I knew Blizzard nailed it when raptors were dropping their heads at a sub 20% rate. That's the Classic experience I expect.
As for PA, if we're rolling out Classic, I need some more Monster Power material to supplement the surge protector (still one of my all-time favorite strips).
Fucking... mountain lion femur bones. Up until 5am trying to find a fifth goddamn femur bone way back when I played WoW. Sounds like Classic really is a faithful recreation...
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
I feel like the only way to get the classic WoW experience would be to ban you from the internet and wipe your memory. People wax nostalgic about unfolding a big world that didn't tell you where to go and achievements (not the gamey kind, but actual in game accomplishments) were something you found by exploring and persevering, but that genie is out of the bottle and not going back in. Strip away the mystery (and mystery is basically impossible in multiplayer games anymore) and you really do just have grinding left. (Not that it wasn't relentless grinding back then, too. But it was grinding plus experiencing. Now it's just grinding).
I feel like the only way to get the classic WoW experience would be to ban you from the internet and wipe your memory. People wax nostalgic about unfolding a big world that didn't tell you where to go and achievements (not the gamey kind, but actual in game accomplishments) were something you found by exploring and persevering, but that genie is out of the bottle and not going back in. Strip away the mystery (and mystery is basically impossible in multiplayer games anymore) and you really do just have grinding left. (Not that it wasn't relentless grinding back then, too. But it was grinding plus experiencing. Now it's just grinding).
It's never going to be the same experience because so much of that would be tied into people you played with back then who probably aren't coming back to the game. It'll be an amusing diversion for people who want to relive part of their younger years before they remember that a lot of the vanilla WoW experience was awful. Awful like those same people were in their younger years.
I always assumed this situation was less of "lol the basilisk you killed didn't have a brain in its skull" and more of a "you bashed that thing's head so hard you turned it's brain into gooey bits. Nice job."
Does this mean the progressive quest drop rates aren't in WoW Classic? Cause I remember how hard Helcular's Rod was to get a hold of. Kill 2 Yetis or kill 100.
I feel like the only way to get the classic WoW experience would be to ban you from the internet and wipe your memory. People wax nostalgic about unfolding a big world that didn't tell you where to go and achievements (not the gamey kind, but actual in game accomplishments) were something you found by exploring and persevering, but that genie is out of the bottle and not going back in. Strip away the mystery (and mystery is basically impossible in multiplayer games anymore) and you really do just have grinding left. (Not that it wasn't relentless grinding back then, too. But it was grinding plus experiencing. Now it's just grinding).
Speak for yourself! I'm pretty sure I've managed to forget almost everything about WoW vanilla from having binged it for a year when it first came out.
In all seriousness, I've managed to live WoW free my entire adult life. In fact, WoW forced me to implement a no MMO's rule, because down that path lies much wasted life. Above and beyond the normal feelings of "Am I really making the best use of my time?" gaming can sometimes afflict me with.
If I tried WoW classic and found it frustrating and boring, that might be the best possible outcome for the stability of my career and relationships.
That's if two people in your group are at the stone. Some of my fav memories from Vanilla were that first run all the way from SW or IF to SFK or SM, all on foot trying not to die and hopping nobody dropped group.
And they won't in classic as they were a BC addition.
Meeting stones were in the game from releasepatch 1.3.0 (the one that added Dire Maul). They were reworked in 2.0.1 to summon party members (so you didn't need a Warlock).
I feel like the only way to get the classic WoW experience would be to ban you from the internet and wipe your memory. People wax nostalgic about unfolding a big world that didn't tell you where to go and achievements (not the gamey kind, but actual in game accomplishments) were something you found by exploring and persevering, but that genie is out of the bottle and not going back in. Strip away the mystery (and mystery is basically impossible in multiplayer games anymore) and you really do just have grinding left. (Not that it wasn't relentless grinding back then, too. But it was grinding plus experiencing. Now it's just grinding).
It's never going to be the same experience because so much of that would be tied into people you played with back then who probably aren't coming back to the game. It'll be an amusing diversion for people who want to relive part of their younger years before they remember that a lot of the vanilla WoW experience was awful. Awful like those same people were in their younger years.
This is spot on, except for me that world was Norrath (in Everquest) and even by the time WoW came around things weren't the same.
I've reinstalled a bunch of times, going back to old characters and creating new ones on progression servers that start from the beginning (as much as possible), but without that group I used to play with (who are now mostly scattered) it's just not the same.
(If there are any Fourth Wall EQ people here - Huzzah!)
Switch Friend Code: SW-3944-9431-0318
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And they won't in classic as they were a BC addition.
Meeting stones were in the game from release. They were reworked in 2.0.1 to summon party members (so you didn't need a Warlock).
Wait, what purpose did they serve before that?
Click to LFG. Because Burning Crusade added the more robust LFG system as well.
Fiendishrabbit on
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
And they won't in classic as they were a BC addition.
Meeting stones were in the game from release. They were reworked in 2.0.1 to summon party members (so you didn't need a Warlock).
Wait, what purpose did they serve before that?
Click to LFG. Because Burning Crusade added the more robust LFG system as well.
Yeah, it's like Gabe says in the comic, he had "to PUG it out at the meeting stone". Not once did I ever use a stone and then complete a dungeon. I sure tried.
And they won't in classic as they were a BC addition.
Meeting stones were in the game from release. They were reworked in 2.0.1 to summon party members (so you didn't need a Warlock).
Wait, what purpose did they serve before that?
Click to LFG. Because Burning Crusade added the more robust LFG system as well.
so you could walk up to any meeting stone and click on it to get some sort of LFG interface? I never knew that, I started playing WoW at the end of 06 and BC launched in Jan 07, so I def missed alot.
The classic server definitely wont be meant for everyone. It almost feels like a spiteful move on Blizzards part. People kept asking for classic so now they get classic as pure as humanly possible. No QoL changes just classic in all its frustration.
I know it isn't a spiteful thing and it is cool they are doing it but when people talk about how they are disappointed in a lack of updated stuff it makes me think how Blizzard could absolutely say, "this is what you asked for".
"Blizzard are a bunch of jerks, we want a vanilla server!"
Blizzard sets up a vanilla server.
"Blizzard are a bunch of jerks, they gave us a vanilla server!"
In all honesty, I think vanilla was pretty great and I have confidence that Activision-Blizzard know their business well enough that they wouldn't be doing this if there wasn't a viable market for it, but I do agree with most of you guys that there's also a lot of people who are going to be disillusioned by the actual experience. It's not just the novelty the game had, it's that most people playing were high school to college age then, and now they are 11 years older and in a very different place in their lives and nostalgic for an era when they could waste time grinding AV for the Stormpike Battle Charger or Frostwolf Howler.
wonder if classic can recreate the experience of 3 manning deadmines while under level by 3....never beat van cleef but we bagged smite a couple of times...only took about 6 hours a run
I always assumed this situation was less of "lol the basilisk you killed didn't have a brain in its skull" and more of a "you bashed that thing's head so hard you turned it's brain into gooey bits. Nice job."
Yeah, but this is harder to explain for some things than others.
Like, a brain or heart, sure, you stabbed them through it, you done fucked up, it happens. But a wolf has four paws and they are generally far from the business bits you're going to be mostly aiming for so it seems weird that you managed to fuck up all four of them every fight!
At the start of the game you kill some wolves and they drop a bunch of random stuff. Armor, gold, etc... Then the next one you kill there's some dialog box that says something to the effect of "you wonder why wolves would be carrying around money and clothing anyway". From then on they only drop wolf pelts. I thought that was pretty clever.
Later on Blizz did something similar. Instead of gnoll paws you'd have a quest to harvest 5 PRISTINE gnoll brains, or whatever. Like, this one is ok. It's a perfectly serviceable brain, but is it PRISTINE?
It's one thing when you need pristine chupacabra lymph nodes for a spell or something. What gets me is when you have to bring back so many ears to "prove" that you killed a bunch. Like, I promise, dude, I killed thirty of them! I just kept screwing up the ears! Can you just follow me around next time and watch?
I feel like the only way to get the classic WoW experience would be to ban you from the internet and wipe your memory. People wax nostalgic about unfolding a big world that didn't tell you where to go and achievements (not the gamey kind, but actual in game accomplishments) were something you found by exploring and persevering, but that genie is out of the bottle and not going back in. Strip away the mystery (and mystery is basically impossible in multiplayer games anymore) and you really do just have grinding left. (Not that it wasn't relentless grinding back then, too. But it was grinding plus experiencing. Now it's just grinding).
It's never going to be the same experience because so much of that would be tied into people you played with back then who probably aren't coming back to the game. It'll be an amusing diversion for people who want to relive part of their younger years before they remember that a lot of the vanilla WoW experience was awful. Awful like those same people were in their younger years.
The trick is to start off by playing vanilla EQ for a while. When you move to vanilla WoW, it'll feel like the enormous breath of fresh air it was at the time.
I feel like the only way to get the classic WoW experience would be to ban you from the internet and wipe your memory. People wax nostalgic about unfolding a big world that didn't tell you where to go and achievements (not the gamey kind, but actual in game accomplishments) were something you found by exploring and persevering, but that genie is out of the bottle and not going back in. Strip away the mystery (and mystery is basically impossible in multiplayer games anymore) and you really do just have grinding left. (Not that it wasn't relentless grinding back then, too. But it was grinding plus experiencing. Now it's just grinding).
It's never going to be the same experience because so much of that would be tied into people you played with back then who probably aren't coming back to the game. It'll be an amusing diversion for people who want to relive part of their younger years before they remember that a lot of the vanilla WoW experience was awful. Awful like those same people were in their younger years.
The trick is to start off by playing vanilla EQ for a while. When you move to vanilla WoW, it'll feel like the enormous breath of fresh air it was at the time.
I started with DikuMUDs. Actually the one Brad McQuaid got a lot of his inspiration for Everquest from down to the class list. As much as I like to joke about the quests in original WoW, they were light years ahead in user friendliness compared to what transpired before them where there weren't any quests and you just got a group together to grind mobs for a few hours and would need a group because even lone mobs scaled so much in comparison to one player that a trash mob would wreck one's shit.
And yet i still have fond memories of that due to a mix of friendships and Stockholm syndrome.
I feel like the only way to get the classic WoW experience would be to ban you from the internet and wipe your memory. People wax nostalgic about unfolding a big world that didn't tell you where to go and achievements (not the gamey kind, but actual in game accomplishments) were something you found by exploring and persevering, but that genie is out of the bottle and not going back in. Strip away the mystery (and mystery is basically impossible in multiplayer games anymore) and you really do just have grinding left. (Not that it wasn't relentless grinding back then, too. But it was grinding plus experiencing. Now it's just grinding).
It's never going to be the same experience because so much of that would be tied into people you played with back then who probably aren't coming back to the game. It'll be an amusing diversion for people who want to relive part of their younger years before they remember that a lot of the vanilla WoW experience was awful. Awful like those same people were in their younger years.
The trick is to start off by playing vanilla EQ for a while. When you move to vanilla WoW, it'll feel like the enormous breath of fresh air it was at the time.
I started with DikuMUDs. Actually the one Brad McQuaid got a lot of his inspiration for Everquest from down to the class list. As much as I like to joke about the quests in original WoW, they were light years ahead in user friendliness compared to what transpired before them where there weren't any quests and you just got a group together to grind mobs for a few hours and would need a group because even lone mobs scaled so much in comparison to one player that a trash mob would wreck one's shit.
And yet i still have fond memories of that due to a mix of friendships and Stockholm syndrome.
You can tell the quality of a MMORPG by the quality of the community playing it. The shittier that it is, the more effort that the player base will put into doing things other than actually playing it.
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As for PA, if we're rolling out Classic, I need some more Monster Power material to supplement the surge protector (still one of my all-time favorite strips).
Pins!
-Tycho Brahe
It's never going to be the same experience because so much of that would be tied into people you played with back then who probably aren't coming back to the game. It'll be an amusing diversion for people who want to relive part of their younger years before they remember that a lot of the vanilla WoW experience was awful. Awful like those same people were in their younger years.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
Speak for yourself! I'm pretty sure I've managed to forget almost everything about WoW vanilla from having binged it for a year when it first came out.
In all seriousness, I've managed to live WoW free my entire adult life. In fact, WoW forced me to implement a no MMO's rule, because down that path lies much wasted life. Above and beyond the normal feelings of "Am I really making the best use of my time?" gaming can sometimes afflict me with.
If I tried WoW classic and found it frustrating and boring, that might be the best possible outcome for the stability of my career and relationships.
Has anyone seen the Defius Messenger?
I'm pretty sure intentionally recreating it would violate the Geneva Protocol.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
That's if two people in your group are at the stone. Some of my fav memories from Vanilla were that first run all the way from SW or IF to SFK or SM, all on foot trying not to die and hopping nobody dropped group.
And they won't in classic as they were a BC addition.
pleasepaypreacher.net
Wait, what purpose did they serve before that?
This is spot on, except for me that world was Norrath (in Everquest) and even by the time WoW came around things weren't the same.
I've reinstalled a bunch of times, going back to old characters and creating new ones on progression servers that start from the beginning (as much as possible), but without that group I used to play with (who are now mostly scattered) it's just not the same.
(If there are any Fourth Wall EQ people here - Huzzah!)
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
Click to LFG. Because Burning Crusade added the more robust LFG system as well.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
For whatever reason, this comic title put Tone Loc jams into my brain and they wont leave...
Yeah, it's like Gabe says in the comic, he had "to PUG it out at the meeting stone". Not once did I ever use a stone and then complete a dungeon. I sure tried.
so you could walk up to any meeting stone and click on it to get some sort of LFG interface? I never knew that, I started playing WoW at the end of 06 and BC launched in Jan 07, so I def missed alot.
Apparently they weren't added until Patch 1.3.0. You can read the whole history of the Meeting Stone in this Engadget article.
I forget I wasn't actually playing till a few months after launch, 1.3 was right before I started playing.
In all honesty, I think vanilla was pretty great and I have confidence that Activision-Blizzard know their business well enough that they wouldn't be doing this if there wasn't a viable market for it, but I do agree with most of you guys that there's also a lot of people who are going to be disillusioned by the actual experience. It's not just the novelty the game had, it's that most people playing were high school to college age then, and now they are 11 years older and in a very different place in their lives and nostalgic for an era when they could waste time grinding AV for the Stormpike Battle Charger or Frostwolf Howler.
You Awaken in Razor Hill
Yeah, but this is harder to explain for some things than others.
Like, a brain or heart, sure, you stabbed them through it, you done fucked up, it happens. But a wolf has four paws and they are generally far from the business bits you're going to be mostly aiming for so it seems weird that you managed to fuck up all four of them every fight!
At the start of the game you kill some wolves and they drop a bunch of random stuff. Armor, gold, etc... Then the next one you kill there's some dialog box that says something to the effect of "you wonder why wolves would be carrying around money and clothing anyway". From then on they only drop wolf pelts. I thought that was pretty clever.
Later on Blizz did something similar. Instead of gnoll paws you'd have a quest to harvest 5 PRISTINE gnoll brains, or whatever. Like, this one is ok. It's a perfectly serviceable brain, but is it PRISTINE?
The trick is to start off by playing vanilla EQ for a while. When you move to vanilla WoW, it'll feel like the enormous breath of fresh air it was at the time.
I started with DikuMUDs. Actually the one Brad McQuaid got a lot of his inspiration for Everquest from down to the class list. As much as I like to joke about the quests in original WoW, they were light years ahead in user friendliness compared to what transpired before them where there weren't any quests and you just got a group together to grind mobs for a few hours and would need a group because even lone mobs scaled so much in comparison to one player that a trash mob would wreck one's shit.
And yet i still have fond memories of that due to a mix of friendships and Stockholm syndrome.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
You can tell the quality of a MMORPG by the quality of the community playing it. The shittier that it is, the more effort that the player base will put into doing things other than actually playing it.