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  1. #1

    Starting WoW Young - Discussion

    Hello. You may have seen my thread about trying to find very old screenshots. I started WoW when I was twelve years old in November 2006, so just a few months before TBC came out. In reality, I didn't do much: main tanked KZ and did one or two ZA bosses. I was so young it took me a long time to level and I was essentially clueless. I'm 27 years old now and I still think about the game--almost obsessively--despite the fact I "quit" many times during each expansion and finally stopped playing in Legion. Although I also played a few weeks of Classic. The thing is, despite the fact I was a very casual player, I grew up with the game and it's moulded me in more ways than I could possibly imagine. I can, however, give voice to the fact that I measure time in WoW expansions. I learned many words from WoW. WoW gave me my love of fantasy and helped me as a writer. I frame almost everything in terms of WoW. I had never played RTS games and had almost no knowledge of WoW, but it's become almost this concept or idea for me, something larger, not just a game. My best friend started in December 2006 and my brother started in April 2007. The latter still plays and accomplished a lot more than I ever did--a lot more. We still talk about WoW and keep up to date.

    I think I can sum my feelings about WoW in this way: it's a game for some, it's a lifestyle for others. Of course I'm not disparaging the former, but when you grow up with WoW, it's more than just a game. My brain was forming in tandem with playing WoW. What's more, since I've lost almost all of my very old screenshots, there's this feeling of ethereality to my time in WoW. The night elf warrior who is forever lost to time. It's been something of an ongoing project of mine to find screenshots. I deeply regret deleting and/or losing screenshots over the years, but in a way it's almost a positive as it makes me think about WoW in a different way. For people with a lot of screenshots and videos, it might just seem like any other game, but for me it has this feeling of "lost knowledge". Just as I can't imagine playing WoW at nearly thirty years old, being cognisant of the meta aspect of the game and being capable of playing it, I'm sure it's difficult for older players to imagine my mindset. The music is also crucial to my nostalgia as well, but that's a whole other topic.

    Recently I've undergone another period, perhaps the largest, of searching for old content for my WoW characters. I finally decided to write a document about some of the most obscure details I can remember, staying up until nearly 5am writing down as much as I could for posterity. My experience of WoW is so fragmentary, so every little nugget helps...

    Anyway, I just wanted to give people who started playing when they were very young an opportunity to talk about their feelings.
    Last edited by Xanturi; 2020-11-30 at 03:31 PM.

  2. #2
    started in 07, was also young, 10 years old, and i agree with u with the feeling wow gave. i consider the feeling to have started to dwindle since cataclysm. Many argue that wotlk was the beginning of the downfall blah blah, and ye whilst that might be true, cataclysm is really where it was felt the most, and actually did start the end of the wow we grew up with. though i kept playing, each expansion giving me a clearer idea on whats wrong with the game and hows it changed for better or worse. and today, despite still fowlloing it, i get so angry thinking about how retail is. it annoys me so much. I lvoe world of warcraft, but i love what it used to be not what it is today.

    i suspect many of the reasons why i, u, and many others feel the same way for wow is because it came out and peaked at a time where the world was different. wow was super fun but so was the world around us. the music, the internet, the everything was different. however, the younger generation of today have the same feeling for all those things, but no mmo to give them that feeling we had the first time, which is why i believe the biggest reason why we felt like that then and not like that anymore today is beucase the game has changed. for the worse.

    its no an mmo anymore. this will sound slighly selfish or "ignorant" to some people, but i truly believe that many people today who play just dont realize what it is about the game that doesnt make them feel the same as way before, or why they quit mid expac and come bk later at the end or after a new expac, only to repeat the cycle again. THE PROBLEM IS THE GAME. its changed for the worse

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by lolmmofuture View Post
    started in 07, was also young, 10 years old, and i agree with u with the feeling wow gave. i consider the feeling to have started to dwindle since cataclysm. Many argue that wotlk was the beginning of the downfall blah blah, and ye whilst that might be true, cataclysm is really where it was felt the most, and actually did start the end of the wow we grew up with. though i kept playing, each expansion giving me a clearer idea on whats wrong with the game and hows it changed for better or worse. and today, despite still fowlloing it, i get so angry thinking about how retail is. it annoys me so much. I lvoe world of warcraft, but i love what it used to be not what it is today.

    i suspect many of the reasons why i, u, and many others feel the same way for wow is because it came out and peaked at a time where the world was different. wow was super fun but so was the world around us. the music, the internet, the everything was different. however, the younger generation of today have the same feeling for all those things, but no mmo to give them that feeling we had the first time, which is why i believe the biggest reason why we felt like that then and not like that anymore today is beucase the game has changed. for the worse.

    its no an mmo anymore. this will sound slighly selfish or "ignorant" to some people, but i truly believe that many people today who play just dont realize what it is about the game that doesnt make the feel the same as way before, or why they quit mid expac and come bk later at the end or after a new expac, only to repeat the cycle again. THE PROBLEM IS THE GAME. its changed for the worse
    Oh, I agree completely. We started playing WoW when the internet and gaming culture was still relatively young and being a "nerd" certainly wasn't popular. Ten years old is definitely very young. Also, I very much agree that Cataclysm is where the game started to really fall down. Actually, for some reason I still view Cata as being new despite the fact it's about a decade old... It's scary how fast that time has gone. Even though I was relatively casual and I didn't play much of any expansion after Wrath, merely doing the questing and some PVP, I still spent so much time in the game that it really has forged this bond. I can't imagine not at least reading about the next update or expansion, you know?

  4. #4
    Play a new MMO to clean your brain from the...how can i say this..."numbness" from playing wow for years?

    But on this new mmo you must:
    -Join a social guild and discord group
    -Enjoy the social aspects and maybe even roleplay a bit
    -Find a good ingame friend to do stuff with
    -No matter what, DONT try and find flaws in this mmo...simply enjoy

    Maybe ESO or GW2...

    (this worked for me)

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Xanturi View Post
    Oh, I agree completely. We started playing WoW when the internet and gaming culture was still relatively young and being a "nerd" certainly wasn't popular. Ten years old is definitely very young. Also, I very much agree that Cataclysm is where the game started to really fall down. Actually, for some reason I still view Cata as being new despite the fact it's about a decade old... It's scary how fast that time has gone. Even though I was relatively casual and I didn't play much of any expansion after Wrath, merely doing the questing and some PVP, I still spent so much time in the game that it really has forged this bond. I can't imagine not at least reading about the next update or expansion, you know?
    im the same, its amazing how a game we played so long ago, affected us so much that we have to keep intouch with it despite hating how it is today or not playing as much.

    i dont think its addiction haha despite what some people might say, i truly believe its because of how good the game was back then for its time. classic etc.. wont have the same effect, it will still let u relive some stuff, but whats really needed is a new mmo that has the same effect but for our times now... a next gen mmo, but how plausible is that.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Shadoowpunk View Post
    Play a new MMO to clean your brain from the...how can i say this..."numbness" from playing wow for years?

    But on this new mmo you must:
    -Join a social guild and discord group
    -Enjoy the social aspects and maybe even roleplay a bit
    -Find a good ingame friend to do stuff with
    -No matter what, DONT try and find flaws in this mmo...simply enjoy

    Maybe ESO or GW2...

    (this worked for me)
    this is a only a short term solution, it doesnt work long term or annything like that. we will know when a new mmo is worthy of cleansing the "numbness" when it actually dethrones wow

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by lolmmofuture View Post
    THE PROBLEM IS THE GAME. its changed for the worse
    I disagree completely i Think is OUR inability to simply enjoy the game...and be more social.
    Enjoy social driven events in the world AND live the moment.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Shadoowpunk View Post
    Play a new MMO to clean your brain from the...how can i say this..."numbness" from playing wow for years?

    But on this new mmo you must:
    -Join a social guild and discord group
    -Enjoy the social aspects and maybe even roleplay a bit
    -Find a good ingame friend to do stuff with
    -No matter what, DONT try and find flaws in this mmo...simply enjoy

    Maybe ESO or GW2...

    (this worked for me)
    I agree, those are all good things to do. But I'm not really talking about WoW's faults here. I don't want this thread to turn into a big tirade or anything. I think MMOC has enough negative threads as it is. Before and during and after WoW I trialled several MMOs. They were definitely my thing. I've always wanted to get back into MMOs as a fully fledged adult, but I can't really see myself playing anything. In fact, I don't play games much nowadays anyway. The only MMO I have in the back of my mind is Ashes of Creation. I just think that in such a promising game as that, the wonder would be gone. You can't really replicate the wonder and fascination of a 12 year old mind exploring a new world for the first time.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Shadoowpunk View Post
    I disagree completely i Think is OUR inability to simply enjoy the game...and be more social.
    Enjoy social driven events in the world AND live the moment.
    were forcing ourselves to enjoy it in orrder to enjoy it, u know what i mean, it sounds weird but

    a truly next great mmo wouldnt do that, buut idk man

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Xanturi View Post
    I agree, those are all good things to do. But I'm not really talking about WoW's faults here. I don't want this thread to turn into a big tirade or anything. I think MMOC has enough negative threads as it is. Before and during and after WoW I trialled several MMOs. They were definitely my thing. I've always wanted to get back into MMOs as a fully fledged adult, but I can't really see myself playing anything. In fact, I don't play games much nowadays anyway. The only MMO I have in the back of my mind is Ashes of Creation. I just think that in such a promising game as that, the wonder would be gone. You can't really replicate the wonder and fascination of a 12 year old mind exploring a new world for the first time.
    im also thinking about aoc, but despite how many good thigns theya re doing, i dont think it will be enough. im of the opinion that the feeling isnt gone because were adults now, but beacuase no game exists today understands what was actually the reason for the feeling in the first place, but maybe im wrong :8

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by lolmmofuture View Post
    were forcing ourselves to enjoy it in orrder to enjoy it, u know what i mean, it sounds weird but

    a truly next great mmo wouldnt do that, buut idk man

    - - - Updated - - -



    im also thinking about aoc, but despite how many good thigns theya re doing, i dont think it will be enough. im of the opinion that the feeling isnt gone because were adults now, but beacuase no game exists today understands what was actually the reason for the feeling in the first place, but maybe im wrong :8
    It must be a mix of both. The idea that MMO gaming philosophy has changed so much and will probably never return to how it was, but also the fact that we were so young that we viewed things through a different lens. Like the idea that things look a lot bigger to a kid than they are to an adult. It's a real phenomena. We saw WoW through the eyes of children and children view things in vastly different ways. It is just pure nostalgia of course, but it doesn't mean it's not a factor.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Xanturi View Post
    It must be a mix of both. The idea that MMO gaming philosophy has changed so much and will probably never return to how it was, but also the fact that we were so young that we viewed things through a different lens. Like the idea that things look a lot bigger to a kid than they are to an adult. It's a real phenomena. We saw WoW through the eyes of children and children view things in vastly different ways. It is just pure nostalgia of course, but it doesn't mean it's not a factor.
    yea, thats probably true.

    and also the kids of today havnt even been exposed to the feeling we got the first time we played a good mmo.

    the potential for a new mmo to skyrocket in popularity and actually be the msot popular game like how wow was, is there. it just needs the right pieces on the board.

  11. #11
    It's not the older player's game anymore.
    The lore is ridiculous...which is typical of big retcons, Blizz can never seem to grasp how to plan out future gameplay, especially leveling... The crap is obvious to older players. Hell, Blizz wasn't oblivious to it nor the complaints since they could now cash in on nostalgia via "Classic." But the crop of recent players like the shine on the newer stuff and tend to respond to critiques with derision to "vanilla" players.

    I'd like to believe that classic servers were Blizz's way of examining what went wrong/right and to find a path to make things better.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowferal View Post
    It's not the older player's game anymore.
    The lore is ridiculous...which is typical of big retcons, Blizz can never seem to grasp how to plan out future gameplay, especially leveling... The crap is obvious to older players. Hell, Blizz wasn't oblivious to it nor the complaints since they could now cash in on nostalgia via "Classic." But the crop of recent players like the shine on the newer stuff and tend to respond to critiques with derision to "vanilla" players.

    I'd like to believe that classic servers were Blizz's way of examining what went wrong/right and to find a path to make things better.
    i feel like blizzard knows full well, like Ion and the team arnt stupid, they just disagree. which is a shame cuz theyre wrong

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Xanturi View Post
    It must be a mix of both. The idea that MMO gaming philosophy has changed so much and will probably never return to how it was, but also the fact that we were so young that we viewed things through a different lens. Like the idea that things look a lot bigger to a kid than they are to an adult. It's a real phenomena. We saw WoW through the eyes of children and children view things in vastly different ways. It is just pure nostalgia of course, but it doesn't mean it's not a factor.
    You can do an exercise ingame

    For example In GW2, my guild used to cause commotions on the streets of the game.
    We would start /saying stuff and other people would gather around us...forming a big random grp on the world talking

    Another time me and a friend roleplayed 2 King troops on a low level zone helping the noobs.
    We followed this poor soul roleplay talking to be his servants...for like an hour.

    The exercise you can do is...maybe start a commotion on the streets with /say and gather a group
    You WILL feel just like in Vanilla

    I know i sound completely insane...but give it a chance

  14. #14
    Guys, I appreciate the responses, but let's try to keep this thread focused on starting WoW young and how it impacted us. This really wasn't intended as another negative WoW thread. Obviously our opinions might include some negative parts about how the game changed, but it shouldn't really be a large part of your post if you started young and want to contribute. Thanks.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Shadoowpunk View Post
    You can do an exercise ingame

    For example In GW2, my guild used to cause commotions on the streets of the game.
    We would start /saying stuff and other people would gather around us...forming a big random grp on the world talking

    Another time me and a friend roleplayed 2 King troops on a low level zone helping the noobs.
    We followed this poor soul roleplay talking to be his servants...for like an hour.

    The exercise you can do is...maybe start a commotion on the streets with /say and gather a group
    You WILL feel just like in Vanilla

    I know i sound completely insane...but give it a chance
    I forgot to say that I actually started RPing pretty seriously on Argent Dawn EU from 2014 onward until I stopped playing finally. I love the sense of community in RP servers (minus the Goldshire issues). If I had started playing WoW on an RP server, I can imagine the game would've felt even more like a living world. As it happens, I just played on the random normal server (Alonsus) I was first assigned to.

  15. #15
    When I first started they had just opened up Silithus. I was a new druid (ne) and having fun.
    And after spending quite a few years playing (N)EverQuest that was unusual in itself. I just never realized until then how unfun EQ was until WoW...back then.
    Last edited by Shadowferal; 2020-11-30 at 04:23 PM. Reason: Sprint's wifi is garbage

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowferal View Post
    When I first started they had just opened up Silithus. I was a new druid (ne) and having fun.
    And after spending quite a few years playing (N)EverQuest that was unusual in itself. I just never realized until then how unfun EQ was until WoW...back then.

    - - - Updated - - -

    When I first started they had just opened up Silithus. I was a new druid (ne) and having fun.
    And after spending quite a few years playing (N)EverQuest that was unusual in itself. I just never realized until then how unfun EQ was until WoW...back then.

    - - - Updated - - -

    When I first started they had just opened up Silithus. I was a new druid (ne) and having fun.
    And after spending quite a few years playing (N)EverQuest that was unusual in itself. I just never realized until then how unfun EQ was until WoW...back then.
    Do you remember what age you were? That's very impressive. I would've loved to have started WoW earlier than Nov 2006 so that I could've at least attempted vanilla raiding. Even then I might have just been too young to perform well at all. A cool thing I recently found out is that I started very shortly after my server was born. It's a nice feeling.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Xanturi View Post
    Do you remember what age you were? That's very impressive. I would've loved to have started WoW earlier than Nov 2006 so that I could've at least attempted vanilla raiding. Even then I might have just been too young to perform well at all. A cool thing I recently found out is that I started very shortly after my server was born. It's a nice feeling.
    Older player here. I think i turned 40-ish then.
    EQ back then wasn't at all friendly to the solo casual player. Whereas WoW was very friendly. I've always accepted the fact that I wouldn't get the best stuff but my thought was at least I could level up a toon. Not remotely possible to do in EQ. I was spending an hour a day entertaining myself at pretending...at playing EQ. WoW was such a breath of fresh air then. Had to get sweet talked into it...the two things won me over; "fun factor" and " soloability to level." And even though I insisted on playing a "feral" druid I was having fun. "Feral" spec was considered a broken spec back then.)

  18. #18
    You don't need screenshots to validate your nostalgic musings of days gone past. They exist in your mind and that's the best place for them.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by otaXephon View Post
    You don't need screenshots to validate your nostalgic musings of days gone past. They exist in your mind and that's the best place for them.
    I kindly beg to differ. Every month, every year, my memories get fuzzier and fuzzier. It sounds like you're opposed to my thread? That's fine. I understand that this could be perceived as a diary post.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Xanturi View Post
    I kindly beg to differ. Every month, every year, my memories get fuzzier and fuzzier. It sounds like you're opposed to my thread? That's fine. I understand that this could be perceived as a diary post.
    How does a screenshot help with anything? You miss an experience, not a screenshot. No amount of screenshotting can replicate an experience. Your thread is basically, "Hey, I have nostalgia. Does anybody else also experience nostalgia?" The answer to that is obvious. We all do; most of us, however, are honest enough with ourselves to understand that the experience we had when we were new to the game will never be felt again and do not need the empty validation of internet strangers to confirm this.

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