Ah, Wrath of the Lich King. The expansion we had all been drooling over for months. Arthas, Death Knights, Northrend, new raids—the hype was real, and we were ready. But before we could even step foot on the frozen tundra of Northrend, we had the pre-expansion event.

And Blizzard? They went all out.

First, let me set the scene: imagine you’re walking around Stormwind, minding your own business, maybe picking up a few quests or checking out the auction house. Suddenly, a suspiciously green-looking player stumbles by, moaning and groaning like they’ve had one too many Elwynn brews. But wait—it’s not a hangover. It’s the Plague.

Yep. Blizzard decided to kick off Wrath with a full-on zombie apocalypse. Anyone could get infected, and if you didn’t cure it in time, guess what? Congratulations! You’re now an undead zombie, spreading the plague faster than a trade chat argument about DPS meters.

So here we were, the members of Blood Bound, trying to be responsible members of society when all hell broke loose. One minute, I was sipping on some good ol’ Moonberry Juice in the inn; the next, Marcus comes barreling through the door yelling, “THEY’RE EVERYWHERE!” Apparently, the entirety of Stormwind had turned into the set of a bad horror movie, and none of us were prepared.

Of course, Ventanus, ever the drama queen, was trying to heroically save the city, running around in full paladin plate armor, swinging his sword at everything that moved—except, of course, he got infected too. The irony? Watching him transform into a zombie mid-righteous crusade was one of the highlights of my Warcraft career. One minute he’s all, “FOR THE LIGHT!” and the next, he’s shambling toward us with a hunger for brains.

Marcus and I were stationed outside the guard HQ, doing our best to fend off the growing horde. But here’s the kicker—I got infected. Now, picture this: I’m yelling on Skype, “I NEED A CURE, NOW!” Boltar’s running around in circles, trying to figure out where the nearest Argent Healer is, and Marcus is standing there, dumbfounded, watching as I slowly turn into a walking corpse.

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Did we save me? Of course not. Instead, Marcus just calmly says, “Well, guess you’re on the other side now.” And that was that. I spent the next ten minutes terrorizing civilians with my newfound zombie abilities. Honestly, it was oddly therapeutic.

Meanwhile, the rest of the guild had fallen into chaos. Guild chat was a mix of screaming, confusion, and a whole lot of “OMG, ZOMBIES!” One of our mages, in a brilliant stroke of genius, decided to teleport himself to Shattrath to escape the madness—only to find out that the plague had spread there too. It was everywhere. No one was safe. And the Auction House? Forget it. People were turning into zombies mid-bid.

Of course, some of us leaned into the chaos. Vent got infected again (seriously, how does that keep happening to him?), and we formed our own little zombie gang, shambling through Stormwind, attacking random NPCs, and generally making a mess of things. The most satisfying part was seeing those self-righteous paladins run for their lives, especially since they were the most vocal about “cleansing the city.”

But it wasn’t all fun and games. Well, mostly it was, but the Scourge Invasion event was also happening, and we had to deal with undead bosses popping up all over Azeroth. One day you’re peacefully fishing in Stranglethorn, the next you’re fighting for your life against a high-level elite zombie monstrosity. And what did we get for all our troubles? Some sweet loot, that’s what. Plus, it was a good warm-up for Northrend, or at least that’s what we told ourselves as we died repeatedly to swarms of undead.

By the end of it, Stormwind looked like a war zone, guild chat was a disaster, and Vent swore off “the Light” at least four times after his umpteenth infection. But you know what? It was one of the best pre-expansion events we’d ever had. Between the zombie hordes, the chaos, and the ridiculous amount of times I got infected, it was pure, unadulterated fun.

And the pre-release of Wrath of the Lich King? It was a new first. Midnight release. So here I am, standing outside Game, and there’s a queue—a long queue. Bollocks to that, I thought.

That’s when I saw Wildrose of the famed criminal guild, The Rose—remember them?—aka Lee, an old friend and sneakier than a rogue pickpocketing. There he was, at the front of the queue. Casually, I walked up, struck up a conversation, and when the doors opened at midnight, guess who was the fourth person in? Yup, yours truly.

I was back home in 15 minutes, loading it onto my PC. And yes, it was still shiny CDs back then!