Congratulations to Tokari for reaching max level and making them the 14th The War Within Pacifist Challenge champion. Tokari‘s total journey was 15 days, 22 hrs, 4 min, 24 sec.
Tokari in her town clothes, relaxing in Dornagal. (She’s too used to carrying a shield around to not carry any shield at all!)
Tokari in her adventuring gear in Hallowfall, one of her favourite places she saw on her travels.
This is Tokari’s story, from Rasp:
Somehow amidst various social media channels, I stumbled across these challenges, and thought it would be really interesting to experience the world (of Warcraft!) from a pacifist’s point of view. I’ve always loved the idea of trying to play games a little differently than the prescribed experience, and where I can, playing non-combat or pacifist characters. I once played through The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild without fighting anything, and got through the story all the way up to the final boss, but then couldn’t proceed further because there is a boss battle at the end to continue the story. And what an experience it was! I found myself exploring zones I had previously only travelled through many years ago. But this time, having to keep my head on a swivel, and without being able to fight my way through everything, keep my distance, learn patrol paths, find secret entrances, sneak around behind buildings, and so on. It was a totally different experience, and one that was a very refreshing and eye-opening way of experiencing this game that I love.
What race/class/spec did you choose to go with and were there any specific reasons for that choice?
After falling to my death in two “safe” attempts, I wanted to try something different that, strangely, didn’t rely on such safety nets. I had recently read Travis Baldree’s beautiful book Legends & Lattes (about an orcish swordswoman who hangs up her blade to start a new life post-adventuring), and I saw it on my desk and thought “Hey, I really loved that book, why don’t I give that a go?!” So I created Tokari! An orcish warrior retiring from a life of war, keen to explore a wild world and help out as many peoples as she can without ever having to raise her axe again. I wanted to see how a protection-specced warrior could go about such an adventure, using all manner of shields and toughness to shake off any and all incoming threats as they made their way through the world. I was also secretly hoping to be the first pacifist warrior ever to reach max level, as there were others who had completed this and similar challenges as sneaky rogues or characters that could heal, but no warriors at that time, and I wanted to see if a character without such an easy time would be able to do it. (No heals or escape mechanisms!) As I levelled up I felt it was achievable, but then as I neared level 70, I saw on the charts that an Alliance pacifist warrior was levelling up alongside me! I think they had more time available than I did over the final ten levels or so, and they blasted through them before I could get a start, and thus they were the first. It was mixed feelings; some disappointment for myself that I hadn’t achieved that, but also excitement for the other player who was experiencing something similar to what I was. I think they reached max level two days before I could. Congratulations to them and for their efforts! And now, we’re the only two pacifist warriors to have reached max level! (So far!) 🥰 I am proud to say that as far as I know, Tokari was the first max level pacifist warrior of the Horde, though! 😂😎
Tokari’s beloved Cleaver, melted from a particularly fiery battle in her past. She still carries it with her everywhere she goes as a reminder of her resolve to start a new life post-war. 🪓 And some goblin gliders too (the red packs), just in case she finds herself too high up in the air… 😅
Tokari also carries the fighting training manual from her youth. Even though she won’t fight now, war still played a big part in forging who she is today.
This was my first Pacifist challenger. I have probably followed in the footsteps of those before me without realising it, at least to some extent!
Much, MUCH too close, Tokari!
Did you have any close calls while leveling this character?
Most of Tokari’s travels were pretty safe, and she was careful, but there were a few doozies! There were several choice encounters with murlocs early on in her travels, and with some elites and Alliance guards when she ventured too close to an outpost one time… (Those Kor’kron orcs in the Barrens are vicious, too…) But her closest call was when she got a little too comfortable stress-testing her lung capacity in Thousand Needles, swimming further and deeper to collect just one more herb… and it almost cost her her life—if she didn’t have her hearthstone, she would have been fish food! She was still breathing bubbles upon warping back to the Broken Tusk in Orgrimmar, and I captured this fantastic memory of that, which you can see below! In that second image, Tokari’s health is lower than maximum, indicating that while teleporting, she had actually started to drown…😬 I tell you what; she was much more careful after that!😅
Get comfortable with selecting to target things, not interacting to target things. On a right-handed mouse, use left-click instead of right-click… or vice versa for a left-handed mouse. This will prevent auto-attack from starting up. There is also a macro that someone wrote to prevent auto-attacking when you right-click on something; it’s in the forums, look for the pacifist tips and tricks. I actually also unbound the “Attack” keybind, and turned on the “Press a key to interact” option in the menu (which I bound to G), so that I can walk near a herb or mineral vein or collectable and press G to interact with it, instead of trying to right-click on it and risking starting a fight with any creatures currently walking through the object I’m trying to interact with. 🤦♂️ Frustrating, and changed from personal experience! A single stray hit of yours, and an overzealous (friendly?) adventurer is the fastest way to chalk up unwanted kills on your ledger. (This also goes for enemies that have targeted and are chasing you, and other players slaying them; from what I understand, you’ll get kill contributions because you’re on that enemy’s agro list…) Oh, and goblin gliders. Always carry some goblin gliders! They will absolutely save your life if you get knocked from your mount in-flight, or have to make a daring escape from the top of a building or way up on a mountain! I think that above all, my most meaningful advice would be to take your time to enjoy the game through a pacifist’s eyes. It’s a wholly different experience. I took a fair few screenshots in the later levels, and even turned off my screen UI and walked around instead of running in many cases. It’s a little more roleplayer-ish too, doing that. There are so many beautiful places to explore in this game, and it is such a shame that I have missed so many of them in my journey on other characters just because I was chasing down a quest or frothing for that next point of experience. I’m sure that I’m not alone in that, and I’ll be playing a little more slowly from now on because of it. So, take a breath and enjoy your time in the world! 💖
Are you working on any other challengers or do you plan on taking a break for a while?
Congratulations once again to Rasp on Tokari becoming our 14th The War Within Pacifist champion, and best of luck with your future challenge adventures.