Remembering gaming’s greatest moments
[Back in April of 2007, former Destructoid writer Chad Concelmo started a recurring series called “The Memory Card.” The purpose was simple — to share some of the greatest events in gaming history, and give them the respect they deserve. But in 2011 the series ended with no resurrection date in sight…until now. With Chad’s blessing, please join us for a brief Season 6 of the Memory Card – Chris.]
There’s nothing quite like getting a massive group of people together for a collective goal. Sure, you need the right amount of leadership, loads of time, and there are the few occasional snags, but grouping up in an MMO when done right is magical.
In fact, some of the most magical and memorable moments I’ve ever had in my gaming career have been born out of MMOs, with one shiny achievement at the very top of the mountain — a server-first Illidan kill.
The Set-Up
Over the course of roughly three years, I cataloged the lives of every major World of Warcraft character I’ve ever played. You can see a select sample of pictures above from Kaironn, my Shadow Priest, from the very first level all the way up to the then-cap of 70. It was with this character that I would begin the journey into the Black Temple, completely oblivious to what the future held.
It started innocently enough. A friend and I decided to get into World of Warcraft after the Burning Crusade expansion launched, and since I had played the original here and there, we’d help each other out along the way to level 70. We had simple goals for ourselves, and to be honest, we never ever had a hard goal of reaching the cap. That is, until we met someone during college that happened to raid on our server.
He would tell us tales of how amazing high-level play was, how great his guild got along, and how they’d help each other out constantly — he had even got in touch with other local members and hung out with them in real life. I had familiarity with raiding from my friends who did it back in vanilla (the basic version of WoW), but I never really experienced it myself — even after hearing about how great it was, it was still in the back of my mind and not a priority. But alas, the seed had been planted.
I started to enjoy the game more and more as I leveled up. Low-level dungeons just weren’t enough anymore! Once my priest became a Shadow Priest, I pretty much couldn’t put it down. I’d do dungeon after dungeon with people, marking targets and explaining strategies to newcomers who had never been there before — I was hooked. The only way to take this to the next level was raiding. It was inevitable, I just didn’t see it at the time.
My friend’s guild “Eden” happened to be the top guild on the server, so it would take a lot of dedication and time to slowly prove myself. There were three squads — the top, the secondary squad that played backup to the top, and the third squad, which were mostly casual players. So naturally, I joined the casual team on a few weekly Karazhan raids (an entry-level, but fun 10-man dungeon), and apparently word got back to the top that I knew what I was doing.
One day I got a call from the friend who recruited me that made me very happy — the guild wanted me to try out as a backup in a 25-man raid on a trial basis because someone else couldn’t make it. “Amazing!,” I thought a thousand times over. It sounds dumb to some of you out there, getting excited over a chance to be a backup in a digital dungeon, but I assure you it made my day. But I wasn’t a backup for long — I went to said raid, and promptly out-DPSed (damaged) the rest of the caster classes despite having worse gear.
The next day I was accepted into the core squad. I made it. And I didn’t even know I wanted it.
The Moment
By the time I was accepted into the lead raiding group, they had made it roughly halfway through Black Temple — the toughest 25-man dungeon at the time that no other guild on our server had completed. Any Warcraft fan knows how important Illidan Stormrage is to the lore, so the prospect of fighting him got me extremely excited — not to mention the fact that this was yet another opportunity to play with the guild in a higher capacity.
Day by day we made our way through the temple’s bosses, getting stuck at the Reliquary of Souls for a spell, until we finally made it to Illidan — the big bad of Burning Crusade himself (who would be later succeeded by Kil’jaeden). Illidan was extremely formidable, as the fight had multiple phases that had to be executed perfectly in order to bring him down. I didn’t just want to beat him like I did with my personal favorite character Kael’thas Sunstrider in the weeks before — I needed to.
Phase one of the fight is simple, but it can be screwed up pretty easily. At first, the tank just picks up Illidan and points him away from the raid, just like any other encounter. But periodically, he’ll choose a random target and give them a debuff that causes their shadow to spew evil creatures — forcing that person to isolate themselves from the rest of the group while ranged DPS brings them down. It only took a few tries to really get this down, but nothing could prepare us for what was next.
Phase two is where all hell breaks loose. Illidan flies up in the air and throws his mighty Warglaives of Azzinoth at the raid, spawning flames that have to be killed immediately. Melee and ranged DPS have to work in tandem together to make sure they bring them down. All the while, the tank has to have some fancy footwork to move around the blades and Illidan himself, while the whole raid dodges eye beams that can one-shot everyone, and the healers scramble to keep everyone alive. Phew! If it sounds chaotic, that’s because it is.
From there, Illidan turns into his iconic demon form, at which point a Warlock with shadow resistance needs to tank him — yep, this fight requires a Warlock, a tactic we had to figure out on our own, as we geared him up to prepare. Then the real fun begins, as Maiev Shadowsong swoops in and creates traps on the ground to move Illidan over. This phase is extremely nerve-wracking, as one small move can wipe the entire raid, forcing them to start back at the beginning.
After five days straight of trying, we finally did it. They say you can’t beat MMOs. But truly, MMO goals and endings are defined by the user. In my mind, I beat World of Warcraft that night, and no one could tell me otherwise.
The Impact
I remembered all of those phases because they are forever burned in my mind. As we took down Illidan and his health bar was confirmed to be 0%, I cheered over our Vent server so loud that my roomates in my college dorm thought something was wrong. I’ll never forget it, I also typed “I LOVE YOU GUYS,” and continued to talk to them into the night about how far we came.
Raiding isn’t easy. In addition to knowing the fight inside and out and executing everything you need to do time after time, you need to account for variables — most notably, human variables. Sometimes, tensions will run high. Someone might lose their temper and yell at someone else if they consistently fail or don’t perform well enough. I don’t envy my former guild leader and all of the decisions that she had to make, including all the cuts to the raid team. But I’d be a part of it all the same and do it over again if I had the chance.
After that, my raiding career had to come to a close. Bells of a special kind were ringing, and it was time to move on from college and plan my wedding. Naturally because I was finishing up my last semester of school with a double major and figuring out venues and honeymoon locations, I had to take a step back, which meant losing my raid spot.
But I will never forget all of the people pictured in the header at the very top of this page. All of them played a bit part in my enjoyment of MMOs as a whole, and I will never forget that night, as well as the many other nights that made me feel like I was a part of something, just hanging out and having a good time with friends.
Thank you, Eden.
The Memory Card Save Files
Chad:
Season 1
.01: The return of Baby Metroid (Super Metroid)
.02: Palom and Porom’s noble sacrifice (Final Fantasy IV)
.03: The encounter with Psycho Mantis (Metal Gear Solid)
.04: The heir of Daventry (King’s Quest III: To Heir is Human)
.05: Pey’j is captured (Beyond Good & Evil)
.06: The Opera House (Final Fantasy VI)
.07: Attack of the zombie dog! (Resident Evil)
.08: A twist on a classic (Metroid: Zero Mission)
.09: A Christmas gift (Elite Beat Agents)
.10: To the moon, Mario! (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island)
.11: The Solitary Island (Final Fantasy VI)
.12: Wander’s brave friend (Shadow of the Colossus)
.13: The submerged letter (StarTropics)
.14: The legend of Tetra (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker)
.15: Snake pulls the trigger (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater)
.16: Riding under the missiles (Contra III: The Alien Wars)
.17: Hover bike madness! (Battletoads)
.18: Syldra’s final cry (Final Fantasy V)
.19: Death by … grappling beam? (Super Metroid)
.20: The message in the glass (BioShock)
Season 2
.21: Crono’s final act (Chrono Trigger)
.22: Ganon’s tower (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)
.23: It was all a dream? (Super Mario Bros. 2)
.24: The assimilation of Kerrigan (StarCraft)
.25: A McCloud family reunion (Star Fox 64)
.26: The return of Rydia (Final Fantasy IV)
.27: The battle with the Hydra (God of War)
.28: Fight for Marian’s love! (Double Dragon)
.29: The Hunter attacks (Half-Life 2: Episode 2)
.30: The Phantom Train (Final Fantasy VI)
.31: The end of The End (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater)
.32: In Tentacle We Trust (Day of the Tentacle)
.33: Peach dances with TEC (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
.34: Learning to wall jump (Super Metroid)
.35: A leap of faith (Ico)
.36: The Master Sword (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past)
.37: Thinking outside the DS (Hotel Dusk: Room 215)
.38: Running outside the castle (Super Mario 64)
.39: Del Lago! (Resident Evil 4)
.40: In memoriam (Lost Odyssey)
Season 3
.41: The tadpole prince (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars)
.42: Pyramid Head! (Silent Hill 2)
.43: Waiting for Shadow (Final Fantasy VI)
.44: Solid vs. Liquid (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)
.45: The birth of the cutscene (Ninja Gaiden)
.46: Insult swordfighting (The Secret of Monkey Island)
.47: A castle stuck in time (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker)
.48: ‘That’s the magic flute!’ (The Wizard)
.49: Saving Santa (Secret of Mana)
.50: A shocking loss (Half-Life 2: Episode Two)
.51: The flying cow (Earthworm Jim)
.52: Blind the Thief (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past)
.53: The nuclear blast (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare)
.54: Microwaving the hamster (Maniac Mansion)
.55: The fate of Lucca’s mother (Chrono Trigger)
.56: A fiery demise? (Portal)
.57: Jade’s moment of silence (Beyond Good & Evil)
.58: The Great Mighty Poo (Conker’s Bad Fur Day)
.59: With knowledge comes nudity (Leisure Suit Larry III)
.60: Flint’s rage (Mother 3)
Season 4
.61: The dream of the Wind Fish (The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening)
.62: Leaving Midgar (Final Fantasy VII)
.63: Auf Wiedersehen! (Bionic Commando)
.64: Death and The Sorrow (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater)
.65: A glimpse into the future (Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter)
.66: Taloon the merchant (Dragon Quest IV)
.67: Scaling the waterfall (Contra)
.68: Anton’s love story (Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box)
.69: TKO! BJ! LOL! (Ring King)
.70: Giant robot fish! (Mega Man 2)
.71: The rotating room (Super Castlevania IV)
.72: The collapsing building (Uncharted 2: Among Thieves)
.73: Death by funnel (Phantasmagoria)
.74: Crono’s trial (Chrono Trigger)
.75: The blind fighting the blind (God of War II)
.76: Brotherly love (Mother 3)
.77: Prince Froggy (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island)
.78: The statue of a hero (Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride)
.79: Inside the worm (Gears of War 2)
.80: The return to Shadow Moses (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)
Season 5
.81: A prayer for Ness (EarthBound)
.82: Yuna’s empty embrace (Final Fantasy X)
.83: Blast Processing! (Sonic the Hedgehog)
.84: A royal assist (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker)
.85: You have chosen … wisely (Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis)
.86: Death is final (Fire Emblem)
.87: A Snake in a microwave (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)
.88: The mark of a THIEF (The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening)
.89: MEAT ‘SPLOSION! (‘Splosion Man)
.90: In her father’s Shadow (Final Fantasy VI)
.91: A sniper rifle and a telephone (Grand Theft Auto IV)
.92: Sacrificing Yoshi (Super Mario World)
.93: Language barrier (Uncharted 2: Among Thieves)
.94: Death is impossible (Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge)
.95: The jeep chase (Metal Gear Solid)
.96: Farewell, Klonoa (Klonoa: Door to Phantomile)
.97: Geography lesson (Little King’s Story)
.98: Killing Medusa (Final Fantasy Adventure)
.99: The Marston legacy (Red Dead Redemption)
.100: Where it all began…
Chris:
Season 6
.101: Ornstein & Smough (Dark Souls)
.102: The Memory Card .102: The Murder of Master Miller (Metal Gear Solid)
