Once upon a time WoW had roaming PVE dangers

[Spinster-farstriders (Spinster)]

I used to scream when I saw them coming. The people I was playing with laughed hysterically when I’d be screaming “RUN! RUN!”

[Twoleg-hakkar]

Some of you get it. I forgot all about the Fel Reaver. That is exactly the type of experience I’m talking about. Not being a total debbie downer here.

The game now seems to cater to the casual player who expects progress in their ilvl, be it ever so humble, in an hour or two. That is not at all how the game was originally designed. It was a slow plod with delayed rewards. And we died. A lot. And we lost experience. And regained it. And we liked it!

I miss the sense of danger, and by the time you reach the max level it’s an endless grind for gear, and every day is the same damn thing. For 2.5 years. So you make an alt, then another and another…WoW is … a way of life! Arrrgghh I’m so addicted.

I do see that Blizz is releasing more interim or supplemental storyline stuff, which really is nice.

[Christtel-stormrage]

do you really believe that a fel river like elite would get people in 2024? how many people died in tbc classic My bet is ZERO. your 20 year old memories of rares “getting” you back when you (and most people) were not good, had bad pcs , were keeboard turners…

people would avoid it easily. nostalgia is blinding you

[Saángreal-moon-guard (Saángreal)]

So there I was playing final fantasy 2, I took a left and ran into some mega power monster despite me being like a measly level 5.

Even Phantasy Star, Metroid, Crystalis, and others had these zones where you’d show up and be like

NOPE

About face

[Arandi-moon-guard (Arandi)]

@Shiftingstem-moon-guard

stealthy fel reavers.

…or the even more stealthy fast moving devilsaurs in Un’goro.

The “Memory of Mosh” in the Dustwallow Pre-patch event is a reminder.

[Saángreal-moon-guard (Saángreal)]

I wasn’t there for TBC, but the Fel Reaver in Argus would sneak up on me mining or trying to get to a treasure chest

[Evilperiod-aggramar]

@Twoleg-hakkar

I just wish that some areas in the game were just hard. No flying around. Mobs which give everyone, even highly geared players, reason for pause and teamwork. I’m not talking about show-stopper quests. I get it.

The game was harder, and Blizzard nerfed themselves. I’m with you, I miss those awesome things.

As for the Maw, that is a horrific bad version of what the OP is talking about.

[Diablognomis-staghelm]

You missed the real OG player hunter.

The Unguro dinosaurs.

Just minding your own business and “OMG WHY I AM I IN THIS LIZARD MOUTH”

[Greymarc-amanthul]

You might want to play Classic (especially Hardcore) if that’s what you’re looking for.

@Twoleg-hakkar

then my thoughts are just nostalgia

Just be aware, nostalgia can be very selective when it comes to recalled memories.

[Spirits-hellscream]

Was just talking to a friend about this. I wish there were danger in the world of Azeroth still.

[Elaice-moon-guard]

I loved griefer mobs.

[Koogris-ashkandi]

[Argorwal-ysera (Argorwal)]

@Carchmage-staghelm

I see this point of view as similar to the POV of people who enjoy PVP servers. Maybe it’s the tension of never knowing what’s around the next corner. Maybe it’s the exhilaration of escaping a certain-death encounter.

The problem with putting those kinds of challenges in common areas is that different people enjoy different things in the game. Someone may have only a few hours a week to play, and they don’t want to waste time getting murdered by something they have no hope of defending against. Someone may have a lot of interruptions at home (like say, toddlers…) and they want to be able to leave their character at a moment’s notice and come back to them without wasting time on a corpse run. Someone might have enough surprise challenges in their life and they just want to unwind in the game and have fun killing monsters without worrying about occasionally getting stomped.

Yes, there are still PVP servers, but it is the player’s choice to play there. If there were a similar straightforward way to avoid getting Fel Reavered, it’d be great to offer surprise challenges to people who enjoy them. Giving people options is good. Unpleasant surprises… not so much.

I think Blizz needs to just pick how they want to design something and do it without having to worry that they accommodate 3739 different playstyles and worry what a dad with 19 wives, 84 children, working 9 jobs 23 hours a day with exactly 0.3 minutes of time to play per year’s play experience is like.

[Argorwal-ysera (Argorwal)]

@Saángreal-moon-guard

So there I was playing final fantasy 2, I took a left and ran into some mega power monster despite me being like a measly level 5.

Even Phantasy Star, Metroid, Crystalis, and others had these zones where you’d show up and be like

NOPE

About face

WoW even had the “welcome bear” for low level undead curious what was in Western Plaguelands that was right next to Tirisful Glades

[Dracen-moon-guard]

@Twoleg-hakkar

Stitches roamed the road in Duskwood, and a drake was in Blasted Lands.

Unfortunately OP these are just things we look back on now in nostalgia.

It could never be implemented with today’s playerbase, it would be taken so differently.

[Eternosus-galakrond (Eternosus)]

I spent some time in remix hunting whale sharks for old times sake.

They didn’t sneak up on me quite as often in MoP as they did in Cataclysm, but there were definitely some incidents.

[Ventorath-wyrmrest-accord]

@Nikolo-proudmoore

That’s an unpopular opinion. They tried that with the Maw and most people hated it

The thing about the maw isn’t that it was hard. It was that you couldn’t mount and it kicked you out after you did a handful of things.

People get really uppity about restricting movement, and that was one of the major complaints about the maw, not difficulty.

[Weaselsilk-uther (Weaselsilk)]

I maintained to my guild throughout TBC that if you could somehow kill a Fel Reaver and cut open the head, you would find it was being piloted by a Son of Arugal.

[Sumwun-tichondrius]

Lemme tell you something…

I am a roaming PvE danger.

[Äriex-moon-guard]

@Nikolo-proudmoore

That’s an unpopular opinion. They tried that with the Maw and most people hated it

And most zones have elite areas that can’t really be solo’d by most players when they are initially added. So what you are asking for already exists in some form.

It was poorly executed though. In concept, the Maw was an excellent idea but they forgot the entire zone is just a lifeless grey screen with barely any sound/soundtrack (this builds atmosphere, it’s very neglected in wow) to it, ofc people would get bored of it.

The Maw wasn’t really “hard”, it was inconvienent.

Edit: To be fair, the zone itself is actually pretty damn good, I really liked it the first few times I was there. Unfortunately, for the reasons I already said, it got old really quick.