Vanilla WoW is not About raids

[Fallen Angel]

This is mostly just my opinion, so take it or leave it.

Specs being nonviable I guess I could give you, but classes weren't at least. I can't think of any class that saw zero use in the game. Weapons skills were interesting for me, even on caster classes. It gave a sense of "I'm some new adventurer in this strange world. I've never even held a sword, so maybe I should practice so I'm really good at it." At least for me, a lot of the inconvenience made the game fun and interesting. Running back after a wipe meant time to discuss what went wrong with a pull/boss and what to do differently next time. I learned a lot, like the patrols after you cleared the foundry in Deadmines sneaking up on you. Spamming trade for a group and running there usually meant the group would stick together because the time commitment to do a dungeon was pretty high, and getting someone to replace a player was a task in itself. I don't really remember anyone leaving my groups back then with the exception of BRD since it was fucking huge. I don't think I ever killed the final boss. Just ran it like mad to the Grim Guzzler and to get my MC attunement done.

Attunements totally added another feeling to the world. "I have to do all this stuff to even go into this raid? It must be pretty awesome/dangerous in there!" I loved attunements even in TBC. Getting my Kara key felt like such an accomplishment. It gave the raid itself for depth because of the tasks I had to complete to get there.

Overall, the experience was much more enjoyable compared to current retail. I still enjoyed raiding with my mythic group, but outside of that there wasn't really anything for me. I didn't really know anyone outside of my guild, and never really had a reason to. I knew quite a few people on my old vanilla realms from dungeon running with them, or pvp, or just some nice guy offering a carry through SM-Armory.

[Koward]

Cleaning the high end tier of AQ40 and Naxx was done by the "1%" maybe, but everyone was raiding MC and BWL

I think this started from the fact that less than 1% killed 1 boss in Naxx and only 23 guilds cleared Naxx completely (which is far less than 1% of the playerbase at the time), and some extrapolated to "only 1% was raiding". But I don't think it's very far from the truth if you take into account all the <60. Comparing only the lvl 60 pop would be more interesting.

[Deleted]

I think this started from the fact that less than 1% killed 1 boss in Naxx and only 23 guilds cleared Naxx completely (which is far less than 1% of the playerbase at the time), and some extrapolated to "only 1% was raiding". But I don't think it's very far from the truth if you take into account all the <60. Comparing only the lvl 60 pop would be more interesting.

That is true for Naxx but not for the rest of the raid content (we were the only ones to down Saphi before BC patch on my crappy server for example, and we actually came back the next week and finish the job with KT, I was already 70 lulz)

But like I've already said, even of the most casual servers in the most casual raiding guilds, people raided a lot, servers were full of people with T1, T2, "the wall of hardcore" begun at Huhuran / Twin Emperors

[Deleted]

I see people already asking about raids and dificulties, calm down people.
I never played vanilla but I played RO (Ragnarok Online) when it came up, I had tons of fun just playing the world and some dungeons, a very good time, the point is that I can understand the sentiment of some of the players and streamers that push for classic server, not caring wheter you're raiding or not, even just leveling and doing low level dungeons feel as good, its an adventure and I think this is the case because the content is non trivial, it matters.

For vanilla, for me, the leveling felt like such a long process that alts weren't something I would easily swap between as I do now. The only things available endgame were pvp and raiding.

I dislike pvp mostly so it wasn't something I could do, and I wasn't good enough or committed enough to raid, and they were the only things to do bar retreading 2-3 dungeons at or near max level.

Later on they add tier 0.5 I think it was that gave me something to work towards.

It's worth asking about raids now because if we get pure vanilla, I think it's all most will have to play for.

[Enkrypt]

All discussions about classic server here are pointless. We are on a PVE forum and people don't get that 80% of the player who wants vanilla wants it for the pvp, class design and world pvp. Not farming mc and bwl for years ..

We're on a "PVE forum"? I wasn't aware of that. 80% of players who want Vanilla wants it for PvP and class design? I think you need to cite that information, or it's just another pointless discussion, as you said.

I think to attempt to quantify why millions of consumers want a certain product is a fool's endeavor. Why do people insist on speculating the intent of millions of individuals and their desires and motivations? What do you get out of just making numbers up?

I, on the other hand, want it strictly for the chance to progress into the real Naxxramas, not PvP, class design, or really anything else.

[Projectmars]

And this is why I want to return to 2004 in terms of gaming. I'm so damn tired of this "competitive scene" it's unbelievable. When I first subscribed for WoW, I subscribed for an MMORPG not an epeen vacuum pump, I have no interest in "competing" in something while playing MMORPG.

It's kinda a sign of the times: esports and competitive gaming have been growing more and more popular with people in general. Overall more people are watching esports tournaments on twitch and joining in. Thus the gaming companies, chasing profits, have been moving in that direction since it leads to more sales, a consistent fanbase, and free publicity from the events. It's unlikely to change much from this trajectory barring some event to force it off this path due to the inertia of it all: More and more people are going to be interested in watching or playing competitive gaming so gaming companies will likely continue catering to them.

besides, it's much better than getting carried through content.

[Flarelaine]

Such a cute post. Yes there were servers running classic wow... classic meaning Vanilla, BC and Wrath.. ALL of which help subscribers and NEVER dropped but increased the entire time. Unlike every single expansion since... Especially the last two which have been monumental failures at maintaining subs. (Which is why they are even entertaining Classic WoW to begin with)

Would you mind disclosing your sources for the bolded statement? Preferably by linking them, thank you very much.