World of Warcraft celebrates its tenth anniversary on November 23. A lot has happened in WoW in the last ten years. In our series “Do you remember…” we look back at the past and want to remember special events with you. Or about game elements that have changed a lot today or maybe don’t even exist anymore. In the first part of “Do you remember…” buffed editor David Bergmann misses real world bosses.
shared across several player groups. The bosses of the classic world were characterized by the first ability used against them – only the corresponding raid group was entitled to the loot for the hopefully following victory. What follows from this can probably be imagined even by players who weren’t around at the time. A competition broke out between the “end-game elite” – on many servers, at best a handful of guilds had a realistic chance to seriously take on the world bosses.
WoW world bosses – the preparation
The competition included scouts. They were summoned to spawn points, usually in high level areas, or died (and were almost all gnomes and naked, at least in our alliance guild…). These twinks were the fastest way to check if bosses were available. And if there was a boss alert during the spy visit, that’s when it really started. Phone chains, forum shoutboxes, Teamspeak notifications, ICQ spam – any means was fine to get guild members into the game as quickly as possible. Since many of the fast travel options we take for granted today didn’t exist, characters had to be sent on sometimes minute-long flights after logging in.
Things got really exciting in our guild when we spotted members of competing guilds from the air cab. “Damn, how many have they got there already?”, “Are the trash packs still there?” – Hectic and panic in guild chat. Raid leaders are already fiddling with grouping, while others are still announcing their healer buddy who is “definitely coming very soon.” And then, of course, the Warlock was always there when there was a tank who couldn’t yet afford a mount.
WoW world bosses – the drama
There wasn’t always this direct guild race – but often enough, raid squads from multiple guilds would build up at the same time. They eyed each other critically to gauge when in doubt, even with too few players, to try the trash packs before the boss. Or when it was better to wait. Although there was usually something like a code of honor between the guilds (sometimes there were also real agreements and alliances) – but for example, the top guild of the server snatched the boss from under our noses when we had to deal with the last trash mob. A few turbulent days in the realm forums followed before we made up. But such dramas were somehow just part of the game.
If you don’t know the world bosses of the time, you might wonder what all the fuss about the pull was about. Why wait? Just go for it! The problem: Characters who died while fighting a world boss were subsequently unusable for almost all bosses for 15 minutes due to a debuff. This was primarily to prevent “graveyard zergs,” but also to put a stop to major sabotage. Of course, there were always attempts to mess up other guilds’ tours – but too many players didn’t want to take out the perpetrators, lest they get caught with their pants down themselves afterwards.
However, the incidents were often not planned by either side. Especially at the Dragon Portal in Duskwood, players with low-level characters regularly stumbled by and wondered what was happening there. And what MMORPG player doesn’t immediately rush into an attack at the sight of a large dragon? It’s just stupid when, instead of a pile of ashes, a toadstool is left behind after the timely digital death, causing area damage and throwing any prepared tactics overboard.
What is WoW Classic?
World of Warcraft Classic is a true recreation of the original WoW as you know it from 2006. All parts of the game – from combat mechanics and talent trees to character models and zones – have been recreated, contributing to the authentic experience.
Getting Started
All players with an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time on their accounts have access toWoW Classic at no additional cost.
- Open the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App and select World of Warcraft from the menu.
- Select World of Warcraft Classic from the Version menu. If you have more than one World of Warcraft account, you’ll see a second Account drop-down list. In this column, select the active account you want to play with.
- Click the Install button. The progress bar will tell you when your game is ready to play.
- Click the Play button when the installation is complete.
You will need to select the realm you want to play on from several different realm types. Make sure you choose the same realm as your friends – in World of Warcraft Classic, you can only group with characters that are on the same realm as you!
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