This is, ultimately, going to be part of a much longer sort of posting that I'll push out to APGNation, Tumblr and the like but I thought I'd start here as I'm not quite fond of this here Giant Bomb place.

2004. I, already a seasoned veteran of the MMO landscape with experience in games like Ultima Online, Meridian 59, Everquest, Final Fantasy XI, Anarchy Online, found myself gearing up for my big transition into life in Azeroth. It was to be just like any other MMO really. I was prepared to grind things out as necessary, deal with end-game banging my head against the wall and continue on my merry way to the next game, no doubt. I was not one to completely stick to just one game before.

There is something to be said of the first time you hear music that will eventually become part of the tapestry of your life. A song, for me, that wound up being part of --I promise I'm getting back to Warcraft in a second -- that was a song by Radiohead. "Street Spirit". I was already a big fan of the group from Pablo Honey and the like but it was that song which absolutely awoke my love of music and what it could be. It is hearing the Stones for the first time for some (also a pretty big moment for me -- really hearing them I mean). My initial experiences with World of Warcraft were just that. I got to do some early beta testing of the game though I never really got to see it in its original Alpha incarnation. The early days of the Paladin class were so damned fun that I felt right away that maybe Blizzard may have created something special.

Launch day came and servers were put to the test. The success of the early days, not even truly imagined by the developers themselves, is well documented in things like Looking for Group. I, upon the recommendation of a friend of mine, rolled up on a PVP server known as Blackrock. I was with a group of fellow MMO addicts whom I still game with ten years later. They were all hungry to see what WoW could offer that other games (institutions like Everquest and lesser known hardcore ones like Meridian 59). I had no idea just how, to crib from Illidan Stomrage just a touch, unprepared for this all I was.

Magic. Pure fucking magic. I have no other way to describe those halcyon days of what would become the most complete and defining title in a genre that would only become more crowded and diluted in its wake. The time before the Honor System was put in place resulted in server-demolishing slobber-knockers between the Horde and the Alliance over at Tarren Mill/Southshore. There was this feeling of a truly undiscovered realm being unearthed in those days. Bugs were frequent, hotfixed as fast as possible though new ones arose in their place. We didn't care, though, as the push towards the level cap and towards the first raid, Molten Core.

I have experienced the tumult and triumph of Lady Vox, Nagafin and the like. I have felt the rush of downing tremendous foes in places like Dynamis. I've dealt with PKers in the heady days of Garriott's progenitor title. I've felt the sting of knowing I was murdered in cold blood too. Nothing has ever been quite as sweet as the night our motley crew of adventurers downed Ragnaros though. I leapt from my seat and danced. We all listened to to triumphant music on Ventrilo, our unusual choice of Petula Clark's "Downtown" playing as loot was distributed. Never has such a band of virtual brothers been so happy.

The feelings extended on into Blackwing Lair and even later into Naxxramas. I did not see all of the original 40-man version of Naxx but what I did get to see blew my goddamn mind. There were mechanics at play that were challenging, artistic direction in the raid instance that just pushed every single one of my weird gothic buttons and spoke to me on levels I didn't know mechanics/design could. Blackwing Lair delivered a level of challenge, need for coordination and nearly guild-splintering catastrophe that I will always look back upon it with joy and also with a bit of resentment. Vael was a big roadblock for lots of guilds. Eventually we powered through despite late night pulls where a DPSer's kid stuck the keyboard or random people fell asleep during marathon sessions.

There are moments in those first years that have stuck with me a decade on now and will remain with me. These are virtual things for time spent in a completely fantastic world. I could look back upon this time spent and declare it all a waste but that would be a lie wouldn't it? I've met some of the most magnificent human beings I have ever known through this MMO . .this teeming mass that continues to evolve over time much as its playerbase has.

Lessons have been learned throughout the years on both sides of the screen. Mechanics have gotten better, narratives ebbed and flowed better than ever. This last expansion, Warlords of Draenor, in a way reminds us that the simplicity of the very heart of Warcraft's central conflict is what makes it truly live. The Iron Horde and a return to the Orcs v. Humans engine that drives things is a welcome change. Mists was not a failure. It was Blizzard doing something different with what was becoming a staid experience for much of its playerbase. The setting, perhaps, didn't live up to some expectations but I always enjoyed myself during the Pandaria days. It is with Warlords, though, that I cannot help but think back. We're now within the throes of the ten year anniversary of WoW, and twenty years of the Warcraft franchise. I have read the supplemental books, read the comics, played the TCG, played hearthstone, watched the animated motion comic-esque Lords of War, own the Monopoly game and have ingested this universe for so long now that it has become a part of how I look at fantasy in general. That is a skewed perspective, of course, because everything either comes back to Tolkien or Gygax in some way or another. Metzen and the boys, however, have crafted a universe that I want to live in.

I have done so for ten years now. I will continue to do so until the servers finally do shut down I imagine. Maybe when I have kids and am somehow making my living strictly as a games journalist (fat chance) I'll put down the mouse, macros and hardcore mentality-meets-filthy casual time alloted but until then? Azeroth has been my online home for ten years. It remains my home and shall be so for years to come.

If nothing else I just have to say thanks to all the talented motherfuckers who have made WoW into a truly coalesced and righteous MMO experience that can nary be matched by any other game. Subscriber numbers will eventually trickle off but even then? The product is so polished, iterated and evolved at this point that few if any can ever hope to match it let alone beat it at its own game. There is room in the market, of course, for other games but, frankly, I find myself not caring as much anymore. See you assholes on the other side when we're piloting Goblin zeppelins retrofitted with chrono-boosters and going back through time to save somebody while collecting sweet loot.

Back to leveling.