Classic vs. Retail - The Cars analogy

[Zaqwert]

My guild chat was recently discussing classic vs. retail (this was in classic btw) and the guild has a big mix of players who played for various times throughout WoW's history, including those who still play retail.

One guy in chat made a simple statement about retail that caught my eye: "They streamlined the soul out of the game."

That one statement jumped out at me and out of nowhere made me remember the Pixar movie Cars. The entire movie involves this hip racecar guy getting trapped in this really small rural town and they explain the history of the town and one of the characters tells a story about how the country road that went through the town died when they built a nearby highway.

And it sort of reminded me of the lifestyle of WoW.

Before mega-highways if you traveled cross country people often traveled a lot of backroads, a lot of small country roads. These roads were often quirky. They weren't uniform, they were sometimes narrow, bumpy, etc. They were also not laid out very efficiently. You drove a ton of extra miles on your journey. But, the roads took you to a lot of interesting places. Small little rural towns where you met people you otherwise would have never met, you got to see amazing scenery you otherwise wouldn't, etc. The journey was more interesting. This in a nutshell is Classic WoW.



Modern day retail WoW is a lot more like an interstate highway. Extremely uniform design, usually very well maintained, extreme efficiency in the layout of the system, designed to get you from point A to point B as fast as possible. You save the most time and gas this way. Sounds great, but as someone who has driven a ton on highways, what you gain in "efficiency" you pay for in monotony. The "journey" is completely irrelevant in this system. Only getting you transported to the destination as reliably and efficiently as possible. This is Retail WoW in a nutshell.



I think BOTH systems have their obvious pros and I'm glad now people have the option to choose which they prefer.

[toffmcsoft]

Outstanding analogy.

Very easy to see analogy's in retail to the highway:
- EZPASS, Pay to Win
- POV Lane, Instant queues
- More Accidents, Shitty class design
- More Pot Holes, band-aids & hotfixes 24/7
- Higher Speeds, instant gratification
- Tons of Car Manufactures, Free loot

Look how beautify the old road is, this is what blizzard needs to get back to.
A true RPGMMO that takes TIME. Raiders in Classic will be hitting MC for an entire year. Unlike retail where the raid tier ends within 1 month and you're fully geared.

[Gdcotton]

Outstanding analogy.

Very easy to see analogy's in retail to the highway:
- EZPASS, Pay to Win
- POV Lane, Instant queues
- More Accidents, Shitty class design
- More Pot Holes, band-aids & hotfixes 24/7
- Higher Speeds, instant gratification
- Tons of Car Manufactures, Free loot

Look how beautify the old road is, this is what blizzard needs to get back to.
A true RPGMMO that takes TIME. Raiders in Classic will be hitting MC for an entire year. Unlike retail where the raid tier ends within 1 month and you're fully geared.

I mean you also clear the hardest content possible within a week of hitting 60, as will be the case everytime a patch comes out with the next raid with the exception of Naxx.

[Drutt]

That's actually a really nice analogy. There's nothing inherently wrong with preferring either, but each has its own pros and cons.

It works.

[FelPlague]

Outstanding analogy.

Very easy to see analogy's in retail to the highway:
- EZPASS, Pay to Win
- POV Lane, Instant queues
- More Accidents, Shitty class design
- More Pot Holes, band-aids & hotfixes 24/7
- Higher Speeds, instant gratification
- Tons of Car Manufactures, Free loot

Look how beautify the old road is, this is what blizzard needs to get back to.
A true RPGMMO that takes TIME. Raiders in Classic will be hitting MC for an entire year. Unlike retail where the raid tier ends within 1 month and you're fully geared.

yeah no 100% not true at all. idk where you live, but highways are much better kept up with then old random off roads... there is 100 times more potholes on normal roads then highways, what fucking world do you live in? a pothole on normal offroads is "fine" but a pothole on a highway would kill people every single day, highways are kept WAY WAY WAY better then normal roads, normal roads are the ones that are shitty design, and have more band aid fixes and pot holes.

he literally says in his original post that highways are much more well kept then offroads, and you flip that around to try and shit on retail, even though it doesent make sense?


Super common road in my town, look at all those shitty patch jobs, this is main town roads, and this is the good stuff, the road right outside my driveway literally has a giant pothole they just shoved a giant rock in. i should go take a picture of it and post it here... the google drive car hasnt been here recently enough.

lets loo at my local highway

man yeah this is so much worse, so full of potholes and being hotfixed 24/7 to fix all these massive issues and shitty designs
http://freakonomics.com/2010/01/29/t...-of-road-fear/

also highways are considerably safer then normal roads funnily enough. a good reason is for example on my picture and ops picture there is barricades between oncoming cars, so a swerve will not lead to hitting oncoming traffic, which at even slow speeds can be fatal

also wtf is "tons of car manufactures, free loot" mean? there has always been tons of car manufactures... also cars arnt free

literally point number 3 and 4 of your things go COMPLETLY against

-amazing analogy

and their analogy, they specificly say in theirs that classic is nice, it has its little bumps and isnt well kept and will be dangerous, but its worth it, but you change that right over to "nah highways are like that, highways are known for being bumpy and filled with potholes and are super dangerous"

[Lochton]

Outstanding analogy.

Very easy to see analogy's in retail to the highway:
- EZPASS, Pay to Win
- POV Lane, Instant queues
- More Accidents, Shitty class design
- More Pot Holes, band-aids & hotfixes 24/7
- Higher Speeds, instant gratification
- Tons of Car Manufactures, Free loot

Look how beautify the old road is, this is what blizzard needs to get back to.
A true RPGMMO that takes TIME. Raiders in Classic will be hitting MC for an entire year. Unlike retail where the raid tier ends within 1 month and you're fully geared.

Commonly, the old roads tends to have a high accident rate and to be worse kept than a highway.

[Popastique]

Nice analogy, people can enjoy both versions of WoW.

P.S. And do not feed toffmcsoft, i mean Mr. Troll that Hates Retail.

[bloodwulf]

Commonly, the old roads tends to have a high accident rate and to be worse kept than a highway.

Its @toffmcsoft, he literally trolls the forums looking for an opportunity to shit on Retail. This dude does not have a conversation without saying something negative about Retail.

As for OP, i feel your analogy is okay, but it seems like you feel that the only good option is old country roads, while highways can take you to interesting places as well. Travel any of the main artery roads in the US and it will not take long to find an interesting exit, and just like that, retail has a ton of good content that the highway takes you to faster. Just because someone people would rather spend more time at the destination, then on the road, doesn't mean we are wrong.

[FelPlague]

Its @toffmcsoft, he literally trolls the forums looking for an opportunity to shit on Retail. This dude does not have a conversation without saying something negative about Retail.

As for OP, i feel your analogy is okay, but it seems like you feel that the only good option is old country roads, while highways can take you to interesting places as well. Travel any of the main artery roads in the US and it will not take long to find an interesting exit, and just like that, retail has a ton of good content that the highway takes you to faster. Just because someone people would rather spend more time at the destination, then on the road, doesn't mean we are wrong.

dude my parents divorced when i was young, my dad moved to a city 2 hours away so every weekend i went back and forth.
i still to this day remember the big ol trex that was like 4 stories tall, it was SUPER COOL and was always there infront of this store every time i went by on the highway, this was a highway, not some back little road. i also remember seeing the super cool golf cart course right infront were we had the half way exchange point. it had a big volcano, some dinos, and a giant shark.

i did play a fuck load of pokemon saphire, and then pokemon pearl during those car rides so im sure there is many things i missed aswell, but i mean dinos were cool, i couldnt miss those. highways are still filled with tons of amazing things to see and enjoy, just yes, it travels by faster, but sometimes that is a good thing, because after the hundredth weekend, i stopped looking out the window at the dinos, and just kept my face to my nintendo DS. and if i was forced to just keep doing short old town roads, the same old town road... then yeah... that would be painful.

[Jotaux]

One of the largest differences I see between Vanilla - Wotlk and BFA is patch days. In the past it was one day of being unplayable then minor bugs till the next patch. Now its playable on release but large bugs that never go away.

[bloodwulf]

dude my parents divorced when i was young, my dad moved to a city 2 hours away so every weekend i went back and forth.
i still to this day remember the big ol trex that was like 4 stories tall, it was SUPER COOL and was always there infront of this store every time i went by on the highway, this was a highway, not some back little road. i also remember seeing the super cool golf cart course right infront were we had the half way exchange point. it had a big volcano, some dinos, and a giant shark.

i did play a fuck load of pokemon saphire, and then pokemon pearl during those car rides so im sure there is many things i missed aswell, but i mean dinos were cool, i couldnt miss those. highways are still filled with tons of amazing things to see and enjoy, just yes, it travels by faster, but sometimes that is a good thing, because after the hundredth weekend, i stopped looking out the window at the dinos, and just kept my face to my nintendo DS. and if i was forced to just keep doing short old town roads, the same old town road... then yeah... that would be painful.

That reminds of somewhere near Slaughterville Oklahoma, there used to be (its been years, it might still be there), a Spider-Bug, literally a Volkswagen beetle painted black and jacked up on 8 big ass metal legs. Things like that are things i will never forget, and honestly every era of WOW has moments like that for me. Vanilla was obtaining Rhok'delar, to BFA myself, my wife, and 3 friends holding our own in Warmode against 11 Horde for nearly an hour. Fun is what you make of it, everyone will have different desires, but if you try you can find something interesting in WOW, just like highways and roads.

[Mad_Murdock]

Commonly, the old roads tends to have a high accident rate and to be worse kept than a highway.

Having grown up in the farm lands with windy, curvy, roads with loose gravel or dirt for a shoulder (if there was a shoulder). Dogs, cats, cows, deer, possum and other wildlife hanging out in the roads, along with various 10-20 mph tractors, and again fairly curvy roads making it difficult to safely pass. I would have to agree

Sure one can take the idyllic beautiful country road where you are the only person on it and compare it to the 405 in LA and say "see how much better it is". but that would be a disservice. Try taking that same country road and cover it with snow and ice and see how long it takes to get plowed and salted vs a interstate\highway

Country roads are great if you're out for a drive to just relax and enjoy things. Highways are awesome if you need to get to a place, so you can enjoy the thing at that place longer.

[Super Black Man of Steal]

It's a wonderful analogy, and that probably isn't coincidental.

Probably at the core of both lies the idea of efficiency versus immersion.

[FelPlague]

That reminds of somewhere near Slaughterville Oklahoma, there used to be (its been years, it might still be there), a Spider-Bug, literally a Volkswagen beetle painted black and jacked up on 8 big ass metal legs. Things like that are things i will never forget, and honestly every era of WOW has moments like that for me. Vanilla was obtaining Rhok'delar, to BFA myself, my wife, and 3 friends holding our own in Warmode against 11 Horde for nearly an hour. Fun is what you make of it, everyone will have different desires, but if you try you can find something interesting in WOW, just like highways and roads.

awww the trex is gone they replaced it with a smaller oner you can touch its face... lame

was abit smaller then this one in Alberta...

[arkanon]

Why are some Classic players so completely obsessed with Retail in almost every way? Its such a strange thing.

[Super Black Man of Steal]

Why are some Classic players so completely obsessed with Retail in almost every way? Its such a strange thing.

Why are you so obsessed with classic players?

[shadowmatrix]

One of the largest differences I see between Vanilla - Wotlk and BFA is patch days. In the past it was one day of being unplayable then minor bugs till the next patch. Now its playable on release but large bugs that never go away.

So no change then or do you consider the C'thun doorway of death to be a minor bug.

[arkanon]

Why are you so obsessed with classic players?

What on earth are you talking about? Is that an attempt at an insult? What made you think that was a clever thing to say?

If you come to the classic forums any day, even though they only have 50% or less of the #viewing compared to retail, you will see endless threads about retail. Go to the retail forums, and the same is not true. Its just an observation, no need to be so socially awkward and try to turn it into some weird competition.

[Will]

If I want to get to the supermarket fast to do my shopping, the highway is the fastest and most efficient path to take. The back roads are slow and often queued up with traffic. My goal is to just get to the supermarket. I don't care about every little pit stop and coffee shop in between. I save that sort of sight-seeing for things like bicycle rides or leisure walks.

Having a choice never hurts, provided there are appreciable benefits to occasionally taking the slower route.

Retail's problem is that the game revolves around the fast route these days. Take the slow route and you gain nothing -- you merely waste time.
Classic's problem is it forces you to ONLY take the slow route.

It's why I liked TBC. It was a middle-ground. You could jump directly to content when in a focused frame of mind, and meander at other times, and no choice felt wrong.

- - - Updated - - -

PS: It'd be nice if we stopped with the Classic vs Retail thing and just enjoyed the games, you know?

[Super Black Man of Steal]

What on earth are you talking about? Is that an attempt at an insult? What made you think that was a clever thing to say?

If you come to the classic forums any day, even though they only have 50% or less of the #viewing compared to retail, you will see endless threads about retail. Go to the retail forums, and the same is not true. Its just an observation, no need to be so socially awkward and try to turn it into some weird competition.

If that seems like an insult to you, then you equally insulted classic players with your remark.