Stormwind left a powerful impression on anyone visiting for the first time. Passing through the massive city gates, the towering statues of the Five Heroes in the Valley of Heroes immediately caught the eye of every new player.
"After the Second War, the Alliance of Lordaeron destroyed the Dark Portal on Azeroth's side, cutting off reinforcements from the orcs on Draenor. But on Draenor's side, Ner'zhul and the Horde's warlocks used powerful artifacts to reopen the connection between the two worlds."
"The Alliance quickly sent their bravest champions through the portal to Draenor. In the end, the expedition completed its mission—but when the Dark Portal was destroyed, the entire force was either lost or killed. After Stormwind was rebuilt, statues of those five heroes were raised here in their honor."
Gabryell explained the story behind the Valley of Heroes to Carlos and Igor, who were still staring around the city in awe.
"Kurdran Wildhammer, Danath Trollbane, Alleria Windrunner, Turalyon, and Khadgar—the Five Heroes of the Alliance."
He spoke with clear enthusiasm.
"Their era is over. A new generation of heroes has taken their place. Players like us will be the ones shaping the next era."
Carlos and Igor looked at him as if he had just said something completely ridiculous.
Hugo, on the other hand, seemed genuinely inspired.
"I'll use the arrows in my hands to protect Azeroth… to protect the Alliance."
"Ahem—"
Even Gabryell felt that had come out a little too dramatic. He coughed lightly to hide the awkwardness.
"The city guards can give directions. If you need to find a specific NPC, just ask them."
Then he began assigning tasks.
"Carlos, go learn Engineering. Igor, pick up Alchemy and Enchanting. I'll grab Mining and take care of the guild charter."
Time was money, so they split up immediately instead of wasting time standing around.
Before heading off to learn Mining, Gabryell stopped by the Auction House and listed the extra gear and items they had picked up while leveling.
Everything was priced at double the vendor value. If it sold, it was easy profit. If not, he could simply vendor it later without losing anything.
"Sometimes you spend a little to make a lot."
Every World of Warcraft player gets ripped off at least once. It's practically part of the learning experience.
He browsed the Auction House to see if there were any cheap items worth flipping.
Unfortunately, there were barely any players in Stormwind, Ironforge, or Darnassus yet. The listings contained only a handful of items.
Most of them were the ones he had just posted.
With nothing worth buying, he left the Auction House and headed for the Dwarven District to learn Mining. In the early days of the game, ore nodes scattered across the world were practically untouched—easy money for anyone willing to gather them.
"Stormwind is huge. I walked around forever and somehow ended up back where I started."
Carlos had completely lost his way in the maze-like streets.
Suddenly Igor shouted.
"Holy crap! I fell into the river!"
"That's the beginner experience. You'll get used to it."
"Every newbie gets lost in Stormwind, falls into the canal at least once, and ends up killing rats in the Deeprun Tram station."
Gabryell remembered his own first visit here in his previous life. He had wandered around in circles before finally finding the NPC he needed.
"Playing without addons is really inconvenient. I need to get some made as soon as possible."
Playing World of Warcraft without addons was like playing Ragnarok Online without reading wikis or forums. Questing and running dungeons became much harder, and the overall experience suffered.
Because the game had launched globally at the same time in this world, addons hadn't been developed yet.
"No Thottbot… no Allakhazam… not even Ventrilo."
He searched online for the usual World of Warcraft sites.
Nothing.
That was one of the consequences of the global launch.
In his memories, sites like Thottbot and Allakhazam had quickly become the main hubs for information about quests, items, and dungeons. Players relied on them constantly while leveling.
But in this timeline, none of those community sites—or addons—existed yet.
Players had to figure everything out on their own.
Gabryell frowned slightly.
No quest helpers.
No damage meters.
No raid tools.
Vanilla WoW in its purest form.
"Gabryell, what are you doing?"
Igor noticed that his Mage had been standing still for several minutes.
"Carlos and I already learned our professions. Did you get the guild charter yet?"
Gabryell snapped out of his thoughts.
"I was thinking about something. I haven't picked up the charter yet. Wait for me at the Auction House entrance in the Trade District."
He left the Dwarven District and headed back toward the Trade District. Near the entrance, he found the guild registrar, Aldwin Laughlin, and opened the dialogue window.
He purchased a Guild Charter.
"What should we name the guild?"
Gabryell didn't want to make the decision alone. The guild belonged to all four of them.
Carlos thought for a moment.
"How about Ascension?"
Igor waved it off.
"Too cliché. Every MMO has a guild called Ascension."
Hugo chimed in enthusiastically.
"Then let's call it Chattahoochee."
He loved Alan Jackson's song by that name.
Gabryell rejected it immediately.
In his previous life, a guild with that name had wasted months of his time in WoW TBC. After that, he never wanted to hear that song again.
"I'm thinking of calling the guild Fearless."
"As in—without fear. What do you guys think?"
If the others didn't like it, he wouldn't force the idea.
"Fearless… without fear."
Carlos repeated the name a few times before slapping his thigh.
"Great name! As a tank, you've got to be fearless—taking the hits for your team and soaking all the damage."
Igor shrugged.
"You know I suck at naming things. I've used the same ID for years. Works for me."
Hugo immediately raised his hand.
"I'm in too! I want to be like the Five Heroes—fearless in defending Azeroth."
Hearing the others agree made Gabryell feel unexpectedly emotional.
This kind of bond was something he would rarely experience again in later years of WoW.
More than a decade later, the four of them would be scattered across different cities. In Azeroth, only he would remain.
Fighting alone.
Guild Name: Fearless
Registration Fee: 10 silver
A Guild Charter appeared in his inventory.
According to the registrar, besides himself, nine other guildless players would need to sign it before the guild could officially be created.
"Ogabs invites you to sign the Fearless guild charter. Accept?"
Gabryell invited Egides first.
Carlos accepted immediately.
Then he invited Grada.
Igor accepted without hesitation.
"Hugo, wait until you and your druid friend reach Stormwind before signing."
"You're level 9 now. Once you hit level 10, come meet us here. Then we'll head to Westfall and start questing together."
Under Gabryell's guidance, BentArrow—and his druid friend Lunatori—had both reached level 9 just five minutes earlier, already leading the leveling pack in Darnassus.
"But the charter only has three signatures so far," Carlos said. "We still need seven more."
Gabryell laughed.
"That's easy. We'll just shout in Stormwind or Goldshire. People will line up to sign."
Carlos smacked his forehead.
Right.
They were about to start the first guild in the entire game. There would probably be players lining up from Stormwind all the way to Goldshire just to sign.
"Let's recruit in Stormwind first. If that's not enough, we'll go to Goldshire."
Gabryell typed:
/y
Back in 2004, without addons, the chat system was extremely bare-bones. If you wanted to shout in the city, you had to type the command manually.
Default chat: /s
Yell: /y
Party: /p
Guild: /g
Raid: /ra
Whisper: /w
Global channels like World Chat didn't exist yet. They would only appear later when players started creating custom channels or using addons to organize them.
"World of Warcraft without addons is like a man missing both balls."
"It's incomplete."
Hugo twitched slightly when he heard that, feeling the words land like an uncomfortable jab. He cleared his throat and chose to pretend he hadn't heard it.
Gabryell couldn't help but miss them.
Addons weren't cheats—they simply made the game easier to manage and improved the overall experience.
And tools like TeamSpeak would eventually become essential for coordinating guild raids and group content.