What 20 Years of WoW Taught Me

[00:04] >> just came from my Sarah caverns. Same thing happened as always. >> What do you mean? What happened? >> I don't want to talk about it, man. >> I don't want to talk about it, man. Okay. It's just wow. After so many

[00:16] still happening. >> Listen, friend. I don't know what you >> You don't know what you're talking about, man. You're just one of those started WoW while playing like 2 years ago and think this is the best expansion

[00:33] ever. What they [ __ ] do? >> That is so not true. I've been playing WoW for over 20 years, man. And do you want to know what I learned during this time? >> Oh no. Is this going to be another one

[00:46] of those long ass stories with flashbacks and anecdotes? It all started in the autumn of the year of our lord 2000. >> Oh, here we go. Wait a minute. That's That's not even when WoW launched.

[01:02] >> I fell in love with Warcraft years ago. I've been playing WoW for over 20 years now, and it got me through some rough patches in my life. And it all started with one of my favorite people, my grandpa, dying. But before that, I

[01:17] played other games. And this is that story. tab. >> I was a wee lad of 9 years of age, fresh out of doom school, and finally setting in my esteemed role of no longer friends

[01:33] with kids while starting my soon-to-be teenage career of getting bullied. Young Flame found it easy to get lost in video games as a means of escape. I loved stories and worlds where magic existed because it gave me the sense of endless

[01:49] possibilities. The wonder lust of an adventurer that can be anything he couldn't be in real life. And I chose to shoot demons with big guns and many, many explosions. But one day, my parents had this brilliant idea of becoming the

[02:06] godp parentents of some relatives I didn't even know. And not only that, we had to travel to a whole different part of the country that I've never seen before, talk to people I've never met before, and live for a week in some old

[02:18] lady's apartment with no other kids to play with, TV to watch, and under the supervision of my parents. That was like the worst thing for a kid ever. It was the worst thing for a kid ever. It was going to be so boring. We got there and

[02:33] I met the soontobe groom and bride. The dude was working in IT and turns out he aside and showed me his childhood bedroom where he had a godamn PC. Oh my

[02:46] god, this was going to be bearable after all. Do you have any games? I asked like Doom or Bomberman or whatever else was running in the late '9s on Windows 98 personal computers. He looked at me a bit disappointed and said no. He didn't

[03:02] have all of those dope games. And I have been in those situations before. I was already preparing myself for one week of solitire and heart and mind sweeper. To be fair, my home PC was also busted and my mom would not want

[03:17] any video games installed for fear of viruses. And I have found the appeal in playing solitire. If you think about it, it has some cool intellectual exercises that you can deploy. Another bottle of something stronger now.

[03:33] But that was not going to be the case. The groom said, "I don't have any of those games, but if you want, I can install Warcraft 2 for you." "What's that?" I asked. "Oh, you build bases and army guys and try to defeat your

[03:48] opponent." I smiled and said, "Sure," thinking to myself, how dumb that all sounded. Build houses to train guys? That's what girls do with their dollous. That's what girls do with their dollous. I needed guns and cars.

[04:03] but probably still better than Solitaire because I actually lied. I hated Solitaire. It was a [ __ ] game for boring people. So, I started to play Warcraft 2 with the human campaign because I wouldn't see Lord of the Rings for a

[04:18] while to know what orcs were. And I played the human campaign mission after mission. And it was kind of cool. I would train footmen and archers and go slay the green beasts, build boats and ships and sail to new islands, establish

[04:34] bases there as well. And yeah, the game was actually pretty cool until one mission. I had to defend my castle with knights and wizards. And what's this? The knights can also be paladins and can heal my army. This is the best game I

[04:50] ever played. Man, the orcs were mean and it felt good to protect the citizens and save my kingdom. I had wizards casting blizzards at my command. Paladins mowing down ogres and such. I eventually got to the orc campaign and realized I could

[05:06] command dragons into battle and inevitably realized I fell in love with Warcraft. This love would only grow more and more with Warcraft 3. Oh, I'm playing with the prince of the humans that is also a

[05:20] the prince of the humans that is also a paladin. Dude, we are going to stop the scourge and save our people. >> What is this? What are you doing, my >> What is this? What are you doing, my son? Succeeding you, father.

[05:35] >> This game is awesome, despite the pain I am feeling in my heart. Oh, the orcs were actually slaves to demon blood. And with Thr and Grom, we are freeing them.

[05:47] with Thr and Grom, we are freeing them. Oh no, Grom. Why would you betray us? So, okay, we got Grom back. Time for revenge against the demons and redemption in front of our people. We will never be

[05:59] front of our people. We will never be slaves to demons again. The blood haze has lifted. The demon's fire has burnt out in my The demon's fire has burnt out in my veins.

[06:17] freed myself.

[06:30] You freed us all. You the goo, Grum. You're the good champ. Now rest. You've earned it. Oh my god. They're making a game out of Warcraft where I can be one of the dudes. If only I had a

[06:46] good PC to run it. I guess I'll just keep playing Warcraft 3. That was a period in my life where school became a [ __ ] place for me. I was apparently pretty good at studying and got the highest grades in my class, but I didn't

[06:58] know that that classified me as a nerd until my classmates and bigger kids told me about it in a less than pleasant way. I could always go back to Warcraft, though. be the hero that saves my people, tell my own story, and not have

[07:12] to worry that I had no friends, or that my family kept telling me to stop playing video games. I always liked strategy games, and I never really realized it because at the time, in our culture, video games weren't seen as an

[07:26] strategy games were definitely not seen as an extension of chess. the OG strategy game. The person that would teach me chess was my grandpa. He used

[07:39] to show me how to think outside of the box and think ahead of my opponent while also trying to read my opponent. It took a while, but I finally got it one day when we were playing a game. I was on fire, dude. I took my grandpa's pawns by

[07:55] the dozen. Well, eight at least. I even took his bishops, queen, and rooks. Finally, I beat the master. Finally, there were two knights left to conquer. And then I was free to checkmate him. Wait, why didn't I meet him yet? It was

[08:11] too late to realize it now, but my grandpa had a trick up his sleeve. He was the uncrowned, unproclaimed knight master. With two nights, he showed me that I could lose everything and still get checkmated. I was destroyed.

[08:26] Later, I learned that's exactly how my mom would lose to him in chess, as well as the rest of my family that played him. My grandpa was famous for how he would use his knights with the least straightforward movement patterns to win

[08:39] games. I would practice more, though, and eventually would conquer his play and eventually would conquer his play style, but I never would get to do that. My grandpa's death was strange for me. It was the first time I have seen a

[08:53] family member or anyone really be lifeless on a table and it was different. At his funeral, I would meet a longlost cousin that was also into video games. And to cope with our loss, we started talking and talking until we

[09:08] got to World of Warcraft. He was also an IT geek and also knew that my PC could actually run World of Warcraft despite not meeting the minimum requirements and I wouldn't have to just play Warcraft 3 anymore. I was speechless. And also Atar

[09:24] Druid within the week, my first ever World of Warcraft character. World of Warcraft character. Oh my god, dude. I saw Mulore for the first time and played a third person RPG MMO or not, for the first time ever. I

[09:38] could not believe I was in an actual world as just a dude. I was walking all over the place and oh my god, those are mountains. It takes me 10 minutes to get and mountain lions, but god damn it, I

[09:52] got there. Oh damn, there's like a passing through these hills. And dude, this is like a whole new zone with the Quillbore guys. Oh, I knew who those dudes were. I farmed them for experience points in Warcraft 3 in every damn game.

[10:10] I walked and walked until I noticed something different. An orc. Wait, there shouldn't be orcs here. This is Torin land. I walked up to the orc and asked him if he was a real player. His response was unexpected.

[10:27] I think so. I left more confused than I got there and would continue to form new memories. I'm on top of the world. Or so I screamed when I first saw Winter Grasp. Hey, look. That's a dark portal that we went through in Warcraft 2 to

[10:41] follow the Horde to Outland. And now we can go through it. And now you dare can go through it. And now you dare enter my realm.

[11:00] was waiting on the other side. Was I an this bad all along? this bad all along? Arthus. you. I controlled you as you got to the frozen throne. Kind of weird you are

[11:16] frozen throne. Kind of weird you are ordering me around now, huh?

[11:35] dragons every time. Look at this underwater zone. I am okay with Warcraft. Pandas are a bit goofy though. Not really sure about them that much. >> We will never be slaves. >> I [ __ ] love Warcraft, dude. I know

[11:53] you, Grom. You are the Grom from the future, but in the past with the future future, but in the past with the future Gro's heart, but in the past,

[12:11] has returned. Oh boy, you must be willing to fight. Oh boy, for the Alliance.

[12:26] Oh boy. That was the only cool Alliance character though.

[12:41] >> Oh, the Horde is back. Baby, >> stand as one I can see Varian in him, but a little bit different. Um, WoW was changing a

[12:55] bit too much, I think. Wow. Is back, man. We got dragons and proper fantasy again. Okay, so this >> nose duo

[13:08] >> gives me a different feeling than this. Succeeding you, father. This is the coolest raid fight ever. This is what Warcraft is, dude. I mean, it's cute,

[13:22] but it goes an extra mile to undermine what World of Warcraft is about. I feel like this is more of a Hearthstone cinematic

[13:37] Warcraft is back. Take my money. >> Oh, what's the point of all this, man? Why am I listening? Because dude, World of Warcraft is kind of like life. You have ups and downs, peaks and valleys. It might seem a bit

[13:52] down at the moment, but it always comes back. After 20 years of WoW, I have to admit the game can still pull my heartstrings no matter how much it >> I guess. >> All right, for real now. What actually

[14:07] happened? >> Fine. We were in on my SAR 18 and little bit low. >> Right. Okay. You can pull them now.

[14:25] >> I pulled them all in. I marked this off for my own. >> Oh no. >> Oh hello.

[14:42] >> I don't know how this came about. >> I think Uh see >> one of the casters ninja feeling good. >> Nobody nobody Okay. Still nobody strong.

[14:54] >> We can easily recover this. >> A few moments later. >> That was supposed to be fault cuz I found

[15:09] reason. >> What? I don't know. I could have been >> Okay, I'm dead. Yeah, >> I find Oh, >> I find Oh, >> h key done. We can easily recover this.

[15:27] this game can sometimes suck. >> This game can sometimes suck. >> Let's play some Hearthstone. >> Yeah, let's do it.