AV
We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
... and it was fantastic. Not that this is new to anyone, just wanted to get this out. I'd remembered that WoW classic is coming out later this year and got a bit of a bug to play. I played retail fairly solidly from 2005-2010 when Cataclysm launched, didn't like it much and fell off for a few years and then returned to raid in WoD (ugh) and then Legion, so it's been a long time since I touched the original game.
Boy, this was a blast. One of the many problems in modern WoW, as I'm sure most players will tell you, is that the majority of the game has been casualised and streamlined to the point of being completely braindead. Leveling these days consists of any class of almost any spec being able to pull huge groups of mobs together and nuke them down with very little thought or consequence. You'll finish maybe one third of the quests in a zone before you've outleveled the rest, and then move on using a flight path given to you. Skills are available instantly for free and there's barely any reason to visit a city. Dungeons are done with groups of strangers being lead by a tank in full artifact gear and zero communication is necessary.
Contrast that with the experience I had at the weekend. Mobs took significantly longer to kill and I actually had to rest every so often. Pulling two mobs was usually manageable at full health but any more was dangerous, and death was always around the corner. I'd sometimes have to tactically pull groups, wait until some of them started running back and then pick off the straggler. Icons were minimal and I had to actually explore areas. Skills were learned at trainers and cost precious silver, and after a while you'd have to travel back to the city where you might also do some other errands. First aid and even cooking were viable skills that were well worth learning. The economy actually made sense and level 6 items in the AH weren't 100 gold. Traversing the world actually felt like you were on a journey and not just zipping between a hundred flight paths. I'd do every quest I could find in a zone and still be underleveled, having to brave some higher level ones early or, god forbid, grind a little. I didn't get a piece of blue gear until I was in my 20s. Talent trees were a thing and I actually had to use my brain and plan ahead on what would be worth doing.
But most importantly, I had to communicate with people. Even regular quests could be a total pain if the enemies were bunched up in groups. Elite quests were straight up impossible to solo. People would randomly assist me with mobs even though there was no benefit to them, and I'd do the same. Everyone would buff each other at every turn. Level 60s would randomly hand out low level gear they'd found and boosting was a thing. People would communicate in general chat about the location of quest spawns and the opposite faction.
I greatly miss what this game was and it's been really wild going back and looking at it again, rough edges be damned. I really, really hope Blizzard don't screw classic up somehow, because I'll certainly be going back if it turns out okay.
Boy, this was a blast. One of the many problems in modern WoW, as I'm sure most players will tell you, is that the majority of the game has been casualised and streamlined to the point of being completely braindead. Leveling these days consists of any class of almost any spec being able to pull huge groups of mobs together and nuke them down with very little thought or consequence. You'll finish maybe one third of the quests in a zone before you've outleveled the rest, and then move on using a flight path given to you. Skills are available instantly for free and there's barely any reason to visit a city. Dungeons are done with groups of strangers being lead by a tank in full artifact gear and zero communication is necessary.
Contrast that with the experience I had at the weekend. Mobs took significantly longer to kill and I actually had to rest every so often. Pulling two mobs was usually manageable at full health but any more was dangerous, and death was always around the corner. I'd sometimes have to tactically pull groups, wait until some of them started running back and then pick off the straggler. Icons were minimal and I had to actually explore areas. Skills were learned at trainers and cost precious silver, and after a while you'd have to travel back to the city where you might also do some other errands. First aid and even cooking were viable skills that were well worth learning. The economy actually made sense and level 6 items in the AH weren't 100 gold. Traversing the world actually felt like you were on a journey and not just zipping between a hundred flight paths. I'd do every quest I could find in a zone and still be underleveled, having to brave some higher level ones early or, god forbid, grind a little. I didn't get a piece of blue gear until I was in my 20s. Talent trees were a thing and I actually had to use my brain and plan ahead on what would be worth doing.
But most importantly, I had to communicate with people. Even regular quests could be a total pain if the enemies were bunched up in groups. Elite quests were straight up impossible to solo. People would randomly assist me with mobs even though there was no benefit to them, and I'd do the same. Everyone would buff each other at every turn. Level 60s would randomly hand out low level gear they'd found and boosting was a thing. People would communicate in general chat about the location of quest spawns and the opposite faction.
I greatly miss what this game was and it's been really wild going back and looking at it again, rough edges be damned. I really, really hope Blizzard don't screw classic up somehow, because I'll certainly be going back if it turns out okay.
