I played WoW from classic to 2010 ... what has changed?

[Demithio]

Everything has changed. Its not even remotely anything like what you played in vanilla/TBC/wrath. As the above poster said, they could literally sell it under a different name. Sad really, WoW used to be such a masterpiece of intrigue and adventure, and such an amazing value. Now, you couldn't pay me to play it. To its credit, it is better from a technical aspect, as in, it looks and runs better, and I imagine less bugs etc. But as far as game design / game play goes, its a sad, sad mess.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Find your skill level and find a guild where that is. Don't try to find some high end guild because at one time you were that. Just realize you are someone that does x,y,z at difficulty level w and mingle. If it grows beyond that cool. If not cool. Biggest mistake I see people make in this game is just trying to push into hire tiered content because they want rewards and then they end up just getting shit on.

[Trend]

MMO-C generally presents the most pessimistic negative viewpoints. There is a sub-community here that seems to have no other purpose than to talk about how terrible WoW is and how great it use to be. Many of their arguments are quite strange to me. In any case ...

The community has changed in terms of there really not being server communities any more. Whoever you see out in the open world may very well be someone you have never seen before and will never see again. The people are the same range of quality but because of the transience there is less accountability keeping morons in check. However, I've been playing since early closed beta and my best community experiences have always been with guilds and specific groups of friends so that aspect really hasn't changed.

Raiding is now tiered and has a lot more flexibility. Formerly, if you wanted to raid at even a basic level, you were committing to a lot of time, especially considering all the farming that had to be done for raid prep. There are also many more raid groups (esp if you're willing to transfer) so it is much easier to find a match with goals, commitment expectations and raid times. Now you actually can raid without committing your whole life to WoW. As for the raids themselves, I find them more interesting. It is still the same concept: things happen at particular times and you have to balance doing damage and surviving. However, I think the mechanics are far more interesting than they were in the earlier days of the game.

I have always enjoyed the game (I sat out WoD for personal reasons), but I personally would not have time to play the game now if it still had all the same tediums and time sinks. Personally I like the changes that allow me to continue to raid and pvp without having to give up other aspects of my existence.

[Dartz1979]

Can't forget how sexy looking Jaina is and how sexy sylvanas is as a warchief

[Alvito]

Thank you for the helpful thoughts.

Yes I could read up and I have looked up changes which gives me a list of expansions and instances but doesn't tell me about the essence of the game and community change. I played for a long time and was a little too obsessed, any return would be casual as Iwouldnt have the time or inclination to play every night (my life is a lot healthier than it was when I was hardcore raiding).

I don't know where the urge to play has come from.

The community is based server to server and by faction. The time you play and the content you do is a major factor on it also. While many things have changed over and over there is no way to know what effects you or what you would notice. What you play and how you play are both big parts of that. Really you are either going to need to jump in and play and check things out or ignore the urge to llay again.

- - - Updated - - -

Can't forget how sexy looking Jaina is and how sexy sylvanas is as a warchief

Jaina is much better looking when she is in her true form as Varimathras.

[zlygork]

you can always use your trial account, I don't remember if it was already the case in cata but now whenever you are out of subscription time, you can play any character that is at or below lvl 20 for as long as you want. It should give you a general sense of the big changes to the community and core mechanics. Of course, it won't give you much of an idea about what raiding will be like, but what can you do?

[ali725]

As for a casual the game is funner tbh easier to get into raids without a guild(might not down everything) since the new looking for group tool...you can still raid hard but you would need a guild...pvp sucks for what im told even though i had fun with it for a little.

Not sure if they had difficulties back then atleast to this standard..theres flex raids that you can be in a raid from 10man-30 man but for highest difficulty which is called mythic its 20 man only..

PvP has prestige levels..

They took away weapons as drops for this expansion you get the same wep all expansion and you level it up and you get new appearances and talents and stuff...

Gold is really inflated as in there is a lot of gold everywhere...

[grondik]

[tennesine]

Most of the community is trash now. You do find good people and I enjoy my guild and what not. But occasionally you get that trihard idiot who thinks he's the greatest the game has ever seen. The worst people generally tend to come from the Illidan server (NA).

[Rukario]

Lava Burst animation got worse!

[mingarrubia]

I think the game I enjoyed probably doesn't exist anymore.

And you're absolutely right, sadly.

[Palapop]

Carine Bloodhoof is dead.

[Hablelol]

From someone who played up until the start of MoP then stopped til the start of Legion I can say the game is VERY different. I went from hardcore raiding to full on casual and I have much more to do now than I would have back then. My gear is relatively comparable to people who are mid-level mythic raiding due to M+ and the titanforging system and (IMO) the skill gap is as high for MOST classes as it's ever been so you can pretty easily make up for ~20 ilvls by just being a better player (in most cases), now this doesn't JUST mean you can outDPS people, this means healers and tanks can do things at Ilvls well below what's generally accepted, however a group of undergeared players will have trouble.

Wall of text. TL;DR. As a casual this Xpac is great, as long as you don't get wrapped up too deep into feeling like you have to farm AP/higher TF procs etc.

[Deleted]

I started WoW back in 2006 and with the odd few month break played it through to the launch of Cataclysm.

I only ever played a warlock at level cap (although had a paladin, druid and mage alts). I was reasonably successful with end game raiding (at one point the guild I was in was the top guild on my server and not far behind the guilds getting world firsts). I completed most of the classic raids and then in the expansions completed Sunwell and Litch King but grew bored and found life had changed leaving me far less time for gaming so while I brought Cataclysm and levelled to 85 I never set foot in a raid and quit the game as soon as I reached the level cap.

I found the game had changed a lot and there was far less community and everything seemed dumbed down - plus if I did raid in pick up groups people were either total jerks flaming other people, would have tantrums and sulk over loot or just be so inept it was as if they were semi afk - generally it felt like I was playing with pre-schoolers. Plus I kind of missed things like attunements, getting to know people on ventrillo, farming for resistance gear - I liked the journey to raiding as much as the raids themselves.

I've been toying with the idea of playing casually again but I think the game I enjoyed probably doesn't exist anymore.

What is the community like for new players (I'd consider myself new as it's been seven years)? What has changed in the last seven years? How are warlocks as a class now (I always preferred affliction or destro and rarely played demo)?

All those things about the community that you say you didn't like are still there and far worse.

[Deleted]

I have played since the beginning, didnt play pandaria though. I enjoy the game very much these days. I think bosses are fun in raids and mythic+ dungeons are awesome.

I found myself a really nice all danish guild which raid casual (3-5) bosses in mythic every raid and we have shitloads of fun. Imo the game is still good and if u find a good guild with nice people thats all the community u need.

[Demithio]

Basically, if youre looking for a vanilla/TBC/wrath like experience, you wont find it with current WoW. However, to be fair, try it. If you're looking for a casual, much more simplified (read: watered down), experienced then it might be ok for you. The 'feel' of the old game is long gone with WoW, but you may find current somewhat entertaining for perhaps a brief period. Just depends on your expectations I suppose. I every once in a while buy a month for the hell of it, but then I'm quickly reminded why I stopped playing in the first place. You may however, have a different experience.