Over the Summer of 2009, Mountain Dew and Blizzard had a Game Fuel Cross-promotion featuring Alliance and Horde flavored drinks. By signing up on their website, you could also get an ingame Battle Bot pet and either Red (Horde) or Blue (Alliance) fuel for your Battle Bot. If two players' bots had different color fuel, they'd fight to the death.
This post will cover May through December 2009, including Ulduar, the entirety of Trial of the Crusader and the beginning of Icecrown Citadel. The next expansion, Cataclysm, was announced at BlizzCon in August of 2009. As soon as word got out that the entire vanilla world would be revamped, many of us began setting out to take screenshots, do old quests and explore areas we hadn't seen before they were gone.
May 8, 2009 - These two small islands can be found by riding south off the southernmost point of Tanaris. They are still there today. As far as I know they were only used for the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline that was part of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj event. There were a few buildings and human mobs.
May 8, 2009 - I never get tired of Northrend.
May 20, 2009 - Gah! The Lich King sees us. Run!
May 25, 2009 - I decided to ride around the perimeter of both Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms to see if there was anything to find. On the very south edge of Silithus (presently this area is considered Ahn'qiraj), I found a Tauren style village. I don't recall any NPCs or mobs being there. There was also a small cave system behind it that was empty. After the Cataclysm the village and tiny piece of land are gone, but the cave is still there and now has a mysterious sleeping dragon named Andrestrasz inside.
May 26, 2009 - Riding east along the shoreline from Tirisifal Glades used to bring you to a zone called "Quel'thalas". Before the Burning Crusade expansion added Eversong Woods and the Ghostlands, this was going to be the homeland of the High Elves. Since the new Blood Elf zones were part of a separate expansion, this old terrain was still there. With Cataclysm they added an invisible wall and this area is no longer possible to reach - that I know of.
May 26, 2009 - The only thing of note in this "zone" was a chunk of land with a few Night Elf-style buildings on them. No NPCs and so far as I know there was never any quests or any reason to come here.
May 28, 2009 - New character mode unlocked: Dark Elves!! Or just a random bug.
June 4, 2009 - Forged Alliance Group 2 defeats Mimiron! Not sure how long it took us, but it was a few weeks.
June 8, 2009 - In the far south of Winterspring there's a subzone called Darkwhisper Gorge. There was mostly just a bunch of mobs for various level 60 quests. In Cataclysm it was made part of the Mount Hyjal zone.
June 8, 2009 - In one of the caves of Darkwhisper Gorge there was a sealed tunnel with a portal behind it. Apparently at some point this area lead into the old Mount Hyjal zone, long before the Cataclysm revamp.
June 11, 2009 - Inside Ulduar, specifically looking at the area leading towards Algalon the Observer.
June 28, 2009 - Having just defeated General Vezax a week prior, Group 2 starts working on the craziness that is Yogg-Saron. I don't remember how or why I died, but since I was tanking and I died first, I must've screwed something up. This fight was HARD and due to various real life issues, Group 2 didn't run very much for the next few weeks. It'd be a while before we could defeat him.
July 10, 2009 - An Alliance Attack Squadron roars across the plains of Mulgore towards Thunder Bluff.
July 10, 2009 - Victory for the Alliance!! A bunch of new Black War Bears for defeating the Horde leaders.
July 26, 2009 - Aftermath of the Battle of the Wrathgate. Rest in Peace, Bolvar Fordragon.
August 4, 2009 - Patch 3.2 - "Call of the Crusade" was released.
August 4, 2009 - Happy Patch Day!! Patch 3.2 is finally released, completing the Crusaders Coliseum in Icecrown, adding the Trial of the Crusader raid, Trial of the Champion Dungeon, Isle of Conquest Battleground, Raid ID extensions, the ability to trade Soulbound Loot Drops in raids within a certain time duration and mounts at level 20 instead of 40. Though history doesn't look too kindly on the Trial of the Crusader (TOC) raid, this patch added a lot of quality of life improvements.
August 10, 2009 - Ugh. More Murlocs... Remember the random boss in the TOC 5-man dungeon? Never knew what you'd get.
August 10, 2009 - The patch also added a Children's Week quest for Northrend with new pets. Normally Children's Week is in May, but I guess since this content wasn't ready they didn't add it till later.
August 12, 2009 - You face Jaraxxus! Eredar Lord of the Burning Legion! Trifling gnome!
August 20, 2009 - Uhm.. Many naked Tauren in the fountain.... I think I'll go fishing somewhere else.
August 24, 2009 - A few of us decided to do some jump tricks and explore the places between zones that weren't completed yet. Figured it'd be neat to see it before Cataclysm revamped everything and fixed it up. Some really weird places like this.
August 26, 2009 - Duke Hydraxis started the questline for the Hydraxian Waterlords. After Cataclysm this guy was removed along with the questline.
August 30, 2009 - After a few weeks of Group 2 not running, we made a little impromptu group and went after Yogg-Saron again, finally slaying him. Fun random fact: Sproles had just hit max level and got his first Emblem from killing this boss. I believe this was also the first time Kaittlynn had seen this fight. Both had extensive prior raid experience though, which paid off. Group 2 would eventually re-form and down him a few weeks or so later.
September 1, 2009 - Oh man, the Horde NPCs are such jerks. I love 'em.
September 3, 2009 - Bring it on Arthas!!!! Or just smash the floor. Whatever.
September 3, 2009 - Shenanigans. That's my lowbie banker alt in Daghi's sidecar. We supposed an extremely low level character would aggro a massive amount of mobs and wanted to test the theory. So we ported my banker to Dalaran and Daghi drove us out the sewer pipe. I leveled off Discovery experience as we plummeted to our doom. I think we ended up making it pretty close to the Argent Tournament grounds before it became impractical. I died a bunch. Fun was had.
September 6, 2009 - Working on the questline to open Algalon the Observer. Had to kill all 4 of the Keepers in Ulduar on hard mode.
September 12, 2009 - Plummeting into The Icy Depths after The Lich King shatters the floor of the Crusaders Coliseum. I kinda think the architects should've checked the area out a bit better before buidling a giant arena on it. Also make sure no one turns on Path of Frost or Waterwalking and splats the raid at the bottom.
September 27, 2009 - Original Orgrimmar before Cataclysm. Taken during Brewfest.
September 29, 2009 - Using our multiple summons for Coren Direbrew. So many Coren Direbrew bodies... The year before this I remember Akumabarai trying to position Coren Direbrew so he'd die on the tables outside.
October 1, 2009 - Taking back the Undercity with Lady Sylvanas and Thrall during the Battle for Undercity questline. Sadly this was removed in the Cataclysm expansion.
October 1, 2009 - Khanok the Impassable? Well he was pretty big.
October 1, 2009 - Varimathras, who convinced the Royal Apothecary Society to turn on Sylvanas. Who used demons to force the Forsaken to flee from their own city. Who fell before my bow.
October 1, 2009 - And just after we defeat him King Varian Wrynn shows up with an Alliance invasion force. Before the fight could commence, Jaina Proudmore teleported the Alliance force away.
October 6, 2009 - 02:58:22am. Brewfest was ending and I wanted to see what happened.
October 6, 2009 - 02:58:32am. 10 seconds later Brewfest just vanishes as if it was never there.
October 23, 2009 - First time I got the The Horseman's Reins. I think we were at it for like an hour or so, using all of our summons and the summons of our alts. Arnold decided to pack it in and leave, not staying for what I think was the last try. And it dropped. And I won.
November 14, 2009 - Random bug in the Horde Inn in Dalaran. It went away after relogging.
November 14, 2009 - Even the ugly Swamp of Sorrows can look great if captured just right.
November 21, 2009 - Inori had his Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline up to the point he could summon Eranikus, Tyrant of the Dream in Moonglade. He opted not to turn the quest in so he could summon him a few times before Cataclysm.
November 21, 2009 - During the event, Tyrande Whisperwind comes to help with some of her Priestesses of the Moon. If you look closely you'll see why I named this screenshot "Exalted with Darnassus".
November 23, 2009 - The first annual Pilgrim's Bounty! This fun week-long event was the first such event added in several years. It added a few pieces of cosmetic gear, a title, pet and a fast way to level cooking.
November 25, 2009 - I am... THE TURKINATOR!!! Sorry Turkeys.
November 26, 2009 - Playing both sides. With a Horde attack squad heading to Exodar. Little did we know there was an Alliance Shaman on the boat, not flagged for PvP. Just as the boat was about to "zone" into Exodar, he flagged and knocked a bunch of people off the boat. They had to swim out of the fatigue zone and get back to shore and wait for the next boat. Well played, Shaman. Well played.
December 4, 2009 - Slaying Cairne Bloodhoof!!! Long before Garrosh did.
December 8, 2009 - Patch 3.3 - "Fall of the Lich King" was released.
December 8, 2009 - Happy Patch Day!!! Patch 3.3 is released adding Icecrown Citadel, 3 new 5-man dungeons, the Dungeon Finder Tool, Weekly Raid Quests and much more. This screenshot is from the first dungeon, The Forge of Souls.
December 10, 2009 - Group 2 defeats Lord Marrowgar! BONE STORM!!!!!!!!!!
December 13, 2009 - Alcaz Island, not too far off the coast of Dustwallow Marsh has a number of buildings that used to house elite mobs for the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline.
December 14, 2009 - Gunship was pretty simple and difficult to fail at, but it was different and fairly fun. The rocket packs sure were awesome.
December 16, 2009 - Sometimes when riding Archmage Pentarus' flying machine to Sholazar Basin, the textures wouldn't load for a few seconds resulting in nifty views like this.
December 18, 2009 - Not being content with simply defeating us, sometimes after winning in Wintergrasp the Horde would overrun the Alliance camp and kill us all again.
December 31, 2009 - Shenanigans. The Temple of Storms in Storm Peaks is the highest point in Northrend. I wanted to see how far I could get by falling off it with Slow Fall. I ran off it, I rode off it with a horse and managed to reach the Bronze Dragonshrine in Dragonblight.
But finally I had Vorahon, a Shaman, dual me and blast me off the top of the temple. I flew so far so fast that I zoomed over the coast of Dragonblight into the fatigue zone and had to purposely drop out of the air to keep from dying. I'm convinced if aimed properly, I could've reached the coasts of Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord as well.
2009 is over and Patch 3.3.0 has been live for a few weeks now. The new 5 mans were very story driven and pretty fun, but more difficult than the previous heroics. Icecrown Citadel was divided into 4 sections, each would unlock at a different date so until January 5th, we'd only have access to the first 4 bosses.
The Looking For Group tool made it so that you could queue for a dungeon with either friends or get placed into a group of random strangers and automatically teleported inside the dungeon. You no longer needed to travel to the dungeon. Years later it is still debated whether or not this is a good thing for the game. I myself am on the fence. I don't miss standing around in a city late at night asking on TradeChat asking if anyone wanted to run a group or starting a group and trying to find the right people for it. But I do fondly remember running into people in the middle of Westfall or Ashenvale wanting to do the local dungeon and then spending an hour or two romping through it getting our butts kicked and making friends along the way.
It wasn't so bad in the beginning but these days it seems most people just want to get in and out of dungeons as fast as possible usually with minimal social interaction. I could be running with bots. I don't have a solution, but I do know that returning to the old style before the LFG tool isn't possible anymore, nor will it work.
