When Exploring is the Expectation

Not that much to really talk about for this update, aside from the fact that all of the toons involved with Operation: Spread the Love are now at L30 or L31. Which makes it just past the halfway point in levels, but in terms of the leveling process, it's likely more along the lines of 1/3 of the way through to completion. 

Nice to see you, Az. At least you're not threatening me
with bodily harm for the lack of good daggers you've got.
This listing is as of May 7th, 2025.

Why do I say 1/3 of the way through?

Because the amount of XP per level increases by a lot from here on out, and the corresponding speed of leveling slows down quite a bit. Back when I leveled Briganaa for TBC Classic, I did have one great advantage over Vanilla Classic leveling: the mid-30s and mid-40s doldrums were smoothed out in TBC Classic by the addition of more quests and a quest hub in Dustwallow Marsh and an enhancement of the quests in Ashenvale.* With those additional quests in place, and a couple of extra Flight Points sprinkled throughout the two continents, it became easier to get around the world. 

I'm of two minds on the speed of transportation around Azeroth with TBC Classic: a few places that from a game perspective truly needed Flight Points got them --Emerald Sanctuary in Felwood for one major example-- but with those additional Flight Points came the drumbeat for more FPs to be added to the game, which ultimately led to what feels like 10 million of those things in the post-Cataclysm revamp of the Old World. The world shrank and became less about leveling being a major part of the game as the focus shifted strictly toward whatever the current expansion was and explicitly toward Endgame.

I'm also at the level where ranging farther afield becomes the norm, as quests take you all over Azeroth. Sure, you could spend your time in limited locales on the Eastern Kingdoms or the Kaldorei lands of Kalimdor, but beyond the run to Gnomeregan (for the Horde) or to Shadowfang Keep (for the Alliance) you don't have to get out much until quests push you into exploring the opposite continents more thoroughly. 

I remember back in 2009 when I got my first quest to visit Booty Bay and I thought "Where the hell is THAT?" I was determined to figure this out on my own, so by the time I actually got to Booty Bay for the first time it felt like I'd stumbled across this near mythical place. In reality it was very much less so, but nobody told me I could take a boat from Ratchet to head to Booty Bay, so I never knew that. I mean, the Horde used Zeppelins, it was the Alliance that used boats. Hence, I never put two and two together that Goblins of the Steamwheedle Cartel would allow all players to utilize their ships to travel between continents. Given that when I visited Ratchet there typically wasn't a ship there, so it never occurred to me to loiter around to see what happened when one arrived. I mean, I had Mankrik's wife to find, and on a PvP server I very much avoided any contact with Alliance personnel.**

That spike in tension whenever you saw a member of the opposing faction --particularly if they had a Skull where their level number would be-- can only be likened to being ambushed in a survival horror game. Such as what it's like if you get blown up by a Creeper from behind in Minecraft.

HOLY CRAP do I hate these monsters.
From Exitlag.

Oh yeah, I've been noodling about Minecraft lately, but that's neither here nor there. The "Normal" survival game world is the closest I've been to those early days playing WoW, where you're minding your own business and then BOOM you're dead, and there's some Rogue teabagging your body.

It's a nice complement to me fishing to end my game time on the Anniversary servers, as if my heart needs the exercise or something.

Now, where will I end up in two weeks' time? No idea, but I doubt I'll be much farther along than what I am right now. I've got until Q1 of 2026 before TBC drops on the Anniversary servers, and what I'll do once that happens is pure speculation at this point. Maybe I ought to do more speculating while I fish a bit.

*Particularly at the "alternate" locales for quests: Forest Song for Alliance and Zoram'gar Outpost for Horde.

**Remember, I played Horde back then.