Here I was. Waiting. And waiting. And then waiting some more. The servers, of course, were being their usual temperamental selves. It was like Blizzard had hired an army of hamsters to power the game, and they’d collectively gone on strike for better treats or a cushier wheel. So, what did we all do? We sat there, staring at our login screens like moths drawn to a bug zapper, hoping for that magical moment when the servers would finally come to life.

Finally, the hamsters must have been bribed with premium carrots, because the servers lit up, and we were off! First stop: Stormwind Harbor. And what awaited us there? A ship. But not just any ship—oh no, this was a big ol’ creaky, ancient vessel that looked like it had seen more sea battles than any of us had seen raid wipes. It was practically an antique, probably held together by sheer willpower and duct tape, but who was I to judge?

So, we hopped aboard, ready to head for the Borean Tundra, which I’d heard so much about. Northrend, baby! It was like Christmas morning, except instead of gifts, you were probably going to get frostbite and attacked by a giant tundra worm.

Now, for the uninitiated, the Borean Tundra is one of two places you can arrive at in Northrend, the other being the Howling Fjord (but we’ll get to that). Borean Tundra is what happens when Mother Nature gets bored and decides to go full-on ice age just for kicks. It’s all snow, ice, and desolate frozen wasteland for miles. Imagine Siberia, but with more hostile creatures trying to eat your face off.

But let me tell you, the local fauna is… something. There are mammoths. Big, woolly, angry mammoths that, for some reason, we were tasked with helping out. I swear, one of the quests had me giving medical treatment to a mammoth calf because it had a cold. A cold! In the Borean Tundra! It’s like asking someone to patch a hole in the Titanic while it’s sinking, but hey, that’s questing in Warcraft for you.

Stolen story; please report.

And oh, the hippie elves! You’d think elves would be all graceful and serene, right? Wrong. These Cenarion Circle elves were practically the Tolkien version of Greenpeace. You couldn’t walk two steps without one of them popping out of the snow to lecture you on the importance of environmental conservation. One quest even had me planting trees. In a frozen wasteland. I mean, sure, I get it. We all love the planet, but planting a sapling in the Borean Tundra? I could feel my character’s eyebrow twitching as I wondered whether these guys had ever heard of “appropriate climate for foliage.”

And let’s not forget the Kalu’ak—the walrus people. They were pretty chill, but they definitely had some bizarre priorities. One of the first things they wanted me to do was gather supplies for a feast. A feast! In the middle of nowhere. Like, I’m freezing my bits off, and you’re asking me to play Iron Chef with some local fish and berries?

Then came one of the most memorable quests. Picture this: I’m minding my own business, fighting off the tundra wildlife when suddenly I’m asked to ride a mammoth and trample Scourge forces. Oh yes, you heard me right—mammoth cavalry. It was like being in some sort of weird historical reenactment where instead of horses, we had these giant woolly beasts. It’s not every day you get to run over undead soldiers with a prehistoric mammoth, but it sure was a highlight.

All in all, the Borean Tundra had everything: mammoths with colds, tree-hugging elves trying to terraform the Arctic, and walrus people planning banquets in the middle of a blizzard. Northrend was off to an absolutely ridiculous start, and I was all in.

Next stop: the Taurean Bundra … I mean, Borean Tundra! I always get those mixed up.