What if you "vanillaized" retail WoW

[Blackmist]

1) No merged realms

Then you will see nobody when levelling up, and end game you would find no groups and not be able to get into any content.

2) No cross realm

Then you will see nobody when levelling up, and end game you would find no groups and not be able to get into any content.

3) No LFR

Then very few people will see the inside of a raid.

4) No LFG

Then few people will see the inside of a dungeon, and that's if you can find enough players to do one.

5) No realm hopping

People would level up on a realm, find it's dead, and stop playing rather than starting elsewhere only for it to happen again.

6) No cross-realm BG's

Then queues for BGs would take hours. Eventually people will learn not to bother, so no PvP would ever take place.

Congratulations, you've killed WoW. The dwindling number of players is what caused these changes, and surprise, the changes didn't go anywhere near far enough.

[Deleted]

I'mma be sure to tell everyone seeking RPG gameplay to stop playing WoW, including the "Oldschool rpger's" (started playing earlier) I know....

Well, what would you call people who enjoy more Vanilla than retail?
It would definitely be oldschool something.
There is not even LFG in Vanilla, it's poorly optimized, poor itemization and many other flaws that gave it a different charm than retail.
I would say that the flaws are what make it so good in my opinion.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Well, what would you call people who enjoy more Vanilla than retail?
It would definitely be oldschool something.
There is not even LFG in Vanilla, it's poorly optimized, poor itemization and many other flaws that gave it a different charm than retail.
I would say that the flaws are what make it so good in my opinion.

I'd call them players, and they represent as many different values as the playerbase of Live. Newsflash: A lot of people will be playing Vanilla alongside Live.

[Deleted]

I'd call them players, and they represent as many different values as the playerbase of Live. Newsflash: A lot of people will be playing Vanilla alongside Live.

That's no fun
I like to casualy throw a shot at Blizzard's retail edition of WoW But i can see by your signature that you don't like that.

I would say retail WoW is made to have constant gratification like a iphone game while Vanilla is more a slow tedious pace where each improvement is much more meaningful.

But i think it depends at what level you play. If you are hardcore and all that matters to you is progression in raids then i would say retail is better with Mythic raids and Mythic Dungeons.
The casuals in Vanilla will have a big hard time coming up with money and having epics. I don't even think is possible for a casual to have a single epic.

[Hawg]

Why do you want to "force" people to interact?

If you so desperately think you need the social aspect, it should be possible to find tons of like-minded people, seeing how full already this forum is of people who seem to miss is and shit on LFG and LFR. Take responsibility for your actions and stop blaming the tool.

Paragon managed to make up a world first raid team of just finish speaking people and Kungen set up a guild with just those rules (and more) - https://eu.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/16824922690

You have all the options to play social and have a guild (even a big guild) that fulfills all these needs. You just need to work for it (hint...just like "back then"). If everyone around you is a lazy ass who likes the convinience of LFR, they are NOT for you...wether you force them or not. Stop with this shit.

If you desperately need to be in a situation where things are inforced, marry a bitchy wife and get a shit job.

Because the way the game is now, 99% of the people you see in game are, for most people on most realms, complete strangers. The fact that you knew people in the game world outside your close guild friends made the outside more compelling imho. It also made guilds and friends lists more compelling and relevant because you needed those for group content.

- - - Updated - - -

Remember in my OP I said this would be an optional realm type, like selecting an RP or PVP realm. Everyone doesn't need to like it, I'm not suggesting it be shoved down anyone's throat, just an alternative experience.

[MyndZero]

They've even considered this when they were floating the pristine server idea. That tells you everything you need to know.

[seta-san]

1) No merged realms - Dead servers will became even more dead

2) No cross realm - same as first

3) No LFR - I'm not using it

4) No LFG - If you mean random HC dungeon, last one I did was like a half year ago

5) No realm hopping - That would be a good change

6) No cross-realm BG's - same as 1

to be fair to 1,2, and 6. they need to start to merge realms. not just link them.

[Pull My Finger]

Let me start by saying I am not one of these anti-classic WoW people, I am looking forward to it and can't wait to see how they implement it.

That being said, I wonder what kind of interest there would be in WoW retail servers that were "vanillaized"? By "vanillaized" I mean the following were removed:

1) No merged realms

2) No cross realm

3) No LFR

4) No LFG

5) No realm hopping

6) No cross-realm BG's

Basically, you are forced to interact with people on your server. The people you see at the AH or in the middle of Winterfel, are on your server. If you get a bad reputation for cheating, scamming, or just being a dick, that reputation haunts you on your server. The same with good a good reputation. If you camp some low level dude, he can remember your name and hunt you down once he gets geared, or he can get guildiees to help haunt you down and you dont phase away to another realm just because you crossed a zone barrier. Etc. Etc.

Part of me wonders if these changes wouldnt give me 80% of what I want from Classic WoW? Maybe this sort of server with current retail content, should be an option in addition to Classic WoW?

None of this stuff means anything to me.

I never noticed merged realms or cross realm technology doing anything negative for me. I guess I'd notice it if it wasn't there any more, because I'd never find a group for anything.

Whining about LFR is the lamest, most boring, dumbest thing ever. LFR doesn't bother me a bit and I don't understand why it should.

Complaining about LFG is outright ridiculous, I can't even start to imagine what problem people could have with it. It was the best addition and single most important addition to the game ever.

Realm hopping I don't care about one bit, does it affect me in any way? No.

Cross realm BGs - same thing as #1.

So all of this talk to me is just incredible nonsense. And whenever someone says anything about "forcing" people to do whatever, I just can't take anything that follows any serious.

[Aggrophobic]

Let me start by saying I am not one of these anti-classic WoW people, I am looking forward to it and can't wait to see how they implement it.

That being said, I wonder what kind of interest there would be in WoW retail servers that were "vanillaized"? By "vanillaized" I mean the following were removed:

1) No merged realms

2) No cross realm

3) No LFR

4) No LFG

5) No realm hopping

6) No cross-realm BG's

Basically, you are forced to interact with people on your server. The people you see at the AH or in the middle of Winterfel, are on your server. If you get a bad reputation for cheating, scamming, or just being a dick, that reputation haunts you on your server. The same with good a good reputation. If you camp some low level dude, he can remember your name and hunt you down once he gets geared, or he can get guildiees to help haunt you down and you dont phase away to another realm just because you crossed a zone barrier. Etc. Etc.

Part of me wonders if these changes wouldnt give me 80% of what I want from Classic WoW? Maybe this sort of server with current retail content, should be an option in addition to Classic WoW?

Yeah but thoes are all improvements to the game. Many of them were added during TBC and Wrath, when the game was at it's best and most popular.
Removing most of them would lead to a game that most players will simply not enjoy.

So no, thats a bad idea.

[docterfreeze]

I think if they reverted the community destroying changes, there wouldn't be nearly as many people on the classic WoW wagon.

As for the dead realm issue, that has always been a problem. Even when WoW was at its most popular, there were low pop realms. They just made too many realms; many should be merged into one.

[rasako]

Yeah but thoes are all improvements to the game. Many of them were added during TBC and Wrath, when the game was at it's best and most popular.
Removing most of them would lead to a game that most players will simply not enjoy.

So no, thats a bad idea.

I'm pretty sure all of those things other than cross server battlegroups for battlegrounds were added in wrath tbh.

with LFR being obviously added for dragon soul at the end of cata

[Heathy]

I'm pretty sure all of those things other than cross server battlegroups for battlegrounds were added in wrath tbh.

with LFR being obviously added for dragon soul at the end of cata

iirc there was a basic lfg tool in tbc, you could list a group, or you could list yourself as looking for group, sorta like the pre-made system manual group forming that exists today but without the 'click button to join group' you still had to /w the leader and ask for an invite. imo the classic revival is going to need a simplistic lfg tool, the first few months the lfg chat is going to be an incoherent spam fest. i'm all for the idea of walking the full distance or getting flight paths which was what it was like at end game, iron forge had flight paths to strath/scholo/brs didn't really need to walk that far at all. whats rather backward is the idea that the classic server should not have any improvement function whatsoever, i think the reality will play out differently than the preconceptions.

thinking about going back to a time when it could take upward of 3 hours to form a group is alot different to actually having to sit there for 3hrs trying to form groups. mainly because the only way to form a group was by copy pasting the same line into a chat and hoping ppl are actually reading it. its like throwing messages in bottles into the ocean and hoping one day you'll get a reply. i'd rather open a window, as soon as i log in, see who is listed as looking for group and start inviting ppl from that list. there doesn't really need to be an arbitrary cock block on group formation for the sake of purity.

this is literally my only classic argument, keep the class imbalance, keep the long grinds, the walking till 40. don't keep the lfg chat as the sole way of communicating and finding ppl looking to do content. its really just asinine in a game that is meant to be group orientated. i'm actually willing to bet that not many ppl are going to be able to put up with the lfg chat and it will go the same way that the old classic did, guild groups, or groups of friends who are already on discord or whatever and pugging is left as a sort of 'meh' aspect.

[Santti]

No flying. That's enough "vanillaising" for me.

Oh, and no realm hopping. It's just dumb.

[ThrashMetalFtw]

I would love all of those changes.

As long as I got a free realm/race change for every single one of my chars ofc.

[Soon-TM]

Let retailers have their own game, with all the bells and whistles they've grown accustomed since 2007 or so, and in exchange let no one import that crap into Classic, whether they call it QoL or, lately, "balance". As if Legion was "balanced", especially in PvP. Has anyone read the patch notes from Legion? X ability nerfed by 40%, Y ability buffed by 50%, set bonus procs half the time, etc... Are you serious?

[frogger237]

Subs would drop like flies, the majority of WoWs player base has grown up and don't have the time to spend 3 hours shouting in trade chat looking for a healer or tank for some noob dungeon to finish their alts mount questline. Back in Vanilla I spent more time looking for groups in org and IF than I did in actual dungeons.

[Zarc]

The fact that we get vanilla servers are great. The more apart vanilla wow is from "retail" WoW from now on, the more use will the vanilla server option be for when I'm bored with "retail". So no thanks. The game needs to continue to evolve, and with Legion the game has found itself in a very good place. The game is the best its been in several expansions right now, and a lot of the gameplay will carry over to Battle for Azeroth. And we get vanilla. These are good times. To now "vanillaize" retail WoW is obviously the wrong action in the light of this.

[Crihnoss]

-Make dungeons an actual methodic dungeon crawl, and not a speed run like now

-Make the world and leveling a relevant part of the game, and not a nuance to clear as fast as possible

-Make ilvl (and power creep in general) not as exponential as is now. A fresh 110 with 830 does around 400 dps and has 2m hp. A 930 has 6m hp and does 2m dps... As the game designer myself I understand that each new piece of gear must feel like an upgrade, but good lord, this is ridiculous.

-Get rid of flying or make it another resource to manage, or game in itself (learn to control the mount's flight physics so that landing in exact spot feels rewarding and a player skill check). "Swiming" in air its not fun, It breaks the level design and intended flow/challeges to overcome.
You can also add flying guards for intended no fly zone that will wreck you if you don't care/can't manage to dodge their attacks. It beats the arbitrary mount disable anytime.

-Get rid of LFD. The manual tool works best when you look at it throw the lense of comminity building and player interaction (things you want in an mmo). Ilvl req should not be allowed to be set above the base dungeon rewards (I hate those idiots that ask for ilvl 930 for a m+2 )

-Class quest to unlock spells. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I loved the druid form quests, rogue poison quests, shaman totem quests. Those made me care about my character as someone who is undergound rites of passages to become who he is.

-Class consumables.

-Make crafters viable at all stages of the game. The current reward paradigm makes crafting an ineficient and unfun way to get gear/rol.

-Make me a random adventurer again, and not the best in class central point of whatever is going on. In a game where everyone is the chosen one... Welp it feels out of place.

PS: Pardon my clumsy writing and lazyness to doble check <3

[tss]

imho retail wow should keep moving forward as it is and not backwards, some may not like it some will.

And when classic is out we can always play that if we are not satisfied by retail anymore.

Lol, really says a lot about someone when they view change as progress.

[Mister K]

No thanks.

If I want to play a 2004 version of the game, I will log into the official Classic servers. Live is about moving forward. It's funny though how the Classic crowd can't just be happy with their version of the game, and constantly feel this need to always ask that Live changes or proclaim that it's shit now based on hyperbole or downright false points.

It's the loud, stupid, fake (never played vanilla/tbc) minority that is causing this. Trust me, rest of us are more than happy and agree that Classic should stay classic, Retail should stay retail ...