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Returning to a paladin's vault

Back in January of 2013 -- nearly two years ago now -- my rogue alt became my main. Part of the transition process involved sifting through the dusty depths of that character's bank, discovering treasures (and trash) long forgotten. I documented the process back then and, while my main isn't changing, I've decided to document the process once more while I go through banks in preparation for Warlords of Draenor. Today, my paladin is up to bat.

My history with my paladin is complicated. Though my priest was my main for most of my raiding career, the paladin was my favored alt -- if not my favored character altogether. There simply wasn't a need for more paladins in my raid, so I avoided pulling the trigger and changing mains until mid-Wrath of the Lich King, where the raid was willing and able to accommodate a paladin. I continued investing significant time into my paladin throughout those years, however, and accrued a whole bunch of stuff. Back in the day, I loved the lore and flavor of the paladin and its numerous class quests -- while playing that class, it felt like I was playing someone truly special in the world of Azeroth. As such, I attached a great deal of sentimental value to the many class quest rewards. Verigan's Fist still holds a place in my collection, now moved into void storage. I also discovered I still possess a Holy Mightstone, a secondary reward for the old level 50 class quest, which I meant to use on the Lich King when I first met him in battle. Given my paladin has Shadowmourne, it's safe to say I forgot to use it. At this point, I never will, but I'm keeping that Mightstone anyway.



Between Verigan's Fist, the Mightstone, and my faithful Charger, I'm sad all over again over the removal of all of the old class quests. None of those items can be acquired anymore. Verigan's Fist was a rite of passage for paladins back in the day. All of those class quests gave a real sense of identity to the paladin and to the character you're playing. I know warlocks once felt the same way, and may still feel it in some ways with the green fire quest line. The paladin, however, has no such quests anymore. I feel Blizzard seriously underestimates the power of class quests -- though often simple, they had the power to define a player's relationship with the game.

In the vein of class identity, it seems I had a real affinity for "holy" items. Whether I collected them intentionally or not, I'm not sure, but my bank includes: Holy Dust used in Burning Crusade to purchase enchantments from the Aldor, a stack of Consecrated Sharpening Stones and a full set of Undead Slaying armor from the Scourge invasion event, and a full array of Argent Dawn items. Tabard of the Argent Dawn, Argent Dawn Banner, the lightsaber-esque Argent Avenger, and so forth. The Argent Dawn was way cooler than the Argent Crusade, I say.

And before we stray too far from sighing wistfully over memories of slaughtering the undead, I've also squirreled away an Arcanite Ripper and Monster Slayer's Kit -- yet more toys from the Scourge Invasion event. Both were acquired from Prince Tenris Mirkblood, an event-exclusive boss in Karazhan. They really don't make world events like that anymore. The Warlords event is coming with a refreshed Blackrock Spire, sure, but the Scourge Invasion event was all-encompassing. Characters of all levels could participate. Yes, capital cities being plagued to hell and back wasn't the most user-friendly for some players, but the gameplay out in the world was fun. Lord Blackwood's Blade, from another event-exclusive boss, now rests in my void storage along with the other weapons I've collected over the years.

Speaking of my weapon collection, Quel'Serrar is my pride and joy. I got my hands on that while my paladin wasn't raiding at all. My friends thought I was insane, pursuing a Quel'Serrar on my alt, but my paladin was always my favorite despite alt-status. My overall weapon collection isn't as impressive as others might be due to her not being a raiding character until Wrath of the Lich King, but I'm pretty happy with what I have. I didn't keep every weapon she acquired, but most of the ones that looked even remotely cool. Moving them all into void storage cost a pretty penny.

There's a handful of pre-Wrath raiding weapons in there which I managed to acquire when we held the occasional alt-raid. If someone told me I had to cull the list down to a select few, I don't think I could. Every time I look at the list, I find a new favorite. Verigan's Fist and Quel'Serrar hold the most sentimental value. But then there's Shadowmourne, which carries wonderful memories of its own. The Lionheart Executioner wins out for aesthetics. There was nearly a Thunderstrike on the list above, but I realized I was insane and vendored it.

Then there are the shields. I don't have a great number of them, but the ones I have are precious.

Yes, there's an Alliance theme there. Like I said, paladins used to drip flavor. And anyone who doesn't know why the Lichen Guard is precious didn't play a protection paladin in Burning Crusade.

My collected armor sets are many and varied, but few of them are complete. The Undead Slaying set and Lightbringer, tier 6, are a couple of the exceptions. Lightbringer is just an awesome transmog/roleplay set, in my opinion. My pride and joy, however, is a complete set of Soulforge. For those of you who didn't play back then, Soulforge is an upgrade version of Lightforge. Lightforge being the paladin class set from vanilla WoW dungeons -- yes, there were class armor sets in dungeons back then. Later, they implemented a questline to upgrade those class sets purely through solo and 5-man activities that involved summoning special, more difficult bosses in existing dungeons. That questline is no longer in-game, though replicas of those sets can be purchased for transmog purposes at the Darkmoon Faire. No replicas for me, though. I have the real deal. I still have the Banner of Provocation and Brazier of Invocation to prove it. How else was an alt to advance back then?

I do wonder why Blizzard didn't carry this model of character advancement forward. It gave players gearing goals that didn't involve raiding. It wasn't as good as gear you could acquire from raids, but that was fine. It was something to do with your alts, or something to pursue if you didn't/couldn't raid at all.

There's an array of other fun things in my bank, such as my Orb of the Sin'dorei, defunct Libram of Divine Judgement, and one half of a Thunderfury I never managed to complete, but none of that matters too much. What really matters, the most pleasant surprise of all, is a Cask of Peaked Dalaran Red. I completely forgot I bought that Cask of Dalaran Red back in Wrath of the Lich King, curious what the 365 day duration on the item meant. After a full real-time year, a Cask of Dalaran Red becomes a Cask of Aged Dalaran Red. Another full year later, it becomes a Cask of Peaked Dalaran Red.

When digging through a junk pile, is there any find more beautiful than a fine wine? I think not.