Ant wrote on Dec 4, 2022, 14:54:
I already grind IRL (it's a game too except I can't die & respawn!).

Well, if the Buddhists are right....

I just don't have the time and energy to grind. I already grind IRL (it's a game too except I can't die & respawn!).

This introduces new zones, new content, and (drumroll), the ability to ride dragons.

• notices theres a dragon person race now...

shifty eyes eeerrrrmmmmm

fujiJuice wrote on Nov 30, 2022, 09:18:

Mr. Tact wrote on Nov 30, 2022, 09:07:
Didn't flying mounts exist from the very beginning?

There were flight points that would take you around to predetermined spots, but controlled flying mounts weren't available until Burning Crusade the first expansion a few years later.

You couldn't fly in the vanilla map areas until the Cataclysm expansion if I remember correctly.

No flight in vanilla areas initially was certainly true. It was because they cheaped out on the graphics for the big cities. There were lots of false facades which would be exposed if there had been free flight. Thinking about it harder, you are correct. We did have to use the preset Griffin flightpaths to get around. But I spent more time playing the game with the flight being available, so I kinda forgot.

Mr. Tact wrote on Nov 30, 2022, 09:07:

Quinn wrote on Nov 30, 2022, 08:43:
WoW's magic started dying with flying mounts and the dungeon finder. Traveling on foot was a thing for the history books and only at quest areas you'd find other players. Bye random encounters exploding into all-out guild wars half an hour later. Proper delayed gratification got replaced by instant, lesser gratification. Such a shame.

Didn't flying mounts exist from the very beginning?

Not quite. Flying mounts came in the first expansion, but for most expansions after they restricted it so that you can't fly straight away until you've fulfilled certain criteria (eg explore all the major parts of zones, get reputation with a faction to a certain level etc), so normally the first part of an xpack was still ground-based, much to the chagrin of a lot of players. Dragonflight is a bit different - you get the new Dragon Riding within an hour or two of play and can zip all over the place, but you can't ride your normal flying mounts, only ground ones.

Mr. Tact wrote on Nov 30, 2022, 09:07:
Didn't flying mounts exist from the very beginning?

There were flight points that would take you around to predetermined spots, but controlled flying mounts weren't available until Burning Crusade the first expansion a few years later.

You couldn't fly in the vanilla map areas until the Cataclysm expansion if I remember correctly.

Quinn wrote on Nov 30, 2022, 08:43:
WoW's magic started dying with flying mounts and the dungeon finder. Traveling on foot was a thing for the history books and only at quest areas you'd find other players. Bye random encounters exploding into all-out guild wars half an hour later. Proper delayed gratification got replaced by instant, lesser gratification. Such a shame.

Didn't flying mounts exist from the very beginning?

Quinn wrote on Nov 30, 2022, 08:43:
WoW's magic started dying with flying mounts and the dungeon finder. Traveling on foot was a thing for the history books and only at quest areas you'd find other players. Bye random encounters exploding into all-out guild wars half an hour later. Proper delayed gratification got replaced by instant, lesser gratification. Such a shame.

I agree. The 'world' seemed a lot bigger then.

WoW's magic started dying with flying mounts and the dungeon finder. Traveling on foot was a thing for the history books and only at quest areas you'd find other players. Bye random encounters exploding into all-out guild wars half an hour later. Proper delayed gratification got replaced by instant, lesser gratification. Such a shame.

Armengar wrote on Nov 30, 2022, 03:11:
I think im one of the few who avoided wow somehow. The only time ive ever played wow was when there was that beta server code leaked and you could start your own offline server, I remember getting that up and running and a few of us joining for a a while to play with uber characters.

I played a lot of Asheron's Call and Anarchy Online, but never WoW somehow.

I played WOW for years, long enough to have three different mains at three different times nerfed or changed so much they played nothing like I had built them up to be over the years, fool me once, etc.

Add to that the Blizz went full stop into multi-dipping, subscription and cash shop QOL, selling gold, hierlooms, and so on, and then the straw that finally did it for me was the way they marketed Legion to imply you could try out any class and any build in that class, paying for it and then finding that it was restricted to only certain class builds.

Went back to Anarchy Online and never looked back.

Now the once leader in MMORPGs is copying GW2 for major release features.

I think im one of the few who avoided wow somehow. The only time ive ever played wow was when there was that beta server code leaked and you could start your own offline server, I remember getting that up and running and a few of us joining for a a while to play with uber characters.

Burrito of Peace wrote on Nov 29, 2022, 21:59:
WoW adjacent story:

When Burning Crusade came out, I had some friends campaign really, really hard to get me in to WoW. I worked at an MMO dev/publisher at the time and I just kind of stared at them in that "You have got to be fucking kidding me" way. It was like asking "Hey, do you want to do what you do at work, but on your off time, and pay someone else for the privilege to do it?"

I did try WoW years later, long after I had left my previous employment, and I found it to be just like every other MMO. The skin changes but the mechanics and the Skinner box predation do not.

Soldiers play Call of Duty in warzones to blow off steam. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

WoW adjacent story:

When Burning Crusade came out, I had some friends campaign really, really hard to get me in to WoW. I worked at an MMO dev/publisher at the time and I just kind of stared at them in that "You have got to be fucking kidding me" way. It was like asking "Hey, do you want to do what you do at work, but on your off time, and pay someone else for the privilege to do it?"

I did try WoW years later, long after I had left my previous employment, and I found it to be just like every other MMO. The skin changes but the mechanics and the Skinner box predation do not.

Jivaro wrote on Nov 29, 2022, 17:56:

Frijoles wrote on Nov 29, 2022, 14:38:
I'm a pretty casual player. I hit max level, run a few raids, then either quit or play an alt. Shadowlands was shit. I hated almost everything about it. In comparison to Dragonflight, I'm loving it. It's only the first day though. But flying the dragon at 830% movement speed is a blast. Hopefully the rest of the expansion is as fun.

In my opinion, this is the best expansion for PvE and 5 man dungeons since the first one. I can't speak on the endgame content because I haven't seen it. PVP or PvEvP is not really my thing but I am always down to try a new mode. Variety is the spice of life. (he says as he loads up the 16 year old video game)

Haha, that last sentence made me smile - thanks! I never played WoW but was in the oldest North American guild in FFXI (I think we were the oldest) for several years as a support Bard and White Mage (and Beastmaster in my spare time). Also played FFXIV (the guild transferred over) and Guild Wars 2 (the Realm vs Realm in that one was really, really good).

Frijoles wrote on Nov 29, 2022, 14:38:
I'm a pretty casual player. I hit max level, run a few raids, then either quit or play an alt. Shadowlands was shit. I hated almost everything about it. In comparison to Dragonflight, I'm loving it. It's only the first day though. But flying the dragon at 830% movement speed is a blast. Hopefully the rest of the expansion is as fun.

In my opinion, this is the best expansion for PvE and 5 man dungeons since the first one. I can't speak on the endgame content because I haven't seen it. PVP or PvEvP is not really my thing but I am always down to try a new mode. Variety is the spice of life. (he says as he loads up the 16 year old video game)

Mr. Tact wrote on Nov 29, 2022, 16:21:

LibertyOrDeath wrote on Nov 29, 2022, 15:01:
I might get back into it, looks like that added real-world PVP (warmode)?

Didn't this always exist where people wanted to, or on PvP servers?

My story: Started playing a couple of weeks after release. My first MMO. Was in a top guild for a couple of years (as a healing Paladin), then a much more casual guild for a couple of more (as a Night Elf Hunter). Then a bunch of solo play for a while. Quit when the Pandas came, went back for Legion, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Left at the next expansion. Haven't really been tempted to try again since then.

They added warmode for extra incentive https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/War_Mode

LibertyOrDeath wrote on Nov 29, 2022, 15:01:
I might get back into it, looks like that added real-world PVP (warmode)?

Didn't this always exist where people wanted to, or on PvP servers?

My story: Started playing a couple of weeks after release. My first MMO. Was in a top guild for a couple of years (as a healing Paladin), then a much more casual guild for a couple of more (as a Night Elf Hunter). Then a bunch of solo play for a while. Quit when the Pandas came, went back for Legion, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Left at the next expansion. Haven't really been tempted to try again since then.

I just read your comment and watched the second video above. I might get back into it, looks like that added real-world PVP (warmode)?

Like you, I have a WOW story to tell. I started playing in closed beta; I heard about the game and wanted to help out. I received the invite, downloaded the game, and ran it. My first toon was a dwarf hunter. This was way back before hunters were capable of competing in PVP. Anyways, I started to quest and fell in love with the game. Even though it borrowed from other games, I believe it was well thought out and put together very well. The open world PVP was one of my favorite parts. The trip to Southshore was risky but worth it. Both sides going back and forth--epic. I played well into retail, even after they included the dungeon finder and other add-ons that made it less of a real-world experience. I do believe half the fun was meeting up with friends to raid, PVP, and hang out (in a virtual world). Lol we used to get stealth parties together (Druids, Rogues) and maim the weak until higher levels showed up. Yes, I moved to Horde after a few years in....A great experience, almost as good as the Quake days...Thought about trying WOW classic with a friend, but she is stuck on a non-pvp server and to be honest with you, it would take up a ton of time.

DeadlyRage, AKA, Anointedsword, AKA, GutUlikeFish (my rogue) on crap, totally forgot the server I was on? lol

This comment was edited on Nov 29, 2022, 14:52.