I’ve played wow since Vanilla but I never raided until TBC. I didn’t even make 60, mostly due to using a character on a cousins account since his mother would pay for the sub and I didn’t have steady income yet (college, booze and broads where more important). I played a shaman and got it to 48. When TBC came out I finally had a steady job and bought my own account.
When blizzard said: You think you want it but you don’t, I actually agreed, but not in they way they ment. I didn’t want to go back and play Vanilla I wanted the core RPG aspects of Vanilla BACK into my current retail WoW. Most of this was in the bigger aspects of the game, the way classes play (I really preferred when my shaman was more support than just dps), the danger of the world, the old talent trees, having to manage my mana, possibly the most important: meaningful rewards, and etc
I’ve played both stress tests and while those big things are present once again, there are a few things that surprised me that I missed.
First thing that I was surprised I missed is weapon skill. It makes no real sense, but (I’m playing a rogue and warrior in the beta) but when I’m rage or energy starved, it doesn’t feel like I’m useless because over in my chat I’m seeing blue text stating that my skill in X is increasing. I’m guessing this is the cookie clicker effect. (a game I have not and will not play and that disgusts me that it even exists) It creates the illusion that I’m still accomplishing something.
Second, having to explore. When quests givers were finally displayed on the mini-map I went THANK GOD! But going back and forth between Classic and BfA I realize just how big a set of blinders those exclamation marks are. I get to and area and just look at my mini map and stare not at my character but at the player marker on the map and move it around to the quests. Only looking at the world when I actually get to an area. In classic I need to explore every building I can access, every room, every nook and cranny of the map to make sure I’m not missing a quest. And when head out of town there’s no indication of where my objective is so I need to look out at the world, keep my head on a swivel to find what I need. Enemies I need to kill or npcs/items I need to interact with are not lit up.
Third, I am a nobody. I’m not the champion of the horde, I’m not a general, I’m not the Highlord, Deathlord, Archmage, surrounded by hundreds of other Highlords, Deathlords Archmages etc etc. I may aspire to such heights but reaching them will be a monumental task and even if I do, I will be in truly elite company of possibly only a few dozen to few hundred others.
Fourth, the story isn’t shoved down my throat. Vanilla story telling is like Soulsborne storytelling. Fed to you in subtle pieces. You need to read quest text. You need to interact with books or scrolls or other objects in the world. You need to read/listen to what npcs are saying. Even just what the quest has you doing tells the story.
Thank you for posting your thoughts, and experiences.
I am a returning player that had started in BC.
Until I read this I had no real plans to join Classic, but now I will definitely be logging in on day one.
How often to second chances really happen in life?
Some player beat me to a chest in a cave. After that I was tuned into the game, trying to pay attention to everything around me so I could get the next chest first. I enjoyed it felt immersed in the game.
Based on BOTH tests, it’s gonna suck if you couldn’t even get in with only about 5000 people.
Legit so excited for this - trying to spot rares and nodes and chests first - I love that part of exploration, and ACCOMPLISHMENT if I “explore” the area first, or better to find such rewards.
I played legion, and it turns out everyone gets their own rare, and their own chests - why bother paying attention? It’ll always be there