I feel like with retail wow vs. classic wow up until wrath of the lich king, it kind of reminds me of how the rogue spear series of games started out.
Anyone who played the first few rogue spear games will notice that they are completely different from how they are now. They are more tactical. More sneaking around and stealthing involved. You had to plan your routes out and strategize a bit, or risk dying. And one or 2 shots was enough to end you in most cases.
However, as the rogue spear series went on, it went from that, to a more run and gun type of a game, similar to call of duty. Health bars and energy meters replaced the strategy part of the game. So the rogue spear games started appealing to a more modern audience.
I feel the same way about retail. Leveling up now, you just kind of run and slice your way through everything. I never think about what any of my abilities do. Or should i sheep this mob maybe. Cast a sap spell on that mob so i can solo the one guy, and then the npc next to him. No grouping up in the overworld in most cases. And in general the current game is way, way faster now. You just kind of run and zerg through everything.
With classic wow up until wrath of the lich king, it was a little faster in wrath, but it still had a similar formula. I still remember getting owned by mobs leveling up in wrath. I never get owned in retail leveling up now. We have ports everywhere all over the map now. The classic overworld doesn’t even exist anymore, and i think it should for chromie time. But you had to strategize more. Plan out your pulls. Ok, we got owned by the boss here, how are we going to do this next time. And classes are so similar to each other as well. Every class has a self heal. Or spammable movesets without fear of needing to worry about your primary resource.
I mean, i preffered the old way the game was. Not necessarily that the retail game is bad. But i feel if blizz added a version of retail wow that more emulated what i remember playing in wrath, i would like retail more. But those differences are really noticeable. I mean, when i can clear Shadowfang keep in like 5 mins in retail, compared to wrath where it might take 35 mins plus just to down arugal, and i am not even trying, and most of the instance i spend afk, with only 2 people even fighting the whole time. I mean, at most you could 4 man dungeons back then.
It is just a completely different game and atmosphere. I just want a version of retail that functions exactly like it did back then. My favorite version was wrath of the lich king. First 2 versions were a bit to slow for me. Wrath was still easier, but not braindead. The skill cap and skill floor and ceiling have been lowered so much in retail as well. To the point where while leveling, you cannot really tell who is more experienced than others or not.
