That's why you bring along your friendly neighbourhood Engineer!
Remember when soulstones were actual, physical items you had to generate off mobs?
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Try to explain to me WoW vanilla
- Thread starter MrMatt555
- Start date
That's why you bring along your friendly neighbourhood Engineer!
Remember when soulstones were actual, physical items you had to generate off mobs?
Music always gets me in WoW no matter what, every single region in the game is amazing even today.
I'm still playing WoW after 12 years and blizzard really redefined there game, i still love playing it. And to be honest i played all different MMO's through the years but i always come back to this game because it is the most comfortable i feel with and know the best out of it.
I just remembered that time when some hunter pets were clearly better than others.
I think there was that one rare cat in Badlands that was super popular. The day I captured it, I was so glad the hunt/wait was over...
I don't really miss those days since now you can just tame whatever you think look the coolest. Honestly, camping a rare animal that doesn't immediately respawn after 5-10 mins was no fun, and still is not fun. Especially when you have to fight with other people on who's the fastest to tag/kill it. Which is why I don't bother doing this with those rares dropping mounts.
I think there was that one rare cat in Badlands that was super popular. The day I captured it, I was so glad the hunt/wait was over...
I don't really miss those days since now you can just tame whatever you think look the coolest. Honestly, camping a rare animal that doesn't immediately respawn after 5-10 mins was no fun, and still is not fun. Especially when you have to fight with other people on who's the fastest to tag/kill it. Which is why I don't bother doing this with those rares dropping mounts.
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
I camped one of the rare lions in the Barrens for hours, then ended up letting this newb hunter have it because I felt bad.
Clockwork5
Member
LFG Gnomer.
Oh yeah, and didn't pets you just tamed used to stay the same lvl? So if you were a lvl 55 hunter trying to tame a lvl 15 animal, have fun lvling the little guy for 40 lvls?
The more I think about it, the more I'm glad certain things have changed since 10+ years ago. Sure, the community in general and world pvp suffered since then, but I won't miss the rest.
Hippopuncher12
Member
My biggest memory from vanilla WoW, was being a Holy Paladin, and all I did was spam blessings and decursive in raids. So glad they turned them into actual healers eventually. I loved Vanilla WoW for what it was, but the QoL improvements over the years have been a blessing. I will say though the community is nothing like it used to be, and it started to take a turn for the worst in WoTLK. Vanilla and BC community was so fucking good. I miss the people I used to play with, and wish I would have kept in touch with them. Hell, I don't even really talk to people in my guild now I log on and solo everything or PUG, and no one says a damn word to one another.
HackTheSlash
Member
This actually still happens in a way.
When i last played during a short stint in Draenor. There were 'spirit animals' that, although didnt really have much better stats from what i recall, were very cool to behold. So naturally they were camped by hunters often. The bad thing is, their spawn timers could be anywhere between 3-8 hours. I remember in particular waiting for about 5 hours to get this ghost wolf. And there was also an alliance hunter in the area and we kept passing each other going back and fourth on the known route of the beast. I did get it eventually. But stressful knowing that if you miss out to this other guy, you wasted a good part of the day.
Great thread OP, this is blowing up my mind with nostalgia. Feels bad to know this kind of magic will never be felt again - although a few years back I will admit I got an extremely similar "close-knit community" vibe when I played FFXIV Online: A Realm Reborn. Without a doubt the closest to vanilla WoW I'll ever get again. You could ask a random stranger for help with something and 99 times out of 100 they would reply "sure" and come help you and expect nothing in return.
The thing with vanilla WoW is that I was in college at the time and had all the time in the world.
The vibe of gaming has also changed. The focus of MMOs these days seems all about grinding to the max level to play the end game. Always grind grind grind, in the backlog culture we have now. I used to love hanging out in Ironforge, LFGing and chatting people up.
Sometimes a new item or something would be released and some random crafting material would skyrocket in value, allowing you to game the market like a microcosm of the actual stock market.
Simple put: it was a fresh and new take on an existing franchise that everyone loved. The graphical style was amazing and felt _so real_ and magical.
I actually quit about a week after buying Burning Crusade, realizing that the new environments didn't have a magical feel to it. Just didn't want to level up anymore. It was definitely a one time fun thing for me.
Now that I think about it.. a similar thing happened to me with FFXIV: ARR. I quit playing after the first major update, when I realized I was playing every day to hit stupid caps to buy stupid gear to hit more caps and buy more gear.
Once I've explored all the environments in a game like the back of my hand, it just starts to feel like a job. That's why I'll never play another MMO again.
The thing with vanilla WoW is that I was in college at the time and had all the time in the world.
The vibe of gaming has also changed. The focus of MMOs these days seems all about grinding to the max level to play the end game. Always grind grind grind, in the backlog culture we have now. I used to love hanging out in Ironforge, LFGing and chatting people up.
Sometimes a new item or something would be released and some random crafting material would skyrocket in value, allowing you to game the market like a microcosm of the actual stock market.
Simple put: it was a fresh and new take on an existing franchise that everyone loved. The graphical style was amazing and felt _so real_ and magical.
I actually quit about a week after buying Burning Crusade, realizing that the new environments didn't have a magical feel to it. Just didn't want to level up anymore. It was definitely a one time fun thing for me.
Now that I think about it.. a similar thing happened to me with FFXIV: ARR. I quit playing after the first major update, when I realized I was playing every day to hit stupid caps to buy stupid gear to hit more caps and buy more gear.
Once I've explored all the environments in a game like the back of my hand, it just starts to feel like a job. That's why I'll never play another MMO again.
Remember Pet Happiness?
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
Yup!
QuantumZebra
Member
It really tried to be as good as EverQuest.
It came close.
Then each and every expansion took WoW further from the light.
Golden age of MMOs died when WotLK hit and EverQuest went into post-Omens of War phase.
It came close.
Then each and every expansion took WoW further from the light.
Golden age of MMOs died when WotLK hit and EverQuest went into post-Omens of War phase.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
This isn't correct. Retail WoW isn't designed around creating conflict. Conflict was eroded away with QOL improvements. You could go to any private vanilla server and see world PVP thrive because the game is designed for it.
As for the OP, vanilla works (even to this day) because you feel invested and your best way of succeeding is to be social. You didn't have to be good at rotations, PvP, or anything but talking to strangers and for a lot it seemed it was a huge first for them. The threads that bind and yadda yadda yadda.
HeisenbergFX4
Gold Member
Where's Mankriks wife??
Temeculan3000
Member
Yeah those were cool. I think I still have this one on my Hunter: http://www.wow-petopia.com/look.php?id=slimeskingreen
In Razorfen Downs.
Anyone for Baron's mount run?
It's all about those Midnight mount runs now.
Don't really post in gaming anymore, but figured to contribute here..
Best gaming experience I'll probably ever have.. and the worst.
Was the first MMO I played and was just in awe. Believe I started playing in Feb 2005, used a VPN to get around my college firewalls to be able to play.
I was in awe at just how massive it all was, the sheer scale and wonderment of exploring and being in this other world. I remember the first time I ran Deadmines with some random people and thought how cool it all was. Eventually leveled a few characters to 60, did a fair share of raiding and PVP, and enjoyed my time in the game, made some great friends that I wish I could get back in touch with. Think I "quit and came back" for BC and Cataclysm and that was it.
It was also the worst experience.. I was addicted. It ruined my college experience. My weekends often were waking up at noon, playing until 3 or 4 the next morning, and repeating. I put WoW above all else. School, friends, any of my other hobbies, none of it matter if I had some minor in game goal on my mind.
In game I can look back fondly on it, but when I realize how much it changed my life path because of my addiction, it's hard to think of it positively.
Best gaming experience I'll probably ever have.. and the worst.
Was the first MMO I played and was just in awe. Believe I started playing in Feb 2005, used a VPN to get around my college firewalls to be able to play.
I was in awe at just how massive it all was, the sheer scale and wonderment of exploring and being in this other world. I remember the first time I ran Deadmines with some random people and thought how cool it all was. Eventually leveled a few characters to 60, did a fair share of raiding and PVP, and enjoyed my time in the game, made some great friends that I wish I could get back in touch with. Think I "quit and came back" for BC and Cataclysm and that was it.
It was also the worst experience.. I was addicted. It ruined my college experience. My weekends often were waking up at noon, playing until 3 or 4 the next morning, and repeating. I put WoW above all else. School, friends, any of my other hobbies, none of it matter if I had some minor in game goal on my mind.
In game I can look back fondly on it, but when I realize how much it changed my life path because of my addiction, it's hard to think of it positively.
bigdaddygamebot
Member
I'm not so sure "free" is the appropriate descriptor. A paladin (and warlocks) needed to work their ass off to earn their "free" mount.
Level 60 warlock quest was a pain but it was still cheaper than 900g or whatever it was. You did get a 'free' mount at 40 with basically no quest though.
Worst part was honestly trying to find a DM West group because no one wanted to run it lol.
That's nto true though, like, what caused world pvp to 'thrive' in vanilla that doesn't exist today? Literally nothing. You still see other faction players ALL THE TIME in modern wow, hell in Legion more than ever before because you're out in the world every day. You still have to go to raid instances, which means killing people outside of them if you desire, These are the two scenarios that led to like 99% of all pvp in vanilla. You know how often I get PVPed even when I see opposite faction players? Like, once or twice as week. It's not because we don't see each other, it's because it's a waste of everyone's time and they know it and I know it. Just like in vanilla, when Battlegrounds opened people stopped raiding Tarren Mill and Southshore, because there was no point in doing it. People did it prior to that because they could and because it was novel and new, and yes it was fun, but it was also unchanging.
The fact that people log onto a nostalgia based server to do nostalgia based things is unsurprising, I'm not sure why you think that means that is 'the game' from back then though - you could literally do those exact same things on live and get the exact same reward from it.
This will never stop happening. It will always be a "rebuttal" to that observation.
Always.
I mean, it's not 'the rebuttal' it's only part of it, but you can keep ignoring the entire rest of the post if that's what suits you. The simple truth is you cannot speak to something you have no actual experience with. I don't go into street fighter threads and tell street fighter 5 pros that the game is easy, because I'm not actually qualified to do so. Seems really simple to me, no?
Deputy Moonman
Member
Man, vanilla wow was such a fantastic gaming experience for me. I came in late and started playing while most guilds had MC on easy mode and BWL was something a lot of guilds had already gotten through. I believe by the time I finally hit 60 the guild I joined was just starting to do AQ40, but that too had already been finished by the higher end guilds. Still, the social experience was fantastic. My only regret is not playing on a pve server. Getting ganked by horde throughout the leveling process was not fun and I never took much pleasure in killing lowbies myself. Still, traversing the world was great since no one could fly and the social aspect of the game was amazing.
One Eyed Willy
Member
The best way I can describe vanilla WoW, is it triggered that same feeling you got as a kid going to Disneyland. They captured lightning in a bottle, and being involved in closed beta made it even more magical. You have to consider this was what, 2004?
Anyone who didn't participate in vanilla WoW back in those early days, simply missed one of the most magical times in gaming. Trying to describe it is nearly impossible. You had to be there.
Anyone who didn't participate in vanilla WoW back in those early days, simply missed one of the most magical times in gaming. Trying to describe it is nearly impossible. You had to be there.
Anoregon
The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
Vanilla WoW might be the greatest example of "right game, right time" in the history of the medium. The MMORPG market was expanding due to the success of Everquest, DAoC, and a bunch of other games, but had not yet reached that serious zeitgeist moment that a single game could capitalize on. Then WoW came out and it's success was so extreme that it ended up casting a shadow on the whole genre, becoming the template for the majority of future efforts.
I sure did love playing it though. That sense of the world being way bigger than you could believe and full of so much content you couldn't imagine doing it all. Every little thing felt like a significant accomplishment, every time you cleared a dungeon for the first time you felt like a boss. I can't go back and play on vanilla servers now just due to a number mechanic/gameplay issues making it feel too archaic at this point, but playing WoW during its first few years sure was a special time.
I sure did love playing it though. That sense of the world being way bigger than you could believe and full of so much content you couldn't imagine doing it all. Every little thing felt like a significant accomplishment, every time you cleared a dungeon for the first time you felt like a boss. I can't go back and play on vanilla servers now just due to a number mechanic/gameplay issues making it feel too archaic at this point, but playing WoW during its first few years sure was a special time.
Server was so good that Manifest Destiny got fed up and left after getting world first Maexxna.
I think I still have Stonefire's spine somewhere in Mu's bank. He was a cool guy, for a dwarf.
I played in the final beta and what I remember the most was just exploring the world, seeing new locations, and figuring things out. My first griffin ride was amazing. On the last night of the beta, a whole bunch of people had a party at the entrance to Stormwind, couting down the final moments. I was glad to be part of it.
I played it until the expansions started coming out. It turned into a different game then, and I didn't enjoy it as much. I've tried several MMO's since then, but nothing has really come close.
On the last night of the beta, a whole bunch of people had a party at the entrance to Stormwind, couting down the final moments. I was glad to be part of it.I played it until the expansions started coming out. It turned into a different game then, and I didn't enjoy it as much. I've tried several MMO's since then, but nothing has really come close.
Coriolanus
Banned
yeah, mara was.... problematic.
What surprised me, when blizzard *finally* did the obvious and removed pet range aggro, was how many hunters were opposed to the move. Turned out that a whole lot of hunters goddamn hated their pets, and simply gave up on using them completely at 60. Given how buggy they were in so many dungeons, it somewhat made sense, wot with being one less thing to worry about.
they were throwing, like, 150-200dps away tho.
60EffPeeEss
Member
Did someone say [Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]?
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
Is "hunter weapon" still a dank meme?
dcx4610
Member
Harder, less hand holding, no flying mounts, big raids and a relatively normal world.
I know it's lore and all but the game got very sci-fi and out there as it went on. I miss the simple towns, forests, jungles, wheat fields, etc. There is still nothing comparable to leaving a character from 1-20. Such a lovely and peaceful experience.
I just recently re-upped my subscription and while I don't care for the modern areas, the game is still very fun and it seems like there is always something to do which was a major problem before.
I know it's lore and all but the game got very sci-fi and out there as it went on. I miss the simple towns, forests, jungles, wheat fields, etc. There is still nothing comparable to leaving a character from 1-20. Such a lovely and peaceful experience.
I just recently re-upped my subscription and while I don't care for the modern areas, the game is still very fun and it seems like there is always something to do which was a major problem before.
Coinspinner
Member
I don't know what WoW is like now so I can't compare.
My friends picked a PvP server and it sucked. I would be out leveling, grinding mobs in the charred vale or whatever, and along would come some alliance guy who would just hang around ruining my day. I made another character on a PvE server just so I could have something to do when that happened. Around the time I got both of them mounts I quit.
My friends picked a PvP server and it sucked. I would be out leveling, grinding mobs in the charred vale or whatever, and along would come some alliance guy who would just hang around ruining my day. I made another character on a PvE server just so I could have something to do when that happened. Around the time I got both of them mounts I quit.
Forgotten heroes, not manifest destiny. Your mind is leaving you old man
Paladins sucked aside from a free mount. It was horrible. Essential mods were buffbot and all you did was cast blessings since they lasted 30 seconds.
It was horror!
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
They had some fun quirks, though! Like that dude who stacked enough Reckoning charges to one-shot Kazzak.
HackTheSlash
Member
*Bubble Hearth*
I remember what you're talking about.
Pets had different attack speeds back in the day, so people tended to gravitate towards the ones that had crazy fast AS (one of the best I remember being one of the Bloodseeker Bats from ZG).
But then they went and normalized Pet AS, so that fun was over.
Yup. Was a major pain in the ass if you wanted a new pet.
Frankly, when I came back in Cata, I was happy at all the changes they gave Hunters.
Hunters had so many damn things and quirks to worry about, it wasn't even funny.
RenegadeXV8
Banned
Speaking of Hunter quirks, remember the goddamn Dead Zone? It was the area between melee and ranged where Hunters could not attack and your abilities would be cancelled if they finished casting while an enemy was in that zone, so anyone worth their salt in 1v1 PvP would just abuse that.
And then there was the period of time in Burning Crusade when you could script the entire Hunter attack rotation to a single macro, and the key to topping damage meters was simply based on how fast you could mash that button.
And then there was the period of time in Burning Crusade when you could script the entire Hunter attack rotation to a single macro, and the key to topping damage meters was simply based on how fast you could mash that button.
They got rid of the dead zone? It was a pain.
I remember pre-TBC, raiding was about alternating aimed shot + multishot (though you were in deep shit if you accidentally popped a sapped/pollied enemy). Then they brought out Steady shot and made arcane shot not useless. Then it was just alternating those too but having to time it with the shot cycle.
Edit: Oh and pimping agility in vanilla wow was ridiculous. I had over 700agi at one point could beat some people playing melee classes just using melee and traps thanks to epic dodge + parry and high crit rate.
MisterAnderson
Member
I was the opposite, I played vanilla WoW and Burning Crusade, stopped midway through BC. But I never was part of a Guild or did any Raids, only 5 man instances. Shit was really fun.
krameriffic
Member
I think it's an aspect of WoW that is grossly underestimated: it was the beginning of real power gaming for a lot of people. There were no comprehensive, authoritative sources of information about quest locations or rewards. It wasn't built into the game to tell you exactly where to go and what to do. You couldn't just watch Youtube videos of every questline, start to finish, before they even hit live servers. There were things you didn't know, and more importantly that you couldn't easily find out. They didn't give you a shortcut to Desolace from Stormwind to start the Scarlet Monastery quests from the Alliance side. You had to figure that shit out.
Today, everything is known about everything before it even hits the PTR. Every element of a patch is datamined within hours of the patch becoming downloadable. Every new item, every skill change, every new quest is a totally known quantity. Your UI mods can tell you every action you need to take at every moment of a boss fight. Your gearing is decided for you by numerical models built and painstakingly tested by truly insane people. You have data reaping websites showing what is experimentally the best build/gear/playstyle for every class.
All of this lends itself to demystifying the game as a whole. It takes away that feeling of the unknown wonderment that was at the heart of what made vanilla WoW so special to experience in that time and place. It's why going back to it now can never be the same. It's also why no other game can come along and replicate it. WoW changed the face of heavily knowledge-based, complex games forever. It gave rise to the cold, hard process of analyzing and breaking down a game to its nuts and bolts then putting it on the internet for everyone to see or risk falling behind.
There was still stuff like DBM in vanilla. Hell, the first threat meter came into existence because people wanted a reliable way to beat Vael every week instead of just hoping the tanks were in the top spots of the threat list. I remember the first week it came out. We had finally beaten Vael a few weeks back and while we downed him every week there were still wipes due to a DPS climbing too high or the tanks not being in the right order. That mod by itself made that fight way easier and we one-shot it every week after it came out.
Honestly, having to manage invisible mechanics you can't measure and barely understand is not a fun experience.
Part of why Vanilla WoW was so hard is that we didn't have to tools to do the things they wanted us to do properly. Stuff like decursive was mandatory for certain fights and AOE tanking was non-existent simply because the tools to do it properly didn't exist.
What I'm saying is there's a middle ground between "we know everything about everything" and "in order to beat this fight you need to manage an invisible mechanic you don't understand and have no way of measuring." I feel like that balance was best struck in the opening patches of WotLK. After that the game started trending too far toward "you know everything about everything."
How feasible would a decent budget MMO akin to old MMO design be nowadays? Every big budget MMO that comes out like SWTOR, ESO, etc. seems to put focus on single player content and story/quest lines. My first MMO was Tibia, which was 100% grinding and exploration, and it blew my mind. Making to leap to WoW was just as mind blowing, the insane size of the world, tight knit community and PvP made the game feel alive, truly an MMORPG. From what I've read about Black Desert Online it also has a pretty big focus on exploration etc. but I don't really like the combat, and the community still doesn't seem super alive.
I wouldn't even have the time to play an MMO again, but I'd be super happy to see one with old-school design philosophy developed, and I'd support it 100%.
I wouldn't even have the time to play an MMO again, but I'd be super happy to see one with old-school design philosophy developed, and I'd support it 100%.
That was the first time I ever heard Skatman way back then lol
To be fair in the quest logs it was easy to know. Then you had wowhead/thottbot that came out during Vanilla WoW to help you.
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
I agree with both of these. Aside from being at the right place at the right time, the mystification is what made vanilla WoW so mindblowingly special. However, I think some of the peeking behind the curtain was really good for the game. Especially since a lot of stuff just straight up didn't work properly or at all.
I wish I could have been there at the release of WotLK. It seems like that was a really strong period in the game.
I had such tough time with money that I had to level an alt just to grind Tyr's Hand for Runecloth so I could sell it in Auction House to support my Resto Shaman raiding consumables and repair bills. Why did I level an alt to do this? It was so so expensive to constantly respec your character so I couldn't afford it.
I actually only got my epic mount in TBC. Yeah, I played the whole Vanilla with the normal slow mount.
Also bumping into enemy faction players in the world and getting to know their names since there was no cross-realm.
I actually only got my epic mount in TBC. Yeah, I played the whole Vanilla with the normal slow mount.
Also bumping into enemy faction players in the world and getting to know their names since there was no cross-realm.
Tyr's Hand was a really great farming spot. Hard enough so bots couldn't farm there because it was full of elites, but easy enough to farm with the right class/spec. I used to farm it with my mate, tank a bunch of mobs on my warrior while he cleaned them up by spamming arcane blast. I think we only ever got one epic to drop though.
And yeah, I didn't get my epic mount either aside from my Warlock quest one. I don't think epic mounts were super common.