What was your first epic item?

Screenshot from wowhead

 
I'll be honest: most of my first two years of play---all of Vanilla and a good portion of BC---were spent trekking around aimlessly. There was adventure and mystique around every corner, sheathed in the quest dialogue dished out by NPC after NPC. And I couldn't get enough. I was a badass warlock, with half my points scattered in the Destruction tree and the other half in Affliction. I took pride in the fact that my spec was listed as "hybrid," even if I was playing it wrong. Reminiscing about the first toon I rolled got me thinking: how many players remember their first epic drop?

Because I do.

Scholomance was my favorite instance hands-down prior to its revamp for MoP: its size and layout appealed to me; the fact you had to bring a competent rogue to get inside if no one in your party had a key made it all the more alluring; and the story surrounding grabbed you, even if at the time I only had an inkling about what the heck it all meant.

I was in one of these Scholo runs with a group of strangers. We faced Ras Frostwhisper before heading onto the last leg of the dungeon, and to my sheer amazement, Alanna's Embrace dropped. It was the first epic item I saw firsthand in the game, and its name in the tooltip was the sexiest shade of purple I'd ever laid my eyes on.

Being a badass dumbass warlock, I naturally assumed I needed the item. I was much too naive to understand why the robe was much better suited for the priest healer in the group. Needless to say, they were amazed to see the item, too, but it was a different sort of amazement. It was the amazement that accompanies knowing the item's true worth. I remember winning the robe via open roll (can't remember why we did it this way), but instead of claiming what was rightfully (wrongfully) mine, I passed it to the priest.

This resulted in a guild invite into what I later learned was a fairly established raiding guild. The entire World of Warcraft got a lot bigger for me in that afternoon. I learned there was a lot more game to experience if I so desired, and what's more important, I'd have a lot more fun exploring if I was able to find a group of folks to share the experience with.

How about you---do you remember your first epic drop and what it meant to you?