The little things about Vanilla [Fun]

[morphling8]

Just a correction on windfury procing. I believe windfury procing windfury was possible in BETA. But in Vanilla, it was slightly different.

Windfury reset the swing timer on your next auto attack to something like .1 seconds, allowing you to proc another windfury almost instantly. The important distinction here though, is you had a 1/5 shot to proc it, not 2/5.

Good times though when it did happen, 2-3 windfuries with a crit or two could easily 1 shot clothies.

[Deafknight]

Because it was a blizzard game with a massive hype machine behind it.

People complain about BG Bots in WoW.
In Ragnarok the entire content could be and was botted ^^

[Dunker]

Now-a-days, I would be that player. I'm no longer the university undergrad with too much time on my hands that I was back then, and I would guess from the people that I play with, that most of the core WoW players from back then are similar to me, with demanding full time jobs and family responsibilities that we were free from back in the Vanilla/BC days. And we're still the core player base, so Blizzard has to cater to us.

This right here sums it up. I play very casually now, but back then I think what I enjoyed most was the time I had to play. I always thought class, studying and practice took too much time away from the game, now I have a house and a real job. Sometimes I wish I had as much time now as I did then, being able to experience the content first-hand. I haven't raided since TBC because every second counts when I log in now, and those seconds can never go towards raiding.

Mostly I miss the things I was able to experience since I had the time to experience them.

[BHD]

True. But not just RP, you couldn't go PVE server to PVP. PVP could go to PVE, but there was a thought that you could gain a ton of advantages on a PVE server because there was no one to fuck with you at all. World PVP was a legit thing and corpse camping (griefing, whatever you wanna call it) was NORMAL. There was legitimate hatred between the factions on a server. There were well known adversaries on servers, certain guys were known to be in certain zones and if you went there, you were always afraid of getting ganked by that one guy or that guy and his buddies. It made things like farming, etc MUCH harder. Now, you can make a toon same server and talk shit if someone's messing with you. It's nothing like today.

I did play in Classic (didn't ding 60 tho, but 52) so I'm aware of how real world pvp was, but damn your description of it makes me long for old stranglethorn so, so much. Back then it was red = dead, now I hesitate because if I gank them they end up logging my faction to trash talk over and over So the reason you could transfer from RP/PVE->PVP but not the other way around was because it was advantageous not being messed with? Meh :/ Both ways should've been available from the start, because while it might be easier to lvl/grind in pve/rp you would be removing a lot of the fun of vanilla by transferring there!

Best part of the onyxia raid leader is the "STOP DOTS", yeah that's possible!

[Kagonos]

I did play in Classic (didn't ding 60 tho, but 52) so I'm aware of how real world pvp was, but damn your description of it makes me long for old stranglethorn so, so much. Back then it was red = dead, now I hesitate because if I gank them they end up logging my faction to trash talk over and over So the reason you could transfer from RP/PVE->PVP but not the other way around was because it was advantageous not being messed with? Meh :/ Both ways should've been available from the start, because while it might be easier to lvl/grind in pve/rp you would be removing a lot of the fun of vanilla by transferring there!

Best part of the onyxia raid leader is the "STOP DOTS", yeah that's possible!

Yeah, I forgot about how STV was... That was a BG unto itself! Definitely one of the bigger PVP zones. In fact, I don't remember how long into the game it was, but didn't the game launch without any BGs? Like there was no WSG or anything at first, right?

[BHD]

Yeah, I forgot about how STV was... That was a BG unto itself! Definitely one of the bigger PVP zones. In fact, I don't remember how long into the game it was, but didn't the game launch without any BGs? Like there was no WSG or anything at first, right?

It was indeed! Aye, at first you just killed people for the fun it. Not sure when in classic it came but honorable/dishonorable kills and BGs were most certainly not in-game at launch.

[Kagonos]

I actually played this game in the first month of launch (since I was still pretty heavily into Dark Age of Camelot back then with 2 accounts so I could have a BG buffbot!) and it was SOOOOOOOO buggy. I had a miner in the beginning and the first time I would mine a node, I'd get frozen in the knelt "looting" position until I restarted the game. So basically I'd be running around, killing things with no animation, just this hovering kneeling gnome zooming around the world. It was pretty bad, lol!

[frigoffrick]

It was indeed! Aye, at first you just killed people for the fun it. Not sure when in classic it came but honorable/dishonorable kills and BGs were most certainly not in-game at launch.

Really? Hmmm, I thought WSG and AV were in the game at launch. Or did they come shortly after?

[Aquamonkey]

Really? Hmmm, I thought WSG and AV were in the game at launch. Or did they come shortly after?

BGs were patched in after launch.

[Deleted]

I played my Paladin back in the day.


Does anyone else remember that, sometimes, SoC bugged and you were unable to recast it until you relogged? And we had to cast a seal everytime we judged it...pretty much the only thing a Ret Paladin did in combat to deal damage (assuming they didn't dispell your seal).

Rank 1 Blessing of Might costed less mana than Purge, so you could lead a trigger-happy purging shaman oom, and then auto-attacking him to death.

Ret pala and reckoning stacking.

Reckoning was Prot.

[BHD]

I played my Paladin back in the day.


Does anyone else remember that, sometimes, SoC bugged and you were unable to recast it until you relogged? And we had to cast a seal everytime we judged it...pretty much the only thing a Ret Paladin did in combat to deal damage (assuming they didn't dispell your seal).

I didn't play ret in vanilla so I wouldn't know anything about SoC at that time, but using holy shock offensively made the oh so interesting dps rotation more "fun", more buttons! Divine Favor (100% crit) with it was quite nice too.

[Deleted]

I didn't play ret in vanilla so I wouldn't know anything about SoC at that time, but using holy shock offensively made the oh so interesting dps rotation more "fun", more buttons! Divine Favor (100% crit) with it was quite nice too.

True, I did play shockadin (I remember I used a Zulian Stone Axe at the time) for a little while, it was fun.

[Kagonos]

Ugh, do you guys remember all the bad specs and terrible gear itemization? And how little it ended up mattering? HP/5 was actually a "stat" found on gear, and yet it never worked right, if at all.

[BHD]

Talent for strength being second to last tier of holy for paladins at launch. What on earth were they thinking :/

[Anshinritsumai]

Really? Hmmm, I thought WSG and AV were in the game at launch. Or did they come shortly after?

For reference, here's a breakdown of Classic/Vanilla. Only including "major" highlights of the patch.

Patch 1.1 - Retail Launch (November 23, 2004)
- US launched on 1.1.0, and the EU launched on 1.1.2

Patch 1.2 - Mysteries of Maraudon (December 18, 2004)
- Maraudon & the Gurubashi Arena event added.
- Cloak & Helm toggles added
- First "Feast of Winter Veil" added

Patch 1.3 - Ruins of Dire Maul (March 7, 2005)
- Dire Maul & instance Meeting Stones added
- Azuregos & Doom Lord Kazzak added

Patch 1.4 - The Call To War (April 8, 2005)
- The (classic) PvP Honor System added.
- "Epic" Hunter & Priest questlines added.

Patch 1.5 - Battlegrounds (June 7, 2005)
- First BGs added - Warsong Gulch (req. lvl 20) & Alterac Valley (req. level 50)
- Racial city cloth turn-ins added

Patch 1.6 - Assault on Blackwing Lair (July 12, 2005)
- Blackwing Lair added.
- Darkmoon Faire added.
- PvP Battlemasters added to capital cities (no longer have to go to Ashenvale/Barrens for WSG, or Alterac/Hillsbrad for AV)
- Warriors & Warlocks get a talent revamp.

Patch 1.7 - Rise of the Blood God (September 13, 2005)
- Zul'Gurub (20man) added.
- Arathi Basin added (level 30 req)
- Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza added
- Hunter talent revamp

Patch 1.8 - Dragons of Nightmare (October 10, 2005)
- Dragons of Nightmare added (world bosses - 4 corrupted green dragons)
- Silithus completely revamped into a level 60 questing zone
- Druid talent revamp
- Blizzard Launcher added (1.8.3)

Patch 1.9 - The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj (January 3, 2006)
- The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj World Event & "War Effort" added
- The Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj (20man) added
- The Temple of Ahn'Qiraj (40man) added
- Tier 2 graphics/models updated (no longer using placeholders)
- Linked AHs in all capital cities
- Timbermaw Hold quests revamped
- Paladin Talent revamp
- Shard bags for Warlocks
- Love is in the Air added (1.9.3)
- Intel Mac OSX support added (1.9.3)

Patch 1.10 - The Storms of Azeroth (March 28, 2006)
- Weather effects added
- Tier 0.5 dungeon sets added
- Priest talent revamp

Patch 1.11 - Shadow of the Necropolis (June 20, 2006)
- Naxxramas (40man) added (floating above Eastern Plaguelands)
- Mage & Shaman talent revamps

Patch 1.12 - Drums of War (August 22, 2006)
- Rogue "adjustments" and talent revamp
- Outdoor "World PvP" enhancements
- Cross-Realm Battlegrounds added
- "Major" mount changes (riding skill changed)

Patch 2.0 - Before the Storm (December 5, 2006)
- Burning Crusade patch
- LFG Interface tool added
- Talent revamp for all classes
- Revamped honor system (removed legacy PvP titles)
- Arenas & Season 1 added (added Gladiator PvP titles)
- UI changes
- "Opening of the Dark Portal" event added (2.0.3 - Jan 9, 2007)

Burning Crusade Released (January 16, 2007)

[walkingtall]

I'm probably repeating.

Shaman had to quest to get their totem. The water was brutal as it meant going across the continents. It also meant a lot of running because you didn't have a regular mount until 40. Epic mounts were very expensive so a lot of people didn't even have them at 60.

The warlock Felhunter quest was almost impossible without help. I had to use Thottbot, this was before wowhead. For some reason Murlocs had the book.

Some professions required that you visit trainers in the world. The enchanting trainer was in Stonetalon, the 225 trainer was in Uldaman, yes, the instance. Engineering had, not one, but loads of useful trinkets and toys.

Aszhara and Stonetalon were two zones you had to go to but it was hard to figure out what to do. The levels were all mixed up.

I used to farm iron ore and sell it at 5G/stack. It was better than thorium because there wasn't any competition and I made iron grenades from it. To this day I completely and utterly hate the Arathi Highlands zone. This is exceeded only by my hate of Stranglethorn because it just would not end.

Hunters running out of arrows, Rogues out of poison, or blinding powder, mages and feathers, and whatever else I'm missing.

Jaina's, I think it was, leveling guides.

Only being able to fly to the next stop. No chaining for you, and, of course you had to get there before you could fly there. And, running to the Barrens, and running to a major city for a quest, and forgetting, to find the flight guy, so the next time you had to go there, you had to run, again.

There are a ton in PVP.

1 vs 15 in Arathi Basin. That happened to me several times.

Hunting people down in WSG because they were on a hillside, hiding on the roof or something else. The map was no help. And there was no clock.

Getting GY camped in WSG by premades, all day long, because they were Q-dodging the Ally premades. It was not some grand glorious time of premades vs premades. They literally never fought one another.

Trying to get the Horde to not cap Snowfall, not because some idiot thinks it will mess up the zerg, but because you were desperately trying to get a stealth team to take out Balinda.

Having to manually form raids in a battleground. God forbid you had 2 running in a AV.

Capping SHB as Horde's first move, then no one knowing what else to do.

Wing Commanders, Big Ice and Tree guys along with wolf and ram riders.

Doing the quests for the insignia because it was a useful trinket and farming faction rep in AV for the weapon.

Farming faction rep in general for battlegrounds. Players today whine non stop about what we did as a matter of course.

[Aquamonkey]

Leveling my fishing in AV. Sometimes an Alliance person would come up and /dance with me or throw out a line too.

[Deleted]

swirly ball.

[Morbownz]

Stealth walk - gliding, gouge proc'ing poison - meaning (as a Nelf) you did this cool hands together swinging motion across your enemies face, knowing your enemy by name in BG, swirly ball - detect trap (remember the Rogue class quest?), Resistance potions being usefel - as an alchemist I made my gold with this, in WSG against a premade I took nature/fire/shadow and ran into the flag room and got the flag, 2k was quite a bit of dmg back then, casters were trying to melee me to kill me because they couldnt see my potions.

[Deleted]

Patch 1.10 - The Storms of Azeroth (March 28, 2006)
- Weather effects added
- Tier 0.5 dungeon sets added
- Priest talent revamp

Hah, I remember weather first being added and it blowing my mind, flying to Ungoro to see it rain was awesome.

I also remember the great fun I had completing the succubus summoning quest, ended up grouping up with 2 other warlocks outside of Shadowfang Keep, then running through the dreaded Arathi Highlands - filled with skull-level raptors, fear bombing the hell out of them as we went to "the wetlands", whatever that place was, to steal some guys hearts.

I remember seeing one of the 2 other warlocks I did it with in either TBC or WOTLK and them recognising me. You don't get that feel anymore.