So I was waiting for the boat in Menethil to Theramore and I decided to look up what the harbor looks like in Cataclysm.
They just basically destroyed the entire town. Which at the time players reactions may have been like “OOOH WHOA it is so different and awesome!” but… is destroying in game towns and leaving them destroyed forever really good world design?
And a lot of people might assume that since I looked up what Menethil looked like in Cataclysm that I didn’t play since Wrath. But I’ve played every single expansion since WOTLK extensively. Why didn’t I know what Menethil looked like?
It’s because I never had to go there. I never NEEDED to go there in a game where in every capital city there’s 15 portals to all different places. And 310% flying to soar over anything and everything while afk auto running with numlock. Never looking down or observing your surroundings.
The reason why Classic is so great is because places like Menethil have a purpose. And that purpose is stripped in a game where convenience comes first.
Something I always remembered about leveling ally-side in the old world was how Theramore felt like a mini city way out in the wilderness. It always felt like I was coming back to safety after a long time in the marsh. Way too many things in Cataclysm consisted of “oh my god this thing is destroyed! Look how sad we are about the thing! Let’s save people or avenge the thing!” Honestly there were a lot of good shoutouts to pre-cata players (seeing which Taurajo npcs died will hurt me forever) but anyone who knew the old world had no reason to care, really.
I forgot about Theramore! Had to google it and the memories flooded back, that’s my favorite part of classic is exploring the world slowly and spending significant time in each zone. I spent probably 10+ hours in Duskwood alone, attempting every quest I could find and getting lost in the zone. I played on a private server about 5 years ago and was so focused on leveling that I didn’t slow down to appreciate the world like I am now. It’s such a living breathing world and having to traverse it by foot really brings out the scale of everything.
But isn’t that part of the charm? That it’s a hub of safety for you as a player but to get to the auction house you either have to fly all the way up to Darnassus or go back to the other continent. It reinforces the importance of the main cities and forces you to return to them throughout your entire journey of exploring Azeroth.
I also realized when in Ashenvale last night that retail sorely lacks the feeling of exploration if that makes sense. I went off the road to look for Shadumbra and was like wow, I really am going off into the wilderness huh. The zones aren’t any bigger than the cata ones but I just. Feel like I’m exploring more because there’s more little nooks and crannies and places to get lost in. Cata and on the world is meant as a means to ferry you from point A, to B, to C and keep on trucking.
Absolutely, that is the magic sauce I think that people may not have realized they were missing from classic WoW. You become so much more immersed in the world because you are forced to traverse it to advance, even if it’s just to get the flight path, you’ll have that first time running through it and the opportunity to explore. I find myself checking out random buildings I see or just going to the second floors of bigger structures knowing there’s no quest or anything for me but to see what the room is like and what little touches they added.
I used Mentheril Harbor as a world PVP target. I enlisted about 300 horde. and we snuck into the harbor underwater and waited. Then sent a team of about 10-20 people into the fort to kill all the npcs. This of course eliceted a response from the 2-1 numerically superior Alliance. So a bunch winged in to take out or lure. Chased our guys into the water to find the full raids waiting for them. Hours long “James bond THUNDERBALL” style underwater battle ensues.
it irks me that places dont get repaired or gradually improved then patch night comes and bam new city here, a few examples are lakeshire and sentinal hill, those two towns got drasticly changed, and i feel that they could have been gradually done with a few new quests added over the course of an expansion without impacting the player experience adversely infact it would have been cool for ur second or third character through to find a couple extra quests had poped up to catcher stone blocks of go start hammering nails into that bridge w/e
I feel that world of warcraft starts out great with everybody being a level 1 and all the major zones are packed with people and then it gradually declines as people hit 60 and go afk in battleground que. Just a feeling though.