There once was a World of Warcraft.

[Deleted]

Once upon a time, before Garrisons and Dungeon Finders, there was a world of adventure, known as Azeroth.

This was a world where...



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Creating a new character was like turning a page in your life.

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Levelling up was a perilous undertaking fraught with dangers, challenges, and unforgettable stories.

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Running a dungeon was an adventure, where you met up with four other people, travelled to a distant location on your map, and spent the next couple of hours unearthing legends from the past.

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Crafting was something you'd actively commit yourself to; were you a goblin or gnomish engineer? Would you travel the globe in search of crafting secrets and reagents, or were you satisfied with creating your own basic bullets for your rifles? The answers lay in Gadgetzan!

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Epic loot was something to admire; as bold heroes returned triumphant through the gates of Orgrimmar, you watched in awe upon their Dragonstalker Spaulders, dreamingly thinking to yourself "One day...".

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PvP in the battlegrounds was a matter of life and death. The Valley had better not be overrun!

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Wandering around Mulgore in search of water wells was valid content, because everything you did on your character felt meaningful.

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Returning home to the Crossroads from a journey into Razorfen Kraul was the greatest thing in the world - you had accomplished something, and your bags were full of awesome loot. A 'Rare' weapon? Holy cow!

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Travelling across Winterspring made you feel like the loneliest person in the world, surrounded by mountains a thousand miles from civilization, where all was peaceful and quiet.

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Gaining access to the Deadmines after hours of questing through the starlit Westfall countryside, your bags full of boar livers, bandanas, metal junk, and heads of highwaymen and gnolls, was an achievement. And that was before you even assaulted the pirates on board Van Cleef's ship.

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Merely surviving the Stranglethorn Vale was hard enough - finding the mysterious and elusive pages of the Green Hills of Stranglethorn was a feat of strength.

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Acquiring a mount at level 40 was a great accomplishment; even thinking about getting an epic one at level 60 made you clamour on to your dear gold coins.

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Anyone exploring the harsh landscape of Desolace eventually had to get their hands dirty with the Gelkis or Magram.

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As a hunter, your primary task in life was to defeat Simone the Seductress, Klinfran the Crazed, Solenor the Slayer, and Artorius the Doomringer. Just acquiring the Leaf from Majordomo Execetus's chest was tricky enough!

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Everything was hunter loot.

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If you stayed up late in the Duskwood, Stiches would come marching out of the dark forever to haunt your nightmares.

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According to the World Defense Channel, everything was under attack. And it was.

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Fast travel was still travel; the Deeprun Tram, the ships, and the zeppelins still promoted player-activity and gave you a sense of movement across the world.

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Questing in a zone could easily end you up somewhere really bizarre. Remote pirate-infested islands and beaches, and hidden caves were a part of life.

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The world was gigantic and full of adventure, you could actually die during questing, it all felt meaningful and true. (Submitted by poster Taftvalue.)

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Talent specializations were a way of life. Full of silly, fun and unique ways to improve your favorite abilities and provide what your friends might need. (Submitted by poster Vaneesh.)

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Vanquishing elemental after elemental for all those motes was a way to help your guild advance; farming was a rewarding non-instance group activity. (Submitted by poster Vaneesh.)

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Players had a sense of needing each other to complete tasks. Making strong links with fellow players in a server actually impacted your progress in the game. Things like getting to the Enchanter in Uldaman, getting the armor book from Stratholme. All the way up to becoming the guy/guild who opened the gates to Ahn'Quiraj. (Submitted by poster pathetic.)

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Got anything to add yourself? I'll include good ones (and cite your name) in the OP.

[Flutterguy]

Shadow bolt. Shadow bolt. Shadow bolt. Shadow bolt. Shadow bolt. Shadow bolt. Shadow bolt...

[Deleted]

First sign of burnout - missing the "good old days" without acceptence of the fact, that the world, and games evolve and change.

Find something new to play.

[Deleted]

It's true, WoW has lost its soul.

[solarfallz]

First sign of burnout - missing the "good old days" without acceptence of the fact, that the world, and games evolve and change.

Find something new to play.

What? 99.9% of video games don't evolve or change at all.

[rda]

Lore made sense.

[Deleted]

First sign of burnout - missing the "good old days" without acceptence of the fact, that the world, and games evolve and change.

Find something new to play.

It's hardly a burnout, as I've barely played this expansion. When I do, it's just the daily Garrison-content.

WoW is a ship headed in the wrong direction, and only we, the fans, can make Blizzard change its course.

[Nawdle]

Wow, a few things there I'd completely forgotten about. Little nostalgia, but end of the day what worked then wouldn't work now etc

[Tommi]

New games always have that special feeling. After you spend 5/8/10 years playing the same game, the newness goes away. Happens with every game after spending so long in it. I'd love to go back to not knowing much about WoW, but right now, I'm piss bored in it.

[PewpewNL]

This was a world where... "no one knew where Mankrik's wife was"

[Mavecryst]

After the first video, I was expecting each line to have a related pic attached. I am disappoint

[Deleted]

New games always have that special feeling. After you spend 5/8/10 years playing the same game, the newness goes away. Happens with every game after spending so long in it. I'd love to go back to not knowing much about WoW, but right now, I'm piss bored in it.

I agree completely.

The problem, as I see it, is that new experiences like those described in the OP could (and should) be made. Instead, all new expansions bring is streamlined, gated, instanced content. I'm not saying it's bad content, but it doesn't bring the "World" as it should.

[Tyrgannus]

What? 99.9% of video games don't evolve or change at all.

This is one of the reasons I love old games. Dig Dug will always be Dig Dug. Symphony of the Night will always be Symphony of the Night

[Goradan]

It's true, WoW has lost its soul.

True that. I wish to see the wow that had it all. Cataclysm had a meaning to it.

[Deleted]

After the first video, I was expecting each line to have a related pic attached. I am disappoint

A picture says a thousand words. Would it be okay if each sentence consisted of a thousand words instead?

[Pull My Finger]

I don't know ... these nostalgic sulking seizures are so pathetic.

[Deleted]

New games always have that special feeling. After you spend 5/8/10 years playing the same game, the newness goes away. Happens with every game after spending so long in it. I'd love to go back to not knowing much about WoW, but right now, I'm piss bored in it.

True but Blizzard sure helped diluting the feelings.

*Cross realm LFR and LFD killed server community feeling.
*Cross realm bgs and arenas did the same.
*Epics sold in the fucking AH for gold. Epics used mean something. Nowadays you can get epics from regular mobs and for just sitting in your garrison.
*Armory ruined the pug community. Now it's link achiev and have 680+ to go anywhere, even to do content that is meant for 640 ilevel.

[Deleted]

There once was a World of Warcraft that could be considered an rpg. The world was gigantic and full of adventure, you could actually die during questing, it all felt meaningful and true. Now it's all watered down and lacks a soul.

[Tommi]

I agree completely.

The problem, as I see it, is that new experiences like those described in the OP could (and should) be made. Instead, all new expansions bring is streamlined, gated, instanced content. I'm not saying it's bad content, but it doesn't bring the "World" as it should.

How do you make that content though? There are limitations as to what can be done. People hated dailies, so Blizz got rid of them and now people bitch about the Apexis grinds of killing thousands of mobs.

The problem isn't the content, it's the people. Once you have seen most things, there is very little to make you go "Holy shit, haven't seen THAT happen before!"

[Deleted]

people didn't hate dailies, people hated being forced to do them for gear upgrades

blizzard's fantastic solution: delete dailies from the game