Why I still hold onto my Phantom Blade in World of Warcraft

The good sword I ever obtained in a online game is the Phantom Blade in World of Warcraft. The truth is, it’s so cool to me that I by no means parted with it. It’s nonetheless sitting in my unique character’s financial institution vault, some 19 years after I first bought it — although its stats have been squished virtually to nothing by the a number of math resets the venerable on-line sport has had through the years, and although that character has now far outleveled the purpose at which the sword could be helpful.

What makes the Phantom Blade cool? It’s not a particular weapon, though it’s not unhealthy. It’s not some Legendary boss drop earned via the blood, sweat, and tantrums of a raid get together. It’s not even Epic — only a run-of-the-mill blue Uncommon. It doesn’t maintain a particular place inside Warcraft lore, it’s no Ashbringer or Frostmourne. It’s simply… a sword. However to me, it’s not simply any sword.

Again in 2005 — or now, in case you’re taking part in on Blizzard’s Traditional servers that (kind of) replicate the sport because it was then — the Phantom Blade was an honest, crafted weapon for mid- to high-level characters, although undoubtedly not endgame gear. It could possibly be used from degree 44 (the cap was then 60), at which level it was fairly nifty, and would keep aggressive till most likely the early 50s.

Picture: Blizzard Leisure by way of gamerjive

The harm stats are OK, and it has a helpful “proc” (an opportunity to set off an impact on hit): it decreases the goal’s armor for 20 seconds, and prevents them from coming into stealth or turning invisible throughout that point. This made it a coveted weapon in WoW’s player-versus-player neighborhood for coping with annoying Rogue gamers (and was thus hated by Rogues). The factor is, I by no means performed PvP.

My unique WoW character was a Warrior. I didn’t need to play a Warrior, actually; I fancied both a Hunter or a Druid, however once I joined the sport, my pals’ guild already had loads of these and was in need of tanks, so it was deemed {that a} Warrior I needs to be. I didn’t take to it — I’m horrible at tanking, and relating to taking part in a damage-dealing position, WoW has different courses I favor. I moved on to a Hunter principal ultimately, however that Warrior nonetheless has a particular place in my coronary heart. In my headcanon he has an endearing, good-natured ineptitude about him, and the adventures we went on, discovering Blizzard’s extraordinary creation collectively, are unforgettable. Anyway, whereas not a particularly nice weapon for Warriors, the Phantom Blade’s armor debuff was fairly helpful when tanking.

However that wasn’t why I coveted it both. No, I needed a Phantom Blade for 2, very shallow, causes. One: true to its identify, it’s a ghostly sword with a curving, translucent blade that offers off a mushy, bluish glow. It appears sick. Two: not like virtually each different one-handed weapon within the sport, the Phantom Blade exhibits throughout the character’s again when at relaxation, reasonably than on the facet as if hanging off the belt. For a tanking warrior, which means it’s carried diagonally beneath a defend. This appears distinctive — and sick as hell.

Man, I needed a Phantom Blade a lot. Have you ever ever gotten like this, whenever you covet a digital merchandise with an intense, virtually painful starvation, simply as a lot as you can need one thing in actual life? That’s how a lot I needed a Phantom Blade.

Picture: Blizzard Leisure by way of gamerjive

The one approach to get a Phantom Blade is for a personality with the blacksmithing career to craft one. I couldn’t afford the costs it was going for on the public sale home, and my Warrior character was an engineer, so I wanted our guild blacksmith to make it for me. This stuff weren’t that simple or low cost to make — you wanted mithril and truesilver bars, a number of aquamarine gems, some rarish Breath of Wind drops, plus two lesser invisibility potions, which means an alchemist wanted to get entangled too.

As I bear in mind it, I mined the uncooked metals myself, however my guildmates pulled collectively the remainder of it as a present to me. Possibly they knew I didn’t actually benefit from the tanking they’d made me do, and had been making up for that. Possibly they had been simply being good. We might do stuff like that for one another, in these days earlier than each WoW enlargement grew to become a ruthlessly optimized race to the end line. One purpose my Warrior-engineer leveled slowly and wasn’t an excellent Warrior is that I set myself the objective of crafting a completely pointless mechanical squirrel pet for each single member of the guild. This took ages, and it was an actual chore, but additionally perhaps essentially the most enjoyable I ever had taking part in WoW.

In order that’s why I nonetheless hold on to my Phantom Blade. My pals made it for me, and it jogs my memory of them — and of a time when this unbelievable sport was an all-consuming engine of marvel for us to find collectively.

Additionally, it appears actually fucking cool.