For me it began at Blizzcon when they announced the boost and certain gameplay changes. But more sothe boost…which I thought would be awful for the game (since it was originally), and turned out to be even worse. But Blizz is making a fortune off bots buying the boost, so that’s all that matters.
Anyway, right then and there it was obvious Blizz was no longer interested in attracting the Classic crowd. They wanted to bring in Retail players by letting them skip 58 levels. And then sell the mount, those toys, the ridiculous clone cost. The tenets and design philosophy of Vanilla and TBC were abandoned to make a quick buck.
TBCC wasn’t about recreating TBC. It was about the same thing Retail is: milking the whales. The quality of the game and the experience mean nothing. Authenticity was thrown out the window.
This is just how Blizz runs WoW now: make a bunch of money with expansions (including the deluxe pass), then get players on long sub times with a bonus (you get a pet in TBC). And by the time that’s done…just try and hold on. Maybe add another cash shop item or 6 month sub prize.
And it’s not going to change. No matter how many leave for better horizons (like ff14). All Blizz will do is manipulate those who remain even more.
But I’m not miserable. Just a little sad.
Sad the the pinnacle video game company of years ago has turned into such trash.