The Learning Curve

The Other Half talked about having to switch off his Alliance-honed 'autopilot' now he's playing Horde, and I know what he means. Even when I'm being The Bloody Great Bull(tm), running up to the entrance of a settlement and seeing Orc guards at the gates (like The Crossroads in The Barrens, even after I've pretty much been living there for the last two weeks) makes me instinctively stop running and move to go into reverse.

Likewise, certain humanoid mobs which I've encountered loads of times before and have locked in 'friend' or 'foe' reflexes for are suddenly betraying my expectations. Seeing (and hearing) an Ashenvale Outrunner unstealth as I run by? No worries. Until s/he stabs me in the back! And I'm level 18. Those buggers are 23/24.

And I have to unlearn my reactions and behaviour towards entire regions. I mentioned The Barrens - officially Horde territory, but if you're Alliance on a PvE server as long as you don't attack anyone, you won't be flagged for PvP, and can run right through the region with impunity. On a PvP server, not so much. The second you enter even Contested Territory, never mind enemy space, you're flagged and might as well have a neon target floating over your head. So Ashenvale - one of the regions I know best in the entire game and therefore feel most comfortable in, is suddenly an alien world with potential threats around every corner. I'm in my teens - one mid level Alliance type anywhere in the area and I'm flattened. So I end up skulking through the undergrowth, more tense and nervous than I can ever remember being in three years of playing the game.

And then the full horrible injustice of the region hits you: If you're a Night Elf, Ashenvale is the logical third region you explore - you enter to find mobs slightly higher level than those you've just left in Darkshore, but managable, and the challenges get tougher as you explore eastwards.

When you're one of a couple of Horde races, it's also your logical third region. But the way in from The Barrens is in the east. So you're immediately trying to skulk past mid-20s level bears, wolves and spiders.

And then you die.