Vanilla - I miss the good times

[thefunk]

Just ran BRD for the first time with 75 pally & 50ish shamans (group of 5) and realised life was much more fun back in vanilla. Great designs and atmosphere that I find lacking in both expacs. I'm getting worried about the changes in cata but i guess this is inevitable.

Well i'm having a blast revisiting/trying new things in vanilla that the grindfest in northrend is on hold. My worry is once the 1st team hits 80 i'll get frustrated and bored with dungeon/daily grinds and start going to the gym. Or even socialise.

What I don't get is why Blizzard are making things easier to level in the expansions (faster respawn times, levelling in 1 area at a time, slightly more cohesive dungeons in terms of player levels) but then make it basically a grind fest. I think they've lost the magic of vanilla.

Anyone else still exploring the old world, or is it now all about fast levelling, end-game and gear?

[grumpyfish]

Hi your post had me thinking same line that the old content was special. I suppose the downside was that sometimes it was frustrating trying to find a group with staying power to actually get somewhere ! Too many times you would circle the prison complex to then find someone had to leave. Only ever seen the whole of BRD by multi boxing.

[rocnroll]

It seems faster because Blizz wants the user to get to the current end game. I'm an explorer and enjoy taking in the sights (which is why I finally moved from PVP to PVE). There are some great instances in vanilla WoW and I learned a lot leveling through instances. I would hate to get to 80 with a new class and not know how to play the class in an instance, especially with the current attitude about gear score. Oh wait, I multi-box! I'm still working out playing multiple classes, so I still raid solo with my Priest from time to time.

[Zal]

Since i've actually played since the game was released I don't miss vanilla at all. Sure some things were better..... nothing that comes to mind, but back then stuff was more of a grind fest then now. 40 man raids = ~10 people always afk, 5 man dungeons = took hours on end to complete, farming gold = daily quests didn't exist and you'd be lucky to find a good spot to farm since EVERYONE was out farming. Not to mention it took me about 3 months before i got my first lv 60 back then, a level every 3 or more days sucks hell.

[Khatovar]

I'm with Zal on this one. I did NOT enjoy logging on at 10am, immediatly getting pushed into a guild group for Blackrock and spending the next 8 hours running BRD and UBRS. I did not enjoy being a druid who was only useful if spec'd Innervate. I didn't enjoy spending as much time farming mats for raiding as I did raiding {Fire res pots and the never-ending Incendius farms for Fire Res of the Appropriate Class bracers, anyone?}

The only thing that was actually fun back in those days was PvP, where you could spend hours defending/assaulting at SS/TM. And it was fun because it was all regular people looking to have some fun. No one got anything out of it and it wasn't gear vs gear.

[thinus]

When one of my fire elementals chase a healer around in a BG I have deja vu of Baron Geddon when the tank dies.

[Fuzzyboy]

I'll have to chime in with Zal and Khato here. Class balance was pretty horrible back then and 40-man raids are very impersonal. I didn't mind the grind though - i don't really care if I spend my time grinding mobs/mats or grinding dailies.

I think having been a boxer back then could have had some fun advantages, but aside from that, I really like what they did with BC and WotLK (minus vehicles) and I'm looking forward to Cataclysm. I like the idea of re-creationg old content instead of just making new. It's a shame that BC is practically empty except for the odd person levelling up - I'd love to see vanilla-territory repopulated :-)

[SideWays]

I'll have to chime in with Zal and Khato here. Class balance was pretty horrible back then and 40-man raids are very impersonal. I didn't mind the grind though - i don't really care if I spend my time grinding mobs/mats or grinding dailies.

Well honestly I dont think class balancing gets better now that every class has AoE and can be replaced by nearly every other class without any problems (Of course it wasnt better in vanilla, but atleast it wasnt all the same).. Theres a reason to choose a specific class :/

I hated the grindfest back in the days, but I really enjoyed every second in a raid or in a battlefield.. Another multiboxer and I tried Naxx a few days ago (hes rly rly bad gear, mine is quite good).. There was no progression raiding, it was like oneshot, twoshot on every boss we tried (did everything except Thaddius, Gluth).. I rly miss the times when we had to work for epics

It was something really special for me.. Nowadays its gone which is basically the reason for me to multibox :d

[Fuzzyboy]

Well honestly I dont think class balancing gets better now that every class has AoE and can be replaced by nearly every other class without any problems (Of course it wasnt better in vanilla, but atleast it wasnt all the same).. Theres a reason to choose a specific class :/

I hated the grindfest back in the days, but I really enjoyed every second in a raid or in a battlefield.. Another multiboxer and I tried Naxx a few days ago (hes rly rly bad gear, mine is quite good).. There was no progression raiding, it was like oneshot, twoshot on every boss we tried (did everything except Thaddius, Gluth).. I rly miss the times when we had to work for epics

It was something really special for me.. Nowadays its gone which is basically the reason for me to multibox :d

They just recolored the blue items :-) Seriously - purple is just a color, epics are as easy to obtain as rares was in vanilla, it's just a change of mindset really. And there's plenty of challenge for both boxers and non-boxers if you want it. Glory of the Hero/Raider, hardmodes etc.

As for the replacement thing (with classes) I think it's a good thing. Because I box I don't LFG, obviously, but it's hard enough getting a good group together without worrying about getting just the right setup - I think the development is positive for the most part. I just wish there was a server for boxers and/or with an age-restriction of 20+ :P

[mebben]

I agree with Fuzzyboy, Zal and Khatovar. WoW is a much better place for me nowadays. I enjoy the fact that you can be casual and still have fun. The change from 40 man to 25/10 man was the best thing they ever did