Would you pay to play on a vanilla server?

[Gandrake]

how about a wotlk server

or a nerfed rogue and feral cataclysm server

but no, i wouldn't. not for very long anyway.

[Millennía]

No I personally wouldn't because I just wouldn't have the time to play on it because it would just be too much to do that and keep my MoP characters in check for raiding

[Deleted]

I would not pay for Vanilla again.

The reason is that I think I wouldn't enjoy it like I did back then. Too much has changed and improved. I would just constantly be annoyed with small QoL-things that have been massively improved since.

And also the way specs work. I like being able to use any spec I want and still be somewhat viable, rather than having a single or maybe two specs that are set in stone: "This is your spec. You cannot use any other spec if you want to raid. Take it or leave it."

So I think I'll stick with just living with my nostalgia and rose-tinted glasses.

However, if I could go back to Vanilla while unlearning and forgetting everything I've done in the game so far, I probably would. Just to give it another go and having that "Wow, this is awesome!"-feeling I had back then.

[Lora]

This is a new and original thread. I wouldn't do it again. I loved vanilla, I loved BC, I enjoyed Wrath, cata was meh and mop is interesting. I wouldn't ever want to do the past again.

[Jackdemenzes]

I think if it isn't ridiculously expensive then it's something Blizzard should do...but only because I think people are right that nostalgia is a powerful force, the reality is quite different and the novelty would wear off. The only way to put the issue to bed is to give people a vanilla server and let them experience that process for themselves. Either we're right and people make a character for awhile, get annoyed at the way vanilla worked, then return to their old server, or we're wrong and those people do enjoy it enough to stay subbed for longer than they might otherwise have. Either way it seems to be a win-win for Blizzard (except for the cost, might be an expensive way to stop threads that ask for it rather than a periodic blue post saying "no", which is more or less free for them). I imagine it's not just pasting 1.11 onto a server and flicking a switch, the architecture of all of Blizz's backend systems must be quite different now and the old code would need to be rewritten.

But to answer the question, I wouldn't pay for it, but if it was just another server I'd probably pop on for the nostalgia on occasion, and then leave, as stated above

[The High Druid]

Vanilla server? No way.

You might tempt me with some variation on what EverQuest did some years ago with what they called "Progression Servers". They started with the original game and each expansion would open only when the content of the previous one had been completed. In other words, no Burning Crusade till you had cleared Naxx 40, no Lich King till you had cleared Sunwell. Bearing in mind though that only one raid group on the server had to do that in order for the content to be open for everyone.

People seem to think Blizzard could make a vanilla server easily by just popping a 1.x version of the game on the current hardware. You have to remember that the server hardware has changed over the years too and the servers talk to each other in different ways as well. Making Vanilla work in their current architecture, with Battle.net, would likely be quite a headache.

Edit: as Jack just said while I was being slow.

[wookybear]

Loved it at the time, but would hate to go back to playing an innervate specced druid. Stood there spamming rank 4 healing wave. Unable to roll feral unless you had that 1 in a million guildmaster that let you take the rogue loot so you could do inferior dps.

Farming raid mats as a resto druid was also hilarious.

Thats a no from me then.

[lokithor]

Vanilla server? No way.

You might tempt me with some variation on what EverQuest did some years ago with what they called "Progression Servers". They started with the original game and each expansion would open only when the content of the previous one had been completed. In other words, no Burning Crusade till you had cleared Naxx 40, no Lich King till you had cleared Sunwell. Bearing in mind though that only one raid group on the server had to do that in order for the content to be open for everyone.

People seem to think Blizzard could make a vanilla server easily by just popping a 1.x version of the game on the current hardware. You have to remember that the server hardware has changed over the years too and the servers talk to each other in different ways as well. Making Vanilla work in their current architecture, with Battle.net, would likely be quite a headache.

Bolded not entirely true. The server actually got to vote on whether they wanted to unlock the next content. If it was voted down then there would be another vote in 30 days. At least that was the rules when I played on it.

[Deleted]

hell no vanilla would be to boring to play nowdays.

[Asics]

I'd play it for a little while to experience it. Then I would probably do what I did to all the other nostalgia games I've purchased lately: set them aside to play current gen games. Sad but true, I'm sure I'm not alone on this.

[Wildberry]

having played in Vanilla, let me say this, at the time it was fun, I enjoyed every moment of it, looking back, and taking the nostalgia glasses off, absolutely not! The things I liked most about Vanilla wouldn't be recaptured even on a Vanilla server (Open world, the feeling of exploration etc.)

[Sengiratolom]

Spending 30min-1h before a raid to conjure water and bread 1 or 2 at a time? (depending on the patch you are talking about).
Having almost every raidboss and trashmob immune to fire and thereby the highest dps spec ingame (fire mage in classic, pre AQ was pretty much screwed by immunities even tho it had the highest dmg potential)
8 debuff limit and getting yelled @ if you dared to place a dot, thereby knocking something of, for example sunders.
Waiting for 3-5 sunders (depending on your tanks gear and skill) before doing anything @ all, and praying you dont overaggro even after that?
Having raids filled with useles junk as gear, and thereby ignore most raid "epic" items in your gear selection?
Mage BiS in mc times= stratholme hat, raggy neck, diremaul shoulders, diremaul cloak, tailor crafted chest (robe of the archmage) that lasted even till tier 2.5 dps wise due to the mana restore function, some blue bracers from either scholomance or DM(forgot the source), ms caster sword, blue offhand from a lvl 45 quest (had highest dmg stats), green wand of .... wrath (23 damage to a school, oposed to the 16 ish to all epic ones), gloves and boots of the blue pvp set, mc belt, DM pants, 2 mc rings, ubrs rare spawn trinket, ToeP trinket.
The raggy neck was debatable as there was some blue with crit, so it depended on your approach and the gear.
5min single target blessings.
Mages 1 shotting anything in pvp with their 3min cds.
Ablities bugging frequently, procs being stuck for no aparent reason.
Falling through the world randomly as the terrain wasn't done properly in some places.