---
title: 'Xaryu Reacts to Classic WoW finally disappointed me… Somehow, that made it better.'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=FW7TANJN5fo'
video_id: 'FW7TANJN5fo'
date: 2026-07-01
duration_sec: 4727
---

# Xaryu Reacts to Classic WoW finally disappointed me… Somehow, that made it better.

> Source: [Xaryu Reacts to Classic WoW finally disappointed me… Somehow, that made it better.](https://youtube.com/watch?v=FW7TANJN5fo)

## Summary

A new player shares his first-time experience with Classic WoW, highlighting both the game's strengths and its disappointments. He argues that the game's design, which makes the player feel small and unimportant, actually enhances the world's scale and immersion. The video culminates in a quest line where the player unknowingly helps a villain, leading to a satisfying and community-driven resolution.

### Key Points

- **Fresh Perspective on WoW** [1:00] — The player notes that his positive experience might be due to playing only a few hours a day, contrasting with veteran players who play extensively and find flaws.
- **Stockades Disappointment** [20:07] — The Stockades dungeon is a letdown because it lacks the narrative arc and grand reveal of the Dead Mines, consisting of simple rooms with enemies.
- **Using Retaliation to Win** [30:07] — The player uses the warrior ability Retaliation, which counterattacks all melee attackers for 15 seconds, along with a health potion, to defeat higher-level enemies.
- **Anticlimactic Defias Ending** [33:11] — The Defias quest line ends anticlimactically when the player delivers a report to the king, only to find a boy (Anduin) and Lady Prestor, who dismisses him with a ring.
- **Disappointments Enhance the World** [47:14] — The player realizes that the disappointments make him feel small and unimportant, which actually makes the world feel bigger and more immersive.
- **Runescape Comparison** [69:00] — The player compares the quest design to Runescape, where quests often start with the player accidentally helping a villain, maintaining MMO logic.
- **Abbercrombie Quest Line** [61:41] — The Abbercrombie quest line is a highlight: the player unknowingly helps create the monster Stitches, which attacks Darkshire, requiring group effort to defeat.
- **Value of Delayed Gratification** [70:48] — The player argues that delayed gratification makes rewards feel more meaningful, and that constant high-stakes action diminishes the impact of achievements.
- **Mid-Game Density** [72:52] — The player is surprised that Classic WoW's content density increases in the mid-game, contrary to many MMOs where the mid-game is a weak point.

## Transcript

Everybody has been asking about the GB
vid.
>> This video is sponsored.
>> We haven't seen it yet. This video title
looks
so darn good. Classic WoW finally
disappointed me. I'm like, "Oh no." And
then it says, "Somehow that made it
better."
I'm trying to think about what this t
this is such a good title on a video cuz
it's like now as a viewer I'm like,
"Well, what is it? What made it suck but
then made it better?" Like why why are
you disappointed?
Is it that you couldn't find groups for
something but then like you made friends
along the way? I don't I don't know. I
don't know. Anyway guys, the amount of
people asking if I've seen this. No. The
answer is no. But in a second here, the
answer will be yes. Guys, without
further ado, episode three of GB's
classic series. Is this episode 4?
It might be episode 4.
Here we go.
Here we go.
Here we go. ed by War Thunder.
>> War Thunder.
>> You know, a funny thing about my
experience playing classic WoW for the
first time is I've started to learn I
might be more positive about this game
than most WoW players are. As someone
who's still very early on in his first
ever 1 to 60 leveling journey,
>> that's why it's refreshing to watch GB
cuz everyone else is like, "This game
sucks." [laughter]
I've been entranced by World of Warcraft
and everything I've run into up until
this point. From running my first
dungeon to grouping with kind strangers
to stumbling across some truly
incredible quest lines, all in just the
first two episodes, it has genuinely
shocked me how good this game from 2004
still is, as I keep saying. But I do
want to recognize for others who've been
playing since 2004, they have bigger
fish to fry. If you spend any amount of
time online, it's almost impossible to
not notice that most longtime WoW fans
have serious issues, be it with Blizzard
or Classic or
>> I thought he was saying we have serious
issues. And I'm just like, what do you
mean serious issues, man? Not all of us.
I mean, maybe I do, but like I can't
just say for every WoW player that we
all have issues. That'd be crazy.
Um, but yeah. No. Anyway, GB's point is
right. Like I've thought about this
before. If you
spend a copious amount of time online,
like say you play WoW for 18 hours a
day, you're going to find something
wrong with it. You just will. If you
play WoW for like 2 hours a day or 1
hour a day, you're probably going to
love it and be craving to play more.
It's kind of the same with anything. If
you do League of Legends for like 12
hours a day, you're going to think the
game sucks and you're going to think,
"This is the worst thing ever, but I'm
addicted." But if you play League for
like an hour a day or two hours a day or
something and like it's like somewhat of
a healthy amount, you might be like,
"Holy crap, I want to play more." Right?
I've noticed this. So it's like, yeah,
if you're chronically online for 15
years like like myself, you might think
of what you might look at WoW
differently, like holy crap, there's so
many things that could be better or
improved. But if you're kind of getting
into it for the first time and playing
here and there, it's like, woo, this is
like the healthy amount that like feels
incredible to play.
>> Tail. And you know what? A lot of those
criticisms seem totally legitimate.
That's why I told myself starting here
in episode 3, I don't want to act like
Classic WoW is perfect. I want to make
sure that I'm not just highlighting the
good, but that I'm being honest about
any disappointments that I run into. And
that's good timing because at this point
in my playthrough, I started running
into all kinds of disappointments. As I
continued leveling, I kept encountering
scenarios where the game introduced a
new exciting thing to me, building it up
like something amazing was coming, only
to yank the rug out from under me over
and over. If there was ever a point
where I would start to sour on classic
WoW, it would be right here and now. But
>> totally,
>> I'm sorry. Somehow the disappointments
made this game even better. I don't know
what to tell you. I think I'm broken. I
can't stop being positive. These issues
just made me like the game more.
I mean, so someone in the chat said it,
"Does that theory include Minecraft time
played?" Totally. I'm sure there's
things if you play enough Minecraft that
become annoying, but for me as a first
time Mcrafter, I'm like, "This world is
amazing. Holy crap, what a great game."
But I'm sure if you've played Minecraft
for 15 years, there's things that about
it that might annoy you, right? It's
just how it goes. You notice those
idiosyncrasy idioseies the longer you
play something. I feel like I said that
wrong twice. I'm not going to try again.
Let's play the video.
>> We're going to get into all of that very
shortly. But before we jump into today's
adventure, this video is sponsored by
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taken at least I think I should move my
camera, not here, cuz I think GB like
I'll be covering GB's head half the
time. So, I [clears throat] guess we'll
go we'll go here for this video. Sorry,
Chay, you can continue. Sorry to
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down below today. Thanks again to War
Thunder for sponsoring the channel. But
now, back to the video. Okay, so quick
recap of where we last left the series
off. After getting hooked on trying to
solve the mystery of the Defas
Brotherhood and the corruption plaguing
the city of Stormwind, I had to level a
lot further if I wanted to continue that
main narrative, which is how I found
myself running through a flurry of great
moments in our last episode. We went
through everything from solving the
legend of Stalvin's creepy mystery to
setting foot in the beautiful wetlands
for the first time to hearing about the
saddest story in all of gaming through
Sven's revenge. There was actually so
much that happened during my last play
session, I couldn't even fit it all into
the video. Some of the simpler quests,
like the one where I got a library book
as a drop in Duskwood that I was
supposed to take back to Stormwind, that
didn't feel nearly as pressing compared
to all the other grand narratives I got
to see. Bro, you you guys can call me
crazy, but watching these Duskwood
quests play out is making me crave to
like make another character [laughter]
soon. Like like I just love I just adore
Elwin, Westfall, Duskwood, Red Ridge,
Strangle, Thorn, Alliance, like 1 to 30
something. Oh man, I I miss it. Like I
remember when I was watching GB's video
from a few weeks ago or like I guess it
was like two months ago or something. I
was leveling my luck and I was doing
these quests and I was like, "Oh, I just
did that yesterday." And now it's been
like a month or two. It's like, man,
it's been a while.
But of course, the most important thing
that happened recently was I became rich
when we got a super rare drop that sold
for almost 70 gold at the auction house.
And thank God you guys told me before
that I should be selling drops like this
at the auction house or I probably would
have vendored it. Speaking of your guys
comments, I'm still trying to play
through this series as unguided as
possible, but I have appreciated a few
of the tips you've provided and not just
because some of them made me rich.
Recent comments have been teaching me
even more helpful things. Like I don't
need to be using an add-on to track
threat. After all, I can just turn on
this setting that shows the target of my
target instead. Keeping our whole
playthrough totally add-on free. Not to
mention, I mean, you still might want a
threat meter, but the target of targets
also good, but like the I mean, you
don't need one, but if you like threat's
good to know, too.
>> That's right. name plates are now on.
From here on out, I'm going to actually
be able to see all the enemy health bars
outside of the selected mob that I'm
currently fighting. Thank you so much
for telling me to turn that on. I
actually have a memory from very early
on in my playthrough where I think I
accidentally hit V on my keyboard
turning name plates on, but I was still
so new to the game back then that I kind
of thought, "Oh, that looks so
cluttered. I don't like that." And then
I just started mashing my keyboard until
I hit something that turned them back
off. But now I totally see the value in
actually knowing how much health every
enemy has. Thank you very much for
telling me to turn them back on.
>> Bro, my next character is going to be a
warrior. I I know I've done so many, but
oh my gosh, it looks so fun to play
warrior.
>> It's things like this that make me want
to make sure my playthrough isn't
completely blind. Without your help, I
would have missed out on so much of this
game, including holy hell, World of
Warcraft has fishing. When you guys told
me that fishing was another secondary
skill I could pick up, I had no choice.
I'm a skiller through and through. So, I
naturally dropped everything I was
working on just to try and max out my
fishing ASAP. I spent an hour or so in
Elwin Forest leveling from 1 to 75
before then heading over to Red Ridge,
grinding out some more. Gosh, there is
something about this kind of grind in a
game that just gets me going. I don't
know what it is I love so much, but
getting to slowly progress toward
improving a skill that takes hours to
grind out, but feeling accomplished as
you put in the kind of time that other
players might not have the patience for
and being rewarded with more unlocks for
all the effort you put in. That's what
MMOs are all about. At least
>> that's why this guy loves Runescape.
That's what Runescape's all about. I
just learned about fishing. It's it's
it's all right
>> in my book. And it makes me so happy
every time I discover a new system in
WoW that lets me do something like that
outside of the basic combat and total
level. I also love when you get to do
grinds like this alongside other players
chatting as each one of you works toward
your own separate goals. This night elf
was super cool, too. We just chilled
outside this dock fishing for about an
hour or so before they eventually had to
leave. But before they left, they DM'd
me saying that they had seen my videos
and liked my series, which was really
sweet. I got to mention that actually.
So many of you guys have seen me log
into game and sent me nice DMs and I
don't know how to turn DMs off. So, I've
just been reading through every single
comment, but they're all so nice. I've
even gotten in-game mail from you, too,
which not only has included more nice
comments encouraging me to keep the
series going, but you guys also haven't
even tried to spoil my playthrough by
sending me gold or useful. I was
literally just about to pause the video
and ask like a minute ago, what is he
doing about people trying to like send
over 500 gold and then it's just like
that that really makes it not feel
authentic, right? He's not playing
self-found cuz it's not hardcore, which
by the way, Blizzard, please add a
self-found option to era. Be sick.
Um, but yeah, I I would I would assume
and hope that like you would just return
it, but then it gets awkward. It's like
this is a gift. It's like, but I'm
trying to not do gifts. It's like,
you know, it gets to this weird like,
okay. U anyway, hopefully we just don't
do that items or something like that.
You've just been sending me cool things
like a spy glass I can use to see stuff
super far away or a little parrot. I
didn't even realize there's pets in this
game. Wow. Just keeps impressing me
every time I log in. It is insane how
good this game is at distracting you
from whatever you're working toward. I
mean, I was fully prepared to put the
entire series on hold until I got 300
fishing, but by the time I hit 150, the
fishing trainer in Red Ridge said that I
had to go to some place called
Daroshshire to continue leveling. I
don't know where that is, but that gives
us another good goal to add to our
series.
>> Man, that's such a good thing about
Classic WoW. You can't like it'll it'll
be like okay now you're max and you have
to go there but like when you're
traveling there you're going to hit like
another 150 things on your way of like
well I'll do this quick quest and then
this and then this and then this and
then this and by the time you get there
you're like doing something completely
different and you forget why you were
there in the first place.
Was well make sure we find wherever the
hell Daros is so I can maximize fishing
and get the skill cape. But of course,
our biggest goal of the series, as set
out in last episode, is to find a new
story to care about each episode the way
we care about the Defas Brotherhood
narrative that hooked me so hard all the
way back at the start. And today's an
exciting moment because we can finally
continue that narrative. Cool. We've
already learned quite a bit of history
in how the leaders of the Alliance hired
the Stonemasons to rebuild Stormwind
many years ago. But when the corrupt
House of Nobles refused to let the city
pay any of the workers, they were all
but forced to leave broke and seeking
vengeance. This is what spawned the
Defas Brotherhood gang, who were
plotting to destroy the capital in
retribution before we plunged into the
dead mines, slaying their leader, Edwin
Van Clee. After meeting up with Edwin's
childhood friend to learn more about
what was going on, we were told to look
for Basil Thread Van Clee's lieutenant,
who was currently being held in the
Stormwind stockades. I then learned the
stockades are the second dungeon I'm
going to encounter in game. And
honestly, I am so hyped to run through
it. Not only does this dungeon mark the
next step in the grand defas narrative
that we're following, and not only is
this coming off the heels of dead mines,
which already set my expectations sky
high for how good the dungeons in this
game will be, but as I began running
around the various human zones, grinding
out levels to get prepared for
stockades, I kept bumping into a
>> It's tough because it's like dead mines
is just so good and then stocks is is
additional NPCs that were giving me more
quests for this dungeon that made it all
the more exciting. One guard in Red
Ridge told me an orc named Targor the
Dread is being held there as he was
apparently sentenced to be executed
until a mysterious noble stepped in,
putting a hold on his sentencing,
leaving us to go in and finish the job
ourselves. Then there was a council
person in Duskwood who told me they too
had sentenced a person to death, Dextrin
Ward, who was caught selling bodies from
the cemetery to Morbent Fell until the
House of Nobles again put a hold on his
execution. Last night I ran into a poor
lady in Stormwind who was bererieved as
her grandson was a guard in the
stockades that
>> I just adore like I I that the text
slowly coming up like the instant quest
text option is turned off so it has to
like slowly go down. I could just see GB
sitting there like clicking on someone
and just like reading it like I I love
that man. been reprimanding some Defias
prisoners who then murdered him in
response, begging me to go in and slay
some more Defias for revenge. The fact I
was already so hyped to dive into the
dungeon, and then the game kept giving
me more mysterious narratives that were
apparently all going to converge when I
dove in, it just did such a good job of
getting me excited, I even turned down a
free shortcut. At one point while I was
selling some stuff at the auction house,
a random person DM'd me asking if I
wanted a free boost through the
stockades since apparently he was
practicing learning how to boost people.
That kind of sounds a little bit like
cheating to me. I don't know what WoW
players think about this each other is
allowed. Maybe it's fine, but
>> I mean it's fine, but you kind of grief
your whole like blind playthrough idea.
If you're going to AFK and get boosted,
it's completely fine if it's your 10th
character and whatever, but if you're
trying to like play the game for playing
the game itself, the fun in itself of
just playing the game, it creeps that,
right? Regardless, I turned him down. If
stockades was just a random room where I
had to kill a few elite mobs, then I
might accept some help from a higher
level player. But the game had done such
a good job of building tension,
signaling to me that this was going to
be an exciting turning point in the
story, so I wanted to experience it
naturally. Also, side note, I have seen
all the comments you guys have been
leaving in recent videos telling me,
"Wo's community isn't as nice as I think
it is, but I just want to take this
opportunity."
>> WoW community is arguably more toxic
than League was. People are being nice
cuz you're new. A bit of a warning.
There is a toxic element to the
community. WoW community is at least
just as toxic as League.
Is this true?
Hell take lies. I feel like
I'm Okay, maybe I'm just the wrong
person to ask because I'm a WoW
streamer. I feel like the WoW community
is pretty chill. I mean, obviously
people can be toxic, duh. But when you
compare it to like when you compare like
classic WoW to like like League or like
some of these other games like
competitive games, it's just a different
level of toxic because in classic WoW
there's no huge level of competition. Of
course you have parsing and of course
you have speedruns but that's just so
minimal compared to like an actual
rating system attached which is why I
don't want rating and classic plus by
the way. Um, like when when you have
that like on the line every game, it's
just it's a different level. You know
what I mean? Different level. Yeah.
Maybe retail might be a bit more toxic
because retail does have those things
like mythic plus score, like um like IO
and like uh rated Battleground, Solar
Shuffle. These things create toxic
environments because you're you're
passionate, you care, you want to win,
you want to, you know, improve and like
when someone griefs your game, you get
mad, right? Um, but with classic WoW,
it's different.
Once again, the toxicity is there, but I
do think, and I'm, and I'm biased here,
but I would go out on a limb and say
that the classic WoW community is a
little less toxic than a lot of other
ones, cuz people are just playing the
game to experience the world, and
there's no rating attachments, and
there's no like winning and losing. You
just got to like log in and play
to tell you you're all wrong. Even the
cheaters in this game are nicer than the
normal players I've seen in every other
game I've played. This is an amazing
community. Anyway, all that being said,
we have finally hit a high enough level
to dive into the stockades and see
everything for ourselves. I'm pretty
sure I picked up all of the additional
quests I can do. And seeing as I'm in
the upper echelon of recommended levels,
I should have no problem running it,
even if I have to tank again as a
warrior. So, I head over to the
stockades where I learn from the warden
that apparently a riot has broken out
under Basil Thread's command, making it
a bit difficult for us to speak with
him. That's where the dungeon part of
this comes in. It is my job, as ushered
by the warden, to go into the prison and
quell the riots, slaying Basil and
returning with his head. So, I start
looking for a group, which doesn't take
too long to fill out. And as I wait, I'm
just getting all the more excited
sitting here watching these guards
prepare for the threat lurking beneath,
seeing that there's a body of another
player lying around. Gosh, can the riot
actually break out of the dungeon? This
is looking so hype. We finally fill the
group. I'm the tank and I run in. Guns
are blazing.
Disappointment. There's no way he's not
disappointed. All right, it's stalks.
>> Not enough rage. Need more rage.
[groaning]
Need more rage.
[groaning]
>> Oh, this is this is tough one.
>> Rage. Need more rage. [groaning]
>> Okay, to be honest, this dungeon was
disappointing. I'm sorry if this is a
bad take or something.
>> Good take. Yeah, Starks is fine to
dislike this. You know, it's it's a
filler episode. It's a filler thing.
It's like uh it's like it's like Gohan
when he's in high school. What what is
it? Sea Man or whatever. It's like it's
a it's you know it's it's just they're
kind of there. Like maybe I'm about to
bismerch a beloved classic dungeon that
WoW players adore. But stocks felt
nowhere near as good as I thought it
would be. For all the hype the game
built telling me that I was about to put
an end to all these mysterious problems
the House of Nobles was causing where I
was supposed to fight. [laughter]
I've upsetted a few Seyaman fans in the
chat. Um, guys, look, I'm not trying to
disrespect Seyaman, but uh,
those were filler episodes and execute
all of these notorious enemies of the
Alliance who presumably were powerful
forces to be reckoned with. There was
none of that to be found here. Like the
Dead Mines by comparison had this whole
narrative arc to it where I was sent
delving deeper and deeper underground.
First through the mining tunnels before
entering some huge goblin smelting room
before then getting the grand reveal of
this huge underground cavern and Van
Cle's weapon of mass destruction he was
about to use to destroy Stormwind. The
stockades didn't have any of that. It
was JUST ROOMS WITH GUYS INSIDE. None of
the NPCs were particularly tough to take
down. I didn't even notice if any of
them had special mechanics I was
supposed to be playing around. And there
certainly wasn't any kind of grand
narrative I noticed. I mean, it was just
a bunch of open cells with bad guys to
kill. Not only that, but the ceiling in
the actual dungeon itself was super low,
so I even had trouble moving the camera
around to see everything I was supposed
to kill with all the tight corridors I
had to go down to make sure we
eliminated every NPC inside. At least it
didn't seem that difficult. I mean, we
made it through without any issues and
killed Basil alongside all the other bad
guys I was told to take down. Except one
of the quests the warden gave me to kill
a bunch of Defias Brotherhood involved
slaying eight Defias convicts, but only
four of them spawned in the entire
dungeon.
>> Yeah, they do RNG spawn, so sometimes
you have to do it again to get the rest.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is fair. Fair
criticisms. Fair. I have to run it again
if I want to complete this quest. Oh
god, this was my first real
disappointment in Classic World of
Warcraft. I'm sorry to say. The game
built so much hype for this dungeon,
tying it to a big narrative, throwing
all these additional mystery quests into
it as well. It made me so hyped and
built all this excitement that grew and
grew until I was on the edge, BUT THEN
IT JUST STOPPED. THERE WAS NO SATISFYING
PAYOFF. I KIND OF hated it. And
hilariously enough, this was not the
only disappointment I was about to
experience in this episode. As I said in
the intro, in hindsight, it's kind of
insane that Classic was about to hand me
one disappointment after another in
pretty quick succession. But don't
worry, by the end of the episode, even
these disappointments are going to turn
into an element of Classic that I
weirdly kind of appreciate. Although,
we're still a very long way off from
that. For now, I was just frustrated. I
felt a little bitter, like there was a
bad taste in my mouth, and I wanted to
go experience [music]
some quest or narrative that wouldn't
leave me wanting at the end. But
thankfully, I had just the idea. If
there was any quest line I knew that
couldn't possibly end on a dumb
cliffhanger, it was finishing the defas
narrative and finally figuring out what
was going on with all the corruption in
Stormwind. After defeating Basil and
reporting back to the warden, he thanked
me for quelling the uprising before
letting a bit of information slip.
Apparently, a few months ago, a
mysterious figure started visiting Basil
about once or twice a week. This man who
went by the name Malik may be the next
clue in uncovering whatever plot is
going on. I take the name and a brief
description of the figure back to Baros
Alexon, who doesn't recognize him, but
he sends me to Matias Shaw of SI7, who
does. It turns out Malik is actually a
fellow assassin named Marzone who's
currently employed by Lord Gregor
Leavar, a notoriously corrupt member of
Stormwinds House of Nobles. Corrupt even
by House of Noble standards. Matias is
curious about what Marzone and Leavar
are doing and sends me off to another
rogue, Elling Trius, who currently is
undercover at a nearby food shop as a
master of cheese. So, I relay the story
to him and he tells me that we can divvy
out some less than legal justice to both
Leavar and Marzone. I just need to meet
up with his agent, a gnome named Tyrion
in Stormwind Keep. So far, this story
has basically just been a long day of
telephone where I'm playing errand boy
running messages from one NPC to
another, which would be kind of annoying
or tedious normally, but I actually kind
of like it here. This doesn't feel like
a typical boring message delivery quest
nearly as much as it feels like I'm
slowly uncovering this grand conspiracy
that's larger than any one person
[music] and requires a massive network
of people to even attempt to take down.
Anyway, I head up north to the big
cathedral in the city center by Baros
Alexon's house because I thought that
big church in the middle of the city was
Stormwind Keep where all the rulers and
important people were. But on rereading
the
>> dude, it's like when it when Chay
started the series, he inspired me to do
my No Questy run, which I did on the
lock and I did it and it was great. We
did we won 60 and even after 60 with no
Questy and read the quests and you can
do all of them without Questy turns out
and it's really fun. So, thank you to GB
for inspiring me to do that. And now
watching this like two months later,
it's making me want to do it again. Like
I'm just like holy crap. [laughter] It's
like makes me want to level another
character. Watching him read all these
and like run around and turn them. It's
like, oh my gosh.
>> Quest dialogue as well as the street
signs, I realize that is not the case.
Stormwind Keep is actually this massive
castle overlooking Old Town that I
somehow never noticed. Talk about
missing something right in front of my
face. As I head to the keep, I
immediately get flashbacks to my retail
experience where I was sent here when I
got to meet up with Jana Proudmore and
Anduin [music] Ren kicking off my big
fun adventure through Colulterus. So,
I'm actually getting pretty hyped again.
This building is clearly where a bunch
of big important stuff is always going
down. I then notice on my mini map
there's a quest marker guiding me over
to a little garden inside the keep where
my contact Tyrion is hiding behind a
brush. After relaying the story for the
upteenth time, Tyrion lays out a plan
that he and Elling had been working on
involving a little spybot. I just need
to get a few more items for a disguise.
So, I head off to get some silk and
apples, which again might seem like an
unimaginative fetch quest, but because
it's tied to this grand story, it's just
building more hype for me. Any
disappointment that I felt coming off
stades has completely left my body as I
can't wait to put an end to Stormwind's
corruption once and for all. After some
searching, I find the required items
before returning to my contact.
>> That's pretty impressive if you found
those apples without the lookup. I mean,
I wonder how long it took him. Probably
at least 10 minutes, right? 15, 20.
>> Act two lets another part of the story
slip. Apparently, Tyrion and Elling had
already been investigating Leavar for an
unrelated connection to something called
the Twilight's hammer they believed he
had, not even knowing he also had ties
to the Defas Brotherhood. Either way,
now is the time for him to face justice.
Tyrion will use the items I brought to
disguise his spybot, who will then go
and lure Luscoar out into this garden.
The lord should then dismiss the guards
shortly after so he can meet with
Marzone, at which point I'll have the
opportunity to attack, slaying both of
them. I just need to stay hidden until
the time is right, at which point the
gnome will give me the signal. I'm a
little nervous about this plan because
as a warrior I always have trouble
fighting more than one enemy at a time
and I don't know what level each one of
them will be. But it's too late to back
out now. The spybot is level 28 warrior
with world buff. He has dragon sling
against I think it's a 32 and a 31 if
I'm remembering correctly.
He's going to die, right? He's he's he's
he's probably going to die. He's he's
Yeah, he's going to die. transformed
into some noble lady who goes into the
library to meet with Lecovar while I
hide out in the garden. It seems to take
a while and I wonder what's going on in
there when I notice there is a quest
marker on my mini map. I thought I was
supposed to stay hidden, but maybe I
misunderstood. Maybe I need to go in and
watch a cutscene or interact with
something to continue the narrative. So,
I decide to run in. Oh, wait. No, that's
the quest to deliver the library book
from earlier. Shoot. Shoot. My bad. I
run back out and hide in the bushes
again, very happy to see I apparently
did not ruin our plan. As the lord comes
out shortly after, dismissing the guards
so he can meet with the assassin.
Marzone shows up shortly after to inform
Luscoar that Van Clee sends word about
their plans being underway. Although
someone's been snooping about and before
I have time to realize he's talking
about me, I'm ordered by Tyrion to put
an end to all of this. And oh gosh,
they're level 30 and 31. There's no way
I can actually do this, right? Do I ruin
the whole plan if I die here? I quickly
run in and begin trying to take them
down. And thankfully, I have one of my
>> bro gamer. He has he has demo
>> retal instantly. World buff.
>> He has a yo yo yo. We can
>> more important abilities up.
Retaliation. This is a pretty wild
warrior skill that puts a shield of
swords around me that instantly
counterattack all enemies that hit me in
melee range for 15 seconds or for a
maximum of 30 counterattacks. What makes
this ability so wild though is that it
has a 30inut cool down. I thought flash
in League of Legends having a 3minute
cool down was absurd. How does WoW have
abilities that are so important and
powerful they can only be used once
every half hour? That's
>> lay on hands, bro. Lay on hands.
>> Kind of amazing. The fight is really
close. I managed to take one of them
down and nearly died doing so, but
managed to scrape by alive thanks to
retaliation. And luckily, I have a
health potion on me that allows me to
heal up just enough that I can also slay
the other foe, too. I actually have no
idea how I did this. I was only level
28, but I'm so glad I managed to take
them.
>> I'm sorry for doubting you. Holy crap.
I'm sorry. Most new players at 28 are
dying there. I mean, he did have world
buff and that's how and you know, he
sent the potion and retal, but I'm just
saying most new players are dying there.
He He did the insta retell, insta demo
shout and used the potion. He did what
he's supposed to do. It worked out for
him. W Chibbe both down. If all that
buildup left me unable to complete the
quest and I just died or something, I
would have been so sad. But it looks
like we are finally getting a payoff.
The noble and assassin are now dead and
I'm sent back off to Elling to deliver
the good news. He then bounces me back
to Mias where I report the two enemies
demise where the rogue assures me I just
did the people of Stormwind a great
favor even though I'm actually feeling a
little bit hollow inside. I mean that
one noble wasn't the main source of all
the corruption in Stormwind, right? Have
I actually solved anything by killing
him? Matias warns me not to tell anyone
I was the person who killed the noble as
if to confirm my suspicions before
sending me back to Alexston. But any
worries in the back of my mind fly right
out the window as Baros Alexon tells me
he's giving me a report to take to the
king, telling me to deliver it to
Stormwind Keep, informing him of
everything that's occurred with the
Defias and House of Nobles. Personally,
this is so cool. I don't think I've seen
a king in the Warcraft universe since
Arthus succeeded his father all the way
back in Reign of Chaos. for all the
adventuring I've done so far. I didn't
even realize there was a king in
Stormwind Keep. When I went to do my
mission, the quest shot me over to the
garden and library, leading me
blissfully unaware I had just missed out
on seeing the throne room right ahead.
The report seems like a good summary of
everything that's occurred so far. Maybe
this is where the story can finally
resolve, where the stonemasons can be
paid reparations and everything can get
wrapped up in a nice tidy bow. So, I'm
giddy as I take the report and run
straight for the keep. This time,
heading straight down the hall, ready to
meet whoever the ruler of all the land
is. But then,
where's the king? I thought he was
supposed to be here. It's not this kid,
right? Okay, so in the center of the
throne room, there's some general guy,
some noble lady, and a boy who is the
king for now. I guess I actually
recognize the kid, Andin Ren. That's the
guy who eventually becomes the king of
Stormwind. I saw him when I tried retail
and being kicked off with that big
cinematic of him crying in the war
within. But he can't be the king now,
right? There's no way he's who I'm
supposed to deliver this report to. My
quester tells me to speak to Lady Katana
Prestor, an important looking person
who's kind of a jerk just glaring at me
for no reason. I hand her the report and
she says I should be commended for my
work. If Van Clee had been successful,
he would have done considerable harm to
the kingdom. Something that should be
obviously avoided. Okay, what the hell
is with this terrible writing? The
writing in WoW has been so good up until
now. But suddenly this lady is speaking
in the dumbest, most stilted way
possible. And wait, that's actually kind
of cool. I never noticed that. The fact
that he noticed without knowing that's
Anie is like kind of sick,
right? That's kind of sick that he
noticed.
Not only that, she also tells me the
king is apparently away on a diplomat.
>> Yeah, that's actually that's actually
goated. Yeah, that's actually sick that
he noticed
>> mission and isn't returning for some
time. So, she has to be the one to give
me this ring as a token of appreciation
for all my hard work. I mean, the ring
is awesome. It's a really great upgrade
compared to anything else I had. But
that's it. Is that really the end of the
story? There's no follow-up quest. That
can't actually be the grand finale, CAN
IT? WHAT ABOUT THE STONEMASONS? WHAT
ABOUT THE REST OF THE CORRUPTION in the
city? [laughter] THE GAME JUST GOT ME SO
HYPED TO SEE THE KING, BUT HE'S NOT EVEN
HERE. THAT'S A WHOLE NEW MYSTERY I don't
even know how to solve. Once again,
World of Warcraft built up this exciting
hype narrative just to yank a satisfying
Oh, I have to say though, this is
actually sick. Like knowing more than
knows. The fact that you walk up and
there's no king and it's just a boy and
the fact that uh Katrina Pster is like
kind of being vague and weird. To the
greater story, it's actually a W. But to
the small story, it kind of sucks, you
know.
>> Inclusion out from under me a second
time. I WAS LEFT ON edge again. The game
keeps edging me. Now I'm left with more
questions than answers. I guess when it
comes to our goal of finding a story to
care about each episode, I technically
did that here. I definitely cared about
this story and I care about finding a
way to finish it because I refuse to
believe that's the end. But I can't stop
playing now. That can't be how the video
ends. I just got hit with two awful
disappointments back to back. I need
something satisfying to cleanse my
pallet. That's why at this point I made
a resolution that I would not stop
playing World of Warcraft or wrap this
video up until I found something that
gave me a satisfying narrative payoff.
Either that or until I find Daroshshire
so I can get back to fishing. But
unfortunately, things are going to
somehow get even worse from here on out.
Okay, so the first thing I did was just
open up my quest log, trying to find as
many tasks as possible to knock out one
after another, hoping that one of them
would end up with a satisfying climax.
Seeing as I was still here in Stormwind
for the time being, I figured maybe the
first task should be knock out that last
stockades quest I never got to finish.
Yeah, I don't know why I thought that a
second run of stockades would lead to
anything other than more disappointment.
This one was even worse. I had to sit
around for like half an hour just trying
to find a group that wanted to run the
dungeon legit since apparently everyone
gets boosted through this one.
Eventually, I did find a group and we
ran the dungeon no problem. But
obviously, there wasn't really anything
special of note here. Just killing the
same bad guys in the same boring
dungeon. And this quest didn't even have
any kind of follow-up. It was just a
nice chunk of XP as a reward. The one
exciting thing that did happen this time
around was I managed to get my first
neck slot item, the bassalt necklace of
the bear, which seems pretty good for my
level. With how disappointing everything
else had been, this drop felt like
Christmas morning when I got it. After
finally being freed from the
>> in classic one, when you get your first
head, neck, or cloak,
>> sick, great feeling.
>> Of my quest in the stockades, I tried to
think about where else I could go to a
story line that had more great narrative
potential. And I did have one idea.
Earlier on in my playthrough, when I
first set foot in the wetlands, I ran
into a dwarven mining party up on the
side of a cliff.
>> Guys, getting your first cloak when it's
like, okay, maybe this wasn't me. Hold
on. Let me let me share my experience. I
remember when I was a kid and I had all
these dinky little cloaks on, you know,
the little tiny ones like an orange
triangle and then you get a cloak drop
like the bright cloak or you know that
nice long cloak. It's green. It has some
stats on it. It's a big deal. First long
cloak that's like flowing down your back
and it's like, "Oh my gosh, that's a
cloak." That's what I meant by cloak.
But yeah, shoulders even better. for
excavating something when they got
trapped by dinosaurs. As cool as the
dinosaurs were, I cut this quest line
from last episode since it seemed like a
relatively simple issue of just slaying
some mobs and getting some XP as a
reward. But then I remembered one of the
notes I had to carry calling for help
from Menithil Harbor mentioned that the
mining team had excavated some Titan
artifacts, which is what caused the
raptors to begin swarming them. Which,
if I remember my lore correctly, aren't
the titans basically the gods of WoW?
Like Sargeras was a Titan who created
the Burning Legion, right? That's
definitely something I could sink my
teeth into. I'm a huge lore nerd when it
comes to in universe mythologies like
this. When I was a kid, I probably
worshiped Gothics so much back in
Runescape that I broke the first
commandment. If you ever wondered why I
quit Runescape around the time of RS3,
now you know. So, I ran up to the
wetlands, seeing if there was any kind
of follow-up quest I missed because a
big epic adventure uncovering god
artifacts is the exact kind of quest
line that would make for a satisfying
finale to the video. Except I couldn't
find anything. Maybe I'm not a high
enough level for whatever quest comes
next. Or maybe this was just a one-off
thing with nothing more to do. But
either way, this was a brick wall. At
this point, I just tried to go process
of elimination and began knocking out as
many quests as I could do in an attempt
to find something worthwhile. And I did
eventually run into one interesting
bright spot. Later on, I went back to
Red Ridge to do what I thought was my
last quest in the zone. One [music]
telling me to slay 15 black rock
champions in a camp north of Lakeshshire
when I ran into a lost human
Corporal Kishin. I recognized this name
when I first set foot in Red Ridge. I
saw there were two signs outside of the
inn. One that gave me a quest to kill
Lieutenant Fangor, while the other
seemed to just be a note saying that a
local corporal had gone missing.
This is so impressive to me
when like I I do not possess this at
all.
Like when you go into a town and you
read a note and then later you're like,
"Oh, that's the same note that I read
earlier." Like piecing that together. I
would have just forgot. is like type one
in the chat if you're like me if there's
no way you ever remember this guy's name
or type two if you're like Gbe and you
would totally piece that together and be
like oh cool
okay so there are a lot of ones too I'm
not like crazy here but like there's D
I'm so impressed by the twos out there
that the two people my wife is a two
well my wife is a 10 but my wife is a
two person like she remembers names like
this
any she's beautiful but good okay
>> this sign for the corporal didn't have
any quest attached to it. So, I thought
it was just flavor, something Blizzard
added to the world to emphasize the dire
state that Redidge found itself in. But
no, there actually was a Corporal Kishan
up here in this cave, and he gave me a
quest to escort him back to Red Ridge
safely. Now, this certainly wasn't a
disappointment. It was genuinely cool
the way that this quest was given to me,
and I had another great community
interaction with a guildmate and a
stranger who helped me complete it. But
even this was kind of a disappointment
narratively speaking because it wasn't
some grand adventure I was tasked to go
on. It was just a simple escort mission.
Although if I thought that was bad, it
was about to get even worse. My brain
must have
>> I wonder if the difference between the
the one and the two is literally just
like type A, type B, you know,
personalities. The the go go go go go
versus the [sighs]
probably is probably very similar. Yeah.
broken at this point from one
disappointment after the next because
for some reason I thought maybe it would
be exciting if I returned that lost
library book I had in my inventory. As I
made my way back to Stormwind, I also
found a guy in the Cathedral Town Center
who apparently needed a book checked out
from the library, too, as he's about to
give some speech on metallurgy or
something and could use it to assist
him. Perfect. Those are two great, very
exciting grand adventures. So, I go to
Stormwind Keep, turning in the lost
library book, and finding out the book
that the speech guy needs is currently
on loan to Northshshire Abbey. Of
course, that means I have to run all the
way from Stormwind to Northshshire since
there is no flight point to Elwin
Forest, only to learn that the monk at
the AB. I just love quests like these,
though. So, you're level 29, you're a
human warrior, you've come a long way,
you know, you've played for a few weeks
or whatever, and it has you run to the
starting zone. It's just brilliant in my
opinion. You go to the starting zone,
you see a bunch of new players making
their characters for the first time, and
you're like, "Oh, I was just a level
one, and now look how strong I got. All
these wolves like you can then
one-shot." The world doesn't scale with
you. See, you're you feel strong and
powerful, and at the same time, those
level ones see you. and maybe they're a
new player, they've never played before
and you have shoulders on and a helmet
and a long cloak and it's like what is
there a level 29 doing here? Like gives
them something to to aspire towards.
It's such good game design, right? Game
loses this at some point where all the
high levels just sit in the high level
area and all the low levels are like out
leveling in some sharded area where you
don't see anyone else at all or maybe
only other low levels but like it just
separates all the players. I I love
this. Right. TBC. Yeah, TBC it kind of
happens, right? All the high levels are
in Outlands beside coming in briefly for
Cara, but you don't really see them too
much. And then all the low levels are
like in the in the old world. That's why
TBC hardcore doesn't hit the same
because when you're playing, you don't
actually see the high levels playing.
You just see a bunch of other low levels
playing and all the high levels are are
are segmented. They're completely off.
They're out in Outlands. It's like in
TVC automatically that that feeling is
lost. Yeah. So that's why Classic Plus
someone's like, "Oh, should you do
Outlands and Classic Plus?" Like, "No
way, dude. keep everyone in Azeroth,
right?
>> He can't give me the book until he uses
it to make some new ink. And he's all
out of Wbban ore he needs. So, I have to
run all the way to Red Ridge to pick
some up. When I reach Redidge, the guy
whose job it is to have Wreathb ore
doesn't have any Wrathban ore, meaning I
have to go deep into a cavern to acquire
some before then running all the way
back to Elwin to trade the ore for the
book and then running all the way back
to Stormwind to finally complete the
quest chain. This was for the grand
reward of receiving some caster boots
that might have been as useless as
anything I could have gotten at this
point. Okay, as annoyed as I was, there
actually was one really cool thing about
this quest. I loved the fact that I
could have gotten the ban ore I needed
from this cavern by either mining the
mining nodes or by getting it from drops
through killing mobs. That was actually
really awesome. That meant there were
multiple solutions to this puzzle. one
involving basic combat, but one that
allowed me to completely bypass combat
if I wanted to through having a certain
profession. That was really cool to see.
This quest kind of felt like it was an
immersive sim or something. Am I playing
World of Warcraft or DSX here? But that
aside, talk about a disappointing
anticlimactic quest line. I had to run
on foot through all these regions just
to do busy work that seemed so mundane
and trivial. Actually, looking back on
it now, all of these disappointments
I've had in Classic WoW have basically
been because of that. I thought I was a
big important adventurer braving epic
quests, but so many of the quests I run
into keep me feeling small. The
stockades wasn't a grand narrative where
I got to solve mysteries. It was just a
typical prison riot that I had to put
down without much fanfare. The
>> Okay, I put it together. When he played
retail a few months ago, his problem was
that like he was like the savior of the
world and he was just the greatest thing
ever. But he's enjoying in classic that
he's not the main guy. At least right
now he's kind of just like a side story
and he's he kind of appreciates that in
a game. I think that's what he's going
to say at least. That's what that's what
I'm guessing that he appreciates it's
not just like oh you do one quest here
give you a legendary sword another quest
here let's give you like you know full
epics. It's like no I'm going to give
you some useless boots. That was
helpful. Thanks for getting the ore for
me. Here's some cloth boots that you can
vendor for 10 silver. That's I think
what he's going to say is he appreciates
that. It's not just like shoving it down
your throat of like here's a full bis
loot. You're the best thing ever. You're
saving the world. Oh my gosh. Like all
these other MMOs, you know, Fire's
conclusion didn't make me feel like a
hero. As big as that story was, I was
kept small, given very simple tasks to
do with the one heroic thing being
something I'm not even allowed to talk
about, all for an ending that seemingly
went over my head. Everything else, too.
The wetlands discovery felt like a grand
narrative, but one I'm apparently not
allowed to take part in yet. Corporal
Creed was a simple escort mission that
>> guys, no, everyone's saying pre-watch. I
haven't pre-watched anything. I've read
the title and I've read his other vid
watch his other videos why he didn't
like retail as much. And that was one of
his criticisms and now he's already
saying it. I haven't pre-watched it, but
I can piece it together. Oh, more like
his story than mine. And running around
for ages to find a library book. That's
perhaps the least heroic thing I've DONE
IN MY ENTIRE PLAYTHROUGH. But you know
what? This is the moment that either my
brain completely broke from all the
disappointing buildups or I realized
this is kind of genius. See, the one
theme that tied all of these
disappointments together was that they
made me feel small or like I wasn't the
protagonist. I'm getting to peek at
grand narratives, but not ones where I
get to be a leading man. Most of the
time, I'm treated like a helpful but
replaceable person who's given tasks
that anyone might be able to accomplish.
And as much as that kept me feeling
small and unimportant, it kind of made
the world feel all the more big. This
actually gets at the heart of a problem
MMOs have always had, which is that MMOs
by their nature want to have these grand
epic worlds with wild storylines they
send players on. But how can you make
the player a hero who comes along and
saves the world when there are literally
millions of other heroes just like them
all around? Runescape is a master class
in how to still tell great epic stories
in an MMO. I'm sorry to bring up
Runescape again. I keep talking about
Runescape in my WoW videos.
Specifically, if you've ever played old
school Runescape, you probably know the
game has a running joke where all the
NPCs openly acknowledge there are a
bunch of annoying adventurers running
around asking for quests. It's something
so common place, it's clearly gotten on
the nerves of most citizens in the
world, and as a result, most NPCs refuse
to give out quests or will only give
players stupid little busy work that
they can't be bothered to do. However,
>> I think the some of the Runescape
dialogue was really good for that
reason. Like the writers of the dialogue
play these little jokes on you like just
like Gbe saying and if you read it's
just like holy crap that actually is
funny. It's like a joke within a joke.
It's like man this guy's annoying or
something. It's like fantastic. I'm
trying to think of more examples. Um but
it's like all it's literally all over
the place in the quest. It's like it's
just great man. The game has still found
a way to thread some huge world-defining
narratives that include the player into
major quest lines with a kind of funny
trick. Namely, most of the bigger quest
lines in the game start off when the
player accidentally helps out a villain.
For example, early on in the elf quest
line, players think that they're helping
out the noble king of East Ardoine, who
eventually sends you off to slay his
brother as he tells you his brother is
some evil foe causing havoc in the elven
lands of Tyranninan, only to learn after
you kill his brother that the king
you're helping is trying to summon the
dark lord and his brother was one of the
last people standing in his way. It
makes sense then that after you messed
everything up, the actual good guys show
up. all but demanding you assist them in
correcting your mistake. And then you
can be sent down an epic world-defining
quest line with huge adventures and
major rewards. And this setup lets you
have the best of both worlds. The logic
of this being an MMO still works since
[music] there can be thousands of other
adventurers all running around alongside
you. It's just that you were the only
one dumb enough to help the bad guy
almost cause the end of the world. But
with this setup, it still lets the
player go on epic quests where they get
to be a protagonist and forever change
the physical land in a significant way.
Obviously, I haven't really seen WoW use
this setup of accidentally helping out a
bad guy in my playthrough, but the trick
that it's using might be just as genius.
Namely, World of Warcraft is refusing to
treat me like I'm the main character of
every story. I need to grind out some of
the more boring kill a few dozen of this
kind of mob type quests before I'm
trusted to play a larger part in a more
important quest line. And even then, I'm
more of a supporting actor in most of
these narratives. For example, starting
off in Elwin Forest, I had a ton of
quests I had to do that were just guards
telling me to help them kill cobalts or
defas bandits before I was ever trusted
to do anything.
>> I love this. Yes, this is so true. It's
not just like hey you level one soldier
we need you on the front lines to save
the world like that's like it's like
what I love this in WoW it's like all
right yeah we have a small problem at
the mines to the north can you help us
kill these cobalts like they start you
off really small cuz you are it's like
it's great I love that you know things
slightly more important this works for
the logic of the game since these guards
are telling all the adventurers like me
to go and help push back these hostile
mobs But since through the logic of the
game, I'm special in that I've actually
helped a significant amount, it makes
sense that they would start trusting me
with more responsibility, eventually so
much so that I can help the people's
militia of Westfall try and take down
the Defias in Moonbrook. This still
allows WoW to have these grand
narratives with epic adventures and
conspiracies and events going on all
across the world while not breaking the
illusion that there are thousands of
other players experiencing them at the
same time like me. And in that context,
you know, these disappointments kind of
make the game even better because they
make the world feel all the more big.
The wetlands quests and rescuing Kishin
and even finding that dumb library book
all reinforced that I'm just a small
person in a big world where other
factions and NPCs are experiencing their
own narratives that I can typically only
assist in as a small helper. Stockades
being nothing more than a simple prison
riot also reinforced that I'm still a
random adventurer with no special
status. When I showed up at the
stockades, the warden thought I was just
as likely to be an accomplice to the
riot as much as I was some hero meant to
solve everyone's problem. And as
disappointing as it was to not meet the
king at the end of the Defias quest
line, that certainly made me feel like
there was so much more going on in the
world that I haven't even discovered. I
wonder if this is another defining
attribute of classic MMOs versus modern
MMOs. The way I like to think about
this, and I' I've talked about this a
lot in the past, is they're almost two
different genres at this point, you have
MMOs, but then you have modern and
classic designs. I feel like like as old
school Runescape does this well and
classic does this as well. I feel like
some of the other like OG MMOs might as
well, but a lot of the modern ones, no,
like you're the hero, you're shoved
right into the front lines and it's like
you get like this full epic loot within
like an hour of playing the game, and
it's just like you're the best, you
know? I I prefer the classic way for
sure,
>> expanding Azeroth in my mind and making
me all the more excited to see what else
is out there. I don't know, maybe this
is all just coping from how
disappointing the stockades was, but I
genuinely think that any fantasy open
world needs to keep the protagonist
feeling small so the world can stay big.
I mean, I've always assumed that's why
J.R.R. Tolken made the protagonists in
the Lord of the Rings hobbits, people
who are literally smaller compared to
almost everything else out in Middle
Earth. WoW has done a really good job of
keeping me humble in that same sort of
way. Even though I'm nearly halfway to
max level now, I've never been
[clears throat] sorry told that I'm some
hero here to save the alliance. I'm
mostly a side character in other
people's stories with the
disappointments I feel coming from the
fact that I just don't get the kind of
resolution I might expect. But
thankfully, the kind of exciting story
with a satisfying resolution I'm after
does still exist in the world, and I'm
about to run into one right around the
corner. Woo! Stitchy.
Hello, Stitchy. [music]
The next area where I was sent searching
for a big quest was Duskwood. And
frankly, I should have just started my
search here. This zone is so good. One
of the narratives you guys mentioned I
should follow up on is the quest line
that continues with the hermit
Abberrombie. Back in episode 2, I'd been
sent by Madamea to check on an old
hermit living nearby the Raven Hill
Cemetery. And upon meeting him, he
seemed like a nice enough guy who asked
me to run an errand or two since an old
man such as himself wouldn't be able to
brave all the threats roaming around.
The first of those errands was finding
the ghost hair thread, which we got with
the help of Madame Ava from the nearby
ghost Blind Mary. But it turns out that
is not the only thing he needs done. On
returning with the hair, the hermit then
asked me to go and find some ghoul ribs,
which is where we last left off. And
although this may just look like another
fetch quest that is no different than
all the others I'd picked up, I was
about to see that there was more to this
quest line than one might expect. I made
my way back out to the Raven Hill
Cemetery in the pouring rain.
>> I don't want to set him up for
disappointment here, but Duskwood has a
lot of the game's best quest lines. I
think not all of them, but Duskwood is
like I mean it's my favorite zone in the
game. I think like I don't necessarily
know if it's just going to get like
better from here or like the same or
worse or like sometime may maybe
sometimes slightly better but like
Duskwood is just so good you know
>> and going around and slaying some ghouls
to
>> which by the way is why I prefer
Alliance and Classic WoW cuz it has
Duskwood and Westfall and Redidge and
Elellwin anyway
>> to collect their ribs and thankfully
they are not dropped at the most
annoying drop rate I've seen. Although,
one thing that is annoying is that some
of these ghouls when they die, they
spawn these two tiny flesh eater things
I have to kill, and I don't know how to
select an enemy other than clicking on
them, which can be tough to do because
they're so small and sometimes they hide
underneath other mobs. Thankfully, that
annoyance only killed me once before I
finished collecting the rest of the
ribs, returning to the who then told me
that all of this is for some effigy he's
building. That sounds a little
suspicious, but he's just a nice old
guy. How much harm can he do?
Abbercrombie then tells me a few weeks
ago he was picking some herbs when a
band of ogres attacked, forcing him to
drop an important crate of tools he had
on his person before fleeing. He asks me
to go find the crate, and I'm happy to
do so, as it should be found in one of
the last few areas I haven't explored in
Duskwood yet, this ogre encampment to
the south. Although, I also don't know
what this big mysterious center of the
map is either. I should actually mention
that whoever designed this region did a
great job of laying out all the content.
Each new quest line has unveiled some
new part of the map for me, which has
gradually painted a picture as to what's
going on in this zone. But there's still
this big mysterious void that I haven't
had a reason to go explore yet. It's
really fitting that the most spooky and
cursed region of the game so far has
this weird spooky centerpiece on the
map. Anyway, I head south to the ogres
and I'm kind of curious why ogres are
here in Duskwood spending a bit of time
exploring their encampment. Happy as it
leads to finding some more mining notes
I can grab. I need to be catching up on
my mining a little bit. I do manage to
find one crate that at first I think is
what I'm looking for. But then I realize
it's just a food crate that has some
healing items inside. It's a little
annoying that I'm not getting the quest
item I thought I was after, but again, I
love seeing these little secret drops
hidden around the world that reward
exploration. I keep exploring, picking
up some more mining nodes until I see
this entrance, which I assume is the
place that Abberrombie's crate is in.
After fighting my way through a couple
ogres, I have to pause, slightly shocked
at how good the atmosphere is here. The
dark red of the flames, the bones
hanging from the ceiling. Blizzard sure
as hell know how to build incredible
atmosphere, even when they're so limited
to what a computer can do graphically.
This was all back in 2004. How did this
game COME OUT IN 2004? THAT JUST blows
me away every single episode. As I'm
searching for the crate inside the cave,
I grab some more mining nodes in the
meantime when a random player trades me
some resources because again, the WoW
community is the nicest in all of
gaming. But after some more searching, I
can't seem to find the crate. So, I
assume that I missed it outside and head
back out to look for it a second time.
My second pass around the ogre in Canada
Fields.
>> It's like right on It's like right It's
like right there, right?
>> Absolutely nothing, though. So, I then
head back inside the cave again, only to
still not find the crate. I feel like a
bit of an idiot here. I mean, there
>> No, this is a hard one to find without
Questy. This one's tough.
>> That many crateike objects laying
around, and I can't seem to figure out
where it is. Part of me though does
appreciate the fact it's not in some
obvious location because I actually have
to search through all the rubbish on the
ground that makes me notice and even
appreciate the detail that some
environmental artist at Blizzard put
into crafting this part of the map all
those years ago. Finally, I eventually
stumble on the crate that was just
outside the entrance to the cave I kept
running in and out of. It was so
heartbreaking to see when I was watching
this footage back and seeing myself pass
by it over and over. After getting
Abberroby's tools, I returned to the
hermit delivering them, which seems to
be the last big T.
>> This was like what was kind of nice,
too, though. Like, how many times do you
remember people saying like, "Where's
Man Craig's wife?" or like, "Where's the
crate?" Like, people would talk in
general chat and like maybe help each
other out and or like on Thoughtbot or
whatever, but it wasn't just like this
obvious glowing massive thing to click
on with an arrow that took you right to
it. This and that. It's like you Yeah,
you'd have to kill mobs for a while and
talk to people. Imagine, you know,
>> ask the hermit then seems very happy for
some reason before giving me a note to
go and take to the mayor of Darkshshire.
I head back. Someone says it's a it's
different with Man Creek's wife that
wasn't about the quest.
Wait people
were trolling this whole time? I thought
people were looking for Man Creek's wife
for the quest. Wait, this was some meta
joke that went over my head for this
whole time. No, no, people were
definitely asking about the quest. They
weren't like it was always a meme,
dude. I mean, it makes sense. I just
never thought about it that way.
There's no way, bro. To town to deliver
the note. And as I've mentioned before,
it's so cool that WoW lets you read
messages that NPCs tell you to deliver
to one another, learning more about the
story and lore of what's going on. So,
I'm pretty eager to open this one.
>> That's that makes sense. Where's Man
Creek's wife? Like, haha, kind of funny.
Oh my god, I just never thought about it
like that. Not once.
>> Then I see the letters on the note
flicker and dance across its surface,
making it impossible to glean any
information. I did not expect that. Talk
about subverting expectations. Now I'm
suddenly a little bit worried that maybe
whatever Abbercrombie is up to isn't
anything good. On showing the note to
the mayor, he seems pretty confused as
he's never heard of this person and
certainly can't read whatever the notes
about. So he tells me to take the note
to the Darkshshire historian who
translates it and tells me apparently
Abbercrombie has done something
unspeakable. Greetings, mayor of
Darkshshire. I have grave news for your
town. I fooled the bearer of this note
into aiding me in my latest most dire
creation, a fiend of flesh and bone and
stone metal. As you read this, it's
likely outside my humble dwelling,
nashing its teeth and waiting for my
word to go forth and slaughter. But
you'll know soon enough the imbalmer.
Okay. Oops. I take the letter back to
the mayor and he promptly tells me that
although I may have been motivated by
kindness, I kind of just doomed the
town. He then informs me the imbalmer is
the name of a person told in local folk
tales, apparently he was a kind
alchemist until he was driven mad by the
death of his wife Eliza. After
attempting to restore her to life using
dark magic, he placed his own heart
inside his dead spouse, succeeding in
bringing her back, but cursing her to be
a zombie with a hunger for human flesh,
forcing the imbalmer to keep her buried
deep in the earth. Okay, another
>> Wait, I've done this quest a million
times. He puts his own heart in Whoa.
Did you guys know that?
I don't know if I actually knew that
part. his own heart and his wow
>> pretty metal story here in Duskwood. I'm
then told that the imbalmer's heart is
the source of his power and if I can
retrieve it from his dead wife while
bringing it to the mayor, we might be
able to save the town. But as all that's
going on, some scout enters the room
telling us that a terrifying thing is
headed this way with the mayor telling
the man to go and prepare the night
watch. I quickly start sprinting down
the road towards the imbalmer's place to
find his heart. And as I run, the scout
sprints ahead of me, yelling, "Beware! A
threat lurks in the wild." As I come to
the fork in the road near the cemetery,
that's where I see a scene starting to
unfold. The usual quest givers here are
banding together in the center of the
highway, preparing for whatever threat
comes lumbering down in the distance.
And that's when I see the abomination
from Warcraft 3 stitches. Oh god, I just
saw his corpse at the end of last
episode, not knowing where he came from
or what he was doing. I certainly didn't
know I was the one that caused the town
his wrath. I pause and prepare to fight
alongside the night watch. He's a level
35 elite, but with five of us here, we
should be able to take him down, right?
Nope. He goes off and just starts
threehitting each one of these poor
guards, killing them one after another,
which scares me from running in to tank
him until a few are already dead. By the
time I jump in, I realize I can't take
him down myself, not even with the help
of everyone still alive. And in fact,
I'm about to die. That's when I try to
run away. And my Runescape player brain
kicks in, trying to find a safe spot
behind this fence just to stall as long
as possible. But that's when
>> a much higher level player comes to my
rescue, seeing the pathetic scene from
down the road. And thank goodness that
they are a very talented hunter who can
actually help subdue the abomination.
This highle hunter Llin and her pet cat
help me finish off stitches once again
returning him to a lifeless corpse
saving the town. Like we we have this
discussion a lot where like modern MMOs
do this thing and and retail WoW's like
this and some other ones are too where
like everyone levels with the world so
everyone's scaled kind of like the
sameish and you can group across
different levels and do the same
instances together and like the idea is
okay the player is in charge of where
they can go and the player can group
with people despite the levels and it
scales everyone so you can play with
your friends easier.
That's the concept. And that's true, I
guess. But what sucks is you don't have
moments like this where someone who's a
higher level than you that's stronger
than you and it can come in and save you
or not or just run by you and you just
seeing like that power of like, holy
crap, I want to get there. And when
everyone just scales and everything, you
don't have this moment where like, wait,
I'm the strong guy. I can then go help
and kill things that were hard for me a
few weeks ago. Like that's so critical
to an MMO. Like there's some decisions.
It's like OH
I it's like I I don't like the scaling
in any MMO, man. So bad. It's so bad.
Yeah, it comes with the pros, but it's
so bad. Thank you so much, Lerlin, for
saving my sorry ass. This was such a
cool moment. Most of the times when I
play MMOs in the past, any kind of boss
in a quest like this is always fought in
an instance rather than out in the open
world. Having the big villain of this
quest line be something that's actually
roaming around the world among everyone
else not only makes it all the more
terrifying when I see him slaughter
regular questgiving NPCs, but it also
makes him feel all the more real since
he's something every player in the world
can see and has to deal with. It
genuinely feels like I really did mess
everything up and almost caused the end
of Darkshshire. Also, I have to love the
throwback that Stitches is just an
abomination from Warcraft 3. I beam with
joy every time I see any kind of
reference to that game. But with
Stitches dead, I head back out to the
hermit's shack, finding the grave of his
wife lying behind it. I read the
gravestone before doing anything else,
which gives me a nice reminder of the
motivations that kicked off all this
chaos. I've always found stories to be
boring if a villain is just some random
guy that wants to destroy the world
because he's evil or whatever. It's
always so much cooler when there is a
real relatable motivation behind an
antagonist. And losing a loved one is
something I can certainly empathize
with. I dig up the hermit's wife who
tries to eat me and apparently succeeds
as I died not realizing I need some help
to do this quest. She is a pretty tough
elite herself. But after reviving and
getting a couple strangers in region
chat to come around, I manage to slay
Eliza and grab Abberrombiey's heart from
her chest cavity. I take his heart back
to the mayor.
>> That's also a cool thing of classic is
just like
assuming you're not like minmaxing world
buffs like using cheesy strategies like
standing on the roof and what like this
and that. Assuming you're just like
playing normally and you're like a
you're underleveled or like the
appropriate level, no world buffs and
you're just kind of whatever. Like you
have to talk to other people and be
like, "Hey, is anyone else on this quest
or can anyone help me?" And like you
have to group and like it's such a good
feeling, right? who thanks me for saving
the town, assuring my name will be
written in their history books and
rewarding me with a pretty awesome
shield, the crest of Darkshshire. And
you know what? This story, it was great.
No disappointment whatsoever. It was
amazing from start to finish. You know,
I was just talking earlier about how
cool it is that Runescape keeps the
logic of an MMO by starting off quests
with hless adventurers accidentally
helping out villains. I had no idea I
WAS ABOUT TO RUN INTO the exact same
thing. And it works just as well here.
After all, it wouldn't make sense if I
just came into this game and had some
random NPC giving me a quest saying,
"Help. You're the only one that can save
us from the imbalmer attacking our
town." But it does make so much sense in
a world filled with random adventurers
running around. that one idiot would be
gullible enough to accidentally do a
quest, helping out the imbalmer that
almost levels all of Darkshshire with
the added awesome flavor that it takes
actual groups of other. Unironically, in
hardcore, someone could accidentally do
the quest that helps the Impalmer summon
stitches and then stitches then kills
someone else. So, you're effectively
like killing other players hardcore
characters by doing this quest without
even knowing it.
players to set everything right. One of
the more fascinating things about this
quest line, though, is that I might have
actually appreciated everything all the
more, specifically because I was coming
to this quest after I experienced all
those disappointments leading up to it.
I mean, I was just going through so many
simple quest lines to kill a certain
number of mobs or collect certain items
or deliver this message. So, it didn't
feel like anything was a miss as I was
going and doing the exact same tasks
just for another NPC. I actually didn't
pick up that anything suspicious was
going on until I was already a few steps
in. I assumed I was just helping a weird
old guy that Madameva was worried about.
Actually, why did she send me to
Abbercrombie anyway? She was the one
that wanted me to check up on him in the
first place. This is all her fault. One
of the things this quest reminded me of
more than any other, though, is how nice
it feels when you have delayed
gratification in a game. I don't know if
it's just developers not trusting
players patience nowadays or what, but
it feels like so many online games today
just throw you immediately into high
stakes action. Well, I I think it's
because like
like the the gaming audience these days,
like the kids these days, like the
masses these days kind of do want to get
thrown into the action. I think it's us
like I don't know how old Chay is,
probably in his 30s, you know, he has
kids and stuff. like all of us in our
30s that like grew up playing this
stuff. It's like yeah, no, we kind of
want that like slow delayed
gratification, but I can see why
developers don't do it cuz you're like
catering to like bunch of boomers and
never let off the gas pedal. Everything
has to hit the ground running.
Everything has to be instantaneous. At
least in the world of online games,
people seem to come in with this
expectation that they are experiencing
the best and most intense possible
gameplay right from the get- go, no
questions asked. But, I don't know. I
don't think that's as fun, at least not
after a while. A story can't be non-stop
action. You need to have slower moments
to appreciate stillness, sit with
events, and let a narrative breathe.
Even in multiplayer games that have no
story, you really should have moments of
downtime before the exciting
gamedefining action occurs. It's because
of those smaller moments of buildup that
the big exciting plays feel all the more
big and exciting. And that's certainly
true in MMOs. The excitement that comes
from getting a rare drop or
accomplishing a tough achievement or
even doing something as simple as
leveling up that only feels good because
of all the hard work you had to put into
it. If a game is nothing but an endless
stream of shiny rewards given to you one
after another, then no reward means
anything. You got to let me breathe
BEFORE YOU THROW ANOTHER POP-UP my way.
But yeah, Abberro's quest line, it was
absolutely incredible. Somehow Duskwood
now has three of my favorite quests in
this game.
so good at making spooky regions.
Trustar was also my favorite zone in
retail, too. They have a real knack for
this. But, you know, honestly, of all
the things I've talked about in this
video so far, one thing that's really
surprised me the most about classic WoW
in my playthrough is how the game feels
like it's getting denser the longer I
play. Normally, MMOs don't do that.
Normally, MMOs either have content
that's frontloaded at the beginning or
backloaded at the end, or maybe both.
Developers obviously want to have a very
curated introductory experience, putting
their best foot forward for new players
in the early levels to actually sell the
prospect of players playing their game
for a few thousand hours. So, it makes
sense there would be tons of well-made
content placed right at the start, but
you also have to make sure you're
constantly adding all kinds of content
to the end game for the sweaty players
that max out their characters too fast
and then constantly demand new
challenges and items to grind for. So
that's why it makes sense there would
also be tons of well-made content in the
end. But that means for most MMOs, if
there's ever a weak point, it's the mid
game where players are stuck between
those two. And that's why it's so
surprising to me that WoW is getting
denser the more I'm entering the mid
game. I am [snorts] okay. I'm actually
this this will be interesting to see
where it goes. So Dusk, he doesn't know
this, but Duskwood's early game, but
it's kind of where early game starts to
end. And in my opinion, the Elwin,
Westfall, Red Ridge, Duskwood, even the
like Stranglethorn is like the best, but
the midway is like really like we know
like 44, 45.
It does get slow there. It does like,
you know, it just it just does. I'm
curious how if GB makes it that far, how
he's going to feel at like level 45 cuz
it does get slow. It's like hours and
hours and hours and you level up and you
get kind of like nothing.
And it's like there wasn't any like
crazy epic quest either. So I I I'm
curious how he's going to feel those
like mid-40s, you know, once you get
closer to 60, it's exciting, too, I
think. And like the early game is
amazing, but the mid game in the 40 like
Yeah, I'm curious how he's going to
feel. You know, seeing more noteworthy
stories than ever. As I continue
playing, I'm getting more areas to
explore with more secrets hanging around
in each one of them. I've got a quest
log that's never empty. I have tons of
new regions I'm about to step into. I
also just found PvP and tried to queue
up for my first ever battlegrounds, even
though the queue never popped. That's
another thing I can't wait to try. And
on top of all of that, by now, the
game's given me so many abilities and
gear options. I bet I could spend over
an hour just trying to fiddle with how
to best set up my ability bar. It's
incredible how much stuff there is in
this game, and how I'm never running out
of things to do, even as I finally start
to wrap up the starting zones that I
first came across. And I'm still
unlocking more. While I was wrapping up
the Abbercrombie quest line, a guild
mate messaged me saying they noticed I
hit level 30 and hinting that I should
really do the whirlwind axe quest,
whatever that is, I realized that's a
class quest. I haven't done one of those
in a while. And now I'm pumped as hell
to see where that will take me. Maybe
it'll take me to Daroshshire so I can
actually get back to doing what I want
to be doing more than anything else
right now. But I'll save all that for
next.
>> I wonder if this guildy is like an
actual guildy or just like a backseat.
Cuz like if it's just a backseater, it's
kind of annoying. Like you reach 30, we
need like now now go do this. Like I
almost just want to see where he goes
himself. Or if it was just actually a
guilty just being like like that, then
it's kind of wholesome. But if it's a
backseater like knowing that it's GB
telling him what to do next, it's like
no, we want to like just just let him
like do his thing, you know? Uh it was
definitely a backseater. Yeah, probably
a backseater. But yeah, guys, like, let
guys, it's so fun watching Gbeay play.
Let's just let him play. You know what I
mean? Just let him play.
>> Wind axe pump doing what I want to get
to the end of this one. If you enjoyed
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pinned comment or video
>> because because yeah, like it's it's a
fundamentally different experience. Like
say say someone carries him through the
whirlwind quest and then gives him a
fiery enchant. Now your your your
experience as a first time playthrough
is completely changed. It's completely
different. Now you have an item that can
oneshot anything. Like the the whole
like my character feels weak and the
world is just completely ruined. Like
you know as a 10th character, cool. Like
have fun like do that. But as a first
time playthrough, it's like
it's just it'll just you know
description down below and claim that
massive bonus pack for multiple premium
vehicles, in-game currency, and more
before it's all gone. And shout out once
again to all channel members for
supporting me on this series. Not only
had I not expected WoW to be so good,
but I did not expect its community would
be so kind and supportive. I have got
some channel member specific things
coming for you guys right around the
corner. So stay tuned for that. And with
all that being said, I will see you all
in the next episode. But until then,
thank you very much for watching. Good
luck in solo Q and have a wonderful day,
guys. There's going to be another
episode. WGB. There we go, guys. I This
video came out Friday. I knew like I was
so excited to watch it, but I was like,
"Guys, like we're going to have to wait
for Monday cuz it's going to be like a
it's like an hour long video like with
how much I yap. It's going to be like a
2-hour long react, but like holy crap.
I'm I'm loving this, man. I'm loving the
series." Um, if you guys haven't checked
out GB99, he's he's doing like a WOW
series and his I don't know if it's like
a playlist. He'll probably make it into
a playlist at some point, right? But his
his just his last like couple uploads,
Classic Wow, I tried Classic Wow with no
Nostalgia was the first one, I think.
And then he tried retail, too. Um, but
man, it's just so good. So darn good.