After the stress test today

I know there is a community civil war of sorts going on in the forums and within the WoW community such with statements like “Classic is just nostalgia driven fad, it will fail after a few months” and “Retail is garbage and lost all RPG elements, Classic will outperform retail” ect ect. After the stress test today however (Which I didn’t get to start until 4 hours after the end of the focused testing times) I have to say that I am surprisingly extremely hyped for Classic.

I know that the word “nostalgia” gets thrown around as a bit of a deplatformer/invalidator type buzzword but I legit felt something I have not felt in ages and it was something I didn’t even realize I was nostalgic for. I was genuinely just having a great time, I honestly just felt… well… good, while playing and in a way that I have not felt with modern WoW in a long time. It just honestly felt right.

It certainly was not the class design as most my time was spent auto attacking. It certainly was not difficulty as everything was mindlessly easy. It certainly was not that the game required more effort to do anything such as dealing with quest objectives, looting, ect. None of that really did it for me…

The community and social aspects however… Like… Holy cow. I have been in several beta tests, ptrs, ect over the years but they are all the same. No one talking aside from the average “How do I do X” and then either silence or insults, bickering, or trolling. The Stress Test experience for me on the other hand just felt good. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, jovial, and just having fun.

Hanging out near an enemy spawn point with other people, randomly grouping up and helping each other, people striking up random conversations and talking about their experiences with wow… surprisingly above all else just how civil the conversations were for the most part in the stress test when I was playing. Everyone was friendly and helpful and everything just felt really active. Everyone seemed to just be having a great time and honestly I was too.

I will say, the feeling of journey certainly was there as well and I legitimately can not explain what exactly is different. It just felt good running around, waiting for the low spawn rate enemies, watching people duel and joke, waving to each other and randomly grouping up. They are the same tried and true quests and locations and yet it just felt better. It legitimately wracks my mind as to why its so much different.

Sure, it could just be this one limited test in this confined space and that when Classic comes out or if I get into the full beta test then things may be different but at the time being I am far more interested in Classic than I have been.

After getting off the stress test and trying to play the 8.2 PTR I just felt absolutely empty. The zones are barren, chats are void and lifeless, heck I only saw one other player in Nazjatar when I hopped on. After doing some quests and running around a bit I logged off with a feeling of just not being satisfied and I just don’t quite get it. After playing around on the stress test I just can’t seem to find motivation to play on live right now.

I don’t know what it is because I certainly did not get this feeling with the Blizzcon demo, however I do know that all I can really think about now is Classic and how I really want to get into the actual beta that much more now.

There is just something enjoyable here and I can not fully explain what it is past what I have stated. It just feels good.

EDIT: So, just real fast, making an edit here before my upcoming rant to mention that the Layering issue is known and not intended because I get pretty ranty on it. So everything past this was posted before I had known about a statement existing.

OH! But what sure as heck DOES NOT feel good is the stupid phasing, er… “layering”… During my initial playing of the stress test from 1-5 I PHASED a total of 5 times and each time it was while fighting quest mobs I need. Literally watching as they fade out of existence in front of me as if Thanos had just snapped them away. Seriously… Every… single… time… Since then I have hopped back on the stress test and am just hanging out in Razer Hill and have watched it happen 2 more times. Watching the mailbox and npc’s vanish then re-appear a moment later.

Layering in its current iteration is hot garbage, extremely jarring, and by far the WORST part of the Stress Test currently. Its seriously bad Blizzard… I really hope it get attention and get majorly fixed because its been nothing but a hindrance so far and every time it happened it was extremely immersion breaking (I know, overused, but it seriously snapped me out of the moment and legit just filled me with frustration)

/shrug

Anyway, forgive my long ramble, I really just wanted to gush a bit and express my feelings on Classic so far. While I always supported the idea of people who wanted a legit vanilla experience and hoped they would get it, I never thought I would find myself as hyped as I am after playing around on a stress test like this. I honestly feel like I am looking forward to Classic far more than 8.2 right now XD

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I think this was to test the layering, and it obviously needs a lot of work. You should see zero phasing.

But I am hyped beyond all reasoning and cannot wait until August.

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that part alone is why their should be no “layering”
and of course the other part about mobs snapping in/out of existence, but more so the “community” part is what is the important part (my opinion)

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I am not. I still think it is over hyped and when people stop and think about it, is this really all that different, they will have to say no. It is too bad they ruined the current game with zone scaling because that would have made things a lot clearer as to where the real problem lies.

Read your part about grouping and yes someone threw me a group invite as I was about to tag a mob ahead of him - nothing was said and after we finished the quest the group was disbanned. Other than on live, when I will refuse that no conversation spam invite, not a thing different.

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Im curious now, you said you found the content easy. Were you facing mobs of equal level?

I started to fight level six mobs on my level four and they sure packed a punch. Even pulled a level nine by mistake by venturing too far and almost died. The starting zones surely felt no danger. But my warlock pet got three shot when I pulled a second mob and wasn’t expecting that.

Awesome review and enjoyed reading.

Curiously, all phasing reports I’ve seen seem to come from Kalimdor, Barrens and Durotar. I haven’t had any phasing in Elwynn whatsoever.

Maybe you guys should just ban this A hat!!! https://youtu.be/2Wt6-4Bc_UU

I found it easy too, in fact on a rogue it was easier on classic than it is currently on live. I was fighting equal level mobs. You would have to go outside the starting area to get ones over your level and even then a lvl 5 fighting a lvl 6 wasn’t hard. If you pulled 3 yes there might be a problem but on live I believe that is the case for many classes now as well.

I like how people who complain about Asmongold the most, are his biggest viewers, like I haven’t seen this video, and you who hate him have. Hm.

I think you are making a lot of biased assumptions, and honestly its something that only time will tell on in the end. I do find it odd that someone who dislikes the idea of classic hangs out in the classic forum. I could understand this kind of response in the GD though…

Even then, I don’t get the inner community civil war of Classic vs Retail.

/shrug

I will say that trying to put all of retail’s issues squarely on

Is hard for me to really accept in any capacity. I would argue things like LFG and LFR have had far more an impact on the game but I digress. Not really here to pick apart retail more so as making this post gushing about my experience with Classic so far.

Yes, I should also state I was a Shaman and had heals to my advantage but fighting upwards of 2-3 mobs at a time near my level was not really a problem for me but those encounters have been rare considering how active and camped the areas are. I know some people are now going out and doing higher level content (You mentioned accidentally pulling a level 9) but for the level appropriate stuff I never had issue.

Thanks, it was fun to write and I have had a pretty enjoyable time so far :slight_smile:

Really? I should hop on a human and check it out, I was in Durotar personally.

I don’t quite get what this has to do with anything…? If you are assuming that I am a moderator of some kind or have clout with Blizzard in any capacity I just want you to know that MVP’s are normal players like everyone else and this is not really the right channel for that kind of thing.

Honestly, I don’t get the unwarranted hate everyone gives him. Community actively seems to be out for blood when it comes to him and unprovoked at that.

How am I making assumptions - I am saying what I think. The game just is not that different. I have leveled over 40 characters in those starting areas and they don’t feel different prior to 7.3.5 and on classic.

I took part in the stress test - how odd, as a green, I am all of a sudden the enemy and shouldn’t post in this section of the forum because I disagree with you.

Here you go - this is my feedback I posted 3 hours ago after I tested and then I got off - I had replies so I came back to this section. Don’t worry though I won’t start hanging out here. I did the test and provided feedback like blizzard asked and that is it.

I went exploring with a lvl 3 in goldshire.

What did I see? You what was going down in goldshire…
Then I made my way to mines and bam ported to sw.

Going right after the Green text… ugh.

I made a counter argument to your point in the same vein that you did my original post. At no point did I state that you should not give your feedback or opinion, I made own observations and gave a counter statement as well as pointing out that I disagree with the issues of retail and that I feel LFD and LFR are much bigger issues as opposed to your statement that WoW’s failings rest mostly on scaling.

Don’t put words into my mouth.

You were ‘selected’ for that green writing because your were supposed to be able to post constructively. I didn’t consider what you posted constructive.

You wonder why there is such a classic vs retail conflict and then you literally do it yourself because I disagree with you.

Show me the part where I said I dislike the idea of classic if you are so concerned with people putting words into others mouths.

I don’t dislike the current game and I don’t see much of a difference between it and classic at those levels so I am not sure where you get the idea I said I dislike the idea of classic.

In fact, if having classic is going to allow the current game to have more things I like then I am all for classic.

i think we all get what you mean. it’s a work of art, honestly.

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