Remembering Vanilla Stranglethorn | Zone Retrospective

[@Greef246]

GOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING STRANGLETHORN

[@bigglock5478]

STVietnam

[@gigadolphin]

one of fondest memory of stv was when i was 11th grade. It was 12am I was trying to turn in a quest on my alt before i go to bed. I ran past a troll shaman fighting a mob, waved at him, and left him alone. He some how caught up to me when i was engaged in a fight and killed me. I logged on my Rogue main and camped him until 4am that night even camped him in the horde town until he finally stopped respawning. I didnt get any sleep that day, but it was worth it.

[@bowflex113]

I lost too many nights to count the same way. lmao Priceless! =)

[@sympathiea]

dude, you are so much more petty than I could ever be. hats off to you! haha

[@benugdsen75]

😂😂😂 I had an experience like that when I was a noob in 2007. I was camped by a powerful player until another player showed up, asked me f that guy was bothering me and he than punished him for hours, until he sent me a letter saying he was sorry. Great stuff! 😂

[@fenrishound5939]

Now you know better than to trust those mud hutters

[@MelGypsi-c6l]

A friend of mine was jobless for 3 years and he only played Arena and leveled. Well in hfp he got killed by a hunter and his mage friend he logged into his rog killed them both till they logged out waited there 4,5 hours and farmed them again. It was beautiful

[@janprochazka6600]

I remember sneaking around STV, hiding in bushes, behind trees... Once I even tried to hide in the river, only to be eaten by piranhas and crocolisk :D the zone was WILD.

[@LedosKell]

To that one Troll Warrior who /pointed south to Booty Bay instead of ripping off my face, I haven't forgotten. I don't remember your name but I remember the deed.

[@benugdsen75]

I remember when starting out in WoW. There were no guides, no youtubers giving tips or reviews.. Everything was blank. No in game hand holding. You just explored. Those were truly simpler times. 😊

[@shriekingbushpigshrieking]

yep it was epic

[@Gorre022]

The meta was just you playing the best you could 🥹

[@joezar33]

Good times

[@diojiwoolf]

We were lucky to have a copy of the Bradygames Guidebook!

[@Michigan1B22]

The true secret of what made wow great back in the day! Hear about everything second hand and needing to make friends just to figure out what the hell was going on lol. WoWHead was amazing and I loved it, but the collection of knowledge kind of took some of the magic out of the game in hind sight

[@Vormalt]

I'm so glad I got to re-experience this zone as intended when Classic dropped. You're questing with a friend. You 2v1 the Alliance. He gets two friends, we get 2 friends, and before you know it, the entire zone was at total war. Everyone from the people just entering the zone up to level 60's just for the sport of the fight. It was something I'll always remember

[@mcfarvo]

Putting down flares at all times like you're in a dang Ridley Scott movie about a dark jungle where you are being stalked by some alien nightmare in the shadows

[@ChairmanMeow1]

Lot of cool things about vanilla but my favorite is that 20 years later, theres sooooo much lore. I love that. Go anywhere in the game, find something interesting, and theres probably pages and pages of lore about it to nerd out with.

[@Sasha_TA]

Absolutely LOVE these videos. Thank you SOOOOO much from a 2004 WoW player and PLEASE keep them coming. I would watch all of these!!!

[@danvsjeep8062]

Lvling/questing in WoW back in the day was a completely different experience. I feel it was actually more immersive. One of my friends just got back into the game after many years of absence. And is blown away by how fast lvling etc goes now. While I don't miss the long grind to lvl. I am glad I got to experience it. Azeroth zones were amazing. And I still love to spend time there frequently.

[@BlondieYouTube]

_"I love the smell of PVP in the morning. You know, one time we had group of levelling noobs camped and ganked, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body, probably deleted their characters and quit. The smell, you know that salty smell? The whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna be nerfed."_ - Gocryandbye, level 52 Undead Rogue, still looking for that job

[@GrandGoblin]

I'm a Druid and I speak for the Trees. The Trees are speaking Orcish.

[@Psyches7]

Yes . The intention of going to STV for all the quests, then end up getting chased / or chasing another char for several hours only to end up in a giant faction skirmish at Nesingwary camp. Stv seperating the men from the boys x) It was so frustrating, and unpredictable, and it was FUN. Great series, pls keep em coming 😊

[@yogi6917]

Please keep these going. The simple nature of these videos compliments Vanilla/Classic to a tee. Don't ever chaaaange! You probably have a few in the pipe but Tanaris would be a great follow-up to STV.

[@CarrowMind]

Whenever I hear that distinct "dwooooo" sound of Stealth being activated, or I see a Hunter's Mark start bouncing over my head my heart races and I get extremely paranoid and jumpy, I swear STV and its legend is well deserved with its comparison to Vietnamn, questing there is the crucible, the flames of war will either harden you into a PvP legend, tempering the quick reflexes needed to hone your edge, or crumble you into a paranoid wreck.

[@allisonseamiller]

Love these retrospective vids. I'll share my Stranglethorn memory. Was on my warlock with succubus out, cause it was more fun even though voidwalker was more useful. Stealthed rogue tries to gank me. Due to the blood pack, my succubus is taking some of the damage I take, so I don't go down as fast as the rogue expected. The stun wears off, and the rogue runs away, cause they didn't know I was terrible at PVP, they thought I was good at it, cause they were used to people going down while still stunned.

[@uiegyUIWE]

Love your content bro, please continue making these and I would love to see it continue beyond classic if possible. Another idea would be to do a series in a similar manner but focusing on raids - but that’s just me and my wishful thinking!

[@Fondoor]

Learned a lot about the trolls from this video! Super cool!

[@suomar-art]

One of my favorite zones for sure (and I'm not big on world pvp!) glad to have found your retrospectives, you've done a really good job articulating what makes these zones stand out!

[@farawayranger8489]

Excellent video and my new favorite channel. Please keep releasing videos! I see you recently came back!

[@azazazzz000]

THIS IS THE KIND OF CONTENT I LIVE FOR THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@vinnythewebsurfer]

Man, Troll lore is so cool in WoW whenever they’re not just being used as an easy punching bag by the devs. Love this hellhole.

[@Stink777]

stv is the essence of wow

[@Zymil273]

I love these videos! Thank u so much!

[@ramonrivas8339]

Man, loving this series! Please keep it up! I still remember entering in SVL with my Warlock and seeing a lightning out of nowhere and one hitting me. Then I learned what a shaman could do lol.

[@kiwura]

Listening while working 🎉 nice ambience and perfect narrative. Ty for the effort.

[@RoanokeGaming]

I still actively take my paladin into STV and hunt rogues. Its on sight everytime

[@phill.5822]

Good times when me and my bro were playing in STV, he was so agressive, attacking everyone from the other faction, had no choice but to help him in his carnage, even if I wasnt such a killer myself 😂 Almost never ends well, But still well worth it

[@allisonseamiller]

Duskwood retrospective would be good for spooky month. So many memories. I remember I entered that zone from the wrong end, I started on the west end at the spooky covered bridge, and I thought I had to work my way east to Darkshire. None, I started on the high level end and worked my way to the easy end, cause I'm an idiot.

[@lurker_yt]

@@allisonseamiller that would be good for spooky month wouldn't it 😉

[@vali.s5109]

@@lurker_yt Or the Plaguelands, both have some really dark lore surrounding them.

[@andrwarrior]

you only have to meet stitches on the main road once (or that other roaming elite, mor'desh? the undead in the west graveyard) once to change your whole attitude of the safety of the roads in duskwood. Some of the terrain was really weird and could get you trapped in walled up caves or sinkholes, suddenly surrounded by stealthed mobs, ogre clans, zombies, wolves, or if you're particularly stupid and curious, giant elite emerald dragons.

[@jacobmcpherson7536]

Hell yeah. Keep the videos coming, brother.

[@Xylarxcode]

As a lifetime Alliance player, I have leveled in Duskwood many, many times between levels 22-29 and when it became time to move into STV, after the first few times, I learned my lesson and stayed away from it, preferring zones like Desolace, Dustwallow Marsh and Thousand Needles instead. I didn't skip STV entirely, but I wouldn't enter it until I was at least level 35-36 so that I could at least have a shot at defending myself if the ganker wasn't a bored level 50+. Ofcourse, even at those levels I still got ganked and died plenty, but I couldn't keep avoiding it forever. There's so much to do there and such a huge level range to do it in. I just wanted to be at a level where I could feel like I was a match against any Horde player who was there to level, rather than accidentally run into a level 38 while my puny level 30 ass was trying to do Kurzen Compound quests or hunt the young tigers/panthers etc. That's how profound of an effect it has. Even though I could smoothly transition from Duskwood into STV starting at level 29-30, I chose not to because I felt so small, paranoid and vulnerable there all the time. I also tried to take a friend there with me as often as possible. Even if we both died to a super high level ganker, something about sharing a death takes the sting out of it. It still sucks, nothing can change that. But it doesn't suck as much as if it had happened to you by your lonesome. And leveling solo players of the opposing faction were more likely to leave you alone. Saw plenty of Horde players accidentally bump into us, take a second to assess the situation and turn to go somewhere else, because they didn't wanna pick that 2v1 situation.

[@carlos23SLR]

STV is the best zone in Vanilla WoW. Peak gaming experience. Level 30 to 40ish is the most fun level bracket. Powerful spells added to your arsenal, mount, last talent spells, cool items from SM...etc I've always looked at STV like the true end game hahaha. I create a toon with the objective to enter STV in mind. Then I would enjoy STV quests and World PvP for many days, forgetting about leveling. I would even level several toons to 40 and let them sit in STV like it's the end game zone. Really peak vanilla gaming. ❤❤❤

[@zuggerzug]

I remember first entering STV back in 2008. I was excited to see all the panthers and tigers roaming around only to get corpse camped by 2 undead rogues non stop for 3 hours.

[@DeviousWizard]

Pvp heavens for me were Arathi Highlands and Tanaris, and a little in the troll city in Hinterlands. So many fun memories

[@OrisOsiris1]

moreover, when i played there in 2004 almost no one in the server had mount yet. Mounts were purchaseable at level 40 for 100 Gold (which was hard to earn). with the vastness of STV had to be traversed on foot, the danger was everpresent. also when at level 32-35, many random mobs were usually 2-3 levels higher and each of them put up decent challenge. so when a player was busy fighting monsters, he made a tempting target for opposing faction bullies.

[@joezar33]

11:52 RL , homies will turn against each other in that arena and 2004/2005 vanilla STV definitely the introduction to PvP.. 1 of the reasons i rolled a Protection Warrior , Rogues and Hunters are less pesky, odds of being 1 shot were slim .

[@fiviifjj]

I was too young in vanilla so I didn't understand how the map and zones worked I reached it from the north as I explored all the way from ellwynn forest. It was too late when I realized that I was lost in the jungle. And I remained lost until tbc. Wildest times ever. I remember hiding from players and making sure my campfire wasn't spotted as I scavenged.

[@Cruz474]

STV was the first zone I died in because I was a noob undead and hopped on the zeppelin to see where it took you.

[@Glarstonk]

This series is so good

[@anders.2259]

I have done the Green Hills of Stranglethorn quest several times on different characters in the early years of WoW. I put a lot of pages in AH.

[@diojiwoolf]

My first PVP experience in WoW started with accepting a portal from a “kind” mage who told me I was headed to Ironforge… I was not. Instead he teleported me into the Gurubashi arena and I was immediately ganked! XD Thus my lowly level 12 Paladin had to navigate his way back to safety. So I just swam up the coast back to westfall!

[@Cwizzler425]

I still have Vietnam flashbacks to this hell on earth, Imagine trying to quest and then getting spawn camped by horde until your gear breaks and to try to get away you run into a high level pack of raptors, then you get lost in the jungle again. Soon the horde undead mage casts napalm on you. Play on a pvp server they said, it will be fun they said

[@vali.s5109]

I first started playin on a WOTLK realm and when I reached Stranglethorn (through a wow lvling guide of course =D) it was chill, until I went past the small alliance friendly camp in the most northern part... it started on the road towards that dwarf hunter with mastery quests and then again at Kurzen, the trolls, the crocodiles, the trolls again, EVERYWHERE there was SOMEONE just killing people be it a twink or a raid geared toon but god it was fun when you rolled in groups to gank people.

[@JNGamerGT]

When Strangethorn makes me instantly think of "Rogue", it shows.

[@selwrynn6702]

Hey, where are you at 31:02 I don't think I've ever been there, I assume its in the naga area but I don't remember any trails under waterfalls.

[@lurker_yt]

@@selwrynn6702 when leaving the naga island on the northwestern side, there are a few bridges that take you across. area with lots of falls. Look to the falls that you will be facing and you should see some torches. They mark a path that takes you up there.

[@tmwk__]

I loved STV as a Horde player on a PvP server. It was fun being able to combat the other faction when you were on par with them. It's only when they got all butt hurt and signed into their level 60 mains that they took the fun out of it.

[@johanvaernes3829]

11:10 So... Here I was, levelling in Hyjal while listening to your video in the background. Needless to say, I now have to change my underwear.

[@txdmsk]

We used to joke about how V in STV stands for Vietnam. Truly, STV vanilla was the crucible of our generation. "Where did you serve?" "In STV. 4 years. NEVER FORGET!

[@sfomorten9478]

I entered STV on a druid back in 2005… got killed by a warrior… rerolled warrior… got to STV - got killed by a SPriest and rerolled Priest… got to STV…. And so on.. The quest rewards are missing in this video..

[@lurker_yt]

@@sfomorten9478 still debating whether or not to include in each. STV does have some good picks but at later levels they start to matter less cause you start having so much dungeon loot

[@darryljones215]

Many a miles were traveled in ghost form!!

[@Ar1AnX1x]

I feel like me and Asmongold lived in different universes playing wow, even though Stranglethorn was brutal it never made me jaded towards World PvP even though sometimes I could tell the other guy has way better gear than me, it never got to a place you felt like you're being purposely griefed, I had no idea until recently that a lot of people didn't like world pvp which is strange to me

[@lurker_yt]

@@Ar1AnX1x they definitely do live in another world. I'm glad to be in one where I can actually play the game normally

[@Ar1AnX1x]

@@lurker_yt they have some reasonable points like certain realms being unbalanced in Horde vs Alliance % or some people grouping up to grief(which happened to me very rarely, and you could always ask Zone chat for help and the griefers would get griefed themselves) but for me Stranglethorn stands out completely from every other zone and most of the reason is probably the two factions clashing at the lowest level, Vanilla would have been a lot less fun without World PvP so that's why I think they're insane

[@SkeletonBeleton]

Knowing Asmongold it's probably less that he lives in a different world and more that the mold in his bedroom has impacted his cognitive functions

[@SoluhoneV]

i love your videos you are underatted

[@lurker_yt]

@@SoluhoneV thank you!

[@thewimp9630]

Stranglethorn on PvE-Server : I’m going in an adventure Stranglethorn on PvP-Server : We got in as children, we came out as… i-i don’t know what we are anymore…

[@MrMannerless]

As a Rogue main… my feast was endless.

[@MrMannerless]

11:10 is that Stans warrior from South Park?

[@arc9173]

Alliance quest line remember me of Apocalypsis Now and Colonel Kurtz

[@ataraxiaholy]

Orgrimmar... shit; I'm still only in Orgrimmar... Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in the jungle.

[@bobmalibaliyahmarley1551]

Gooooood Moooorning, STVietnaaaam!

[@fishandclips475]

I love the smell of pom pyro in the morning

[@Eventwow]

My poor NE warrior was ganked so so so many times leveling in this zone haha.

[@Ar1AnX1x]

and warrior doesn't do so well in pvp situations unless you have a healer, I think it only does well 1v1 vs Rogues, Priests and maybe Locks

[@Eventwow]

@@Ar1AnX1x very true. Solo leveling and lvl 60s rolling on thur to grom gal base camp left me dead many times. Got even in that area with my hunter a year later hahahah.

[@GrumbleGombol]

What's Zul Guroob? Do you mean Zul Gurub, the raid (and later dungeon) in STV?

[@lurker_yt]

@@GrumbleGombol pronunciation police again but this time I did my research lmao wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Zul%27Gurub#:~:text=Zul'Gurub%20(pronounced%20%5BZOOL,located%20in%20northeastern%20Stranglethorn%20Vale.

[@mikeygduv]

This makes me want a fresh server so badly. I'm ready

[@lurker_yt]

@@mikeygduv it's about that time

[@ZblockWoW]

My first exposure to Ventrilo was bcuz the group I joined for the STV pirate quests decided that we needed voice communication 🤣

[@Hironidin]

Stranglethorn is a proving ground where noobs become elite or end up as raptor crap. Thinking back on it, it may just be the very best zone wow has to offer. There's just so much to do and see and gain it feels unique and impossible to compare to any other.

[@Bramandin]

Great video, it definitely deserves many times more views than 2700. I enjoyed watching it but it's not really for me and I'm not sure who is the target audience and does it exist. Video strikes as not sincere enough especially at the end. But it is very well written.

[@lurker_yt]

@@Bramandin thanks for the feedback!

[@viko8515]

Nothing scarer than hearing a rouge stealth in STV 😂

[@alexinivai08]

I remember being piled on by Bloodscalps and elites everywhere

[@amdintelxsniperx]

i used to offer body guard services in stv

[@markosrdic6106]

i did complete pages quest, all of them n the bonus one for full "books" xDD i mean the bonus one is instantly done but still it was a pain xD

[@lurker_yt]

@@markosrdic6106 legend

[@vincenthammons-kd9du]

I just bought them from AH for dirty cheap

[@LumbyMcGumby]

Place is brutal this zone made me switch specs lol

[@NyanPoptartCat]

Ha. I don't remember storytelling through gameplay. Just being ganked by ?? into the ground until I got fed up and brought in my max-level Druid main to shank them back until they retreated so I could get on with my life.

[@lurker_yt]

@@NyanPoptartCat sounds like a story to me 😎

[@scages101]

Gankingthorn Vale

[@Rbills02]

Booty Bay. Shiiit. I’m still only in Booty Bay.

[@wickid-the-rogue]

Had more issues in Tanaris then stv back then

[@HPNomad]

Heck yeah, Vietnam!

[@StudioUAC]

i only ever played on the PVE realms

[@pecadorr93]

STV? More like STD... Probably the first real PvP contact for many players

[@Stebetto3]

Alliance when the jungle speaks *Orcish* 😱

[@Stebetto3]

"they were in the trees man"

[@1rondawn]

It is A Florida!

[@cpayne3]

We need more FFA PvP full loot WoW private servers.

[@TheLassing0r]

STV? Questing there feels more like a STD!

[@Teltharion]

well i played a civilized PvE server, soo.....

[@empire0]

STVietnam

[@tek512]

STVietnam.

[@txdmsk]

Classic WoW music is so inconic. STV music makes me warm and fuzzy in all the right places. Compare it to the generic garbage of The War Within.

[@lucacastellotto6890]

The thumbnail looks bad

[@CrobatmanIamthenight]

Please stop calling it std

[@MadBulik]

Great video. But don't put a death metal song at full volume in the middle, please 🙏

[@Flynn01979]

Gather round children, because if you thought Stranglethorn was a bloodbath. Let me tell ya a story or two of the great Tarren Mill vs Southshore wars.

[@bigbaba1111]

Imho people tend to be more aggressive in STV and BR.

[@DaveDavis-f9w]

*laughs in PvE server.*