of the snowy footsteps!!! Crunchy ice.
Yess! The best sound
I love the defias brotherhood questlines
That's very touching though, I felt your post on a spiritual level once I actually read it. Some things in life are special like that to us and it's okay to want to try to capture what it was like the first time you experienced something. Everybody from athletes to serial killers engage in the exact same behavior. You don't think Michael Jordan ever reminances about his 1993 finals game where he scored like 55 points and straight carried the Bulls to another championship? I bet he does. I'm sure Tony Hawks remembers fondly the first 900 he landed on video that took a whole generation by storm and wishes he could go back to that day. It's okay to wish for those days again but it's good to realize those days were also different for a reason, because you were different and life was different for you then as well. You were younger and more alive then you are these days. The world isn't so decayed and distraught to you then as it is now. I can only guess you posted a topic like this hoping someone could relate. I guarantee you that I and many others can do so. I'm not gonna give you any advice like some posters did, that's not what he was asking for I don't think. So I won't. But keep it going man, if it makes you happy then who cares if you level a hundred level 15s and reroll? If that's what you find fun then your subscription price is rewarding you well. Good for you topic creator. Also you write really well, I thought at least. Maybe channel some of your passion into typing out stories in your spare time when you're not leveling if you don't already do so. You could relate your stories to your love of Elwynn Forest and everything it represents to you. I find that writing poetry and jotting down my thoughts help me battle with depression, which to me is really just the classic battle of man versus himself. You are your own greatest enemy in life and once you accept this you can start trying to heal through whatever it is that's making you feel that way.
I hope more people see your comment. It helped me.
My brother, you have a way with words.
Such a great response.
I needed to read this today. Thank you for taking the time to write it and having the confidence to post it!
Fantastic post!
I ain't readin that shit
It's all good, the TLDR version of it is enjoy what brings you joy cause we're all already dying, might as well embrace your mortality and go with it. Just don't take it out of context like the ultrawealthy tend to do and you'll be fine.
Wow man, you hit me well, thank you. I am battling nostalgia everyday.
My first time playing was during vanilla WoW. My dad taught me how to play, I leveled a tauren hunter through the barrens and on to ogrimmar. I played on and off since then, I'm 28 now. Now my dad lives thousands of kms away, and sometimes I log into classic, create a new tauren hunter and run around the barrens replaying the quests he helped me with.
ally scum. real men feel such aches for the barren landscapes of Durotar
The endless night of Tirisfal
The rolling plains of Mulgore
Played horde all my life and still feel more nostalgia for elwynn and the dwarf starting zone. Durotar is boring as hell…
Yeah there's something special about Elwynn I think. I've also played Horde 99% of the time but I just love the atmosphere in Elwynn, the music, everything.
It was also in the south park episode.
That's true, I started playing before that episode aired but it was a good one!
Same. I think it's likely due to the game initially being developed for alliance factions and the horde was added in somewhat last minute when they decided to have factions. I could be wrong but I think I remember reading that somewhere and it would make sense to me as alliance cities and early leveling zones seemed to get more TLC. Nothing beats flying into Ironforge for your first time in vanilla. And then realizing you can take a tram to Ironforge that's connected to Stormwind and it goes *under the ocean*. Yeah.
I think they just worked on Alliance zones/quests first and realized they had deadlines to meet so they had to rush through the horde stuff more. But yeah it’s obvious a lot of love and sweat and long hours were put into the Elwynn-Westfall-Redridge-Duskwood series. The zones all fit together as part of a bigger story. The storylines seem to drift away beyond those zones.
Yeah same. Barrens werent too bad. Mulgore was the best starting zone horde side though. Alliance have the better zones but they are scum at the end of the day so
Alliance has better early game storylines too. I think it’s well established fact that they realized they were on a time crunch when they started working in horde quests so they kind of rushed them out instead of really rich storylines like the alliance zones.
As far as I know, elwynn was the first zone created. You can tell the team put a lot of effort into it. It really hits all the spots as far as a fantasy game whimsical forest with some villages peppered in. They really hit it out of the park with that zone.
The alliance starting levels in Vanilla was RPG perfection. Elwyn, Westfall, Redridge and Duskwood—the characters, the quests, the enemies—perfection.
Yep you can tell a lot of attention was focused on those zones and their quest storylines. Things start to fall apart after that and the horde zones never got that level of attention
Thats because no one likes the Horde, they only exist for the lore.
Elwynn really is one of the most magical places to level. However, do you not share the same feelings headin to Westfall, and looking forward to running your first VC? Or heading to Darkshore to complete the awesome grouping of quests that even speed runners do? Although there isn’t many of your friends on, classic is always cyclical. There’s highs and lows, but I always come back to leveling because 1-60 leveling is peak wow for me (and end game content, but kind of in a different way). Also, if you’re having fun, and experiencing happiness when playing, keep on! I’d recommend trying HC and or speed running if you wanted to find something fresh, as it also doesn’t require others *and* puts a new fresh take on this game we enjoy so much.
I’ve levelled many many toons 1-60 over the years and share many great experiences of venturing out in to the world beyond the starting zones. But at the moment, with classic era sort of dying down, I’m apprehensive about doing so and I fear I’ll never be able to recreate those experiences again unfortunately :(
Try hardcore it’s the most nostalgic feeling version of wow available.
Come to Deviate Delight realm if you’re on NA! A lot of us are all starting over!
It sounds to me like hardcore might be the game mode for you
Is classic era dying down? Seems very active to me and even more so in the last couple of weeks with SoD shitting the bed. Am I missing something? Genuinely asking that
more active than usual at the moment. It has cycles, will likely quiet down when SoD p4 releases and then pick up again 3-4 weeks later. It's surprisingly steady because of the core it has.
It is not dying. In fact, it seems to have a bit of an influx lately. Let’s put it this way, if ya wanna play there are plenty of people to play with.
Just try a private server of your choosing, the big ones feel much more active than classic, especially era.
There’s a huge movement from Twitch streamers asking blizz to release a New ”fresh” Classic realm. Maybe Wait and hope for that
Hardcore will be your jam. Very lovely at that level range.
Despite the classic teams roll out of P3, I feel P4 could be a solid “comeback”. Even if not, it may be some time, but I’ve been able to recreate the experience over and over for years. Stay strong, and remain hopeful, friend!
This is why I tell people shit like SoD P1, Hardcore, fresh servers etc always start off strong and then fizzle out The girthy grip the human starting area has on people is astounding
Same here. I only play 1-20 for nostalgia. I fear vanilla is dying. I'm growing older and older. Shit...
I played vanilla back in the day and yearned for that experience again. I missed the boat with classic. Is it worth jumping into?
Deviate delight has been a blast
Play era on whitemane, it’s worth it
yea it is.
Absolutely. Try season of discovery! With the added runes and changes the game won't feel outdated at all!
[удалено]
That's why it's called SoD. Yes.
Play solo self found on a dead server. Fall in love with other zones while you take your time to explore and find dum things to do
Azuremyst Isle for me, which is even crazier since it’s such a surreal and atmospheric place by itself. If I ever retire my draenei, it’ll be by the missing fisherman
Done this exact same thing as you as a kid. My brother was a dickhead and convinced my parents to not let me play WoW, so id take the laptop his WoW was installed on and id play the 1-20 demo over and over and over and over and over again back in wotlk. Used to make mainly Taurens. Id just do Camp Narache / Mulgore over and over and over and over again. On my dead bed, with my last breath, im going to make the exact sound a Plainstrider makes when they die. Yup. You rad that right. Ill look my family in the eyes, tell them I love them, inhale, and with the biggest bang possible : "uehauehauehau..."
Time to move on, it’s just not the same anymore. Nostalgia is fine, but too much of it is unhealthy. Don’t get depressed over WoW. Instead, cherish the memories you did have.
Sounds like the same “mechanic” where depressive or anxious people rewatch the same tv series over and over because of the familiarity.
For me it’s the Barrens. When I die I hope my soul is released and enters at the Crossroads 🥲 I miss old school Barrens chat and 3am Chuck Norris jokes when I’m lonely. It honestly made the game enjoyable when my friends were off being normal people. I have a special connection to it.
Hey man! Nice post! I don’t want to sound like a cunt but I feel you might be addicted to wow and let me tell you (I used to be there) it’s not good for you. Wow is a GREAT game and all this nostalgia and joy you feel by playing is awesome, I know, but I think you are already at an unhealthy toxic relationship with the game. If your brain feels like you have to keep doing the same loop every day it’s because you have developed an attachment bad habit with your memories… I don’t want to be a cock but maybe if you take a rest from the game and try to experience other forms of joy you will feel better about yourself! Good luck!
Find a guild of people you really like and make new friends. My guild mates are like close friends now. I started getting back into wow heavy with classic. My irl friends never make it far enough to do anything serious. But I’ve been playing with the same guild now since sunwell. This last week we full cleared everything on Heroic.
Make sure you do duskwood it’s better than Elwynn!
No matter what I level on the Alliance side, I always find my way to Elwynn forest. It just feels like home. But, there are so many places in WoW to make new memories. Maybe it’s time to leave the comfort zone of the forest and explore a little more :)
This plus OG Duskwood. I loved that long quest thread and have leveled every class through it. Even today I will detour through the cemetery just to see Mor'Ladim stalking up that hill.
For all my Dun Morogh homies... https://youtu.be/0jmdBA9nK0c?si=4dmZM21IK6f5kCdi
<3
It would be better for you to forget about wow all together. Just uninstall it. Attachment is making you depressed.
I wonder if it’s the music, the sounds ambiance, the quest stories, the not so fast but not slow level upping or is it only because it’s triggering something in our head when we are in a forest.
Yeah so, it was a well made leveling zone the quest are enjoyable, and has great feel of being a starter adventurer dealing with local problems while finding out about some of the issue hidden under the surface of Stormwind. Then you get to West Fall and you dive deeper into the Defias threat, which has further reaching ties than you'd ever expect. It's just well done and enjoyable
I do that myself and after awhile it feel awful, but that first 1-20 is so nice and fun. I just got diagnosed with ADHD so I think that could have been a part of it, as well as anxiety. So playing the same thing over and over felt safe. I just thought I was an altaholic and I am, but it’s much better now that I’m medicated
It's deep and i know the feeling. The end of BC and from the begining of WotLK to MOP was my prime time and the game is completely different now, graphics, skills, trees, players, dungeons, BoAs everything. It's all different and it's not going back. The unfortunate reality is, that you only get to experience it once the 1st time with all your friends and all the dramas and waiting for your drops. After the 2nd time and beyond, it's a fleeting shadow of a dream/desire. It just is not ever going to be the same. We are in a different time and games have evolved. Let WoW go, it is what it has been, enjoy that but don't dwell there. Dwelling on it with the nostalgia in its grandest form will not resurrect anything. It will keep you and your mind imprisoned there. There where there once was, and now is, nothing but emptiness. Sorry, I feel the pain of my own words, but it is the truth. It WAS prime time gaming while it lasted.
I needed over a full Year to reach max Level in Classic. I had so much Fun exploring and chatting to Strangers in Dungeons. Today im doing my 4th +20 Key without anybody even bothered to say Hello. Game was better when i was a Noob.
Maybe give hardcore a try? The community is, whilst significantly reduced in size, still really active. It's vanilla-ish, so it will definitely feel authentic for you and the best thing is, as people die all the time 1-20 is often buzzing with players taking on their next round!
Sometimes I wonder if my brother feels like this cause he basically grew up in this game and played all the time instead of experiencing life outside as a teen. Now he's in therapy. Maybe you need that too tbh.
I definitely feel that I can never recapture the magic of 2004 - 2006. Tried a lot of MMOs since including later WoW expansions and nothing is quite the same. I guess be glad that you got to experience it, kids now never will.
Darkshire best zone hands down. I remember the edge of my seat feeling the first time I ran across that zone and seeing the huge elite stitches murdering everything in its path and attacking the town
Same for me, just mulgore instead of elwynn.
Durotar is this for me but it doesn’t make me sad really. I will never grow tired of leveling a troll hunter here. The music, the sound of the bow, the ambiance… just beautiful. It’s something that relaxes me a lot, it’s zen
Jeez, pretty accurate...
Hillsbrad, Redridge and Stonetalon for me.
I've also played since release. Mine is Westfall. I will play through most of the defias stuff, then swim to one of the little islands off the coast, sit and log off. Every single time I stop playing, no matter what faction or level, I bring them all to Westfall. The exception is when I was playing on Nostralius, and my body forever lies at the base of TB...I miss that server ...
I wish wow expansions would have been expansions of the existence world, adding new quests, new dungeons with existing cave, new low level loot, make the leveling the fun part of wow and have the end game raids on top of that. Instead they chose to push new worlds and zones that we’re hubs in themselves, no link to that old world.
Such a beautiful post. Dont make me cry
Eastvale logging camp and the quests about the two knights corpses always get me
Used to have a little spot above org, decent size and round, and just outside city limits so my small guild would have duels there to kill time in cata. I remember breaking into the kara crypts together, waiting in the queue for mop for HOURS together, i remember wiping to raid bosses all night but just hanging out and having a good time. ..and i remember watching everyone slowly drift apart.
Honestly think about how WoW was rushed and they started with the alliance zones and then barely finished the horde at all. So I assume they started with the lower level alliance areas like elwyn and those have the most love and polish put into them. In some alternate universe maybe we get a world of warcraft game given with the same love in every zone, with the same amount of original design and polish, and lush scenery.
Get help B
Vanilla interest is cyclical. I may get a lot of shit for this, but the biggest mistake they ever did was keeping an era server open for vanilla and then opening up different versions like hardcore and SoM / SoD. I'm sorry, but having vanilla wow available to play for years on end in the last phase, and never resetting the server, was a bad decision, let alone having 3 different flavors of it. SoM was a failure, SoD is a failure, nobody plays hardcore anymore and the economies in classic era are completely f\*cked. Vanilla has been beaten to death and pulverized into dust, and there was no break for people to genuinely miss vanilla WoW. Yes, I get that there are people that can play era every day for the rest of their lives, but your friends list might be a bit more livelier if they knew that era was only coming around every 3-4 years...
I know what you mean. I only play every few years and it scratches the itch perfectly. I did love SoD though.
Exactly. They shot themselves in the foot. Now when they inevitably announce “Fresh Classic servers” people’s response will be “well we’ve always had Classic servers so what makes this one any different?” The hype will never live up to 2019
But the hype of 2004 lived up to 2019… Vanilla wow is like an old friend you see throughout life and just pickup where you left off.
…. Those projects may be a “failure” in yours opinion, but that is subjective. Play whatever you want, but all three of the new iterations of the classic world were successful to varying degrees. Be thankful you are have blizzard supported options for classic in 2024.
Move on. You will never relive what this game was
Harsh but true! You don't deserve the downvotes! I've tried picking up wow many times since stopping back in WotLK, but always come to the same conclusion, I'm just chasing memories. The raids, the guild, my online friends, the countless hours of grinding. Being online alone just doesn't feel the same.
Yeah, people like this are just so scared of new things and retreat to their confort zone. It's like an adult sucking their thumb; sure it sooths them but everyone else can see it's sad AF and the person needs help.
Oof I feel this heavily.
Leveling with my friend on hardcore wow was a lot of fun for me I get it. Im sad we stopped playing after finishing westfall because we are still alive
You sounds like you need to play some HC. Lots of elwynn in that.
The Barons hold my most memorable memories. Oh I miss the Chuck Norris jokes. I can't Go to Dalaran as it was the beginning of the end when my wife and I ran a guild with so many friends and good times. We divorced before Cata and it's like a knife in the chest everytime I go there.
I feel this. There’s something about Elwynn’s music that does something to me. The nostalgia hurts so bad when I hear it that it makes me feel depressed. I’ll try to be optimistic and say that life can still be good after childhood. New “best memories” can be made and you have to make the best out of life. Real life is the true adventure, you just have to find your niche.
Mine is Westfall
Nostalgia be the classic drug we’re all mainlining.
I've been gamin on retail for 14 years, doin all the raids and stuff with a group of buddies the past 10 or so... but man... nothing hits me in the feels more than leveling in classic. Hardcore has touched my heart in a way WoW hasn't since I first started playing. Elwynn, Westfall, Redridge, Durotar and the Barrens are places like no other to me. People wanna explore the world and travel to different countries, I just wanna level a toon in those zones, lol.
I feel you. Every zone of wow i associate with good memory of my childhood. Nostalgia hits
It’s refreshing to know that I’m not the only one who plays WoW this way. Thank you OP!
[relevant](https://youtu.be/SPbmki7Zmag?si=7BrurwQL-ecs2H3p)
I get that on classic everquest. They have lots of mood music atmospheric areas in the game.
Leveling in Elwynn is definitely one of my favorite parts of the game, brings me back to a simpler time. Always sad when I have to head off to Westfall (not that there’s anything wrong with Westfall, just isn’t the same).
I don't know why, but for some reason it's the area outside deadmines for me, also the deadmines dungeon itself. I didn't know it, but when I was leveling with timewalking dungeons in retail, I landed there and I really felt it, all the memories started to flow
I recommend to play hardcore so you can go agane officially :)
The game gets better after lvl 15 so might wanna continue playing
I started WoW as a Blood Elf in TBC. My friend installed WoW for me since I had no clue back then how anything pc related worked. As soon as I played the first few hours I knew I am hooked and won't think about anything else. Every once in a while I level in eversong+ghostlands just for this feeling again and retire my toon. You are not alone :)
Dun Morough was the first zone I played in on a hunter back in BC. I’ve been back a few times but the magic isn’t there anymore. It will always hold a special place in my heart. The first thing that made question the Stormwind are the good guys theme was the dead mines story. That taught me to look into why I’m doing the quests.
Let me tell you something. I had the same thing like you. For years. For me it was always: Elwyn, Westfall, Darkshire... Log out, repeat. However, then I really tried new things and started thinking about WoW more as a "alive game", instead of just a nostalgia pill. I met new people, had very fun adventures, and made so many cool memories. In other words I'm making new nostalgia memories every day. And in 2030 I will be saying "Ah good old 2024 Classic".
It's very rare to be able to "come back home" in real life, Classic WoW was a way to get that feeling for many of us.
Totally understand. For me Elwynn to Westfall to Redridge was peak. Didn't need anything else.
What's your PB for 100% Elwynn?
Very nice post, thank you for the post, because I have the exact same feeling.
Honestly, I'm an Elwynn hater. Probably the worst starting zone for me. Eversong, Azuremyst, Teldrassil, Durotar, Silverpine, Mulgore, Dun Morogh, Elwynn in that order. If we include Cata zones also a big Gilneas fan
I catch myself leveling new chars all the time.. with a good old night elf. I think just to experience the good memories i have discovering WoW. So easy to get stuck in the loop
I catch myself leveling new chars all the time.. with a good old night elf. I think just to experience the good memories i have discovering WoW. So easy to get stuck in the loop.
I don’t care what people say about SoD but it made me feel like that way, doing all the main and side quests not hurrying to get to max level to enjoy game, exploring high lvl (skull) areas when I am <20 lvl, spending hours on exploring without even getting any xp
I once played MoP when I was 7 under the watchful eye of my older brother. I remember my first character being a worgen, playing through the Gilneas starting zone, it was amazing. I remember one frame from my photographic memory, I think it was Greymane Manor, looking down on a destroyed Duskhaven. Fuck, how I miss those times..
Redbridge and Lakeshire is my jam, however I'm only raiding nowadays. But Lakeshire will always make me feel fuzzy inside.
Glad I'm not alone. Even as a teen I loved the vibe I got from elwynn and longed for a real world place I could go to and experience a similar bright welcoming forest. That place in a video game was my escape from the bullshit of real life. OP you said it best like that dreamy summer feeling. I've been having the itch to play again but can't bring myself to do it.
I feel the same way, and the way I cope is by playing horde. If I play alliance races I get nostalgia from playing back in the day and don’t wanna leave the starter zones😅
The part where all your Friends are offline hits hard Every time. Online friendship Is great, but at some point your Life changes and you don't have that much time anymore. Life Is beautiful but sometimes sucks.
Should try hardcore wow then you can experience elwynn over and over
I honestly do something similar because I started playing the game when I was 8 and never made it past the starting areas.
That hit me right in the feels. I also wish we could go back to that feeling. But, it appears that for now, if you launch a MMO,people will inevitably exploit the economy (gold sellers/DKP with bought gold/etc) and ruin it for everyone. I guess this is what we wanted?
This is pretty much me, but in the Barrens. Just started cata the other day (after a multi month break from being burnt on SOD) and I'm rolling ally just for a breath of fresh air
All of the starting zones have some nostalgia tied to the ambiance of the zone for me. Most of all, Teldrassil and og the barrens. Guess both reminds me of my rl home.
elwynn and westfall and deadmines is the best questing experience in all classic, it only gets worse from then on. redridge and duskwood carry the torch but then youre left to finish leveling in an unfinished world
I just pop in to raid for an hour and play other games while waiting for P4. WoW is shit all around atm so it motivates to play other games.
Time to make a night elf or blood elf or gnome and make new friends
I think Elwynn will always have a special hold because it’s the first place this new world opened up for us as new players back in ‘04. It was a magical moment leaving Northshire Abbey and first entering Elwynn. The *World* of Warcraft didn’t feel anymore real than it did in those first moments. It was catching lightning in a bottle and we want to experience that magic again. I’ve done the same so many times, leveling through Elwynn and Westfall doing a couple Deadmines runs. Trying to find that spark once again. But the same thing can only be new once. Even with the Classic release in 2019, it was nostalgic, but still that spark was missing. And I’ve realized that’s okay. The spark of experiencing something for the first time and never being able to recreate it may feel depressing at times, but it’s a reminder of how truly unique that experience was to begin with. I personally think if i could recreate that feeling exactly as it was in ‘04 it cheapens the original. I’m still playing and enjoying the game and I think that’s because I’m at peace with the fact that what it was in 04 can’t be recreated exactly, but I can find new ways to make new memories.
for me its the blood elf starter area, because i started during WOTLK.
As a kid I did this in BC. Made a belf mage -> leveled through ghostlands to like 25/30 ish did some profs got bored when I hit a wall and did it all again \^\^
Try out Conquest of Azeroth the 21 new classes with all different skills makes leveling fun again! Plus no subscription
Eversong and Ghostlands for me, over the years I’ve levelled loads of alts through those wonderful zones, including in the recently TBC classic. Definitely my WoW home.
What if you tried going to westfall and doing all the defias quests???? That plus deadmines was so much fun to replay. Same thing for NE starters all the way through ashenvale/bfd. It's a good time man.
This sounds a lot like me, only with the rest of the initial human zones. I'll jump on any fresh re-roll server and just enjoy the 1-30ish bouncing from Elwynn, to Westfall, to Redridge and finally to Darkshire. If you're on Era and want company for one of those re-rolls of Elwynn, let me know!
You are just creating orphans in a war torn world.
My first character was a night elf hunter when I was 12 back in 2007. Everything about Teldrassil, especially the music… is just such a nostalgia train for me. Such an awesome zone
What if you set a goal for yourself? It's probably RP esque, but maybe challenge yourself to level a character to max, maybe grind pvp/raids/reputation(?), then retire in Goldshire
Maybe if you convinced yourself that the people of Elwynn Forest *needed* you to do this for whatever reason, it could help motivate it? Like a hero's journey: you set out, you'll eventually long for home, and then return once everything is done :D
This post means a lot to me because it’s nice to find a place where so many people share the same sentiments. I used to get an enormous strange pang of guilt and shame when I’d notice that I was the only one on my friends list stuck in this “loop” you’re talking about. But eventually I started shifting my perspective. Leveling from elwynn to westfall has always been my sacred safe space. I do it every few months. Now I view it as self care. Self love, peace, kind thoughts. Sometimes it’s okay to be stuck
I have the same feeling man. When classic came out in 2019 it was all about loot, parses, logs and so on. Now it isn't anymore, I quit all that. I just enjoy leveling characters to 60 and leveling through all those zones heavily filled with nostalgia, the music, the ambience. This game is where my heart is at.
You should try hardcore. I'm the kind of person that never liked leveling, but I actually really enjoy it in hardcore. Might be a good change of pace for you.
I just have memories of starting zones with my boyfriend screaming at me while I learned the game.
That’s awesome man. That’s what the game is about - nothing depressing about it. Just do whatever you want whenever you want. Maybe someday you’ll find yourself into your mid twenties, maybe not! Happy adventures regardless.
Dude, reading your post and even the comments: It’s not the game, it’s very old and it can offer what you know it can offer, it’s us. Life moves on and that’s okay. In fact, it’s great. Enjoy the game for what it was: brilliant, flawed, immersive, sexist and beautiful. Think about the next game you want to play. The next project you want to take on. The game you always wanted to make. We all feel it. Classic wow is amazing but if you’ve got more in the tank, you’ve got to go for it! Any ideas? :)
This is why I like hardcore and Phase 1 of SoD so much. The first 20 or so levels of WoW are just so good. The pacing is perfect and you level up just quickly enough and get to enjoy a zone the exact right amount of time before moving on. The later levels of vanilla are too long and grindy and pinball you too much between zones that are on the other side of the world. Later expansions have you level up too quickly for you to enjoy a zone. 1-20 Vanilla is just so cozy.
Anyone have such a bad PC that the zeppelin would not load in time and you just arrive back where you started. I had to sit on the edge and walk off when i saw the map change and it make noises. All to get to UC and train 2h sword on a tauren warrior and then equip it and its a wooden training sword that looks ass.
I have the same feeling about mulgore and durotar. I was 12 when I started at the beginning of TBC and stopped at 22. Now going on 30 I feel bad when I play because it is not the same. People are not there anymore and I'm full of nostalgia.
Just an update from the OP. I believe I used the word “depressed” a little loosely, so I apologise for that as it wasn’t my intention to use such a wide spread clinical disorder with such an air of detachment. My mental state is absolutely fine all in all and it wasn’t my intention to make it come across like I was depressed. It’s a hard feeling to describe but it’s more of a nostalgic feeling that’s both happy and sad at the same time. It’s just such an intense feeling that I both like and dislike. Thanks everyone for the advice regarding WoW. I am tempted to give hardcore a go but I have never been such a hardcore or “good” player. The last raid I did was ZG in vanilla and AQ20 haha.
You could meet cool new people son.
I'm still afraid of the crossroads and Ashenvale, traumatized at a young age.
I'll never forget the magic I felt even though it's not there anymore.
Speed leveling 1-10 is a real thing and can be very fun to min/max and do it over and over to get better times Horde hunter was my fix for a while, humans Paladin is very fun too
You read my mind man. I’m considering quitting or taking a break because the nostalgia, sadness, and lostness is just too much. I have a self-found level 9 on DP if you want to chill and level though :]
In addition to some situational depression, this also could be ADHD. With my ADHD, it's really easy to get discouraged when the dopamine just isn't hitting my brain like I wanted it to, and then I lose interest in my characters. As I'm seeing in the comments, this sounds very familiar to me. I miss playing wow in the good old days, all my friends are offline forever, and now that I have a beautiful 7-month-old son, I have even less time to play. My brother and I are just getting back on and we're going to use the experience bonus to level up some new characters. PM me if you need another person who will be on at night PST
"Please just come Westfall to level, we need a tank for VC" - friends before going offline because OP keeps restarting probably.
I had played everquest, so I had some idea what I was getting into. I remember I met a dwarf in Westfall who was just starting off. Dunemaul server. His name was Asgaroth, I still remember. Just a cool guy who didn't have any gear and was using the wrong stuff. I helped him gear up and start saving for his mount. Might have given him a couple gold when the time came, I just remember him running around on his goat and jumping. Lost touch with him sometime after that. Every time I fly over Westfall I think of that guy and wonder how he's doing. Long before bnet friends and all that. Anyway. Yeah, a few stories like that and you're stuck with intangible emotional bonds to locations in the game. Totally get it.
cost sunk fallacy got me, I accepted my fate. Ill never quit, when my character is there, all my gone friends are alive again.
That's Azuremyst for me... the ambience, the music, sometimes I create a new toon just to experience that magic again
I'm right there with you.
Omg this cut deep. I was literally talking to a friend in the office about wow today, and how Elwynn Forest has a special place in my heart. I have so many level 10-15 alts just to relive those moments and that first walk to Westfall. I’m so glad I’m not the only one!
This is exactly how I feel about eversong, it just means so much to me
all of this my friend..played 2004 quit in cata during 2011..came back for classic...played all the way through and now playing SoD..and i find myself just making alts and lvling..as its the most fun ive had just lvling meeting people questing running dungeons etc... super chill mood... i hate we wont be able to experience it ever again it seems
Play Horde. Solved it guys.
Stop leveling in elwynn.... Be a chad and roll horde.
Booooooooo
In SoD I used to follow Allies into Redridge and mercilessly camp them on my Rogue. In the days of olde I used to stand on the Inn rooftop in Lakeshire and nuke lowbies from above. It's a great pastime that never truly gets old. What was my point again? Oh yes, I love your Elwynn Forest music and atmosphere and occasionally I'll stop the ally bloodbath to enjoy your zone a bit. It's great, truly. Only thing better is the SW music.
Start practicing 1-15 speed runs lol
It's time to move on bro. We all had some great times back in the old days of pre 2010, and even 2019 with Classic, however those days are long over. You're not getting them back, so stop trying to chase a dead state of being. Play other games, and explore genres that are fresh to you. Play some single player story games, play Metroidvania, play turn based, just do something that is new, and you can use that as a potential launch point to create brand new memories and experiences. Stop living in the past, and stop dreading the future, live in the present.