Good day. I’m returning after a very long break and the game is so much different than when I played before. I have tons of questions but figured I’d start off with the following just to help get me acclimated to everything.
Someone said that you can no longer buy flying anymore? Said you have to do a whole bunch of stuff and earn it even after hitting max level? Is this true and if so why? Seems like reinventing the wheel only to make it square.
Were unique perks from professions really removed? If so, why?
Who is this ammoglod guy that I keep seeing every time I search for anything WoW related? Is he important? Does he work for Blizzard or something?
I see that Classic ended up getting released. Did they change a bunch of things or is it like vanilla?
I read that another expansion is coming next month. At this point, should one just wait or does it make sense to start anything now?
You can buy flyinf still but the ability to use it is time-gated by an achievement that can be completed about a year after launch.
Unique Perkz?
Asmongold is a long time WoW player who often gets a bad wrap, but has been playing since vanilla. He commentates are WoW news and other videos but is an entertainer on the Twitchdottv platform.
Classic was released and it is pretty spot on. A few changed were made to PvP to prevent griefing and alliance side AV is in the broken form.
Wait till the next expansion to do any progression but its okay to get started on leveling a character. There will be QoL changes to leveling once prepatch hits though.
Blizz prefers how the game plays from the ground. Their initial plan was to remove it entirely, but there was massive backlash, so their “compromise” was a time gated grind to unlock it halfway through the expansion.
Yes, because Blizzard wants people to choose professions for the profession, not a totally arbitrary combat bonus that people will min max.
Streamer. Decent guy when speaking normally, but tends to play up a bit of a persona on normal streams, which makes a lot of people dislike him who aren’t part of his fanbase.
It’s not a literal port so I’m sure you will find differences, but it’s pretty damn close.
I’m still a little fuzzy about the whole flying thing. If there was so much backlash, why even change anything at all? Obviously the customers were not happy.
And what is a streamer? I thought someone said something about them a while back. Something about people who play video games on webcam and ask people to pay to watch them or something? It didn’t make any sense to me at the time. I wouldn’t want to watch some random guy play a video game when I can just play it myself let alone pay them to watch them.
I’m glad classic seems close. I’ll have to check it out for sure.
First, welcome back. There have been many changes.
As someone noted, flying is now its own mini quest line with a number of achievements required (Pathfinder I and II achievements are required in the current expansion)
Pre-patch for the next release will be out soon, it will be a good time to join everyone in the learning curve as there will be a stat and level squish. Also some higher level gear that can be earned during the pre-patch event. If you pre-purchase it, I think you will get a level 120, that will go down to level 50 when the pre-patch hits.
Look out for corruption on gear in the current expansion that can lead to the Inevitable Doom debuff. To cleanse corruption you have to complete multiple quest lines, then grind out mats to purchase a chance to buy the items to cleanse them. Or you have to increase your corruption resistance. Both would be pointless for a new player returning to the game.
You will see that crafting has changed significantly, now you “level” how to make an item and it reduces how much it costs, or how much you make. Many professions are less than “WOW” if you pick them up, best to do some research before the next expansion on what you want to craft. At least you can start right off in the new expansion, no need to have leveled the craft previously!
On the topic of classic, it is nearly identical to vanilla. There are some very minor changes, but nothing that actually impacts the game. However, the playerbase is completely different from how it was in vanilla, and classic will not give you the same experience. If you liked vanilla from a game mechanics perspective then there is still enjoyment to be found, but don’t expect the “glory days” to make a return.
Thank you. Didn’t think I would come back but got a little nostalgic.
So you just have to do a bunch of quests for flying? That’s not so bad. I though it was going to be some tedious chore or something but I quests, I can do.
That sucks about professions. I liked my perks but they were also fun. They don’t sound like it anymore.
You have to do multiple rep grinds, exploration, complete quest achievements for main story lines, and complete a number of world quests (the new daily quests). It’s not hard, but it is definitely tedious.
You can buy flying in capital cities; however, for flying in the expansions, you’ll need to do the Pathfinder achievements. This requires questing and exploring in every zone of the expansion, as well as getting rep to revered with most of the factions of that expansion. If you’re lost on where you are on that path for each expansion, feel free to use wowhead’s pathfinder tool found here (as well as guides to get you on track for flying):
I’m assuming you mean the gathering profession perks. They were removed for balance reasons. They’ve been gone for quite some time. Welcome back after a long hiatus!!! There are some perks to each profession still, mostly with crafting.
I’m assuming you mean Asmongold. He’s a big time streamer. He doesn’t work for Blizz; though, it’s been rumored that Blizz consults him (he has like over 1,500 hours logged into the game). As far as websites for info, I highly recommend wowhead and/or wowdb. I linked wowhead above for the flight stuff. It has just about everything you would ever need to help you along.
It’s basically like vanilla. Slightly different - graphics are better than they were 15 years ago (more level of detail). The playerbase in Classic is more toxic than it was 15 years ago.
I think they nerfed raid bosses, too; because people were clearing MC within the first 2 months of launch (in dungeon blues and greens, nonetheless). I was in a guild with a bunch of scrubs who didn’t really know what was going on and we still cleared to Rag our 4th time in there (our first attempt, we cleared to Golemagg in a few hours in a bunch of blues!!!).
Still, despite those flaws, Classic is still fun and captures most of what I remembered.
Wait, my dude (or dudette). There is a massive level squish coming really soon. Max level will be 60. Levelling in the expansion will be more streamlined. Blizz estimates that you should be max level in about 2 weeks of playing. You get to choose your leveling expansion, so if you missed an expansion, you could level 1-50 in that particular expansion and experience it. Levels 50-60 will be in the new zones coming in the expansion. The default levelling expansion for 1-50 will be BfA to get you up to speed on what’s going on heading into the Shadowlands (but you can change it at any time to a different expansion). I think this is a great way to experience the game.
I played the game from launch until Cata. I quit right at Cata launch. I recently came back when Legion was launched. I wanted to see how the Illidan story played out (his story arc has always been fascinating even back to WC3 days). Anyhow, when I bought Legion and started leveling my level 80s, I realized how much I missed in each expansion and was pretty lost (not unlike you, I think).
Anyhow, I burned through Cata, MoP, and WoD so quickly that I didn’t even get to finish the storylines before moving to the next expansion. I’m glad that Blizzard found a way to make it so people can still experience the full expansion content while levelling, instead of speed levelling in 1 zone before moving to the next expansion. For that reason, I suggest that you wait.
BUT, you can work on your flying now for one of the expansions. If you have a level 120 character, you can easily burn through WoD and Legion Pathfinder.
Official answer: Because Blizzard wants you to experience the game from the ground, as it was meant to be played.
Personal opinion: Blizzard is bitter that players had the audacity to not like their vision for the game and are actively attempting to punish said players.
If it was meant to be played on the ground, why did they have flying for so many years and then want to change it? Assuming what you’re saying is 100%, they added flying then 8 years later say “flying is not how we wanted it?” Why even add it to begin with? Maybe I’m alone in my way of thinking.
It happened in Warlords of Draneor. That’s when it was reworked to an achievement based thing. There was more drama involved, but that’s another story.
It makes since, you stay grounded to experience all the hard work that went into the expansion, run the quest chains for each zone, explore each zone, get rep up to a point for each faction (which happens naturally doing the chains), then when they decide its time, we get flying. So its cheaper (free actually), and account wide, but you don’t get to fly as soon as you hit max level.
Its been this way for three expansions, and I for one like it for the most part. Blizzard just needs to make it available from day 1, once I get the achievement, I should be able to fly. But they hold it back, or have for 3 expansions.
To see the requirements, just look up Pathfinder in your achievements list, and welcome back!
mini? I beg to differ lol; It’s an expansive questline with achievements to tick off along the way.
Wish they would do away with it but to the OP, they started it to keep the player base subbed as long as possible to earn the right to fly in new content.