I’m having an absolute blast playing through classic with friends just like the old days, but the experience of instances seems to conflict with my memory of how difficult they were back in 2006.
Shadowfang Keep, for example, seems tuned down in a significant way. I remember having to progress through the instance at-level with Shackle Undead and careful pulling, and even then I would sometimes have bad groups that struggled and failed.
This time around, it was an absolute breeze. We even cleared it with a tank that used a staff. No crowd control, 2+ mob pulls.
Are we just better at the game now, or does it seem easier?
15 years of knowledge and experience. Back during vanilla information wasn’t as easy to come by regarding boss fights or dungeon routes. most of us had no idea how to play our class or what gear we should be using at lower levels
Well, sure; but I distinctly remember in 2006 that if you pulled more than one pack at a time in the courtyard of SfK, the group would certainly wipe. As a healing priest, I would not be able to tank more than two hits from an elite mob. Nowadays in instances, I feel like I can offtank comfortably until the warrior remembers he has a taunt button.
It’s not just that we’re smarter and better at the game; the instances actually seem undertuned.
A huge part of this perceived lower difficulty of dungeons that I don’t see ever mentioned is the level we are running these dungeons at. For example, back in the day, it was totally normal to run Deadmines with a full group of level 15 or 16s, because we didn’t know any better. Now, people are smarter, and wait til they are 18,19,or even 20 to do the same instance.
People, hardware and Internet connections are light years ahead of the original game.
Scores of bad players made everything seem hard back then. We no longer have that as the majority anymore and the mechanics and skills needed to play classic at the top end well aren’t even half of what’s required for top players in retail now.
For its time it was no doubt somewhat difficult, even though it was easier than EQ by design since it was considered the casual mmo.
Gamers got better, vanilla/classic stayed the same.
Did you play Vanilla? Bout halfway through the game everyone realized most of the content was faceroll. Shackle undead? Bruh everyone was bad back then. Heck people are still bad.
Skill level of the players, absolutely. More people trying harder too. Used to see so many half afk tanks and healers, DPS that were doing half of what we’re seeing right now because people are TRYING.
The main difference now is that people know how to play their classes much better, and also know to avoid going into dungeons where the mobs outlevel them (makes a huge difference).
You’re level 30. In 2006 you were probably trying to do SFK at level 18. Back then people would try to run the dungeon as soon as they got their first quest for it, even if it was red to them. That is the major difference you are seeing.
Vanilla WoW was very easy mechanically. It still is. It’s going to bore most people eventually.
Its not that the content is easier, it’s that the Classes/Specs we are using are those that were refined in the late days of Vanilla when Blizzard was finally happy with the balance instead of dealing with the myriad of problems during the first 1.5 years of the release.
Also, we are have EASY access to the info we need to properly perform our roles. Back in the day it was a headache even getting someone to understand what threat WAS, let alone the idea that an Elite Mob of our level isn’t an equal 1v1 match.
Or, we had different objectives. Maybe we’d go in as soon as we could to do a quest that could be completed early in the dungeon, but not expect to clear it until a few levels later.
Doing a dungeon when the mobs are all green is very different from doing it when all the mobs are orange or red.
Let’s be real here these are NOT Blizzard “happy” or “balanced” talents. Blizz was under constant abuse for the talents that exist atm in Classic, but it’s the last adjustment before the total revision that was BC. THAT set was a MASSIVE change that radically altered the class balance.