[Discussion] Where was YOUR first WoW exploration?

[WizardTrokair]

We all know that this game is full of off-limits areas and hidden locations. I'd like to hear from the members of the OwnedCore exploration community on YOUR first exploration in the World of Warcraft. Note that this is a great opportunity for all of you forum lurkers, Lazy Leechers and first-time-posters to come out of the woodwork and join in the discussion!

What was the first hidden location in WoW that you remember visiting, and how did you get there?


For The Wizard Trokair, it was inside the purple bubble in Dalaran, before the city was moved to Northrend. A friendly Mage had showed me that you could Blink into the bubble, and I was fascinated.
Here is a video of this exploration (not my video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGniydwyrEs


(I also have a foggy memory from many years ago (2006?) of accidentally blinking through the Deadmines portal... but I don't actually remember running around in Deadmines Secret. IIRC, I only fell to my death and saw strange graphics... didn't know what I was looking at... and didn't investigate. This is probably my first WoW exploration experience, but it wasn't intentional and I don't properly remember it.)

[Maisteri]

This one was the very first exploration I did.

I filmed it on a private server because I did not have an active account at the time, but I tested the spot when I started playing again and it worked on retail untill cataclysm came and the area was removed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaMYkd7sunM

[spoutnik]

My first exploration (the first screenshots I've found) were Quel'Thalas, in January 2009. I don't know how exactly why I went there (maybe a Rivendare run or Tirion's old quests) but I wanted to take a shortcut and after a few minutes I was under Stratholme and in "Quel Thalas" general channel and I thought it was awesome but I didn't continue to explore at that time. One year later, with the wonderful Levitate glitch, I went to the Deadmines' Secret and this made me like exploration

[Nyarly]

Ah i still have a screenshot ! https://i.imgur.com/LuD2Z.jpg
I can remember it like if it was yesterday.
He told me "hey wanna see something funny ? come here do that!" so i did and that's how he showed me how to get under the ground in ZA. I was like omfgomfgomfg this is so beautiful, MOOAAAR !
Then he took me to the ironforge airport and elwynn waterfall. Few weeks later i was the one that showed him new places

Must have been in 2008 as it's outside zul aman.


And first time i discovered exploration should have been on Warcraft movies. I was wondering heh what's this Undergroup category ? is it some weird thing with naked elves in stormwind ? I should check that.
And for the next two hours i watched Natcho and Dopefish doing stuff i couldn't believe as it was so amazing and wondering wtf was i looking at.
Then i searched for the naked elves again.

[jjshadoe]

My first exploration as I recall was finding a way over the mountains in Silithus and beyond the unopened Scarab Wall, in January of 2005. The entire AQ40 raid dungeon model was there uninstanced, and it blew my mind. The surface area was quite different too.



I was hooked. Shortly thereafter, I explored the blocked-off Caverns of Time and old Hyjal zone using the ghost-through-gate bug.



I still wonder what that Onyxia-entrance-looking dragon den thing in Hyjal was going to be. Still exploring with the same warlock toon!

Edited to add: weird to look at these screenshots and see Curse of Shadows, Curse of Recklessness, Drain Mana, See Invisibility...

[Teryaki]

Caverns of Time. Back in Vanilla, when it was closed off, I always wondered what was behind that door. When I finally got past the door, I almost fell out of my chair. The area was beautiful, and it was not like something you would see everyday in Vanilla WoW. I will see if I can find a video on it, I am sure there still is one on Youtube somewhere.

Here is a video of the exploration. World of Warcraft Non-Mage Exploration 1.10 CoT & Hyjal - YouTube

Not my video, but explains the place that I first got to, and how I did it.

[Nyarly]

Waoh i'm so jealous of you ! *_*
Vanilla days looked sooooooooo awesome for the exploration, so much things to discover, a whole world to explore, not only certain specific zones. I think that's my biggest regrets in life


I wish i could add one more question to this thread : what's your favorite exploration? I'd really like to know that.

Mine is this one : https://i.imgur.com/QBiwU.jpg I was so happy i could make it and it was with three people and a friend so group explorations are always better ^^ I remember us falling from the mount at the top of the mountain and dying in the bottom right after that. Not a big one but a funny and awesome one imo

[Toddler]

It was midwinter. The coldest and darkest winter you can possibly imagine! The ground was covered with snow and i was allready freezing as i left home. The fur i was wearing made things alot easier. The forest had paths not made by man wich made it alot more interesting to follow.
As i came to a mountain-foot i stopped! It was so steep that even my fingers would get ripped off just by trying to climb it. I walked besides the foot for awhile and i found a small path leading up the mountain. I followed it and half-way up i saw the silhouette of a man. I quickly understood that i was not alone. The spirit wandering this mountain was upset about the visitor. I gave the spirit a little bit of my bread to show mercy. I kept walking and when i came to the top.
I saw the greatest view that i had ever seen. The Stormpeaks was my new home!

[Teryaki]

I think my favorite exploration was Hyjal before they added No-Mans land and finally releasing it in Cataclysm. I had a 60 Warlock, and I would go down into the never ending water hole (where the beginning place is now, can't think of the name, where the World Tree is.) Anyway, a friend would go to org and say something like, "come see an awesome never before seen area", and I would summon people up there with my friends and I would charge them 5g each for a water breathing buff. The hole was deep enough that back then, if you weren't an Undead, you would drown. Evil, I know, but I miss those old days of WoW. Think we all got like a 72 hour suspension or something haha.

[WizardTrokair]

@Maisteri: Thanks for getting this thread moving! This is exactly the sort of response I am looking for. Glad to see you found a YouTube video of this old method as well!

@spoutnik: Thanks for chiming in! I would have figured you started much earlier. Not surprised to hear it was the Deadmines... that did it for a lot of us explorers!

@Nyarly: I get asked all the time what my favorite exploration is, and it is always nearly impossible for me to say... I just love that first moment of discovery! My favorite exploration, therefore, wasn't a hidden location at all... just my first time "discovering" the Shimmering Flats in Thousand Needles. Like you, I remember it as if it were yesterday. It was 3AM... my wife and child were asleep and I had stayed up playing the game. I wandered for the first time toward the Mirage Raceway. Half way there, I turned back and looked. The moon was full (as always) and reflected off the flat, shimmering sand. I held my breath. It was at that very moment that I fell in love with seeing new places in the World of Warcraft.

@jjshadoe & Teryaki2: Great stories of early exploration! Makes me envious, for sure. And yes, love the old screen shots. Remember Dampen Magic?

@Toddler: Are you a new explorer? Was Storm Peaks really your first exploration? Great words. Not exactly what I was looking for... but much appreciated!


Wondeful stuff, folks! Keep them coming!

[Snyth]

My first exploration was finding the huge "Unknown Zone" gap right where Feralas and Silithus meet but this before cata changed all the zones.

[Nyarly]

It was midwinter. The coldest and darkest winter you can possibly imagine! The ground was covered with snow and i was allready freezing as i left home. The fur i was wearing made things alot easier. The forest had paths not made by man wich made it alot more interesting to follow.
As i came to a mountain-foot i stopped! It was so steep that even my fingers would get ripped off just by trying to climb it. I walked besides the foot for awhile and i found a small path leading up the mountain. I followed it and half-way up i saw the silhouette of a man. I quickly understood that i was not alone. The spirit wandering this mountain was upset about the visitor. I gave the spirit a little bit of my bread to show mercy. I kept walking and when i came to the top.
I saw the greatest view that i had ever seen. The Stormpeaks was my new home!

I'm going to rep you as soon as i can for this. Even if it wasn't was trokair was asking for, i love it, i can actually imagine you there

[spoutnik]

@spoutnik: Thanks for chiming in! I would have figured you started much earlier.

Maybe because I started WoW mid-2008 ^^

I wish i could add one more question to this thread : what's your favorite exploration? I'd really like to know that.

I have to say I'm tied between this one and that one. Both gave me goosebumps when I first reached them

[jjshadoe]

My favorite explorations were my initial foray behind the Scarab Wall, my explorations of the old un-instanced areas behind AQ20 & AQ40 once the Scarab Wall was down, outside instanced AQ40, and in Ahn'Kahet The Old Kingdom.

For whatever reason I really like Qiraji/Nerubian & Old-Goddy stuff, so these end up being my favorite zones that hold the most wonder for me.

[TehVoyager]

My first "exploration" was climbing the hills in barrens, then running along the flat tops of the mountains. my first exploration that involved a bug was getting to an area outside (northwest) of Stonetalon mountains. was not alot there, but i was the only one there and it was completely unaccessable.

From there a friend showed me IF Airport, and how to go outside Deadmines.

i took about half my guild outside AQ20 into instances silithus, then my GF and i explored outside Instanced silithus in the large white plain.

There was also the time we got behind ZG, summoned people on flying mounts then flew as high as we could, flew forward till we got dismounted and slowfalled all the way to arathi o.o (cant remember if it was actuaily arathi. it was a Long fall though. levitate and slowfall for the win.)