Chapter 645: A Heart-Wrenching Warrior Experience (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

With communication issues, and knowing that fighting to the death brought little loss other than dragging down their leveling pace, the war between the Alliance and Horde thus began in Hillsbrad Foothills.

At first, it was just a player from one faction killing a player from another. But as the fighting continued, it escalated to squads, then guilds, and then all the players in the area. Many players from other regions even learned of the situation and specifically came to join the battle.

………………

Song Ren and his team, being the spark that ignited it all, actively participated in the fighting. After all, it was a very novel experience.

It wasn't that they hadn't played MMORPGs with PVP before. The main reason was that the MMORPGs they used to play, on one hand, weren't as fun as World of Warcraft, and on the other hand, they couldn't compare to World of Warcraft in terms of technical performance.

It could be said that as the first game in the world to adopt new technology and launch on current-generation VR, World of Warcraft’s visual presentation alone, and the scenes of dozens or even hundreds of people engaging in PVP on a single map, were spectacular enough. And in reality, the number of participants far exceeded that.

“Awesome! I can just throw spells around and still get honorable kills!” Wang Yifan exclaimed excitedly in the voice channel.

“Haha, I just ambushed a Priest,” Zhang Yi chuckled.

“Hehe, I just mind-controlled a Warrior, who got engulfed by fireballs like an idiot,” Joey said with a laugh.

“The enemy tried to activate me, but I dodged with my invincibility!” Wang Han also seemed very happy.

Listening to his four teammates in the voice channel, Song Ren, standing before the Soul Healer, sighed, “I think we can go to Scarlet Monastery. The Horde’s attention is all focused on Southshore right now. We can run to Scarlet from Silverpine Forest.”

His four teammates couldn't help but burst into laughter upon hearing this.

Zhang Yi chuckled and asked, “Old Song, weren’t you the one yelling about wanting to do PVP earlier? How come you’re thinking about grinding dungeons now?”

“Don’t talk! So annoying!” Song Ren huffed.

What could he do? He was helpless and desperate!

Experiencing the joy of PVP for the first time, Song Ren was as enthusiastic as most players. When the war first broke out, the battles were small-scale, and Song Ren was actually very excited. As the saying goes, 'Heaven to the left, Warrior to the right,' especially with countless Priests, Paladins, and Mages behind him.

The row of buffs on his status bar gave him endless courage. And indeed, just as he thought, the Warrior experience in small-scale battles was truly great. Even though Warriors often couldn't afford skills, and often had to corpse run if they aggroed two monsters, a Warrior with enough heals was like a harvester. At that moment, Song Ren only regretted having chosen the Protection talent.

But soon, as more and more players joined the area, along with players from other regions, the scale of the war gradually grew. Small-area battles vanished, and Song Ren began to experience the tragic side of things.

Heals for me? A round of spells and I'd be instantly gone, what heals could save me then? Frequently, Song Ren would see his Warrior charge forward with a roar, only to be drowned in countless spells, his health bar evaporating instantly.

His Warrior’s Charge—he’d barely shouted ‘Chaaarge!’ before he was gone?

The most crucial point was that on this battlefield, the Warrior, as the profession charging at the very front, had a survival capability that was simply negative compared to other professions. A common sight was the enemy targeting a Mage, but the Mage would either Ice Block or Blink away.

Targeting an enemy Rogue? They'd Vanish and disappear somewhere. Targeting an enemy Paladin? They’d pop Divine Shield. Targeting an enemy Warrior? Perfect, instantly taken down!

This highlights the Warrior's woes. Of course, if they were fighting with proper organization and discipline, the Warrior experience wouldn't be as bad as he imagined. Because the first to die would definitely be the suicidal Mages who Blinked into a crowd to disrupt the enemy lines. Warriors would generally go in as the second wave.

But in this kind of open-world PVP, there was obviously no such coordinated command; it was basically a chaotic brawl. In such a situation, only Warriors could charge at the front, so naturally, they took the brunt of the beating. After continuously dying on the charge, Song Ren suddenly felt a bit tired.

And with both the Horde and Alliance having their brains bashed out, wasn't this a good opportunity to go run Scarlet Monastery? According to some online information, the minimum level requirement for this dungeon was around level 30, and their current levels were completely sufficient.

Moreover, unlike Deadmines, Scarlet Monastery had a total of four wings. The difficulty also varied, enough for players to grind until around level 40.

But this was a two-way dungeon located in Horde territory, and they might encounter Horde players and start fighting on a normal day. Now, they could totally sneak in and farm it while everyone’s attention was on the war in Southshore.

Hearing Song Ren's suggestion, Zhang Yi and the others had no objections. Continuing to PVP here was fine too, as their game experience was still quite good.

Just as Song Ren and his teammates were chatting, the ground in the game suddenly trembled. A powerful energy emanated from the cemetery outside Southshore, accompanied by rumbling noises.

As the earth around the gravestones cracked, an Undead Mage rose from its tomb. At this moment, both Alliance and Horde players heard an angry roar.

“Revenge!”

The next moment, Alliance players received a quest: 'Stop Harkun's Revenge.' In the cemetery near Southshore, a level 44 Undead elite emerged from the grave. Simultaneously, an endless stream of skeletons began to appear from the surrounding graves, and their numbers continued to increase.

The soldiers in Southshore no longer stood by and watched; they rushed towards the cemetery. Even the Horde and Alliance players fighting outside were a bit bewildered. What... what's happening!?

Looking at the suddenly appearing Undead elite and Skeleton Soldiers, and the rushing soldiers, Song Ren's party temporarily abandoned their idea of going to Scarlet Monastery. They watched the scene in the Southshore cemetery with curiosity.

This was a Horde quest called 'Harkun's Revenge,' also one of the more famous quests in the original World of Warcraft. Its most prominent feature was driving players to the brink of collapse, whether Horde or Alliance.

First, players had to kill Yetis in the Yeti Cave, which was so tedious it would drive Horde players crazy. Then, they had to take the quest items (sticks) dropped by the Yetis, use them to light braziers and collect energy, and finally run to Southshore. The fighting Alliance players and the low-level Southshore guards were enough to make Horde players collapse. It was a very cumbersome quest.

However, the quest's fame didn't come from its tediousness or excitement, but from its unique characteristic.

Upon completing the quest, Harkun, who was beneath the cemetery, would be resurrected. This was a high-level Undead Mage who could continuously summon Skeleton Soldiers. In the earliest days of World of Warcraft, Harkun would continuously summon Skeleton Soldiers.

In the early days, the guards' aggro range was limited and they wouldn't proactively attack Harkun. This meant that even though the soldiers in Southshore were level 55, they would eventually be overwhelmed by the endless sea of skeletons. Later, the official developers made emergency adjustments to Harkun's stats, stopping him from summoning skeletons or attacking Southshore, effectively turning him into a harmless creature.

That extremely cool special effect, and Harkun screaming 'Revenge!' as he climbed out of his grave, felt like he was trying to fool an idiot.

So, Chen Xu made some changes to this quest. He transformed it into a dynamic world event quest, slightly nerfing its attributes and setting an upper limit, while also having Southshore's soldiers participate. For similar quests, Chen Xu also established a specialized task force within the Nebula Games Department to design similar world interaction quests for World of Warcraft, primarily to provide players with some easter egg content.

However, the players in the game were completely unaware of these designs. This sudden turn of events instantly excited the Horde players around Southshore. It was time to sound the horn of counter-attack.

Alliance players were also invigorated. Some went to assist the soldiers against the elite monster, while others continued to fight the Horde outside. Although their forces were divided, Southshore was an Alliance stronghold, and their corpse run speed was incomparably faster than the Horde's.

As for Song Ren and his team, after briefly acting as war correspondents, they had already stealthily headed towards Silverpine Forest.

(End of Chapter) <>