Those so-called hardcore players can go to hell. I've raided all 40man content and enjoyed them alot, but don't fool yourself thinking you are somehow superior just because you play a game better (and even that is uncertain).WoW is a game and the direction it headed is to let people enjoy the game and not let losers to feel better about themselves.At least environmentalists actually did something good for everyone else while feeling better for themselves.
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
I was never around Pre-BC raiding, so I don't know what that was like. But what I can say is from what I have heard it wasn't "harder", it was just more time consuming. The fights were pretty simple compared to something like Malygos or Yogg-Saron. Now I understand that many players are looking back with those ruby-tinted glasses and saying "It was better then...", but was it really? There was no class balance, there were too many bugs to count, it took you hours to gather up all 40 people for a raid, and even then someone(s) might go afk for a while. Is that the kind of game they really want to play? An unpolished and ultimately flawed game? Maybe WoW isn't for them then, if they want a "time challenge" maybe they should go play an MMO whose leveling process is much more difficult and inaccessible, a "Koren MMO." (They are known for long and boring level grinds)Blizzard has seen what is good and what isn't for their game over the years of production. Which do you prefer as starting zone, Dun Morogh or Azuremist? Obviously the latter was introduced in BC and is a more refined and overall fun zone. Blizzard is still catering to the "hardcore" crowd though, that is why they implemented Hard Mode. They could have made this a "casual only" game by reducing the basic time requirements in raids without providing an alternative, but they chose not to.Now I don't know about you guys, but I have not heard anyone say "ToGC is too easy" or "Heroic Lich King needs to be buffed, he's too weak." This leads me to believe that for the true hardcore players, these raids are attuned perfectly for them. The vocal people seem to be the ones who are not good enough for hard modes but find regular modes too easy for them. These are the same people who seem to expect to finish a raid in one evening instead of a few nights, and strangely enough, the same who put on their rose-tinted glasses to look back at Vanilla.
My only 'issue' with the game as it now stands, is that it feels too much like the game has become a race, rather than an experience.I have no opinions on Easy Mode Vs Hard Mode as I'm a terrible player and will probably never see end-game (level 80) instances other than my two visits to Naxx10.
If you think that the content is to easy then stop playing the game you elitist $%^got. The only part about the game currently that needs to be fixed is the pvp sytem it is so gear dependent it makes me not even wanna plat it anymore any kid with ten hours a day to grind gear can walk in and roll faces. 8============DUrcle
In my opinion, the appeal of vanilla WoW was the great, expansive world that Blizzard had crafted. Exploring all of it and getting to 60 was a significant time investment, and if you read all of the quests then you would also have a feeling like you're part of the world in some way. Everything was epic then because it was new. With The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, the wonder of explorationg wasn't there anymore. You were no longer exploring a vast new world. Part of this might be that there is less content to do to reach the new level cap, part of it might be that the world just isn't as interesting anymore when you fly above it.As for the sense of accomplishment, I think that shouldn't be attributed to the difficulty of the encounters themselves. Most of the fights had simple mechanics behind them, and once these simple mechanics were understood and mastered the fights became slightly easier. The difficulty came from encounters being overtuned for the entry-level. The death of any one raider would result in a raid wipe, so everyone was important and had to pull their weight. If the boss died, then it was because you actually had a part in it. Feeling like you're actually contributing to the fight is very important. The way fights are tuned now, you can let a raider or two die (10-man) and still down the boss; The exceptions to this are DPS checks like Patchwerk, Hodir, Festergut, or if those raiders are your healers or tanks.Another contributing factor to the "epic kills" of the past was the loot. Every boss dropped loot, and it was very rare that you would get a purple item outside of a raid. What made loot so valuable is that it had to be divided amongst 39 other players. That is from a time when there were only 8 classes available, too. These factors made it all the more rewarding when you finally did get your piece of loot. The reduction from 40-man to 10/25-man raids helped remove this sense of accomplishment, because you no longer had to fight 6 other people of the same class to get an item.These changes have been for the better, though. You don't have to sit on a flightpath for 20 minutes to get to where you're going. You don't have to stress about someone disconnecting or dying in a raid as much. You don't have to farm one raid instance for months before you "get your due" on loot. These are good changes because because in the past you needed invest 30 minutes or more just before you could start having fun that day. Couple that with queue times and you're looking at possibly hours before you can play a game to have fun. These days, all you have to do is open the Dungeon Finder, wait 30 seconds to get into an instance, and you can have fun within minutes of loading up the WoW client. It's really great being able to play a game for fun at your leisure.
All the back and forth about the game being too accessible or casual makes me wonder what the player demographic splits are on the issue. I've been playing since 2004 when I was a 19yr college freshman back before thief catchers. At that time I did a 40 man or two because, well simply put, once you cranked out your coding projects friday night, you still had at least 40 hrs left before 10am class on Monday. I didn't mind waiting the 2-4 hours for a raid to form because I had the time, and the repeat bashing my face against the floor night after night wasn't too bad either cause I knew I would have the time to tackle it again next week. Fast forward to today after multiple cancels and resubs, I'm 25, work 9-5, have alot more responsibilities now a days, and have a fiancee. I also have alot more discretionary income to spend on secondary stuff like the CCG, the minis game, posters for my desk and the WoW magazine(which is awsome coffee table art!). If the WoW was still the same game I would hate it. It would suck for me. Instead of being a relaxing thing to do after work, it would be like a second job where I stand around waiting and doing repetition. I love being able to come home, log in to play, spend the next 4 hours stomping thru content or a raid with friends and not royally screwing up my sleep schedule or feel like I accomplished nothing.WoW as it is, works really well for me, I've grown attached to this game for playing it for so many years and would really hate to stop playing because it becomes inconvenient or too much of a timesink, or especially if I have to start scheduling gaming. I know quite a few of my guildies are on the same side of the fence. Vanilla wow raids never would have been able to deal with a thing like "offspring aggro", with the changes now if you can more easily deal with real life concerns while playing your game. I think a lot of that feeling of "epicness" back in the day simply came from the feeling that I had done something that others had not simply because I had more time to spare. I much prefer the current system where 80% of endgame can be completed with skill without needing hours upon hours of time, but where an elite 20% remains for those willing to attempt it that require both skill, timing and hours of practice.TLDR:The way WoW has changed makes me feel like Blizz was making sure they didn't alienate those of us who supported them in the beginning, even as our own lives went thru changes. We can't play the same as we did when we started playing in Vanilla, and Blizz remembers that and has tried to keep us in the game.
Personally, there are a lot of people being close minded to the fact that there is always going to be change. The things you once loved and cherish will never stay the same. Personally I've played in BC and took some time off, came back and put a lot of time in Lich King expansion. It also seems that Blizzard is trying to give Warcraft back a Vanilla taste with the stat changes and putting all new stuff in Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdom. Just gotta open your mind and just appreciate the game for what its worth.Edit: I agree with the fact that progression is really easy now. They should kinda slow it down a bit.
Good topic. Lots of discussion.I started out playing the offline version and played a very little of the online before it became World of Warcraft. Finally got into WoW just after BC came out. Raided in WotLK and got sick of endless progression. This game has so much to offer though. I love that when I get bored with one aspect I can fall in love with others. Leveling to raiding to owning the AH to alting to trolling and back again. Love this game. Keep it up.Oh, and whoever disagrees with me should be stomped and urinated on. Am I doing it right?