Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Mementos

I haven't really felt moved to write on a BlogAzeroth shared topic before, but this one piqued my interest.
It was asked (and I paraphrase): What keepsakes have you got in your bank that you wont throw away and why?

I don't have anything in my bank that I am not happy to throw away.  I have DE'ed all my previous tier gear due to space requirements.  I do have a bank full or random crap like seasonal holiday clothes (which I think are a bunch of fun), mats, gear swaps, food, gems and useful things like that.  But there is one thing I will be keeping and will never DE, and that is my Mace.  My guild (RIP) forced me to take the shards.  Ok, I say forced, but they did yell at me over vent until I looted them to myself.  No one would accept them, every time I asked.  After 10 to 15 minutes of umming and ahing by me, and "Just take the damn fragment, Brang!" by my guildies, I took it.  We then worked on getting that mace made, and we did.  I still use it now, the bubbles' power scales with the rest of your gear very nicely, keeping the item current.  It now has a bunch of sentimental value attached to it because of the memories:  It was the last thing we did together and achieved, it represents the gratitude that my guildies had for me and my work, it showed their faith in me that I would continue to be a valuable contributor to the guild and to raids, it reminds me how special I am every time I see the orange.

Sometimes, you need to be reminded of these things.

The other thing I keep for sentimental reasons is a title: ", Hand of Ad'al".  It is the title I have above my head at all times.  Back when the restrictions on attunement were relaxed for getting into Black Temple and Mount Hyjal (in Caverns of Time), the title I mentioned was created for people who had the attunement.  My guild missed out by weeks on getting that in time, however, since we all had the original quest and Vashj's vial, we were working on Kael'thas in Tempest Keep.  We forewent heading straight into BT and MH for the free loot from the first couple of bosses, and stayed and worked on Kael.  Morale was low, Kael was a hard boss.  Once, we rewarded the people coming for a night of work on Kael with a fun run into MH (for shits and giggles).  The next week, (I think), Kael died.

We earned that title with frustration and dedication.  We earned it old school.  And we went back and we got everyone in the guild that title.  Everyone who worked on Kael had a shot at killing him and we got as many people as possible their full sets of T5.  We were PROUD of that title, and we wore it for the entire rest of TBC.  I didn't keep my Pink Power Ranger suit, but I do wear that title in remembrance of what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.

These things are pixels.  They have nothing tangible about them.  But if you think that you are completely missing the point.  They are visible reminders of friendships, time spent, achievements gained together, a team I led, and a team I miss.

WoW might be just a game, but the people are real.