What are you talking, that doesnt make any sense
I don’t think this was for the same reason you think it is. While the numbers back in OG WOTLK were the highest its ever been, you got to remember why that was. WOTLK was only the 2nd xpac of WoW and still a very popular game increasing over from Vanilla to TBC and then to WOTLK. A ton of people back then played WOTLK because they played Warcraft and it was a continuation of that story. Those numbers we see back then were more story driven than they were gameplay.
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Forgetting the main part. Everyone “Kept” playing while they continued to add Millions of new players. Wrath was the last expansion to have massive growth of new players. Player retention was years not months like today in Retail.
Again partially true. The story and vibe was great. That is important. You don’t want an April fools joke like Pandas to become a reality.
However Class design and Gear was what was driving the game. The talent tree, abilities, gear, zones. This was all lost in Cata. Where they destroyed player agency, zones and began to force you to play their way instead of yours.
A good Dev will design a game and then get out of the players way. The players are supposed to show the Devs how to play. Really have the freedom to do that. In Cata the Devs began their philosophy of you are playing the game wrong so we will restrict choice. That is how you ruin an MMORPG.
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I would gladly play wrath for the rest of my life
one of the crazier takes
I still remember when they removed the choice of being able to pick your PvP gear with your arena points because the players were too stupid to figure out which piece was best for them. They systematically kept removing choices post wrath that just made the game feel brain dead boring when it came to customizing your own class and making your own choices.
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everyone looked up a guide on elitistjerks and those who didnt sucked. hope this helps
Help what exactly?
Not too far off. There is a reason we called them Wrath babies. They were hyped about the story and not the gameplay.
Wrath is already infested with the retail RMT boostie achievement mentality. If you want a true social MMORPG youre probably better off on Whitemane Classic Era or trying the new Project Quarm EverQuest server.
Since classic in 2019. That just how you play games nowadays. If you invent a time machine be my guest
How is it a crazy take? Did you play Warcraft 3? It ended on Arthas and people wanted to know what happened next. You can say it wasn’t but, you’re obviously not old enough to either remember or have played Warcraft 3.
Agreed but, again it was mostly story driver. I personally think Cata had better gameplay but, story was garbage and nobody cared about Deathwing.
Story can matter a little bit but it’s not what is going to make a great MMO. It’s the gameplay, zones and world. Does it feel like an MMO and does what you do in the game matter.
The main driving force of an MMO is not the story. It just isn’t. Cata failed because the world , the Class design and itemization was ruined. The lack of player agency and the start of forcing players to play the Devs way.
Retail isn’t really an MMO or WoW anymore. It doesn’t matter if the story is good or not. That won’t make Retail good or fix it. Where as Classic + can address all these things and return WoW to it’s previous glory.
This could be true.
Most classes got improvements over WOTLK
Itemization got better. Allowing people to get extra primary stat by wearing armor of their proficiency was a huuuuge improvement. Ask how many rogues now if they like their gear getting taken away by warriors, ret, dks, shammies or rogues.
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It’s always wild when classic andrews just make up reality lol.
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No game design changed for the worse. Talent trees got trashed as well removing choice and hybrid builds.
It did not. They removed many great stats, added mastery and started Retail design. Also gear became boring and linear even more where item level is more important than interesting gear.
This was a HUUUUUGE negative. This removed player choice of wearing different armor types. I hated this change. They never should of added armor specializations.
That’s just part of the game and having choice is far better of an option to create fun builds.
Cata was a restrictive mess. If you like it coolzies. It was the start of Retail though and not part of the Classic Era game that was vastly better.
Trees only got shortened a bit and it took of very unnecessary “Gain 1% damage per talent point spent” talents. I don’t know about you but, gaining 1% damage isn’t “fun”
Crit and Haste are still in the game in Cata. The only thing they did was remove armor pen cause it made specific classes/specs terrible until end game (See Warriors and MM Hunters as a reference).
I don’t know how you see this as a negative, this really must be rose tinted glasses because this part of the game is super annoying considering you have soo many people go after 1 item and it causes confusion and drama. Having people in their armor class makes more sense.
The beginning of retail started at the end of Cata and it wasn’t because of the talent trees or gameplay, it was because of thing like LFR. Allowing people to go inside a raid on “hold your hand” mode was the downfall of WoW and not the other things stated.
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Are people still repeating the LFR nonsense? My god, classic should have destroyed that talking point years ago.
No they took out build diversity and forced you into specializations. Which is bad for the game. You had to max out a Talent tree before entering another. That just is Anti-MMO and against player agency.
I feel like you really don’t like MMO’s with the way you talk. The less choices you have the less reasons to play. Cata talent trees were trash.
Oh geez… is that it. 
Where are all the other stats. Block value, Defense, etc. Sorry but the game went backwards with design and the removal of stats. They removed a lot of fun ways to build a character.
Because it is. If I want to wear Leather bracers on my Warrior because it’s BiS for my build that should be an option and removing that feels horrible. They really restricted choice and removed finding ways to enjoy playing the game.
A good game the Devs get out of the way of the players and we show them how the game should be played. They don’t force us to play their way which is bad design.
I’m sorry I just won’t agree with you. Cata was a bad expansion and it was when WoW really took a turn for the worse. It isn’t missed by most of us. Good riddance and most of us hope to never experience it again. Cata and Classic don’t go together.
It’s time for Classic + as the future of WoW and for us to enjoy Wrath Era or Vanilla Era forever.