Y Halo Thar!

Welcome to Airee.net, a World of Warcraft themed blog maintained by theorycrafting enthusiast and avid roleplayer Cynra.
13Jun

Ildiko the Mighty Gets Stuck in Ashenvale

I mentioned a while back in “There’s No Place Like Home” that I had recently rolled a new character n my first-ever PvP server since leaving Arthas US over two years ago. In particular, I noted that I was leveling up a troll mageling by the name of Ildiko on Shattered Hand US. Ildiko — or Ildiko the Mighty as my roleplaying-turned brain has dubbed her despite my attempts to get out of the habit of assigning personalities to my non-roleplaying characters1 — managed to hit 25 a week or so ago, prompting me to enter my first contested territory: the ancient and lofty forests of Ashenvale.

In the past I’ve claimed to throughly enjoy the player versus player aspect of the game. In switching to a roleplaying server after being on a PvP server for so long, I found that I was missing the thrill of being in contested territories so much that I actually played the game for almost two year perma-flagged. Yes, I invited mine enemies to take a swing at me and I enjoyed these contests even when my carcass littered the ground. I further engaged in frequent Battlegrounds preforms, often getting up ridiculously early on Saturday mornings to gleefully log into the game and wait until my friends showed up for our weekly matches in Warsong Gulch. And, when Arena started rolling out and before they became the place for easy epics, I dutifully joined a team and had a blast.

While I have never claimed to be good at PvP2, I don’t let that deter from my enjoyment of that aspect of the game.

In rerolling on a PvP server, one of the things that I was looking forward to most was that feeling that I used to get back in the days when there was a contested territory for me or when I bumbled around perma-flagged. That added danger of being attacked by a member of the opposite faction while questing dripped just enough adrenaline into my bloodstream that I was hooked. Perhaps it was nostalgia that prompted it, but I wanted that feeling back so much! In fact, I was looking forward to entering my first contested zone so much that I leveled in leaps and bounds, far surpassing my boyfriend’s newly rolled druid.

My first world PvP encounter was in Ashenvale that self-same afternoon I stepped into contested territory for the first time. It was not at all what I had hoped or even expected. This afternoon we’ll explore the tale of my fledgling mageling in “Ildiko the Mighty Gets Stuck in Ashenvale.”

One bright and sunny spring afternoon, a fledgling troll mage could be found deep in the ancient groves of Ashenvale. Known to her peers as Ildiko the Mighty, our young heroine was leaving Splintertree Post on a quest to slay some water elementals. Cheekily walking along the road west in defiance of common sense, she stumbled across a 70th season druid and a 50-something hunter also on the road. With an experienced eye, she examined the two. While the prospect of a fight intrigued her, Ildiko the Mighty decided to spare the kal’dorei of her wrath and continued on her jaunt at an unhurried pace.

Sadly, this was not to be, for the wretched kal’dorei druid, clothed in her paltry welfare epics, dismounted from her arguably mangy sabre cat and tossed the gauntlet. Wiggling her fingers in what could only be described as a desultory manner, she cast Entangling Roots on our heroic mageling. Egged on by the harsh words of her companion, the druid then proceeded to taunt her.

Ildiko the Mighty, however, was not moved by her paltry efforts; once the roots expired, she chose to turn the other cheek and continue on her way. Unfortunately, that’s when the wretched druid chose to attack, cowardly swinging her staff with enough force that when it did connect with the back of Ildiko the Mighty’s skull it managed to catapult her into the spirit world.

With a bealeagured sigh, Ildiko the Recently-Turned-Dead climbed back to her feel, carefully wiped the dust off of her incorporal robes, and began another jaunt — this time to reclaim her body.

  1. But that’s a story for another day
  2. And, inf fact, I vociferously claim otherwise!

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  1. Decision 2008: The Arch Druid Election
  2. There’s No Place Like Home
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27May

There’s No Place Like Home

– unfortunately.

I logged in yesterday evening after a holiday weekend full of revelry, fun, and no World of Warcraft to find that my beloved roleplaying guild no longer existed. Shocked by this discovery, I spent almost an hour trying to find any information regarding The Paragon, but to no avail; not a single person I spoke to had any idea that the guild had disbanded, much less what had become of its wonderful and eclectic bunch of members.

I probably would have moped around the house for a bit after finding this out, but my younger sibling was a sufficient enough pest to somehow rope me into rolling a toon on his newer server. Until recently he was a long-standing member of Arthas Alliance raiding guild SECURITY, serving as the guild’s Restoration-turned-Feral-off-tank druid. In light of their recent poor performance and his diminished availability, however, he’d decided to take leave of the guild and rerolled on Shattered Hand with a number of friends from high school. Despite being rather morose and feeling dejected, I joined him yesterday evening.

This lovely piece of troll-flesh is Ildiko, my second-ever mage and yet-another-troll1.

Shattered Hand is a very different environment than Feathermoon. For one, it’s a PvP server where Feathermoon is one of the first batch of roleplaying servers that were ever released. And while I originally started out on PvP servers, it’s important to note that I’ve been on Feathermoon almost exclusively for well over a year and a half now.

Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by my time on Feathermoon, but never before has the disparity between PvP and roleplaying servers seemed so apparent. The first thing I noticed were the slew of asinine names running rampant. Names that would have been balked at or looked down upon on Feathermoon where everywhere, prompting me to cringe noticeably when I stumbled across one — and they were everywhere. Public channels such as Trade and General were full of absolute stupidity, running the gamut from Chuck Norris jokes in the Barrens to what appeared to be a genuine debate concerning the virtues of pedophilia2 spanning both Trade and General in Orgrimmar.

And that fails to take into account the Your Momma jokes, comments regarding people’s sexual preferences, and some of the most atrocious spelling I have ever had the displeasure of reading in my entire life.

All in all, it seemed like every vice, every stereotype of PvP servers were suitably justified. Which isn’t to say that I dislike PvP servers; in fact, I’d claim the opposite! I spent quite a bit of time on Arthas and I genuinely enjoy world PvP. However it just gave further weight to the phrase “There’s no place like home.”

  1. Which is, by far, my favorite race
  2. Are there any?

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  2. Do or Death Knight
  3. If Your Name is Listed Here, You Should be Ashamed