After what seemed like an extremely long hiatus from Azeroth, I find myself back in the game.  I suspect that there will be many more retirees just like myself finding their way back into Azeroth in the next few months.  My theory on what’s responsible for this irresistible lure:  Cataclysm.

If you’ve no idea what Cataclysm is, don’t be ashamed.  Just google search it and hit on the first link.  Ooooh aaahh a new expansion!  I remember a few months ago, seeing some advertisement promoting Cataclysm and feeling a strong sense of nostalgia.  If you have ever played World of Warcraft, and for one reason or another decided to stop, you will know what I am talking about.  Curiosity got the best of me and I watched the trailer.  Two new races, and an entirely changed Azeroth.  Definitely sounds like something that will provide hours and hours of entertainment.  I was so excited about this new expansion, I began searching for where to purchase it.  Newsflash:  It’s not out yet.  Of course, I can’t expect anything less from Blizzard.  They get you all excited and make you wait.

Nevertheless, I find myself reactivating my old account and upon seeing my old characters, feeling lost.  After almost an entire year of being inactive, a lot of things definitely look and sound foreign.  I’m looking at my action bar and I have no idea what anything is.  The good news is I can read.  Another thing is, sometimes knowing how to read is just not enough.  Trade chat will show you this.

Trade chat is a love and hate for most players.  If you are completely new with the game, most of the things on trade chat will be completely foreign.  LF tank for ICC must have gs of 5kill.  What??  Don’t get too frustrated.  These things will reveal themselves to you.  But really what I mean is that you do some background reading.  Look through some of the forums to get an idea of what people are talking about.  Most abbreviations are for instances, ie, ICC stands for Ice Crown Citadel.  It’s very popular right now.  That’s where people can go kick The Lich King’s behind.

Trade chat can infuriate even players that think they are immuned to other people’s stupidity.  I thought I would be able to ignore the idiot on trade chat demeaning women and making sexist remarks.  It’s pointless really to give them the time of day.  They get on there and are bored  and are looking for some sort of reaction.  And they get a reaction.  Almost every time.  I found myself fighting the urge to give him a piece of my mind.

The best thing about trade chat is when it gets funny.  One night while mailing things to my mail character, I noticed people were being weird about Murlocs.  Harry Potter and the Half Blood Murloc, or Revenge of the Murlocs.  It went on and on.  From books, to movies to tv shows, or anything mainstream.  I’m not about to explain this.  It would just ruin it.

It’s great to be back.  The game feels a lot a lot easier to play.  Blizzard has done an incredible job making leveling a character from scratch for Rookies, or starting an alt a lot more fun.  All the achievements along the way are a great boost and now obtaining a mount is way less expensive and sooner.  Before you had to wait until level 30 to obtain a mount and pay 30 gold just for training.  Now, at level 20, you can get your first mount for only 4 gold for training and less than 1 gold to purchase a mount.  I would say that the best addition for Rookies and lower levels is the new Dungeon system.  It is so awesome!  Being able to queue in for a dungeon and getting rewarded for it is so beneficial in learning how to play instances and leveling.

I am definitely very excited for the new expansion and I’m very happy to be back!  Thanks for reading and spending time with me, your new Rookie.  More adventures to be written about soon!

Good Day To Ya!