Is there even ONE active Vanilla server atm?

[Drusin]

They thought they did but they didn't. Were are all those Vanilla fanboys now?

Probably on a vanilla private server with #noChanges

[Ssateneth]

I got turned off by vanilla in the middle of phase 1. The social pressures of "min max or you're trash" by getting full world buffs and full consumables and "needing" to parse just sucked all the fun out of it for me. Also being pressured to tank with no CC and no tools to manage aoe threat off of healers and overzealous mages (aside from tab targeting) was equally exhausting.

TBC it's not as bad. Tanks have better threat but you can very easily rip agro if you don't damage the primary agro target. World buffs being removed is more relaxing, and consumables are relatively cheap and more sparse in what you can have active. There will be content draught though once you catch the carrot, so to speak, with getting all the gear drops you want, though at that point, I guess you can PVP?

[archelos91]

I got turned off by vanilla in the middle of phase 1. The social pressures of "min max or you're trash" by getting full world buffs and full consumables and "needing" to parse just sucked all the fun out of it for me. Also being pressured to tank with no CC and no tools to manage aoe threat off of healers and overzealous mages (aside from tab targeting) was equally exhausting.

TBC it's not as bad. Tanks have better threat but you can very easily rip agro if you don't damage the primary agro target. World buffs being removed is more relaxing, and consumables are relatively cheap and more sparse in what you can have active. There will be content draught though once you catch the carrot, so to speak, with getting all the gear drops you want, though at that point, I guess you can PVP?

this is when you start to raid log lol

[Askyl]

I got turned off by vanilla in the middle of phase 1. The social pressures of "min max or you're trash" by getting full world buffs and full consumables and "needing" to parse just sucked all the fun out of it for me. Also being pressured to tank with no CC and no tools to manage aoe threat off of healers and overzealous mages (aside from tab targeting) was equally exhausting.

TBC it's not as bad. Tanks have better threat but you can very easily rip agro if you don't damage the primary agro target. World buffs being removed is more relaxing, and consumables are relatively cheap and more sparse in what you can have active. There will be content draught though once you catch the carrot, so to speak, with getting all the gear drops you want, though at that point, I guess you can PVP?

You should go hop on a rp PvP server, though some guilds did minmax a majority really did not. Was an amazing vanilla experience

[cirdanx]

Probably on a vanilla private server with #noChanges

Pretty much. Several new private servers actually. Because they do a better job than Blizzard.

[anon5123]

Pretty much. Several new private servers actually. Because they do a better job than Blizzard.

Yep, all those pay2win donations, half the server being chinese players and gold farmers, gold spam out the ass, server crashing multiple times per day, admins selling rank14 characters for money, dozens and dozens of quests being bugged and broken, mob/boss AI not working properly

so much better than classic amirite

Anyone who says "pservers are better" is just putting up a huge red flag that they never actually played pservers.

[Matsumotto]

"you must play this game endlessly forever, or else you don't actually like the game!"

Yikes.

To be fair, there were a lot of actual crazy fanboys talking about playing the game forever in Youtube comments and Reddit and such places. Just like how they're talking about D2 Remastered right now. These old games were great but their genres have evolved, adding a lot of good features over the time. Like, D3 adventure mode makes leveling a lot more fun, PoE maps are what all ARPGs strive to copy nowadays, without such additions D2 just doesn't have what it takes to keep regular people playing. Ofc, there's always gonna be a few insanely dedicated individuals that make playing the game their purpose in life, but they are the tiniest minority.

[cirdanx]

Yep, all those pay2win donations, half the server being chinese players and gold farmers, gold spam out the ass, server crashing multiple times per day, admins selling rank14 characters for money, dozens and dozens of quests being bugged and broken, mob/boss AI not working properly

so much better than classic amirite

Anyone who says "pservers are better" is just putting up a huge red flag that they never actually played pservers.

Or….hear me out….i had a better experience playing on private servers than you did.

Shocking, I know, what a novel idea. Especially with the amount of different private servers in the last decade.

But there is something really funny in your post, because when you talked about gold farmers I was thinking you were talking about classic servers for a second. Would have fit perfectly.

[Kaneiac]

Yep, all those pay2win donations, half the server being chinese players and gold farmers, gold spam out the ass, server crashing multiple times per day, admins selling rank14 characters for money, dozens and dozens of quests being bugged and broken, mob/boss AI not working properly

so much better than classic amirite

Anyone who says "pservers are better" is just putting up a huge red flag that they never actually played pservers.

Man, reading this post and then seeing YOU claim these people didn't play private servers is just incredible

[shoegazing]

Debatable. And nothing about it was fresh it was just reused. Like comparing a factory new car to a certified pre-owned.

There is a reason the price of certified pre-owned has risen to be almost as much as factory new in the last few years.

People finally started wising up to what everybody with a functioning brain has known for years, which is that anybody who purchases a brand new car is an imbecile that makes horrible financial decisions. That thing depreciates the moment you drive it off the lot, and half of the morons out there purchase a new one every few years and just get more and more underwater on each loan.

[Ivarr]

this is when you start to raid log lol

Raid log and trying out the best farming techniques to obtain the gold required for it.

[StillMcfuu]

Yep, all those pay2win donations, half the server being chinese players and gold farmers, gold spam out the ass, server crashing multiple times per day, admins selling rank14 characters for money, dozens and dozens of quests being bugged and broken, mob/boss AI not working properly

so much better than classic amirite

Anyone who says "pservers are better" is just putting up a huge red flag that they never actually played pservers.

I've played multiple private servers in the past and currently play on one now, and they have none of the things you mention, well except a donation button on the current one.

Let's face it, Blizz Classic servers are rife with Chinese gold farmers, spam, and bots. Not so much on pservers because they aren't as permanent and no one is "investing money" into them like you would on Blizz's servers.

[anon5123]

Man, reading this post and then seeing YOU claim these people didn't play private servers is just incredible

"n-no you!"

Very compelling argument.

I've played multiple private servers in the past and currently play on one now, and they have none of the things you mention, well except a donation button on the current one.

And I played at least 6 different pservers, the big and popular "megaservers" that everyone else played on from 2014 - 2019 and all of them had those issues.

Take off the rose tinted glasses. Private servers were fucking garbage but we put up with them because it was the only way to play the game.

Let's face it, Blizz Classic servers are rife with Chinese gold farmers, spam, and bots. Not so much on pservers because they aren't as permanent and no one is "investing money" into them like you would on Blizz's servers.

Except pservers were fucking packed with bots because creating an account cost $0 so they could just flood the server with as many bots as they wanted. Especially the high pop pservers, you'd get gold spam whispers every few minutes, every single major city had gold spammers spamming in /say and inviting people to raid groups to spam, every single outdoor farming spot was camped by chinese gold farmers, and you could /who Dire Maul any time of day and find hundreds of mages with nonsense names.

[Axaron]

No, and when the classic expansion servers run out of classic expansions, none of them will be unless they retrofit QoL and content. The private servers only stay alive because of modifications.

[Lolites]

i wonder where all those people who swarmed forums/youtube coments/other venues claiming how classic vanila wow will have milions of players for years, decade even, and it will kill retail... somehow they dissapeared like most of vanila playerbase...

[Kagthul]

These old games were great but their genres have evolved, adding a lot of good features over the time. Like, D3 adventure mode makes leveling a lot more fun, PoE maps are what all ARPGs strive to copy nowadays, without such additions D2 just doesn't have what it takes to keep regular people playing. .

D2 Resurrected isn't a good example of this since it is a better game by far than Diablo 3 and most other ARPGs out there.

PoE is an exception... sorta.. because it caters to people for whom D2 wasn't hardcore ENOUGH. The "regular people" aren't playing PoE, i assure you. Its played by people who wanted D2 +++++ more hardcore systems. (Im not poo-pooing PoE, i backed it before it launched and played quite a bit until IRL cut my gaming time down and i decided to focus on clearing out by single player backlog. PoE is a great game.)

[Matsumotto]

D2 Resurrected isn't a good example of this since it is a better game by far than Diablo 3 and most other ARPGs out there.

PoE is an exception... sorta.. because it caters to people for whom D2 wasn't hardcore ENOUGH. The "regular people" aren't playing PoE, i assure you. Its played by people who wanted D2 +++++ more hardcore systems. (Im not poo-pooing PoE, i backed it before it launched and played quite a bit until IRL cut my gaming time down and i decided to focus on clearing out by single player backlog. PoE is a great game.)

So you prefer doing the same story 3 times and having no end-game activities? Good for you, i guess.

[Kagthul]

So you prefer doing the same story 3 times and having no end-game activities? Good for you, i guess.

… lol, as if the end-game of any other ARPG is any different? (Also, Strawman the size of the Statue of Liberty, since that isn’t what i said).

Lets see:

PoE - run randomly generated maps (Map Room Maps), kill bosses, get loot.
Grim Dawn - run NON-randomly generated maps, kill bosses, get loot.
D3 - run randomly generated maps (Rifts) kill bosses, get loot.
D2 - run…. Randomly generated maps… kill bosses/super uniques…. Get loot.

Seems.. exactly the same. All the “end game activities” in these ARPGs are running the same content over and over for drops. Its not different.

The difference would be… that most people who play ARPGs do not play them forever. They play them through once, maybe twice on different characters… and move on to another game.

What matters for those players - the ones that keep the lights on - is how fun the game is. And mechanically speaking, D2 is still FAR more fun than D3 or any of its imitators. PoE CAN be more fun, but those masses of semi-casuals that pay the bills, aren’t interested in something that complicated. Its a VERY intimidating game to get into, and most people arent in for that. Its very niche.

[Yadryonych]

They are all one server now due to connection, well maybe two (pvp/pve)

[Daronokk]

Aside from RP servers they did massive server connections, there's basically only a 1-2 servers of each type per coast and in EU as well (aside from RP servers, which they didn't really connect to anything)

Indeed. And those RP servers have like 6 people online at any given time, totally unplayable. I understand why they don't want to merge them from a standpoint, but this is totally unplayable.