Rogue Origins

I dedicate this post to Tooth. If there was ever someone that motivated me to hate horde it was that motherfucker. He was one of those motivated (defined in this particular instance as someone who did nothing besides play wow) individuals who hit 60 before I even bought the game. This was back in the day when leveling was significantly harder than it is now. Getting to 60 was further hindered by the fact that you would get unmercilessly griefed by horde whenever you tried to quest. This dude was a 60 troll rogue back when I didn't understand what aggro was and was trying to use fade to run closer to mobs so they wouldn't attack me and I could sneak by. He had some stupid dagger that at that time was probably the best non epic in the game (keep in mind epics at this time were rare in the way lottery winners are rare, I mean you've heard of people winning but never seen it happen). So there I am happily flying on the flightpath to Southshore in my horrible holy / shadow build. At this point I was used to Diablo 2 talents which give you new powerful spells that rock face, where as talents in WoW at this point vaguely enhance your existing abilities. I land and before the zone even fully loads I'm dead on the ground due to something called Ambush. This guy was nothing if not efficient he didn't even bother moving after he killed me he just restealthed and sat there waiting for his next victim. I ran back to get my body thinking I will run to the guards they will protect me! I rez and start hopping away, and suddenly get brutally ambushed again. This time he didn't crit and I lived long enough cast a shield, which his backstab immediately destroyed along with my remaining life. Then I got my first chance to see what emotes are. He spat on my body (so sorry being level 32 offended you) and then I got to see another first - the troll dance. Of all the dances in WoW the troll dance is obviously the "coolest" if you can consider anything in WoW hip. At this particular moment I was not quite in the mood to appreciate it. Where are the guards why aren't they killing him! My third rez I discovered if you are noob enough to die quickly in sucession you have to wait to rez. This time I ran into the town hall where the number of guards was overwhelming. They will protect me I told myself. They have shiny armor and swords and there are a lot of them! In the town hall I found another victim huddling praying for safety. He managed to squeak out "lookout there is a rogue ganking!" right before said rogue floored him right in front of me. My natural fear was tempered as the guards immediately responded and lept upon him with the full fury of Stormwind. The full fury of stormwind however was no match for this wily individual. He popped sprint (although at this point my only thought was FUCK HE'S MOVING FASTER WHY CAN HE DO THAT) and hopped over and finished me off. He then disappeared (little did I know this was the 1 time in WoW that vanish would actually work). Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. Murder me three fucking times in a row I do the only thing possible. I immediately logged out, contemplated throwing my keyboard - resisted, and created a rogue.

My priest sat badly neglected, indeed I don't think I logged on him again until long after my 60 gnome rogue was completed. I was not alone in my frustrations as 3 other friends created rogues at the same time as me. Our little gonmes names were creatively Bippity, Boppity, and Bu (Boo was taken, and no for the thousandth time I don't watch DBZ stop whispering me about how awesome it is). My friends had not been systematically destroyed by Tooth so their dedication ran out at about level 14 (which is too bad because we would have been a hilarious ganking team) but I didn't pause. I got to 60 and on the way I murdered everyone I was remotely capable of killing. If you were horde and you helped me with an escort quest I would reward you at the end by ruthlessly slaying you and camping you for an hour. If you were higher level than me I would call in reinforcments. There was nothing fair about my hatred, it was all consuming and if it took 5 level 45s to drag a 60 down, so be it. If the fight went against me I used 1 of the hundred tricks rogues have to get away and then I plotted and schemed until you showed weakness.

My favorite zone to this day has to be the western plaguelands. This was with out a doubt the best place to world pvp as newly minted level 60s would head out to Stratholme as that was THE instance to be in to get gear. To do this horde needed to ride from safety in Tirisfal Glades out through the bulwark. The bulwark was a gate with a road leading through it. This road had hills and trees to the side of it and was in short the perfect place to launch an ambush. Me and a few rogue buddies would chill to the side of the road with a hunter shadowmelded as well. We would then have our paladin friend sit tauntingly in the middle of the road. Our grasp of slowing mechanisms and cc that could dismount enemies was vague at best so we relied partially on the horde stopping to engage this lonely paladin. The moment we saw enemies vent would rise to a fever pitch desperately calling out classes and levels of the enemies riding through the gap. Cheap shots ambushes aimed shots hammers of justice all used with desperate abandon. We didn't have any of that girly resilience and healing was for people who weren't smart enough to roll dps classes. Zerg or be zerged. The fury of battle without skill (god we were awful). The thrill of victory was usually ours, and then we would fight a running guerilla engagement because horde were very well organized on Burning Legion and poking one disturbed the bee hive. We ride into the hills trying to circle around and pick of our pursuers one by one, but inevitably this led to a huge pitched battle that only occasionally went our way. Now outnumbered, we struggled to get off rezes and remount and regroup. Honestly in all my WoW time nothing was more fun. Eventually we met more people and added to our guild. My brother played horde on the same server and he told us our guild was hated (not feared horde are too comptent for that) but at least hated. Our incursions into horde territory began. The zepplin tower was our new home. We would strike at people getting on or off the Undercity zepplin and eventually the Undercity itself would stir. Waves of horde would come out to engage us, with a key advantage. Their graveyard was WAY closer than ours.

Time went by and people started raiding dungeons more and my rogue was sadly not needed. The guild master and a few other were rogues and there were a lot of them on the server. We needed healers and tanks, there was none of this dual spec opportunities. So our pvp group shifted focus and began raiding. I picked my priest back up and quickly finished him off becoming the healer officer. We entered the leviathan now known as molten bore and had our triumphs and disasters. This was fun, this gave us epics, but it wasn't quite the same as the old world pvp. I got my first piece of prophecy - indeed the first epic our guild got were the bindings of prophecy. More time went by and occasionally we'd go back to the bulwark but it was never the same. PvP was now dominated by the guilds that were tearing through Molten Core and was centered in Blackrock Mountain. My rogue was now outgeared and outclassed as horde shamans and warriors with shiny epic weapons could kneel on my face. My priest was well geared and could heal my friends but keeping someone alive while they put a sword through a horde skull just isn't the same as personally getting the blood on your hands.

So when I kill you even though you are 20 levels lower than me. When I camp you for an hour and then slaughter your main that comes to teach me a lesson. When I attack you to 5% health and let the mob you were attacking kill you so you take durability - don't blame me. Blame Tooth. I certainly do, although now I'm glad he did it because it made me start a rogue and it made me love the fierce joy of killing people who can't defend themselves. Yes I arena and battleground and do all those things blizzard wants me to do to get gear. I even raid on my rogue to gain a slight advantage, but its the moments where I kill ten noobs and then pick off their mains one by one that I live for. These moments keep me playing WoW, and I treasure them.