For those who played WoW early on (2005)

Pawnless Endgame

Pawnless Endgame

Pawnless Endgame

Soldato
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10 May 2004
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Sorry for the wrong topic placement earlier. I did mean to post it under games rather than general. Too many Firefox tabs :(

Did you find that the expansions set back the game? I started at the tail end of 2005, and I was addicted throughout 2006. I seldom did the PVP battle games (only got to rank 3, 'sergeant'), but I was heavily into my raids. By the end of 2006, we had BWL and AQ20 on farm, and everything below that. We were learning the tactics for the 4th boss in AQ40 then the Burning Crusade came out, sending us out to level again. In late 2007, I was still semi into WoW but a guild-split marred our progress. Farming Karazhan, Magtheridon and Gruul was the best we did. I know that guild relations play a big part in WoW, but I can't help thinking that TBC's sci-fi element also took away from the game? I think that TLK with Northrend was a step back in the right direction as it was more medieval fantasy. By then though, I was playing the game so little that I only managed to see the heroic-mode dungeons and Naxx which I didn't see the first time round. I know it's an age thing, but I always find it weird when WoW newcomers only get to see the new content and never had the chance to see MC/BWL/Ony/AQ etc.

Am I on my own here or do other early WoW-gamers think the same?

For the record, I'm not playing at the moment in 2010 and I'm still in two minds about the upcoming Cataclysm "WoW v4.0" expansion.
 
I started back in `05 played for about 3.5 years on and off and then quit. To be honest, I really liked the expansions and the new content - although I didn't play much of Lich King before I quit so I can't really comment on it.

I've floated around a few MMO's ever since and never really found anything that takes my fancy, so yesterday I've returned after not playing for a year and half - started a new toon on the Alliance side (human) which is all new to me because all my previous characters were Horde. As long as there is new content I don't really have a problem with it, I'll most likely buy the new expansion and give it a try.
 
Similar thing happening with wwiiol - theres a core of players who yearn for the old game because they progressed through the horrible grind and became 'elite' essentially. As the game becomes more open, they dont like the loss of 'purity'.

For me original wow was a horrible grindfest that I got bored of around 40. With much less time on my hands the current version of wow has let me see a lot more content, progress much further and enjoy the endgame. theres no doubt it was much harder in the old version. Bur for me, when it starts feeling like going to work (for no pay) its time to do something else.

I guess which side of the coin you land on is a matter of your own personal preferences. I hope they open a vanilla server one day, but I doubt they would unless substantial profit was there. i wouldnt play on it anyway.
 
Have been playing since the start but have never had the time to spend ages on raiding, farming and the like, so am pleased with the additional content and changes over time - it adds variety and interest to what otherwise can become a second-job.

After all, it is just a game.
 
I've been playing since open beta with my wife (win :D )

I remember being blown away by the size and scope of the game..I really enjoyed flying from one place to another.No loading screens. Every area was hugely different in style.The soundtrack also impressed.

Even though the questing system was fairly rudimentary,I enjoyed the levelling system to discover new skills (i never looked ahead to what I'd be learning,I preferred the surprise).

We got into a reasonably friendly guild so socially it was fun too.We did a few 5 man dungeons..I remember being in Maraudon for 4 hours with a group trying to find our way around (no atlas addon back then).

Once we hit 60 however,we hit a wall.There was nothing left for us to do.We did UBRS a few times (15 man) but didn't have the time to spare to do Molten Core.Our guild only had 30 or so active members so guild runs were out of the question.There were no battlegrounds.MC runs involved spending hours getting 40 people together,making sure all had the correct potions,gear etc.Paladins only had 5 minute buffs.

By the time 25 man dungeons were released,groups were only interested in taking geared people.We couldn't get the gear cos we didn't have the time to devote.Endgame for us.We simply didn't have the time to achieve anything.

I looked forward to BC but was hugely dissapointed by the grindy nature of the reputation gains and quests.Dungeons were even worse,having to get attuned.Hated the whole BC experience so gave up and quit till WotLK was released.

I loved WotLK because it catered to me,the casual player.I could get good gear and see endgame content.Problem was,every numbskull idiot with an account could do the same.Epics did indeed become devalued.Socially the game has taken a massive nosedive because it attracts the lowest common denominator in gamers.

So,I suppose the 'TLDR' version is no,I don't think the expansions have damaged the game..there is now so much more to see and do.The problem is it is too easy to see it all which attracts the idiots.
 
I played WoW from its release in late November 2004. What killed the game for me wasnt so much the expansions, for me it was more the arrival of the battlegrounds and arenas. That was what ruined the game for me, I had enormous fun with the world pvp, but that world pvp was hugely impacted by the BGs/arenas.
 
I still remember being MT when we downed Ragnaros for the very first time after months of getting everyone geared up. Still have a video of it somewhere.

I do prefer the way wow is now with it being more casual friendly.
 
ExRayTed said:
I've been playing since open beta with my wife (win :D )
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Same :) and we're still playing just as much now as we did during the stress test :) maybe even more as we prepare our chars for cataclysm :)

We've always played for our own sense of fun, so as long as there's new stuff to see and do we won't be complaining :)
 
Vanilla: Awful
Burning Crusade: Awesome
WotLK: Meh

Allow me to expand. A lot of players say that vanilla WoW was a wonderful time. It wasn't. The first tier of raiding was repetitive, there was the drama of getting 40 people together and to see the latest content you had to spend months grinding the previous content. The quest design also sucked. Far too much travelling involved, especially considering you didn't get your mount until level 40.

Burning crusade improved on vanilla but introduced a few faults of its own. 25 man raids were a nice balance between 10 and 40 man raids but having the progression path for tier 4 being a 10 man raid and then two 25 man raids was a little dumb. Difficulty wise the raiding was spot on. I'm by no means what you'd call a hardcore raider but my guild eventually managed to set foot in Sunwell just before the 3.0 patch. Am I miffed I never got to see the Kil'Jaeden fight at the intended level? No not really. The raiding I did manage to do was challenging and fun.

WotLK raiding on the other hand has been mostly awful. Blizzards aim was to make more accessible, it seems that they thought the best way to accomplish this was to make raiding insanely easy and then tack on "hard modes" for guilds wanting a challenge. It's an ok idea but it's just made raiding feel repetitive. You kill all the bosses in a raid on normal mode and then your reward is to kill the same bosses again with more health and if you're lucky an extra gimmick. The only raid that Blizzard did right in Wrath was Ulduar. It wasn't stupidly easy at release, had interesting hard modes and a non linear design. I really don't know why they messed with things after Ulduar as it was brilliant.

As for cataclysm, it's going to be more of ICC style raids and I'm pretty sad about it. It's going to take something pretty special for me to reactivate my account :(
 
Fuzzyheid said:
Same :) and we're still playing just as much now as we did during the stress test :) maybe even more as we prepare our chars for cataclysm :)

We've always played for our own sense of fun, so as long as there's new stuff to see and do we won't be complaining :)
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Awesome isn't it? 'just checking my auctions love!'....'Ok,check mine too would you?'

What realm are you on out of interest?
 
I started playing WoW during closed beta in 2004, played it almost solidly for 2 years, for me the game went south with TBC, We managed to get to the final boss in AQ40 but didnt defeat him.

We always ran into the same issues though which is summer holidays a large number of guild members would vanish means little or no raid progress. When TBC arrived I had already been in the closed beta for that so knew the content very well. I was 70 weeks before anyone else in the guild so go bored quickly. Returned after a month break and started raiding Karazhan.

Think 3-4 months went by before it just got boring, Lich King was great but this time the problems were from a lack of a guild meaning pick up groups only, so as you can imagine i quiet pretty quickly. Been playing in Cataclysm now since the F&F Alpha and again its good fun because people work togeather but I know once it hits retail i'll be back to square one again.

Thankfully though life has moved on, and I have 2 nieces to keep amused now which is a challenge in its own right!
 
i think wotlk killed the game tbh, it has brought 2 many casuals into the raiding world and they have made it too easy to do anything, with the 30% icc buff has made it impossible to fail anymore, i started in late 2006 where ofc TBC had just been released. i raided throughout TBC and thought it was amazing, no gearscore and very little pugs going on, but now its like 5.5k gs for naxx weekly and i think it has bought the game down a lot, but i am very looking forward to cata with the 10man raiding and the various changes, it might actually be a challenge once again.
 
It was all good until WoTLK.

Super cutting edge un-nerfed Sunwell 25 man raids were some of the best raiding I ever did. Watching our 1st kill 25man videos still gives me goosebumps.
 
I think there is a lot of rose-tinted glasses worn, I'm happy to admit I do too.

Some games have tried to start up "classic" servers, and they all fall on their behinds in just a few months. An example of this was DAoC. There was a huge flood of people re-subbing and starting chars on the classic servers, but after about 2 months they died of death.
 
Well, lots of GREAT stuff has been introduced for the better in the expansions, but too much of the core game has changed for the worst.

Vanilla or BC WoW with all the great WoTLK changes slipstreamed in would be pretty epic.
 
With much less time on my hands the current version of wow has let me see a lot more content, progress much further and enjoy the endgame.
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Yeah, its easy to get to, but whats there is god damn awful. Heroics, daily quests, what a laugh.

there is now so much more to see and do.
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I really don't think there is. They've just introduced ridiculous methods of making it so the most casual player and the most dedicated stay the same, like making daily quests which you can do once a day.
 
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