From time to time we get this kind of uninformed post from the Devs or the Staff which makes me wonder if they really played Vanilla. (Last time I saw that was when we had GC claiming that hybrid classes did not DPS during Vanilla raids).Originally Posted by Blizzard
I started playing in Dec 2005, and I will share with you my experience as a Night Elf Hunter levelling back in Vanilla in the server "Emeriss EU".
First of all, in case Blizzard forgot, Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch were introduced on June 7th, 2005. Arathil Basin was introduced on Sep 13, 2005. Battlemaster porting (i.e. using the Battlemaster to port to a BG) was also introduced in patch 1.7, i.e. Sep 13, 2005.
Now, in Dec 2005 when I started playing, nobody really had a legit reason to hang around Arathil Highlands or Ashenvale or Hillsbrad Foothills/Alterac to join a Battleground since they could use the Battlemaster, but this is exactly what happened, i.e. there were LOTS of players who were used to travelling to Arathil Highlands or Ashenvale or Hillsbrad Foothills/Alterac to join Battlegrounds and this is exactly what they did. World PvP was the norm, and people played the game by leaving the capital and going out to have fun or ADVENTURE. Adventuring is something that WoW lost since WOTLK and they haven't been able to put it back to the game since.
Let me focus on the levelling experience:
-Ashenvale was a warzone. Skirmishes with Horde players started at about level 19 when the Horde players had to leave that outpost of theirs by the sea and travel next to Astranaar to complete quests. I still remember my first Horde kill which was an Orc Warrior whom I tried to kite and killed him with 50 health left. Merely travelling from Astranaar to Mesina's (?) Outpost to quest was a feat in and of itself since the road was abuzz with Horde players travelling up and down.
-Astranaar was frequently camped by level 60 players in PvP/Tier 1 or Tier 2 gear, but also, there were organized parties of Horde players at level 26ish attacking Astranaar en masse just for the hell of it. Now how coold was that.
-The road from Astranaar to the junction to Felwoord was a warzone as well. There was no place safe from the Horde, and to be alive and be allowed to quest, you had to earn it by killing enemy players who tried to prevent you from doing so. This is like the definition of World PvP.
After having a blast at Ashenvale, the player had to travel to the "other end of the world" and resume questing at Wetlands, which, apart from being a great zone, had maybe the best music theme in the game ever. Then the player travelled to Arathil Basin through the Thandol Span, and thus entered another warzone.
-ARATHIL HIGHLANDS was a warzone too. The Alliance outpost at AH where ppl could enter inside AB, was under constant attack by Horde level 60 players coming from Hammerfall, and the Alliance level 60's who travelled there either to join AB or check/purchase the gear sold there were defending. The road from the Alliance outpost to the Castle was a warzone as well. I remember being killed 4 or 5 times from the Alliance outpost to the Castle sometimes by level 60's but mostly by Horde player parties around my level. Just making it to the castle alive felt like an achievement. The whole ZONE was a warzone. Vanilla WoW really put the "WAR" into "WAR-CRAFT".
Finally, the player travelled to Hilssbrad Foothills where the real fun started.
-SOUTHSHORE was camped almost every day by members of a T1/T2 Horde raid called "Nerf Us" until abt 8pm when they started raiding. Once the player landed to Southshore, all hell broke loose. There were undead Rogues in D1, T1 and T2 jumping around, dwarf hunters fighting, Shamans and Paladins fighting it out. Really epic. People had gotten used to getting out and seek World PvP just for the sheer enjoyment of it although they didn't have to, b/c THAT WAS THE WAY THEY HAD BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO PLAYING THE GAME.
It didn't have anything to do with battlegrounds being existent or not in the game. It appears that some Blizzard employees didn't play Vanilla.
Players were ACCUSTOMED to fighting it out with the other faction all over the game world, and world PvP was the norm not the exception.
Honorable Mention:
1. Stranglethorn Vale levelling: Easily the most epic levelling experience in any MMORG ever. STV was THE ESSENCE of Vanilla world PvP. Fighting was CONSTANT and everywhere, people were getting killed fighting quest mobs by the other faction all the time, and even spots like King Bangalash and Nesingwary's camp were camped by level 60's. STV was hugely immersive, had the second best music theme in the game, great design and a very interesting story. There are people today who consider STV levelling during Vanilla their most cherished experience.
2. Blackrock Mountain The only know 40 man raid world PvP spot in the game's history. You had ppl going for LBRS 5 man, UBRS 10 man, and MC 40 man.
The road was from below up to the gates was cris-crossed with skeletons. There were people who camped two specific points. One was the area just beyond the gates, and the second area was the spawn point for people who died inside one of the instances and ressurected with sickness, which was below the Horde FP in Burning Steppes.
Often, the player would enter BRM during peak time (around 7pm) only to see the place littered with skeletons and about 20-40 players having at each other all over the place.
-------------------->To sum up, World PvP continued in Vanilla, just like it had before, well after the introduction of BG's and up to the end of Vanilla. The community was used to massive world PvP on a grand scale and greatly enjoyed it, so they kept doing as long as they could.