On Day 8, I set off to take care of unfinished business. I still had not acquired the bear form. I had completed all the quests in the Darnassus/Dolonaar area, but I needed to get to Auberdine. Unfortunately, no signs seemed to point the way to Auberdine. However, one of my quests mentioned hippogryphs, so I asked around until I figured out that there was a hippogryph handler in an area near Darnassus called Ruth’eran Village.

I had previously avoided Ruth’eran village because of the ominous glow and sudden slowing of my computer upon entrance to its gate. However, after venturing through, I discovered that my computer might have been locking up due to the fact that this was an entirely new area, and the glowing gate was essentially a portal into a nearby village. This was a very exciting concept, but I was quickly disappointed when I discovered the town consisted of two ports: air and sea.

I tend to prefer flying, so I chose the high road and took a ride on a hippogryph. Auberdine was the only destination, meaning I was lost no longer. The flight was uneventful and boring. Much like real life, transportation seems like a means to an end in WoW.

Once in Auberdine, I ran off to get the bear form. I picked off the creatures near the quest’s cave, and some stranger decided to kill the enemy I needed just as I was about to die. I completed my quest with little fanfare, and once again had to depend on some anonymous stranger to get a simple ability (the bear form) for myself.

By Day 9, I had reached level 12. I ran along the shore and got killed by some maniacal creatures with ridiculous voices that resembled mini versions of the Rancor from Return of the Jedi. They would spring from the sea when I least expected it; once two ganged up on me, I knew I was doomed.

Later, I went to an area flooded with enemies, and found that the re-spawn rate was too high for me to reasonably complete the quest alone. Once again, I ran into some people who grouped up with me temporarily. I had to run off in another direction afterwards, and it got awkward when they kept trying to wait for me. I like to be polite to people, and having to deal with random strangers online can be tricky.

At the end of the day, I was still somewhat satisfied after completing a few quests, but my aggravation with the grouping aspect had not gone away. I was glad to be able to see the Druid’s bear form – I finally felt like a real Druid – but it didn’t seem to have much of an advantage in fights at this point. It was only a mediocre experience for Day 8 and Day 9, my penultimate trial day.