And that those who completely refuse to group can’t see the end of the story and the cool big bads like Rag or Onyxia, because fuck you this is an MMO, join a guild asshat! A reminder that content which pushes players to play together, by nudging those who insist on going solo into social situations, is healthy game design for an MMO, not a ‘carryover’ of old and outdated thinking. A reminder that a quest with a cloth item reward for your warrior that sends you across 5 zones, and that during that quest you are walking 99% and doing anything BUT walking 1% of the time, is not a ‘design flaw’ to fix and sanitize. That dying because of a careless pull at level 5 is important, regardless of how initially frustrating it may seem. It’s a reminder that even if you think you don’t want ‘collect 15’ quests that require killing 60 mobs because the drop rate is 5% (math checks out), you actually do. It’s a reminder that the world in WoW is the star character, not you oh generic hybrid iLvl placeholder.
Lore bastardization, or making every class a hybrid dps/tank/healer reskin. Of raidfinder, the space goats, the Horde Paladins, the timetravel-inspired It wasn’t the welfare epics, the complete silence of LFG, the faceroll Management…) reminded the world why, back in 2004, so many fell in love withĪzeroth. Its name was WoW Classic, and its Old Blizzard design (with New Blizzard expectation Then on Aug 26 th the one true WoW killer arrived. Not 10m+ subs strong with good content and a growing user-base, but still considerable to take for a 1-3 week spin every 6 months when content was added. The grip of Azeroth, even terribly watered down, was still strong. Regardless of what other MMO launched, WoW Retail always remained the top dog, even as it lost its way following WotLK and went charging head first into the dumpster fire that is the current game. WAR couldn’t do it, Rift wasn’t the title, SW:TOR sold you hotbars, and on it goes. RIP in peace.Įver since WoW Retail become a monster hit sometime around 2005, ‘WoW killers’ have been announced, launched, and found lacking. WoW Retail, born Nov 23 rd, 2004, has sadly passed away at the age of (almost) 15 on Aug 26 th, 2019.