Blogs The death of Warcraft

I am so happy that people who like WoW have a place to play.

That keeps 10 million people out of MechWarrior and EVE.

Enjoy the show,
S*D

 

I played off and on from vanilla to wotlk. I truly miss the days of vanilla and thinking about why, I think its mostly because the game had some measure of difficulty back then. Things weren't streamlined, finding decent people to group with could be a challenge, things were imbalanced. When things went right, it was actually rewarding, not because of the loot but because things didn't go right so frequently. The first time my first guild killed the two trash mobs in MC, it was a relief because we had spent near a week trying to do so! Being rank 14 was a huge time commitment but it was nice because you would be the only one on the server with that title.

Starting with TBC and much moreso in WotLK, the game just became ezmode. Group with 24 people you barely know and breeze through a raid. Yeah you get loot, but no sense of success.

 

There are a few privet servers running that run Vanilla and TBC that are high pop.


I quieted at 2.4.3..... ish. Loved the game, had some of the best gaming times of my life on it leveling and raiding with my friends and guilds. there was alot of "dat feels" moments in the game and looking back i know its just plane not going to happen again because WoW managed to pull off something very unique. It wasn't just technically a good game, but it had that something extra you can put your finger on... I tried to fill the WoW sized gap with GuildWars2, while it technically better in almost every way.... its boring as sh!t.

People will think its just a virgin geek game, it really doesn't have to be, and trust me, its a real shame you didn't play before they fuked it up with CAT

Good bye WoW, you will be missed.

 

you should have tried AION when it came out. more than a challenge to explore, and with the pvp area having free flight it was insane. plus the music was/is amazing which really adds to the experience.... now it was nerfed down and made easier to level and build your chars... a negative imo... but it's still fun. Only drawback is arguably a positive... its f2p... which is good for your wallet... and bad for the average intelligence of the users :|

 

LOL. +1

I have this same thought on a regular basis.

 

Guild Wars 2 for the win! Single purchase price, none of that endless grinding, etc. Grinding is the bane of MMOs. It is an excuse to make you play over the same content 200 times just to be able to graduate to the next content.

 

That feeling with WoW ended for me long before cataclysm came out.
I saw the changes during WOTLK and I didnt like it at the time either, the social hubs were not as fun anymore, the raiding was boring, we never felt like we progressed properly. It was either we wipe, or we beat the boss, it was never a progression like in the old days. You could literally see the improvements from each fight as we went a long, learning from experience rather than just watching little graphics fly across the screen. It seems almost autonomos now.
Back in the 40 man raid days, anyone could go on a raid, as long as you had a few tanks and some healers, then any DPS class was viable. Now you have to have specific classes for specific bosses, and with the smaller raid sizes, that leaves almost no room for just anyone to join.
It is probably the fact that blizzard have run out of ideas for boss fights, recycling abilities but just giving them a slightly different graphic and name. WoW for me is as dead as SWG. I will never go back to it, I would actually rather SWG re-open Pre CU and play that.

I havn't found an MMO that I enjoy since quitting wow, none offer the kind of social online experience that I am looking for. There is one I am keeping an eye on called The Repopulation, it looks promising so I hope that will float my boat

 

+1 agreed

 

When I quit wow it was because it was messing with my head. I have an addictive personality and relied on it for emotional stimulation for about 2 years, I thought I was a good tank. Never raided never did heroic stuff but spend a shed load of time on that game instead of meeting people and studying.

If they have made the game really that much easier then great! I could have a mess around on it without having to give up the rest of my life now more meaningful life. Also if everything has changed I can start a new char and enjoy the story of the game as it will be fresh. Also I always played horde so if i get to play alliance as a new wolf or panda or something then it will all be new.

 

Wow has got steadily harder since release vinalla required specific requirements as road blocks. Tbc had sunwell muru on release was borderline broken. Ulduar was the last great raid of wrath and I never played enough of cata to say enough.

Heroic raiding changed alot, raiding became an execution in perfection 1 mistake in 10man heroic and your raid wipes. 25man heroic you have similar mistake limits.

Most of the encounters are doing simple stuff perfectly whilst meeting insane Dps timers. Don't know how game is now but I dou't its changed alot.

I know most of our guild in wrath said the end at lk heroic once be died we only killed him twice total. ( before the huge buffs took place )

Remove heroic mode and bring back sunwell style and people will not say wow is easy. In truth that was the problem for the casual playerbase they could never get better in vanilla and tbc. These days lfr as its called gives out epics for been able to tank and spank but that's not real raiding.

Guild wars 2 has grinding if you want the best set I've had to grind for it.

 

Wotlk killed the game for me. I started just as bc came out and managed to clear kara and the next 2-3 raids for gear. Wotlk released and grinding again was slow and dull. It was really the craic that kept me coming back. Eventually the guild fell apart due to the casual slow nature of progression abd upon hitting 80 i quit. I really didnt enjoy instances and raids in wotlk. Cataclysim was really good. I enjoyed it reinventing my character but again grinding to 85, getting there and going in circles with dailys killed it for me. Looking long and hard i want to go back but cost really holds me back. Is there enough new features and will i get my moneys worth or will it join the backburner of games im slowly working through

 

TBC killed it for me, Aion was amazing for awhile,

Both games gave me probably the biggest rushes of my life and i wouldn't change a thing!

Guild Wars 2 was also okay, but i guess as i'm older i generally think when playing i should be doing something better with my time these days =/

 

Or possibly that World of Warcraft as he knew it is dead. Which it is. There is still a game with that name, but it's a completely different game than that game he liked almost a decade ago. There is no way to play THAT game anymore.

 

Firstly, that headline smacks of attention seeking journalism. We all know it's very slowly dying, but was that really the best we can get?

Secondly, I'll play the game when it hits free to play and I can play in my own time.

 

No it's because you're a **** who uses the 'word', DAT which to my knowledge is a digital tape.

 

Great article, I differ from you in the sense that I really enjoy understanding the game, and in that sense WoW just keeps getting better and better from the chaotic mix of elements that it once was, now things really start to make some sense, elements are better explained, and you can still address to play the game almost as it once was, the problem is you wouldn't have much people to share that experience with. However, I do enjoy that sense of overwhelming greatness that sometimes is lost when you look at the big picture and that's absolutely one of the best feelings in the world this one or warcraft's to be part of something bigger and don't really understand quite why or how but you play along. Really emotional and fine article good 2013 and best wishes to all.

 

WoW will always be around for the same reason the GOP/Tories will never completely die: there is always a market for the lowest 20% on the intellectual continuum.

I am truly happy that WoW and the other theme park games absorb millions of high fructose corn syrup guzzling and GMO eating clownbirds and allow simulations like EVE Online and MWO to be less contaminated by inferior Gamers.

Yours in Advanced Tactical Plasma,
Star*Dagger

 

stopped playing WoW at cata release, its been slowly stagnating since the end of burning crusade!

 

I read your post, and while I do not share your overall view of the game, I found myself nodding in several places. Your perspective is valid, accurate, and I can feel your sense of loss. I too remember the first intrepid steps I took into Darkshire after questing for a bit in Redridge - and pulling what seemed to be an entire forest of spiders, wolves and worgen. I was with a friend I had met in game, and we were both level 20-ish. We decided we clearly weren't ready for the much more difficult zone. Believe it or not, I had really not even looked at the world map at that point, but opened it up and really looked at it around that time. Then I realized... Elwynn Forest had entertained me for hours, as had Redridge. They seemed massive, considering having to traverse them on foot. Then I realized... there were DOZENS of zones like these. And dungeons. I remember flying between Stormwind and Ironforge and seeing the Blasted Lands beneath me, with the ominous looking black dragons that looked undefeatable, like inevitable, certain and doubtlessly fiery death. And thinking "I'll never be able to take those down." That was almost six years ago, before BC came out and turned the game on its ear, leading it into what truly was the game's golden age. WLK was good, but felt faster. Cata was a hot mess, too much changed, too much streamlined. I find myself now, in Pandaria. I like it. It has a newness to it, but it hearkens back to the days of old. But no, I don't think I'll ever enter a zone with the kind of wonderful terror I felt creeping slowly into Darkshire, it's shadowy forest steeped in death and decay, with blinking eyes and waves of diseased beasts waiting to descend on me. I don't RP, but sometimes, as I play my main, I can almost hear him complaining about his old bones creaking, reflecting on his many battles. And someday, I know he'll retire. How soon that day will come, I cannot say. But I think there are more days behind him than lie before him.

 

That experience of looking at the world map was almost exactly the same as my first character went from Durotar to the Barrens (during TBC). Having been guided around by a friend the idea of checking the world map never came up, how much more could really be out there? I was told to check the world map to see how to get to the Barrens and my jaw dropped. It was a brutal run just getting there, the zone was way bigger than Durotar, and it was just one of many other zones on that continent, which was only one of two on that planet, which was also just one of two planets. Even after getting to 70 I'd missed several zones and there were mysteries abound. Just getting around required some thought and logistics on what routes to take.

After recently taking up Blizzard on their offer of 10 free days of Pandaria that mystery is gone. It should have grown, Cata changed Azeroth and now there's a whole new continent but there's no drive to explore it. Eventually the on-rails quest lines will either take me there, why explore early? Everything will then be shown and the mysteries will be gone. Off to the next zone. It really is those little secrets that make the game, and really any MMO, so exciting as a whole living world.