My impressions of Classic so far

Iselin

I went into the Classic launch just curious. I've never played on Vanilla servers and in 2004 I only stuck around for about 9 months. I did go back in WotLK and stayed for about 3 years that time. In all honesty that's the "classic" I'd like to get back to... maybe it'll get there eventually.

I'm mostly curious about my own reaction going back to what was "normal" in MMOs 15 years ago. I have nothing against modern MMOs with all of their conveniences so I'm most curious about my reaction to the lack of conveniences.

I rolled a Warlock in Bloodsail Buccaneers, the one and only PvE RP server in NA. I've always felt that RP communities are the best of what MMOs offer even though I'm at best a "light" RPer. If I was going to do this at all, a good community is a must for me.

Queues:

What queues? Even yesterday the longest I had to wait was 5 minutes. Today I logged right in with no queue. In any other type of server that'd be cause for concern after the inevitable exodus happens. In the only RP PvE server, not so much.

Mob tagging:

I have to say after playing several MMOs with co-op mob kills this WOW thing just feels weird, especially before people spread out. The competition for tagging quest mobs is fierce and any class with an instant damage ability you can get in the early levels has a huge advantage. The noob area was so crazy yesterday I just logged off for a couple of hours and let it thin out a bit. Good move. It was more tolerable when I logged back in.

Line-up for quest bosses:

This was both good and bad. I was in a 20 minute line-up to kill the head bandit of the human starter area. People actually stood in line and didn't try to be asshats cutting in. Groups of 5 were formed on the spot to make the line go faster. Needing to wait was a PITA but the community behavior was outstanding.

Self-rooted casting:

God I miss action combat already lol. The pace is just glacially slow with everything having long cast times and then a 1.5s GDC after that. Not a surprise though. I was expecting to be annoyed by this and I am. It's actually viable to click abilities with your mouse. No gaming mouse required.

Artificially super sized world:

Not that WOW was ever small in surface area but the very few rapid transit hubs, teleports and no mount till 40 really adds to the feeling of size... like a lot. The 1 hr CD on the hearthstone also adds to this (it's 30 minutes now on retail.) It's both a good and a bad thing. This along with everything else just creates a very chill and relaxed environment and I like that... when I'm not in a hurry to get to my trainer or do any other trivial housekeeping thing.

I'm in a guild with strangers already!

Thanks to Princess and her entourage, I grouped with a few people, carried on getting some bandit bandannas, chatted a bit and one of them invited me to their guild.


So far...

It may just be the launch buzz but the community here already feels much better than anything I have experienced elsewhere in the past 10 years. We'll see how that shakes down later on. The game mechanics? Well... all I can say is that so far I'm tolerating them

DeadSpock

This is bad for me I wanted to skip the classic but after reading your thread I got into a dilemma to sub or not when before I was sure not to. I already have FF14 FF11 sub active ><

BeansnBread

My God the travel times are real though. I can get on board with that half-criticism 1000%.

vtravi

I have had no problem with queues or fighting for Mobs. I am on the same server as the OP, but I play Horde and I hear there are way more Alliance on this server. 

I pretty much agree with everything else he said although I love the slow combat and huge world. I had to walk 15 minutes for my level 10 Shaman quest (it actually took 40 minutes because I am not using quest helper and I had no idea where to go. And it was Brillant, I miss getting lost in an MMO)

If you are not into slow progress and long walks, this game wont be for you. Which is ok

Amathe

Iselin said:

The competition for tagging quest mobs is fierce and any class with an instant damage ability you can get in the early levels has a huge advantage. 

Even more of an advantage. Stand near where quest mob pops and spam aoe. So it pops into your aoe.

You won't make many friends that way. But the wait time is less. 

Axxar

I also love the size of the world. Makes it feel like a real place.

Octagon7711

I really enjoyed this game when it first came out. Things I didn't like, died a lot, money was a grind to get, talents, mounts, cold weather flying books were expensive.  It just took time to save up for stuff.  Lots of good memories solo and grouping.

Lokero

Amathe said:

Iselin said:

The competition for tagging quest mobs is fierce and any class with an instant damage ability you can get in the early levels has a huge advantage. 

Even more of an advantage. Stand near where quest mob pops and spam aoe. So it pops into your aoe.

You won't make many friends that way. But the wait time is less. 

That'll come later   Right now, it's launch week and everyone is still on a high and feeling friendly enough to stand around and chat it up with like-minded nostalgists.  In other words, everyone is honeymooning.

Well, that and the fact that most people have the crowd-follower mentality.  While the majority is playing nice, the rest will pretend for a while.

Theocritus

I could see the need to get in early on a MMO that hasn't launched before, but we've all played this one...why not wait?

Arglebargle

Sounds like it has all the things I remember that kept me from playing.   I find queues and fighting for mobs, etc. to be far too gamey, and seriously anti-immersive.  All games are abstractions, and the designers choose how to abstract things.   Not all games will fit my preferences, and I'm fine with that.

Looks like the community is pretty good though.

Iselin

Theocritus said:

I could see the need to get in early on a MMO that hasn't launched before, but we've all played this one...why not wait?

You're right, there's no hurry. It was just coincidentally the right time for me since my ESO sub was up two weeks ago so I cancelled that and subbed to this.

Bloodaxes

Iselin said:

Line-up for quest bosses:

This was both good and bad. I was in a 20 minute line-up to kill the head bandit of the human starter area. People actually stood in line and didn't try to be asshats cutting in. Groups of 5 were formed on the spot to make the line go faster. Needing to wait was a PITA but the community behavior was outstanding.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here it is:

Kudos to all those people as I would be quite annoyed having to wait for so long for quite a few quests.

Lokero

TBH, I never really had to deal with queues much.  I guess my friends picked a sensibly-populated server.  I started a day late after launch.

The thing I truly remember the most was lag - loot lag and some skill lag.

Axxar

Yeah, I got in immediately. Though by evening my server grew in pop and there was a 5 minute queue.

DeadSpock

Same server as OP no queue all day and game runs very smooth, only issue so far are the quests it takes me 30 min+ to kill x10 mobs cause there are people everywhere, also my instant skill as priest dosent claim only the very long cast one does which sucks as I hit them with instant cast one only to have someone else steal the mob.

Iselin

DeadSpock said:

Same server as OP no queue all day and game runs very smooth, only issue so far are the quests it takes me 30 min+ to kill x10 mobs cause there are people everywhere, also my instant skill as priest dosent claim only the very long cast one does which sucks as I hit them with instant cast one only to have someone else steal the mob.

Yeah for tagging mobs it's hard to beat hunters, warriors and mages. My Warlock's instants are DOTs so anyone with a DD instant can take whatever I tag with a DOT away from me too.

Manestream

Enjoy the journey to end game. You will enjoy the game more. Just hit lvl 15, not hardcoring it. Having to relearn what i had forgotten (but some bits are still there) LOL

I am finding classic much more fun for me, since its not cut down and boring (you can play the current version with only 10% attention span, rest would be trained on watching TV or reading a book.

3 reasons why i stopped playing, did not buy last expansion, bought all others but never played the previous expansion (Legion). Boredom.
Can easily stop playing for a few yrs and then just pick it up later on, wont take long to catch up either, prolly a month and a couple mths for new content.

acidblood

So far Classic is basically how I was expecting it to be; WoW from 15-years ago with a few UI updates (addons are still very much needed though).

And while I can understand not liking the gameplay... what exactly were you expecting?

snoocky

I won't play classic...I have good memories about it in that time,just wanna keep them

BeansnBread

Torval said:

Iselin said:

DeadSpock said:

Same server as OP no queue all day and game runs very smooth, only issue so far are the quests it takes me 30 min+ to kill x10 mobs cause there are people everywhere, also my instant skill as priest dosent claim only the very long cast one does which sucks as I hit them with instant cast one only to have someone else steal the mob.

Yeah for tagging mobs it's hard to beat hunters, warriors and mages. My Warlock's instants are DOTs so anyone with a DD instant can take whatever I tag with a DOT away from me too.

That's lame. DoTs should proc/tick the instant they're cast and then timed intervals after that. It's bad design.

I'll just make it clear.

So, shaman have a dot the hits instantly and then dots. I'm not actually 100% sure that devouring plague hits instantly in classic for priests, but I'm pretty sure.

The point is, even in their most basic state, they were thinking about dots in different ways and for whatever reason, they decided that some dots should start with damage and some shouldn't.

Aethaeryn

I've been enjoying it so far.  The communities have been mixed.  For example on the RP server the Horde side seems a lot more Mature. . this might have had to do with areas I tried starting in.

RPPvP has a super solid community so far (only tried alliance)

I haven't run into queues but these two servers had lower populations to start with.  I will decide on one soon and just chill through the ride.

I have a different perspective on the game and gameplay as most. I was worried that it would be full of hard core players who just want to raid etc. or get world firsts but there are many others who are just enjoying the game and encouraging others to take their time.  

The things I recall as being the most fun where getting rare pets, sneaking into Barrens?  to get those fish so I could make those polymorph potions to hand out at dungeon runs etc.  This was all on a PvP server in vanilla.

There is definitely some slog and grindyness, but I like to farm cloth for a bit and fish etc. anyway.  I am not in a rush.

The biggest thing I see killing this is that the game is already in maintenance mode. . the "then what" will maybe be a problem.  With most games there is the sense that the world keeps evolving and that there will be new adventures etc.  This game has a hard limit on content (so far).  This won't bother me since I won't ever hit it and never got there initially anyway, but for some it will be an issue.

Overall I just like the game more.  I feel like I a am not just clicking through . . most modern MMOs seem like idle games where (if it wasn't for movement) you could play two at once.  I have died several times already when a wolf spawned near me while I was fighting or I pulled two mobs at once by accident.  I am getting a LOT better at playing a warlock though (something I didn't do much before) and can handle a few at a time now.  I still can't make a bag yet and have to drop stuff or run back to sell.  Again, this I don't mind at all since I play it as a casual game.

I saw a guild called "aggressively casual", that name suits my playstyle for sure   I will die a few times trying to get that white lion from the barens with my NE hunter etc.

Aethaeryn

I have found the starting areas still fairly busy.  I think a lot of people are trying alts.

Aethaeryn

Shooter564567 said:

There wont be any heard left by than

I am sure they will merge servers if that is the case and the situation will be similar. . especially since they are already using layers on the servers to handle population.

NorseGod

I've never played WoW pre-TBC (was playing other games), so excuse my ignorance here.

What exactly is there to do at Classic endgame? Get to lvl 60, then what?

TheDarkrayne

NorseGod said:

I've never played WoW pre-TBC (was playing other games), so excuse my ignorance here.

What exactly is there to do at Classic endgame? Get to lvl 60, then what?

Truthfully? The Classic endgame was good because the community did tons of events, RP stuff and organized mass world PvP battles.. or alliance city sieges.

Back then the RPG fans were the majority, instead of the MMO fans. It wasn't about chasing loot, it was about having fun for the sake of having fun.

I worry Classic will get boring very quickly if they can't, or don't, get as organized as they used to be.

TheDarkrayne

Torval said:

I mostly agree but I would say MMO gamers up to that point were the RPG fans. It was WoW bringing in masses of people who weren't RPG enthusiasts that changed the demographic landscape forever.

That's what I meant. WoW didn't bring in the masses until after vanilla.