I don’t think they did. They tend not to make hard rules for design philosophy as they like to flip flop all the time.
QoL tends to undermine Classic design philosophy. That’s all I really have to say there. The devs of SoD aren’t trying to make a Classic experience though.
Why? I mean…Vanilla was known as THE casual mmo, full of quality of life and convenience design. You’re comparing it today. I compare it to the mmos before it.
This is really flawed logic. The core Classic community left en masse when they announced TBC would have paid boosts and deluxe edition mounts.
At the same time as they left altogether, hordes of FOTM retailers came in to enjoy spending extra money to get straight to the new expansion.
Live progressive vanilla doesn’t exist.
It will never exist.
The audacity to ask for new content from the same devs whose current ideas you HATE is astounding. Hey, I hate -everything- you’ve done in the last 5 years but if you could do this other thing I’m sure you’ll get -that- right. Just stop dude.
So then it wasn’t the retail community trying to get out of leveling the slow way?
Correct, because the core classic community isn’t andys. You’re so close to seeing the truth its amazing. Take the blinders off.
I 100% agree with that. Blizz very quickly abandoned the original Classic audience (the Petition Signers) and Classic became nothing more than a means by which to milk whales.
But that happened years ago. Why I came into SoD with zero expectations. And after watching how they butchered Wrath.
Only when what they’re doing affects me. A stranger leveling faster or slower than me only affects me as far as the very tiny chance we might have possibly grouped up for a dungeon at some point otherwise. And there are plenty of other people playing the game for me to do that with instead
With all of its friction, it was the casual MMORPG when it came out. Expectations of the genre have shifted massively to a point where Vanilla WoW is seen as a much more hardcore experience in all ways except end game PvE, which is why you see so many people beg for QoL changes to make the game easier, faster, more convenient.
If you’re comparing it to old MMORPGs, then it should already be convenient enough as is, and doesn’t need further QoL to dilute the experience.
Very smart of you. I didn’t really come in with expectations, but built expectations based on what I saw in P1, which was clearly folly.
What if you just said what you mean? I don’t know what the hell “Andys” are. I just assumed it was some dent brained Twitch chat term.
I would agree in the first classic launch, which is more long term.
This is a seasonal realm
They said before SoD even launched that exp boosts would be added in later phases, btw. This didn’t come out of the Blue.
I understand where you’re coming from. If you’ve seen my posts over the past few years I’m all about authenticity. That was the whole point of Classic. The changes they made to TBC made the game less authentic, and also less popular. Even worse with Wrath with their Retail changes.
But this server was specifically designed FOR changes. I can’t hold it to the same standard.
There was boosting in SoD before they built the dev-provided XP boost into the game. What is your point? Saying mage boosting and a flat 100% xp boost are the same thing is an insane false equivalency.
in SoD? i wouldn’t be so sure 
so wait, the main argument against this is “other people are leveling faster than me”?
that’s it? nothing else?
adding the catchup mechanic to the current phase in a desperation move to stem the bleeding of subs came out of the blue
No, that came out of pure conjecture.
Oh wow, if I’d seen that I would have just skipped it from the get go. MB for not pouring over all the information before trying it out.
I imagine you can detect much less annoyance in my tone when I’m talking to you than when talking to some other folks here lol
I respect your opinions and ability to share them thoughtfully.
I’m not hardline against changes. I’m hardline against design changes. It isn’t my decision though, so I’ve been expressing feedback and discussing my difference in opinion with others. Some constructive discussions, most not.
Just ran a BFD on my fresh 25 shaman about an hour ago that was all pugs, filled up in like 10 minutes. And Horde is the less populated faction on Wild Growth. Maybe it’s your attitude that makes people avoid you 