5 REASONS TO PLAY CLASSIC WOW - RETAIL VS. VANILLA

[@kargozgaming]

Hey guys, please keep in mind that I love and play both Retail and Vanilla WoW. Legion has been one of the most enjoyable expansions to date and I’m super hype for BFA. Vanilla will always have a special place in my heart and this is my small contribution to the conversation. Thanks for everything.

[@jasonharvote4093]

Kargoz who exactly are you talking to in the video? Retail players and blizz dont care about new players and old players know what your talking about already retail wow doesnt care for new or old players so i dont see why you feel like sharing this info as if its new or anybody cares when a new players steps in wow hell see a broken non progressive game and story that makes no sense.

[@sdwone]

Great vid Kargoz!!! And don't listen to the numbskull above me. I definitely, 100% totally agree with your opening statement. Legacy serves AND retail CAN coexist peacefully... And gives every player a right to choose how they wish to enjoy the game, either as it currently is (and that's fine!) or as it was (and that's fine also!) This was the fundamental problem with modern WOW... I'd say post Lich King... It was simply evolving way too quickly to cater for a bigger, dare I say... More dumbed down audience with short attention spans, patience, lesser general intelligence and challenging social skills (numbskull above probably fits into that category!). I.e. Blizzard got greedy and began aiming the game towards players who normally wouldn't go anywhere near a classic RPG PC games... Heck... Didn't they plan (or are planning) to bring WOW to the consoles?! This was a Masterstroke by Blizzard! Now, moving forward, let us all hope that this will finally put to bed these tiring Internet flame wars about which WOW was better. One can just go now and play the game as they wish... Regardless!

[@jasonharvote4093]

John Doe if it can coexist why classic is being made just now as in 2 years into the future when its finished and ready to play? Youre just assuming the game can coexist as its not even out yet so you cant say for sure i belive classic will have a couple players as its old aged and broken.

[@sdwone]

In a way... Legacy WOW servers have coexisted... Sure, such servers were deemed illegal by Blizzard but, the fact that Blizzard has heard this particular demographic that prefers to play the "classic" version of this game, just goes to show how DIVERSE the WOW player base actually is. Hence ALL these constant flame wars!!! Be pessimistic if you want but, I choose the contrary. And besides.... You DO know that if Blizzard doesn't pull this off, it won't be long before another "illegal" legacy server will pop up to simply coexist with the mainstream ones... Right?! I seriously wish people would "get it"! Just like it's utterly foolish to try and put all human beings into one box... It is also equally foolish to assume that ALL WOW players are the same. We're NOT! Indeed I would go as far to say that, given Blizzard's success, especially at the height of it's subscription numbers, the player base grew so vast that when Blizzard evolved the game as they did, it should have come to no surprise that an inevitable split would follow suit. Blizzard has now finally taken a bold (and yes RISKY!!!) move to try and re-address this imbalance.

[@LichlordKazam]

Retail is food for the eyes and brain. Vanilla is food for the soul and heart.

[@tomhinks]

Every single word hit home. I played WoW pre-release beta and almost ruined my degree playing vanilla 12-16 hours a day, becoming one of the first mages on the server to get full Netherwind. I quit when I got a job and had kids, as did many of my guildies . I couldn't get the same satisfaction only playing for a few hours 2-3 times a week. WoTL had just launched as well and the game had changed. This video sums up everything that made Vanilla WoW great, but the three ones I want to highlight: 1. Community - Your guildies become your best friends, you spend so much time together, hours doing quests for lower level guild mates that gain you nothing other than helping a friend. You have to strategise like crazy. Sure the boss fights were less complex than modern WoW, but 40 players, 3-4 hours, sometimes endless wiping. You talk about rl, you learn about the person behind the pixels. My housemate even flew from London to Stockholm to spend the weekend with some guildies. On top of that the whole server is a community. Everyone knows the great players, the top guilds, the gankers, the PvPers. You are someone. 2. World PvP - The video brushed over this, but for me the most heart pumping moments happened in World PvP. Whether it be a random 1on1, a provoked Tarren Mill v Southshore, or 2 guilds of opposing factions outside an instance, it was awesome. No engineered arena, you were always on your toes when questing, wondering if that rogue you saw 10 mins ago is secretly lurking. Hearing the cry over world defence "The crossroads is under attack" and jumping on a flight from Orgrimmar to go and help out those level 14s getting tanked whilst trying to level up, because you remember what is was like, and because it made you feel powerful to see some lvl 40 hunter picking off your horde comrades, and you can swoop in and 1 shot him with a fireball into his stupid dwarf face. Or maybe you find yourself outgunned, so you call in your guild mates, suddenly a few hours are wasted fighting these intruders. Awesome awesome awesome. Oh, and two more words: Alterac Valley 3. Humbled - Could not pick a better word. You have to immerse yourself into this massive world, and because of the limited travel options you really do know every nook and cranny of the map because you literally spend hours grinding, questing, killing, fishing, skinning, mining....running, riding, taking a detour because you know there are often mithral veins in a certain place, having to take the long way round because of an alliance outpost...I could go on. It does need hours and hours of commitment, but to me, even the grinding wasn't a chore, there was always a specific goal in mind. My first epic was from the Faire (I forget the name...Darkmoon?), where I had to trade 1200 dark leather to get a necklace. I killed and skinned for hours but it was worth it. I wore that purple item with so much pride. Having to rinse and repeat LBRS and UBRS for fire resistant gear so that you might be able to take on Onyxia, took hours but seeing that dragon head on a stake on Orgrimmar with your guild's name being announced was worth every second, and maybe you are the lucky one that is wearing the T2 headgear as a badge of honour. Hell, you could not even enter Molten Core without completing a lengthy quest chain. The game was simple, yet massive and complex. Hell, to me at the time it was not just a game, but another life that I led in a different virtual world, where I had worked hard to get where I was. Had made friends, enemies, achieved great things, but yet knew there were always people bigger, better badder. Which leads me into the only drawback of Vanilla WoW, it did not cater for the casual gamer, the travel time alone took care of that. For 40 levels you are running everywhere. But above that, whilst the game required your time commitment, you also willingly gave it. You became addicted to it in ever sense of the word and it can seriously affect your rl commitments. Nothing else took priority and I was happiest when I heard that familiar login music, like I was being welcomed to where I belonged. If you are still reading then I am sorry I have gone on so much, but writing this was a real trip down memory lane for me. 7 years since I quit, I still miss it and think about from time to time. The temptation to get the classic WoW game is so strong, but for the same reason a rehabilitated smack addict resists the drug, is the same reason I will not be buying it. For those that do buy it: Love it for what it is, accept the imperfections and enjoy the experience.

[@hhattonaom9729]

except for the part where he said a piece of paladin gear would drop if you were horde or shaman gear if you were alliance

[@vitocrostino6846]

I just logged into my google account to say thank you for this comment man, it brought tears to my eyes, that bittersweet feeling you gave me when i read this part : The temptation to get the classic WoW game is so strong, but for the same reason a rehabilitated smack addict resists the drug, is the same reason I will not be buying it. For those that do buy it: Love it for what it is, accept the imperfections and enjoy the experience. It makes me sad reading that word even if i understand what you mean, hope one day i'll find you in game!

[@Outlawzand1]

Very well put. No other game requires such an investment as Wow

[@PersusSeneka]

It has been 10 years since the races banded together against the might of the burning legion... My main lived in Perenolde server at US, the guild the people really mean something back then. Being able to spend time with people all around the world, trying boss fights and even leveling was a true challenge. I truly miss those days, I won't change a thing. The new expansions lost the main core detail that made wow the best game ever, and it was that you needed to form a community in order to pass the game. I can't remember how many hours I lost during that time but being part of that huge world made a once in a life experience, you really felt inside somewhere else. But as life speeds by, spending that much amount of time in a game is pointless. I share your nostalgic feeling and hope you could enjoy coming back to the game for a couple months, just to get your self loss in somewhere else.

[@cattysplat]

Danger, excitement, mystery, friendship. Vanilla WoW was a masterpiece of it's time, a terrifyingly awesome experience that the lack of information about everything back in those early internet days made the entire game a fantastic place to explore. I fear the obsession with min-maxing and the encyclopedic knowledge of the game that the internet and everyone who has played for years will simply translate the experience of Retail WoW into Classic. Everyone will run raids mods telling everyone what to do, have the best in slot gear lined up to craft/farm, even the fastest levelling methods in groups to trivialise that solo difficulty. I fear the elitists will overtake the game and kill off any interest casual gamers may have in trying this "new" WoW, and be abused for not knowing everything about the game already, then Blizzard will shut it down when all the casuals quit and the elitists quit from finishing their raids. I hope it will survive, and maybe if the Blizzard gods decide, even secretly introduce new content which would be the sweetest of surprises and really bring the hype for old players to come back and check out the classic servers.

[@criticalhitwargaming5290]

That feeling when in your mid to late level 30s you finally got a full length cloak drop and immediately looked upon others as utter peasants.

[@Creohan]

holy shit ! You are so right!

[@ejk96Mhs]

Lmao yes

[@TheDrewManGroup]

You mean the first time you were able to unhide your cloak

[@jamestaylor7957]

So true 😂😂

[@jakeackerman881]

love the comments.. haha

[@Paidout888]

couldn't beat that feeling of getting dem grey shoulders finally

[@kargozgaming]

haha no doubt!

[@erikjb12]

Calico spaulders, am I right?

[@m0cean]

Oh baby. Running from the barrens to westfall for those defias shoulders made sense because leveling was so slow. Good times

[@nesano4735]

It's amazing how Vanilla WoW was so expertly-crafted that just that simple event is so memorable.

[@Bjarkenb]

My warrior was so damn hyped for those ~100 extra armor

[@kadyr8935]

2:28 Holy shit, I forgot about how excited I used to be, equipping grey shoulders at level 15 LOL!!

[@captaindaniito6874]

THIS. They change your character appearance so much !

[@Esonar]

Yep. It used to take forever to get shoulders, a necklace, both ring slots filled.... and dont even get me started on trinkets. Everything was so earned.

[@rob_671]

Or the aesthetic of the defias red mask as a rogue

[@kadyr8935]

I know there are a lot of people who don't like Asmongold, but he brought up a pretty good point. Blizzard has traded satisfaction for "excitement." I can't remember the names of any pieces of my gear on any of my characters since maybe Wrath, yet we all have nostalgic memories of simple things like equipping grey shoulders, or I can still remember farming the Red Sword of Courage and the smile on my face when it finally dropped. So much has changed...

[@jeffreyhendricks3932]

I actually still have a pair on my old lvl19 Twink Rogue. Never quite finished gearing her back then, but have some of the old Defias Leather set, and the Shadowfang Keep's Assassin's Blade / Shadowfang drops.

[@vwlssnvwls3262]

I vividly remember everything about Vanilla, but I have trouble remembering where the simplest things are on the current version. I was much more enthralled in the game in Vanilla. I remember my daughter playing on Alliance, and the first time she saw Stormwind she said "WHOA!! I love this city!!!", and it was my first time seeing it too... I agreed. The game was a world you looked forward to logging into, and felt sad to leave each day. I cannot wait for Classic servers, and I am know I will feel that way again, because I have tried private servers and the magic is still there.

[@MegaJorn123]

Will your daughter also play classic wow?

[@Mr_Edwards_1995]

Everything about this video takes me back to my childhood. The simplistic style of vanilla makes me miss when games were more meaningful and people had more patience.

[@damieon1783]

Basically, why vanilla wow was epic...was because it was like real life in a manner" you had to be an upstanding citizen to get anywhere, and that in it'self made the community as a whole a better place to live and thrive in. with the way the game has gone now...You will never have that back ever again and renewing vanilla World of Warcraft will give us all that opportunity to grab the rein's of a golden-age community and never let it go, that in it'self is beauty's essence .

[@colleendunne608]

Not alot of Trolling in trade chat !! Legion wow is such a troll area It ruins the experience for me

[@christopherlandaverde9397]

As soon as you said FIXED COMMUNITIES... My heart melted. So much truth in this, excellent video.

[@liaskatounas3637]

idd...i still remember the "log in" feeling and just waiting for queue to popup for endless AV. That badass female tauren warrior named Moomoo that used to charge me on my Resto Druid and hunt me endlessly.

[@InspirationInfinity]

OMG FIXED COMMUNITIES!!!!1 :O THIS MAKES THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. THESE "FIXED COMMUNITIES" ... Do you realize how stupid you sounded by posting this.. and how stupid it is that so many people liked your comment? Bunch of programmed sheep. Lmao. You all need to be Awoken.

[@ayyub9855]

troll

[@WarrioJ]

@@InspirationInfinity Programmed to like communities?

[@Jorvandr]

The way you made this video threw me back in time! This enchanting and catchy WoW background music instantly let my emotions come up. Everything you tell is exactly what I feel about Vanilla WoW. At the age of 14 (2005), I fell in love with this game and it mesmerized me for a long time. I wouldn't be able to make these hardcore experiences again because I'm way to busy with my job and reallife. What did the game do with our hearts back then? Still, it's beautiful in its early days. Anyone feeling the same?

[@morrisl7]

yes, nothing has ever matched that magical feeling vanilla wow gave me as a young teen. Real life blows.

[@AlexGorskov]

Real life is pretty good actually. I am 29, played vanilla back in the day, quit official server after Burning Crusade. Since then been playing private servers, mostly Vanilla so it never really left my life. I played some WOTLK private servers and basically all I know is Vanilla, BC and WOTLK wow. The game was never ruined for me. Actually now I am going to log on to Light's Hope server with 10500 online and level up my level 29 tauren warrior. Life is pretty good.

[@kyle9422]

Ive never played wow and have always looked on from the outside. Admired the community and how the game has affected nearly everything in the video game/fantasy community. Im a huge fan of hearthstone so seeing where all those cards come from is really an experience. To be able to experience vanilla after missing out on what many call the golden age of gaming is really an awesome feeling. I cant wait to jump into classic and experience it all for the first time.

[@mrdali67]

If you admired WoW community, you should have seen EQ at its prime from 99 to 2002. EQ was ALL about the community ... yes there were whiners about their class x was getting the shaft compared to class y, those are in every mmorpg communities, but wow community was pretty much always the shite .. bunch of whiners and childish behavours all over the boards. The community of EQ was amazing back in the days. Even the game didn't have instanced dungeons like WoW, everything in vanilla EQ, dungeons and raid targets was FCFS and there were often fights about who had the rights to a raid zone. SOE did have a play nice policy but it was rarely enforced, but some how the community came up with its own "raid calendar system" and most guilds respected them and didn't cock block raid targets so minor guilds couldn't get a chance. Thats community at its best.

[@100Jim]

First time I ever feel like playing wow again. Never thought I would after 7 years but now I will and it will be vanilla.

[@nickc.2116]

I would play Vanilla again for sure.

[@j3nki541]

yea me too

[@colorblindboxing7207]

Yea this fucker is gonna make me download it again. Damnit. Good thing I have two kids now. They’ll prevent me from letting it suck away my lifeblood again. Lmao.

[@darrendelbos3222]

ColorBlindBoxing what if they wanna join the world of warcraft😂

[@JohnSmith-ty2he]

Join the Private server Light's Hope man. It's a blast. No cashshop/GM corruption/BS. The Northdale server breaks 10k at peak hours.

[@classict.j.1311]

"Almost as if the world wasn't designed for your every convenience" That right now sums up classic. So many players complain about "poorly designed zones" or "poorly designed dungeons" because the dungeon had an aspect that wasn't linear or required some outside item. Classic was a world to play in, not a game to keep subscribers.

[@kargozgaming]

awesome point bro "classic was a world to play in, not a game to keep subscribers." +1

[@corywilliamsmith]

heck yeah. even though when they maintained that principle they had millions of subs!!!!

[@Makofueled]

Well said, it ironically was better at keeping subs though!

[@nesano4735]

The best part behind that quote is the fact that quests actually had you exploring the world. Not like that theme park quest hub bullshit that BC introduced.

[@Pyriold]

Coming from EQ, Wow felt like being built for convenience. But sure, nowadays it's become ridicoulus. Classic was a lot more of an adventure than nowadays.

[@usuitakumi8179]

That moment you finally droped a long ass cloak...

[@charliec8679]

Usui Takumi haha hell yah! I started WoW early vanilla and quit after BCs run ended. And next expansion came out.

[@111vincento]

i remember how i hated the cloaks then on my first character when i reached level 20 a long cloak dropped

[@elix9099]

Getting a set of shoulders was the best feeling

[@Entrailss]

This is sooo true! But during WotLK I hated my helmet and cape so I disabled them visually. Hahaha I can’t wait for Vanilla.

[@Koudelka2]

lol indeed. I remember on my mage, a cloak dropped that was better than the one I wore, but becuase it was like a stump of cloth I passed on it, to keep my long cloak :D hahaha

[@MrJsimbulan]

i feel like there is this huge community that is just waiting to go home. kinda endearing.

[@Gankthewabit1]

nailed it lol

[@Nivveus]

We ARE waiting to go back home...

[@Zombielunchbox]

Couldn't have said it any better myself

[@Vihara2]

@@Nivveus waiting in queue to go home, lol. No srs though im loving it, i just want BC era wow personally, ill settle for vanilla for now though

[@MulroePhoto]

slapping on the first pair of grey shoulders....... mmmmmmmmm.

[@Plaguereaper]

It was truly amazing. No joke. I actually remember getting my first grey shoulders. They weren't even the right material but it was still such a big deal that I remember it a decade later.

[@MulroePhoto]

@@Plaguereaper felt like you were finally initiated haha what a pure moment in online gaming

[@brbgettingbanned]

I feel like there are few moments that compete with getting that first shoulder piece, I mean now with BoAs and heirlooms shoulders are instant at lvl 1 but man I remember I didn’t even get a grey shoulder I didn’t get shoulders until Wailing Caverns and the serpent spaulders dropped for me, such a beautiful moment 😭😭

[@Jonathan-bu7iv]

Or the first helmet at lvl 25. Man. I just equipped a white linen cloth hood and was like ”awww yiss”

[@bernlin2000]

So much armor 💣🤣

[@EpicFailyVEVO]

Run to the class trainer every 2 levels. No Questhelper. U have to Read the Quests to find it out. No Dungeonbrowser. 60% Mount with level 40. 100% with level 60. No Flying. Farming months for resistance gear. 40 Man Raid. Dungeons lasted at least 3 Hours or longer. Farming World Buffs. .... .... .... .... I hear them cry already

[@connermcmahan5528]

Basically everyone got questie though

[@TheOmegaSkater]

yup lets get real. Most people use questie and most dungeons dont get close to 3 hours (Maraudon, BRD or ST can be very long but someone knowing what to do and leading the group can shorten even those long dungeons). Vanilla is tedious but not as frustrating as people make it out to be. It is also to be seen when world buffs will be activated / when DM etc will be out. If we have stuff like DM or Darkmoon Faire at the beginning of the game the early raids will be crushed

[@HalBDeU]

At least you could enjoy the world with your friends and group together. I started to play some months before bc was out, and yes it was hard. But damn was it entertaining, searching groups, questing together, exploring new areas... The social part was way more appealing. When I was playing again in MoP and Cata a little, the dungeon experience and in general feels just so damn empty. You search, find a group, rush a dungeon in 1 hour or less without even saying hello and thats it. Ugh man...

[@gregbedford9706]

Rexxar in Desolace and the Tauren girl patrolling STV! I can't count the number of times those two wrecked me.

[@LSB001]

I honestly wish blizzard would just disable ALL addons. I'd love to see all the pirate server babies crying about not having their crutches like enemy cast bars and shit.

[@TtheWriter]

You know what I miss? The freaking train. The train from SW to IF. I hope in this new "WoW Classic" they just ERASE the flight path between the two cities so people will friggin' use it again. :D

[@TheByron130]

They won't need to erase the flight path between the two cities, people used the train because it was faster than the FP, the reason they don't any more is because flying your own mount is faster than both so with out flying a lot of people will go back to the tram again.

[@TtheWriter]

Oh wow, I didn't know that. Interesting.

[@TheRedAzuki]

TtheWriter took like 10 min and it wasn't a direct flight eithrr

[@sunderball1]

No now everyone heartstones to dalaran and takes the portal since that is the quickest

[@dudeiclepv2247]

totally agree

[@blokzyl_fitness]

Dude.. You could not have explained Classic WoW any better! The nostalgia & love for the grind 🤩 Can’t wait until those servers go up! 😁

[@Reyka26]

"You feel strong , you can solo 2 mobs at once" - Epic

[@khaoscualdawath]

Can we all share this for clueless people who doesn't realize how Vanilla love is not about the super graphics, the balance, or the very enjoyable and creative content that later PvE fights brought. Vanilla is about the meaningful community created by scarcity. It is the game where your name means more by being reliable, and by playing for others, where respect, and achievement is not a tick on the list or a number, but a real deal...

[@Diegoshadow85]

@Becoming godsize and you watch video about game you don't care about, read comments you don't care about , write how said commenter has no life... Oh the irony. It's you who nobody cares about around here.

[@cjfeather_]

I just want to raid as feral...

[@mistermanji]

The problem is that playing Classic doesn't mean you are going to have that same experience again. The game install doesn't come with a feeling of community and belonging lurking somewhere in the install file.

[@khaoscualdawath]

The difference is, te current version, with all its quality of life features is supporting going alone, and eliminates scarcitya actively. Classic will work as much as Vanilla as Blizz can recreate it (as their mission statement goes) so it will have the base environment that will have a force on all side to push social dynamics into the socialising direction, and also, majority of the people want that feeling of belonging to the games world back, so that is the same direction. There is a very good chance that it will happen. I am not naive as to believe everything will be the same as the old times, but it does have a good chance, which is fine for me. Also, you have to note that even in the old times, there were people who were not adhering to the social mechanisms of the game and ninja'd, were assholes, loners, and so on. It is not a today-only thing, which will destroy the game outright. People who played according to the social mechanisms, and/or had goals in the game most of the time gave no two fucks about ninjas, trolls, gankers, beggars, asswipes, and loners who cried on the forums for QoL from the start. The players who were playing for play's sake did not play according to the social mechanisms because they actively chose to follow it either, that is why it was that good. Because if you had something to do, the most optimal way was to follow those mechanisms - just like in reality. The IRL social and economic life is being built on scarcity (or people's need to avoid it) so the game works best when it also has a universal scarcity that keeps you pasively moving towards behavior that eliminates that. And the best behavior is to team up to be able to take challenges easy, and to generate incomes of all kind, to have safety in what you do. When you have safety in what you do, the need tobe acclaimed, an elevated need will arise (which in games translates into (when you have all the gold and loot is coming your way, you might get bored of keeping just that up) so there is a natural need in you to have a hobby, a mastery, something you are so good in that you can collect/keep people around, that can give you a name and rep - which is also why professions and PvP is so compelling in all points of the game...

[@bucket6988]

My dad hit high warlord on his warrior named Ezeroth back then, he still has a war sword from then to prove it, and the title high warlord, it lasted for 2 days he said, it was the greatest video game achievement he had, but he has moved on from the glory days. He played on dalaran, in wrath he also was the top unholy DK in his server for 10 hours. He inspires me to go and try to hit high warlord, I hadn’t realized how important that title was, and when he equipped it in the dalaran pub, few recognized the sword transmog and title from then, he kept the gear too. It was a waste...

[@willischefner]

What a pity I started playing WoW in Warlords of Draenor. I really would have loved experiencing Vanilla back then, but at that time I was a little kid. So little I just learned to walk lol. I didnt know how bad WoD really was, because I was completely new and enjoyed every aspect of it. Later in Legion I started really PvE'ing , PvP'ing and leveling. I was hit with the bad leveling experience and I couldnt really choose a main since leveling was so easy and non rewarding. Great that Vanilla is coming soon, but I will still try to enjoy new content added to the game with the new expansion. Great video, Kargoz!

[@Sardath13]

As a person who experienced both current WoW and vanilla WoW, I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. There is a lot of nostalgia floating around for the "good old days". Keep in mind that WoW changed because the community wanted it to change. Vanilla WoW was first and foremost time consuming and tedious - not challenging in any way, just grindy. Some people have a lot of time for gaming, nothing wrong with that - but don't think from this video that vanilla WoW was better than current WoW. 1-3 skill rotations, grinding mobs forever, horrendous inventory management, horrible class balance, boring quests, etc. I do urge you to try Classic when it comes out, but as I said, don't get your hopes up - people moved on from that for a reason.

[@Tournicutty]

I get a really bitter-sweet feeling when I think about Classic. Sweet because it reminds me of one of the best eras of my life, bitter when I think about the current player base existing in that era. Even the veterans currently playing that played then. The mentality has changed. I started in late, late Vanilla. Basically right before TBC. But even then everyone was still in awe of the game. Everyone was friendly, even in trade chat. Matter of fact, I learned so much of the game asking questions in trade chat. Simple UI issues, professions, addons, where to get them, how to install them etc. It was so easy to get get groups for dungeons, the only hard part was getting to the dungeons. The entrances were pretty much hidden and guarded by elites and it just got you excited for the carnage that was about to ensue once you got inside. Wondering and hoping you would come away with some new awesome piece of gear. Nothing was guaranteed. Running heroics was hard and wipes happened alot but we had fun learning which mobs to cc and which to burn down and boss mechanics. I learned to tank and heal with very, very relaxed players that enjoyed teaching. It's something that I've tried to pay forward whenever I can. Everyone was in the same euphoric state and having fun back then. WoW was way *grindier* then than it is now, but people weren't so damn bitter. These days a lot of veteran players have absolutely no patience for noobs wanting to learn. I get sick of seeing new healers and tanks getting trash talked in 5 mans, even when they're doing fine, just slow and awkward and maybe pulling things they shouldn't. Back then, you pulled one pack at a time and hoped to God you didn't aggro anything else. Take the "go go go FUCKING GOOOO!" mentality of current players in heroics (hell Mythics were DESIGNED around this mentality) and put them in Classic dungeons and it's not going to end well. Every expansion since probably Cata, I've watched as people trash talk players even on DAY ONE of the expansion because they fuck up on mechanics. Like how are you pissed someone is fucking up on the first day of an expansion?? The players are so incredibly toxic, it will never be the same as it used to be. You can play the old version of the game, but the old mentality of the players is long gone. I can guarantee you people fucking up mechanics in Classic will be roasted 10x harder than people playing the current version. Everyone will want to make sure you know that they know their shit and you don't.

[@Gankthewabit1]

been thinking about that alot as of late. Also times have changed, can not just go back to being that noob just starting, you know to much and its not brand new.

[@meta1152]

Don't worry. If the stress tests mean anything, players are extremely nice and helpful. Drive-by buffing. People handing you greens out of nowhere.

[@raytbrown2]

I hope (as I am sure do you) that this proves not to be true - that people prove to be their better selves, as they once were.

[@greymetamorphosis]

We shall see.

[@Wft-bu5zc]

I actually don't think this will be the case. I believe most people going back to Classic want that old sense of helpfulness/community and will try to be nicer and more forgiving. You also have consequences for acting like an ass, such as having to find another group (which could take a while) or getting a bad reputation. You can't just ragequit group and queue for another, never to see those people again. Yea there will definitely be toxicity, but it won't be as widespread as retail. I also think this will depend a lot on the server you choose. Avoid the highest pop PVP servers, which will have most of the elitists.

[@smithers4420]

Very well worded video :) Brb, calling mum to let her know I'm moving back into her attic. Anyone want to buy a car? GF thrown in for free

[@dabblesmith5755]

LoL!!!! I know right, it's been a long time... I'm just holding thumbs that my life will accommodate some of my new patch changes ;)

A GF is *never* free. Even if another man gives her to you.

[@jenking1000]

Bahahaha!!

[@illwillsquared]

i already still live in her attic, get rekt son

[@zwartz]

Where's the "divorce wife and undo baby"-button? I wan't to go back to that time, where everything was less complicated, so I can level my enhance shaman in peace!

[@jessegarris7037]

I agree with all of this, and I think that this video was really well done! With that said, the context in terms of time is important. Very few people playing classic will be new to the franchise. At the time there was excitement and wonder in the air at this game that had just come out and was blowing everyone's expectations. Everything was new to us-the world, the skills, the items, and we didn't know what was in store for the future of the game. It was a special time. With the re-release I just cant imagine all these elements you mentioned in the video being nearly as impactful and satisfying as they were before. There certainly is a ton of excitement FOR the re-release, and I think it will be an exciting time. BUT it's sure to be very different when you have a bunch of people who are very familiar(some even masters at the game-some who have been specifically mastering vanilla on private servers) playing- as opposed to to a bunch of noobs exploring a brand new and exciting fantasy. This is in no way to disagree with the points made in the video, but I do think that the context is important to think about!

[@Chris.B1111]

I remember this game, I spent half the time as a ghost looking for my dead body. And when I found it I would have to wait for other live players to come around and distract the still alive enemy so I can revive. Ahh the good days.

[@woochitelj]

TBC was probably the best EXPANSION (because vanilla is vanilla and is the best :) ), because they managed to preserve most of the aspects of vanilla but they gave game a bit of a faster pace (For example AV - you din't have to play it for 8-20hours to finish it but it still was an amazing BG). They kept the social aspect of it but made leveling a tad bit faster but that faster pace didn't matter because you still had that feeling of accomplishment for every hard quest you finished (everyone remember writing DING in chat whenever you lvlup? Getting to the next lvl was a big thing).

[@wilsontc123]

AV was horrible in TBC because of the auto clicker AFKers

[@DKolev-ge8uo]

Vanilla is terrible .... It's all about the nostalgia that hits players who used to play back then. No chance u can play this today. Was just iconic comparing it to the other games in 2004.

[@woochitelj]

You are wrong. I played it on Blizzlike private server and I enjoyed it much more than anything else that came out later.

[@lubu4u312]

I leveled a warlock to level 41 before nostralus went down a few years ago over the course of 3 months. It aged like wine. He was spot on when he said the fixed communities were the best part. Trade and general chats are lit up and people talk in parties, raids and pvp outside of screaming at each other in caps.

[@5abivt]

What’s wrong with 20 hour av lol ! Still have my 3367 kB - 0 deaths screen shot. Miss those days ! (Old talent trees were the best I was ret into holy shock back then)

[@Based_Chameleon]

One of the best videos on Classic WoW I've seen so far. Love it!

[@Maxamar90]

Cross realm was the last nail in the coffin for retail once server communities where gone it just turned in to a toxic environment.

[@alexgulino335]

Yeah I remember when that was implemented and the people became incredibly toxic and started stealing gear which led to the weird loot tables and stuff needing to be created etc..

[@alexthor8836]

Agreed. I read those patch notes with dread. No one I knew liked the idea, it ruined bg pvp when implemented. Then they expanded it to instances and leveling zones, sigh. I won't play classic if there isn't a community.

[@apemant]

Yes, exactly this.

[@dirtysilver2841]

I've seem to remember a completely different game than others. The game was growing rapidly and needed something to help with the wait times. It's tricky business trying to maintain a well active community of players who were growing toxic over the lack of game functions. I remember 10 guild mates left the game saying, "it's not fun anymore. Putting in hours to heard cats. I am sick of being the application reviewer." Remember raid applications? I do. I remember guilds breaking down after people got frustrated with the lack of reliability. This is why Blizzard took the actions it did. It's player base was already going toxic. By this time it was to late. It's easy to be the player from the inside and hate a change. I get it, said this once myself many years before. it wasn't until after I took a step back was the reason clear. Blizzard tried to improve the game for the better. Not that I am saying blizzard doesn't listen. They can clear improve in that department. I just saying it wasn't all blizzards doing. They simply reacted to a growing problem.

[@samishiikihaku]

I think its going to be amusing as all get out, the first week the servers go live when all the kids are crying about the difficulty on general. XD

[@isaacgoddard1506]

I’m still watching all your old vanilla videos. Love them!

[@DarkdeathTM]

Having been a player from the beginning, I absolutely love this video. Everything said was perfectly articulated and reminded me of how it was. Props on an amazing video.

[@therealdonaldoverwatch9311]

Am I the only one who thinks that this release will be a wonderful occasion for a parents/children bonding experience ? "yeah, I know son, this journey from Stormwind to the Scarlet Monastery is almost an hour but that builds character!" On second thought....

[@highmarshalhelbrecht4715]

Unless your child is a teenager don't worry about ever reaching scarlet monestry.

[@Jumoana]

Hey man i reached SM and further when i was eight, Vanilla was great at a young age and even better now.

[@shawneboy]

Community was definitely huge. You knew people personally. It would simetimes be funny seeing someone you knew in some weird ass place like Ferelas and coming up to them like bro what you up to? Oh leveling your herbalism, gotcha. Raiding really started dividing servers, though. Cherry picking was a bitch. You always knew when someone from your guild got lucky on raids and ended up geared quick, other guilds would try to poach them from you by luring them into the next tier of gear while your raiding group was still gearing up in MC/Ony. Loyalty was really a bitch come BWL etc. I'd love to play classic, but now I'm 36. I don't have the time that I know it takes to make the game fun. Classic wow, the game doesn't start until 60. It would probably take me months upon months to cap. Then having to do 4 hour raids... My kids and girl friend would never see me. Thanks for the memories WoW, but I can't return :(

[@Vas1984]

2 of my best wow friends was a lv 60 hunter called razerimp and a 60 warrior called manticore. I have no idea who the fuck these guys were irl lol no social media back then. I agree on the loyalty thing. I got pissed my guild picked a new noob rogue to go to ZG instead of me and the sword in there i worked hard to get dropped and this noob won it. I g quit and joined a wayyyy better guild that had MC, onyxia and BWL on farm and i got geared in tier 2 fast as fuck by default lol

[@ColinHarding]

This is such a good video. Every point you make is cogent, and exceptionally well put.

[@khaledsulevani8098]

omg 6 days left for classic im dying COME ON !!!!!!!!!!! ive waited for soooo long, finally i can go back to vanilla, them old memories so fun! :D

[@m.c.martin]

Khaled Sulevani Can external drives hold WOW lol 😂

[@heathermartinez2954]

@@m.c.martin lol that's how we played in highschool 😂😂

[@fandore12]

so, history repeats itself. see i have been around MMO's since an old game called Meridian 59, a 1995 game and technically, the "first" first person "live action" MMO ever to exist in the most directly way known today. UO would come out about a year later just as an honorable mention. Everquest was what took the PC world by storm when it came out, (some could say it was because of Meridian 59)it had a small, outlandishly crazy group of developers who dared to push the edge of development at that time. Sony, at the time was so shit scared of losing money that they branched off a small studio for these "nut-bag" developers who would create "Verant Interactive" a spin off from one of the 989 Studios in its early-1999's generations. Sony did not outright buy the studio back into its fold till it saw the full success of the game some years later on. keep in mind, most children at the time where still playing console based systems as MMOs, where and are PC based games. Everquest saw its end near the starting of WOW and i can tell you as one of the people who first played EQ from the first 15 mins the servers came online to when the first members who got to play WOW in its alpha state came online. I'd know a little about the state of MMOS and player based driven communities. so as a older, long time MMO player who has experienced WAY too much MMO gaming. i'd like to state some things that seem similar to WOW and EQ and the rise/fall of each account. 1) EQ was a game first developed primary for adults and catered to adult funding. there was a monthly charge and was sort of an unwritten rule that this game was really not for the kids... i think the box even stated VERY clearly the game was for 18 and up back then. this really was homed at the idea that EQ was to be styled more like a D&D game and would get the attention of the people who always dreamed to have a D&D game as a fully functional game where real risk and rewards meant something. THE GAME WAS HARD and no crying or bleating was going to change that. this was the price and age sort of think. make the game cost real money each month and in some sort of naive hope, parents would not buy the game for their kid. it worked for quite a long time too. 2) EQ fell under its own success, the game at the time had a great divide of players who where "KEYED" for zones and other players who where not. to give you an idea to this, its like me saying ok you see all these GOD battles? you want the loot they have, well you have to go to all these plane zones first, level up under each one, Key yourself into the zone to "unlock" it and then, god willing, you will have to sit around for HOURS to find a group which, in that time was the ONLY way to kill ANYTHING in that zone. it just became out of control and though people enjoyed a challenge, no one wanted to sit around plane of fear for five hours straight looking to get into a group or worse, find a camp spot with a group... ALL zones in EQ where contested... no dungeons like you see in wow... nope... everyone in the same area fighting for the same thing... deal with it! 3) WOW drew from the BEST ideas of everquest which, sadly they denied for YEARS but to be simple, BLIZZ got a lot of help from Original dev's of EQ... remember the Verant guys? yeah... them so yeah, some of the main devs came in to help WOW and BLIZZ knew it... there use to even be a whole forum dedicated to EQ players directly talking and connecting to blizz devs at the time asking what they liked about EQ, what they wish they could change Etc...Etc...etc. they promptly took this down right after the official release but fact is, WOW in some small part has EQ to thank for some of its main ideas such as group based zones. smaller raids and dear god, having to run all the way back to your corpse, not dead as some immortal wisp, but as your toon, fully naked and completely squishy. look it up, that was a real thing ... EQ was nuts some going to 90 man raids... try organizing that on a sunday night. and other things that just made the game overall more friendly to play as a casual gamer. "WOW is made for people who could not spend every waking hour to play EQ" is what a lot of EQ players where saying back then. in some basis of reality, it was true, but at the very same time, it was because it did set itself apart that made it so great... it did not take itself so seriously, it was fun, it was still challenging enough to hold interest and allowed people to play for a couple of hours and still feel as they got at least something done. 4) EQ would later take the trope for the worst and would start to change a lot of their games mechanics to reflect the changing in the times... it became easier, it was more accessible, and more "user friendly.. the game resimbles NOTHING of what it was when the game first started, much like how WOW has changed for the children and other players who thought even WOW was hard... the irony never precedes to be lost on me. so lastly, i'd like to talk just a little about why i think this is happening and what to do about it. to me its obvious. 1) there are two types of people, one who is a thinker and one that is more of a quick draw reaction type of person the thinker likes to use tactic and skill to come up with a plan and does not mind a challenging fight that, in come cases they may loose but overall, they would say that it only makes getting what they where there fore more worth it. then there is the person who is the quick draw reaction type people, they respond at quick notice and prefer dealing with a situation with tact. they enjoy a good battle but prefer taking something down in a reasonable amount of time and then moving on fairly quick to experience the next thing. these are not bad. they are just different sides of the mind set. 2) to fix this main problem, you just make two different worlds with two different experiences. this really is the best way to deal with the problem... PVP can remain the same... virtually nothing has to change as it is its own thing but the game environment and overall sets and or armor stats and or game play set for that type of game style should be within its set caliber. see i dont believe that people who want "classic" WOW are stuck into one point in WOW's history, i dont think that players would simply be unpleased just because a new expansion came out or progression happened in the story line... to be honest, i really believe the problem here is in expansions of WOW but what they fundamentally did to the game. the very act of changing such a main formula to the general game meant that the game had changed sooo much that, in itself, WOW was no longer.... WOW. if you made it to the very end of this long drawn out ramblings of my mad man like ideas and thoughts put together like a three year old, well then great on you, really you should feel proud. i hope i shed at least a little light on this subject in some form or way... i personally quit wow some time back at the end of WOTLK and the very thought of handing out epics like lollypops was a joke to me. heck i did not even like the fact that they changed almost every ones stats but thats just me.

[@dudlecore7358]

wow what a comment ..

[@dorianbeharic4712]

I read that whole thing where’s my epic! Lol jk but ya I agree with you man, it’d be cool if they re-did the vanilla servers and then did expansions to it again but just differently.. didn’t make so many bogus changes but just added more content

[@cattysplat]

I played some MMOs before WoW came out and just like Diablo 2 - loosing your equipment and a big chunk of xp, possibly even deleveling on death was a fundemental part of every single one of them. The risks were HUGE and the danger was immense, however dying or chain dying could be rage enducing, game quitting levels of frustration. Playing these games gave you huge highs and lows that were pretty stressful but mastery of the game and its world and discovering players to survive with gave long term players incredible satisfaction. When you look at modern MMOs you see that almost every single possibility of risk and inconvenience has been removed. This has made most MMOs play like an arcade or even a single player game. Everything is automated and it is very difficult to make a mistake with your character or gear, and is easily corrected with little consequence. You are absolutely spot on saying that modern WoW is no longer WoW, atleast not the game we played back in 2005. Almost everything about the game except the engine has fundamentally changed - it looks, sounds and feels like the same game, but you are playing in a padded room in a straitjacket with a teacher instead of a survivor in a hostile alien world with little direction. The two experiences are actually completely different, the idea that Retail WoW even came close to the intense risks/reward system of Vanilla is laughable, so I am glad Blizzard relented and accepts that there is a place for Vanilla WoW style gameplay, and maybe retail went very, very wrong along the way to make it more "accessible"

[@fandore12]

Thank You.

[@hiimphishy]

Agreed. Honestly, had the wow expansions kept the core principles that made vanilla so damn fun and immersive, I probably never would have quit the game, at least not for an extended period of time. After TBC, the game just got more and more removed from the immersive, community-driven adventure and became an arcade game where you just teleported directly to anything you wanted to do. I know there’s people that do not enjoy the 1-60 grind, but I can honestly say that when classic is released I will have most of my fun pre-60 just playing different classes and doing random things along the way. You could tell me that I’d have to delete my character at lvl 59 and I’d still play the shit out of it

[@Omega172]

I never played in Vanilla, rather, started in BC. But based on things I have heard people say about Vanilla, and especially looking at WoW now, it always struck me as though BC did the best job maintaining the soul of what made Vanilla great, while refining some of its rougher edges. It didn't necessarily do a perfect job mind you, but in general, I got the impression that was the best all around era for the game. But my perception may very well be biased since that is when I started.

[@Eener1000]

For me personally, BC made WoW already feel more like an amusement park ride then a real breathing world. Like everything was put there as a stage for players and made everything feel a little bit fake..., which for me was a bit of a letdown.

[@Omega172]

I'd say that was more the case with later expansions, Cata and onward, but I don't think BC had that issue. I didn't feel so at least.

[@dagasiqalli]

I played Vanilla WoW, and stopped and started again when Cata came out (I couldn't stand BC lol). I think for overall experience and immersion vanilla has everything beat like he says in the video. Personally for me, the most fun I've had for Pve/Raids and PvP was Cata.

[@kooken58]

Honestly I think Blizzards first major mistake with BC was making all previous content obsolete. Maybe this was their plan all along? I just think the game would be in a better state if they better thought out how they would approach making new expansions. There is so much content in the game and yet 90% of it is obsolete. Now we have even gotten to a point where previous patches in the same expansion become obsolete. But yeah I can agree with what Eener1000 said, I think Blizzard was trying to strike a balance between sandbox and themepark with Vanilla...While later expansions just went straight up sandbox and it ended up making the world feel smaller and less interesting in the process.

[@Omega172]

kooken58 I don't think they made all previous content obsolete with BC though. Sure, it became less meaningful, but when I played during BC I found questing through the world as interesting and exciting as reaching Outland for the first time or doing BC raids.

[@Magerquark]

One thing I always say is: Classic WoW used to be a real adventure where the character you played felt important and everything you did felt "real" as if you were diving into an actual fantasie WORLD. Todays WoW is filled with so many shortcuts to everything that it feels not far away from you beeing the game designer beeing able to teleport anywhere, get the highest level gear in just a couple days. At this point they should just add the command /itemlevel 950 so you don't have to run antorus lfr 5 times to get it

[@Tobnosh]

always have fond memories of wow from the beginning stopped at lvl 72-75 i think had few friends not sure how it was ending now days most have teleport everywhere and stuff to lvl up even faster in my wow days every lvl was fun but it probably dragged on as most had lvl 60 toons and wanted more content and later exp was about the end contend not the way up to in lvl but its probably most hardcore that wanna join the classic it may be a chore to walk long way but its how you do it, played a little kotor online but felt like wow but i cant remeber that i was walking that much as a big chore the good part in balancing is like rock paper scissors i think i have played alot of eso but are on a breake again its fun but as time past its more of a chore on a bad term dont now how to set the right feeling on it ofc if they have an unending lvl cap how can they make good of it for progression as fun for new and old players some dont like easy grind and on the otherside you wanna have a good fight but hate when you get a new one wow in they days was relaxing and fun setting up campfire on your hunt think i will let it be nostalgia for not to ruin the memories but mye there is a new game that will cover it, like its few on the way

[@sforseland]

I believe the average age on the classic servers 1 year in, will be 35. Great vid btw!

[@gordonreinz9849]

I’ll be 21

[@patriklala]

Gordon Reinz chances are small you will keep playing for a year.

[@michixlol]

Has nothing to do with age. I am also 21 and I am so sure that Vanilla is my style. The WoW now is not mine anymore. Until it was not possible anymore I even put out the quest points on the map and wanted to find the spots by the quest texts. Nowadays this isn't possible anymore, because the quest texts do not say south, east, west or north anymore. So this has nothing to do with age. Even though I started in WotLK, I know what is coming for me. And I'll love it, I know this. This is the WoW I always wanted. With my humble 21 years. A better reason to say, one would not play a year is that the game doesn't go on, or isn't planned so at least. It will always be stuck with the same Patch. And the game going on is a major point why so many people sticked with the game in the first place.

[@_mando]

I was only 9 when i started playing in 2006. I will for sure be playing Classic for the long run. Can't wait to relive my childhood

[@hzseveral4110]

I am 27 so i guess i will be 28 when classic release

[@Huzzahgamers_inc]

I don't know who wouldn't want to re-up to play Classic WoW on Blizzard servers if they started playing WoW with Vanilla/Classic. I know, even though I am 12 or 13 years older and am married an have kids, I wholeheartedly will be re-upping a week before launch. I miss the feeling of a full and populated server with people who actually play TOGETHER and don't screw each other over just because they think: "Who cares, I will be out of this zone soon anyway and that player will forget all about me, it's not like we will ever see each other again anyway." The biggest thing that makes me want to play Classic is simply the fact that players will finally have a reputation to uphold again and that was what made WoW worth playing in the first place. Also I think you nailed it when you said the game didn't make you feel like the hero, it made you feel like you were just another player, another warrior/druid/mage/hunter... Feeling like you were nothing compared to the world and the NPC's made you enjoy the experience of WoW MUCH MUCH more.

[@Plespirate]

Man, the nostalgic feeling that hit me after watching your video. By every point a memory popped back. Good job on this one and thx!

[@anton_zim]

Holy hell I watched your video from boredom , never thought to try classic , now IAM gonna

[@SleepzOkay]

Great video, I can't wait to level in Classic! There are so many little things I miss from that era that make your character stand out from the crowd and give you more of an RPG feel.

[@111vincento]

that one guy with a legendary weapon.....

[@alejandroruiz87]

I think we miss the time in context not the game itself. We had so much free time back in the day.

[@Diegoshadow85]

People often do that "nostalgia" right. But all these reasons from vid are valid. It's not only that I was 18 when I played and now I'm 29. I quit at the end of Wrath of the lich king just as many others. And the reason wasn't that I had no time or I got bored or w/e. The reason were looking for group between servers and most of all that real money shop. These were very tangible and "logical" reasons nothing to do with nostalgia. Also that's why I can't get hyped as much now because I lost trust in Blizzard... And all we have is their word which I don't believe in (with many reasons).

[@nairav9156]

I just don't feel challenged anymore in the WoW of now, it feels like my class only difference by texture. The game feels less human, because interaction with others feels not needed

[@dirtysilver2841]

@@Diegoshadow85 You must not remember the time when looking for a group was very time consuming and players began to complain about the wait times. Paying $12.99(USD) a month to hunt down people. People paying to find people. It's players like yourself that are the opposite side of the same coin ending the quality gaming content. They offered a solution to a big problem. A problem that was starting to take a toll on the player base. I remember guilds breaking up because players were getting tired of the same BS. Even more hilarious is instead of sticking around to offer positive criticism you jumped ship. Lastly, classic WoW has been available on thousands of private servers for FREE. Now you want to pay to have what is still available for FREE? Makes no sense and sounds like a bad investment to me. But hey, whatever makes you happy.

[@dirtysilver2841]

@@nairav9156 That I can somewhat agree on. Different roles are of course what makes the class. Otherwise, I'm not really a shaman, just a mage that calls upon the elements to cast the same glitter ball. I wouldn't be against making the mobs harder or take leveling progression to a milestone. Making leveling party base of at least 3 players. Hell even the NPC follower missions (something else that needs to go) require some team work. Matching up strengths and weaknesses. Here's what I don't want. $12.99 a month to play make up lost time. Lets compare entertainment to cost with say, Skyrim. I have well over 1k hours logged in skyrim. All I paid for was $60. Well in WoW that's only 4 1/2 months worth of time. 1 month is 730 hours... well... I have in well over 4 1/2 months of time invested in a game that I sure as hell did not play for 4 and 1/2 months straight. I also understand the difference between MMO and SP games. In that case, how about D3, Overwatch, Rift, SWOTR, and many others. I'm not trying to say it isn't any fun. I hope people have fun. Ultimately the cost DO NOT out way the rest of the gaming industry. Blizzard has to adapt to compete.

[@1Wade9]

Maybe. But that just means new, younger players with time on their hands will have a chance to experience the game in its former glory. Think of it like passing a valuable heirloom to a newer generation to enjoy.

[@SuperJixxer]

I will never return to retail ever again when classic release.

[@whyme4476]

The Dude Same.

[@stefannedevski6760]

You will be paying the sub, thus you will be in retail.. Just saying

[@whyme4476]

Stefan Nedevski Retail doesn’t refer to a sub. It refers to the current BS flavour of wow.

[@radekseky4571]

Do you still play it?

[@MrDaeltaja]

Incredible memories. I wonder though, without the sense of mystery and unknown, how it can get close to emulating those feelings. For me a large part of the drive to play was seeing other players and guilds conquer raids. I would look up to them in awe and it drove me to experiencing it all. I'll never forget the first Rag kill, or inching through BWL and finally ending up with full T2 Judgement and Hand of Ragnaros. I too felt like a god, and my guild meant everything to me, a second family if you will. But everything is now a known quantity and there's no more mystery. I'm not sure nostalgia will be enough, and I sure don't have the time anymore, but I'm still quite intrigued and will likely dip my toes in.

[@AwayFromTheWorld]

Great nostalgia, I don't think Classic WoW can be duplicated. The remake will have its own charms.

[@Assassunn]

I remember being so jealous of high levels guys because I couldn't wear a helmet before level 40 haha, good times

[@Nikitos253]

Back then epic items were actually epic

[@djdarklyceum]

I remember when the Unstoppable Force was a coveted weapon lmao!

[@allbies]

to a degree yes because you had to farm the hell out of those pieces still

[@Fyrlink]

Sally Vee that was the tbc prepatch if i’m not mistaken

[@peltsi3666]

That is exactly what i am thinking about of them epic's when i farm old raid's.. :D

[@АлександарМилаш]

Just like today's Mythic gear

[@kylewalker7209]

I never played vanilla WoW, but a lot of what Kargoz said reminded me of the early days of Final Fantasy XI. I loved that game , but getting literally anything done was a nightmare. Community was everything. When you saw another player with a certain weapon or piece of armour, you were genuinely impressed because you knew the work that player had put in. Oh and the world felt massive, because getting from place to place took forever, and there was no guarantee you'd make it in one piece.

[@Gankthewabit1]

Really great video. I remember the first time i Downloaded this thing called vent and herd people talking. I had no mic at the time and was like " wow man these people are so advanced!"

[@johanrevelid2067]

I never got the chance to experiance Classic / Vanilla Wow ..until now :) I started Jan 2007 , so TBC was my first experiance.

[@superbanana5670]

mine was wotlk

[@superbanana5670]

tbc is my favourite tho

[@Alkaabi-971]

Johan Revelid i

[@shoobror8291]

Started Jan 2007 aswell haha :D

[@dreamsteal4773]

I joined in 2005 and stopped 2 years ago

[@strongfp]

These are all sound reasons. And I have to agree. But, at the end of the day the industry changed, and classic MMO's are a thing of the past, and WoW needed to evolve to ensure it's survival and Blizz's cashcow. Which is why I am glad they are coming out with classic servers, because people like me who used to play it remember vanilla as the best times, it's what i liked.

[@josephmarino5504]

Patrick Strong true, but the amount of people they had back then vs now, is a huge difference. It made a strong character mean something. Now you need 8 geared out toons to stand out.

[@strongfp]

Highlighted in the video being caged into a single server was a huge part of the game. Local community meant you didn't really need to make multiple toons. Also it took a long time to level from 0 - 60, or 70 if you started in BC.

[@LlamasAreBest]

Patrick Strong Also, people weren’t huge dicks like now. Otherwise no one on the server would want any thing to do with you.

[@Asmodi16]

Oh sweet memories... grinding for 3 levels because there aren't enough quests to get to the next Zone XD Fun times back then, but i dont know if I can enjoy the game the same way.

[@anthonyinfelise2451]

The nostalgia just watching these videos. I can’t wait to get into the game and see it in its original form again. Such a huge part of me getting into gaming as a kid. I didn’t realize how excited I was for this until these videos started to come out. Good ole days type of feel for sure I can’t wait

[@altanata5060]

i admit that heirloom items made the game soooo easy. People were fighting in wintersgrasp, there were unending fights in the middle of Shrine of Seven Stars, draenor was a place of unexplored lands and legion is no words to say. I have so much memory in those but now when i play a new character, all of that memories ends in around 3 hours.That's so sad :(

[@yourface07]

Levelling isn't as enjoyable anymore. They have removed the sense of achievement. I was happy to travel all the way back to my trainer for a stronger spell.

[@TheByron130]

I couldn't agree more. It may seem odd, but for me removing the need for class trainers did more damage to leveling and over all immersion than anything else ever did.

[@izicial7469]

Vanilla leveling sucks just as much as retail leveling. Both are a tedious grind its just that retail is faster.

[@yourface07]

Bryan Rolston totally man. I'm shocked to find how everything is given to the player on a silver platter.

[@yourface07]

Izicial I see what you're saying but I enjoyed vanilla levelling 3 times as much as this current levelling system. I used to get really excited to find out what my trainer had to teach me. Also, I had to save up to pay for the upgrade. And I used to be motivated by the new talent point every two levels.

[@Kjernekar]

Especially because EVERYONE ELSE had to do it, so it didn't feel unfair or boring. You FELT the impact a skilled up ability had on your leveling, and you knew it was because you saved the money and took the time to travel to get it.

[@ErikWidlund]

I almost started to cry when I saw the portal at the end of the video :D I loved the first WoW.

[@Spika94]

You hit the nail so perfectly with this video. One thing that really annoys me to no end in the live game is the fact that I constantly hear about these people needing their 12th alt at max level. (or even in some cases 40th! Yes, I have talked with one of those!!)... A community just can't exist with people like this. You will rarely, if EVER, run into the same person because they are not only sharded, but they are also playing on one of their 12-40 alts. The community tab thing they introduced in BFA to me just sounds like yet another "Blizzard yet again misunderstands what we (I anyway) actually want".

[@Ap3n562]

funny how those reasons can be why you play or why you will not play...... i believe this sense of one toon is great.... if i can have another i will want it and as i can't do it.... because i have work and a child to take care.....so i would fell really bad about it and probably quit after sometime.... specially because i love to play a healer..... and healers would deal almost no damage hahaha....so....i believe there are people out there that can play it, but for me, it's impossible.... i do like the power to talk to my friends.... have some progression alone because i can't login at the same time as everyone.... i can't even find time to meet all my friends, every time someone must do another thing.... so flex raid system helps a lot.... you see, the better part os WoW classic has nothing to do with WoW at all, it was our lives that was by far better for games.... we could play for 12 hours and the worst part would be your parents yelling at you to go shower, nothing much worse.....now? if i don't cook my own food i will not eat, if i sleep too late and don't wake up i can lose a job and not school which you can recover the time lost ...... so, sorry for the long comment. but it would not take me months to get to lvl 60.... would probably take a whole year.... do raid and stuff? forget it.... another point.... what will happen like.... 5 years from now.... will we stay in the same vanilla content from launch? will there be BC, WotLK? if so..... the changes that made people leave WoW will stay out? like dungeon finder? sorry i can't see how WoW vanilla can really have a long life.....

[@eddiemitza2544]

I really enjoyed the fact that you actually had to read the quest description to know where to go and what to do, no quest locations marked on your map. Deal with it. But I have to admit that Wotlk was my favorite expansion, I think it had the most balanced PVP. Armor penetration Arms Warrior, baby.

[@ramsoncole4605]

Yea! Barren's chat again!!

[@Bjarkenb]

Barrens chat - the Kodo Graveyard of braincells

[@Soda88]

Chuck Norris jokes

[@Hersatz]

I miss the old mmos' days so bad, man... It was hard. When you saw a high leveled, full stuffed char, you were in awe. It's not the same anymore... I can up a damn character from scratch in a few week to max level with full stuff on a casual gaming mode.

[@twohseven]

late 90s - early 00's the best gaming days, when all the good stuff was still relevant and not badly rehashed

[@etarheel1]

You actually had to have a brain to be worth a crap back then. Then they killed the game due to sheer greed from blizzard. I miss it so much but will not support blizzard for taking from me a part of my life I really enjoyed.

[@bertvsrob]

i missed classic as i joined the day tbc came out - but this video captures a lot of the zeitgeist i remember from back then, back before the whole 'you are the hero, give us your money' feel

[@DrRickDagless]

TRT VITOR even in TBC they rained the loot on you in comparison. Not trying to be elitist about it. I still remember getting blue items from quests when starting TBC and being like “holy crap they are giving away blues and greens with proper stats!”

[@bertvsrob]

im aware it was largely a revamp, thats why i talked about its feel not its loot =p

[@tp6498]

Man I stopped playing WOW in 2012 but you've brought back so many memories for me, I'm definitely going to give classic another go around when it's released. Thanks and God bless.

[@igorlegostaev9199]

bro< i cant even explain how much you hit the spot. every single thing you talk about is bringing me back years ago when i played it. I just love all the imperfections that had purpose to it. the most importantly the grind that was necessary to get the damn blue axe or that first cloak in that monastery dungeon or the shield for lvl 25 or whatever that was! love it brother!!!!!!!!

[@DefcampMelderonTV]

This video dude: perfection

[@Melethrion]

This is so incredibly precise, it's yaw-dropping! EXCELLENT description! Srsly guys, he is not exaggerating at all, it truly has been the (E-P-I-C) way he tells it here. Those feelings are without comparison to this day. EVERYTHING felt perfect, exclusive and EPIC in vanilla, up to the very details of the marvelous ingame-soundtrack. The game l-i-t-e-r-a-l-l-y _sucked_ you into the *world of Warcraft* back then! It was highly addictive just by its design(!), without all the sales-psychology involved like it is today by trying to soft-force ppl into playing wow all day. THANKS for this glorious memory-recall! :)

[@sethmorrell3195]

The lv60 warlock mount chain quest was still an accomplishment in my book 😂

[@fingollennc7715]

Thanks for the great video. I’m returning to WOW after being away for years and your video evoked memories of nights and weekends spent with RL fiends raiding in Vanilla.

[@Titi-pu2hl]

I didnt play vanilla back in the days, i started playing wow with MoP. I tried classic with Nostalrius and absolutely fell in love with it, I leveled 3 lvl 60 in Nostalrius and Elysium and many lower level rerolls. I stopped playing for like 2 years now because of private servers shutdowns and i already have nostalgia. I cant wait to play classic again miss it so much.

[@SonnyR4K]

Wow spot on man, i agree with everything you said

[@kargozgaming]

Thanks very much for the kind feedback Funtcase, it is much appreciated. Have a great weekend mate!

[@marcleblanc3225]

Everything about this is wrong. The leveling experience in classic was shit. You hit areas with zero quests and zones with no loot tables. At all. Not even trash loot. It was a total shitfest compared to the current game. Classic servers will be dead in 3 months, even Blizzard's official launch statement mentioned taking off your rose tinted goggles. As for the "class identity" every class received major overhauls in vanilla due to how poorly they were designed on release. Fuck, even the stat of spirit underwent a massive overhaul shortly before release.

[@ejk96Mhs]

Omg this is the best video I've ever seen. I literally cannot wait to blow my life away and do nothing but play vanilla ❤️❤️

[@edwincervantes3266]

Weard

[@evotme9995]

Virgin.

[@kylehofmeister6906]

Reason #1, it was actually good. I don't believe how much they actually ruined the game. I was playing on a private vanilla server and having a lot of fun, even with the bugs that come with private servers. 2 days ago I resubbbed to WoW, started playing a low level character in full heirloom gear, played for a few hours and deactivated my sub. The game is terrible. Zero sense of exploration, zero progression wearing the heirloom gear. Running past mining nodes and plants because low level they don't mean anything anymore. You don't get excited for a quest reward or dungeon drops. Nobody is interacting in the world. High level content might be better but I read they don't even reward pvp gear anymore. When they ruined the low level experience, they ruined the game. Then they have the audacity for you to pay them for a lvl 100 character to skip all that content. You pay to skip content. Let that sink in.

[@SarajevoShotz]

Leveling content = old content. Why would you want to replay that more than you need to?

[@kylehofmeister6906]

Because I paid to play it. It would allow new players to come into the game and actually see people and level with them. Have you never played through a game a few times fun for the fun of it? I'm sure most people here have beaten Ocarina of Time a few times unless they're younger. I'm not plugging ESO cause I think its a way different game but I just started playing it, I'm level 12 and they are people all around me doing quests and leveling and collecting things. They aren't just sitting in cities waiting for there queue to pop. Nobody has complained about having to level alts either. Old wow made you feel like you were building a Grand castle. New wow feels like your playing in a prebuilt cardboard castle. It's just my opinion.

[@grim86]

Then don't fucking wear heirloom gear you dumbass. The game is great right now. The story is great and i love it compared to the terrible story in vanilla. Been playing since vanilla and never do i want to go back to that grind fest

[@danielwoods3896]

Yeah, hell no, I don't want to do the same quests again for weeks if not months to get to the new content.

[@someone-ji2zb]

While blizzard had plenty of chances to revert changes over the years/expansions... the sad truth is that players were in outcry for a LFD system, something like dual spec being added, and even smaller things like transmog. No one really assumed it would detract from the game as much as they did, but to be fair, Blizzard wasn't completely stupid for trying them out... but rather just not realizing it was killing their game and making a transition back.

[@alexmillar8312]

I also remember Hogger in Elwyn forest. In Vanilla you needed a group to take him down. I tried it solo when I first started playing just after Wow first began in the UK and got my head handed to me in no time. I am definitely gonna be signing up for Wow Classic. I just have to see if is as good as I remember, or is it just rose tinted gnomish goggles.

[@j3ro1974]

So true, you heard about him, but didn’t want to meet him ... at least not as a lowly underarmoured level 5. 😉

[@alexmillar8312]

@@j3ro1974 yeah even Goldtooth at the mines was a tough cookie. Having to fight through the mines to get to him only to have him one shot you because your gear was crap.

[@fritzschnitzmueller3768]

The lore and overall story of classic WoW is just freaking good. You start as small foot soldier, doing simple work in some outposts and help the people there and as you level up you get to know that there are evil forces in the world (Blackrock, Silithids, Demons,..). It's just so fucking immersive man and feels so realistic. The world is just erfect

[@2WhiteAndNerdy]

Nailed it. Main reason I loved classic was the social aspect of it. I returned to Azeroth a few years back and it seemed that sense of server community was all but gone. Was tough to find anybody in any given zone to partner up to quest and most people didn't even want to be bothered to talk. All the updates seemed awesome to be honest, but the ways the community changed depressed me, so I quit again. I'll definitely be playing again with the upcoming release of Classic, though! SOOOOO glad Blizzard's doing that.

[@MichaelNNY]

Me exactly. Wow today is a desert with nobody around (because of phasing).

[@1Wade9]

Why can't there be expansions to classic, but ones that still maintain the spirit and style of gameplay of vanilla? Nothing wrong with higher level caps and better graphics in my opinion as long they don't destroy the underlying fabric of classic game play. It's like going from playing basketball in a small high school stadium to a well-funded college one. More frills and spectacle maybe but same game at its core either way.

[@andrewcleary9952]

#1: No Cataclysm #2: No Cataclysm #3: No Cataclysm #4: No Cataclysm #5: Finally, that tome of a manual that came with Vanilla will be relevant and up-to-date again.

[@malaalzhan1405]

My god, you just reminded me that existed, better pull it out.

[@eldesk69]

I have it! Hahaja

[@ladypilliwick8179]

Very well done. I played vanilla.... quit ten years ago....I know where every screen shot you did is I will be starting up a warcraft character

[@BarriePoole]

This gave me Goosebumps dude. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. I started playing wow back in 2007 so BC was just launched and I only experienced some of this but not exactly the whole experience of Vanilla. I've played Legacy private servers for years. but the fact that this is the legit thing now, my mind is blown. Anxiously awaiting the 27th! Cheers!

[@christianempire3909]

Played all of Blizzard's early titles (save for Warcraft I)--Diablo I, Diablo II, Warcraft II and Warcraft III, but never played World of Warcraft due to health issues I was having at the time. And after reading how addictive it was in the mid to late 2000's, I decided to abstain because I wanted to have a life. I'm tempted to play WoW classic now, however...

[@hadmatter9240]

Time is a commodity for us now. Classic will be one helluva grind.

[@BIGDREAMHEEM]

Maaaaaaan I remember saving up as a night elf. I ran to Darnassus and bought that damn striped dawnsaber and rode past them Noobs like “SLOW ASS NIGGAS”. Then got killed by a undead rogue in darkshore 😂😂😂😂. Vanilla WoW brutally teaches humility.

[@MadOrange644]

Reasons you shouldn’t: 1- It’ll suck the life out of you. 2- The Burning Crusader is what fixed all Vanilla issues.

[@MadOrange644]

@Rev Run A lot of quality of life stuff + They introduced my favorite characters in WoW (Blood Elves & Draenei).

[@tomazravljen8984]

@@MadOrange644 didn't really tell much with that, except that vanilla does not have your favorite races.. :D

[@rrutter81]

i disagree. tbc was the beginning of the end. homogenizing classes. flying. (no more running past questers) end of 40 mans. +10 levels for no reason other than to explore the new world. replacing epics with greens no thx. you can keep tbc when/if it launches

[@otbaht]

I remember in vanilla people love having me join them for raids for one reason. I was a warlock who volunteered to do curse of shadows or elements instead of complaining about it being assigned to me. That plus i would try to give everyone health stones by instead of fighting for the first bit before a boss i would keep making handing out the stones and only stopping to drain the souls of the mobs as they died. apparently that was a big deal compared to most warlocks wanting top leet dps.

[@jokester3969]

You must have sounded like the hero gotham needed. Doing what no one else would.

[@Laurannah101]

God, i can't wait. Wow was not my first MMO but it had the fondest memories for me. I loved world pvp, that guilds felt like family, you had server pride.

[@Northbound040]

Great video! More in depth than I thought it would be, and you brought up great points and memories from way back when.

[@barnexus9994]

I cried watching this. Thank you! I quit WoW but it feels good to remember those days of Vanilla.

[@eu3145]

cannot wait to play it again, i really hope Blizzard eventually will give to the players a release date at Blizzcon !

[@Vitalabyss]

Man, I loved this. This is one of the few videos I have found that actually 'gets it'. And I am an old guard looking forward to returning to Classic... I remember a guy ninjaing a piece of gear around level 40 (He was a rogue who rolled Need on a plate piece). We denounced him in Ogrimmar and within a week, his name never again appeared in any chats, people refused to play with him because they didn't want to risk losing out on good gear. Community mattered in Classic, Personal Honor mattered, integrity and skill mattered, because the game was hard and we all needed each other... and I look forward to being apart of that again. You would see a player getting ganked and you'd join the fray, not because you owed them anything or needed the 5-15 honor points, but in the hopes of driving away the attacker either to preventing your own ganking or to teach the bastard a lesson. It's also how you formed groups. You'd help a guy out and then join together because of safety in numbers... Thanks for the awesome video.

[@Florishh]

i've also noticed how some mobs of the same level are much tougher then other ones or they would hit incredibly hard when you dont expect it, this usually happens when you leave a zone to another and start questing there and all suddenly it takes 3 to 4 hits and your dead, what i also really like is how you really had to come up with a different strategy in each zone on how you would tackle certain quests, i found myself alot of times closed in by mobs respawning and it's a real chore to even get out of there once i had all the items needed to complete te quest, even getting out alive kinda feels like an acomplishment because you couldnt just zerg everything down. other then that awesome video man very enjoyable to watch!!

[@DefcampMelderonTV]

Amazing video, Kargoz!

[@kargozgaming]

Thanks Defcamp + Melderon, I've been following your channel as of late - great stuff! enjoyed the recent super plate bros episode in the stockades :) have a great one

[@DefcampMelderonTV]

Thanks so much! That means a lot, Kargoz. You do the same, my man

[@theskyrimcourier7625]

"You think you do, but you don't"

[@danielevans9367]

I think all of the people commenting should join one server and form a community in the spirit of this video!!

[@lotharworks]

i remember the good old days of AV not the zerg rush it is now, once spent a full night in the same battle as it would be deadlocked to the pass leading up to our base only for us to summon the tree and push back, bodies everywhere, players running off to kill the mobs to get stuff just so they could repair and get back to the fight and then the terror of seeing someone with 1 of the 2 legendary weapons on the battlefield :D happy times

[@ALLINCLUSIVE2k]

i remember asking my brother if i can idle some easy quests for him when he was out with friends or something he always told me not to jump of anything high or buy stuff hahahahaha i just loved flying on his gryphon (nohomo) now i will experience the greatness he experienced when he was as old as i am now...

[@andruism7]

I just want to say that while I'm certainly looking forward to playing classic again, I am under no illusions that the original WoW was the best. I do hear people saying all the time that everything after classic was garbage, but I look at a number of features that were missing at the time and have to say that, despite the far superior sense of community, identity, challenge, and a real sense of progression, a ton of modern updates are almost critical to a solo player like me. For example, while I'm not a fan of cross-realm LFG tool for anything other than leveling purposes, I DO approve of it if it's within your server. Helps you get to know new random people without having to spam LFG chat. And while I'm not a fan of homogenizing abilities (ESPECIALLY since half the time it means just getting rid of or nerfing an awesome ability one class had), I DO appreciate some semblance of class balance instead of 'fear dot dot dot shadowbolt shadowbolt fear shadowbolt dead' or 'sheep pyro pompyro dead' or 'rogue lol dead'. But I think most importantly, being tunneled into ONLY healing as a hybrid class like shaman, druid, or paladin. I guess I'm just one of those guys who feels like going back to the basics of Classic WoW is great in spirit, but not so great in execution, and would have preferred a few tweaks (like raids dropping dps paladin gear, or actually having druids be viable tanks, etc.)

[@gregriba6896]

U just wrong u will find out

[@andruism7]

@@gregriba6896 You realize I actually played vanilla when it was out, right

[@Asadarion]

You talk about things i never knew i miss ... great videos!

[@andersforesti4035]

what a nice video, gave off a perfect vibe, makes me wanna play vanilla

[@Rhiancarnate]

So well put. Such an iconic game. So much mystery in the world and so much reverence for the high ranked players with T2 and T3 pieces. This video almost made me weep. I’m going to have to play once again.