I've been interested in different game-modes of World of Warcraft for a while now. Project Ascension, a private server with tonnes of replayability, has excelled at creating different game-modes for the game and it's about time Blizzard started delving into this world too.
It's very, very easy to survive in Project Ascension though. You get loot almost literally thrown at you and, of course, you have the good fortune to learn whatever ability you want from any class. It's nearly impossible to die unless you're unlucky, afk, or... sorry to say, "bad."
So, I for one am excited to have an official hardcore server for World of Warcraft.
And it's arrived at a really good time, too. I am absolutely loving Baldur's Gate 3 but, unfortunately, now that I'm in Act 3 I'm experiencing quite a few glitches and bugs, so I'm waiting for a few more patches before continuing on. Whicccccch, will probably entail making a brand new character in a few months, haha! (I don't mind. The game is fantastic and I'll happily do it allllll over again!)
SO. HARDCORE WARCRAFT TIME.
I was umming and ahhing for a while about what character I would create. I love warriors, it's been my main class since retail Lich King, but I felt as though I should go for something a little different for hardcore mode.
I do enjoy rogues, too, and the last time I played classic I preferred the rogue over my warrior. I thought maybe a mage would be good too, since I could make my own food and portal people for gold. It's also very survivable. A warlock would be cool too, or a hunter, with minions/pets to help fight alongside me.
So many options! As I said, I umm'd and ahh'd for quite a while.
In the end, I went with a rogue. I'm going to learn leatherworking and skinning for obvious reasons, and also grab fishing and cooking. Gives me a reason to farm boars and stringy wolves. xD
Once I chose a rogue, my next lot of umming and ahhing was about what race I would be. While any race is viable, I wanted good racials and passives that would benefit my hardcore experience.
If I were to play Alliance, I think I would go a human... but honestly, I prefer Horde-side. The toss-up was between Orc and Troll. And I went with a Troll. As a troll I have berserk, faster health regeneration, and I do more damage against beasts.
Beasts. Which I will be killing a lot of for fooooood. And leather.
Servers were live at 8am Friday morning my time. Perfect for the school drop-off then race back home to play xD ~ Of course Blizzard were bastards and didn't bother throwing my people an Oceanic realm, so I get to experience this with the glory of 170ms on the server: Skull Rock.
Thankfully the ping is barely noticeable. I've even managed to ninja things off other people despite my disadvantageous ping. So I guess it's not too bad. We'll see how I feel later on if I die to lag though. 😝
The starter zones — well, at least Durotar — were absolutely packed. I didn't feel any particular fear of dying early on due to the fact that there were so many people around. Things were getting tagged instantly, dying instantly as three or four people leapt upon it to try and be the first to tag it.
Some people were kind and threw group invites around for certain mobs, thankfully, not because they're hard but because so many people needed to finish the quest all at the same time.
I'm hoping that once I level up a bit more and leave Durotar, it all becomes a bit less hectic and less player-ridden. I want my zones all empty and just for me! xD
If anyone else is playing, I'm Zaejin on Skull Rock. I don't intend on grouping with anyone, I like and prefer playing solo, but if there's a guild or something I'll join it.
After no-lifing my day away, I'm level 13 and as screenshotted above, my skills are in a pretty good range I feel. I'm not trying to rush and be first to 60 or any of that stuff — I'm just taking my time, living my little troll life how I see fit, and hoping to still be alive by the time Starfield comes around.
12 days or so.
Surely I can survive a measly 12 days. xD
(Famous last words? I sure hope not!)
Until next time! ⚔️🔥
WTF is going on in my life, you're the 3rd person TODAY that has mentioned Ascension. And I wasn't even actively aware that private servers existed up until yesterday! I think I'm going to try out Ascension as I wait for WOW to come to gamepass ;)
Haha! There's some perfect synchronicity for you. xD
Project Ascension is amazing. They do their private servers really well and are clearly passionate about providing a fun experience for the community. So many game modes, and rewards for playing different modes, and seasons, and being able to mix and match your own overpowered class. 😁 I would play it more often if my friends weren't so invested in proper, real WoW.
There is a small part of me that wants to get into WoW HC but it's just going to consume me. Looks like a lot of fun though. I've read a lot of stories about griefing already.
You'd definitely need the time at your fingertips! I reached level 16 today, then died due to an untimely and very unexpected respawn just as I finished killing something else... and now I'm going to go torture myself with a hardcore Minecraft playthrough instead. xD Woo.
What type of griefing stories have you heard?
I didn't experience much annoyance other than the annoyance of "too many people." Although... I did almost get someone killed when I Sprinted out of a cave when I accidentally ran into a rare. xD But then I also saved someone's life too with a well-timed gouge. Felt pretty epic about that, tbh.
Mostly groups og people doing dungeons then leaving and hearthing as soon as they pull a group, leaving the lone tank to die, and similar stories. Organised griefing mostly but I've also read updates on those stories and it looks like people are getting banned for it.
I do have to give it a go one day. Hopefully they keep these servers open for a long time.
Wow really is one of those games that you can never really grow tired of 😂😂
Interesting, I like to try this old gameplay when I couldn't enjoy it as a child. I say the same for Tibia and its 7.4 versions. I'll try it out for sure.