20 years of World of Warcraft: A look back from an Azeroth resident

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WoW is 20 years old. There is no other game that I have spent anywhere near as much time with. Well over 10,000 hours. And I wasn't even a pioneer when I started in 2007. Until then, I didn't even care about role-playing games. In the nineties I enjoyed the "Diablo" clone "Darkstone"; later I played around 40 hours of "Ragnarok Online". But that's my entire balance sheet in 2007. I'm not interested in my friends' evening pub conversations about how to build a mechanical squirrel as an engineer, nor in their demonstrations of the game.

The trigger for me came with the first expansion two years later, in February 2007: I saw a couple in MediaMarkt dancing around the last copy of the thick Collector's Edition of "The Burning Crusade". With artwork book, soundtrack CD and mouse pad. They leave it lying around – and my hunting instinct is awakened.

Without further ado, I take it with me and play it during the free month. With a Night Elf warrior. Night Elf, probably under the influence of "The Lord of the Rings". And warrior, because I think: This is something simple, you just strike with your sword. I call him Scartaris, after a mountain peak in the book "Journey to the Center of the Earth". I solve quests in a small valley. That's entertaining. But it's only when I slowly get an impression of how big Azeroth is that I'm hooked. At the Moon Festival, I teleport to the magnificent capital of Stormwind (and then have to find out how to travel there regularly from Teldrassil – not so easy). At the dock, a ship takes me to Darkshore and from there another to Azurmythos Island. These are all areas where I can level up.

Everyone is a pedestrian at first

I love exploring the many areas. First on foot: at that time you can only ride a horse at level 40. Sometimes forest, sometimes desert, sometimes snow. Sometimes flatland, sometimes mountains. Sometimes dry, sometimes damp. I look at maps to see which places I can reach safely by swimming along the coast. There are also practical reasons for this: Only places that you first visit on foot can be conveniently reached later by Griffin cab.

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Abenteuer in World of Warcraft aus dem Jahr 2007 (78 Bilder)

Even if I'm not playing on a PVP server (Player versus Player), where I can be attacked by Horde players in the open world, the enemy faction is always present. If you approach a Horde town, you are attacked by the guards. I carefully slip through a wooden wall that separates Ashenvale from Barrens: my first time on Horde territory. I feel brave.

Guilds demand job interviews

Nevertheless, I actually enjoy playing with others the most. You form groups to defeat stronger opponents, add partners to your friends list and arrange to meet up again and again.

My first challenge is to be accepted into a guild. Today, it's probably enough to whisper "inv" to the guild leader, invite me. Back then, a proper job interview was necessary. I buy a headset, install TeamSpeak and excitedly endure the questions. With success: I become a member of "Skydragon". Level 70 officer Doro "pulls" me through my first 5-man dungeon, called an instance here. Many more will follow with the guild.

I don't believe in being in voice chat at all times, but every few weeks there is a guild meeting, usually in Darnassus. The characters gather at a certain place, a parasol is set up and a picnic basket is handed out. You write in the guild chat and are in TeamSpeak. Communication on three levels.

I get on particularly well with one player. Since she's online much more often than I am, and we can't quest together properly for a long time because she's always several levels ahead, we create two new characters, this time Horde, this time PVP server, in my case a beautiful blood elf sorceress called Sibella. We agree to only play both characters together. It's great fun – until she suddenly disappears at Christmas 2007 and never appears again. As close and personal as relationships with online players can become, they are also non-binding. Some play for years, many only for weeks or months. I'll never touch Sibella again.