Is wow an old school mmo?

[lokoma]

I consider wow to be a old school mmo this is an argument i get into a lot when talking about wow i mostly get roasted about it by everquest players
if i'm wrong feel free to set me straight.

[JemiS]

No. WoW is somewhere between mid- and new-school MMO.

UO is true old school, followed closely by EQ.

WoW came on the scene 5 years after EQ started, and was predominately developed by ex-EQ raiders who wanted to make something more streamlined and casual.

With that came broader appeal (as well as the fact that gaming as a whole was becoming more accepted), but that doesn't make it old school.You should get roasted by EQ/OU players for calling WoW old school.

WoW was a joke among most of the current MMO community when it came out for both the question mark style questing, the on-the-rails story, and the cartoonish looks. Lots of references to it as an MMO for kids.

It's why when people talk about the "glory days" of vanilla WoW, it's usually pretty obvious that WoW was their first MMO, and that's great. Your first MMO is a completely unique experience. But to players coming from a more developed MMO? Vanilla WoW players were the equivalent of "Wrath Babies" to Vanilla WoW players.

[TheCount]

Old school depends on who you ask. I was never around for UO and EQ really, WoW was the first time I had seen an mmo actually played so for me its more old school then some people might consider. Mind you I started playing this game when I was 15.

[lokoma]

No. WoW is somewhere between mid- and new-school MMO.

UO is true old school, followed closely by EQ.

WoW came on the scene 5 years after EQ started, and was predominately developed by ex-EQ raiders who wanted to make something more streamlined and casual.

With that came broader appeal (as well as the fact that gaming as a whole was becoming more accepted), but that doesn't make it old school.You should get roasted by EQ/OU players for calling WoW old school.

WoW was a joke among most of the current MMO community when it came out for both the question mark style questing, the on-the-rails story, and the cartoonish looks. Lots of references to it as an MMO for kids.

It's why when people talk about the "glory days" of vanilla WoW, it's usually pretty obvious that WoW was their first MMO, and that's great. Your first MMO is a completely unique experience. But to players coming from a more developed MMO? Vanilla WoW players were the equivalent of "Wrath Babies" to Vanilla WoW players.

just from my perspective yes thos games where more hardcore but dose that make wow any less old school.

[WintersLegion]

just from my perspective yes thos games where more hardcore but dose that make wow any less old school.

Yes it does since WoW had a different school of thought about how to make an MMO than the ones that came before.

[JemiS]

just from my perspective yes thos games where more hardcore but dose that make wow any less old school.

Let's start somewhere else. What do you think "old school" means? You seem to have a very different definition.

[cfStatic]

As it is today? No. Blizzard has been pretty consistent with modernizing it and trimming the fat.

[Saberstrike]

WoW is a generation 3 MMO.

Generation 1 were text-based 'Multi User Dungeons' that largely existed in colleges and data-computers of the 70s and 80s, some surviving to this day.

Generation 2 were games like Ultima, Everquest, Anarchy, Lineage, Camelot and Eve -- 90s and early 2000s games with 'hardcore' progression, brutal punishment for death, brutal RNG, huge time investments and little to no connection between 'plot' and 'gameplay'.

Then WoW heralded 3rd generation of MMOs, also known as 'wow clones', or 'theme park MMOs' with it's softer approach to player punishment, while also retaining many of the less obnoxious bits from from older MMOs, and adding onto them.

I'll just leave this here --> http://www.darklegacycomics.com/comics/368.jpg

[iNUKE]

It is old school but it's always been updated with the times we live in and became the biggest mmo in the world by far and most played.

In other words there's only 2 MMOs , world of Warcraft and the others

[Hotmail]

WoW is a generation 3 MMO.

Generation 1 were text-based 'Multi User Dungeons' that largely existed in colleges and data-computers of the 70s and 80s, some surviving to this day.

I came here to post that.

This is what an actual 'old school' MMO looks like.

[Razion]

In a handful of years WoW's age won't be all too uncommon. It's ahead of the curve in age -- just ahead enough to not be normal, but not too far ahead to be considered retro, yet still old enough to be unrecognized by the next generation. An unfortunate cost of riding the initial hype wave of a genre, I suppose.

[Talvindius]

No, old school would imply WoW wasn't evolving. Current WoW vs old WoW or other older MMOs like Everquest have a lot of standout differences.

WoW keeps getting with the times so it won't be "old school" until they shut the game down and everything becomes legacy.

[Schattenlied]

It's why when people talk about the "glory days" of vanilla WoW, it's usually pretty obvious that WoW was their first MMO, and that's great. Your first MMO is a completely unique experience. But to players coming from a more developed MMO? Vanilla WoW players were the equivalent of "Wrath Babies" to Vanilla WoW players.

WoW wasn't my first MMO, played EQ and UO before, and I thought WoW was the better game from the get go... There comes a point where something can be too "hardcore", vanilla was just short of that, and it did it well.

But, I'd been a big Warcraft fan since WC2 so, I'm sure that made me at least a little biased.

[Lochton]

WoW is a generation 3 MMO.

Generation 1 were text-based 'Multi User Dungeons' that largely existed in colleges and data-computers of the 70s and 80s, some surviving to this day.

Generation 2 were games like Ultima, Everquest, Anarchy, Lineage, Camelot and Eve -- 90s and early 2000s games with 'hardcore' progression, brutal punishment for death, brutal RNG, huge time investments and little to no connection between 'plot' and 'gameplay'.

Then WoW heralded 3rd generation of MMOs, also known as 'wow clones', or 'theme park MMOs' with it's softer approach to player punishment, while also retaining many of the less obnoxious bits from from older MMOs, and adding onto them.

I'll just leave this here --> http://www.darklegacycomics.com/comics/368.jpg

I have to agree with this one. Though, WoW has had a HUGE part in history of developing MMO's for the future.

And I love that you pointed out the brutal RNG from past generations, that is why I laugh when people complain about it now.

[Kathranis]

No. As another poster said, it's a "third generation" MMO, and still the template for nearly every MMO currently on the market.

You might argue that there's a fourth generation of MMOs that incorporate platformer, character action, strategy, or other elements into the genre, but generally speaking those have always been around in some form or another.

[MoanaLisa]

I don't know what 'old-school' really even means. World of Warcraft certainly redefined what an MMO was supposed to be when it first came out.

For better or for worse. Good arguments for both sides of that.

[GreenJesus]

WoW is a themepark multiplayer raid/dungeon game with some half-assed quests thrown in. There is no real word-building. We have no idea what people in the world actually live like. Its just "throw in a bunch of mobs jam-packed for max efficiency of art assets". There are barely any roleplay aspects left in class design and everything has been completely simplified to satisfy the arcade game play-style.

[Vaelorian]

As it is today? No. Blizzard has been pretty consistent with modernizing it and trimming the fat.

Trimming the fat and cutting healthy meat (in my opinion)

[Deleted]

WoW is not old school MMO and its not even old WoW. Its not even RPG anymore.

WoW is a themepark multiplayer raid/dungeon game with some half-assed quests thrown in. There is no real word-building. We have no idea what people in the world actually live like. Its just "throw in a bunch of mobs jam-packed for max efficiency of art assets". There are barely any roleplay aspects left in class design and everything has been completely simplified to satisfy the arcade game play-style.

Well said.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Mechanically in regards to combat? Old school yeah. (Hot key masher)
In the way content is presented? Definitely aged. (Theme park)
Otherwise nope. (Not a grinder without story, lost the RPG part though)