“Uncle Cleo’s pants”, “Farmer’s leather boots”. Stuff that meant something. Stuff that - they gave you what they had.
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That sort of feeling plays into actually feeling like a hero. You worked from a level 1 in grays to Tier 3 Naxx gear, and the respect is palpable. Not like today where you can start near max level and your gear gets made meaningless in the next patch.
In Classic, you were treated like and called a hero for the actions you actually did in game, rather than actions you may or may not have done in the past. You earned your stripes.
And Granny Oakley’s Heirloom Pendant means more than Mass-Produced Ashbringer to me.
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Being that General just kills the RPG aspect of the game and as shimy said pushes for that single player narrative.
There is also no need for social interactions much when ure some high and mighty figure, all u do is press some buttons on a table cough garrisons cough.
When going through alot of changes from being a nobody to becoming a named adventurer to becomming a bringer of justice in helping 39 other people in bringing down evil, that is when there are lots of chances for interactions to take place. Coupled with the much longer leveling time it makes for a much better expereience in the long run.
The problem is people not even knowing of these kinds of things, because there are no games who accomplish this now adays and everyone is hooked to instant gratifacation games giving rewards just by logging in the first time.
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Because. Being a champion of the horde/alliance is better than being…
OMG DID YOU HEAR?! LCHNSSMNSTR IS COMING! HE STOPPED THE LEGION. OH MY LORD THERE IS A RIVER FLOWING BETWEEN MY FEET
every 3 seconds while you’re running around.
Every quest giver is “OH MY LORD. I AM SO HELPLESS. PLEASE SAVIOR. SAVE ME”
Its not “You’re a champion. we have some weird reports. GO! Bring me back the heads of your enemies! FOR THE HORDE!” quest texts…
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It’s the feeling of being an adventurer that’s just passing through helping out rather than the big hero that shows up, everybody bows to, and for some reason still does the grunt work when it’s time to grind out 10 more levels for an expansion.
It got especially silly for Paladins in Legion where your followers would treat you like a god as you walked past with comments like “I hear she defeated Ragnaros with a single swing!”.
Being the hero is fine and all but it has to feel like it was earned. These days in WoW it just feels like being the saviour of Azeroth is the default setting.
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For me its about the tension… when victory comes without cost it feels hollow and meaningless. When its the same cost or cycle over and over it becomes stale and repetitive.
The whole point of wow is that it is mortal races fighting it out against unstoppable odds. If our character is an immortal demigod in his own right that has been brought back from the dead more times than jesus… what exactly is at stake?
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“So glad to you you made it, Archmage insert name here.”
“The people will be excited that insert name here will be leading us!”
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“I JUST wanted to grab a wine glass at the inn in Dalaran, I think you have the wrong person.”
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With this progression patch based story-telling they’ve gotten into, what Blizzard should start doing is making events where the outcome is dependent on what the players actually do.
If you look at something like the Arathi warfront in BfA. It’d feel a lot more interesting if we knew that the win/loss stats by the actual players would determine which side won the warfront in lore.
but instead, nothing we do ultimately matters. The winner of every battle in BfA was decided by Blizzard before we even got to play it.
Which a RPG without the player being able to influence the story and world feels empty.
At least with Vanilla there was minimal overarching story and it was a case of “go make your own stories in the world we created”.
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And she still didn’t send me to assassinate Thrall. She picked two nameless rogues that died to dirt.
Past some point, the reason is because it implies that all characters are actually the same person.
Only one person led the expedition to Alt Draenor, for instance, but every RPer who believes in actually accepting what they see in game has to say it was them. Every monk apparently is now the “Grand Master”. Etc, etc.
I liked the level we were at in Wrath. We get to Northrend, and the recruiter says “Oh, it’s you… skip the line.” So we’re prominent but not ridiculously so. We’re not all the same person.
Along with 5 million other “Champions”.
That’s fine in a single player game. It requires ridiculous assumptions and storytelling phasing in an MMO, because you can’t have more “Champions” than general population of the world.
So, we’re phasing our heroes, or layering them? One world boss per hero/layer? chuckles
How is that any different to the current game? When everyone is the hero what is special about being the hero?
Modern WoW treats you as already being there and now just doing errands to fulfil your obligation as a hero, in Classic you were a nobody seeking to make their way in a harsh and dangerous world.
There is more story in that then just “Oh yeah you’re the champion, you’ll just fix everything like you always do”
Have you played Retail’s leveling in a group? That’s exactly what’s happening.
The journey to greatness teaches more than being born into royalty. Humility is the true success to life, while also being confident in yourself and your ability. It’s a very delicate balance. Being appointed to the highest level without any kind struggle and failure only creates spoiled, ungrateful, mediocre players (BFA enthusiasts).
This doesn’t hold true for everyone, however, some diamonds are found in the rough.
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And it’s always been that way. I mean, the gnolls are still at Stendel Pond, the Defias still hold court in the Deadmines - but I think it’s far more blatant to be hailed as the supreme leader of the alliance rather than just another hero that killed TWENTY SIX gnolls.
Maybe because we don’t want to be snowflakes showered in useless rewards that have zero meaning. Hasn’t the phrase, “If everyone is super, no one will be”, been echoed enough?
I had that experience in Darnassus. And then I visited the vendors and saw how much it was going to cost! Little level 12 Night Elf hunter was wondering how this was even possible. When I finally got epic riding…oh that was a joyous day and I ran circles around Darnassus on my new epic speed mount!
And it was - and will be - a big strain. You earned that mount. Something we haven’t really done since.