By way of introduction

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The gryphon cannot hear the flight master...

I'd always avoided World of Warcraft before. I had plenty of friends who played it, and I'd picked up at least some of the lore second- and thirdhand — enough to at least smile and nod at Leeeeeeeroooooooy Jenkins and "OK, stop dots" (language warning on those links, by the way). But much of the lingo — buffs and tanks and aggro — remained murky to me.

Then, recently, a hardcore WoW-playing friend decided she wanted a particular bonus within the game that you got by convincing someone to start playing. The "someone" turned out to be me.

That was, oh, a couple of weeks ago. I can't say for certain that I'm hooked, but at least I'm hooked for now.

But the thing is, Azeroth is a large, confusing, overwhelming place, and I wouldn't have gotten very far without said friend providing explanations and advice. So I'm documenting my progression through the World of Warcraft in hopes of keeping the confusion to a minimum for other new players — little things, like how you're supposed to use the neutralizing agent, what to do when it turns out Vindicator Aesom lied about who would be destroying the Sun Gate, and the proper way to not drown — and hopefully providing amusement for everyone else. (Also, I did finally find out what "buffs" and "tanks" and "aggro" were.)

And there probably will be a bunch of new players, as Blizzard accelerates the push surrounding its newest expansion, Mists of Pandaria. Come late September, there'll be a whole new continent to explore, with hints of a deep, dark evil soon to be unleashed (oh, not another one!), wreaking havoc until true heroes can be found to stop it...

And what rough beast, its level reached at last
Slouches towards Pandaria, ready to respawn?