What Made Leveling In Vanilla WoW So Great?

Well guys, this video is something that I've been working on with the past few weeks...and the timing couldn't be better due to blizzard announcing classic servers a few days ago. So, let's talk about what made leveling in vanilla wow so great!
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[@mcmarkmarkson7115]

Stranglethorn Valley was my personal Vietnam

[@stopperzapper]

I think Stranglethorn almost made me quit once.

[@intellektualblackman5727]

Yeah STV was a mother. Some of the hardest pulls where those damn trolls...

[@chucknorrisffs]

It was a vicious cycle. The day I hit 60 I made a raid of other friends who got ganked there and went on a hunting spree to get revenge. I was barely geared too, I went with my stupid old mail armor because I couldn't afford the plate upgrade lol.

[@Stevious09]

Stranglethorn vale*

[@flappy7373]

lol valley As a lowly Alliance Human Priest, I had a rough go of it when I had to quest in Stranglethorn Vale. Once I was old enough, I got my vengeance. I absolutely brutalized horde players in STV once I was level 60. I would do it by hiding on board a Zeppelin.. I'd try Mind Controlling Hordies, walking them on board the same Hordie Zeppelin that I was stowed away on.. and then I'd jump their character off into the ocean where fatigue had a decent chance of killing them and making them pay for repairs.... yes... YES.... OH GOD YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. i need a napkin.

[@Knightstruth]

Vanilla leveling was fun for me because it felt more real. It was more classic fantasy whereas wow nowadays everything is SUPER high fantasy, even footsoldiers wear epic armor and you can't spit without hitting a giant demon. I miss the days of regular plate or mail armor and unenchanted longswords in which seeing a real demon was a big deal.

[@antonbonin5003]

That's what's so great about Elder Scrolls Online. It's happening there too though. Just last week they released a badass armored horse, and people were complaining it wasn't something cooler like a riding dragon. Mobs are turning into WoW mobs where you can hose down 10 at a time with no gear.

[@golz9785]

I remember the first time I heard/saw Kazzak in Blasted Lands so I definitely relate to this

[@boiledelephant]

Knightstruth Agree, the vanity items cluttering up cities and players is particularly tedious. Every player is a walking storefront of amazing looking clutter, to the point that none of it is eyecatching or meaningful.

[@thomasreid7100]

Imo vanilla was fun once you got to about 20 and you had a variety of abilities but its sooooooooooooo long but wrath leveling was the best, it was faster but it wasnt too fast. Personally I didn't mind leveling fast as fuck like in WoD I love playing on alts I currently have 11 max leveled characters all leveled in WoD, I'm 50/50 atm with the new system but there are so many things that stopped me leveling one new private servers as it just took so long it wasn't the actual exp that bothered me it was the rates everything dropped and spawned at and don't get me started on neffy boy with that 30 min spawn timer.

[@XouZ88]

Somewhere in Sweden 2008 Pre-WoLK: Two guys about 16 years old talks about World of Warcraft. Guy 1: Have you heard that on that new, Wrath of the Lich king, you should be able to have motorcycles and so on? Guy 2: Yes, helicopters too. Guy 1 1: It will be the worst unrealistic thing when they put in such things. Like often an Orch should drive a motorcycle. Guy 2: Yeah, right!

[@Forndrome]

What I liked most was not being in a rush. Doing dungeons, doing pvp, and getting items at low levels felt meaningful, not a pointless waste of time in the rush to max level. Also, while vanilla quests didn't have that much story for the most parts, the zones were very atmospheric and there was a loose narrative tying stuff together. For example, it's clear while leveling through the human zones that something is really wrong in the Kingdom of Stormwind with all of these troubled townships not getting reinforcements, which is later revealed to be due to Onyxia's machinations. Even if they're a bit on the simple side, I still far prefer them to the Cataclysm zone questlines which were way way too focused on being cultural references to the point that they felt farcical and couldn't be taken seriously.

[@Chris-gt3rs]

Forndrome Bore off what a load of shit!

[@Kaoskadosk]

"What I liked most was not being in a rush. Doing dungeons, doing pvp, and getting items at low levels felt meaningful, not a pointless waste of time in the rush to max level." That's probably because it was the first character you leveled and had no real aim towards endgame. After leveling to 60 a couple of times, it was the same then as now that you want to get to the max level asap. Friends that I had that had been playing a lot in the beta and was already in a guild that aimed for server-firsts were rushing to 60 from day 1. You can chill and cruise through the leveling part now just as much as you did back then, but you're choosing not to. The problem isn't the game itself, it has more to do with your mindset towards it. One thing I can agree with though is dungeons being easy to the point of being laughable, which is quite sad, and that gear (even if you skip heirlooms) has less impact now than before.

[@Forndrome]

It is a problem of the game itself. Blizzard themselves acknowledge that the leveling process is completely screwed up, with how you will outlevel the majority of zones before you can finish them even if you don't use heirlooms, with how you kill mobs in seconds (sometimes one-shotting them), again sometimes without heirlooms, and how mana and health (and bandages, food, drinks) are completely irrelevant because you hardly lose any while leveling, and if you do, it regenerates insanely fast anyhow. I have attempted to take it slow and complete zones in retail wow on multiple characters, and it feels meaningless: again and again you outlevel mobs so they become even more trivial than they already are, and you are punished at the ends of previous expacs by being given barely any experience for quests. The bigger problem is how antisocial it is compared to early wow; you will hardly see another soul because everyone else is rushing to max level, whereas in vanilla there was an actual low-level economy because since it took a long time, low level items from e.g. professions had value. There might well have been people rushing to max level in vanilla (I don't buy the 'a couple of times' argument: plenty of alcoholics never even made it to 60 in vanilla, and having two 60s in vanilla would have been pretty rare), but these would have been a small minority instead of an overwhelming majority like we see today.

[@tacotilko6862]

Forndrome well fucking leveling took god damn forever. Leveling like that is fucking bullshit once you’ve done the same zones a couple times. Leveling also took forever mostly because you have to walk everywhere and your so called “powerful” character can’t even fight 3 bears or any monster around. So pretty much they made leveling slow as fuck by adding in bullshit boring parts of the game. Maybe you like spending a hour running from point a to b but my time is more important.

[@ShinyTuga]

This is exactly what I feel about current wow. Everything, not only the leveling content...EVERYHING is rushed, including endgame content. Reached max level and want to do some dungeons to get some gear? Too bad, you'll probably finish the dungeon before even using a single ability because everyone else is one-shotting everything. Sure, there's higher difficulties now that there wasn't before, but this means that you have to go through all previous iterations of difficulties simply rushing through everything, be it normal raids with incredibly easy and tedious first bosses or mythic+ which in itself is a rush to get gear to be able to even stand a chance of possibly being invited to any group.

[@SkunaDaGreen]

The most frustrating thing as a horde on pvp serv is when you hit lvl 30 and youve done all the quests in hilsbard and desolace and you know youll get ganked in stranglethorn

[@Blackadder75]

you had tons of other options at lvl 30-35 : alterac mountains, 1000 needles (the salt flats were ideal for lvl 30) , swamp of sorrows, dustwallow marsh, Arathi Highlands , a combination of these would see you through to 40 I got fed up with stranglethorn vale, so I leveled at least 2 characters without doing any quest in the zone, I only visited it to get the flightpath.

[@Aitomy]

Honestly, I played on Vanilla private servers after playing latest WoW expansions and it really surprised me people helping each other without need of asking. I were able to defeat nothing all by myself, however, simply playing with someone else was a relief and there was amazing how easy was making friends and partying. I can understand the magic of playing a good classical MMORPG where nothing is given and you feel truly proud of yours and group's achievements.

[@joshua7426]

simple answer: it took effort and gave a feeling of accomplishment

[@MastaGambit]

The intent is to provide players with a sense of Pride and Accomplishment

[@juancarlosdonoso9790]

Without lootboxes xD

[@zadkiel242]

Joshua Hines works for EA

[@milo20060]

EA stole this :P

[@BlueberryFails]

Loved the fact that you could actually make friends while leveling, in modern retail nobody talks to each other because they don't have to.

[@Chris-gt3rs]

wake me up inside Or maybe no one wants to! Nothing’s stopping you from talking to people.

[@BlueberryFails]

You don't think I've tried? Almost everybody acts like they're playing a single player game

[@robinesque]

Sounds like you haven't tried hard enough. My b-net list is full from making friends and I am part of like four WoW-themed Discords. Seriously, communication is a two-way street, but maybe it's just better on RP servers where people actually enjoy the game for what it is.

[@Drakoak]

LilWhiteChris , if there's no reason or incentive to talk to people, a lot of people just aren't going to talk. This is pretty basic knowledge when it comes to any MMO development and it's something the team for every MMO has to keep in mind, and Blizzard purposely hasn't for years because of the people that prefer single player content. You can try to talk to people all you want, sure I talk to my guildies in Legion. But that's such a small portion of it. You don't meet and talk to people in the leveling zones. You don't even talk in dungeons of all places, there's no need to strategize your pulls anymore. You just faceroll everything and pull boss to boss so obviously no one says anything. If you think the game developers aren't capable of destroying the social aspect of an MMO you are dead wrong.

[@waffelbart]

I tried it too, people just dont respond or go offline wtf is going on with this people

[@kbc191]

I start playing in bc, and my first was a human mage, it cost me 9 months to lvl up, i always going to remember the 17hours nonstop i spend swiming from westfall to wetlands because i got lost, i was 13... totally worth it

[@aleksanderlund7033]

kbc191 indeed

[@JarinXeno]

I remember doing similar things. Like running from Dal to SW as a level 1 hunter because you could only learn swords in SW. It would take hours and I would get murdered by crocks and orcs the whole way.

[@antonbonin5003]

Took me over a year to lvl to 60. Barely even made it to end game before TBC. I would still rather do that all over again rather than auto-queue in Orgrimmar all day.

[@wtfgotcha]

It took you 9 months to level to 70? You either played like 3 hours per week or you were a complete noob

[@antonbonin5003]

Yeah, G Dimou... He played the game instead of constantly checking his leveling timer. You're the reason Blizzard thinks we all just want leveling to be a face roll so that we can stroke our dicks to how fast we can lvl cap. Susej Tsirk. I remember the good ol' days of my Vanilla characters too. It took me about a year to lvl cap my first. Even after, I loved lvling up a new character, because every time it was different. Your levels weren't just grinding the same dungeons over and over, or doing the same quests. I almost always lvled in Barrens, but every time it was profoundly different than the last time. Random stents with people shouting on Barrens chat that they were starting a pvp raid on Ashenvale, grinding fishing for a while because I wanted to sell some Deviate Fish. It was all part of the game back then.

[@EonFigure]

My favorite quest in classic is located in the barrens; A battle between the horde and centaurs! Man it was such an experience! :) Even though it was a lowbie quest, No other quest that i can remember was as cool as that one.

[@IBradFrazer]

What made it so great? For me, it was the sheer difficulty and being in a populated world with friendly players. Who remembers watching wowhobbs run Scarlet Monastery?

[@th3nemesis672]

He made me roll a pally :)

[@Melodeath00]

I liked that the open world was hard, and the lvling experience was awesome, but the endgame stuff was shit easy compared to any post TBC raid. Modern Mythic raiding makes Classic raiding look like LFR. They are just not compareable at all.

[@God_of_Ramen]

oh my god....you just reminded me of that! I would watch his videos all of the time

[@Kangasound]

Hobbs here

[@multivitamin425]

I was screaming when I got myself my first set of shoulders

[@antonbonin5003]

I remember spending almost a month farming blue dragonscales with a friend that had max skinning/leatherworking and farmed to get the blue dragonscale plans. Finally got the set on my shaman and it blew my fucking mind. Wore it with pride until TBC came out.

[@VANZ1111]

My uncle played, and he gave me my first ever blue item: the green iron hauberk. He gave me the whole "set" actually. Was such a great feeling.

[@daytonasixty-eight1354]

Dude that's fucking sick. Playing with your uncle. Man I wish my uncle played WoW.

[@VANZ1111]

My dad played too. So did my sister. Had to share the account with my sister though. Dad was the one that got me into gaming. He bought us a PS2, a Gamecube, an Xbox, and he let me use his PC to play Diablo 2 and Neverwinter Nights and shit. I remember in 2007, he won a small poker tournament his friend set up and he came home with a little placard to commemorate his win and a PS3 and a 360.

[@icywind17]

Multi Vitamin I still remember the first helmet I got.

[@brjoey]

The argument I see many people bring up that I find frankly bizarre is this idea that the "real game" doesn't begin until you reach max level. That's why everything other than max level is faceroll; none of it matters and it's all just to get you to max asap. But that's backwards. The "real game" doesn't begin at max level. The "real game" begins the moment you hit enter world on your first character. The endgame is just that: the end. 90% of the game happens before you reach max. If EVERYONE can complete all of the newest raids then that content is meaningless. I never set foot in most of the endgame content in vanilla, and that's ok. To complete that content you had to be dedicated and know what you were doing. I also don't buy the argument that "well if it's too easy for you then there's always M+". That's less than 1% of the game's content. Why should I spend the other 99.5% of the game face rolling through literally everything? The whole game should be meaningful and challenging, not just the end.

[@ujembi155]

This. I started in BC and never raided... and that was perfectly ok with me. The rest of the game was entertaining enough... it was about the journey and not the destination.

[@timmayboi120]

If leveling was the same way it was in vanilla, it would take a completely new player at least a year, more likely two years to reach max level now. For someone who just bought the game and expansions, why would you be okay with not being able to reach current content for that long, when that is what you paid for?

[@ujembi155]

It is not about the amount of time it takes, but the lack of challenge. They could keep increased XP, especially since next expansion will have scaling content. The main problem I have is that a large chunk of increased XP comes in the form of heirloom gear and the increased power trivializes this content as well as lower level gear.

[@brjoey]

I'm not saying it should be exactly like vanilla. I'm just saying that the entire game shouldn't be completely trivial with the sole exception of Mythic+ difficulties. When I came back for Legion, I kept telling myself that, just as you said, "they made low level content easy so you could get to max faster and see the shiny new stuff. Once I get to 110 we'll be back to the actual game right?" Nope, I hit 110 and the same gameplay continued. All of the max level instances are still completely faceroll, and nobody gives a damn. The point isn't just that it's easier and takes less time. The point is that everything feels completely trivial and not in any way meaningful. In order to get my artifact weapon, what did I have to do? I had to complete 3 very short, solo-able quests, and that was it. You remember the warlock mount quest from vanilla? Go look it up if you don't. Basically it was a long quest chain where you had to collect a ton of various items spanning multiple professions and high level instances. All of that for just a mount! Now mounts, and even artifact weapons, are thrown out like candy. There's a reason phrases like "loot treadmill" and "loot piñata" exist; they articulate how utterly trivial, how meaningless it is to get anything new because it's all just handed to you easily. I understand the point that people want to play the NEW expansion if that's what they paid for. However, I would much rather have just gotten a free lvl 100 toon with the purchase of the xpac, and had the game retain it's older formula of moment-to-moment gameplay (and no heirlooms) and sense of accomplishment (grinding repeatable quests for artifact power isn't nearly as interesting). Not mechanically speaking mind you, but in the sense that grouping with other players was usually mandatory, or at the very least highly encoraged, because not everything was easily solo-able. Leave low levels mostly untouched, so that players, new or old, who want to experience the old content can still do so. I agree with the assessment that WoW has become a single-player game that just happens to have other people running around. When I came back to Legion because a few friends started playing, you know how many times any of us actually grouped up? Like once, maybe twice, over the course of a couple months. Why? Because there was never a reason to group up. Every single quest I remember doing I remember doing alone, with minimal effort. The only remotely meaningful social interaction I remember having in Legion was when I found a guy being camped by a Rogue, and I helped him hunt/survive the rogue while we he finished his quest. But then talking about world pvp is a whole different can of worms so I'll leave it at that, I've ranted enough.

[@BIGSWOLEXL]

W rynn not really. No point in paying and playing for a game if you never was gonna experience the raid end game content and get solid gear. Vanilla experience to me was kinda boring and dragged out. Leveling on a game should NOT be that dragged. But then again people spent 12+ hours a DAY on WoW back in the day

[@jnels8870]

You sir nailed why we loved vanilla

[@chihao5395]

Josh Nelson I used Thottbot a lot lol.

[@Rath_9]

One of my best memories was being in the human area ( dark shire I thinks it’s called) and the quest or just even where an abomination spawns and you have to kill it before it got to town. Their were no high levels to do it for you it was hundreds of us low levels dying and dying to save the town. Awesome memories

[@Blackadder75]

and sometimes the players couldn't do it and it just kept going IN town , because those Watchers were also just lvl 25s....

[@mrfeather2732]

Vanilla wow is an entire different game than the following expansions. Vanilla was simply just fucking amazing in everyway, from leveling, upgrading items, farming, wpvp, grouping, raids, dungeons, 1 hour sitting in the AH and many more. Wherever you go you will find people, even a fucking empty island in the middle of the ocean you will find someone there lol. Upgrading your items from a quest or dungeon is pure rewarding. Getting that 6slot bag or finding that level6 bow in a chest while starting fresh simply explains an entire good feeling. I have no words to explain many other things, this is literaly the best game or mmo ever. 2018 and still vanilla wow is the best game for me and i play or played thousands of top games. Leveling from 1-60 in vanilla is like a game itself, then at 60 its an a whole different game, Its not just at 60. Tbc, wotlk and the following expansions are different games for me and i played them all. As a matter of fact i dont even consider them close to classic wow in anyway.

[@Blackadder75]

a real connaisseur

[@Boggerdansken]

The best feeling was when i finished the whirlwind axe-questline. All my friends helped me out and i felt more accomplishment from that than any other gear or quest since cata.

[@FormerGovernmentHuman]

Satanic Snowflake lol yup best part was you could get the quest at level 30 but you couldn't solo it until 40-45. So when your boys helped you you pretty much got an amazing lvl 40 axe at level 30 helped so much in leveling

[@Blackadder75]

@@FormerGovernmentHuman my warrior kept it till lvl 47 when she finally got an upgrade. (there were upgrades a bit earlier but I just never got them. Oh and I also had put Crusader enchant on it so that kept it relevant for at least 5 more lvls)

[@olov244]

I'll have to say, the pvp. yes, getting ganked and camped sucks, but when the world is so populated and others are around, you could go from being ganked, to an all out pvp war with a dozen people at any time 4:15 - that's how I got in my guild I raided with for three expansions. looked for someone to help with a quest, added to friends list, helped them with quests, eventually they got me added to their guild, I invited my roomate and other friend that played, all from that one quest we grouped together for 4:56 - I remember taking screenshots of my character everytime I got a cool new piece of gear - while leveling. I felt like a badass with a blue weapon or a sweet piece of gear from an instance 6:15 - WHO BROKE THE SHEEP?

[@volkhardsmithsr.3687]

6:15 - WHO BROKE THE SHEEP? I find this one funny just the other day I was playing on my warlock and the mage went ape shit because it broke. Word of advise don't sheep shit that's on fire or has some sort of dot. It won't last and a waste of mana.

[@zilvis1140]

olov244 i am only here who likes getting camped ?

[@volkhardsmithsr.3687]

Me. Why? Because I actually enjoy it. I see it as a tool to remind you be aware of your surrounding and always be on guard.

[@wyrdflex5863]

Mirage Raceway, man. I remember trying to grind skinning there with my buddy when all these rogues descended on us. When we went to Orgrimmar for help, it was like we'd said the opposite faction was killing kittens. It went from being this desolate, empty dust bowl into this all out massacre for nearly an entire day.

[@Chris-gt3rs]

olov244 you ain’t ever gonna get a crowded world when morons like you want to split the community!

[@XL1813]

Where's Mankriks wife?

[@spooglet3279]

Jonathan Gréen Down the road, in a hut, I think.

[@Darthzaroc]

Jonathan Gréen don't you mean wif? And have looked in the Barrens 😁

[@7munkee]

OMG she was almost impossible to find.

[@mitlandir5761]

In Mankrik's kitchen, where she belongs!

[@michaelbowman6684]

Barrens Chat in a nutshell.

[@raphael2407]

aaahhh the goold old times, they will never come back Overheal - Aggro - Dead Priest - Wipe Mage Crits too early - Aggro - Dead Mage Shaman Chain Lightning - Tank insta loses threat - Dead Shaman Mage Sheeps - Tank hits Sheep - No resheep because pissed mage - Wipe oh and, never forget to "Int-buff" warriors, they like it ^^ to sum it up in one word: threattables! I so miss it, it was hard, it was fun :)

[@hpharold23]

lol yeah!!!

[@mihailung1720]

They are literally coming back. They announced vanilla servers a lil while back.

[@Karifax]

actually intellect increase chance to get weapon skill up ! =)

[@TheRealGrimpaw]

That's Skittish week in high level m+ (17+) theese days.

[@MRTHATSFAKEANDGAY]

Best in game time ever!

[@jamesmallon1631]

I never played vanilla. Looking forward to trying classic in future. This was the first video where i can almost feel some of that nostalgia. Someone like me looks at vanilla and sees all the flaws.. all the improvements that have been made since, mostly to end game. But... from what I gathered here... vanilla leveling felt like end game all the time? It Mattered.. It is true now it always feels like a rush, u just want to hit max level asap... thats why u dont even feel like exploring. U dont have time to

[@stopperzapper]

For reasons like this I appreciate the idea of Classic, so people who never experienced it as it was can get a chance to. But, personally speaking, I have a lot of bad memories of Classic and can't understand the nostalgia fest over it.

[@plackiplicki3531]

James Mallon Yes, leveling pretty much felt like end game in terms of amounts of content. Looking back at it, Blizzard really made a lot of effort in doing many interesting and complicated and different quests, questlines including class-questlines, dungeons and completely different zones, all this with spicy lore at every corner. I mean dungeons like BRD or Maraudon dwarf the dungeoning content of any post-Vanilla expansion simply by themselves while they weren’t even end game content. You’re entertained all the time and looking forward for something and discovering shitloads of stuff while leveling. It’s a big part of the game after all, with pretty much 7 days of /played required to ding 60 when you’re rushing leveling. That’s 2 hours a day for about 3 months, and most people won’t made it that fast. The average time to get to 60 on Nost according to their stats is a little over 10 days of /played. And this takes into account players using all modern addons, guides, websites and leveling their alts to 60 as fast as possible. In Vanilla the average 1-60 leveling time of /played was probably around 15 days, which is about 2 hours a day for 6 months ... no doubts it had to be entertaining and full of content to be that addictive for this many people :)

[@KronicKillin]

Yeah i remember getting lost in a lot of the dungeons. If you where a dungeon guide back in those days you always got a group or ended up the leader.

[@KronicKillin]

You get to know everyone in your level range on your server. Takes a long time to level so you have plenty of time to get to know them. Before long everyone knows each other. Earn a bad reputation and your have to leave the server. No one will group with you.

[@KronicKillin]

Low level pvp was very popular. Everyone had crazy low level guys with the best gear to pvp with. I still have my 19 priest from vanilla/BC something like 300k kills. 2 hour long WSG. Allies winning like slippery turds because they had pallies with blessing of freedom. But horde not letting them have it easy and instead of trying to win we just farm as many kills as possible.

[@TheBlaert]

Vanilla leveling involved alot more interaction with both the world and your fellow players. Awesome experience. I was absolutely pissed when they changed most of it during cataclysm. Eastern plaguelands was my favorite due to the lore involved

[@absolutely6298]

leveling and questing was also the main experience of the game. You were meant to play through it all, the end game was the end game, it wasn't the main experience. You couldn't pay your way to max level, you couldn't buy heirlooms and bummrush dungeons to max level so that you could participate in mundane endgame shit. The whole point was to experience the world, to create and grow with your own hero. It kept people playing, now if you start, even without help, the quests are so streamlined that you can hit max over the course of a week (less if you're really dedicated) and participating in endgame bullshit and gearing, you get bored in maybe a month or two and quit. At least that's what happened with me and all of my friends when we tried to get back into WoW. A lot of other subscription MMOs have followed suit, to their own detriment in my opinion.

[@Hirotoro4692]

A lot. It's two words.

[@absolutely6298]

when you have no argument, attack their spelling and grammar.

[@Shoegazebasedgenre0.]

Fabled Imp is there any server where i could play the modern wow with the classic vanilla systems?

[@andreaskarlsson5251]

Hated plaguelands so much! Couldnt even get into the lore cause I just puked when I saw the zones. xD But you're on point about the removal of RPG in the game. :(

[@Panzerkuchen]

It's just weird to be in a world were you are so much more powerful then the rest of the world. You are supposed to be a noob adventurer, not a demi-god.

[@zorletos]

THIS SO HARD. I got whiplash from the shift between WotLK and Cata. Of all the pandoras boxes Cata opened, this is by far the worst one. I'm still salty that literally every paladin gets a free ashbringer

[@Zyklon_B_still_and_know_God]

You get an ashbringer, and you get an ashbringer! ......I'll see my way out

[@Overjustification]

so true, I remember the gates of AQ were just opened and this one paladin on our server got this badass mount. people were feeling happy for him, me included. Try pulling something like this nowadays (only 1 player per server can get it), the shitstorm would be unbearable.

[@silusjackson7244]

I remember making 2 friends in Red Ridge Mountains by making a group to do the elite quest to kill the orcs at the Castle. Still have those friends in game to this day. 13 years later. Remember finding the gates that lead into the Burning Steppes and wondering what the level ?? mobs were. Flying over zones on flight paths seeing ?? mobs. Now its just so shit.

[@derekmeyers1513]

I wandered a bit too far into that entrance and a flame elemental one-shot me. And that's what made the game great! Clearly, I was not ready for that zone. And couldn't yawn-solo-spam my way through the game. It kept you on your toes.

[@Neeko90]

haha yea and those ?? had an aggro range that was further out then the shitty view distance we ran with back then so it seem'd like the whole zone was zerging in on your undeserving ass for peaking into their zone x)

[@derekmeyers1513]

Nickey90 Yep! The roads were supposed to be safe. Not in Duskwood! If you weren’t getting bum rushed by a giant spider or wolf, Stitches was sure to give you a freaking heart attack as he womped you out of nowhere! Same with Mor’Ladim... [Realization] Guess dad was right - difficult things are fun when you make a game out of it.

[@MrLynxie]

i remember the warlock quest where i had to go from stormwind to the barrens (no mount) get killed a zillion times to EARN my next minion

[@thenerdbeast7375]

"There was no running in an AoE'ing the whole damn place." *LAUGHS IN MAGE*

[@Blackadder75]

to be fair, almost nobody had discovered that in vanilla, that is more a pserver evolution of play.

[@hito6464]

I felt really safe in those mini horde camps, or in the Alliance barracks, small taverns or elven villages. Going back to you safe spot was something i enjoyed, like you've completed the quests in the world and in dungeon, gathered some stuff you want to sell, may be there is a profession trainer or some reputation items you can buy... and also people dancing and talking on random topics

[@VomicaEmanio]

I am so damn excited about the Vanilla Servers that Blizz announced. I started playing WoW at the release of TBC and I loved that expansion and the next one (WotLK). Then it started getting a bit too simple in many ways. I never had the chance to play Vanilla, so I am definitely going to play that now when they release. Also, I just finished my master's and got my first job, so I will actually have time on the evenings to raid. I am so going to go for the peak!!

[@pontuskindlund9551]

I can relate to all of what you are saying. I played during vanilla and loved it and can't wait to get those experiences recreated. I handed in my exam study yesterday and it's undergoing valuation. I've got a job interview (relevant to my education) next week. So basically, we are almost in the same situation lol however, I'm just as excited for vanilla live as you are! HYPE!!!

[@stue2485]

I played in vanilla i always remember to achieve anything took along time and even dungeons back then their was no dungeon finder what u did was form a group then you had to run to the summon stone and often fight along the way so much more adventure back then.

[@Klimbo93]

hell yeah, I join u guys. when the server comes up tell me I join u and we start leveling together!!! :DDD

[@abeurakadabeura]

WotLK was the beginning of the decline. Not normal to get full epic geared within a day, to rush heroic dungeon with 3 people and 0 healer (I was feral with around 4000gs gear). Also the epic mount ruined the world pvp since BC, but at least in BC the dungeons were still difficult.

[@hughjanus6209]

+stu art there weren't even summon stones in vanilla. You just had to hope that you'd find a warlock to join your team ^^

[@patgray5402]

You nailed alot of the points. Most people who accuse us of having rose colored glasses just don't get it.

[@davidelsea1296]

Oh we get it. It just wasn't that good lol.

[@keithc9696]

My best memory of vanilla wow was when I finally got my epic dreadstead on my Warlock. Just thinking back on how much effort that took and the feeling I had when I mounted it for the first time. It was magical.

[@whodiedlee]

i miss tarren mill vs southshore. I remember the days of Pallys having crusader aura and it was an advantage to catch the enemy trying to run with the extra 20% mount speed. Now people can just fly away :(

[@appalachianamerican3881]

What I loved about Vanilla was the total experience. Everything you mentioned made each player so involved in the game, the experience seemed real. It almost brought fantasy to reality. You had long as journeys to walk to the next town, you had to work with other people to get things done, you made real friends over things like Hogger and fighting murlocs. Each item was not worthless. It was either a valuable upgrade or a valuable piece to sell. Nothing was worthless. Every zone was important and not neglected like now. You could go into any zone and find players of both factions. And when you wanted to PVP you knew where to go. The action never stopped. And leveling was so special, even the odd levels. Not just 10, 20, 30, 40, etc. When you hit 31, you felt more powerful, when you hit 32, you felt more powerful. Each level was a reward for your hard spent time. And when you were able to level a bit, then go get revenge on an enemy when you come across him again it was magnificent. It was even awesome have a player 10 levels higher than you around, you felt protected like a child in their mother's watch. And when you were able to be that higher level player protecting lowbies, you was seen as a mighty warrior. Everything about vanilla was amazing. And B.C. too. B.C. was Vanilla with additions. Same slow leveling, same slow grind, they both were awesome.

[@fajad31]

ive literally watch sooo many WoW videos but your explaintion is so clear, keep the good work my man!

[@OrcBit]

Great stuff!

[@Tenshin66]

OrcBit your videos are great also

[@RepublicanNatio]

orcbit out

[@randypulley6320]

Yeah I started when it first came out and I learned to play class very well over time. I loved the cc we had to do and the quests and exploring. I remember how I met my friends and guild on there. They asked if I needed help and I said sure and then I learned how nice people on there could be. Today on wow u hardly talk to anyone and just keep to yourself and do your own thing because u don’t need help most of the time. I miss those days. I remember how exciting it was exploring too. I use to play Everquest before that and when I tired wow it was so much fun and easier. Crafting professions was really cool too. Awesome video and flashback :)

[@thetruthfulchannel6348]

You had to socialize and cooperate with people to overcome challenges.

[@jstring6969]

"and as someone who has done it multiple times on private servers" * shows retro-wow instant 60 characters"

[@YouInferiorMeatHole]

It's such a wanky server

[@nikolajmadsen5921]

seen him around on other priv servers where you actually level, such as elysium / hellfire 2 / nost :) so its not like he hasnt been playing on any of them

[@captainobvious9233]

Mine was just getting lost in the World. Today, all the quest are in one hub. You go into a settlement or something, grab some quests, do them, come back, then be sent to the next hub, etc. Back then, quests sent you all over the place. It was more easy to get sidetracked. You could bhe questing in say Redridge, then get a quest to deliver something to in Dwarve territory, while there you see more quests for Loch Modan so you go there while still having a bunch in Redridge to do. YOu moved around the world and explored more faster.

[@cptmachine]

I liked that the later level zones were sparse on quests so you have to explore to find the content and back then if you looked hard enough there was some cool things to find.

[@Xochicoatzin]

I think I'm gonna give it a try again after more than 8 years of not playing. Thank you for this video.

[@redfivedruidofthenorth4399]

:P Even if it's not your cup of tea least soon classic servers are coming out.

[@TangFiend1]

Retail servers will just make you bored and sad. (Try a vanilla private)

[@tonberryhugs6435]

Robert James We don’t even have the details yet of Blizzard Classic servers...

[@Xochicoatzin]

Robert James Nah, actually I'm having a good time, although it's kinda easy compared to old wow. I'm lvl 46 and that was fast. Even so, as I have time now I'm enjoying the game

[@Rath_9]

I started vanilla again. 6-10k people on a server at a time and it’s great.

[@lpimentel89]

Do you guys remember wanting to put Fiery blast on your swords? Dude that shit was OP for the longest.

[@golz9785]

Oh man! I remember that proc'ing with whirlwind on my shaman.

[@TrasherBiner]

You two fuckers made me nostalgia the shit out of vanilla :(

[@RedDynamite]

I forgot about that shit. Enchanters were making a killing with tips alone.

[@joshmoats7981]

No it wasn't.....DW Hunter back in Vanilla was garbage and not a single Hunter with any skill went anything but range. Those that wanted to DW and melee went Rogue.

[@xshobux]

Just because they had melee and melee abilities doesn't mean they were good. Their melee abilities did terrible damage and the survival tree was a hot mess of really terrible melee talents (lacerate anyone?)

[@klaazje]

When you can enter a random cave, and solo it, the mmo part of your game is broken.

[@GermanBoy00]

Wow, so true! You just helped me to remember a key scene ingame, which led me to quit WoW forever. It was when I reactivated my account in the middle of the expansion Cataclysm, before I've played since Vanilla till the end of WotLK: I decided to start on a new server and try out a disci priest. I was leveling somewhere in the rebuild Swamp of Sorrows and was around lvl 20-30 I think and there was a cave, I had to enter and kill a mob or loot something from deep inside. I saw other people in front of it clearing their way trough and I decided to run in and get quick my quest done, before others could come across. So I ran inside and intentionally pulled around 20 mobs on my way, killed the quest mob at the end of the cave, while an army of mobs were chewing my ass and managed to run out with not even once dropping low on the hp bar or getting oom or ever become stressed. I mean, I've always been a good player and a very experienced healer since Vanilla, so there was assuredly a bit of skill and I knew how to efficiently use mana, but man, that moment killed the game for me. There was no challenge anymore, no risky pulls, no need to group up, you could just press random buttons and be successful. I quit again two weeks after and never reactivated my account again.

[@nickwee258]

By far one of my most "memorable" time of early WoW (I think TBC, though I started in Vanilla) was a full Wailing Caverns run that literally took us almost 7 hours due to various wipes, people leaving, respawns, etc etc. I'm not even sure we completed it in the end.

[@808alldayxx]

One of my best experiences I've had back in vanilla was the high populated starting areas seeing everyone start fresh with you was the best feeling . And it felt good to be with other people your lvl

[@DamagedTube]

community and personal reputation really mattered before server transfer was a thing, thus your online behavior is hold accountable

[@zeraith]

This was really important I feel. How you acted as a player and interacted with other players mattered alot. Ninjalooters were scorned and quickly outcast. Great tanks...healers and kind players in general were wanted in groups, the feeling of community was there. I hope it will be the case in classic.

[@ithiusdomino]

I remember in BC where i first learned that i was known as a good tank. I had built a rep in vanilla that i didn't even realize so while i was playing through BC people knew me and asked for me specifically. It was a crazy thing.

[@jamescundiff3264]

This got me reinvigorated for classic wow. I started playing back in 2005 and all of what you said was true. I wasn't that excited to hear while classic coming back because everything was just so broken that day. There was no class identity specs like Shadow priest and balance druid an elemental shaman. The classes were so jacked up that then. But I do remember my Warlock.

[@stingrae789]

I raided as a shadow priest in vanilla (up to but sadly not including Twin Emps), as did quite a few others like Beckon and Nikitabanana (Names of US players I remember). It was basically just a buff bot to the warlocks you had in the raid. The only issue is you only needed ONE. I'm not sure I'll play but damn I miss it sometimes especially 5 man dungeons but personally I think TBC until they nerfed heroics was a better dungeon game.

[@adolfhogantrueliberalist8800]

-realising you'd pulled too many mobs, hauling ass, jumping off a bridge and into a lake to escape -finding that ultra-rare player in a pug who could actually play his class properly -raging at rogues who would loot chests in the middle of battles -a sense of relief upon meeting someone on the same elite quest chain as you -turning in a chunk of quests at once, seeing your exp bar suddenly go from 0% to 60% -gaining 5 levels in the scarlet monastery alone -turning in the last quest in desolace and finally being able to gtfo of there -finding a blue boe drop and rushing to thottbot or wowhead to see what it was worth -checking the auction house every 2 levels for new equipment -debating whether to buy a new item, save for your lvl 40 mount, or buy the rest of your spells

[@JasonGillman]

That was an excellent production and explanation. Narrative and cinema presentation perfectly matched.

[@phajthoj]

3:31 dat moonwalk though

[@rhumorsky4055]

The thing I like about leveling is making a rogue, getting to lvl 45 somehow and killing everything in STV for days.

[@elementa784]

You are one of them. SHAME SHAME SHAME... ;P

[@luchoang9979]

madda fakka u nailed it. Thats what i miss the most. STV! hhahaha The pvp at stv

[@julianodbz]

so... it was you!

[@bertreynolds8146]

I played WoW the very first week it came out, just on a whim, bought it with my girlfriend at the time so we could play something together. What followed was years of play together. It was amazing and addicting, I can remember the horde and alliance fights in the NE zone. Lots of what was enjoyed has been lost, and while I don't agree with bringing Vanilla back I understand why people can get all nostalgic. Great video to support the argument or memory at least, but I honestly think it was a once in a lifetime gaming experience, it truly was Epic to play WoW when it came out and the years that followed. I've been gaming for years and it's undeniably one of the best games ever, if not the best.

[@smarinak88]

I remember when WoW first came out when I was in High School! I bought the guide before the game was actually released. I studied that guide tirelessly in study halls and in my spare time in anticipation for the release of the game! Finally, the day came of the launch...I raced home and quickly installed it! Logging in to find so many people in the starting areas was so freakin epic!!! It was a brand new and unexplored world! Every zone was a new adventure and a new challenge!! It took forever to level and it was absolutely epic. Every level you would hit, was another accomplishment. I remember working so hard to get to 60, so that I could start raiding in MC and Onyxia...which, even when I hit 60, I still could not do, because I had to get my gear up! Endless runs of the top tier dungeons to get high level blues...then finally to MC and Onyxia to get purples! So many wipes, and when you finally cleared each boss....was truly epic!!! I was a 60 Tauren hunter...and I remember getting the hunter quest to kill the demons to get the top hunter bow and staff!!! Lok' Dehlar and Rok' Dehlar I believe! It was a truly epic and amazing quest, that really connected me with my character, and it felt like I was a true warrior on a journey to be the best in the land! Such amazing times....I wish they never ended. When my brother told me about the re-release....I got so excited. I quit WoW sadly, right before the burning crusade was released. I had full Tier 2 dragonscale I believe gear, from BWL, only to find out the burning crusade Green items were more powerful... it was so sad that I felt like the game shifted from the loyal, hard working players, to cater to the masses. I am so so excited to play Vanilla once more!!!!! I cannot wait!!!! I am 30 yrs. old now, with a lot more responsibilities of course....but WoW was an escape from life's daily struggles....back then in High School and my late teens, life was so much simpler back when.... that is why Vanilla is so great....it is simple, epic, and challenging!!!!! I am so excited!!! Loved the video and the music!!!!!

[@bqproductions]

This was such a spot on explanation on why Vanilla Wow was so amazing, can't wait to try out the retail vanilla servers :D

[@ithiusdomino]

I miss vanilla tanking so much. i miss stance dance, i miss T-clap only hitting 4 mobs, i miss devastating shout being an effective means of grabbing mobs once in. i miss having to know how to tab target correctly to keep the correct amount of threat on each mob so the dps could dps but the heals wouldn't pull aggro. gawd i miss the quality of game that vanilla was.

[@TheSADHU88]

One thing i miss the most about vanilla is that it was very social, you had to get to know people on your server! Both your side and the other, i rember i had at least 3 nemesis on the alliance side that i've come across every now and then, i hated them and oh boy they hated me :D Also there were the people who made the game more epic, the weirdos. Every server had them the weridos who play the game for some reason unknown to us. They found their fun doing the weirdest shit you cant think up.I remember i even joined a few weirdos groups and rolled with them for a while, it was great fun :) Nowdays its like the society in real life, everybody is alienated, no one play with anyone anymore, rarely and its just not fun playing these kind of games without teamwork.

[@lskdfoIS]

I might have been one of those weirdos. I used to farm the spells at the troll camp below Orgrimmar until I got the giant buff, log out, log in, get it again until I had 3, drink a giant potion and port back to Orgrimmar as a super giant stomping around (was about half the height of the flight tower). I was also usually a pirate or skeleton and fished for deviant fish until I had a couple stacks to hand out. My solo gameplay usually involved wall jumping and exploring out of bounds. If I was on my Warlock I usually looked for demons to enslave and bring into towns and release. I ran a guild called Team Mighty pre 60 and spent a lot of time running people through lower dungeons for fun. Good times :D

[@jonnili]

Ah the good old days where realms were restricted to themselves. If your got GM the whole server even the opposing faction knew who your were. You ninjad an item on a 10 man dungeon? Good luck finding a new guild. The community is what made vanilla wow

[@Tipgoifaf]

TheSADHU88 I definitely agree that Vanilla WoW was more social. Group finders killed any reason to communicate. However, I can't help but feel that the "people are less social now" mentality is incorrect. You just need to know where to look :) Just like in Vanilla ;)

[@DBDBProductions]

"Your skill in daggers has increased to 45" Oh man.. *Cries in Nostalgic*

[@chrismiller3548]

The feeling of finding a random green while level grinding in classic wow is the best

[@Geckomayhem]

What I loved is bandages actually being meaningful, and having to drink frequently to replenish mana; visiting your class trainer to learn new skills; and having to think about whether you wanted the utility of a skill over power, and would choose to cast a lower level version to save mana. :)

[@Phoenixaflame17]

as someone who played on a pve server from the start, its always so strange to me the people that treat pvp like it was intergral to the vanilla experience. Being forced to play on pvp private servers actually made it so i *couldnt* relive my vanilla experiences. it gave no sense of epicness or adventure, it was just a chore. it wasnt the wow i played as a kid. it wasnt the most wow like experience for me like a lot of people seem to say it is. the focus on pvp in private servers has always been so extremely frustrating to me because its almost impossible to find an active pve realm. Hopefully blizz will create just as amany pve servers as pvp servers so finding them isnt an issue anymore.

[@austinschlatter4726]

Burning crusade is still my favorite expansion of all time, that's when i had the most fun, that's when the game felt "solid", that's when the game was in its prime. Ever since then, the game seemed to fall off. If they could release a classic wow for those who want vanilla, and for those who want BC, or wrath, or whatever, that would be amazing and i might actually play the game again. I quit when i beta tested Mist, i was way over it, they ruined the character building for me. Thx for the video :D

[@YouTearMyHeart]

You are so right... ! =)

[@vincent779]

I enjoyed wotlk, cata and mop even if some people will disagree with me

[@y2jeff2]

You nailed it. My favourite thing about levelling was the difficulty. Also having to run and find the dungeon, manually finding a group of people without the Group Finder. It was a pain in the arse and I don't know if I could be bothered doing that today, but some of those moments are also my fondest memories of wow.

[@rebeccaschade3987]

I feel your video sum it up quite well. The world felt soooo much bigger back then. The excitement of the first journey from Darnassus to Ironforge at low level, in order to do Deadmines. Having to run along the road through the Wetlands, hoping none of the mobs would notice you. Which they would of course. And you'd die. And you'd corpserun, and try to respawn as far along the road as possible in hopes of skipping a few mobs. And then do it again until you reached the relative safety of Dun Morogh. It made the world feel alive. Creatures weren't just there as a nuisance, but rather they were actually dangerous. And the sense of accomplishment once you had reached level 40 and could buy your very first mount. Or that first time you managed to complete the Stratholme in 45 minutes challenge for the Tier 0.5 upgrade quest chain. Going back once Classic comes back, will of course never be quite the same, becuase we've seen it before. It won't have that brand new sense of wonder and amazement that it had when it was new and fresh. But I will do my best to enjoy every moment of it :D

[@Elgar337]

I remember me and two of my best rl friends got WoW on day 1 of its release and made dwarf characters (warrior hunter and priest). We'd level together and we'd spend time exploring, fishing and hanging around. There was no sense of urgency to rush to max lvl, and that's what was later lost in the game. When it came time to log off, we'd set up a campfire (always carried flint and tinder in our backpacks), lie around it, go to sleep, and log off. Then we'd run down from our apartments to the local cafe. We sacrificed the inn's resting bonus for a more adventure-like experience. That says a lot.

[@kykicker2423]

"Back in my day we walked to school up hill both ways"

[@flappy7373]

As a lowly Alliance Human Priest, I had a rough go of it when I had to quest in Stranglethorn Vale. Once I was old enough, I got my vengeance. I absolutely brutalized horde players in STV (specifically at Grom'Gol) once I was level 60. I would do it by hiding on board a Zeppelin.. I'd try Mind Controlling Hordies, walking them on board the same Hordie Zeppelin that I was stowed away on.. and then I'd jump their character off into the ocean where fatigue had a decent chance of killing them and making them pay for repairs.... yes... YES.... OH GOD YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. i need a napkin.

[@timothygibney159]

Most noob players who picked a PVP realm quickly changed their minds once they ventured to Stranglethorn Vale FAST and reroll for a non PVP one. Alliance got raped there. If you are horde the raping was at the Crossroads in the Barrens. It some ways it was worse there as they had just 2 level 45 guards and n00bs level 10 - 20 to wipe unlike SV.

[@Lost_Hwasal]

Reminds me of warlocks summoning you to the bottom of the ocean so you would drown. Or hunters kiting devilsaurs to org where they would run rampant. I also avoided STV if i could.

[@Ashgam666]

i remember one ocassion i get my warlock into the human startinga area and let an infernal loose, oh those poor bastards running like headless chickens diying again and again. Sweet revenge

[@notobama584]

stranglethorn vale was the Russia of wow and westlands was the North Korea of wow

[@harleyhollowell8201]

@@timothygibney159 That's so weird to me. Once I realized exactly how world pvp worked, ganking and all, I was totally sold on ALWAYS making sure I was on a pvp server.

[@angerzh8782]

I'm waiting for WoW Classic servers...

[@LeCharles07]

Blackened Defias Set is worth real money now, I'm so glad I already had mine for transmogs. I think you're pretty spot on on your points. Spending so much time in the world gave me a sense of wonder and I came to love the world itself. The risk of death in every fight gave me a deep hatred for some races (Merlocs) and a strong love for others (Furbolgs). One thing you didn't mention was buying skills; If you were broke you had to make a hard choice sometimes in which skills you bought. I remember how getting a new main spell (like frostbolt) made you feel so much more powerful. The implications on wPvP was great too because, if the zone you were in was a hot pvp zone, those skill choices made a huge difference sometimes. Great video, cheers!

[@JMIK1991]

Wall jumps to explore, dodge enemy attacks by going behind them, group leveling, the green weapon, killing same or higher level elite solo. Definitely the things I loved.

[@freddelarsson4434]

Really looking forward to Duskwood again :d

[@markblaze4909]

you mean ganking in duskwood. :)

[@freddelarsson4434]

Yep pretty much, the passage to Strangelthron especially, Rogue is going to be the main for this one

[@freddelarsson4434]

I like fucking with people in pvp, and have the privilage to level with stealth. Makes everything much smoother.

[@Rage_WinterchiIl]

duskwood had so many fucking badass quest lines you had stalvan, abercrombie and stitches, and solving the mystery with sven yorgen

[@freddelarsson4434]

Yeah, I rememer as a kid that I was scared to walk alone in the zone with the music that it has to it.

[@ladypilliwick8179]

You forgot the healer had to carry water......I still have that holy priest...... I can remember before going forward the tank always looked back to see exactly where I was at..... Totally looking forward to those long long walks

[@WatchingFromWork6636]

I love that I stumbled on your channel, I think exactly like you do on this and absolutely can’t wait for a classic server and I hope they do it is a true classic way. I’ve bounced back to EQ1999 just because most mmos now days are zero challenge, no one talks, everyone runs off because everything can be done so easy if you even need a group.

[@tmwk__]

Dude, exploring the world. Doing the quest and World PvP was some of the most enjoyable times I had in wow. More so than the End game stuff. It became too much like a job. I remember hitting level cap on my Orc Shaman back in the day and continued to quest, regardless. You can get some nice loot here and there. Build up the rep(s). I never left a zone untouched. If I was going to quest somewhere. It had to be 100% finished. I use to remember Thottbotting every zones quest. As far a getting ganked. Well, hey, you’re at war with the Alliance vice versa Horde. Welcome to Warcraft.

[@LouisPetrides]

Love your vids mate, keep it up. :D

[@Xuptokny3]

Coordination and planning VS Face-rolling. Vanilla and retail are two completely different games with the same skins.

[@AngryCosmonaut]

Remembers all the "Mechanics" in vanilla raids, looks at actual gameplay in modern raids. Yeah... vanilla looks totally... functional i guess?

[@ivespfister1748]

but the cooridnation and planning was because it was that hard. it was because tanks couldnt tank more then one enemy (yea sure u could tank more but u get my point). it was just a nessesety caused by bad design. why would u consider i tto be fun when u have to use spells that u learned at lvl 20 or so (ranks) just u didnt go oom instantly? why would you consider it to be fun when you tell ppl to go afk and not take part in the boss encounter so they could "combat-rez"? why would you consider it to be fun to sit down and drink after every fucking mob u killed? thats not hard thats just annoying. sure it felt good when u finally leveled up but that doesnt chance the fact that its just bad design. back then vwow was considered to be one of the easiest mmorpgs. go watch preachs video (the legacy of vannila wow or something like that). their tank could go afk and leave his makro do the job. sure i had a blast back then but thats because it was new and fresh.

[@Xuptokny3]

I'm not sure about what you mentioned, I'm more interested in the dungeon dynamic. That's what I was referring to. You had to actually work with your team, and coordinate CC's, dispels, etc. You couldn't just blast through a dungeon, making every mob forgettable, and have the whole experience be over in 5 minutes. You don't make friends in that time, hell you might not even talk to anybody. It guts the social experience in what is supposed to be a social game. I would say that they improved end game content over the years, but the rest of the game regressed.

[@sensaiko]

Ives Pfister that what people dont get, leveling in WoW was way faster than others mmorpgs

[@Hathorr1067]

Ives Pfister. It was amusing when raiders got to nax, and failed horribly because they couldn't figure out they had to actually move for once.

[@perijt9174]

Great video. The thing I really loved about vanilla is the whole dungeon experience. Not just the combat but finding the group, then everyone having to run to the dungeon itself, which could sometimes be in enemy territory and take ages to get to. And as you said, they were harder to complete, but all this made something that was waaaay more satisfying than anything modern WoW can achieve. Please hurry Bliz, I'm dyin' here.

[@Sovekanaris]

Thank you for this video

[@CrazyPCgamercatguy]

You talk about not liking the "blue bubble that tells you where a quest is" but you still use a quest helper addon? Come on guys, Quest tracking and helpers are not that bad. Honestly, how many of you didn't use one?

[@CrazyPCgamercatguy]

Yes, yes, you have a point but not a particularly strong one. Still, even with wowhead around, almost everyone would use a quest helper. I don't think many deny that. Hell, even I, who have found Mandreds wife at the Barrens without looking at wowhead or a helper, after a point, for some quests, I had been using one. But still, I have been reading the quest text (even have the "Instant quest text" unchecked at the options) getting the info and then just taking a fast peek at the quest's position on the map and start it. What I want to say is: a quest tracker/helper will not change the vanilla experience. (it might for those 10 people who never used one) And the solution for this so-called-problem is simple: Let us enable or disable it from the options. If one doesn't want it, then all he has to do is to disable it. It's not nuclear physics. Your English are exceptional. You just have to use more punctuation and make a bit smaller sentences, so the reader can understand easier. :)

[@YouTearMyHeart]

I play on a vanilla private server, and don't use one. Where is the challenge with a quest helper? Where is the adventure? =/

[@YouTearMyHeart]

I only used one when I played as a 12 y.o.

[@j4kfr05t5]

+MellowMellow You're telling me you consider this a challange: "Oh! Hello -insert name here-, I hear you're a brave adventurer! Can I ask you for a favor? I dropped my dead skin shaver at the old abandoned mill. Could you get it for me? It's north-west from here. Watch out, I saw some skelletons lurking around that place." -Proceeds to look for the abandoned mill north-west, finds out that it wasn't actually north-west but rather straight north behind a large low poly hill, and finds the dead skin shaver in the basement of the abandoned mill, after killing about 50 skelletons and some dire hounds who have the aggro range the size of Kate Upton's tits. This isn't a challenge, it's a chore.

[@Bartoc1988]

Never used a quest helper since I started after the beta. My hunter never used a mount until I had to in BC. I only got an addon for threat and that is it. There are some funny strips about that kind of topic at the online comic of the Dark Legacy

[@clarkr1065]

How hard it was to quest and how you had to take your time and clear mobs slowly if you solo'd really helped make the world seem so much bigger.

[@TheWowmart]

I've just started on a private vanilla server and I am loving it . It's brought back so many memories of how things used to be. Going to town and planning everything , getting food water etc making sure you got bag space before setting off again to quest . Mile stones along the way, the wait to get shoulder armour and helmet never mind the wait to get a mount. The difficulty and the joy of pulling off an escape or killing a tough mob. Classis is gunna be great if they do it right.

[@tomgilman9567]

having rubbish gear but yet still being able to win with skill

[@jesselindsey9760]

Yeah, I sure do miss running around and doing nothing. I miss dying all the time to low level mobs. I miss barely keeping it together and desperately scrounging for gear. I miss raids being shitty. I miss wasting a bag collecting soul shards that disappear after I log out. I miss walking until level 40. I miss how unbalanced everything was. Half you fucks in the comments waxing poetically about how awesome the game was back when it sucked didn't even play the game until Wrath, and the other half were one ones who did play but were complaining about how awful it was. I played back in 2006 when my friend in high school introduced it to me, and the game only got better as it aged, like a fine wine. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

[@jesselindsey9760]

On the plus side, I'll never have to hear any of you in the chat complainIng about the game you drop 16 hours a day into, because you'll thankfully all be on the classic server.

[@andrerust8038]

1st time i played vanilla i was so young so i couldnt really understand english (im from sweden) so what i did was only killing mobs because i didnt understand what the quests said xD

[@thehumungus9066]

lol I’m a native english speaker and I never read the quests.

[@DrPluton]

I loved how free-form Vanilla was. I could do quests, mine for ore, run dungeons, etc. I can do all of that now, but it felt more meaningful in Vanilla. Some days, I would log on purely to farm Tanaris for mithril ore or the Burning Steppes for thorium ore on my paladin blacksmith. I had to fight enemies and race other players to get nodes. On my mage (tailor/enchanter), I ran more dungeons and farmed places with heavy concentrations of humanoid and undead enemies to gather cloth (spent several long game sessions killing blood elves in Azshara or Scarlet Crusaders and scourge in Eastern Plaguelands). Getting gear was fun, and I hit level 60 wearing mostly crafted gear on my mage (except for my staff from Scholomance). Filling all the item slots took a long time, and getting my first shoulders, hat, jewelry, and trinkets were all landmarks on the way to maximum level.

[@retrocny5625]

Getting that illusionary rod on my mage(my first character I took to 60) was my first real memory of getting PHAT LOOTS. Man that brings me back.

[@SoulHuN7eR]

I used to have Dragon's Call and Bloodrazor all the way to 60 lvl back in the day on my rogue.... "sighs".

[@Cainite]

What made it better than LvLing today? *The People*

[@erich1380]

You think you do, but you dont

[@idledanman7929]

Well done! You are 100% correct sir, and thank you. Thinking back to retail vanilla I remember some of my favorite times, and actually one of the things I remember being one of my fondest gaming experiences. Sometimes very late at night/early morning after all the fighting died down in stv I remember a few times just relaxing watching the sun rise over the ocean, and after all the pvp and hard questing, and just trying to survive, I would think to myself wow this game is really is just so beautiful when it's peaceful like this. Yeah I think that was my favorite, you just never had a chance to sit back and look around when everyone was on. there was always a fight, the horde and alliance trying to clear each other out of zones for questing rights. Cheers thanks for reminding me.

[@argentorangeok6224]

"You didn't GET anything; you earned it." Vanilla WoW perfectly summed up. I think if live was as difficult and time consuming as Vanilla (just adjusted over time so that level 100 players couldn't wipe out every quest giver in a starter zone every 5 minutes), it would be truly epic.

[@Quitarstudent]

fuck this shit, stop hyping me, it takes more than a year before i can play it! wanna play it now!

[@TheClassicDoomGuy]

Guitarstudent google wow Elysium. Shit tons of players on.

[@Quitarstudent]

yea, what a efficient way to spend time, i did my time on nostalrius before it transfered to elysium, dont need to lose my chars again

[@googlyeyedhorsecrap]

I'm on Elysium nighthaven, it's exactly like the old wow

[@MrSkeezymak]

Im hyped for vanilla, mainly for pvp. Only change I would like to see is to the honor system though. Spending months pvp'n for 16 hours every day to get the epic quality pvp gear is just insane. And back in vanilla it was impossible to get good gear to compete unless you raided... so PVE'rs would come into BGs and faceroll you in your sad little blue gear.

[@echowhiskey2411]

if you didn't shit in a sock you didn't deserve HWL/GM and if you think we want welfare epics again then get your brain rewired. playing PVE to dominate in PVP brought a nice little balance to the game because you weren't short on recruiting for your raids because the average player wanted to do that shit and you didn't have a shortage of world pvp because people needed consumables farmed so they can get their better gear so they can go wreck people in BG's. so by implementing a new honor system you are indirectly going to kill world pvp.

[@MrSkeezymak]

Just because something doesn't take 16 hours a day for a few months in a row, doesn't make it "welfare". The PVP system was extremely flawed. Majority of people who were able to achieve rank 14 did so by account sharing. Those who didn't account share were forced to play the same 3 battlegrounds every single day for 16 hours for months on end. That isn't a grind, it's borderline insanity. People I knew who did this burnt out by the time they got to rank 14, and quit/took a long break from the game. Getting the High warlord/Grand Marshall pvp sets were impossible for 99% of players, so those players who loved to pvp instead of PVE were stuck in their mediocre blue PVP gear, and would get stomped by lesser-skilled PVE players in their PVE Raiding epics. Show less

[@ivespfister1748]

that was because blizz didnt think that pvp would be a main part of the game for a lot of ppl.

[@LSB001]

They should keep the honor system, but just make it a title and nothing else. Gear rewards should cost a lot of honor points and marks. Epic versions should require the rare version plus more honor and marks.

[@MrSkeezymak]

xenteko That would be fine. Even if it took days/a week per piece. Just as long as it doesn't require 14-16 hours a day for 2-3 months and players had something to work towards.

[@Mrimsoretro]

awesome video have not played wow after cata and have played from the start man I miss those days ! you hit the nail right on the head

[@ericlincoln3816]

I remember back during Vanilla I played as a hunter and had a blue item cloth head item because it gave me so much intellect.

[@redfern3256]

Omg warrior quest for berserker stance! Completely forgot about this! XD

Can’t wait to gank low level hordes and quest givers for hours when classic arrives.

[@slateralden4178]

When classic arrives it will take a while to get high enough level to do that lol. Everyone will start level one and everyone is gonna be poor as hell for a LONG time

[@DR4C44N]

Ah back when a green was a reason to celebrate...now heirlooms are ruining pretty much everything...well...and more things besides them offcourse

[@stopperzapper]

A green was only a reason to celebrate until about level 20 or so, after that blue was a reason to celebrate. Getting an Epic was like New Year's Eve in Time's Square.

[@MastaGambit]

Hey grandpa, did you find your cane yet?

[@DR4C44N]

@MastaGambit Huh? What? Speak louder! I can't hear you...oh yeah I almost forgot...GET OF MY LAWN!

[@derekmeyers1513]

More flightpaths were great (like the one near Goldshire). Insta-queue dungeons, faster XP, and heirlooms destroyed most of the game. Why bother crafting gear or weapons when it will always be subpar? Why quest when you can just level dungeons mindlessly? That first piece of blue gear made you feel bulletproof. And an open-world epic drop would make you jump out of your seat cheering. Even if it wasn't for your class, it was probably worth a lot of gold.

[@cmdmd]

Excellent commentary. You are right. You got me all nostalgic.

[@elpollofloco2378]

I remember leveling in duskwood and there was Stitches. Because of that guy, I (rogue) grouped up with some guild members. One warrior and one paladin to defeat him. Of course, the paladin was the healer, what else. :-P After that we also finished some tricky quests and killed elite mobs. These two members of my guild became very good real life friends. We spoke nearly every day in Teamspeak, grouped up for quests and dungeons and finally reached level 60, which was some kind of a gamegasm (game orgasm), because it was like going through life with good friends. Yeah, maybe a little bit weird, if I think that I speak about a game, but for me as a teenager with no access to a car and other friends far away, this was a good feeling to spend some free time. Nearly 14 years after this, we still are good friends. By the way... I never found such good friends in later expansions of WoW. Furthermore... sorry for my bad englisch. I'm not a native english speaker. :-P

[@Engzeezo]

WTS NAX full run for 1000 G each - LAST SPOT! get your gear fast to kill low level players faster! Ops wrong chat!

[@echowhiskey2411]

yeah you gotta be attuned and exalted with argent dawn first, can't just buy your way into runs but nice meme

[@7hiagomp]

the thing I love the most is understanding the numbers. Its freaking me out do a 100 thousand damage in a 4 milion healtbar and 50 thousand damage per second and WTF. Cant be more simple math? pls ? 5 damage in a 80 healt bar. thats calm my heart.

[@nicholasbuskirk1223]

Tbh the large majority of vanilla was kind of trash. For it's time, it was great. But now... people are going to get the vanilla servers and hate them quickly. The reason I loved the game back then was for the sense of community. As you said actually having to group with people to do basic quests, needing directions from general chat (where the fuck is mankriks wife??), taking 2 hours to do WC or 20 hours in an AV. The streamlined solo play, cross realm auto queue shit today destroyed the community aspect of the game. To the point that I only even have a guild on one of my 5 max characters, because why bother? Dungeon? Queue for it. Mythic, search group. Raid? Search group. BG? Auto queue. I met some great pvpers sitting outside of WSG waiting for a queue to pop. And playing a BG meant so much more because you were playing people from YOUR realm. You would recognize alliance players because you faced them so much, and then go shit on them on the realm forums after you got a screencap with their body. There were even people so well known for PvP that if a group saw them you would just turn and run.

[@TheMMObro]

nicholas buskirk yeah a lot of the original mechanics are just punishing and boring.. like yeah trying to maximize spirit tap in dungeons by landing the killing blow was "tactical" but mostly just a pain in the ass

[@TheMMObro]

I only really miss CCing and managing threat

[@nicholasbuskirk1223]

I mean managing threat was cool, and I don't like tanking in its current state, but tanks couldn't get enough threat then. BC was better there. In vanilla even the best tank would lose threat to dps because of their damage.

[@samueldemers5747]

i see your argument everywhere. you are wrong sir. you retail wow fans do not understand the FACT that the vanilla community DO NOT play retail wow. they are playing vanilla on private severs or they dont play anymore. im really tire of hearing from the retail community : Vanilla wow suck! ppl are going play it for a couple of weaks and go back on retail!!!.... NO THEY WONT! THEY DONT PLAY IT FFS!

[@nicholasbuskirk1223]

Samuel Demers I played in vanilla and I still have people on my friends list active that I have known since vanilla. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, you're wrong.

[@BucketBrain1]

It was the change in the philosophical fabric of WoW somewhere between the end of TBC and the downing of the Lich King (Arthas) that was its undoing in my perspective. It was once a journey that required time, effort, collaboration, critical thinking; it had a mysterious component that was awe-inspiring and induced fear and complex emotions, was often spontaneous and unstructured, less complex due to the sheer variety of abilities/spells of current, and in many ways felt like an immersive world filled with imperfections that only a creative mind could make use of... And, if you were a Horde rogue like myself, you could wreak havoc in major Alliance capital cities by stab-vanishing a few low-level players and similarly sapping or 'distracting' them - you could quite literally encourage groups of 30+ people to start looking for you. It was a different game, and wars in capital cities were something amazing.

[@kmop1081]

From an old man perspective who played vanilla in grade 9..... I just can't see my generation having the luxury of time. We had time when we were young to do all of that. It's changed a lot now because the generation of WoW players is getting older. WoW does a very good job in catering the many different generations of gamers. I for one, has graduated University, has started my professional career, but still have a love for WoW. I personally don't mind the current state of warcraft where leveling/gearing is more time efficient (lfrs, heirlooms, mythic dungeons, weeklys, etc). However, I do agree importance of Classic Servers. Being a millennial I've come to realize how much of a nostalgic person I am. I genuinely love classic WoW, this video brought me back to a time of less responsibilities, freedom, and innocence. WoW was such a huge part of my high school life and I want people to experience that. Though I probably won't have time for Classic WoW when it comes out, it will still give me a sense of satisfaction that someone out there, in their young adolescent life, will be experiencing the same joys that I went through in my days of Classic Vanilla WoW.

[@schalltoeter]

i just soloed dead mines with a free 2 play account .... i remember dead mines in vanilla ... you needed CC and a full group ...

[@MintyCoffee]

No you didn’t.

[@ppsarrakis]

@@MintyCoffee yep, i started playing with the Dire maul/STV arena patch ( i remember it was on the launcher) the whole "dungeons where harder back then " is utter bullshit....