Why I still hold onto my Phantom Blade in World of Warcraft

polygon.com:

The coolest sword I ever obtained in a video game is the Phantom Blade in World of Warcraft. In fact, it’s so cool to me that I never parted with it. It’s still sitting in my original character’s bank vault, some 19 years after I first got it — even though its stats have been squished almost to nothing by the multiple math resets the venerable online game has had over the years, and even though that character has now far outleveled the point at which the sword would be useful.

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What makes the Phantom Blade cool? It’s not a special weapon, although it’s not bad. It’s not some Legendary boss drop earned through the blood, sweat, and tantrums of a raid party. It’s not even Epic — just a run-of-the-mill blue Rare. It doesn’t hold a special place within Warcraft lore, it’s no Ashbringer or Frostmourne. It’s just… a sword. But to me, it’s not just any sword.

Back in 2005 — or now, if you’re playing on Blizzard’s Classic servers that (more or less) replicate the game as it was then — the Phantom Blade was a decent, crafted weapon for mid- to high-level characters, though definitely not endgame gear. It could be used from level 44 (the cap was then 60), at which point it was pretty nifty, and would stay competitive until probably the early 50s.

The damage stats are OK, and it has a useful “proc” (a chance to trigger an effect on hit): it decreases the target’s armor for 20 seconds, and prevents them from entering stealth or turning invisible during that time. This made it a coveted weapon in WoW’s player-versus-player community for dealing with annoying Rogue players (and was thus hated by Rogues). The thing is, I never played PvP.

My original WoW character was a Warrior. I didn’t want to play a Warrior, really; I fancied either a Hunter or a Druid, but when I joined the game, my friends’ guild already had plenty of those and was short of tanks, so it was deemed that a Warrior I should be. I did not take to it — I’m terrible at