This! 100%
Easy answer: No.
Nothing in classic is better because the game is much more tedious and spends more time auto-running than playing. Convenience is a benefit.
That’s always the case with MMOs. The focus will never be on ten-year-old content, it will always be focused on what is happening now. Leveling hasn’t been the focus since BWL and Dire Maul dropped, and they started putting their new content into the game for people who had finished the leveling ‘journey’.
Fun is subjective. Fast and purposeful planning are just not. Most classes had actual single-button gameplay in classic, unlike the modern game.
a factor of many quests in the game being poorly designed to the point where some classes would not physically be able to do them solo at appropriate level, for outdoor content.
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This comment is a perfect example of the nostalgia goggles and classic in full effect lol.
“Planning of your class when tackling an NPC or objective” there was almost 0 planning because there were no reliable guides or ways to measure your characters viability, which is why Blizzard forced us in to specific roles for end game. It was literally just trial and error and for the majority of players, it was error without end.
“Retail is all about button mashing” this is such a terrible take, lol. Modern WoW, majority of our abilities have relevance and synergy with each other and our spec and require awareness to play properly. Classic WoW you’re literally mashing 3 abilities on most classes to maximize damage/healing/aggro and completely avoiding talent trees/abilities because they’re useless.
In truth, comparing the two is the apples and oranges but if you have to compare them, you did it terribly.
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Spellcasters would be so lucky to have 3 buttons.
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I will give you the most honest and genuine answer you will likely never hear again…
Like every other first in our lives, once we experience it, the only place those feelings will ever exist, is inside of us. You cannot have another first kiss, with your first love, or have that first bit of anxiety from your first time driving. The same exists for WoW. Never again will you quest in outland and be exhilarated, or laugh with your friend who just ran far and fast with you from a pack of Murlocs.
Recapturing the magic, the glory days, or the childhood. Whatever you want to call it. No version of this game will ever again trigger that same level of response. It makes me sad… for all of us.
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Idk all of them but I played warlock and resto druid and they’re definitely 3 ability button mashing lol.
Classic was made by developers who loved the WarCraft RTS games and the game they were making.
Retail is made by corporate mandate and committee.
That’s the difference. If they make a mistake, but it’s popular, they can’t fix it because it would cost them too much in short-term profit, even if it would be better for the game in the long run.
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Absolutely OP, my entire gang (irl) has moved to Classic HC and it’s hard for me because I’ve tried it too and enjoyed it.
The community and everything of the leveling to crafting and learning feels good. This is the very first time I’ve given it a go too.
On retail I still do some legacy content but I admit I think I was having more fun there. I feel I login to retail more to ‘not miss out’ than anything else.
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They loved the game so much they sold it to corporate mandate and committee, lol. Almost like WoW was made to make money?
Bro, they don’t even play their game any more, much less love it. If they actually did play their game, QoL wouldn’t be so abysmal. So many stupid little irritations that should take less than a day to fix, but have been in the game forever.
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TBH guys, the thread seems to be turning into a tribal interaction of “yeah retail sucks” and “yeah classic sucks” which was not my intention for it. I wanted this to be a discussion about what changes could be made in retail for it to be more attractive to those of us who enjoyed the leveling pace, social interactions, exploration, and overall “vibe” of classic.
This does not mean I am saying the suggested changes should be forced on the Retail andies against their will, as that would be unfair to them. However, I wanted to explore the possibility of a merger of the two games’ “gameplay traditions” (for lack of better terms), and in the likelihood that it isn’t possible then to explore suggestions or ideas that could be implemented in some kind of Classic-plus mode that is up to date concerning the expansions. In other words, having a Mirror-Retail version of the game that is geared more toward Classic Andies in terms of how the game plays.
Neither side of the Classic Retail debate can, in my opinion, disregard the success of the other: WoW retail has around 195.7K daily players and Wow Classic has around 158.8k daily players. See " mmo - population . com " (had to break it up because I can’t add links to comments)
While Retail undisputedly has more players than Classic, there has to be a reason why WoW Classic nevertheless is also one of the most-played MMOs in the world. Additionally, it can not just be nostalgia, because my GF never played Classic back in the day and she is enjoying it more than Retail. So as ridiculous as it might sound, I would propose Blizzard reuse assets from Retail and create an up-to-date mirror of Retail with Classic mechanics (such as simplified rotations, longer leveling grind, no flying, no commodity-vendor-mounts, etc) which may be challenging in certain terms; However, it might yield higher player numbers for Blizzard (in terms of new costumers who are intimidated by Retail mechanics like my GF, and in terms of retaining players at endgame in comparison to WoW Classic).
I also would be interested in seeing what players end up playing more, given the option between Vanilla Retail and a mirror version of it with Classic mechanics, after both have been available for at least a year. But alas, there’s no chance we will ever see anything like this tried.
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AI is not the magic you think it is. Remember, AI is nothing more than a computer program, written by some programmer, a program that is wrapped in hype that gets all the press and politicians all excited. Nothing more.
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I’ve been playing classic lately. As I never really did back in the day even though I bought it but I was just invested in other games. I didn’t even really try until wrath. I’m kinda sad I missed out. It’s that good.
I’ll probably never touch retail again. Which also saves me money since I don’t need to worry about the cash shop or expansions. It’s really a shame.
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WoW Retail is the number one MMO in the known universe. Not bad for an abysmal game. WoW classic sits at number three with only the “Someone date my avatar” game wedged between them.
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In classic the classes feel better because it is based on a MMORPG while retail is about button mashing action RPG.
People don’t like the truth but there it is.
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I personally know players who legit have fun farming mats. Like she hangs out ij cord and just flies around collecting mats all day. And delves are new content to freshen it up. In classic that was even more the case you level up doing the same. 7 fetch quests with recolored mobs just to do molten core where there are no mechanics and its all patchwork fights.
Retail i can do keys, raid, delves, world content, tmog runs so there is plenty to do outside of slow leveling.
On top of that thats just player behavior not a blizzard or game issues. Every game guides come out 1-2 days after release. With whats the best for whatever and a meta form its human nature .
But no one forces you as long as you do your having fun and not ruining other peoples fun who cares.
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There IS still a journey, it’s just not tied to leveling through the open world. When I soloed Zek’vir I damn near woke up my whole house. Same for going from M0 to KSM. I don’t need to rediscover my childhood in an open world again like the Classic Andies do, I’ve been there done that a hundred times in multiple games now. I’m here to set personal challenge goals and overcome them.
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I get what the OP is saying but it’s just never going back. The best you can hope for is a Classic+ type of side game.
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I think I feel the opposite lol
I played classic when it first came back and I loathed it. It feels so boring and drawn out , painful for me. and I only played with my husband until lvl 50 then quit until tbc came back.
I have been playing cata and just recently came back to retail and have been having the most fun playing retail ever. It took me some time to get used to the game again and all the changes and differences but I have been playing like nonstop and having a blast.
It renewed the fun for me.
You couldnt pay me to play classic. I would claw my eyes out from boredom lol
And I’ve played this game since vanilla. I loved vanilla originally. But I can’t reclaim that magic now that ive had better lol
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I can’t imagine needing to use AI to post to a forum, troll or not