World of Warcraft: Classic
- Thread starter agnes
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Nothing at all, I half think Blizzard was just trolling everyone lol, at this rate Pantheon will have released and I will be playing that by the time Classic Wow is released
Soldato
It will never be the same. New players (in the main) found the whole experience unique and were willing to engage. Players had no preconceptions and as such were happy with the grind the pointlesd (but hugely fun) PvP world battles.
Players will never engage with the true vanilla experience and as such it will be either watered down or **** with no one playing.
I remember defending stratholme entrance for nigh on 5 hours for no reason other than to **** off horde players. We had 40/50/60 player world battles just for a dungeon entrance (with no summoning stone) just to deny the opposition Amy form of advancement
you will never, ever get that sort of highly amusing but childish insanity in any game ever again 
Soldato
It will never be the same. New players (in the main) found the whole experience unique and were willing to engage. Players had no preconceptions and as such were happy with the grind the pointlesd (but hugely fun) PvP world battles.
Players will never engage with the true vanilla experience and as such it will be either watered down or **** with no one playing.
I remember defending stratholme entrance for nigh on 5 hours for no reason other than to **** off horde players. We had 40/50/60 player world battles just for a dungeon entrance (with no summoning stone) just to deny the opposition Amy form of advancement
The world PvP battles were awesome, organising a 40 man raid to start at 1800 but only starting hours later due to the battles between horde/alliance at Blackrock mountain. Loved it!
You're probably right though it will never be the same, like the guy from Blizzard said you think you want it but you don't.
It will never be the same. New players (in the main) found the whole experience unique and were willing to engage. Players had no preconceptions and as such were happy with the grind the pointlesd (but hugely fun) PvP world battles.
Players will never engage with the true vanilla experience and as such it will be either watered down or **** with no one playing.
I remember defending stratholme entrance for nigh on 5 hours for no reason other than to **** off horde players. We had 40/50/60 player world battles just for a dungeon entrance (with no summoning stone) just to deny the opposition Amy form of advancement
Having just come from a few weeks on Kronos 3, I think the magic is still there, the insane amount of people out in the world. This is my first experience of vanilla since 04-06 so I think you are a little wrong. I gave up Wow before Legion and I will never touch retail again.
Kronos 3 is not even the main (popular) private server from what I hear, I was genuinely shocked at how many people were playing, how helpful people are, instance groups are exactly how they were back in the day.
You are right to an extent, it will never be the same for all people, but for me it's not 'maybe it's rose tinted goggles after all'.
I can confirm for me , I love it, fairly challenging grind of a game, annoying as hell questing in STV and Tanaris ( but great if you are doing the ganking), so many people on both sides. Maybe because I played from day one, I have a bias for classic and that is fine, retail is a quality game but I cannot explain why I refuse to play it anymore. I'll continue on this private venture at least until we get some solid updates on Classic.
Soldato
Interesting, there's some hope then if that's how you feel. Not sure I want to try one of these private servers, how good are they and do they get shut down often?
The good bits yes. The game was certain better back in vanilla and TBC than it was when I last played in about 2012. I understand it's even worse now.
I think it's important to add some context, I played like a lot of people up to WOD, never played Legion, even though I seen some YouTube content and my mates raved about it. I have good memories of all expansions played, really loved wow overall. I made a decision years ago that I'm done. Never achieved any major elite goals, PVE and PVP, but was a good player, same with Vanilla, seen up to BWL and AQ 40 but not consistent and maybe had 4-6 epics so nothing to go mad about. I also played at 19 so 13/14 years ago, I was a lazy student working in Safeway lol. Now I'm an early 30's Software Engineer and political nutcase, quite settled and happy with my relatively boring chill life.
I always believed private servers sounded dodgy and I had the classic attitude of " no not wasting my time on those rogue servers, classic is done etc." Then in January lol I seen the classic announcement.... I know it was what 2 months late? I don't even allow battle.net to load anymore and quit Hearthstone years ago too. I was weirdly excited and checked the forums and Reddit a lot, then came all the whine about changes "I want this and that etc." that I thought mmm maybe this is not going to happen the way I want it to.
So I pondered the idea of private servers, seen the streamers play on lights hope and many others, but I then noticed Kronos 3 was launched end of march I think, seems like a good comparison to vanilla, bit buggy at times, does not seem to cater to any online shop or pay to win system, loads and loads of people playing, almost 50/50 split, zones are jumping to the point I'm happy but also like wtf **** off and let me quest alone and stop kicking my lowbie ass. At the end of the day you're taking a risk playing on private servers, but I have not been this excited in a long time and it is for Blizzard Classic if done right. Kronos 3 is giving me so much good banter, and I have some mates playing, and met even some guys from Scotland which was cool and some from England. It's different to retail in the sense that the whole world is on the server, so when EU logs off for bed, the rest of the world is on so that is something I'm not used to.
I clearly love vanilla wow, I respect retail but cannot ever go back for some reason even if it is a super polished great looking title, I just feel annoyed with it but don't know why.
Kronos 3 is much like the vanilla experience I remember.
Walking to corpse is a pain, drinking after almost every pull, slow levelling but much better following Joanas/Jame's guides, people are always grouping for quests (if that's your thing) , not came across a bunch of knobs yet but they will be there, PVP whatever your views on it, is rife, one look at the rebel camp in STV from a distance had me turning around and getting back on the zeppelin cause screw that lol, but that is a good thing, if I was a rogue I would gladly quest there cause I'm a bit of banking idiot myself. Not reached 60 yet, but it people are raiding ONY and MC I think, and creating dungeon runs at 60 to all of them which is nice to see. Server has a weekly shutdown for maintenance much like existing wow which is announced in advance. There is some graphics glitches but they last a second and happen in certain places. When I played a long time ago it was on an Athlon 2500XP and ATI 9600XT I think, 17" monitor so my settings and gameplay was modest. Now like most people everything is on max and it really does look great and I have no issue or wishes for graphics to be retail but each to their own. I can't think of what else to say, as people might read this and think vanilla is an awful buggy mess that doesn't compare to current wow and that is fine, a game is what you make of it at the end of the day.
Sorry I didn't mean to type so much, try it out though, you have nothing to lose, might answer your question if it will be just as magical as it once was...
Soldato
Games have moved on now as have a lot of the people playing originally. I tried the prior expansion and couldn't believe how bad it was. The game felt like a cartoon and like it had lost so much of that original character.
Soldato
WoW is nostalgic at its best. I started in late classic just before tbc came out. It was brilliant. Left during wotlk and came back for leigion but it's not the same. Casually player but the game is done pretty much. It's all down to the community acting like idiots.
Just going on the forums you can see how they are. When classic does come out I can see people being bored within the hour.
Just going on the forums you can see how they are. When classic does come out I can see people being bored within the hour.
Newer players probably, but people like myself will welcome it. Its the community that has been lost these days, with x realms and dungeon finder there is just no server community, and no real reason to make connections/get a reputation these days. Its not really massively multiplayer, it could just as simply be a random pve co-op game like destiny or the division. I'm looking forward to it, not feeling any hype for BOA but will get it anyway like i always do lol.
Soldato
All true on my TBC server everyone knew each other no matter the faction, you used to take pride in your reputation.
I've said it many times before, vanilla WoW is probably my favourite game ever. I was young (15/16) and able to put a daft amount of time into the game; as in, getting back from school and playing for 6-7 hours straight every single day. All my friends at the time did the same. I played in a high level EU guild and built up a great reputation in PvE + PvP. I sold the game just before TBC as it was simply consuming my life and I had to get away from it. Absolutely amazing game.
I went back to Legion late last year and while the game has an unbelievable amount of content, is easier to navigate and has a plethora of QoL updates/improvements, it just doesn't have the same feel as vanilla. I put it down to three things;
- Cross-realm play/dungeon finder killing the community; you match with randoms, hardly anyone speaks and you never see the same faces (this essentially ruins the entire thing about building up a reputation/getting to know players)
- Friends and players you knew have moved on in life so it doesn't feel the same
- Every single thing is spoon fed to you and nothing feels like a challenge (admittedly I didn't get to the end game)
I suspect most vanilla players will agree with some or all of the above.
I'm looking forward to classic, but I just don't think it will be the same as familiar faces won't be around, the content won't feel new as most if not all have done it before and I simply won't have the spare time to be able to grind for 6-7 hours a day to get anywhere (like most people).
I went back to Legion late last year and while the game has an unbelievable amount of content, is easier to navigate and has a plethora of QoL updates/improvements, it just doesn't have the same feel as vanilla. I put it down to three things;
- Cross-realm play/dungeon finder killing the community; you match with randoms, hardly anyone speaks and you never see the same faces (this essentially ruins the entire thing about building up a reputation/getting to know players)
- Friends and players you knew have moved on in life so it doesn't feel the same
- Every single thing is spoon fed to you and nothing feels like a challenge (admittedly I didn't get to the end game)
I suspect most vanilla players will agree with some or all of the above.
I'm looking forward to classic, but I just don't think it will be the same as familiar faces won't be around, the content won't feel new as most if not all have done it before and I simply won't have the spare time to be able to grind for 6-7 hours a day to get anywhere (like most people).
Caporegime
That is the main issue with Vanilla. Agree best game I ever played but now 12 years later I have a child, wife and a job now. Just impossible to get to the level I was during Vanilla (Naxx raiding guild/Field Marshall). If they can put more gear in the game so that there isn't such a huge gulf between a raiding guild and a non raiding guild it will be awesome.
Could not agree more. Whilst the game has had to move on and evolve with the time's one great aspect of Original WOW was the way communities where able to develop on servers. Server's had their own drama which made them so great. Competing against other guilds for top server spots and even forming alliances/deals across factions to help your guild get those World boss kills. Anyone who played on The Venture Co back then will know what i am talking about when i use RedRum Inc and Ahn'Qiraj gate opening as an example.
Could not agree more. Whilst the game has had to move on and evolve with the time's one great aspect of Original WOW was the way communities where able to develop on servers. Server's had their own drama which made them so great. Competing against other guilds for top server spots and even forming alliances/deals across factions to help your guild get those World boss kills. Anyone who played on The Venture Co back then will know what i am talking about when i use RedRum Inc and Ahn'Qiraj gate opening as an example.
You're absolutely spot on. One of the greatest things about WoW before the expansions was the community. Yes, you were playing on a server with tens of thousands of players on either side, but you really did start to recognise guilds, party with and fight against the same players, complete quests with the same groups and get involved in the server + Blizzard forum drama. It was a community in every sense and no game for me personally has ever come close to it. Your friends list was packed to the brim and everyone was always online - playing, trading, fighting, talking, crafting etc. Then there was the whole guild community - Ventrilo, forums etc. Pretty much all of that is non-existent now.
It's tricky to explain to someone who hasn't played the game but it was a major selling point at the time and probably one of the main reasons as to why so many players put so much time into it.
One other thing I also wanted to mention which is probably a bit trivial in the grand scheme of things, but after trying Legion (bare in mind I missed every expansion) I really don't like how the dungeons have maps telling you where the bosses are. On top of this, I hate how you can go into an in-game guide to see all of the loot tables/drops. Yes, you could go on Thottbot at the time to see what was likely to drop from bosses, but it was a complete unknown until the bosses were downed. There is no sense of surprise. I loved raiding because it was exciting and unknown, now the game tells you where the loot is, what drops and the boss attacks etc - too much information.
This. Kids these days won't have the patience for grinding to get the real rewards and adults like us simply won't be able to commit the time due to jobs, children, partners etc.
Soldato
I actually started to download the client for Kronos but changed my mind and stopped the download.
I played Vanilla WOW a lot, the guild was ranked world no.1 at some stage but to get that involved a lot of commitment. Most of the guild was Swedish but you pretty much knew everyone and it was so much fun and what at the time felt rewarding. I remember a Mod /w me during a raid when I got the Warrior legendary sword lol
I don't think I'll get that feeling by playing again and I certainly don't have the time so probably best I don't try
I played Vanilla WOW a lot, the guild was ranked world no.1 at some stage but to get that involved a lot of commitment. Most of the guild was Swedish but you pretty much knew everyone and it was so much fun and what at the time felt rewarding. I remember a Mod /w me during a raid when I got the Warrior legendary sword lol
I don't think I'll get that feeling by playing again and I certainly don't have the time so probably best I don't try
I actually started to download the client for Kronos but changed my mind and stopped the download.
I played Vanilla WOW a lot, the guild was ranked world no.1 at some stage but to get that involved a lot of commitment. Most of the guild was Swedish but you pretty much knew everyone and it was so much fun and what at the time felt rewarding. I remember a Mod /w me during a raid when I got the Warrior legendary sword lol
I don't think I'll get that feeling by playing again and I certainly don't have the time so probably best I don't try
If the servers stay vanilla for longer then it was in the past you can take as long or play as casual as you want obviously not going to smash world first but I hope updates will work like old school RuneScape all community polled and has to have 75% pass rate
I'm glad I'm not doing that job! Having to turn all of the games' flat tables into relational databases will be a nightmare, but in the end, it will really help with the games' performance and might even fix a bunch of bugs that vanilla Warcraft had.