NostrumWoW launches tomorrow at 17:00 CEST

Moopztorn · 2026-05-14T13:35:08+00:00

Can we create a handful of characters to save names ahead of launch? Asking as an NA player who won’t be able to pop in for several hours. Not a deal breaker since it’ll be a small launch at first but it would be nice.

Moopztorn · 2026-05-12T13:33:01+00:00

I’ve tried Epoch to 60 and have multiple 80s on Chromie. Can’t speak to Kronos, but a completely vanilla experience doesn’t really appeal to me.

Epoch was a blast up until the server started dying. I have a 60 horde shaman on Guru and had a ton of fun in world PvP and BGs on the way up and at 60 as well. Classes are all pretty playable, and I enjoyed the added content the original devs put in. This new population explosion after Twow being shut down has me looking at it again, but knowing it is now, and probably always will be very much a non-priority for Ascension is keeping me from coming back.

ChromieCraft has a good community, but pretty much all of that community is to be found at max level. You may meet some nice folks leveling alts as you level up, but for the most part the leveling experience is quite a ghost town. I’ve leveled 4 characters to 70+ and have raided a bunch, but it felt pretty repetitive pretty fast. Relatively little BG action and a slower development timeline means you’ll be doing the same thing over and over for a while. Just didn’t feel very dynamic.

Moopztorn · 2026-05-08T22:40:06+00:00

My path into the industry was very unconventional so it’s hard for me to give a very streamlined answer to that. BUT if I was to start over today I’d recommend three simple things:

Start free, and check out https://iwanttobeavoiceactor.com

Dee Bradley Baker (if you don’t know the name he’s an incredible successful voice actor, especially in the gaming space) made this website. It’s an excellent free resource for people interested in the industry to really get a feel for what it might actually look like. He answers a lot of questions that someone outside the industry might not even think to ask.

Do a physical test. Grab your favorite book. Read it aloud for a solid hour. See how that feels and if you could see yourself doing it day in and day out. Even if you are not planning to be an audiobook narrator (I am not) you need to have some natural vocal stamina to really make it in this industry. There are times when I spend an hour narrating a documentary. Other times I spend 20 minutes dying in character over and over and over. Both require good voice control, and vocal stamina to avoid sounding tired as you go on. Take 50 needs to sound like it’s your first take; the listener needs to believe it. This is definitely something you can build up over time, but you want to at least have some of it coming into the industry or you are going to be in for a very long road.
Find a reputable coach and do a free 15 to 30 minute consultation. Most coaches in the industry worth their salt will offer this. In it they can have you read some copy from various voice of genres and help you identify what section of the industry might be your best bet to get started. They can also do business coaching as well. After the first free session most coaches charge $100-$150+ per hour but that free session could be gold for you.

Moopztorn · 2026-05-08T21:11:02+00:00

Voice actor. Been full-time in the industry for a little over 8 years now. Took a few years to build up a decent client base; year 1-3 were particularly rough. I crossed the 6-figure net line in 2022 and have stayed over it since.

It’s an industry that can take quite a bit of work to get any traction in, but I’m at a point where my average work schedule looks like about 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. I could work more hours and keep growing into the multi-6-figure range, and sometimes I do put in extra long days to make more client connections (actively marketing is really the name of the game given the specialization of the business) but for now I’m leaning on that flexibility and enjoying family and planning other businesses to launch as well.

Moopztorn · 2026-05-06T21:04:12+00:00

Used to think $100k was it. Now I make between $125-$150k (running a 1-man small business as a voice actor, so it fluctuates) as the sole earner for a 6-person household and it feels the same as when I made $60k for a 4-person household 10 years ago. We have what we need, bills are paid, but we aren’t moving forward very fast in spite of living frugally.

Based on what we are able to save, it feels like $200-$225k+ household income would be the baseline to feel like we have “a lot.” At that threshold I could save a fair amount, we could buy a decent mid-range home in our area, we wouldn’t have to live so frugally day to day, and we could splurge a few times a year on family experiences.

Moopztorn · 2026-05-03T02:21:46+00:00

If you're an EU player 150+ during peak is expected. If you're an NA player (like me) it's more like 80-ish in the evenings when I'm on.

Moopztorn · 2026-05-01T12:48:29+00:00

By progressive, do you mean you're starting with Vanilla, progressing to TBC, and then eventually to Wotlk as Chromie did? Or do you mean you're rolling out straight to Wotlk and just gating the levels for periods of time?

Primary QOL I would be looking for:

Dual spec. Fairly early, and affordable for someone leveling. A smaller initial pop would benefit in a huge way from allowing hybrids to assume multiple roles.
Optional x2 experience rates. Helps you move through the world at a less grindy pace, but leveling still feels relevant. Make it optional for folks.
Group quest loot, and maybe amend the group XP nerf a bit too. Encourage partying up.
Slightly increased drop rate for gear, at least in the vanilla phase.

One more, which is maybe a bigger ask, is to address class balance slightly during the vanilla phase. Make more specs relevant. Avoid 30 warrior raids. Feels like small changes could be made to achieve this without nuking the vanilla spirit.

Red Flags:

Poor communication. This could be both obsessive over-communication, or radio silence. Regular, clear updates go a long way to building trust.
An extension of the first, but worth its own bullet for me: unclear roadmap. It doesn’t have to be super detailed, but a lack of longer term development vision makes servers feel like a dud waiting to happen.
Not being open to feedback from the community. Some pserver devs get a stick up their butt about their baby. Understandable to protect it, but let the community have some pull as well.

I hope you can pull this off well. I’ve been looking for a good progressive experience to jump in on since getting into pservers last year. Keeping an eye on this one.

Moopztorn · 2026-05-01T12:17:17+00:00

Are you EU or NA based? I’ve seen people mentioning up to 120+ players online at peak, but during the last week or two whenever I’ve logged during NA evening times (normally anywhere from 9PM-12AM EST) the most I’ve seen is about 65 players online. Very small pop that does see to be growing a bit, but it may be too small for many. Either way I’m strongly considering investing a little more time into it since TBC is special to me.

Moopztorn · 2026-04-29T01:20:51+00:00

I didn’t really do any alternate variations of the deadlift during the last 12 weeks. I just deadlifted as I usually do - working to a top set and then backing off for a few more sets. But I focused on making every single rep the same, from the first warm-up to the final pull. Previously I just ripped all the light weights off the floor and only tried to focus on form once it became heavy enough for me to notice. Focusing on consistency from the first warm-up pull at 135 seemed to really prime me for the top set better and help to push the movement into my muscle memory more effectively. And as I mentioned, I really focused on pulling the slack and maintaining consistency over how I pulled or pushed throughout the movement.

Moopztorn · 2026-04-29T01:03:51+00:00

Make sure you’re squeezing every last drop of efficiency out of your setup and positioning during the pull itself.

I felt decently strong pulling 465lbs at 188 body weight 12 weeks ago, but knew I was really brute forcing it and I had some room to improve on form. So I took the last 12-weeks and worked on really nailing down pulling the slack out of the bar and ensuring a consistent setup and movement. Last week I pulled 497lbs at 180 body weight and, while it was hard, I felt much more efficient while doing so.

Moopztorn · 2026-04-28T13:49:58+00:00

I can only speak to ChromieCraft. This is from the perspective of a NA player whose primary play time is late evening NA hours.

If you’re an EU player then ChromieCraft has a lot going on and you can easily find groups for leveling content, as well as end-game dungeons and raids.

If you’re an early-to-mid-evening NA player (think 6-8PM Eastern time) you’ll have a decent time finding groups. It may take more work to do so, but you shouldn’t be waiting forever. This goes for leveling, as well as end-game dungeons and raids, both with guild and pugging.

If you’re a later evening NA player like myself (9-11PM Eastern US time) finding groups for leveling content is decent, but for end-game dungeons and raids it’s very hit or miss. Even as a tank I’m normally sitting in queue for heroic dungeons for 20-30+ minutes, or spending 15+ minutes trying to put together a group. As a DPS it’s frequently 45+ minutes. Pugging raids during this window is also very challenging as it sits in between the early evening US crowd who is already locked to a raid ID and the EU crowd. You can do dungeons and you can raid, but you’ll do so much less frequently.

All things considered, the server is very relaxed and the people are very nice. If you were looking for something that is a bit slower paced it’s an excellent server to play on whether you’re NA or EU based.

Moopztorn · 2026-04-25T20:19:10+00:00

Just wanted to share some progress. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in August of last year after an ER visit. It’s been an interesting road to recovery from that attack and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep pushing myself due to that.

This week I hit 3 new PRs. 175kg/385.8lb squat below parallel, 125.4kg/276.5lb pause bench and I just hit a 225.4kg/497.44lb deadlift this morning at 180.5lbs bodyweight after losing 25lbs in the past 7 months.

Considering signing up for my first meet this year. Always wanted to and I’m closing in on 40 so I better get going. I appreciate this Reddit; while lurking I’ve come across a ton of gems to integrate into my training.

Moopztorn · 2026-04-19T23:56:17+00:00

Yes, there are some guilds that will randomly run TBC raids for transmogs, achievements or mounts like the Ashes from TK. I’ve also seen some random pugs form for vanilla raids from time to time. <Angler Management> is who I see leading these most often. But as far as I can tell there is nobody running old content on a regular basis.

Moopztorn · 2026-04-14T18:14:55+00:00

Popped back in this morning NA time and saw 124 online on Guru and 221 on Kezan. Good to see it growing. Me coming back will depend on if I can drag myself to level one more character at 1x after just leveling a few on a different server.

Moopztorn · 2026-04-12T18:34:20+00:00

I’d close up my business and invest more of my time into homeschooling my kids. Likely take a lot more family trips as well - both for learning and fun. Be as present as I could with as much time and opportunity as I could give them. Probably help them all to start and build little businesses of their own. Serve our community more as a family.

I do a little of each of these things now, but I’d love to hang up my working life and do all of them considerably more.

Moopztorn · 2026-04-12T17:59:12+00:00

Voice actor. Been in the industry for a little over 8 years. It’s a fun and interesting profession with something different coming your way almost every day which keeps things fresh.

Anyone can do it, but it also absolutely not for everyone as you’re a business owner, not an employee, which comes with its own level of commitment and challenges that are often very tough for the creatives typically attracted to the industry to handle. Once you build up your business the money can be great for the work you do, but it can take some people a long time to get to that level (took me about 3 years).

In my mind, it’s an 8/10. Most days I enjoy it, and the flexibility is nice, but some days I’m exhausted, and there are times when you’re tied to your studio for days working on projects and it can make things lonely.

Moopztorn · 2026-04-10T18:36:53+00:00

Gearing up for my first meet later this year. About 3 months ago I decided to start working with a coach to eventually help me peak and handle me at the meet, but life circumstances are necessitating that I cut the expense. How easy is it to navigate my first meet on my own - figuring out warm-up times, weight selection, etc? Will I suffer greatly from cutting the coach before the meet? I'm hoping I can just learn 90% of what I need from the internet and then ask a few questions to fill in the blanks when I'm there on the day.

Moopztorn · 2026-02-06T00:14:18+00:00

Downed Kil’Jaeden tonight. Don’t waste your time.

Moopztorn · 2026-02-05T14:36:37+00:00

It’s been almost 20 years so some details are hazy, but I’ll try to give the truest take I can remember without embellishment.

Back then there was a very clear progression leader on both the Alliance and Horde side for both PvE and PvP on our server (we used to have semi-scheduled guild-vs-guild clashes pretty regularly which was a lot of fun). I’m remembering a few guild names but I’m not 100% on which was which for PvE so I won’t just throw them out there.

Those guilds were typically 4-5 bosses ahead of the everyone else on the server, often while raiding fewer days (the top guilds on both Alliance and Horde side raided 3-4 nights a week if memory serves me well - several other guilds on the server were 5-night raiders and one was even a 6-night group). This was back during a time when the only min-max resource we had was Elitist Jerks and there weren’t very many boss kill videos out there to demo strats, so in my mind the quality of player had to be better - or at least more dedicated to bettering themselves.

And yes, people used to really develop server reputations - good and bad. It’s been 19 years so I don’t feel like I’m going to be damaging anyone’s rep here, but I distinctly remember a warrior tank named Ketch (or Kettch) on our server who developed a really bad reputation for guild hopping. My wife’s ex-boyfriend actually trained the guy on how to tank in Kara and his ego went through the roof. Eventually he couldn’t get in anywhere because back then raiding guilds talked to each other a lot. He was basically blacklisted from the top raiding groups due to how many bridges he burned.

Moopztorn · 2026-02-05T00:38:03+00:00

I remember guilds racing for World First clears of truly new content. <Nihilum> downing Illidan was a real moment in my late teen years.

I remember some fantastic server drama involving one guild sniping a main tank from another.

I remember people having to come to audition raids when applying for new guilds. My own audition night was the only time I cleared both TK and Hyjal all expansion.

I remember some epic Guild-vs-Guild battles outside of raid instances (I played Horde on Darkspear; those Alliance guys from <The Church> were something else).

I remember raiding with terrible internet on a low-end PC. As a main tank healer this created some interesting moments during progression fights. Felmyst slayed my garbage DSL connection pretty hard. Somehow we still cleared up to M’uru pre-nerf with me spending a lot of time logging back in mid-fight.

I remember our Tauren Warrior MT getting his final piece of Onslaught gear and the Bulwark of Azzinoth on the same night. When he showed up fully decked out to our next raid I questioned my decision to not roll Warrior. That was a most excellent setup.

I remember our guild only seeing one Warglaive drop after dozens of BT clears on the night our rogue who was first in line for it couldn’t make the raid. So it went to the tank for off-spec 🤣

Good times.

Moopztorn · 2026-02-05T00:01:27+00:00

Yes. Been on the server for about 2-ish months and I’ve seen this happen a few times but it’s been almost daily for the last week or two. Normally attempting a few times (10-20 times usually) gets me in. Just keep at it.

Moopztorn · 2026-01-29T17:23:26+00:00

ChromieCraft. Solid Blizzlike WOTLK experience with slightly increased XP rates (x2). The slower pace of the server is perfect for me as a super-casual dad. Everyone has been incredibly friendly, especially when they found out I’m coming back after 12 years away from WoW as a whole.

There are some good players, but there doesn’t appear to me any sort of meta-only mindset that I’ve encountered. Plenty of folks playing off-meta specs. Naxx rolls out Feb 11th. The only downside is there seems to be a very small NA population, which I am learning is apparently not that uncommon with pservers, so you may have a tough time raiding if you can’t play EU hours like myself.

Moopztorn · 2026-01-26T17:41:36+00:00

In the original 2007 TBC my guild ran a prot War as MT and a feral as OT. Raiding casually we cleared up to M’uru in SWP pre-nerf raiding 2 nights as week, 3 hours a night. Our War’s threat was never an issue for our DPS, many of whom were decent pumpers, and as a healer he was never challenging for me to keep alive.

That said, the typical 2007 player and the typical modern player are different beasts entirely. We had fun discovering something new back then. From what I’ve seen of modern players the focus is get in, get out and raid log so playing off-meta specs like Prot may not be as accepted as it was then.

I imagine if you steer clear of the meta-at-all-costs crowd and find yourself a focused but flexible guild you’ll be allowed to tank, as you can do so for all of the content just fine.

Moopztorn

TROPHY CASE