There was a time we joined up to do a dungeon crawl. Our Tank would move forward carefully pulling only the mobs the group could safely handle. The Healer was monitoring our HP levels while buffing us, applying healing were necessary. DPS switched from single target damage to aoe dps and cc-ing when necessary. A good dungeon group operated like a veteran Marine squad. Tactics, positioning careful movement. Each dungeon gave us an exciting experience and the thrill of being part of well organized successful team.
We knew we were facing Elite Mobs. And that a wipe could happen at any moment if we were not careful. Worst if the group was not cautious and vigilant we would endure multiple wipes until we got our act together.
Over time that changed. Because of the reinvention of the game’s mechanics. Now dungeons are speed-runs. The supposed Elite Mobs are laughable push-overs. The only place that you experience to a degree the traditional tactical rpg dungeon crawl is in high level Mythic Plus dungeons.
So do you, as I, lament the loss of the dungeon crawl?
Honestly, if you’re going to blame anything, blame the freely accessible information of the modern era compared to the old days.
Classic WoW has demonstrated that old dungeons are still cakewalks if you know what you’re doing and optimize properly. The game has only changed because we have. We’ve gotten better at it and more information about it.
The reason why things are easier now is because there is so much information. Back in the days, there wasn’t, so people didn’t know what to expect. Plus, people know how to play, as we see also this with Classic.
I garentee with Cataclysm classic, heroic dungeons will be far more easier than what they were when Cataclysm released.
I usually respond to Rita because Rita is a very nice person. Rita is always friendly, kind, and posts very intelligent thought-out on-topic replies. I consider Rita to be an excellent Forum Member.
People miss old-style dungeons, when they would sit down at the start and plot out their strategy. They forget that after doing the dungeons a few times, they knew them and wouldn’t have needed to strategize anymore. But dungeons back then weren’t something endlessly repeated for their entertainment value, as they are now. Can’t bring that back.
It seems like if you seek challenge in dungeons you just need to try harder ones. If heroics are easy, try mythics. If mythics are easy try mythic+, and see how high you can go.
You can’t put the toothpaste back in. People know what they are doing now. Strategizing is pointless because you know what cds you’ve got, know how fast things are dying, and know that a wipe isn’t the end of the world.
You’re asking for a new game that is not WoW because you already know this one.
I mostly play other games for that “dungeon-crawl” feeling, as WoW has not provided that feeling for me since probably late Vanilla with stuff like original Sunken Temple and BRD.
I don’t touch M+ because it’s more speedrunning than anything else, and that’s not really my style.
I miss the long dungeon crawls, so I’ve moved onto other games like Deep Rock Galactic for my PvE fix.
WoW is my PvP game mostly, that and open world/story content.
A few posters mentioned it’s the way we evolved as players and the abundance of information that killed the dungeon crawl. I agree however the method of how we gain loot is also to blame. Mythic+ in general and the introduction of the vault killed exploration and power progression (aka finding loot). Dungeon crawling was about the mystery of finding cool stuff and learning the dungeon. Since dungeons and loot is static, that killed that exploration and dungeon crawling feel. The original Diablo had that randomness that drove replayability. Making loot drops and dungeons so static as well as the abundance of information on how to conquer these dungeons is how we got here…
hope you are having a wonderful day. Hope all your dreams come true. 