Windows into Warcraft: Part One

In the dark, cold days of early December 2010, the inevitable truth once more made itself known. I was going to play World of Warcraft again.

I had been aware that this day was coming. Ever since Cataclysm was announced, I knew it would spark a renewed interest in that accursed game. My relationship with MMOs is devilish and circular. I get pulled into their vast expanses and unmatched depth, turned off by their repetition and vanity, and then my desire lies dormant until I feel the call in the back of my mind once again.

An event with the in-game magnitude of Cataclysm was, to me, a clear indicator of my inescapable future. I would resubscribe. That’s all there was to it. The genre has worn me down over these many cycles as I’ve stopped even trying to fight it. Instead of obsessing and pondering and planning over my return, I simply jumped in. The better to get it over with, I thought. 

And so, on December 11, 2010, I made it official. I once again provided Blizzard with my credit card information, adding me to the millions upon millions of hopeless souls that now must surely provide the bulk of that wicked company’s income.

I’m not going to lie, my reintroduction to the world was hardly dramatic. 

Full of progress bars and patches, the installation took seemingly ages. I took this time to ponder exactly how I was going to make my return.

Should I start anew? Should I revisit one of my existing companions, abandoned and forlorn since last I left this world?

Ultimately I decided that, as I am apt to do, I was over-thinking it. I ended up doing a bit of both. I once again took the reigns of a lowly Blood Elf paladin I had barely gotten started with on a previous WoW cycle; one even shorter than normal. 

I also decided to start a hunter from scratch - a Night Elf to be precise. This would allow me to test a new class, one supposedly good for solo play, and see areas I had already explored as another Night Elf character many moons ago, before the Cataclysm. 

Apparently my new character also has a nifty nickname. Night Elf hunters are commonly referred to by the lovely derisive nickname, “huntards”. How did I ever cease to love the WoW community?