"Classic" excitement explained from an older gamer's perspective

PVP Arenas
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Hey all,

Gamer dad here and sub’d since November 2004.

As everyone knows (and is probably sick of hearing about) “Classic” is due to be released end of summer and there’s been a ton of hype etc…

This being the Arena forums it comes as no surprise my beloved Arena d00ds have not rolled out the welcome mat and it seems most have no interest.

Many of you seem almost angry or defiant about Classic and secretly (or not so secretly) hope it fails miserably.

For many of us old folk we are excited as all h3ll.

WHY?

I can tell you it’s not really “nostalgia”.

I know that word is thrown around every 5 seconds and there is some truth in those special feels we get when we think about those epic moments we had back in the day.

Those cannot really be recaptured and there is definitely no staying power in a version of wow that is solely predicated on nostalgic notions.

So why are so many people excited to play old content again?

If you didn’t play back then it is very hard to express, but it mostly boils down to community and your sense of place within your community.

Being a part of a server and knowing literally everyone on it.
Being a part of a guild that would bail your a$$ out when being camped and starting a faction war in the middle of a questing hub in Strangle Thorn Vale that might last for hours.
Being a part of a faction and feeling like it mattered.
Knowing the horde who were gankers.
Knowing the horde who were skilled players.
Knowing which Horde guilds were KoS because they had built a reputation for griefing the alliance. etc…

Back then, a player’s reputation preceded them. If you were a good player, be it dragonslaying or pvp - people knew who you were and respect was there.

I didn’t have to look up someones Raiderio or armory them to see if they were “good”.

I likely leveled with them.
Probably fought horde alongside them in world pvp.
Helped them fend off Horde during World Boss kills.
The list goes on and on.

Basically, built camaraderie with my fellow neckbeards.

Bringing back classic isn’t about downing Ragnaros for the billionth time.

It’s about being a part of a gaming community that feels as real as a gaming community can feel.

Oh and some food for thought before i leave!

Even if you despise the idea of classic servers understand how much it can help “live” gameplay.

A lot of the mechanisms we miss that dramatically impact pvp/arena were present in Vanilla. And the success of Classic will surely lead to positive changes that even “live-only” players will love.

And just think, if Classic goes well they have all but stated TBC would be next.

If that is indeed true i will never touch live again because TBC arena was incredible for so many reasons.

Anywho, just my .02 copper on the subject.

Cheers!

Uncle Trafficz

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Retail isn’t getting any better. Classic won’t have many QoL changes that we got accustomed to but it’s still 10x better than the garbage we have now

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Classic will be popular and fun for about 3 days, after 3 days, no one will remember it

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Watch venruki’s new video.

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That would explain why so many people have been playing for 2 days now and still say it’s amazing. U got about 24 hours left before your statement is proven wrong. And this is just beta lul

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Yo Dorito thanks for the link!

I have always enjoyed Ven’s stream because he seems really even keeled and an honest/genuine type of dude.

I agree with his thoughts and hope many people will watch his take on Classic and maybe form their own opnion’s when it’s released.

there will always be people that are dismissive. i have had more than a few of my own moments like this on the forums.

what i will say is that Classic is most certainly not for everyone. but there is a large segment of the wow community that has been laying in wait for a very long time for this moment.

i am one of them :slight_smile:

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Going back on and playing older versions of the game after they’ve passed felt sorta weird. Felt like experiencing a shade of something you once had - you recognized it but nothing was the same. Do think it will still have some awesome gameplay and will be probably bring back some tight communities since not only did Classic seem to inherently cultivate them but most people who WANT to go back seem to value that a lot.

When I played Vanilla I remember feeling like it was so immersive and people took the drama in it SO seriously. The funeral bombing, ninja looting, server rivalries, etc. Curious to see with the reboot if those are inherent to Vanilla’s style of MMO or if it was more a cultural trend of the times.

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i watched that video lol… first he says “its so muc hharder! u cant chain pull mobs like in bfa!” then i tune into his stream and hes literally chain pulling mobs, frost novaing them and using blizzard to kill them all at once.

what a goober that guy is. i love him but lotta stuff he said was just garbage. i wonder if he gets paid t osay good things about it , that would be dope

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Frost mage is the only spec/class that can do anything like this.

I will likely level a Priest because that was my main back then but i really want to play a warrior again because they are incredibly fun in thier original design.

But as a warrior if you pull even 2 mobs at once you can die quite easily.

Just Classic things.

And no, he’s not being paid to say nice things about the game he’s been going hard af just like Dew has.

Just classic things man.

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Glad you’re excited.

Couple questions for you.

1: Do you have the 24 hours plus it takes to level to 60?
(Edit: Might have been thinking of looking at time played after hitting 60 at some point)

2: Being an older gamer do you have the 17 hours a day people put into doing 2-3 hour dungeon runs.

Side note: I’m sure there are going to be a ton of horrible players coming from retail to classic.

So imagine putting in the time to make a group for a dungeon and you get in there and they just leave after the first couple wipes.

I remember locks being mandatory just incase you had to hearth back to IF or SW to spam trade chat to find someone to replace the person who left.

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It takes most people a couple weeks to hit level 60.

I know that sounds ridiculous but it’s not an exaggeration. It is very time consuming. Even no-life’ing it and playing like 12+ hours a day it would still take about 2 weeks.

Low level dungeons (sub level 40) are pretty fast but certain dungeons (BRD) can take 4-5 hours to do a “full” run. Plus it can take a while to get the group together then you have to travel there etc…

But yes, “old school” wow requires more time and is not for everyone. I have a great schedule - super conducive to gaming. I’m lucky.

There is always that risk but the mentality is just so different from BFA type of personalities. People leave at the drop of a hat because they can just re-q and remain anonymous.

In Classic you get a rep as a “leaver” and you will find noone will group with you because your reputation will precede you.

TLDR- do bad things it will haunt you moving forward there are very few exceptions to this.

Me too!

Honestly since i have been watching Beta it has completely sapped my desire to log into BFA. Game just feels very hollow to me.

No sense of community whatsoever and i didn’t realize how much i missed it until recently.

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we walk the streets at night, we go where angels dare

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People still got bored of Classic it just took longer because leveling is slower and harder and gearing is extremely hard.

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All of those things are probably true.

What i never tired of was my friends list and my guild-mates and all the social interaction i had on a daily basis.

When TBC was announced it couldn’t get here fast enough.

I was excited for a new world and flying and just shiny new TBC things.

But it’s ok to be excited for something new.

If live was rewarding and immersive you’d probably never hear a peep out of me.

For years i have loved the heck out of live.

But after MoP it just got progressively more and more hollow.

My friend list got more and more depleted.

And the thought of going back to the way the game used to be played became more and more appealing.

Nobody knows that the future will hold.

Classic may take over or it may be a bust.

All i know is i will be there when it releases.

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I just said, it is the hype. If you haven’t ever heard of the 3 days term in your life before then now you will

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I think people were surprised by the large increase in Twitch viewers for WoW (due to nostalgia, curiosity, sodapoppin, etc.).

Streamers probably want to take advantage of this surge while they can.

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I remember tbc pre patch being pushed back and delayed like 10+ hours and falling asleep on the floor in front of my computer.

If classic even has a drop of that magic im playing

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I will say i think bfa is a great product sans arena being terrible. But wow has been so socially and immersively indept for so long. You don’t really ever make friends anymore, you don’t create meaningful connections with players or guilds, friend or foe, and its all for the worse in my mind. I like that legion and bfa have made the world more immersive and bigger with world quests and end game advancement, (artifacts and neck power) , but the game still feels unfulfilling. I’m not sure classic will bring any of that back, because I for one know i won’t be spending an entire day doing a ubrs 10 man group. But for those players that haven’t gotten the ability to customize their character or play a mmo with real social interaction, im glad they will get a chance to experience it. That said, Everquest was 10x better than wow ever was.

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I definitely agree about server/faction pride being important to the experience and knowing who all the big-name gankers on the other side are.

Unfortunately what Classic will lack for most people is staying power. The PvE content is laughably simple and non-compelling by 2019 standards, there will never be Arenas or RBGs, and much as world PvP will amuse for awhile how much Tarren Mill or STV do you expect to play before growing bored? The HWL system will be introduced but that will be mostly grinding random BGs which you can do in the live game already.

Lastly, if you think PvP balance is bad in BFA and PvE gear is too advantageous, Classic is going to be a gigantic slap in the face. Most people don’t remember how unbalanced things were… but if you roll a Rogue you’ll be okay to solo people naked with a rusty dagger.

Classic will be all about the community, not the game itself.

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Classics staying power comes through all content being relevant at all times. Aka you still might seeing yourself doing MC all the way until Naxx is released.

Just now that people are much better players, MC will be pugged along with ZG and other easier raids and will only take an hour or less. So gearing an alt won’t be as bad as before when you needed alt MC raids or a guild to carry you.

Also the economy of vanilla will be significantly more involved, which a lot of players take for granted in BFA.

All the things outside of “core content” is just better in Vanilla. Currently in BFA if you aren’t doing M+ or Raids WoW just isn’t fun. And for pvp you have to be doing arena, but if arena isn’t tuned properly it isn’t fun either. So basically WoW has gone from a game where you have choice and options to do what’s fun to really playing something that is curated.

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