So I haven’t played BFA since 8.0 (pretty much got to 120 and quit), and recently came back after I ran out of things to do in Classic ( got to 60 , epic mount, mostly BIS gear from Molten core/Ony)
I have to say that after finishing the war campaign and messing around a bit, BFA isn’t so bad. The art/music is top notch, and the zones feel BIG. I had intense hatred for it which caused me to ignore it for over a year. I’m not sure why I like it more now all of a sudden.
Still not excited about all the rep grinding, or having to catch up on pathfinder, but that’s a gripe for another day.
One of the biggest differences is the amount of time it takes to do things – I can hop on quick and get things done in retail, which can take hours in Classic. Normally this isn’t a big deal for me and I don’t advocate for one way over the other, but since I’m getting married next year and starting a family, I think I might come to appreciate retail a bit more
Not looking to slam classic - I think it’s great and is fulfilling it’s purpose. That being said I’ve run out of things to do in it, and find myself bouncing between other games more including retail.
/end random scattered thoughts
EDIT: What should i be prioritizing to catch up? I’m mostly just working on nazjatar and mechagon & doing emissaries (finished the war campaign). is there anything else I’m missing?
And I think this is the best way to look at both: they’re two games. And once you run out of things to do in one, the other is there for you to work on. This is the way people should be looking at things, not “Can we get Classic everything on Live servers, Classic is so much better, Live is so much better” blah blah blah, etc.
I personally hated Classic immensely; I think it’s super dull. But I respect the people who love it and want to play it! Which is why I’m glad they’re two separate games for everyone to enjoy or focus on.
So adding my own random thoughts to yours, I’m glad you can enjoy both versions of the game and aren’t asking for one to consume the other.
the classic people who say “you need to change everything in retail to be more like classic for me to play retail” are completely missing the point. a good majority of them were stealing wow on private servers for 10 years or so. they’re getting their money now though. they will either leave wow once they’re bored, or do tbc classic if it ever comes. blizz has essentially doubled down on retailness recently especially considering they’re making leveling so much quicker in shadowlands.
Pretty much my exact experience as well. Hated BfA at first, but came back a month or so ago and I’m actually enjoying it waaaay more than I expected it would. Bfa’s not nearly as bad as people make it out to be.
i think a lot of people expected classic to be the savior of wow but then realized how easy it is in comparison to retail in most ways. it also is a dead end as it won’t get new content. retail will though.
Yeah, having the right ones can make a big difference but all of them can be decent. Hopefully your BiS or preferred essences are from activities you like to do.
I disagree with this. I played private servers for a bit, but not for 10 years or so. I quit during Cata, and tried MoP. There are too many changes that I don’t particularly enjoy.
Sure i’d like to try retail. It’s in Blizzards best interest to get players that Classic BROUGHT back. To give retail a try. In order to do that, they’ll have to figure out how to balance reverting changes, while maintaining the current player base’s expectations.
You don’t have to make it a clone of Classic to attract more those players.
I mean - I think it’s reasonable for Blizzard to cater to their current audience. They don’t want to alienate their current retail playerbase for potential players.
I think it’s OK if people like one or the other (or both). No need to make everyone happy (it’s impossible anyway)
have you looked into shadowlands stuff yet? retail is doubling down on retail stuff. leveling is getting much quicker. some of the things are being added back that were taken out before with the pruning.
classic exists for people that want that kind of game play.
retail should not be ruined because you got an itch to play wow again and realized that your game is a dead end.
also most people on the classic forums have said they’d sooner go back to private servers than ever play retail again. please explain why you’d change a game completely for people like this that have no interest in retail?
I logged onto retail for the first time in a while to do the 15th anniversary stuff, went to Kazzak for that quest, could see him from far away but every time I got closer he phased out, and now I’m logged out again for the foreseeable future.
At the end of the day Blizzard exists to make money. There are more revenue streams in retail then in Classic. That’s why it’s in their best interest to convert players to playing both.
I think personally I would focus on getting Pathfinder complete at this point it will make things a little easier to get to rather than depend on flightpaths. Then I would try to plan for Shadowlands and try to meet as many requirements prior to it’s release so you are not always playing catch-up
Pathfinder was already available when I came back, I imagine waiting a year would’ve been horrible. I don’t really care about the gcd changes as it didn’t really affect my class (though I wish to god that Memory of Lucid Dreams was off it). The HoA could never be as good as artifacts were but at this point in the xpac you can cap it without even trying. That’s plenty of bad for sure, but I’m glad I came back to get it another shot.
what do classic players like? tedious boring leveling. which isn’t happening because we’re getting leveling even easier in the expansion. attunements? how would that work with lfr? oh speaking of lfr/lfd they want those removed too. don’t like scaling. don’t like catch up mechanics. don’t want casual players to get any sort of gear. it’s exactly the opposite of what the average classic player wants. they’d legit have to RUIN retail for the majority of people who play to maybe get some classic players back. but unlike people who have been constantly subbed to retail classic players have shown they have no issues leaving the game and then pirating it. they’re a fickle bunch. right now with the way retail is they know that a few million of us will shell out for every new expansion. buy boosts, race changes, mounts, pets, tokens etc. they could alienate their for sure money for people that will leave if any change happens that they don’t like. how is that good business?
