Letters From Classic Era WoW

[Lolites]

Some people strung up this weird idea (I'd go so far as to say a strawman) that it would have to have enormous staying power and a continuous large, thriving player base for years to come to be considered a success.

cant say f or sure but i bet you a lot of those people didnt in fact had this idea but mock it as such bcs of all those people that before classic release claimed it will kill retail and it will be popular with milions (some even went as far as tens of milions) of active players for years or decades to come

it was definitely success, but it was VERY far from "wowkiller" success some people expected it to be, hence the "failure" attitude (or mockery) of some people

[Beet]

You don't have a tl;dr because you wanted to make this seem more important and insightful than it really is. Just because you aren't a kid doesn't make this not rambling.

Tl;dr: People ask if classic era servers are dead, the answer is yes, but we few still have playing together because that's the draw for us.

If you require a TLDR just leave dude. You’re not so important people must condense their posts for your ability to comprehend.

[Arewn]

cant say f or sure but i bet you a lot of those people didnt in fact had this idea but mock it as such bcs of all those people that before classic release claimed it will kill retail and it will be popular with milions (some even went as far as tens of milions) of active players for years or decades to come

it was definitely success, but it was VERY far from "wowkiller" success some people expected it to be, hence the "failure" attitude (or mockery) of some people

This is what I mean by strawman. Who the heck was actually expecting it to be a "wowkiller". I feel like this is a view detractors of classic projected onto classic supporters.

[Lolites]

This is what I mean by strawman. Who the heck was actually expecting it to be a "wowkiller". I feel like this is a view detractors of classic projected onto classic supporters.

well people on this very forum did say that quite a lot...
dont have time to search through old threads but month or two before classic release it was at least one thread a day about how classic will "kill retail" how its "superior" and how it will be "evergreen" with milions of players for years to come...
then a month or two after release, when people (tourists) started to leave in droves those people somehow vanished... i wonder why...

[Cringecaller]

I think most of your comments are very accurate, especially for those of the generation or generations after mine (younger) and possibly before mine (older).

For me, and a few of my guild members of comparable age, we were in our 30's when WoW came out. Now we're in our late 40's/early 50's. Not much changed for us other than the size of cell phones and our children. Still have the same career doing the same stuff living in the same kinda home. To us that played then and are playing this version, is it the exact same? Of course not and I don't believe I said that. But it does feel like the best WoW experience since the original release because of the situation and what we've turned it into for ourselves.

That has resulted in the 'guild community' of that just seems to have been obliterated over the years and I missed most to have returned and feels... new and improved.

I'll also be very honest. I actually knew more back then about the game despite the lack of information. So when I returned to it after all these years, there's so much I had forgotten and resulted in a kinda 'new' experience for me. The environment now in Era on our cluster is completely devoid of 'the race' element which largely did not exist to the majority of the player base as I remember original release wow. Add that in and it's an incredible feeling of familiarity.

I really can't get behind this idea that Classic is entirely about nostalgia, or that Classic 'failed' because it's inherently a bad game or w/e.

I'm not 100% on forum rules so I'll try to be vague and not advertise anything naughty, but I played a private server before classic launched. Or more accurately I played a poor quality private server for a little bit and later restarted on another. I no-lifed on that server from the day it launched for months and only took a real break(pun) when I broke my left arm some time during AQ. I stopped playing very much a bit after Naxx launched partly because of IRL, partly because my guild at that stage couldn't be arsed with Naxx, but also because I was considering starting again on a fresh server, then Classic was announced so I didn't bother. Honestly I felt a little guilty playing on a private server, especially if Blizz was going to offer a legit option.

Anyway the point is playing on that server was some of the best gaming I've had. I genuinely had a few friends from all over the world and we'd say "hey man how's it going" when they logged on even if you didn't want anything out of them. I was acquainted with a few of the "Big Men on Campus", even if I wasn't one of them. There was maybe 2 pinnacle guilds on either faction, and then a pretty wide tier of serious but not maniacal guilds below them, and you generally knew who they were. People would heal or tank your Scholo just for the sake of it; This other pally and I teamed up for a week or two and ran Scholo day-in-day-out trying to finish that tanking set, and whoever wasn't specced prot that run would pass on the roll. We were pals until he got conscripted (apparently). World PvP actually happened organically, and sometimes you'd even get the "lets camp Splinter Tree for a bit, see who turns up". I think the only real problem I had was 300-350 base ping. There were some bots, but mainly for leveling I think. Ratio was maybe 53H/47A.

Classic was totally different. The first week or so was pretty spectacular, but it became obvious after a while, and when the herd thinned quite a bit, that people behaved very differently. It was really common to have someone invite me to group without saying a word while questing, farm the mobs silently, and drop group within seconds of that last mob dying. Sometimes they'd even realise they forgot something and wander back over and silently invite you again. The meta-slavery was off the charts, and never really reduced before I quick. Some people wouldn't add you to RFC/VC because of your class.
Phase 2 or whenever PvP launched as Alliance was ridiculous. Lots of people quit within days. I weathered it for a while but you'd get instagibbed at chillwind. Ok try SS, nope camped as well. Menethil had been camped since forever, especially the boats. So many of us didn't log again until BGs came out, at which point World PvP effectively went extinct. That then lead into the whole cluster around AV, min/maxing honor, "AV pre-mades" blah blah blah. One of the few memorable occurences was teaming up with a couple other hunters trying to do the Silithus Rhok'delar demon (without exploits. Shocker, I know), which morphed into an ongoing battle against about 5 farming horde for a while. That netted me an invite to their B-tier guild, but it quickly became apparent you had to do the whole raidlogging raidbuff thing, so I quit a day or two later. I'd read people saying that you should seek out other casuals if you want to play casual; "no one's stopping you", but by this point the chats were nothing but bots/gdkp/gold sellers and endless god damn boosters. How is it even worth your time to sell a stocks boost for like 50 silver? I distinctly remember hopping on my mid-level alt in SW and it was so bleak: impossible to get a legit dungeon run because chat is booster spam, and the image of a sea of human fury warriors and aoe-farming mage alts in front of the bank. It might have been a few weeks after BWL that I quit Classic outright. The one major upside of Classic was having 30ms ping.

TL;DR - My contention is that the main problem with Classic was the community, as my experience on a Vanilla private server was amazing and might have been the peak gaming experience of my life had I had local latency. Classic was like pulling teeth from almost start to finish. I could give you at least 10 names from the private server that I remember, and maybe another 40 distinct descriptions. I just spent way too long trying to remember the name "Timecop".

...Hell, I can even remember at least one name from retail Vanilla: a Troll mage I met in Tarren Mill called Getafix, which lead to us spending half an hour talking about Asterix. Or the UD Warlock called "Waerloga" that we chewed out because he came to MC in Robes of Arugal. We christened him "water logger" and implied we needed to flush the toilet to get rid of him. But he got his revenge by gquitting, and when they made pvp gear buyable with honor points pre-tbc launch, he grinded BGs like a machine and put all us 15yo to shame with his purps.
I don't remember a single name or even description from Classic, except 1 hunter I did the Silithus demon with had Ashjre'thul. After I joined that guys guild, someone else told me they were a dad from Perth.

That's it.

[NotAvry]

It honestly just makes me sad to see how neglected this got as well as people who cant let go. But im sure there are some fun communities out there surviving.

[Deathpony]

I really can't get behind this idea that Classic is entirely about nostalgia, or that Classic 'failed' because it's inherently a bad game or w/e.

I know right? It's pretty obvious it didn't fail which is why they released Classic-TBC.

What is clear is that the original version of the game and its layout schedule was highly subjectable to abuse, which was worsened in TBC. I'd agree Blizzard failed the players in these regards, not the game so much failing. I do understand the call for 'no changes' because of the blatant loss of faith in the company to not muck it up, which they did (clearly) with TBC and boosting.

I'm not 100% on forum rules so I'll try to be vague and not advertise anything naughty, but I played a private server before classic launched. Or more accurately I played a poor quality private server for a little bit and later restarted on another. I no-lifed on that server from the day it launched for months and only took a real break(pun) when I broke my left arm some time during AQ. I stopped playing very much a bit after Naxx launched partly because of IRL, partly because my guild at that stage couldn't be arsed with Naxx, but also because I was considering starting again on a fresh server, then Classic was announced so I didn't bother. Honestly I felt a little guilty playing on a private server, especially if Blizz was going to offer a legit option.

We've actually picked up some former private server players who very much enjoy Classic Era. They too had some good memories and now they are making new ones with us. I think the general vibe is they feel Blizzard is more reliable to keep the servers up for Era. And yes, I've heard how the ping is substantially better for those who did.

Anyway the point is playing on that server was some of the best gaming I've had. I genuinely had a few friends from all over the world and we'd say "hey man how's it going" when they logged on even if you didn't want anything out of them. I was acquainted with a few of the "Big Men on Campus", even if I wasn't one of them. There was maybe 2 pinnacle guilds on either faction, and then a pretty wide tier of serious but not maniacal guilds below them, and you generally knew who they were. People would heal or tank your Scholo just for the sake of it; This other pally and I teamed up for a week or two and ran Scholo day-in-day-out trying to finish that tanking set, and whoever wasn't specced prot that run would pass on the roll. We were pals until he got conscripted (apparently). World PvP actually happened organically, and sometimes you'd even get the "lets camp Splinter Tree for a bit, see who turns up". I think the only real problem I had was 300-350 base ping. There were some bots, but mainly for leveling I think. Ratio was maybe 53H/47A.

You've just described how I feel about playing in Era and how are PvE is to a T. PvP by comparison is something my guild specifically jumped on back at the start of August as one of it's new directions. We've been conducting 'PvP Night' every Friday night since that's been highly successful and results in normal queue times for BG's. It's actually bled over into Saturdays. This is weekly thing.

Classic was totally different. The first week or so was pretty spectacular, but it became obvious after a while, and when the herd thinned quite a bit, that people behaved very differently. It was really common to have someone invite me to group without saying a word while questing, farm the mobs silently, and drop group within seconds of that last mob dying. Sometimes they'd even realise they forgot something and wander back over and silently invite you again. The meta-slavery was off the charts, and never really reduced before I quick. Some people wouldn't add you to RFC/VC because of your class.

I noticed this in Classic too, especially with the "Just get boosted" mentality of dungeons and "Here's gold just buy it off AH" for items, which left with the player base when they transferred to Classic-TBC.

Now those who remain in Era to adapt to a game-style more reminiscent of original Vanilla. By that I mean, we heavily employ the use of our professions and usually an alt or two with additional ones to help. Not everyone focuses on the same consumables so there is active barter trade between players, as gold is basically only used now for repairs, mounts, and chronoboons (which thankfully still remain. I actually had the same World Buffs for 1.5 months that I would pull out and re-boon every week).

There really isn't 'random dungeons' for us outside of peak hours, but rather we use our guild discord to 'loosely' schedule content ahead of time, and people eagerly show up. This actually results in it being less of a hassle than standing around yelling in trade.

Yeah, I despised the Meta-slavery as you describe it and saw enough of that mentality and didn't care for it at all. It's elitism which I find hysterical coming from people who were anything but elite or even experienced for the most part. It's like they were infected with a virus of a-holeness. These days we ask players to simply play legitimate specs and avoid meme specs for our progression raids, alts and alt specs folks can have fun with in farm content. This has had great results in our progression personally while coinciding with increased accountability and team mentality in raids.

Case in point, my guild just started AQ40 progression this passed Monday. Our goal was to learn the trash and maybe get the first boss down. We ended up 1-shotting the first 3 bosses and then killing a 4th on the 3rd pull with a flawless kill. All this done with 29 people, not 40. No world buffs, just consumes, and a lot of organization and people responding.

Phase 2 or whenever PvP launched as Alliance was ridiculous. Lots of people quit within days. I weathered it for a while but you'd get instagibbed at chillwind. Ok try SS, nope camped as well. Menethil had been camped since forever, especially the boats. So many of us didn't log again until BGs came out, at which point World PvP effectively went extinct. That then lead into the whole cluster around AV, min/maxing honor, "AV pre-mades" blah blah blah. One of the few memorable occurences was teaming up with a couple other hunters trying to do the Silithus Rhok'delar demon (without exploits. Shocker, I know), which morphed into an ongoing battle against about 5 farming horde for a while. That netted me an invite to their B-tier guild, but it quickly became apparent you had to do the whole raidlogging raidbuff thing, so I quit a day or two later. I'd read people saying that you should seek out other casuals if you want to play casual; "no one's stopping you", but by this point the chats were nothing but bots/gdkp/gold sellers and endless god damn boosters. How is it even worth your time to sell a stocks boost for like 50 silver? I distinctly remember hopping on my mid-level alt in SW and it was so bleak: impossible to get a legit dungeon run because chat is booster spam, and the image of a sea of human fury warriors and aoe-farming mage alts in front of the bank. It might have been a few weeks after BWL that I quit Classic outright. The one major upside of Classic was having 30ms ping.

Yes, I detested Raid-Logging. Have some particular bad memories of that. Was thrilled when chronoboons were implemented. An actual solid design by Blizzard. Having them has been great for our playing now, especially since there is no longer an 'hourly wb drop' in our environment.

TL;DR - My contention is that the main problem with Classic was the community, as my experience on a Vanilla private server was amazing and might have been the peak gaming experience of my life had I had local latency. Classic was like pulling teeth from almost start to finish. I could give you at least 10 names from the private server that I remember, and maybe another 40 distinct descriptions. I just spent way too long trying to remember the name "Timecop".

Again, I can truthfully say you are describing what we are going thru on Classic Era with my faction/cluster (Horde - PvP East 1). I cannot testify this is the same case on the other clusters, as I do not play there. I'm actually skeptical because we had lost a number of toxic individuals that went to a couple of the other clusters. I should know more soon about one of them, as a guild I was in contact with recently transferred to one of them.

...Hell, I can even remember at least one name from retail Vanilla: a Troll mage I met in Tarren Mill called Getafix, which lead to us spending half an hour talking about Asterix. Or the UD Warlock called "Waerloga" that we chewed out because he came to MC in Robes of Arugal. We christened him "water logger" and implied we needed to flush the toilet to get rid of him. But he got his revenge by gquitting, and when they made pvp gear buyable with honor points pre-tbc launch, he grinded BGs like a machine and put all us 15yo to shame with his purps.
I don't remember a single name or even description from Classic, except 1 hunter I did the Silithus demon with had Ashjre'thul. After I joined that guys guild, someone else told me they were a dad from Perth.

I love memories like this. It's what the game is all about in my opinion. The journey.

That's it.

Thanks for your reply, Cringecaller. I appreciate it.

[Sinured]

classic sucked because it was "blizzard" who made it.
I enjoy non blizz custom "classic" right now and its even better than classic blizz launch.

Blizz trys to milk it hard

[Moozart]

I played Vanilla from Beta a;; the way to the point that we were clearing/Farming Naxx and selling runs to people (YES as much as people don't like to admit it boosting WAS a thing in Vanilla). I can 100% say that CLASIC wow servers felt NOTHING like they did back then. Too many people already knew the content so that aspect of it was gone. You realize over time that is wasn't that Vanilla was "Harder", as it was poorly itemized and encounters were tuned badly.