Reminiscing on lessons learned from World of Warcraft

Teamwork.

It’s impossible to convey to those who never played warcraft or, even for those who did, for those who had it “easy”. When the game was balanced and success in a dungeon meant excellent play from ALL involved, when one person could have ruined to well coordinated work of 4 or 9 or 39 other friends, then winning was akin to playing in a symphony.

I spent a few minutes looking at my old notes from my World of Warcraft addiction days. While I loved the BC and Northrend expansions, I really enjoyed the legacy pre-Burning Crusade runs. There was a lot of skill involved – and runs didn’t always end up nicely.  In the middle of 2006, I kept track of some of the dungeon runs. I thought I’d share some of my notes from back then. I don’t know if people even run UBRS (Upper Black Rock Spire) anymore, preferring instead to head off into Outlands and level up faster.

I haven’t played World of Warcraft in almost a year. And I did cancel my account in March of 2009. But reading through these notes, it’s obvious how much time the game took from me. each dungeon run took about 1,2, sometimes 3 hours. The teamwork required to get things done was one of the best things I ever experienced about the game.

Since I never did go into Ulduaar or any of Northrend’s endgame instances, I can’t reflect much on that. I daresay, when the level cap was 60 and when players’ fire resist armor was under 100, getting past the mutli-headed hound, Magmadar, in the molten core – that was an achievement.

* (08/28/06) 535g UBRS. good run w/ Morri,Kerri, etc.
* (08/24/06) 500g UBRS. good run with Bellum Gero MC. just killed LUCI. wiped on MAG
* (08/23/06) 500g DM East twice with Bronakan and Malcastero. Got book. got +6mp5 mace.  Bad UBRS with Jadenn.
* (08/23/06) decent Live Strat with Fann. got her SC shoulders.
* (08/22/06) 470g  DM West with bratkat,prozenz,fenix,kold +15 Shadow resist neck dropped. +15 FR cloak w/+4 health dropped.
* (08/21/06) 440g did MC but still need Shazz wiped at Rend in UBRS, good Live Strat run. +1 orb, bad BRD Jailbreak run.
* (08/17/06) 412g ONY. halo of transcendance dropped. rolled crap.
* (08/14/06) 410g FR116 but used only FR111 did LBRS. AQ40 – failed. ZG – killed venoxis
* (08/09/06) FR116 bought onyxia scale cloak
* (08/07/06) 425g FR107  1 of 2 Scholo (had to leave the first time), MC up to Sulfron, 3x died at ony
* (08/03/06) 445g did live strat. thearsenal. forerunner.
* (08/02/06) 430g DM East.
* (08/01/06) 420g OK Live Strat. kerri, anarah, sentia, neok. 2 LBS. 1 Righteous orb.
* (07/31/06) 411g got boots of prophecy. base mana is max: 7030.
* (07/27/06) 350g have Argent Crusader. base mana is like 6.8k.
* (07/21/06) couple of DM tribute runs. Pretty tame.
* (07/17/06) finshed jandice and batman. Killed Domo again.
* (07/11/06) got Tooth of Gnarr,
* Mon: UD Strat, UBRS, Bad Live Strat, good ONY
* Sun: UD Strat, UBRS
* Sat: 2 bad UBRS
* Fri: MC
* (07/04/06) 7k buffed mana. 2 good LBRS runs. Got trindlehaven twice. passed on second time.
* bad Jandice-based run in Scholo.
* great MC run. head and belt prophecy set dropped.
* (06/29/06) really slow Scholo run. Got to rattlegore. no farther
* (06/28/06) DM East Book Farming.
* (06/26/06) base mana up to 6.3k, good UBRS run. got devout mantle. bought bracers
* (06/25/06) good Scholo run. Wiped a couple of times from bad pulls
* (06/19/06) * have about 5.6k Mana
* (60H) 06/12/06 failed UBRS. Group disintegrated before emberseer (oobiteme)

* (60) 06/22/06 Good UBRS run. wiped once at drak. Dropped Mage chest. got cape.  ran by: krakk, felbane, heavenstouch
* (60) 06/21/06 Failed Live strat run. failed after the canoneer. imagiciani, khora
* (60) 06/19/06 Failed UBRS. failed after the beast. did not engage drak., Good LBRS. Got Wyrmm gem.
* (60) 06/12/06 Failed UD Strat. Baron at 11%. striphe, sugar, a few others
* (60) 06/11/06 Scholo run which I had to leave after I got my goal. sheepnbeauty. got jandice, UBRS run which wiped at rend
* (60) 06/08/06a good UD Strat run. irenthia. deadra. beefeater. kand. seal of rivendare.  time: 1:27
* (60) 06/08/06 good UD Strat run. oneiros. traxs. nehia. dreadmist pants.  time: 2:00
* (60) 06/07/06 Aborted UBRS run. people left after wiping on FF, ok BRD run. 4 man. Deadra. manguish. norq. Did ironfel.
* (60) 06/06/06 Good UBRS run. Mage chest dropped off drak. Got faithhealer boots.  dorabkul, shadai, genecide, other onibatsu time: 2:00
* (60) 06/05/06 ran three instances: UD Strat x 2 and BRD x 1 UD strat: 1/2. BRD: 1/1, One UD Strat went well: time: 1:45.
* (60) 06/01/06 good scholo run. jessamine. deadra. beefeater. chaospawn. deathseer mantle. will likely vendor.  time: 2:00
* (60) 05/31/06 guild run UD strat. RagingHorn, Manguish, Deadra, Founddead, Bugs. Died at Ramstien
* Stats for May: 5/15
* Live Strat   2/5
* UD Strat     0/1
* Scholo       1/3
* LBRS         1/3
* UBRS         0/2
* BRD          1/1
* (60) 05/30/06 failed scholo run. I need to learn to keep myself alive more.  got epic mount.
* (60) 05/24/06 advanced love potion quest
* (60) 05/23/06 good LBRS run. got wyrmm.  have MC quest. have rend quest.  got dreadmist bracers for manguish.
* (60) 05/22/06 bad LBRS ran. tank left.  good live strat run. no devout gloves. got bal’s head.  manguish. raging. gizmo and wrathofzues. got 4 orbs.
* (60) 05/21/06 2 unsuccessful runs of Live Strat. Deadra. Superhuevos. Died at Archivist.
* (60) 05/18/06 turned in hydraxis quests – got emberser ubrs quest BRD run (2.5 hours) did bar. screwspigot. thunderbrew recipe.
* (60) 05/17/06 Got to “of love and family” live strat quest bad live strat run – failed before timmy.
* (60) 05/16/06 aborted BRD run. nothing accomplished.
* (60) 05/14/06 ran live strat to completion. 4man. moktini, chunmai, stier.
* (60) 05/10/06 scholo. Got SS deed. turned in. Ran with Spyt. Mage quit early.
* (60) 05/09/06 decent Live Strat run. Got a few mobs past the canonball. tokimin (Warr).
* (60) 05/08/06 lousy weekend. 2 bad ubrs runs. still got spiritshourd legs
* (60) 05/04/06 done Blightcaller bats, lord ranger’s behest and Living Rot, did Scholo. 2 hour run. Jandice (failed the quest). Nehzra, haderdash, suehprom.
* (60) 05/03/06 done with Tirion Fording initial quests. demon dogs, bats, carion grubbage.
* (60) 05/01/06 guild run Live Strat. 2.5 hours. got to Canoneer.  some bad pulls lead to wipes.
* (60) 04/30/06 just farming stuff. doing nathanos quests, etc.
* Stats for April: 3/11
* Live Strat   0/2
* UD Strat     2/4
* Scholo       0/1
* LBRS         0/1
* UBRS         1/3
* BRD
* (60) 04/26/06 Did a leisurely UD strat run. BS bracers, WH pants dropped.  Got to Baron in 1:30. no one died at all. conservative pulls.
* (60) 04/25/06 ran Live Strat. Failed after Cannoneer. Shammy left. Ronakha, Spyt, Knowsh
* (60) 04/23/06 couldn’t get in on the Leviathan MC run. ran UD strat up to the baron. failed due to no mage. got soulseer mantle from Ramstein.
* (60) 04/22/06 did LBRS with Leviar and Dannith. Good run until Leviar D/C’d
* (60) 04/21/06 aborted run of scholo. and WSG. RagingBovine FTL.  ran ZG with ED.
* (60) 04/20/06 UBRS full run. Got Drak in 3 tries. FastRedIron led.  Outhealed by Vassina by about 6%. Nothing Dropped. Time: 2.5 hours.
* (60) 04/18/06 gunning for tier 0.5 bracers. 7/15 venom. silithus.
* (60) 04/17/06 LBRS. Got Important Documents but failed before Wyrmm UD Strat – aborted run. wiped before the spider boss. UBRS. Decent run. but failed on Drak. Last failure was on me mobs repopped on top of me
* (60) 04/13/06 great UD Strat run, about 1 hour. Ressa, Zenka, icenine, inarra. got seal of rivendare.
* (60) 04/12/06 3 hour UD Strat run with Dorabkul, Zarizari, Iron-something. Have UD Strat key.
* (60) 04/11/06 3 hour scholo run. Got up to the boss before gandling. Not significant drops.
* (60) 04/10/06 got the seal of Eldre’Thalas (from Holy Bologna) shadow laced handwraps. blue gloves. 5-man barron run in under an hour.
* (60) 04/05/06 caused a wipe of a full UBRS run at Drak
* (60) 03/31/06 did scholo up to Ras. Alina’s embrace (epic robe) dropped. lost the roll to a lock
* (60) 02/24/06 LBRS. did not finish. cripples. mooshy venzulu
* (60) 02/17/06 rend run. no drops for me.  Kill on sight Incendious
* (60) 02/17/06 ran 10 man scholo. easy group. no loot for me. Phrenzy. Soullessfire.

* (60) 05/16/06 finished shy-rotam. Farmed a bit over an hour in Burning Steppes. 17 Thor. 3Gold. 8 Mith. 10 DarkIron
* (60) 04/27/06 farmed for an hour. got 6 thorium, farmed again 0.5 hr. Got 4 essence of water. 2 globes of water. sold 3 essences in the field for 25g
* (60) 04/26/06 15 min: 5 Thorium. 2 dark iron. 2 truesilver.
* (60) 04/25/06 farmed Burning Steppes and blasted lands.  30 min. BS: 8 Dark Iron. 4 thorium. 30 min. BL: 6 Mithril
* (60) 04/24/06 * farmed for volatile rum and thorium 2 hours farming = 9 thorium (ungoro), 8 volatile rum, 5 greens
* (60) 06/27/06 OK Scholo run. w/ Yoz. Blazingchiem. Got Kirtronos done. Lots of leather.

* Stats for Aug:  bugs      oobiteme     bit
* Live Strat      0/0        0/0        4/4
* UD Strat        0/0        0/0        0/0
* Scholo          0/0        0/0        2/3
* LBRS            0/0        0/0        1/1
* UBRS            0/0        0/0        3/5
* BRD             0/0        0/0        1/2
* DM              0/0        0/0        4/4
* ZG              0/0        0/0        1/4
* AQ40            0/0        0/0        0/1
* MC              0/0        0/0        5/5
* ONY             0/0        0/0        4/5
* BWL             0/0        0/0        0/0
*——————————————
* over all        0/0        0/0       25/34

* Stats for July: bugs      oobiteme     bit
* Live Strat      0/0        0/0        1/2
* UD Strat        0/0        0/0        3/4
* Scholo          0/1        0/0        2/3
* LBRS            0/0        0/0        4/6
* UBRS            0/0        0/0        3/6
* BRD             0/0        0/0        1/1
* DM              0/0        0/0        2/2
* MC              0/0        0/0        4/5
* ONY             0/0        0/0        1/2
* BWL             0/0        0/0        0/1
*——————————————
* over all        0/1        0/0       22/32

* Stats for June: bugs      oobiteme     bit
* Live Strat      0/1        0/0        0/0
* UD Strat        3/5        0/0        0/1
* Scholo          3/3        0/0        1/2
* LBRS            1/2        0/0        0/0
* UBRS            2/5        0/1        1/1
* BRD             2/2        0/0        0/0
*——————————————
* over all       11/18       0/1        2/4