I was WRONG about Classic (Confession time)

[Akasha64]

So I've been talking about how great Classic will be and have probably been one of the biggest fanboys around. However I recently got into the beta and I have to admit I got it completely and totally wrong. A few minutes after sitting there hitting mobs you get the sinking feeling of "I'm too old for this". Having to click each individual mob to loot them is painfully tedious. I got to level 5 on my Rogue and realised I couldn't play any more. I've realised that the quality of life improvements in the main game aren't the problem, it's just that BfA has been a lacklustre expansion and I believe this will rapidly change with the release of 8.2. I now think that 8.2 will kill Classic not the other way around.

I just wanted to apologise to all the people I attacked for doubting the success of Classic. I believe many, many people will go through the same experience as I have.

Wow that was fast. If I get tired of classic/vanilla these days, it's usually level mid 30s and mid 40s. It seems difficult to make it past that for me oftentimes. The last levels are so grindy and difficult to do, I tend to give up. Even though I'd be interested in the endgame at level 60 if I could get there. Though level 5? Come on now. That's barely having played the game.

[jakeic]

Completely opposite experience for me. I only played the stress test and loved every minute of it. I levelled 3 characters to level 10 and was in groups all the time. It was more social than retail has felt in years. There is no going back to retail for me. I'm so over daily quests, weekly rare kills and gear that means nothing.

I've tried the ptr for 8.2 and there is literally nothing about it that gives me hope. It's just more bloated systems in an attempt to fix the previous bloated system. Your rpg character practically gets a reset every patch, it's so so bad. I'm ready to get attached to a character again.

I'm in the same boat, I wasn't really excited for Classic, I was planning on playing but I wasn't going crazy about it, then I played the stress test and leveled 2 characters to 10. I'm firmly on board now.

- - - Updated - - -

Wow that was fast. If I get tired of classic/vanilla these days, it's usually level mid 30s and mid 40s. It seems difficult to make it past that for me oftentimes. The last levels are so grindy and difficult to do, I tend to give up. Even though I'd be interested in the endgame at level 60 if I could get there. Though level 5? Come on now. That's barely having played the game.

On a journey that will take hundreds of hours, he got to hour one.

[Mayia]

I'd be really surprised if sega saturn had millions of fanboys.

i know, i had to pick a stupid one as i think picking any of them is just as stupid lol tribalism is so common and leads to shit like racism but everyone just happily jumps on board.

[Bildur]

That's one of the greatest losses that came with MMOs getting hugely popular rather than maintaining a little more of a niche genre.

I definitely agree with the first part in that its one of the greatest losses to WoW.

But I don't think its about MMOs being popular. WoW became the biggest MMO pretty much since day one, during Vanilla it could take hours before you got in due to the servers not being able to keep up with the popularity.

The change from a somewhat tight community where you'd meet the same people almost every time you played to the anonymous mass we got today with cross servers, are more a result of the instant gratification and (in particular) social media culture we got since then. Or so I believe at least

[jakeic]

I definitely agree with the first part in that its one of the greatest losses to WoW.

But I don't think its about MMOs being popular. WoW became the biggest MMO pretty much since day one, during Vanilla it could take hours before you got in due to the servers not being able to keep up with the popularity.

The change from a somewhat tight community where you'd meet the same people almost every time you played to the anonymous mass we got today with cross servers, are more a result of the instant gratification and (in particular) social media culture we got since then. Or so I believe at least

The Horde vs Alliance has been garbage from the get go, no one cares about it and servers almost always have massive imbalance in numbers, which caused problems for things like PvP queues that they addressed with cross-realm queues.

[Leonora]

So I've been talking about how great Classic will be and have probably been one of the biggest fanboys around. However I recently got into the beta and I have to admit I got it completely and totally wrong. A few minutes after sitting there hitting mobs you get the sinking feeling of "I'm too old for this". Having to click each individual mob to loot them is painfully tedious. I got to level 5 on my Rogue and realised I couldn't play any more. I've realised that the quality of life improvements in the main game aren't the problem, it's just that BfA has been a lacklustre expansion and I believe this will rapidly change with the release of 8.2. I now think that 8.2 will kill Classic not the other way around.

I just wanted to apologise to all the people I attacked for doubting the success of Classic. I believe many, many people will go through the same experience as I have.

I am so completely baffled by your message. The latter is of course completely nonsense; why would others have the same problems as you?

What baffles me is that you suggest you have looked forward to Wow Classic, but your explanation then tells me you have not thought things through at all.
Wow Vanilla was a lot slower paced. A LOT. If you cant remember that, you will already loose out indeed in the first levels. No mounting, no mass looting, mob density a lot lower, respawn a lot slower, leveling took ages, and I bet I will miss LFD a lot.

What you seem to have forgotten is that all these things are part of what causes immersion. Add to this the possibility that a server community comes into existence again (which is one of the things truly lost along the way to wow 8.1) and there is a reason to give wow classic a really good try. Now, it is not given that immersion and community feeling will return when playing wow classic again. Our gained sense of game speed, the current much more criticising nature of the community, and maybe other factors, can be in the way. But the only way to really make those positive aspects count is to really give it a good try. And to me your message suggests you had a wrong expectation and you gave up too early... and you then expect others to make your mistakes and also give up.

I wont. It may fail for me anyhow, but I will give it a very, very good try.

[Akka]

I am so completely baffled by your message. The latter is of course completely nonsense; why would others have the same problems as you?

What baffles me is that you suggest you have looked forward to Wow Classic, but your explanation then tells me you have not thought things through at all.
Wow Vanilla was a lot slower paced. A LOT. If you cant remember that, you will already loose out indeed in the first levels. No mounting, no mass looting, mob density a lot lower, respawn a lot slower, leveling took ages, and I bet I will miss LFD a lot.

Well, OP is a new account that started by flaming people to just make a 180 barely one month after, and displayed a shocking ignorance of what Vanilla actually was (especially for someone supposed to have played it).

Maybe the hint is that the guy didn't played Vanilla at all to begin with and just wanted to pull up some BS with a burner account ?

[Leonora]

Well, OP is a new account that started by flaming people to just make a 180 barely one month after, and displayed a shocking ignorance of what Vanilla actually was (especially for someone supposed to have played it).

Maybe the hint is that the guy didn't played Vanilla at all to begin with and just wanted to pull up some BS with a burner account ?

Check. So the dramatic title was just indeed to cause drama. Thanks .

[Zka]

I'm watching wow classic beta videos on youtube. They are super funny, though I'm worried that about 90% of the clips are pvp. This tells me there isn't anything very interesting in the old game if you prefer pve.

[TJ]

Updated...

Some people will enjoy it.
Some will hate it.
Some will never try it.
Some have already lived it

So? I already lived Wrath yet I played on a private server extensively for about a year and enjoyed it thoroughly. Only reason I stopped playing is because the amount of players was limited and none of my friends played it. That will definitely not be the case with Classic as it will be bursting with players and bringing old ones back. Just because it's old and we've already been through it doesn't mean we wouldn't like to play it again.

Now I don't think Classic was anywhere near as good as Wrath in a number of ways, but I'm still looking forward to the experience and it will be fun to hop on every now and again and play for a few hours or so. Doesn't have to be 100% serious and racing to world firsts as some people think.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm watching wow classic beta videos on youtube. They are super funny, though I'm worried that about 90% of the clips are pvp. This tells me there isn't anything very interesting in the old game if you prefer pve.

People are level 40... you can't raid at level 40 which is the main part of PVE. Yes, you've got dungeons, but not much point at that level apart from for the odd piece of gear.

[Leonora]

I'm watching wow classic beta videos on youtube. They are super funny, though I'm worried that about 90% of the clips are pvp. This tells me there isn't anything very interesting in the old game if you prefer pve.

So "People only posting video's of X" = "only X is interesting"? You might consider forming your own opinion .

[LuminaL]

So I've been talking about how great Classic will be and have probably been one of the biggest fanboys around. However I recently got into the beta and I have to admit I got it completely and totally wrong. A few minutes after sitting there hitting mobs you get the sinking feeling of "I'm too old for this". Having to click each individual mob to loot them is painfully tedious. I got to level 5 on my Rogue and realised I couldn't play any more. I've realised that the quality of life improvements in the main game aren't the problem, it's just that BfA has been a lacklustre expansion and I believe this will rapidly change with the release of 8.2. I now think that 8.2 will kill Classic not the other way around.

I just wanted to apologise to all the people I attacked for doubting the success of Classic. I believe many, many people will go through the same experience as I have.

dont worry, you are first of many yet to come!

[Nixiuz]

I think Classic will attract a cult following level of players rather than a huge amount and have thought that since the beginning of Classic's promotion. This is because there are so many F2P rivals now that wasn't around at vanilla WoW. A cult following can still keep Classic sustainable, so Activision Blizz should go ahead and launch Classic on the announced date and time, I feel.

[Kirbstermcgee]

For starters, this is likely a troll post. But I do believe some people will feel this way. However like many have stated in the past, a lot of classics success could come from casual play over time. Meaning jumping from retail back to classic. When classis gets boring you get back retail, when retail gets boring you progress your classic toon to a point that you enjoy... until you get bored again. This playstyle will help support both versions of the game and retain subs.

[stevenho]

Kinda weird writing a review post after playing the game for 20 minutes.

[Zka]

People are level 40... you can't raid at level 40 which is the main part of PVE. Yes, you've got dungeons, but not much point at that level apart from for the odd piece of gear.

Sure. But dungeons are open: they go in and try to clear instances 7-10 levels above them. They clear instances without tanks and so on. And still, this is not considered much interesting by the video makers and the audience, only pvp.

[LichCorp]

Just enjoy Classic. It's truly a game for everyone!

[Shigma]

I still can't understand why is any of those things a problem. I mean, if you like it, go and enjoy the shit out of that. You don't and you enjoy retail? Same thing! What's the matter? You don't enjoy any variant of wow anymore? Well, good news for you, you are free to do whatever you want!

Like, really, i'll play it until i stop enjoying it. And that will be perfectly ok. Meanwhile, i hope the chaps playing retail enjoy it as much as i enjoyed classic. Its about having fun and tastes, wasn't it?

[arkanon]

At least you had the rocks to come out and say it. I suspect many of the blind defense crew will simply fade away once the game releases. I think there are some genuinely excited for classic, and those who have no interest in it at all. There is a large portion who sit in the middle, might try it, might not, but are not too worried either way. Personally i dont see any reason to be on either of the extreme camps - some people have their expectations set so extremely high, the game can never live up to their expectations.

I remember making my "i was wrong" post about Wildstar - it hurt. I was an absolute madman furiously defending my precious Wildstar. I played every beta, every early access, i played every stress test, no matter what time of day. I was on the forums every chance i got to defend those who dared say anything negative about the game - anyone made a suggestion during beta? how DARE they? attack attack attack. There was a LOT of us doing the same thing - people would offer insightful and well thought out feedback, and we would say "leave then, dont play it, this game is not for you" - unfortunately, they all listened, and we didnt. Unfortunately, the devs agreed with us. I got to max lvl pretty early, so i knew there would be a wait for others to get to max lvl so i could do the content. I remember a week into leveling - my heart sank as i realised 'this is really not what i thought it would be'. I stuck with it though, and pushed through.

Few friends got to max level, and we started running dungeons. Vent (in those days) was very quiet. We all knew it, but no one wanted to say anything. We worked on our attunements, but sadly many of them were quite broken, or, it was just very tough to find the numbers required to do them. We stuck with it, but slowly ppl said "i wont be raiding tonight, ill be back Sunday though" and they never returned. One night we all just finally snapped and instead of spending 3 hours raiding, we spent 3 hours verbally abusing the shit out of the devs and the game. Not once did we ever think "shit, maybe i was part of the issue? maybe i should have been more neutral and constructive with my feedback"

Looking back, i made an absolute fool out of myself early on, and i most definitely was part of the problem (a very small part). I watched it again right through the BfA development cycle, and i watched Blizzard use the same language, the same logic, the same marketing to convince the player-base that everything was ok. Azurite is a perfect example. As a fan of the game, i think we should want MORE from the game, we should point out the games flaws, its issues, and our personal concerns - otherwise we end up with BfA.

[arkanon]

BFA isn't a lackluster expansion. It was great. It had the same gameplay WoW had since its release. It offered new zones, new quests, new dungeons, new raids. The zones look really good. It has an interesting style, there are interesting enemies. World Quests, similar to Legion, offer enough endgame content. There are some problems, but all in all BFA has a lot of fun stuff to offer.

It's just that, and a lot of people deny this, but it is the truth: the game has been getting old and we've been playing for too long. Killing dinosaurs on Zandalar, even when they are updated dinosaur models, at the end of the day isn't different than killing dinosaurs, or any other mob in any other expansion. You can trick yourself into believing that you are doing something different, because the environment looks different, the story is different, the characters are different, the graphics look different and the numbers are different. But eventually, maybe after having done every quest in every zone and having killed every boss in every dungeon and raid a couple of times, maybe after having leveled your second, third or fourth character to max level, maybe after having seen the Alliance and the Horde side of things, eventually the feeling will set in that all of the things you're doing, you've already done thousands upon thousands of times over the last 15 years.

No expansion has reinvented the wheel and it's not possible anyway. It'll always be the same MMO, limited in what it can be, and you just played for too long, so you've reached the point where it's not a novelty anymore, and you're tired of it all. All you can do is log off until the next patch or expansion hits, let the different environments and graphics trick you again into believing you're doing something different, while you're doing the same thing you've always done, again, for another hundred hours, only to eventually log off one day again. That's just the way it is.

All completely disproved when you take into account the fact that ppl who have played since vanilla finally walked away in BfA, same with ppl who started in bc, wrath, cata, mop ......you get the idea - the burnout theory just doesnt work at all. Just explain to me why people who have played for anything from 15 years to 2 years are suddenly leaving in the same expansion, within months of each other?

You cant blame time when it is NOT a common denominator here.