From Chicken to Champion

When my 14-yr-old daughter was 12, she used to hate threatening situations in-game.  She was honestly afraid of them.

It made no sense to the rest of us.  After all, she wasn't really going to die if she took on more than she could handle.  But the fact remained:  she did not want to face anything which looked like it might kill her.  Fighting creatures 5 levels below her was more her style.

We couldn't get her out of Elwynn Forest with her first character, a Pally.  She spent most of her time in-game running around Stormwind, taking screenshots with her pet chicken.

Her younger sisters laughed and passed her by, progressing beyond her level easily to reach levels in the teens or 20's.

And then she made a Draenai hunter she really liked.  She managed to get the hunter to 27 before taking a break for a while from the game.  I was impressed she'd faced enough dangerous situations to make it to 27.  (Yay, kiddo!)

She started playing her hunter again about a year ago, just for the fun of it.  Slowly, she progressed.  My husband and I were surprised to discover she had reached the 40's, so my husband unburied his Druid tank to run dungeons with her.  He taught her a lot about proper dungeon etiquette and made the mistake of showing her Recount.  (After that, she was always asking where she was on the meters.)  Then he stopped playing WoW for unrelated reasons.

A few weeks ago, she completely surprised me by reaching level 70.  She is now sitting at level 74.  None of her sisters have reached that level on anything but a Death Knight.

I am proud that she faced her challenges and overcame her fears, and I am proud that she had the perseverance to continue on through many adventures, one by one.  I am sure she will eventually reach 85.  (And then she'll face the quandary of what to do next . . . No, I am NOT letting her raid.  She needs her sleep.)