Anyone else still feel disconnected from the world?

[Dizson]

Altough we are not 24/7 in our Garrison anymore, I still feel like I'm not in the world, which is actually true, I'm not, it's a video game after all, but something about Vanilla and BC gave me this feeling that we the players are actually alive on Azeroth and Outland. That we are part of the world, the world is alive and "well", and we are constantly going forward and just as our character evolves, the world around us evolves too. Even the pre-legion events gave me this old feeling, when we went out to defend against the invasion... I thought about this a lot and I kinda got a grasp of why do I feel this way, but I'm still not entirely sure though.
Maybe that it is just as our world, WoW got really fast. Everyone knows what you had to go trough to get to level 0 to 60, gear up, reputation, flasks farm, raiding, everything took time in Vanilla, it was fun, challenging, sometimes boring, sometimes really rewarding. Now it's not, everything is stale, but fast, not so rewarding (extreme amount of RNG) and I do understand why it's not like back in the day, why blizzard made the changes they did, because no one has time, no one has the effort, because why would people do more when they could do less, so "no one has time to do these things anymore apparently".. Isn't it funny though, that people always end up waiting for the new content? Like always...
For some reason I always had time to do things, even if it was only 1 Wailing Caverns a day, at least I enjoyed the challange, the interaction, the step by step moving forward.... that few hours I spent daily, the daily dose of WoW, and I actually looked forward the next day to do some other tasks, because I had a lot of things to do, many different things too even on level 60.
My point is that WoW is an MMO, and I don't think the genre should be like where it's heading now, like making everything easy and giving everyone what they need, like full access to the game (raiding whatever) without letting people improve in this game is not a good thing in my opinion, it feels boring, at least to me, it kills my immersion. LFR, Raid difficulties, easy mobs, everything in your face is ruined the old experience.

[Deleted]

There are a few things that've been present in most recent expansions that've caused that disconnected feeling from the world itself. At least, in my own opinion.

One is that we no longer travel between zones. Cataclysm was the worst for this, but WoD and Legion were offenders too. Instead of running from one zone into the next when we finish a quest chain, we just get teleported/flown to the new zone instead. I'd wager that 90% of Human players remember the bridge that connects Elwynn to Westfall, but damned if I know what the border between Stormheim and Highmountain looks like. Are those zones even connected?

Another is that there's little reason to travel anymore, and even less reason to observe the world itself as we're journeying somewhere. We click a dot on the map and an arrow points us in a direction. From there it's mindless auto-running and dodging creep aggro instead of actually looking around to see if our objective is anywhere near. The world ends up feeling like a collection of scattered objectives, instead of a world in which objectives exist.

But I think there's a lot more to the topic than anybody outside of game design and psychology studies could imagine.

[Maester]

I know where you're coming from. Now the game is always played in rush mode. Everything needs to be done quickly and in the most efficient way possible if you want to get the most out of it. And that's not a sign of some issue with the game, it's just the nature of the kind of game WoW is.

But back when we were first starting out, we didn't have all these goals in mind (get to level cap -> start gearing up for raids -> farm this for flasks -> etc.). We used to just play the game, take our time, and enjoy the whole process. I remember being like level 15 and just doing SFK over and over again because it was fun and challenging. I didn't do it for the loot. I didn't do it for the XP. I did it because it was fun. I didn't have the need to be level 60 back then, I just played slowly and enjoyed every moment.

But as experienced MMO players now, this is just the way things are. Doing World Quests is almost robotic now. I check the map for where the cache quests are, pick the 4 that take the least amount of effort, and then go from FP to FP doing them as quickly as I can before my disappointment of no legendary and hearth back to Dalaran, where I proceed to refresh the premade group finder until I find a suitable M+.

[Deleted]

Then you need to go fishing in Azsuna or other places. The pond next to Felblaze Ingress is beautiful. Also, while I share your nostalgic feelings, you need to understand nothing will ever feel the same. Eating candy canes at Christmas will not bring back the feeling you got the first time you had them. WoW has a great community, there's always someone ready to help, wanting to play with you. Always. Though it has grown toxic as the years have passed, added new things, removed some; it's still WoW and Goldshire is still that messed up parking lot for the twisted and the twinking gnomes.

I often stay a bit longer in Azsuna, because I like talking to people in 1. General.

Try to find some of that curiosity you've stashed away and seek out old content, explore and re-explore.

[Dystemper]

What killed the "immersion" for me this time was they make you out to be the supreme high muckety muck of your order. You and you alone were found worthy to carry this mighty artifact from legend. You are the head of all your "class". Just like everyone else. Now go kill 8 birds and bring me 30 flowers. Because as the supreme high muckety muck of the the class, this is what you must do. They take about class fantasy and immersion and do stupid shit like this. Same with the garrisons. You were the General , the big cheese. But you had to do the shit work while everyone else stood around.

But now the WQ have become boring and so so reptative. the RNg killed so much fun. Being forced to go into dungeons and raids just to progres a profession that was worthless the same day the exp launched. They came up with content. They once again just failed with coming up with content that was compelling and fun to do for many.

[LordAmbrosia]

but something about Vanilla and BC gave me this feeling that we the players are actually alive on Azeroth and Outland. That we are part of the world, the world is alive and "well", and we are constantly going forward and just as our character evolves, the world around us evolves too

You were 11 years old and had an imagination. That's literally all it is. You grew up. No, you can't go back. Legion has way more connection to the world than any other expansion.

[Pull My Finger]

I think you're not making any sense. I can't make the connection between "not feeling in the world", and what you're making responsible for this, at all.

Legion is very grindy, a lot of stuff, like reputations, take quite some time, and several things are gated behind a considerable deal of effort. I find myself having all these different tasks, all these things that I'm "working" on, often one thing at a time. On top of that, I'm out there in the world ALL THE TIME. So I really don't know what you're talking about.

[Dystemper]

You were 11 years old and had an imagination. That's literally all it is. You grew up. No, you can't go back. Legion has way more connection to the world than any other expansion.

How by repeating the same WQ, that are in some cases a repeat of the leveling quest? I was hoping for random raid bosses popping up in cities that everyone would need to kill. Honestly the invasion event was the most fun i had in WOW in a long time. It got people out and working together, of all levels. And it was rewarding. Now I just hope to get to that node before a bot gets there.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Your feel will differ to others. If anything the immersion factor has only improved. As for the rushing part, well I think that's more of a community mindset.

How by repeating the same WQ, that are in some cases a repeat of the leveling quest? I was hoping for random raid bosses popping up in cities that everyone would need to kill. Honestly the invasion event was the most fun i had in WOW in a long time. It got people out and working together, of all levels. And it was rewarding. Now I just hope to get to that node before a bot gets there.

If you expected a raid boss to hit in cities. Then that's your fault. That impression was something I never imagined would happen. The demon invasion event was good yes, but you should also know in terms of dailies like say MoP you did pretty much do the same thing over and over. Thing is World Quests aren't the same each day, some of them are but not always. There's only so many World Quest designs they can make before a specific player does all of them.

[Irian]

In truth, you're disconnected to the world because the game is old as hell and as a result people - including yourself - have grown to look at it in a different way. World of Warcraft isn't really an immersive MMORPG experience anymore, if you look at even the RP servers many of them are quite dead and have been rather dead since mid-WoD.

Also, the new zones are noisy as hell and leave very little room for sightseeing. I don't particularly mind this, but it's an interesting thing to note that there are so few open spaces without something to quest for, loot or kill.

[Gentlepenguin]

How by repeating the same WQ, that are in some cases a repeat of the leveling quest? I was hoping for random raid bosses popping up in cities that everyone would need to kill. Honestly the invasion event was the most fun i had in WOW in a long time. It got people out and working together, of all levels. And it was rewarding. Now I just hope to get to that node before a bot gets there.

The invasion event was just people exploiting the best way possible, the entire time.

When it initially came out it was best to just AFK.

Then it was best to tag mobs.

Then it was best to just log out after the second state over and over.

You could call that working together, when you make an incentive like 5-10 times faster leveling for no work and free max level gear when you're done with it.

[Dystemper]

In truth, you're disconnected to the world because the game is old as hell and as a result people - including yourself - have grown to look at it in a different way. World of Warcraft isn't really an immersive MMORPG experience anymore, if you look at even the RP servers many of them are quite dead and have been rather dead since mid-WoD.

Also, the new zones are noisy as hell and leave very little room for sightseeing. I don't particularly mind this, but it's an interesting thing to note that there are so few open spaces without something to quest for, loot or kill.

When all is said and done, the zones are also small as shit. So mall but so many damn mobs every where that are aggroed if you just look at them

- - - Updated - - -

The invasion event was just people exploiting the best way possible, the entire time.

When it initially came out it was best to just AFK.

Then it was best to tag mobs.

Then it was best to just log out after the second state over and over.

You could call that working together, when you make an incentive like 5-10 times faster leveling for no work and free max level gear when you're done with it.

It alteast felt like there was a invasion going on. Then the Doomcallers, and people being possessed and turned into Demons. Now we have crackelves

[LordAmbrosia]

How by repeating the same WQ, that are in some cases a repeat of the leveling quest? I was hoping for random raid bosses popping up in cities that everyone would need to kill. Honestly the invasion event was the most fun i had in WOW in a long time. It got people out and working together, of all levels. And it was rewarding. Now I just hope to get to that node before a bot gets there.

What? The invasions were all the same. How can you call WQ repetitive when there was literally only 1 kind of invasion? Delusional.

[Dystemper]

What? The invasions were all the same. How can you call WQ repetitive when there was literally only 1 kind of invasion? Delusional.

And there are WQ that are literally the exact same , even offering same reward, just in a different zone. You wither kill x amount of mobs, kill a elite rare, leyline race, or fly. I have yet to see any of the fishing WQ or cooking WQ that were not bugged. You can only shoot so many shrieker bats out of the sky, if that is you can get the damn mob with the fel cannon ammo to spawn or actually has them

[Goundin]

There are a few things that've been present in most recent expansions that've caused that disconnected feeling from the world itself. At least, in my own opinion.

One is that we no longer travel between zones. Cataclysm was the worst for this, but WoD and Legion were offenders too. Instead of running from one zone into the next when we finish a quest chain, we just get teleported/flown to the new zone instead. I'd wager that 90% of Human players remember the bridge that connects Elwynn to Westfall, but damned if I know what the border between Stormheim and Highmountain looks like. Are those zones even connected?

Another is that there's little reason to travel anymore, and even less reason to observe the world itself as we're journeying somewhere. We click a dot on the map and an arrow points us in a direction. From there it's mindless auto-running and dodging creep aggro instead of actually looking around to see if our objective is anywhere near. The world ends up feeling like a collection of scattered objectives, instead of a world in which objectives exist.

Mountains, has to be mountains or the Rift from the Nightmare, maybe it's the sea of QQ. I must investigate this matter. I will require the aid of a brave hero.

If you accept fortune await.