Origins:

I started off as a huge fan of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, a real time strategy game made by Blizzard. Then the expansion, The Frozen Throne hit, and I was even more addicted to War3. Sometime during my gaming years on War3, Blizzard had announced World of Warcraft, an MMO for the Warcraft Universe. Of course I was very interested.

Beginnings:

I joined the Open Beta for the World of Warcraft along with one of my friend whom I played War3 with. I made a Mage and he made a Hunter, and we were instantly hooked on WoW. We played until the end of Beta, and contemplated on either to get hooked or not (since we were in our college years). When the game was released, and we didn’t buy it.

A month went by when I found out that my cousin had already purchased it and was already playing. That prompted me into buying the game, and I’ve been playing ever since. The journey still continues today…

The Journey:

I’ve been playing a Mage since Beta, and has really ONLY been playing the Mage class. I started off as a casual player, leveling with a couple of my friends. Questing, exploring, killing mobs. It was a lot of fun.

Then when I hit 60, I got a taste of Raiding. My Philadelphia friends and I, were in our own little guild, and my cousin, with some of our friends from back home in South Jersey were in another small guild. Both of our guilds were asked to merge with another guild to form a bigger guild to run Molten Core together. I’ve been raiding ever since…

The Adventure:

I’ve been big on the Warcraft Lore from the beginning. Most likely from my War3 background. Most of the lore involves raiding, so that made me become an even bigger raider, and I have “seen” (will change to “beaten” once KJ is down) every boss in every “end game” instances made so far. I would like to continue to do so.

40 Man Raids:

• Molten Core – 10/10
• Onixia’s Lair – 1/1
• Blackwing Lair – 8/8
• Temple of Ahn’Qiraj – 6/6, 3/3 (optional bosses)
• Naxxaramas – 15/15

25 Man Raids:

• Gruul’s Lair – 1/1
• Magtheridon’s Lair – 1/1
• Serpentshrine Caverns – 6/6
• Tempest Keep: The Eye – 4/4
• Hyjal Summit – 5/5
• Black Temple – 9/9
• Sunwell Plateau – 9/9
• Obsidian Sanctum – 1/1 (with 3 drakes up)
• Eye of Eternity – 1/1
• Naxxaramas (WotLK) – 9/9

20 Man Raids:

• Zul’Gurub – 6/6, 4/4 (optional bosses)
• Ruins of Anh’Qiraj – 6/6

10 Man Raids:

• Karazhan – 12/12
• Zul’Aman – 6/6
• Obsidian Sanctum – 1/1 (with 1 drakes up)
• Eye of Eternity – 1/1
• Naxxaramas (WotLK) – 9/9

The Bonds:

I’ve always been a loyal Guildie. I’ve never left to join a more successful guild, or left because we were going nowhere. I’ve always been patient with the progression with any guild I’ve been in. I’ve also been in a couple of guild and stayed to the very end.

I still keep in touch with most of everyone whom I’ve Guilded with (if they’re still playing), and still PvP or run group instances with them. I’ve pretty much gotten along with mostly everyone I’ve played with, and hopefully it stays this way.

The End?:

Will I ever get sick of WoW and stop playing? Maybe, maybe not. As long as Blizzard continues to bring out content to keep me satisfied, I will continue to play. As long as there are people whom I consider friends still playing with me, I will continue to do so.

“Why would you want to play a game that never ends?” is a question I’m often asked by my non-WoW friends. My answer to them: “Why would you want a game that you enjoy playing, come to an end?”

My Character:

I’ve always liked the Caster type classes of any game I play. I’ve always liked the idea of the fragile little death machine. I was a Sorceress in Diablo II, a Black Mage in Final Fantasy XI, an Elementalist in Guild Wars, the Wizard in Gauntlet, and so on…

“Why Frost?” I think this goes back when I was growing up. Me and my cousin would hang out a lot. Our parents would visit each other houses pretty much every weekend. I don’t really know why or what started it, but he always went Fire and me Water/Ice. He picked Scorpion, I picked Sub-Zero. He made a Fire Mage, I made a Frost Mage. I got Pokemon Red, I got Pokemon Blue. He started off with Charmander, I started off with… well Bulbasaur, but you get the picture.

Now being a Frost Spec Mage since level 10, it was no easy task being a Hardcore/Casual-Raider”. Fire has always been the “DPS Spec”, and I knew that. Nobody likes being told what to do, and I am no exception. I was able to use that to make me better.

Playing as the underdog Spec actually made be a better Mage/raider/player. On paper, Fire was about 2-5% higher DPS than Frost- in a perfect simulation. This meant if I had to keep up or beat them, I had to be focused at all times, and learn to take advantage of any tool I can. A good example of this is the Frost “Ghost Hit”.

Now here I am, still raiding, still Frost.