Will WoW ever be what it once was?

[Duronos]

Except it's not my opinion that, at this moment, there are more people playing the game than in Classic, so it's false to try to argue that Classic was better based on it's popularity.

Once subs drop below 7.5 million, it will be correct to say "Warcraft was more popular in Classic than it is now." However, his statement, made at the current time, will never be "more valid," because it was a false statement.

The argument over opinions and WoW's quality had nothing to do with that statement, nor did my personal opinion. It was simply a correction of fact, so don't get smug.

Daetur is correct, I was kind of a bit off. His statement is factual as of current.

[Daetur]

Daetur is correct, I was kind of a bit off. His statement is factual as of current.

It is true that the sub numbers are fairly close and that, assuming a continuation of the downward trend, we'll probably drop below the maximum number of subs we had in Classic within a few fiscal quarters.

However, the exact reason for that decline is a topic of hot debate with no single right side or correct answer.

[Orangetai420]

WoW has in fact gotten better the problem is people looking at older expansions with nostalgia and saying that they were so much better when content wise they weren't. It was a brand new game and people got very immersed in it but after 10 years people are getting burned out and want something new and WoW can't provide because it's too outdated.

Yea buddy, that's a fact all right.

[Krekko]

Until they release a Sequel (or prequel) to the game, it will never be "what it once was".


The game is old, it's as simple as that, and no matter what you do. It's like a car, you can't bring back that "new car smell". You can replace everything inside, update it, upgrade it, but at the end of the day, at the core of it it's still an old car.

The game won't ever have a new fresh feel, no matter what they do. Any major upgrades or changes held within this line of games will feel like just a drastic change that people don't like. Nostalgia does one helluva thing on people. Even if the game is getting better, if they change anything that further removes it from everyones respective "golden age" they want less and less to do with it. Even if they go ahead and revert to the certain aspects of one's "Golden age" it will be met with "see, you admit, you failed" or people will react more likely with "it's just not the same it once was", then you'll have the cold hard facts, the game wasn't as good or as functional as people remember it. Sure you'll get a nostalgia kick out of it, but then you start to realize WHY they changed things in the first place.

Honestly this is something that has been beaten to death, and back again.

I've played since release, and I'll have to say while I don't agree with every change they've made, In the end I'm glad as hell.

I remember being upset and bummed when they announced they were ridding of 40 man raids, I was furious. Then when I did my first 25 man raid (Gruul's) you IMMEDIATELY realized WHY they chose 25 over 40. It's just one example, but it seriously was for the better. There are plenty of changes, like this, which people don't like, or agree with but when you actually break it down it was the best choice.

[The Madgod]

Well MisterMadgod, as much as you may say it's up to the community, the Devs shape a lot of the game works community wise.

And ultimately the community has shaped the game to be like it is now. That's why we have these features; because they were desired.

For the community to regenerate it needs to actually WANT to be social and actively try to be social, not just complain about how the game isn't social.

Actions speak louder than words and the actions of the community have shown that the "anti-social" things Blizzard implemented are popular.

[Gestopft]

WoW will never be brand new again. That's the hardest nostalgia to overcome.

[Seriss]

I can totally see how it was fun to run, but I recall people afking on FPs before flyers in Azeroth.

I used to have an addon that calculated the flight time. So I knew I had about 12 minutes afk time when flying from x to y, and on TS, we'd say "I'll be flight-afk for x minutes now. Brb."

[Venziir]

Is the golden age of WoW truly gone? Days that are never coming back?

What do you guys think?

I think that you are nostalgic and silly.

[mizeri]

no wow will never be what it once was, don't think wow players wants to go back to waiting months to get gear and gold

[Deleted]

WoW has in fact gotten better the problem is people looking at older expansions with nostalgia and saying that they were so much better when content wise they weren't. It was a brand new game and people got very immersed in it but after 10 years people are getting burned out and want something new and WoW can't provide because it's too outdated.

WoW has gotten "better" like an old boat being patched over and over. You can paint it, you can put brand new sails on it and you can even order the crew to wear clean clothes but ultimately and boat is old and could sink at anytime.

Yes, they're adding features but the core of the game is flawed and old.

Imo, wow keeps going because there are no alternatives on the market right now that aren't total garbage. We will see how things will be with TESO and Wildstar out.

[Torbjorn]

Happy player from the September of 2006. The game is getting bigger and better everyday. Mists of Pandaria is my favourite expansion so far. I even like Cataclysm so, imagine...

[Trakanonn]

WoW will lose a million people this quarter due to patch 5.3.

[xixixviixiiii]

Prob not. World of homogenized classes, broken PvP, dailies, lame faceroll raiding (LFR), pokemon and pandas is here to stay.

[Drithien]

WoW has in fact gotten better the problem is people looking at older expansions with nostalgia and saying that they were so much better when content wise they weren't. It was a brand new game and people got very immersed in it but after 10 years people are getting burned out and want something new and WoW can't provide because it's too outdated.

You are so wrong. Just so utterly wrong. And for a very simple reason: you don't get to speak for all players.

"Brand new game, nostalgia, 10 years, burnt out", etc, may be true for you but not everyone. Not even most by the looks of things.

I personally don't care much about the lack of evolution in the game's graphics or sound. Neither do I mind the mechanics. But I do miss the content of classic. The game has gotten better with time, in some aspects. But not all. And in some it actually got worse.

Classic had multiple main campaigns, expansions have only two. Classic had lots of class quests, expansions had maybe one here or there. Classic had tenths of zones, expansions had six-to-eight. Classic had talent trees and hybrid builds, Mists has renamed glyphs to talents, and hybrid builds are a forbidden word. Classic had quirky factions to gain reputation with in quirky ways, expansions have boringly streamlined reputation grinds. Classic had some exciting secrets, expansions have next to nothing. Classic had truly long questlines that would take the player around the world, expansions but only a few, rarely. Classic had the feeling of taking the player on an adventure, expansions take the player by the hand to give him a tour of the place. Classic had some massive group-dungeons, expansions had some small things that posed as group-dungeons.

Neither approach is necessarily wrong, but you don't get to tell people what is best for them. If an upcoming expansion gave me something like six different main campaigns, different approaches to questing depending on your class and specialisation, twenty plus new zones to quest in, more involving exploration and crafting, personal choices, truly challenging solo contet while levelling, massive group-dungeons (Blackrock Depths-massive) with hard-as-nails challenges, and some good stories, they could keep their balance, frequently updated content policies, streamlining, and all those other "quality of life improvements". I wouldn't care. I would be happily adventuring in a huge coherent world once more. And let the "suckers" that want to gather points do so all they want.

[artem123]

Prob not. World of homogenized classes, broken PvP, dailies, lame faceroll raiding (LFR), pokemon and pandas is here to stay.

lfr isnt raiding, lets be honest here.
its something for worse players to do, to say they 'cleared' content'

their's still heroic raiding. Also panda's and pet battles dont matter at all to contribute to what wow was. And pvp was and will always be broken
anyway for the overall topic probably not, esp community wise.

[Deleted]

Happy player from the September of 2006. The game is getting bigger and better everyday. Mists of Pandaria is my favourite expansion so far. I even like Cataclysm so, imagine...

Yeah, the swtor forums invented a word for such people. Can't say the Blizzard version as I will get infracted.

[Tsuna]

Is the golden age of WoW truly gone? Days that are never coming back?

What do you guys think?

No. No. I think that WoW has improved in some ways, gotten far worse in others, and can still be improved further. What stinks is the community, a poisoned mass of vile and hostile cretins screaming for easy loot and to get all the content and then complaining when the "mystique" of the game is gone.

[Nemah]

You can't go home again.

Yep. And hey look, another well-thought out, non-subjective thread that has never been asked before.

[Deleted]

The argument over opinions and WoW's quality had nothing to do with that statement, nor did my personal opinion. It was simply a correction of fact, so don't get smug.

Yea apologies for the dig, it was only indirectly targeted at you.

Anyway, gear at least is so much better nowadays.
What it has lost in stats and diversity it has gained in iLvl denominations.

In fact if the trend continues you can make the argument that gear will soon only have ONE STAT: ItemLevel.
Gone are the days of bad itemization and spirit or agility on plate, we now have:
LFR, Normal, Elite, Heroic, Heroic Elite, Thunderforged, Heroic Thunderforged, Sha-touched, Reborn, no idea what the 516 from hc Scenarios are called, and Upgraded versions of the above that all offer such a pleasing variety of that one all important stat: ITEMLEVEL.
They also added another strategic element to running LFR for the discerning player with "bad roll protection".
Cue players on a streak of bad luck trying to snipe specific bosses that hold their upgrades instead of "wasting" their increased chance on wing# that I need nothing from

That's progress right there!
I think Blizzard is quickly running out of carrots tbh.

[ringpriest]

WoW has gotten "better" like an old boat being patched over and over. You can paint it, you can put brand new sails on it and you can even order the crew to wear clean clothes but ultimately and boat is old and could sink at anytime.

Yes, they're adding features but the core of the game is flawed and old.

Imo, wow keeps going because there are no alternatives on the market right now that aren't total garbage. We will see how things will be with TESO and Wildstar out.

To continue your analogy: WoW is like a sailing cruiser that was converted to a motor yacht because it wasn't fast enough. Now it's a crappy powerboat, and you can't go sailing on it either because the mast was removed during the conversion.