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The last echo of Vanilla was Nostalrius and there's no repeating that with players of today. Everyone saw how shitty WoW Classic was. And I highly doubt private servers are any different but I'd gladly be proven otherwise.
How was it? I only played WoW for basically the first time after that on 2 1/2 private servers....and that was decently fun, apart from not knowing anyone and everyone expecting you to know everything. Lots of nationalities too. There was nothing funnier than randomly entering a tavern, only to find drunk Russian dwarves cheering on some dancing nelf on the table. Of course, I liked the emergent world PvP which would evolve from small 2v3 battles into 10v10 battles and then devolve again into smaller clashes. IIRC, concurrent players peaked at around 25k and there were tons of players at all hours.
The last echo of Vanilla was Nostalrius and there's no repeating that with players of today. Everyone saw how shitty WoW Classic was. And I highly doubt private servers are any different but I'd gladly be proven otherwise.
How was it? I only played WoW for basically the first time after that on 2 1/2 private servers....and that was decently fun, apart from not knowing anyone and everyone expecting you to know everything. Lots of nationalities too. There was nothing funnier than randomly entering a tavern, only to find drunk Russian dwarves cheering on some dancing nelf on the table. Of course, I liked the emergent world PvP which would evolve from small 2v3 battles into 10v10 battles and then devolve again into smaller clashes. IIRC, concurrent players peaked at around 25k and there were tons of players at all hours.
It was great but a shitshow at the same time. In the beginning it was so crowded you wouldn't be able to accomplish anything, a place where the starting zones had more skeletons blanketing the land than a Cambodian genocide pit. STV lived up to being the Vietnam war more than ever before given how packed the server was. You couldn't go 5 minutes without some form of ganking or faction conflict. Later on faggots made an outside crossfaction group to corner the market on Devilsaur leather literally calling themselves The Ungoro Mafia. Good luck ever finding any of the herbs that were used in raid consumables either.
Many memes were had
Then there was the final trail of tears people had when the announcement came in that Blizzard was coming in to shut it down.
The last echo of Vanilla was Nostalrius and there's no repeating that with players of today. Everyone saw how shitty WoW Classic was. And I highly doubt private servers are any different but I'd gladly be proven otherwise.
How was it? I only played WoW for basically the first time after that on 2 1/2 private servers....and that was decently fun, apart from not knowing anyone and everyone expecting you to know everything. Lots of nationalities too. There was nothing funnier than randomly entering a tavern, only to find drunk Russian dwarves cheering on some dancing nelf on the table. Of course, I liked the emergent world PvP which would evolve from small 2v3 battles into 10v10 battles and then devolve again into smaller clashes. IIRC, concurrent players peaked at around 25k and there were tons of players at all hours.
It was great but a shitshow at the same time. In the beginning it was so crowded you wouldn't be able to accomplish anything, a place where the starting zones had more skeletons blanketing the land than a Cambodian genocide pit. STV lived up to being the Vietnam war more than ever before given how packed the server was. You couldn't go 5 minutes without some form of ganking or faction conflict. Later on faggots made an outside crossfaction group to corner the market on Devilsaur leather literally calling themselves The Ungoro Mafia. Good luck ever finding any of the herbs that were used in raid consumables either.
Many memes were had
Then there was the final trail of tears people had when the announcement came in that Blizzard was coming in to shut it down.
Yeah, when a server is fresh, it's probably the most fun to play. My first server was...no clue how old but there were a lot of level 60 players. When I played on another server around a year later, that one was like three weeks old and a lot more interesting throughout the leveling process. Never did STV on either of the two servers since the quests elsewhere already give you enough exp that you can skip a whole region. Only later I heard that STV is apparently always a war zone. And yeah, I encountered the mafia myself. The first server was too old for it to apparently matter but on the second one, APES were calling the shots.
How was it? I only played WoW for basically the first time after that on 2 1/2 private servers....and that was decently fun, apart from not knowing anyone and everyone expecting you to know everything. Lots of nationalities too. There was nothing funnier than randomly entering a tavern, only to find drunk Russian dwarves cheering on some dancing nelf on the table. Of course, I liked the emergent world PvP which would evolve from small 2v3 battles into 10v10 battles and then devolve again into smaller clashes. IIRC, concurrent players peaked at around 25k and there were tons of players at all hours.
Pretty much what Frank Capicoli wrote.
It was great. Me and my older brother were disappointed in WoW since about half of WotLK and kept talking about vanilla good old days like in a retirement home so for us it was a wet dream coming true.
Obviously we weren't the only ones who felt that way. Retail was already in its Pandaria or Warlords phase (can't remember) and all the private servers were in a sorry state. And now, suddenly, in this severe drought, Nostalrius has appeared. A server, where things just worked. It was buggy at times, sure, but compared to any other private server at the time, there was simply no comparison.
Me and my bro, we haven't even reached max level on Nostalrius because we just kept fucking around and that was enough for us. We didn't even mind getting ganked to oblivion because there were dozens of us in the same mess.
At times, there was this attempted peace in STV because everyone of us wanted to just do quests without being overly bothered and a second someone broke it, everyone from the other faction went out of his way to pile on the guy and camp his corpse so he never did that again.
Then I remember once, there was this menace of a guy in STV who was much higher level than the rest of us. He ganked so many people that he pretty much became our raid boss and there was about 20 of us on his ass. With an added difficulty of him having a mount and we had to catch him on our own feet but we managed eventually.
Also the internet (and the world) was still in a different state. I could already see the accelerating decline and freedom slowly being taken away, normal people being getting more desperate for validation on the internet, materialism on the rise by the day and so on. And suddenly there's this island of freedom where people are just having fun and here I am, running around Durotar, having fun and people spam nigger jokes in the general chat.
I still remember the two best ones:
I don't know what to say. It was just fun. Fuck, even the guild name The UnGoro Mafia is funny. Internet full of normies today is not capable of not taking itself seriously and simply having fun without walking on eggshells.
Good showcase of the Turtle WoW AI voice acting but oh my god, what a faggot "Now that is good. I did not think they're gonna have a single female voice. I know that sounds bad but typically, you know, it's a male dominated sphere and it was going to be a disappointing concept."
He's not just stupid, he doesn't even make sense.
EDIT: Watching another his video and in an attempt to say "differentiation" he puked out "differentation".
That's pretty retarded, yeah. There are tons of girls online who are willing to do voice acting for a pittance or even for free. This dumbass is just talking out of his ass. This is what happens when people are too lazy to bother checking their facts when they've already formed their opinions.
Then I remember once, there was this menace of a guy in STV who was much higher level than the rest of us. He ganked so many people that he pretty much became our raid boss and there was about 20 of us on his ass. With an added difficulty of him having a mount and we had to catch him on our own feet but we managed eventually.
Man I remember doing that on my UD lock as soon as I hit 60. Before everybody hit the sweaty phase of raid gearing it was some of the best pvp I enjoyed as a non pvper. It started out as people leveling asking for help against this human rogue that stalked the northern troll ruins ganking people. We fought so many times neither being able to actually land the killing blow since neither of us were geared, it was fear spam and dots vs stuns but he'd always have a way to escape death. They eventually got bored and moved on so I ran down the river to Nessingwary's camp to kill other alliance there until they all banded together to kill my squishy cloth wearing ass. Would've been more fun if I was specd into the soul link build.
I think the overworld interactions and progress was much better than the actual end game of grinding raids for loot.
That's part of the reason why WoW sucks worse now, by the way. The current WoW Classic project (and newer) all think of progression as a necessary evil to suffer before getting to enjoy that endgame experience.
That's part of the reason why WoW sucks worse now, by the way. The current WoW Classic project (and newer) all think of progression as a necessary evil to suffer before getting to enjoy that endgame experience.
Exactly. I remember playing on Ragnaros server during vanilla days, and in the guild I joined was a guy that never reached max lvl with his one and only character. He played quite often but he just fucked around.
Everyone in the guild knew him, did quests, went into a dungeon with him but while we were already 60s raiding, he was still somewhere around 50 and having his fun. The most chill guy ever.
And while he might be an extreme example, I don't remember people being in such a rush to get to the end, get all the BiS gear (BiS wasn't even a thing), and camp in the main city, jerk off, and complain the game is boring.
Looked at their forums and what a blast from the past. You have people complaining about the lore like its 2007, making the exact mix of points regardless of how unreasonable (some) became after TBC's release. LOVE it.
That's part of the reason why WoW sucks worse now, by the way. The current WoW Classic project (and newer) all think of progression as a necessary evil to suffer before getting to enjoy that endgame experience.
Exactly. I remember playing on Ragnaros server during vanilla days, and in the guild I joined was a guy that never reached max lvl with his one and only character. He played quite often but he just fucked around.
Everyone in the guild knew him, did quests, went into a dungeon with him but while we were already 60s raiding, he was still somewhere around 50 and having his fun. The most chill guy ever.
And while he might be an extreme example, I don't remember people being in such a rush to get to the end, get all the BiS gear (BiS wasn't even a thing), and camp in the main city, jerk off, and complain the game is boring.
Ragnaros-EU? I faintly remember the guy. A server celebrity. I also remember the people who were always sitting in front of the bank in Ironforge. Probably 10-12 hours everyday for years just sitting around there in the same exact spot and chatting with the occasional dungeon in-between.
It is interesting how a technical necessity ("sharding") caused these unintended social interactions. Server communities only exist in a Goldilocks zone where the servers have the appropriate amount of players relative to the content size of the game.
That's part of the reason why WoW sucks worse now, by the way. The current WoW Classic project (and newer) all think of progression as a necessary evil to suffer before getting to enjoy that endgame experience.
To be fair, I doubt you'll be able to say that 40-60 was fun even in 2004. A guy in our uni finished levelling up his first character and ran around the dorm naked and yelling eureka. Precisely because it was the end of suffering and the beginning of the game.
1-30 felt fun. Because of this, I levelled up 10+ alts. But after 40, it became such a trudge.
The reason for this problem is in the core of the design. I would've fixed it with three changes
- make solo content impossibly difficult after level 40, forcing people to party up
- start small raiding content at level 40
- allow losing XP and delevel
If 60 level characters fell back to 50 level after a particularly grueling wipe session, then 50s would always be taken into late game raiding, and it'd be fine. That's how it was in some MUDs.
This unhealthy obsession with "levels" in their design was obvious to me even back in 2004. A 10 level difference in PVP meant GG because the hit chance was impossible. But if it wasn't for that, then you would've been able to compete in pvp and pve with that guy. The difference was artificial. A lot of wow design came from casualisation of previous, solid mechanics. Some of that stuff worked, other fired back. But it's a long story, for another time.
Yeah there are a ton of issues with WoW's design, but for the most part 40-60 is when you get to experience a 31 point talent and can go to town on more advanced dungeons while typically obtaining new useful abilities for your class. So there is some cause to enjoy 40-60. But it's true that the difficulty of leveling rises and, especially if you're bad, grind can start to creep on you. Inefficient leveling can be the bane of your existence doing 40-60, and to that effect classes that are bad at leveling (when you don't just do party content, whether in a dungeon or in the open world) will find those levels more painful also. Conversely if you are playing a Warlock you can solo level pretty easily and at level 40 you might to decide to spec Soul Link and be a dungeon tank just because you can, so how much fun you're having really depends on what you're doing. If you're solo leveling a Warrior it's a pain, no doubt.
Ragnaros-EU? I faintly remember the guy. A server celebrity. I also remember the people who were always sitting in front of the bank in Ironforge. Probably 10-12 hours everyday for years just sitting around there in the same exact spot and chatting with the occasional dungeon in-between.
It is interesting how a technical necessity ("sharding") caused these unintended social interactions. Server communities only exist in a Goldilocks zone where the servers have the appropriate amount of players relative to the content size of the game.
To be fair, I doubt you'll be able to say that 40-60 was fun even in 2004. A guy in our uni finished levelling up his first character and ran around the dorm naked and yelling eureka. Precisely because it was the end of suffering and the beginning of the game.
1-30 felt fun. Because of this, I levelled up 10+ alts. But after 40, it became such a trudge.
You're right, I forgot about that. 1 - 30 is fine, especially for the Alliance. They had Wetlands and Duskwood where Horde had no reason to go. Horde on the other hand had to share Ashenvale and Hillsbrad Foothils and in both, Alliance had stuff to do in.
30 - 40 is when the real faction war starts in Arathi Highlands, Desolace, Alterac Mountains and especially STV. But it's doable. Tons of quests to do.
But 40 - 60 is without a doubt the shittiest part due to a lack of content. Half of the zones have about 10 lousy quests tops scattered all over the place sending you to the other side of the continent for lousy rewards and the second half of the zones is frequented by 60s happy to rape you. So either you reach 60 by doing all the available quests for your level and lose your mind in the process or you somehow combine it by running dungeons and grinding in a secluded spot.
I remember my bro finishing his undead mage up in the north of Eastern Plaguelands grinding high elf mobs for days. The zone was mostly empty as it was long before the zone overhaul.
Looks like they prioritized new player experience and dropped the ball in most of 40+ zones.
Not for nothing, they limited the open beta to level 30, or maybe 40. I remember Deadwind Pass being a nice grinding spot around lvl 50, as no one has any reason to be there.
Most definitely for me. Level 60 was usually when the game would get rather boring, especially since I didn't have a guild. Alterac Valley was fun at least.
Man I remember doing that on my UD lock as soon as I hit 60. Before everybody hit the sweaty phase of raid gearing it was some of the best pvp I enjoyed as a non pvper. It started out as people leveling asking for help against this human rogue that stalked the northern troll ruins ganking people. We fought so many times neither being able to actually land the killing blow since neither of us were geared, it was fear spam and dots vs stuns but he'd always have a way to escape death.
UDs always seemed to like world PvP. I fought for ~4 hours with some undead mage in The Shimmering Flats. Similarly, when farming drops in the Un'Goro Crater to sell, so that I could buy the leather from the mafia, there was some undead rogue I fought over many days.
His twitter bio states his various qualifications.
Former WoW Classic lead. Blizzard Veteran. Social Media NOOB. Dad. Gamer. Straight white male. Feminist. LGBTQIA ally. He/Him. BLM. Opinions are my own.
It was allegedly confirmed that Blizzard reached out to the creators of the HC mod for ideas on how to better implement a Hardcore mode to Classic realms. The team purportedly provided them with high priority changes, low priority changes and then some other stuff which Bliz may or may not follow through with to inject Classic with a reanimation solution.
It'd be weird to see Classic+ as done by Bliz. There are so many private servers which have attempted some kind of Vanilla+ that I wonder how far Bliz would take it, but my guess would be "probably not much".
His twitter bio states his various qualifications.
Former WoW Classic lead. Blizzard Veteran. Social Media NOOB. Dad. Gamer. Straight white male. Feminist. LGBTQIA ally. He/Him. BLM. Opinions are my own.
It was allegedly confirmed that Blizzard reached out to the creators of the HC mod for ideas on how to better implement a Hardcore mode to Classic realms. The team purportedly provided them with high priority changes, low priority changes and then some other stuff which Bliz may or may not follow through with to inject Classic with a reanimation solution.
It'd be weird to see Classic+ as done by Bliz. There are so many private servers which have attempted some kind of Vanilla+ that I wonder how far Bliz would take it, but my guess would be "probably not much".
"Hey, you. Yeah, you, doing it for free. Yeah, we, who are getting paid for the same thing you're doing, with more resources than you could ever imagine, can you tell us how you did it? We're totally out of ideas, you know?"
Whatever they do with classic will always be inr esponse to what the "new fans" want (or whats perceived as somethign they want). whatever they do it wont even be remotely the experience I had when I got lost in it when it was current.
His twitter bio states his various qualifications.
Former WoW Classic lead. Blizzard Veteran. Social Media NOOB. Dad. Gamer. Straight white male. Feminist. LGBTQIA ally. He/Him. BLM. Opinions are my own.
