Crazy how time flies. World of Warcraft appeared more than 12 years ago. Again in words: TWELVE! And what has not happened in these 12 years in the world. Especially your own little ones – within your (own?) four walls. We take a look back.
If some of you are like me, then you probably don’t even remember what you had on the table for dinner last Tuesday. Other memories, on the other hand, you will probably never get rid of. That’s completely normal and a good thing – because reminiscing and getting nostalgic is a great feeling every now and then. I associate many such moments with World of Warcraft in particular. So let’s sit in Doc Brown’s DeLorean for a moment and fly back in time 12 years.
I had just turned 21, failed my apprenticeship as a gas and water fitter and was about to be drafted into the federal government. So far all good – if I hadn’t gotten my hands on the CD case for World of Warcraft. Warcraft 2 and 3 were devoured within a very short time, and the novels that had been published to date were devoured. And now there should be the opportunity to immerse yourself in this world, to become part of it. Sleep is overrated anyway.
It was like that in the end. You set the alarm to go to sleep, not to get up. Only what fit under the slit in the room door was eaten and real life shifted more and more to Azeroth, where a night elf hunter experienced his adventures. Then the federal government came and things changed. No WLAN in the living room, only at home on weekends – one could say that real withdrawal symptoms have set in. As soon as you got home, the uniform wasn’t even really taken off, but the computer was switched on immediately and the path towards level 60 was tackled again.
This procedure was repeated until Burning Crusade appeared and suddenly everything changed. Alliance was stupid, Horde became cool, because now there was a blood elf palace… sorry: blood knights. The new class was tried, reached level 70 and drove many a healer out of the future root raid. One of them was my future wife. (Yes, you read that right – I’m a troll lover ;)). After that it felt like it was going to hit the ground running. WotLK appeared, meanwhile you gambled either in the room (I was still a soldier), in the camp or in the container (Kosovo, Afghanistan – wayne, the main thing was WLAN available). This made me almost poor, because internet abroad costs a whole a*** full of money.
I came back from abroad, wife and World of Warcraft were still with me. Then more and more breaks came into my playing behavior. Eventually I uninstalled WoW and canceled my subscription. Other games wanted to be tried, but the feeling that one had when entering Azeroth never materialized. You didn’t “come home”. Neither at Wildstar nor at Guild Wars or anywhere else. In any case, the time to play was running out in the meantime – I was the father of a healthy daughter, married, worked for the radio around the clock, recorded news and created reports on site. But something was just missing… even though I had left my room at my parents’ house for a long time and meanwhile moved into a nice apartment on the edge of the field with my wife – something was missing.
Now I’m 33, will be celebrating my eighth wedding anniversary in July, have a seven-year-old daughter and a son who is almost four. And after a long odyssey in professional life, I was finally allowed to come home every day. While Azeroth may not be what it was when a night elf hunter in Stratholme proudly received his first T0 set pieces, I’m not the same as I was 12 years ago either. But I already know one thing: if my daughter is able to read better in the future than she is now, I will also show her this “home”.
What about with you? What has changed in your life since you started World of Warcraft? Tell us in the comments!
Karsten “Creep” Scholz
When WoW came out in 2005, I was in the middle of my training as an IT system clerk. It was difficult to make ends meet in Cologne with an apprenticeship salary. That’s also why I started with World of Warcraft back then. I couldn’t have sweetened my free time more cheaply. In addition: family, friends, colleagues – everyone played the game, I was able to spend time with everyone regularly, even though my social environment was spread all over Germany. Sometimes I spent entire weekends in my 23 square meter pad and was happy doing the Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin with my PvP core group or raiding the Molten Core. Twelve years later, I’m still playing WoW, but my apartment is now four times the size. I have a great family and enjoy my job, which I got mainly because of WoW and not because of the training just mentioned. How life goes.
Susanne “Elenenedh” Braun
twelve years ago? Twelve years ago I was about to become a trainee at PC PowerPlay (God bless her) in Würzburg and did nothing all day other than play the beta and layout my application article with crude tools – which, funnily enough, is also revolved around WoW. I ate unhealthily and only drank cola. I eat healthier today. And drink only Coke Zero. I have to get rid of the eating sins from back then somehow!
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!
Heroes&WIKI, WoW Classic, World of Warcraft Classic, WoW ClassicSpecial, WoW ClassicSpecials
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