Why do they keep changing well know, beloved sounds?

[Silversorrow]

People play this game with sound on?

[Katchii]

For me the change of the gun and bow sounds in Cacaclysm was a travesty.

100% disagree with you buddy, the gun sound made me avoid using a gun at all costs until it was changed.

[Justpassing]

People play this game with sound on?

It's our fault WoW's not "peak" then!

Dang.

[Vakna]

I am SO glad they changed the gun sound, there was nothing more annoying in the entire gaming industry than that singular sound effect.

[Katchii]

Not even close. You thinking that just makes you a fool. The sounds brimg nothing to the game. Nothing. They do not bring suspense or immerse you more in the character. You could change any sound in the game in anyway, and it would be the same.


Movies use sound to build the story. Wow does not.

Sound effects, music, and other "foley" type background sound effects serve the same purpose in both WoW and movies.

I can't wrap my head around how you think the bolded is even remotely true.

[DarkAmbient]

Sound design is a massive part of WoW. The clanking of the forge in Kharanos, the stealth sound, dismounting, mage blink, hearthstone, it all immediately makes me you feel home when you log in again.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I cant remember anyone who liked the old gun sounds.

I can remember all the threads about people, especially hunters and other ranged classes who happened to be close to them, hating it with passion, because it was such an annoying sound.

[Michael Jackson]

I can remember all the threads about people, especially hunters and other ranged classes who happened to be close to them, hating it with passion, because it was such an annoying sound.

funny, i can remember none of them, just like i can't remember the "massive amount of threads of people asking for pandaren"

what's even more funny is that pandaria lost subs from the day it launched, and blizzard is making no effort to bring the faction into the spotlight

funny how "remembering" works, eh?

too bad the old forums were decomissioned, it would be so easy to do a query on the word "gun" and get back maybe not even a hundred hits about people hating on gun sounds

funny how hunters were the most popular race in wow too...at a time where you didn't have the luxury to choose between a gun and a bow, if a gun happened to be better, because choice was so limited

"AlL tHe ThReAdS ... hAtInG wItH PASSION"

ok dude...

[Biomega]

I haven't played with sound on since AQ40.

But personal preference aside, it's a MASSIVE mistake to just go "it was like this during the peak days of the game, so clearly these were the best sounds!" because there is no demonstrable causation there. You know what else was the case during the peak days of the game? Recurring server instabilities. Lower graphics settings. A laundry list of crippling bugs. Are you saying THOSE were ALSO directly responsible for all the subs ever, and should therefore never be changed?

I don't get how people can delude themselves into thinking that somehow the game achieved perfection in the past and was the best it ever was, just because the most people played it at that one time. That's not how it works. At all. And neither is the opposite, by the way - just because something is more recent doesn't mean it's automatically an improvement, even if it was designed with that intent. Either possibility HAS TO BE DEMONSTRATED FIRST.

Claiming that the old sounds were "beloved" is tenuous at best. Any actual, reliable data to support that assertion and its various causations?

[Paperfox]

I bet that the hardware for sound has been improved over the last ten, or so, years. What was a great 16 bit sound file may no longer be great.

I love playing with the sound on, however I normally play with friends and we're on voice chat thus I keep the sound low so that it doesn't interfere with our conversation.

[Powerogue]

I would be all for "sound glyphs." Go all out and have things like your race saying "BANG!" whenever you fire a gun as an option.

[LemonDemonGirl]

How about Blood Dk ability sounds? They just sound weak for what the class is

[Bigbazz]

I do prefer the old crit and execute sounds on my Warrior, they had a satisfying pop to them. I guess they change them because the sound guys get hired and need to feel useful, people always try to put their own touch to things when they get hired, even if it ends up worse.

[Eapoe]

I’d honestly love for them to change other sounds, or at least let you make certain things mutable.
Just an example:
Give guns the sound back, but make the sound only heard by the player. Also, allow the player to mute it if they don’t like it. On top of this, I’d love for some of the pet sounds to go away as well. The constant bird screech from a Hunter pet gets real old after a while.
Maybe make only the person in control of the character have the ability to hear their sound effects. Hearing the Pally heal nonstop as a tank gets old after a while, too. Or just give the option to toggle other payer sound effects on/off.

[Lazuli]

Try rogue, new backstab is definitely pussified and sounds like trash more like a needle poke than a backstab, same with ambush, oh I mean shadow strike..

They ruined all rogue sounds.

I'd say the only thing that sounds legit anymore is arms war, they actually fit the spells imo but I admit I was never a war main so maybe wars hate the change too.

[Ladey Gags]

Because this is a game that is 15 years old, and if you are unable to make the gameplay fun and interesting, you have to come up with other (lazy) ways to retain subscribers. New shiny “updated” things are one of these ways to retain subscribers. I agree the updates/revamps to graphics and sounds have for the most part been absolutely awful and in no way resemble the originals, but it’s just one of many things that Activision has done throughout the years to contribute to the death of this game.

This game reached 12 million subscribers due to its exceptional world design, and that includes sounds, which honestly are just as important as the visuals. For current devs to think they could possibly overhaul such iconic parts of this game by completely changing them into something brand new is arrogance and points to their flawed idea that “I work at blizzard so anything I make is perfect”.

Oh well. This is a game that needs to be mourned. It is not the same game most of us fell in love with over a decade ago.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I bet that the hardware for sound has been improved over the last ten, or so, years. What was a great 16 bit sound file may no longer be great.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. The concept of a dedicated sound card has been pretty much dropped entirely and everyone uses the same copy-paste onboard layout and copypastas the same circuit onto their silicone. Certainly for gaming. There may be rare exceptions if you actually do work with sound but the general consumer market.. not so much.

Amplifier tech for sound is also practically ancient (in relative comparison) to the constantly new stuff that happens in the video sector. I have to wonder what has changed at all in the last 10 years tbh.

[Eazy]

I miss old Mutilate sound, the new one sounds stupid.

[enigma77]

For me the change of the gun and bow sounds in Cacaclysm was a travesty.

From the sharp loud explosion of the guns to that deep base whatever the hell it is, and the sharp draw of the bowstring to the current "thang thang" thing that it's been reduced to, they seem to tone down everything.

I've noticed now that Avenging Wrath, Seals, even explosive spells like fireball for mages have all been changed to these pussified, unidentifiable sounds that make you feel nothing when you hear them.

Why the hell are they doing this? Who is asking for this? These are not improvements. Is no one complaining about this on the official forums? I would, but I can't post there and I doubt the devs listen anyway.

2:26 is at the least what a gun should sound like in WoW:

https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/oldgunsounds/

[Chonar]

These things should be optional toggles, either in interface, or with in-game things like a Blunderbuss Silencer (engineering) / Bowstring Grease (cooking :P) .