Advice needed. (start playing again yay or nay)

[Deleted]

To start off I'll present the background.

I played WoW from vanilla through to the end of WOTLK and quit due to exams and having done everything in the WOTLK expansion bar 25 man LK hc

It's coming on two years since I quit and obviously having been out of the loop for such a long time I would presume that there have been many changes ones I have noticed is that the once high population server I played on is now low population, is this a common occurance? (I know from playing on a trial acc)

If you could provide some basic answers for me such as;

Are realms well populated across the board?
Has top level raiding decreased in difficulty compared to WOTLK levels?
What is the spread like between Alliance and Horde?
Is it worth paying out for Cataclysm expansion then inevitably Panderia + monthly sub fees if the game is on the decline in terms of popularity?

Need some good honest answers preferably if you could see the picture through my eyes (being a student, little money etc)

Your responses would be much appreciated, many thanks.

[Deleted]

Get someone to send you a scroll of resurrection (I have one for EU if you want), play for 7 days and see for yourself? For 10M people it's still worth it, but there's no telling if it is for you.

[riptal]

To start off I'll present the background.

I played WoW from vanilla through to the end of WOTLK and quit due to exams and having done everything in the WOTLK expansion bar 25 man LK hc

It's coming on two years since I quit and obviously having been out of the loop for such a long time I would presume that there have been many changes ones I have noticed is that the once high population server I played on is now low population, is this a common occurance? (I know from playing on a trial acc)

If you could provide some basic answers for me such as;

Are realms well populated across the board?
Has top level raiding decreased in difficulty compared to WOTLK levels?
What is the spread like between Alliance and Horde?
Is it worth paying out for Cataclysm expansion then inevitably Panderia + monthly sub fees if the game is on the decline in terms of popularity?

Need some good honest answers preferably if you could see the picture through my eyes (being a student, little money etc)

Your responses would be much appreciated, many thanks.

The problem with Cataclysm is not that it's a bad expansion, it's just that there's not enough content at 85 to last a full year or more. So if you start now you should be fine and have plenty to do until MoP. IMO, it's still the best MMO at the moment.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the responses

[Temp name]

there's plenty of dailies to do, and if you join some *less* successful guilds you can still progress some on heroic mode DS (dont join people progressing normal mode DS, they're either a new guild and / or incredibly bad)

[kunah]

I say 'yay'. Come back and see all the new features and 80-85 zones. The artwork is very nice. You could also
try out that new class you always wanted to play. End game is kind of flat but there is still a lot to do..

But get someone to RAF you. Take Lios up on his/her offer.

[Fumu]

It's definitely worth it to check out Cata and the new leveling content. Best part is if you start now, by the time everything started to feel stale to you it would probably be just in time for MoP to hit.

[Black Rider]

Check it. It worths.

[Deleted]

Get somebody to use a scroll of resurrection on you. Free Cataclysm and Free level 80.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/services...-resurrection/

[nnat425]

I will definintly be making a return from the advice im seeing here. Played till vanilla till Cata...ill be making a return in MoP

[Deleted]

You'll probably have plenty to do seens as you've missed the whole expansion. Plus, by coming back now, you can prepare yourself for the MoP launch and get some decent levelling gear and/or get rid of that rust.

[Deleted]

I used the 10 day cata trial and bought an copy of cata of amazon for £10 and the cata trial still ran the 10 days but let me level to 85 so I got good use of that and experienced it too 85 which I quite enjoyed. Other question is do I wait a month or two to start paying again enjoy the summer then spend a month or two before MoP to gear up and make the levels easier or just hit MoP using the dungeons blues I aqquired?

[ringpriest]

Are realms well populated across the board?

No. Many realms appear quite underpopulated. This is exacerbated at present due to D3 and lack of new content. The situation will likely improve somewhat around 5.0/MoP release. If you choose to return, I would carefully look for a realm with a healthy population.

Has top level raiding decreased in difficulty compared to WOTLK levels?

Heroic raiding seemed to be near ICC-heroic levels. Normal (and of course, LFR) are, imo, much easier than they were in Wrath.

What is the spread like between Alliance and Horde?

Not sure exactly what you mean by 'spread'. Alliance wins more random BGs than they used to, if that helps.

Is it worth paying out for Cataclysm expansion then inevitably Panderia + monthly sub fees if the game is on the decline in terms of popularity?

WoW still has very high subscriber numbers for an MMO. While a few server merges would probably be good, the number of players is far down the list of things that currently impact the quality of the game. The playstyle of WoW has changed a great deal since Wrath and will likely change even more with MoP. My advice is to wait until 5.0 comes out, then try to get a scroll of resurrection and try it out to see how you like the changes. Failing that, just resub for a single month. Don't buy 2 expacs until you've had a chance to experience how the game has changed.

[Chickat]

The problem with Cataclysm is not that it's a bad expansion, it's just that there's not enough content at 85 to last a full year or more. So if you start now you should be fine and have plenty to do until MoP. IMO, it's still the best MMO at the moment.

This. MoP will probably be out in 2-3 months. Get a scroll of Resurrection, as it will give you a free 80 of any class you wanted to try, Cataclysm, and 7 days of free game time. There is plenty of content for a new player to last 3 months until MoP comes out. MoP looks amazing as well, so id get back into the swing of things soon.

[Karthorn]

If I were you, I would wait for Mists of Pandaria, unless you want to get your characters to level 85 by the time MoP comes around. Anyways, I say 'yay'.

[Kuja]

I would wait for the MOP pre-patch. New talents, spells and stuff! Current content in the game is pretty much dead. But if you want to farm rare mounts and achievements, now is the perfect time for it.

Normal (and of course, LFR) are, imo, much easier than they were in Wrath.

Are you serious? :O Wrath had easymode normals. Naxx pugs didn't even ask for achievements because it was not possible to wipe.

[ringpriest]

I would wait for the MOP pre-patch. New talents, spells and stuff! Current content in the game is pretty much dead. But if you want to farm rare mounts and achievements, now is the perfect time for it.



Are you serious? :O Wrath had easymode normals. Naxx pugs didn't even ask for achievements because it was not possible to wipe.

You're right that Naxx was pretty easy. I was thinking mainly of ICC as compared to Dragonsoul.

[Shadylol]

Should you start playing again?

That depends. If you want to play a competitive game, then no. WoW is no longer, nor will it ever again be a game that's taken seriously, by either it's players, or Developers (the new expansion is about Pandas)

If you just want to blow 15 dollars a month of something "fun", then sure, you might as well play WoW again. Whatever else it may be, WoW is still a fun game

[Pejo]

Even if you do not decide to play again, get someone to SOR you so you can at least get upgraded to Cata for free. There is no downside. Also, if you are not happy with your server, get someone to invite you from the a server that is well populated. You'll get a free server transfer/faction change by doing so.

[Deleted]

Even if you do not decide to play again, get someone to SOR you so you can at least get upgraded to Cata for free. There is no downside. Also, if you are not happy with your server, get someone to invite you from the a server that is well populated. You'll get a free server transfer/faction change by doing so.

Unfortunately I accidentally activated the Cata trial before knowing about the SoR so it is no longer valid on my account as it has been active now past the cut off date

Thanks for all the responses, looks like I'll probably start my sub again sometime around July/August and build up towards MoP