Top 10 Reasons Why WoW Became So Popular

[@madseasonshow]

Honorable mention to the soundtrack. Post your own here...10 is definitely too little for what this game brought to the table. Thanks for watching. Become a member for various perks, such as early access to videos: kzbin.info/door/Ovz3kkYZtCTeXKdiuMG8egjoin

[@wigglesbee]

peepee

[@phatimuscauck9995]

I love you MadSeason❤❤❤

[@throatwobblermangrove8510]

Some of the soundtrack has been decent. Grizzly Hills soundtrack encouraged me to permanently disable background music in the game.

[@abaddon6579]

I loved the WoD soundtrack.

[@Norrieification]

My top 10: 1. Continuing what WC3 started (I played WC2 and 1 first, but little of those made it into WoW, other than WC2 in WoD, there’s not even that much WC2 in TBC, especially for horde). 2. Best combination of veritical and horizontal progression for its time (IE you can progress to harder and harder difficulties -vertical- but there’s so much to explore at your leisure too! -horizontal-). 3. The social nature of it, teamspeak, vent, and discord brought a lot to it. 4. It’s cultural influence, eapecially at the time. It broke into the mainstream.

[@16thCenturyDutchman]

Two things I would add: The music was incredible, and the existing lore with years of development.

[@crysosisback7115]

First time hearing stormwind's music : "Shit, that's fucking lit" 1000th's time hearing it : Colicere Salutare! Coa Praesto Matuere! Foriceno Ventu Safe! Fenlere Relari, Toli Celi Oa! Volare! [Deci Evare, Deci Evare! Deci Eleva, Deci Qutare Ma! Deci Evare, Deci Evare! Deci Eleva, Deci Qutare Ma! Oa, Oa Vera! Safa Irece Fere Fuco Hera Baci Cela Fara! Odessa Coiro Falecere Endico Odessa Acila! Falere Elsora, Fata Ma!

[@rexyoung4613]

With music in WoW, the standard is amazing and the heights are legendary! I love the lore too! shoutout to Nobbel87

[@despot666]

On the lore piece, Warcraft 3 was very successful and had a fantastic story. Having WoW continue where WC 3 left off attracted many players. The other things I would add are (1) sound design for literally everything from spell / ability noises, to crafting and gathering, to monsters (who can ever forget the murlock sound after hearing it once?); (2) loot taking effort to acquire and the best items being bind on equip except for a few exceptions; and (3) little incidental things like art design of icons for example. I don’t know why but even though all icons for everything in the game are exactly the same size and shape there is something very charming and attractive about them. They’re almost subliminal. It’s weird.

[@theremix54]

The lore had less then 0.0001 percent of an effect. 99% of the playerbase cannot answer basic questions on it

[@JeanDoeShow]

Fully agree. Seeing as I was really into the lore (played Warcraft 1, 2 and 3 a lot), the idea of walking around in that world, meeting the characters from prior games was and actually going through those areas was something I was really looking forward to!

[@IAmLubes]

The music for me did something special. Especially the music surrounding the Lich King, and the nostalgia of Stormwind/Elwynn.

[@madseasonshow]

Westfall unlocks core nostalgiac memories for me

[@borgereater8606]

Grizzly Hills music just slaps. Fav zone in wotlk.

[@lindgren80]

The music is one of the most important things for me when it comes to wow classic. I really liked TBC and WOTLK aswell. After that it went downhill.

[@literallywho1440]

This does it for me too, especially now. When I go through Dun Morogh or Ashenvale I always get that deep feeling of nostalgia and wanting to go back to childhood in order to experience it all again

[@shatteredstar9565]

For me it was Wailing Caves. That music can be found in various locations, great music.

[@MasterFatness]

I am not even remotely ashamed to say that I was addicted to World of Warcraft between 2005-2007. The game was as close as you can get to digital heroin. It truly was an entirely new "world" to delve into, especially for socially disinclined teenagers such as myself at the time. The 2000s gaming experience was something different. One might say it was an age of gaming, before gaming broke through to the mainstream, and World of Warcraft was definetely a big part of that push.

[@iwatchedthevideo7115]

100 percent. I still have contact with friends I made during those years. Man it was good times

[@mcfarvo]

I had lots of friends IRL in highschool and college, so Friday-Sunday, I would hang out with them, but Mon-Thurs I would hop onto WoW to play with my IG friends!

[@PretentiousLatinName]

For sure. I literally had “jocks” from high school come join me on WoW because they heard of how fun of a game it was and thus began their own addiction lol

[@AmongRevenants]

It wasn't called Warcrack back in the day without good reason. Hopelessly addicted from og Wrath to the end of WoD. And now I find myself once again addicted. This time to SoDcrack :)

[@iwatchedthevideo7115]

@@AmongRevenants Haha, you and me both. Havent played for several expansions, but find myself loving SoD and getting back with the old gang for some raiding and ganking :)

[@cooleobrad]

Another thing to mention is that WoW released 1 year after the Lord of the Rings trilogy had wrapped up, so the fantasy genre was definitely on the public's radar in a big way at that time.

[@CoNteMpTone]

It really was a perfect strom.

[@Nishinga.]

That madseason intro is one of the greatest sounds one can experience in life

[@Mayokopp]

Seriously that will never fail to get me excited

[@brandonbeimert8404]

I only heard it for the first time a couple of years ago but every time I hear it for some reason it brings me back to the 2000's playing WoW with my boys when that was all that mattered in life.

[@snuffeldjuret]

especially when it triggers the excitement of wow classic release :)

[@Zynnerr]

Bro Idk why but that intro feels soooo nostalgic and I can never get tired of it, such a masterpiece

[@codllc]

I hit like as soon as the intro plays.

[@slimebuck]

warcraft 3 was such a good game I feel that games reputation is a major reason why wow started off so well.

[@EnderGoku9001]

especially for wrath of the lich king

[@augustday9483]

This is the true secret to WoW's success that 99% of "WoW killers" failed to grasp. Warcraft already had a huge existing playerbase of excited fans that'd been built up from three previous successful RTS games. Not to mention overlap with their other series like Diablo. This is how WoW had so much hype and hit the ground running with a dedicated playerbase. All the copy-cats just jumped right into releasing an MMO without finding a playerbase yet, so they inevitably died. It's no coincidence that the other big MMO today, Final Fantasy 14, also happens to be part of a long and venerated series.

[@Veslanjejezivot]

Still is

[@JetPackDino]

I used to joke that WoW wasn't a game you played, it was a place you went to live. Great video! This is a good day now

[@t2d748]

It was a game that played you

[@henryhardfoot]

​@@t2d748 fr tho... when it first came out, my grades plummeted 😂

[@milesmorales5271]

Wow is the one game I’ve never been able to fully “quit”. Even when I stop playing for years at a time, I still watch content videos of it on KZbin and Twitch. I don’t think it’s an addiction. I just accepted that it really is just that good. It’s objectively the greatest MMO of all time.

[@davidaleksovski8717]

I feel you, I've quit / came back like 50 times in the past 15-20 years. It's just that damn good

[@NotAnotherCar]

100% agree. Watching this video makes me want to play. I have too many responsibilities to have the time. But, I have the urge to play

[@s1xto]

Same dude, quitted nearly 1,5 year ago but after seeing this video and hearing the nostalgic music and seeing the all-too familiar graphics im tempted to buy game time and go back again even though i feel it will get boring quickly

[@Alexander-zm9jd]

Haha, same boat as u dudes. Even though i am not playing I am still consuming wow content bc its the best

[@martinheljedal7670]

Its exactly the same for me. Havent played for real since 2015 and I still watch and enjoy these videos 😁

[@camma12]

I think one major thing wow has over EVERY other mmo and one that constantly goes unnoticed/overlooked is movement, no other mmo comes close to how good wow feels with just moving your character around and the responiveness of it to the point that I'll play other mmo's move my character around and go "na this aint it brah" and log off.

[@MrDutchmarshal]

I don't like this specific game but black desert has great/better movement right?

[@camma12]

@@MrDutchmarshal BDO has some of the worst movement imo it's like trying to control a tank

[@Xylarxcode]

FF14 has an extremely customizable set up and handles like a dream to me. I never struggled with movement in WoW either but I wouldn't say it was the best. It was exactly what I expected. No more, no less. It's something you don't really pay attention to unless it's not working like it should and then it becomes extremely irritating. WoW never made me think about it, which means it was good. FF14 had me struggle for a little while at the beginning but once I had everything set up how I wanted it, I never thought about it again. WoW was more intuitive, but FF14 was more personalized. Hard to say which is better, but both had me going through the game with everything set up exactly how I like it and I never had to give it another thought and that's all I can ask from any game, MMO or otherwise.

[@trevors6379]

WoW has the best controls of any video game ever, not just MMOs. No other game compares. In WoW, you can always make your character do what you want them to do, controls never get in your way. No other game can say that

[@digitalskill]

Something that I always think about that really is WHY I got hooked when I was younger was how well designed the starting zones were. They're all so memorable. Between the music and simplicity of quests it's no wonder it immediately hooked me. And just immediately being able to explore what I thought was such a huge area was nuts. To this day the music sends me into a nostalgic, gut-wrenching spiral lol.

[@lolGestallt]

30 year old boomer here. I just want to emphasis how unique it was back then to have the ability to play together with your friends, without having to go to their place or vice versa. While ease of access and good game play surely are necessary to create a popular game, the Social component is what supercharged WOW in my opinion. *sips Monster energy zero ultra* Vanila and TBC were truly the best.

[@TreesPlease42]

The social component is what made it so special! It was brand new having an open world like that to connect and interact

[@Shruikin]

30 year olds aren't boomers :p

[@arthas236]

@@Shruikin yeah lol, I was born in 2001, and he is only 9 years older than me.

[@humanmerelybeing1966]

I think WoW was less social than the other popular MMORPGs because you weren’t forced to play with a party at all times. The social component was really important but it was actually making it less central to the gameplay that made WoW work.

[@Trenz0]

Lmao, why is the white monster such a boomer symbol?

[@keithginn6529]

I remember being drawn in by the box art as a 14 year old nerd. I had played games with my dad and older brother, but never anything like WoW. 20 years later I can still remember that feeling of first entering Ironforge, or crossing the bridge into Stormwind. Thanks for the fine video, MadSeason!

[@saintuk70]

It was so different at the time, even with the cartoony graphics. I came from SWG to WoW on release day, and gawd that was a nightmare in the UK, and was just so epic.

[@MasterFatness]

Also, do not underestimate the fact that WoW came out in the wake of Lord of the Rings, which was and still is one of the largest fantasy franchises ever. LOTR undoubtedly helped heighten interest in the MMORPG genre at the time. People were hungry for fantasy adventures, and World of Warcraft provided an almost perfect outlet for these urges. I certainly know that this was the case for myself and loads of my friends.

[@c0mpoot3rn3rd]

I always thought a lot of the music benefited from that as well

[@woodrainmudd7684]

I didn't know it then but the years 2004-2011 were the best years of my life. I remember owning my own home going into the backyard with my iPod listening to the instance.

[@foxfjre]

The music really is what gave the world its character imo. I was late to the party - joining shortly after Wrath launch, but I spent my first 2 days just... running around (often as a Wisp lol) through all of the zones - their size was insane to me, and the music is the perfect backdrop for running around exploring. It was the best thing ever. I envy those who witnessed those early days. True vanilla and its community must have been amazing (compared to today's community). Nostalrius was great, but I'll never know how different even that was in comparison.

[@MrTeniguafez]

One thing that attracted me to WoW was the fact that monster races weren't necessarily evil. That's still pretty rare even today in the fantasy genre.

[@MonsterJuiced]

That 8 bit Rammstein holy shit man, nice choice!

[@TheDerpp]

all these years later and i will never get sick of WoW content about the old world

[@timmyborgir8374]

The chorus from 16 bit version of Sonne hitting right as #9 showed up : 10/10

[@PawelCizi]

You nailed it Madseason. I have tried a few times to explain to my friends what was happening to me between 2005 and 2007. I can get some of my thoughts out, but this video sums everything up so completely. Good content.

[@pftgfhbk]

Hey, bro. You are a valuable member of this community and your content is among the top. Don’t leave us for a long time - there are tons of content waiting for you and your expertise. Give us more wow content, more Cata content

[@Lucarocks92]

I'm so happy madseason is back. That intro music is so relaxing.

[@ericsoderberg6066]

Luckiecharms here, took me 3 lockouts but I finally got ST cleared, thx for the group. :p Also great vid, big fan of your SW Galaxy vid too despite never playing

[@madseasonshow]

Nice dude! Thanks, that video is actually my favorite on the channel

[@chrisschneider4085]

I started right before TBC came out, I started a night elf Druid and running around Teldrassil with the amazing music killing monsters and waving and chatting with random players had me hooked. I spent about 3 years playing on average about 10 hours a day. My record was actually 37 straight hours playing with my buddy trying to get better pvp gear. Ahhh the good ole days

[@ifritto]

Honestly, the social media point had never even occurred to me, and now that you pointed out, that is absolutely part of what made the original release lightning in a bottle. It truly was the perfect storm! The exact same game in the modern era (2019 classic) wouldn't and doesn't have the same effect, because that's not a novel concept anymore and we are all chronically online already

[@nauscakes1868]

I remember one of the big reasons for me was being able to do a quest during a school lunch break. Prior to WoW, I played FF11, and in that game, it took literal hours to do anything. Heck, even using an airship from one city to another was a 15-20 minute ordeal. And you couldn't level up without finding a party. So back when I was in high school, I couldn't really do much in the game with an hour lunch break. Nor could I do anything in the morning. But WoW's single player-esq questing changed everything for me

[@lachlank.8270]

Cannot be emphasised enough how bad soloing in FF11 was

[@dizz81]

My best friend kept bugging me to try WoW when TBC launched because he figured I'd like the game. So he sent me a 7 day trial link and I gave it a shot. Can't tell you how many days of sleep I lost or how many times I called off work because I got hooked. Still playing to this day and this video brought back so many great memories I've had over the years playing with random people I've met and made friends with in game. Crazy to think back on everything and all those old school videos brought back a lot of good laughs too. Awesome video man.

[@UnsavourySalad]

CHAD SEASON GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

[@Epinephrinn]

We love you MadSeason!

[@samuelwilliams5078]

The sound track , i still get chills when i hear elwyn forrest

[@itswhzly]

A huge factor was that right before the release and during the release all of us were exposed to the popularity of fantasy entertainment like the Lord of the Rings Movies, Harry Potter, etc. This time was so enriched with fantasy that it was the perfect timing for all that fantasy to be played in an MMO that captured all of that perfectly

[@Marc-rv7no]

Totally dope, that you've used the factorio music. So calmly, just perfect

[@stevip89]

as always, great video! dont forget the music, remember the first time you entered stormwind and that epic music made you breathless

[@RCJewellery]

I have so many fond memories of WoW back in the day. Never forget them. But as companies get bigger and suits come in it’s about shareholders and stock not the game and community as we’re reduced to retention numbers and stats. I’ve moved on to smaller companies to support and fund them with my money and hope the next awesome experience comes from there. Great video!

[@marcusbroman5913]

Wow, great video and editing as usual. The nr 9 Addiction overlap with 8-bit sonne music with the news reporter, made me feel overwhelmed somehow ❤

[@Rob6990]

Whenever I see a mad season production pop up it's an automatic like and engagement. Love you sir, thank you for the hours of bliss! Always got engagement for your videos!

[@AnthonyJClink]

World of Warcraft brought us MadseasonShow :)

[@hakamor1]

Loved this one as always man. I got into classic wow as a new player in TBC. I love it so much... You giving me history lessons on what it all used to be like is always great

[@BlueRangerPeter]

Just wanna say thank you for the many years of quality content about WoW. Your content honestly enhanced my love for the game in ways that just made it feel great to be a WoW fan and learn more about the world through your videos. Even in the future with videos not about WoW, your quality and dedication is seriously admirable and appreciate what you do for the WoW and the KZbin community as a whole. Thanks for another great one man 👍

[@nicholashernandez4612]

What an incredible way to kick off my morning. Thanks for doing what you do, Mad.

[@greyman6353]

Great memories of my time in WoW from 2004 to 2010, made great friends, had epic raid moments like the last remaining member of a 40person raid managing to stay alive and downing Ragnaros, taking to the skies for the first time with a flying mount. WoW I believe came at just the right time - fast internet (for those days) was just becoming available to consumers, and players who grew up playing Warcraft and already immersed in the world and lore.

[@KevinVonClose]

I played Asheron's call for ~14 years. I loved the lore, the community, ease of access and it rolled out so many features that I still miss even after playing WoW. Asheron's call had a monthly patch that added new content, had two expansions and near the end, they had several patches that could have easily been their own expansion. It would have been around longer had Warner Brothers not bought the studio (Turbine Entertainment) for the LotR MMO IP rights. They shut down all of Turbine's other games after the acquisition. But to be fair, the subscription numbers dropped after WoW's release.

[@larryfishermans]

I dont think anything goes harder than a madseason wow vid

[@SwedetasticGames]

Something important you missed in the gameplay section: WoW's snappy instant movement is the best feeling in the genre to this day, 20 years later.

[@bukejakely154]

100% agree with this, modern mmos still feel so clunky compared to wow. Its very off putting

[@vaxxeenmtg9733]

The combat system is unparalleled still. A 20yr old engine is still superior to mmos in the last 5 years. No other mmo feels as responsive and has pvp that feels as clean even if PvP in retail hasn’t been great in a decade it still feels good to play at the end of the day

[@JustStef018]

I love and listen to WoW music even today, long after I stopped playing. Mostly while working on some tasks I just love having it in the background.

[@qu3nt]

mad season intro gives me serotonin

[@poeterritory]

Thanks for answering the question on what WoW did differently from other games. I've been looking for that for a long time.

[@Poisontooth]

I remember playing WoW back in 2006. I was in the 6th grade. My uncle played and he was the one who got me into WoW after I played Champios of Norrath and Diablo. From there my dad got into it. He was a guild master to this guild called The VIP. I remember him being blown away that he could talk to people clear across the world. One of his guild members was from Australia.

[@imacarrot6570]

• I came from lineage 1 with a group of people. The fact that we could all play together doing the same thing at the same time was very helpful. Instances made the game playable. In lineage if you were not in the one Korean pledge (guild), you simply got killed if you tried to fight bosses or they were way too hard to even fight. XP loss on death & an insane grind were gone as well. • The reasons I play classic WoW instead of retail WoW are the same reasons that I played WoW in the first place. Non scripted, open world, different level monsters than me and mostly the ability to play an MMO as single player with other people around if needed or I feel like it. Gameplay mechanics (targetting, movement with mouse, ui, etc) were a big reason as well.

[@petermonea8919]

The king is truely back, i'm so happy you're making wow videos again dude

[@Jaredpearse]

Been playing wow for 20 years now, since I was 7. Fishing for my dad, pet taming for him, taking over healing strat dead for my mom during supper prep. I've loved wow since it came out. I'm now one of those sweaty top 0.1% on retail, but watching this made me kind of emotional just looking back on the journey of it all. Thanks Madseason!

[@entrace1]

Thank you @madseasonshow for the new video. Keep them coming. Its awesome.

[@MonkehMike]

I really liked the video. I very much agree on your points of why WoW became so popular, but I don't know how I would rank them. I guess in no specific order. And I am very happy to hear that you are so motivated to make more content on the channel this year! Looking forward to it :)

[@zerofourfiveone]

I've been trying to sum up these points myself over the last few months (while resisting the urge to dive back into these worlds). You couldn't have done a better job. Plus your Pandora's Box videos of WoW and SWG immortalize the heyday of these games so well. There will be nothing like these games ever again, and I'm glad I can go back to these videos and relive the feeling.

[@roronoa92]

I’m watching madseason when I’m having lunch . But when it’s a new video , I open a beer aswell. Cheers mate

[@tlew360]

Always producing the best videos! You got some real talent that should not go unnoticed. Your video alone create nostalgia. Always a pleasure to watch another MadSeasonShow

[@procyonia3654]

I was a big everquest enjoyer, its always cool watching your videos and your explanations on Wow since i never really played it.

[@Lelelala360]

The Log in screen combined with the log in music during vanilla felt incredible.

[@xaidorDude]

For me, it was a friend showing me the vanilla wow cinematic. I was hooked. I had zero idea what I was doing. Did it matter? No. I was just happy to be part of "something" fun fact: for me the first viral wow video was the wow MacGyver one. Yes yes I am that old.

[@sephrinx4958]

3:45 FF6 and then Secret of Mana? I had no idea Madseason was so cultured and refined with such exquisite taste for RPGs.

[@madseasonshow]

RPGs were a big part of my childhood. I also loved Lufia 1/2, chrono trigger, all the FFs ofc, dark cloud, and then obviously WoW eventually lol

[@sephrinx4958]

@@madseasonshow My man! I literally was just playing through Chrono Trigger a few weeks ago for the millionth time haha! Timeless classic. Great games.

[@Wheeljack678]

Great video. Think you covered the top ones really good here. The only thing I missed, that could perhaps have been mentioned alongside point 5 (the world) - The music! They really nailed creating ambient music that really set the mood. Play any track from Westfall/Mulgore, Ashenvale, Elwynn or The Barrens to a WoW-player and it is almost guaranteed to trigger warm feelings of nostalgia.

[@lawrencestafford3943]

Madseason videos always make me want to log into the game and feel some sense of the old nostalgia.

[@brettsmith8491]

I just wanted to add that even now, two decades along if we look at the number of active subscribers it is STILL sitting at around 7mil. For a game that's this old that is a very rare setting.

[@grip7777]

Probably the biggest is the way people played games back in the 2000s. People did things for minimal reward because it was there and the experience itself was worth it. WoW was one giant experience with usually minimal rewards that was still above and beyond the norm at the time. Exploring the world and seeing the dungeons was super fucking cool for the time.

[@romnesia7729]

I'm surprised no where you mentioned the music. If there's anything that pulls me back to the game, it's always how the music is so wonderfully orchestrated, unique per zone, and amplifies the immersion ten fold. I honestly thought that would be #1, especially madseason being such a music guy

[@keonepatterson327]

So great to go from the desert of the Barrens to the desert of thousand needles to the desert of tanaris, kalimdor is truly beautiful

[@spillzgaming]

Love MadSeason, seeing you upload makes me excited for my lumch break!

[@klocks2543]

Great list and insight. As others mentioned, sound design is definitely up there for me too. I would also personally double-down on the point of discovery. It’s touched on, but just the sheer amount of scope and depth there was to discover kept me coming back. So much of modern meta gaming is optimized play before a game ever releases. But back then (even with the internet) discovering new quests, zones, more optimal leveling paths, ability usage, damage increases and more was self discovered or learned by watching others. Which was super satisfying. Lastly, and I wish this was true of more people, but it was just Warcraft. I had played through WC3 enough times and I just wanted more of those characters, places, and stories. My brother had but trial discs during vanilla I remember dicking around on. But when I realized I could actually have my own account and play, I just got lost enjoying more Warcraft. I wish there was more Warcraft games. Part of the double edged sword being the most popular mmo in history.

[@bodazaphfa]

Great video MSS. I’ve watched you for years and your content is ALWAYS top-tier, second to none. Take care brother. I’m always looking forward to your next video and often find myself rewatching your older content, because you’re the king of WoW nostalgia.

[@PainfullySubjective]

this helps me contextualize not only why but also how wow succeeded so well

[@wolfcastle7458]

One of the coolest moments as a new player for me (18 plus years ago) was taking the flight path and seeing random players running around and questing/leveling. I had never experienced that in a game before. It felt like it was a living breathing perpetual world. I was immediately immersed. Unfortunately, in the newer versions particularly retail, you do not see this at all and it feels empty outside of the faction capitols or expansion hubs. SOD and classic have helped reinvigorate the nostalgia but it never comes close to those first few years I played the game.

[@sebytro]

When they came out, MMO games used to be the social media that we used. I remember logging into Lineage 2 around lunch time just so I can chat with clannies. Then in WOW we were sharing stories from school before going questing or to dungeons.

[@Frameshaft]

Great video !! A friend at work played but I made nothing of it as I wasn’t aware of Blizzard and their games. But then I saw South Park’s Make Love Not Warcraft and I knew I had to try it and boom, I was hooked !! I got BC even though I was only lvl 50 but I was gonna play non stop that weekend until I hit 58 and then walk through The Dark Portal into new lands !!!!! (Fel Reavers 🤬 ). I’m from Canada but I was in a guild of australians, it was so cool to not only play with all the people we converted at work but also new people from around the world (the real one!). Barrak and I (both rogues) farming Hellfire Ramparts for Shadowrend Longblade, rolling when it 1st dropped and me winning it !! Quit and returned 4-5 times but now I’m over it for good. It was a great period back then, had lots of fun and frustration, farming Huolon 100+ time before getting the mount (my cousin got it 3 times before I got it…).

[@odgreen9113]

I enjoyed this a lot. I started out with ultima online, went to EQ and DAOC. I dabbled with SWG and finally settled on WOW for a while... Over to age of reckoning etc. It was fun to see videos from these games I played when I was younger

[@OceanSoul1969]

I don’t remember how long it lasted, but I loved the days when the game was so difficult that people mostly only had one character, I actually recognized people in the cities and in the world that I had played with and interacted with before. Everyone didn’t have a dozen alts

[@MrTrals]

Great video! The memories and nostalgia almost brings a tear to my eyes. My favorite game of all time..

[@sean9448]

Always love your WOW videos. As others have stated, the beautiful musical scores in the game cannot be ignored. Provides a fully immersive environment. God bless you, Sir.

[@nonameform]

2008. I was fresh from the uni, got my first serious job. I was curious about WoW before, but didn’t want to play it as I felt that I might get addicted to the game. I downloaded the free trial version and started playing as a Night Elf Druid. The experience was horrible as I had no idea what I was doing, but I got hooked. With a bunch of other guys I met online I made it up to Zul’Farak and then we lost all contact, perhaps they quit. Just three days into trial I already bought the Battlechest and started reading the guide from Brady Games that came with it. Looking back, it was a piece of crap, but I didn’t know better at the time. By the time Wrath released, I already had some idea what I was doing in the game as I leveled a second character, Shadow Priest. I was a laughing stock pre-Wrath patch and even got invited to a single Kara raid as a battery. Even in dungeons people were telling me that I should stick to healing and leave DPS to actual DD classes. Fast forward to ICC and I parse top-40 in the world without even trying to get into rankings. That was my high-point as I lost interest in the game right when Cata released. In almost 2.5 years that I have spent in WoW I had 1 year /played. I had no other life, lost my job, missed some crazy opportunities, lost my girlfriend (not because of WoW though), but I still felt that my life had a lot of meaningful things going in it. I don’t want to go back, but still feel nostalgic about WoW from time to time. It was a great experience, I met some nice people and had fun along the way, even though that fun eventually turned into a full-time job.

[@redhat9691]

Cool video man. Views wise I know it'll do well, it's wow and it's a list, but I encourage to keep up variety, I love your other videos too!

[@brewerybrian]

Madseason, you said before that some criticized you for your lack of music...well you really took it to em. Love your organization and well thought out edits. Also...the song at 10:00??? So familiar.

[@madseasonshow]

Look hero - Entropic Rhapsody :D

[@brewerybrian]

@@madseasonshow thanks bud, keep up the great work :)

[@christianhatch7842]

So happy you're back consistently ❤

[@EpilepticBob]

For me it was just seeing the huge world for the first time with other players in it. I remember at the time me and my brother were trying a bunch of different MMOs at the time (Honestly can’t even remember some of the names) but we played Runescape for quite awhile and then one day after school he just walked in with WoW in his hand. Sooner than later, I remember creating every race just to see where they started. I still love Dun Morogh & Mulgore to this day, even now with Classic I couldn’t resist creating a Dwarf and a Tauren

[@sidwoodstock]

Regarding #3 - The Community - This is what in large part has been missing with the mega servers with phases, clustering, cross-server play, etc. Back in the day I knew the names of many horde players who would farm similar areas as I would since we had regular fights out in the world. And when one of them showed up with a new Axe, I could tell. Small servers ended up having their problems, but they fostered so much more community than you can find in the game nowadays.

[@NurseGi]

I loved your intros man, all these years.. love them. I play on whitemane private server now here and there.

[@XlelouchVi]

Another perfect video madseasons , you knocked it out of the park with this one ☝️

[@miketaddio8342]

Effin great to see you making vids bro... Hope you can find that magic again

[@LiriusPvP]

Very happy to watch your videos again.

[@TakashiAmanoOriginal]

It’s always a great day when madseason posts

[@PirikkoP]

Back before WoW released, I had to stay in the hospital for over a year, almost died multiple times. My body was so broken, I couldn't do much. I discovered WoW in the worst time of my life and the game really saved me. Instead of living in total isolation, it made me feel like I belonged somewhere and had people to talk to. I don't play the game much anymore but I'll always be thankful.

[@ShellworldGames]

This is the kind of video I can really appreciate. One of the most important things for new game developers to study is the reason previous games succeeded. To my knowledge, no video game was a publicly popular as vanilla WoW, and the points listed here should be a guide to Warcraft's current and future development in addition to informing other game projects where applicable. Warcraft around first release was exceptionally great, especially compared to its competition.

[@LifelessIsBeat]

Shoutout to the Homestar Runner/Trogdor throwback at 12:16

[@JohnnyUtah488]

Trogdor The Burninator!!!

[@keatonmorgan8508]

Voice is deeper holy shit, love the videos brother hope your doing well

[@iamlegion3093]

Ahhh your intro music, it always comforts me

[@zraxe1]

I met my wife back in 2007 on world of warcraft. 17 years later, stronger than ever together.

[@emarbeats6896]

That MadSeason intro music hit different boi!

[@FearsomeWarrior]

I’ve always put the in-game chat up as the biggest success. Guild chat to collect people and create groups. Those core systems were simple and worked. It made the game social.

[@sturenorth]

On topic or art style. There was a strong direction also on "silluhettes" that since it was such a large world with many different event and things going on it was important for the player to be able to identify who and what they where looking at with eas. Also one of the reason for its "stylized" art style. My source is one of the many blizzard panels where they go in and talk about design pillars. Edit: Sadly this though proccess was lost with time as the content mountain, work force firings, modernity grew taler and core design pillars where side lined.

[@StaySic4Ever]

I've been playing from start. So true, the immersion and captivating world and straight up gameplay felt so awesome. Loved PvP quite a lot once I've started to engage in it.

[@drromke]

The Silkroad Online clip gave me goosebumps!