So now that I have done all of Vanilla, TBC and part of Wrath…
I have come to this strange conclusion…
TBC and Wrath are effectively superior games (mechanically) and while they’re better for raiding, they’re better for each classes refinement in different ways these games are less fun than Vanilla.
There are things about vanilla I strongly dislike, namely that raid buffs are group wide and debuff slots are limited, and certain builds / classes scale WAY too good with gear, but asside from those annoyances overall Vanilla is more fun.
Why is this and can any one explain it?
I have asked this question to some long time WoW friends, and we have all come to similar observations on the topic on why we went back to Vanilla… This is our generalized list of why it is this way…
Classes have distinct strength and weaknesses, and because of this you absolutely are dependent on others for your progress in a lot of ways… You do not have tools for literally every situation because there is another class that can counter you in PVP.
All goals are somewhat reasonable to achieve; even the more crazy stuff can be achieved over time, but it takes time so if you have time to sink you can get it all in a legit way.
The casual nature of the game lends it self more to fun than stress. I find that when I zone into a WSG on Vanilla just for some fun and laughs or start a war in Black Rock Mountain its just pure fun, and that overall there is no real stress involved if I win or not. Meanwhile in Rated PVP catching a counter comp that’s lower in rating by a bit because Q’s are slow can be painful, and with how the Modern Blizzard smurfing system works you’re almost always going to descend into a 50/50 win loss ratio because the algo knows how to ruin your day when you were on a winning streak.
While there is elitism in every game you ever play on line, vanilla actually has very little of it. In PVP I can parse respectably in the purple zone long as I don’t derp it up too badly, meanwhile in Vanilla no one seems to care anymore too much about parses (even tho I do look over mine) long as you’re not causing problems and the raids are getting cleared without too much drama.
What do you all think? Am I off my rocker? Have my glasses fogged over with roses?
It’s a million little things. Il add to the list. Flying mounts are trash and have a massively negative impact on mmos. Also the zones in tbc feel like a theme park, go from hub a to hub b to hub c, etc, go to next zone when you do all the hubs. In vanilla you are all all over the map constantly
Idk if i would say the game is more fun or not. Ive been enjoying HC but reliving some of the jank reminds me of deep seated frustration I have with the game. Warriors needing on every possible item, I cant click my poisons off, blocked energy, mostly meh talents, groggy pace. At the core of it really, the game is fine, its just so many little details that add up to my frustration with it.
If LKC was more like LK id still be over there, but, i guess no king rules forever.
I don’t think it’s more fun than retail at all and the classic devs disrespected WOTLK.
However, it’s the community and people you talk to… granted I only play HC atm in Vanilla. It’s the people, they keep things light and enjoyable, plus the gameplay is much slower and relaxing.
TBC poison update. (Still need to craft poisons, just that we would use TBC versions)
Blinding powder can be purchased / made with components you can buy from the poison vendor
old sinister Strike talent is now improved slice 1/2 points (25 / 50%)
old slice and dice spot now becomes combat potency. (1/2/3 points 20% proc at 5/10/15 energy)
Literally all I would do…
This would greatly improve PVE without breaking PVP, and Quality of life for PVP with the combo points not dropping when you focus kick someone…
Also this would make Assassination viable in PVE.
Oh one last thing, update all the CC DR’s to TBC and Change the whole game over so that there is no buff slots and raid buffs are raid wide not “group buffs”
I think that if they had left Vanilla content as it was, rather than making it easier by removing elite mobs from the world, etc. and increasing leveling speed effectively encouraging bypassing the content, then perhaps it would remain more compelling going forward.
We can turn XP off in Wrath, but there doesn’t feel like any compelling reason to want to. Even if I wanted to say complete Vanilla content, it would be pretty boring to do so in Wrath with XP off compared to say going to Classic Era, but as it is now there’s not upgrade path, so
In Wrath as it currently is, it feels like pretty much all the interesting content is at max level, and there is no appeal to play non max-level content or even, for the most part, visit non max-level zones.
the gear gaps that started in late Vanilla and got worse in TBC and became absolutely ridiculous with “hard modes” between tiers and having many quality levels of the same loot also feels really bad.
Overall the game would have been a lot better if the power increases were very minimal between content tiers… Similar going from Blues to Molten Core to BWL where the progression existed but it was not ridiculous either.
Removing RP elements from poison is a bad idea. Fadeleaf isn’t at all a difficult herb to acquire and, even if it were, you can always resort to pickpocketing.
I should have been more clear… TBC poison update in that you can remove poison from your weapons and that they last 1 hr and there are no charges on Deadly / instant.
My concern was being able to just straight up buy Blinding Powder. Having the reagent for it be a bit more exotic (requiring herbalism) ain’t a bad thing, especially when another source for Blinding Powder is already baked into the class’s kit (pickpocketing+lockpicking).
This is of course purely opinion, but I never liked having to craft blinding powder. Shady dealers have everything for poisons already, why don’t they also carry that powder?
Or you know, just throw dirt in their eye instead of having a specifically crafted powder.
I understand the RP element, but what other class has an RP element locked behind a profession or RNG. Everyone can buy their reagents, or in lock’s case, just farm them via lowest level mobs which is guaranteed to provide them with their reagent.
oh… what I meant was that you would need to craft it from mats that you can buy from the poison vendor. Right now I just pick herbs for that, and make loads of it… And while i do make a bit of coin on it… its a shame that it cant be made from stuff that the poison supply vendor sells.
I don’t know of any rogue who’s short blinding powder, or has a hard time getting it, and we would still craft it (very important) just that the source of the mats would come from the same place as other poisons and rogue stuffs.
