Is modern WoW the same WoW you fell in love with?

[Marrilaife]

Nope it's not the same.

Some things are better. For example levelling.

Some things are worse. For example professions.

Some things are different, or didn't exist in the past.

But the fact they're so obsessed with "innovating", "game not becoming stale", change for the sake of change and claiming everything should be a gamble to be exciting is what makes me feel it's not the game I loved anymore. I don't like gambling. I like working towards a known, achievable goal. I don't like most classes and specs in the current, Legion iteration. And few specs I like are either considered crap or are expected to take talents that ruin what I like about that spec.

The expansions when I enjoyed several classes / specs and found playing them fun were first wotlk, then MOP.

[ComputerNerd]

The game has changed, nobody can deny that.
It can't possibly be the same game to even one patch previously.

Did things "work" better, or were they only deemed successful because that was what we had.

Dailies for a faction were fixed on a given day, and from a very small pool at that.
Arguably the less predictable nature of world quests offers variation those could not.

Valor and Conquest duplicated a commonly voiced gripe in the current game, being "forced" to run lower content because of the efficiency in its reward return.

Story is subjective.
You could argue that before it was character focused, why we did not get this recognition of our feats.

Classes bringing buffs only limited the choices.
Many classes were defined by a single button they had.

[Linri]

the game only exists in the same universe, its has the essentials needed to make it feel like wow, but it is not the same game as it used to be

IMO

[MoanaLisa]

How can you guarantee that? Is it your overwhelming bias guaranteeing it ? Or do you actually have some evidence to back that up

It's my overwhelming common sense that games that don't change over 12 years die. Give me an example of one that hasn't.

Nonetheless the main point which you conveniently ignored remains: People change too. The way you feel about a game on Year 12 is not the same as the way you felt about it on Day 1.

I know what your post history looks like. Accusing me of overwhelming bias while ignoring your own is pointless and does much more to damage whatever argument you're trying to make than anything. We all have bias to some degree. I try and look at things in a way that acknowledges that opinions about the game don't need to be all one way or the other. There is middle ground. There is stuff to like and stuff to dislike. That's subjective and not in the realm of anything like a fact.

[Tiwack]

No. If it wasn't for LFR during cata the game would've died. They did away with conquest and valor but the same arguments that made them remove those from the game can be applied to AP. It blows my mind that they didn't just let some leg-item drop for us to turn-in for the leg we wanted instead of this lottery. Mythic+ reminds me so much of Rifts in D3 that I've come to realize that's what their vision for wow is. Like they've run out of inspiration and innovation because they're gimped by an engine that's way out of date. Everything gets repeatedly reused and it's just sad to see their april fools becoming reality when they could've done so much more to earn their subs instead of delivering what can barely be described as "content". They used to be able to deliver and live up to their own hype but not anymore.

[merex760]

No, it's not the same. The current game is almost unrecognizable from the game that I fell in love with. Everything now is about how fast you can complete something. It's not the slow methodical adventure it once was. Blizzard us unable to create anything new besides "race against the clock" type content. The change in design also changed the community and the type of player the game attracts. It's just not the same.

[Kaver]

For me, and this is just my opinion, vanilla was about the leveling experience. Going through all the different zones and exploring while using several months to reach max level was fantastic.

I also like the current game, but in my opinion they could remove the leveling system completely now. Going from 1-110 is typically just a dungeon grind (or you can buy it). It has no value anymore. I think the current game is 99.99 % about the end game (level 110).

[Altariaz]

If anyone voted that modern WoW is the same as original WoW, then they clearly never played original WoW.

Obviously, the game has changed. Some of the changes are good and others less good. There are threads of similarity between modern and original WoW, but to suppose the game is the same now as it once originally was would be quite wrong.

[Shammyrock]

The wow I fell in love with was back when I had a massive amount of free time.

[Saverem]

It's not the same, but that's OK. The game is pushing 13 years and if it had remained the same as it was 13 years ago, it probably wouldn't have the same success it has currently. It's evolving with the times. Change can be good or bad depending on the individual.

[Deleted]

No, but i wont like to have classic back. I am still nostalgic about WotLK, tho. Really, really nostalgic.

[Heladys]

It's still recognizably her, though she's had a few more miles on her, a few career changes and personal reinventions, and at least a few nip & tuck surgeries to make her look better.

[Ivanstone]

Admittedly, after playing for 12 years some of the allure is gone. When I started playing everything seemed shiny and new and I loved exploring everything. It was great. I even quit one of my two jobs to play even more. I've never let my subscription lapse. The longest break I've had from the game was a week long trip to the hospital.

At times since, new expansions and patches can temporarily re-capture that feeling. Hell I'm itching to get home so I can save Chromie.

However, I'm not blind to Vanilla's faults. It was fucking tedious at times. Game balance was shit. It was cool to start raiding but let's face it Molten Core was a dumb fucking raid. At least I tanked it. Couldn't imagine being a Pally (any spec) spamming dispel over and over again or even worse, getting designated as the out of combat resser. I've been a tank since July 2005. My personal joke is that Prot Warrior was the worst tank in Vanilla even though we were the only tank. That's how badly conceived Blizz could be back then. Prot Warrior isn't in a good place this xpac (like most xpac's) yet its fun as hell to play.

There are many, many changes. On balance the positives out weigh the negatives. I've seen a few complaints about how the game is now the World of Diablocraft. I say, so what? Diablo is a good game. It has some good ideas. Why not use them? I did 5-man Stratholme back in the day when I had no epics and it took 4 hours to do it the first time. I'd rather test my mettle against a high level keystone. The latter is much less time-consuming but more challenging at the same time. Good move, Blizz. Just one of many things I still like about the game.

[acinos]

yes and no. there have been so many quality of life improvements and things added removed and changed. I went on a vacation from wow for awhile after realizing the amount of work id have to put into an alt to get them near my main. this was back before the catch up mechanics where around for legion. ive always been focus main gear them up and then work on alts for professions. wod and legion have been the only xpacks where i didnt bother to level them. i made more gold selling materials then i would make leveling up to get to the actual gold makers that i just said forget it. Eventualy il go back and level them for mounts and pets.

Anyways i took a break and missed wow and decided to try a private server to see burning crusade again. it felt like a completely different game and i remembered all the things that changed that i loved and all the things i hated.

I started back in burning crusade. here are things that have changed.

weapon skills - I LOVED the weapon skills to me it felt like a personal character growth and i had made sure to max everything i could on my dk when they announced that was going away. Would i love if they came back? yes. but i understand why they where taken out.

Talent trees - i both miss and don't miss them. i loved when i leveled up i got to get something and grow my character how i wanted. granted i looked up the best builds once i hit level cap and copy pasted but it was a character growth thing. personaly i feel like the artifact weapons brought this back a little and i wish they would do something similar as a base game thing. kind of like what they did with wod and getting increased abilities. bring back a talent tree that with each level you can put a trait in and take multiple paths. in the end you can get everything but you decide how you want to progress as you level. thats what i want to see. so pretty much how artifacts are now but just for your character. maybe instead of at x level you gain these abilities, they are just in a secondary tree. where for x amount of points spent you get a point in the second tree for an ability so you can choose how you want to progress as you level. again once you hit max level everything is unlocked. idk just a thought.

Pets- honestly i loved collecting pets and the change to make them a spellbook instead of an item made me jump for joy. at the same time i had worked my butt off to get to 150 pets to get the last achievement, and then they made battlepets. i still collect them but im well past the last achievement and i dont really feel like i have anything to work towards collection wise. at least compared to what i did. i dont really battle or level. im just a collector.

LFD- i was there with the addition of LFD. i saw what it did to the communities. with how quickly the community degraded.

CRZ- its such a love hate relationship with this. I love that im able to see people again in the world. at the same time i want to turn it off. i can't count how many times i was searching for a pet saw they where up, landed and crz kicks in and the shared realm doesn't have it up. its just feels like a kick in the pants.


multitap - oh my god you have no idea how nice this is. sure people abuze it by dotting up and running to the next mob while you kill it for them. while i was on the private server i had a hell of a time getting out of the starter as a caster. id cast a spell and right before it would hit the mob, someone would run up and hit it. i had to resort to running up bonking them with a staff then attacking. i really do not miss the old version.

the old class quests. honestly i wish they had never removed them. such as the warlock quests for your demons, the paladin abilities quests. Also the mount quests. i really wish they had left them in. even if it was just an optional thing or you would get an alternative look.

i still love this game and i probably always will regardless of what they do to it, and if i continue to play or not. i have so many memories in this game.

[Farrarie]

its better than go kill 15 animals bring 30 of their feather
now voice acting great main and side quests
way better than before for me

[grandgato]

At it's core, it's still the same game i have played for years. New systems have been implemented, and other changed, but fundamentally it is the same game.

[Stormspellz]

Nope, Mop was the last spec of "good" wow left, now its repackaged time sinks with no soul

[Daffan]

Lol no this has got to be a joke. Better in some ways, worse a lot in others.

[Tart]

Nothing like what i fell in love with.

[Deleted]

The game is a shadow of what it once was.

I'm enjoying Black Desert online somewhat, it reminds me a little bit of vanilla wow, lively game world and taking a long time to level up etc. just so much more of an mmo than what wow has become.

I really do think its time for vanilla servers blizzard. it's beyond a joke now.

Or they could do something similar with what they have done with Black Temple and scale everyone back to level 70 and all the quests and content become relevant again, but i just dont see it working the same as a proper legacy server where everyone starts off wit ha clean slate again, it would bring renewed interest to this dying game without a shadow of a doubt.

WoW has just lost its magic. I hate to say it but the current direction of WoW has been focused on money more than the heart, adventure, and soul that the original developers had for the game. Of course money was a factor in that, but the game wasn't designed by giant companies/corporations like Activison, etc. it was designed by people who loved games so much that they were oozing with passion because they wanted to create a world where they, themselves enjoyed.

I mean the list goes on and on of the great things they have removed from the game but here are some

No reforging
No gemming
No enchanting
Class/ spec design sucks (rogues no longer feel like rogues, Shadow priests no longer feel like shadow priests ect)
No PvP vendors
No world PvP
No Duels
No Horde v Alliance city raids
There's no huge PvP place like tol barad or wintergrasp
World quests are just Daily quests
No honor or conquest points
No Valour points
No justice points (think they're called justice points)
No exploration
No RPG element in the game
Leveling is absolutely pointless now
The glyph system has been removed
AP grind sucks
Class fantasy removed (going to class trainers to learn a new spell)
Class specific vendors (buying poisons from vendors to make poisons, buying ammo for your bow as a hunter)
Pet happiness for Hunters (stocking up on meat for your pet so it doesn't abandon you)

I mean just look at all of the good things they have removed from the game to make it as simplistic as possible so that even an 8-year-old could play the game.

its clear the direction the game has taken is killing the game and there's just simply no denying anymore.

They must do something drastic if they want to keep Wow going any longer, and I think vanilla servers are just that.

At this stage, another expansion announcement is just going to be the final nail in the coffin. another pointless 10 levels in a zone in some far off world that makes no sence. they must go back to the start of it all. when the game was so popular and good.