I am one of those sad people who really likes games starter areas & the people vs late game... the calm of Elwyn Forest & StormWind is unbeatable for me
I just came back after a looong time, and i never thought I'd say this, but I level way too fast. It pushes me out of zones before completing. Even with disabling that Joyous Journey buff.
Old Blizzard did add on enough fresh elements to make their simple stuff still compelling, however. Some of these elements were toned down for WoW. Just look at the Night Elves. In WC3, they were tree huggers... but they were just as fierce the Orcs and several degrees more xenophobic. Which was a shame, because I think that reconciling or winning over the hardliners in the Night Elves would have made a good story.
You are so right about exploration, the "slow" pacing and the simplicity is so important to create a true memorable ambiance and experience, which are built during the long walks just like Skyrim I would add that mounts can add or completly detach from the experience, modern flying mount completly neglects & trivialize the world, even at 60 in vanilla
The night elf starting zone invokes a real unfathomable nostalgia within me. The music coupled with the magical ambience just feels amazing. It was childhood, just wandering around and not having to minmax or rush to level 60 to raid or pvp
the music is so important to the feel of each zone. I can remember the first time i walked into Stormwind and heard that epic music as you walk over the bridge. So Iconic.
I can vouch for the Turtle wow experience. Yesterday I was going through Durotar, leveling an orc warrior which is something pretty new to me, and I've had more social interactions while leveling in one night than I've had in all my time playing modern retail. Everyone was welcoming and willing to do even simple quests together, or just talk... One thing that will definitely stay with me is when it started snowing randomly (in Durotar of all places!) while I was AFK, a fellow orc sat down next to me and waited for me to get back, and we just chatted about how beautiful the weather was. It's simple moments like that, which make the world feel so alive. That community and feeling of the original WoW we all love is still there, you just have to seek it out and not get burnt out trying to minmax everything.
Totally agree. "Everybody knows everyting and no sense of discovery in Classic?" Say hello to Turtle WoW! New races, new zones, new and updated dungeons, new quests, different leveling modes with rewards, new zones, new and updated dungeons, class balance with updated racials and class talent trees with new spells/abilities, new professions, a new bg and arena in Classic, low lvl zones that feel alive, a nice community, devs who actually listen, and no wow token, gdkp and no gold spamming. Oh and next year the graphics will be updated to unreal 5. Insane!
I also really enjoy TurtleWoW. It's great that they have a small development team, so while things are added and changed, it's never so much change that you feel like you have fallen behind after not playing for a few months.
... and then you enter one of their new custom dungeon (which as a concept is really cool) but in practice is done very poorly. The scripting sucks etc. It's just thrown together.
Back then my motivation was to log in after work and hang out with friends. We all wanted to get the white tiger mount, but none of us could afford one. The world felt so large. No twitch. No wowhead. No gear calculators. Kids these days will never know how relaxing that was.
as a guy who played World of Warcraft on a private server in 2013, the private server was hosted by my dad (my father actually played WoW back when it came out) and it was always on the Wrath build. I had lots of fun messing around in it but never leveled legitimately as I was kind of young. But fast forward to 2019 or so when Battle For Azeroth launched, I began leveling legitimately of course since this was the public version of WoW that required a subscription to play. Anyway I had fun with it but I started missing the zones I would find in Wrath, and classic coincidentally launched soon after and I was still a large noob of the game. I still lack certain knowledge people have known about for years so learning the ropes of the game mainly through classic has been a very interesting and fun journey so far. I managed to hit level 50 on a blood elf Mage when Cataclysm classic launched.
I remember back in 2004-2005 when a friend of mine was playing an odd game in his PC, I asked him what he was playing, he said "World of Warcraft", I really liked the aesthetics of the game but you had to pay a subscription to play, he then brought his CD box from WoW and gave me a paper, it was one of those codes that used to come in the game boxes that gave you access to the game for 20 days and level up the character to 20 max cap, I thanked him, later I went to my house, installed the game and it managed to glue me to my PC for at least 8-9 straight hours, just exploring, doing quests, talking to people, WoW was so alive back then and felt like you said: home. Eventually with WOTLK I decided to hop in, best decision ever, now I had Runescape and WoW, I still play OSRS 'till this day, but WoW will always have a special place in my heart.
I played WOW at launch in 2004 with my brother. I was home from the military and saw him playing it during the first xmas event. I was blown away at the ingame holidays events. I had never seen that before. So I jumped on and started playing. I played until about 2008 when I had too many things going on in my life so I had to set it aside. I started playing again about a year ago. It is very different. But I like the changes. I played classic WOW and yes it does feel like home. Both are good fun again and I am glad I rediscovered it.
WoW and it's first expansions have a very handcrafted feel. And you can just feel the passion for what they were making radiate off the smallest details and things. Down to the icons. I remember watching the behind the scenes dvd for WoW, specifically the art segment. They talk about how they really put their hearts into making the "feel" right, and wouldn't stop until it was just right. And that resulted in the timeless visuals it has. By using the technical limitations to stylize the game in the way that holds up still today. Classic doesn't necessarily look old because of how they nailed the artstyle. Anyway I think a major reason why people have such nostalgia for the original trilogy of WoW and it's expansions is the art. It changed somewhat in cataclysm and even more going forward. Retail wow today has almost none of that original flair and style. It's like playing a different game. So that's one of the main reasons it feels like coming home, because you return to that old style you knew even since warcraft 3, for me anyway.
"Is this going to be a problem?" Nope. No Ma'am. Carry on, please. I started playing WoW right after BC was released but really had my most nostalgic moments with wrath. I had an awesome twink pvp guild I was a part of and was a respected healer on my server at max level. This video is so spot on. I've tried many times to recapture my original feelings playing the game but haven't bought an expansion since Legion and was very disappointed. I did try classic for a bit too and for a time it did scratch that itch but the social aspect was missing. Maybe I didn't try hard enough but I just think online gaming isn't the more inclusive family atmosphere that it used to be. Great vid as always!
this is so well said!!! you really articulated just how cozy classic wow is. i started playing wow during vanilla as a literal child so wow has always evoked so much nostalgia in me. and i relate so much with going back to classic and just leveling to 20 by myself... i've literally done that so many times lol. so many memories
I remember finally logging into Classic as an OG player literally blasting Home by Madeon and (I admit) weeping. A friend and I ran an RP guild that imploded. There was many reasons, some of them my own fault, but a big part of it was that Meta-slave raiders took over the server... the RP server... so people were to busy raiding to want to RP. Like you say, the best part of classic WoW was just being a single unit. What I mean by that is you are just a foot soldier in the war, not THE hero. It makes you feel more part of the world and community to just be a simple soldier. You are nobody so you need others and others need you. But ya, going back to classic was... depressing. Basically if you had the experience shown in the "Classic - Wow - Doomin" video by Pint then you can say you had the genuine classic experience. This video was a treat, thank you. Edit: Right after writing this I listened to Madeon's Home like I mentioned and couldn't finish it, it hurt to much. They say you can never return home.
When I played wow as a kid and revisited classic later. The thing is I find just existing in these regions and their older aesthetic, absorbing the feeling and vibes, how more is done with less. I don't really spend that same amount of time with overly dramatic and beautiful landscapes. There's almost too much to take in. Looking across an old wow forest and it's older graphics holds me like looking out at a Minecraft landscape and its simplicity.
Retail WoW has given me that early sense of awe and discovery. Just flying around The War Within zones gave me that sense of wonder and discovery that I’ve been trying to feel again. There’s something so comforting about the music of the new expansion. It’s some of the best they’ve ever made. I understand retail isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but I think a lot of people disregard the sheer depth of the current game’s content and worlds and get too focused on thinking that endgame content is all there is. Between exploring the new zones, working on professions, world quests, taking on solo delve dungeons as a challenge, I am never finding myself bored even when I'm not doing endgame content.
You made some great points in this video! But like you said, those places are still there if you wish to return home. I also made a RP alt on Argent Dawn after watching the Netflix documentary, and I already met so many lovely new people I can now call my friends. Also subscribed, because I also see you cover a lot of Elder Scrolls :)
For me, classic WoW (as in pre-Cata) just gives me a cozy feeling because of its world design. What I liked doing the most was to just explore the world itself and quest while listening to that soundtrack. That's the thing that gives me such nostalgic felings. Never got into the hardcore content like raids. When I maxed out, I'd just make an alt and do all of the leveling experience again, but this time with a different race or in different areas. After Cata, the leveling experience became so on rails and so much easier, that I wasn't having fun anymore. Combined with a major change to the game's world, it just lost that cozy feeling to me.
Beautiful video! I agree with all what you said, I played retail WoW since 2004 and it's hard to say but it's impossible to recreate that experience, sometimes I think about it with a little sadness, it's just a game in the end, but I lived so many experiences through it, especially in the first three years, that I could write a book about them. But yeah, you are right on the vibe of Classic, the pace and everything. Well done.
I think you nailed it down. Classic WoW lets you fulfill the role playing fantasy: "what if I could actually be part of a fantasy world? who would I be? what would I do?" instead of essentially a forced narrative as it is today, with many immersion breaking "features" like mythic+
I never played Vanilla, but I’m hooked on Turtle WoW. It is very cozy. Currently level 50 and levelling at my own pace, taking it all in. World chat loves to hate gnomes.
Its a very similar experience. They fast tracked leveling a decent amount, but you still have to follow certain paths especially past 40/ end game. A lot of the content unlocks remain the same as vanilla wow, forces you to flesh the game out in ways
The sound track is the glue that holds the imagination... it's the memory of it... anytime you hear it you automatically think of your younger self playing (for me it was 20 years ago)....
Guild Wars' Pre-Searing Ascalon was a similarly nice and calm starting zone that served as a great intro to the world, and felt like coming home to a warm cozy cabin in the meadow. So much so that people made characters that would just stay there forever (because once you left you could never go back). Those who remember will speak fondly of the warm morning breeze.
12:57 Im so glad you mentioned this about seeing warcraft 3 buildings brought to life in wow. It really made it that much mroe impressive and meaningful to young me. Great vid!
I literally just installed a private WoTLK a couple of days ago just to play with my partner and the same friends since middle school, and NOW it feels like home. It's unreal how soothing it's been. Just there, walking or riding from point A to point B doing chores again, or collecting stuff we never did...not thinking about the metagame or flashy mounts... I mean, it's probably just being older and nostalgic, but I honestly can't remember the last time I enjoyed gaming like this. Almost therapeutic.
There will never be another MMO experience (to me) that is as good as a fresh populated journey from 1-60 in Vanilla/Classic. I still get that excitement and hilarity running around with everyone, being excited for that green drop, and just enjoying the adventure. The sense of wonder, immersion, soundtrack, the social interaction, the time spent to do things and just exist in the world and not constantly chasing another goal, lack of overstimulation...it's beautiful. And by today's standards, it's so underappreciated when everything is so in your face and asking you to do things under a sense of pressure for time, FOMO, etc. Got close to these things in the launch of GW2 and still go back to it from time to time. A different journey, but still lovely and cozy in similar ways. And as a kid playing it for the first time, I wasn't rushing, I didn't care about doing anything other than having fun and exploring/playing everything. We often lose sight of enjoying the game vs trying to complete tasks and following points on a map/UI. But that's just my take. Great video
10:32 This is such an extraordinary point and one of the most astute observations ever! I've been saying this since like 10 years ago, when talking to a friend and explaining why I didnt like the modern (at the time) WoW expansions. That old WoW used to be at least somewhat based in reality, as in it had simple classic medieval fantasy tropes, the setting, the races, even the buildings, the armours, the weapons, everything. The human armour and swords from the Kul Tiras sailors, or the Theramore Marines from the starting zones in the game come to mind. The simple critters roaming around, the snakes in durotar or chicken, rats or whatever else. It just made sense, it was a high fantasy game with all the recognizable themes. Elements that you already knew or felt familiar with from stories, from movies, cartoons, from other fantasy games etc. that "meant something" other than self defined by the game, even if in a low poly but artsy sort of way that took advantage of that limitation, but I always loved early WoW art direction in that way. It was indeed so pleasant to look at. But after Wrath lets say, and even before with outland, things started being more and more overt, Huge swords, staffs, ridiculous armours with 7 d*cks on your shoulderpads to look flashy and legendary, that started to loose that trace to any sort of even remote reality. It became self-defined and in an exagerated way that lost sense and meaning and no longer felt familiar with anything. It does indeed suffer nowadays from way too much content in a bid to make new and different stuff, but exactly as you point out, less is more, and society was in a less neurotic state back then and it was ok to just... chill. Nowadays it seems thats not ok, no chill, only high stakes gaming, min maxxing bullshit, with their guides open in the other tab, which is lame af. And if you don't play the game like them with strict 10/10 min max flawless strategy you are kicked out of raids, dungeons etc. Because everybody is doing it that way. And at that point, honestly, why play the game at all? It feels more like an e-sport now or like a 2nd job if you actually wanna get good at it, with very little reward. And no one pays you, you pay it, if you play on official servers. In a world that lost any trace to classic medieval fantasy and now is some kinda weird Disney Pixar-ish themes mixed with Avengers type of sh*t. Nevermind I don't even like the art direction ever since they "revamped" the graphics a decade or so ago. WoW was a great part of my life starting with mid 2000s but since like early 2010's it went downhill, I never even played MoP. Bruh pandas... No. But yeah those are my thoughts and Im happy to have found a channel and a person who understands. I love your videos. Good luck with future endeavours!
WoW simply has no aesthetic peer when it comes to traditional fantasy games except for Oblivion. I still haven't been able to get over those games, their lovely OSTs, their warm and inviting visuals. Just great stuff. I'm all for more creativity, but it's hard to beat the classics.
WoW is just, WARMTH. Every time someone asks what game can you return to and feel good playing it, Elwynn Forest will forever be home. It's a comfort food for my eyes.
I like your video essays. Whether I agree or disagree, you present yourself well. While I did mess around with Warcraft and C&C, I never touched WoW. But I watched this video essay anyway.
I will also add that the more barren areas of Vanilla add a sense of serenity and peace as you maneuver through the zones. The empty areas also give Roleplayers a chance to just chill without having to worry about mobs attacking them. The extra space can be filled with the community, its a blank canvas that allows for creativity and imagination. Modern MMO's pack everything and use-up all the space they have, leaving you no time to breathe. I don't know though. When I play vanilla I can't downplay the sheer amount of grip the world has over me. The music is perfect, I do not know any other game that ingrains such a nostalgic memories within me, to the point where I find even the Teldrasill music to invoke a feeling that I've lived a past life in WoW. I know that makes little sense but I truly feel it. Perhaps the Lunar-esque vibes of night elves perfectly immerses me into the world. The art style also remains simple and uncluttered, while also retaining a sense of style. And it maintains a pretty timeless appearance. You're correct when you talk about the simplicity, at least I think so. I'm considering playing classic again, especially wanting to play nelf Druid again. Now that I'm older (well 22) and can actually afford to play it I'm strongly considering it; though that might just be FOMO talking. Maybe I can just play for just a month...
Once every few years I go back and play Everquest. Just walking around the old empty unchanged zones really does feel like going home, if only for a visit.
Classic WoW really is home for me, to the point where I know every millimeter of the world map about as well as I know my own home. I think the memories of doing things like the Felcone quest for Zenn Foulhoof in Teldrassil and the Hemet Nesingwary hunts in STV will be vivid in my mind for the rest of my days.
Your eyes make me feel like I'm home, your voice makes me feel like I'm living the sweetest dream and all of you make me feel like I'm in heaven! The Ibelin story was really touching but not as much as hearing you talk about a game I've played about half of my life
The starting location Teldrassil for the night elves is a fairy tale that always calms me down and takes me to another reality away from all real life problems, the soundtrack in Classic is simply magic.
I've always found it hard to roleplay in open world video/computer games but I know many people who have had great roleplaying experiences in MMOs like Wow, Lotro, Swg, and still has! For me roleplaying is done with dice, pen and papers and face to face interactions. My few, attempts at MMOs always resulted in me just powergaming, wanting just to maximise rather than roleplay. Anyway, thanks for another entertaining video! 🤩
Each time I'm overwhelmed by my worldly responsibilities, and spending way more time doing things for others (like working all day), feel like life sucks, I just need to close my eyes, turn on the westfall, barrens or elwyn forest soundtrack, and feel that warmth feeling that just hits like home
Great video! I know what you mean about the nostalgia, and not knowing what to do with it. Everyone I used to play with (as well as me) quit back in 9.1, and I haven't fallen into Classic again, despite raiding through to AQ40 in the initial launch. My guild didn't quite have the chops to get into Naxx, especially as player drop-off set in. But when I think of WoW, even though I have fond memories of raiding and doing M+ in retail, that tends to be about the -people- I was doing it with. When I think of the world, I'm not thinking of Oribos or Bastion. I'm not waxing nostalgic about Azsuna or Suramar down in the Broken Isles. Most of the time, it falls to those starter zones you were talking about as being big in the RP sphere; Stormwind, Elywnn, Duskwood, and Redridge especially, along with Westfall. I've leveled so many baby human toons in my life, those zones are -deeply- familiar to me, and the main thing I love about them is that they feel lived in! I didn't play WCIII back when I started WoW; I had no clue it existed to tell you the truth. But even still, the sense that this world was lived in, and had history and lore playing out -without- my involvement made it all feel so big and fantastical, no matter how humble Northshire Abbey might have been. The moment I hear the Elwynn music, I'm right back there. Smacking around wolves, getting ganged up on by Defias bandits or rabid murlocs, collecting lumber, and putting my whole back into finding a quest with better boots, because I thought the gladiator-style mail boots at that level looked stupid. It really is the little things. P.S: The bat deserves to be a year-round fixture. He's adorable and I love him.
I played from Vanilla through to the end of Legion. I recently (within the last two weeks) came back to the retail game and I am absolutely overwhelmed by it. "Too much there" is an understatement.
I haven’t played for years, but whenever I’m in a ‘zone’ that reminds me of Azeroth I listen to music from WoW. For example, while vacationing in the Caribbean I was wading around turquoise water while the Stranglethorn Vale theme played through my Bluetooth headphones. Someday I’d love to visit the fjords of Norway just to listen to Grizzly Hills. WoW is my happy place. It’s where I go in my head when life is stressful. I feel really lucky for ‘having no life’ as a teenager and playing it so much.
I was an alliance player from vanilla to BfA, when is stopped. Now i have the urge to come back to classic era servers, but i need something new, so i think i gonna take the horde path this time. Yes, the zones will be the same, but with different settlements and quests, i think it will give the sensation of something new.
Played the original release back when it was new, with my dad and brother and some school friends. Tried playing again since and it's fun, but you really can't recreate how it was back then. It was magic.
I remember my first steps in WoW, right after the server gone online, were breathtaking. It was like walking around in Warcraft 3, you've seen places and characters you've known from the RTS. The comic look was so amazing, the ambiente in each region remarkable and unique. After UO2tSA and DAoC this was a world, you immerse into in a way you didn't knew before it would be possible and you were excited to explore, fight, questing or just sitting on a hill or fishing with a friend and chatting. People were friendly, liked to meet new people abd become friends and played in partys with strangers, not only for the actual 1 minute quest. Other MMOs come and go, but IMO no one reached what Blizzard created back then.
Fantastic insights! Never really figured out why newer online games feel so impersonal. Modern worlds feels "open" in the sense of being advertised to, watched and motivated by transactions, "login incentives", etc, and is exacerbated by the tendency of modern games to not only look visually cluttered but non-committal in their artstyle's palettes (think Fortnite or similar). Older games felt "open" in the sense of community playing, but "closed" in terms of the world being cohesive and consistent. It's like the difference between meeting friends in a busy sports bar in a large city, vs meeting friends in a small-town English pub. Or how it feels to be scrolling social media on your phone with the TV on, vs reading a book by candlelight when the power goes out. One competes for your attention while playing the game, the other makes you pay attention to the game itself.
Man just seeing the first few seconds of Azeroth makes me want to play it again.. I've been playing recently in a new way, I made a WotLK private server on a Raspberry Pi, so I'm the GM of my own server. Man classic wow is easy when you can set your movement speed to 5x normal. But the downside is you're playing with yourself. Or all your housemates!! That would be cool af.
I've been playing Turtle WoW for the past few weeks and it's honestly the closest to a "true vanilla" experience I've had since 2004. In-game GMs exist, they're ruthless on botting and RMT, no layering/sharding, and most of the added content is in the world and includes new quests and zones. All of these things shifted my mindset from "gotta level to reach endgame" back to just enjoying the process of questing and seeing all the new custom content they added. I know some people will never give a private server like this a chance but it's honestly a master class in terms of re-creating that "vanilla" feel that we all remember back in the day. Blizzard today, more specifically the Classic team, is too focused on creating an engaging endgame experience while completely ignoring the actual allure of vanilla which is in the "middle" of the game, i.e. dungeons, questing, zone exploration. Re-creating a vanilla-like experience is possible but we have to leave behind the future expansions of WoW and get back to the roots of what the original game was built on. EDIT: I finished this comment right before I got to your section mentioning Turtle WoW xD
I love your videos. Incredible summaryy of what made WOW a phenomenon. I am an older soul here, and I realize that many younger people will NOT ever understand the internet or online games the same way. It is really incredible. And also really kind of scary what we have created.
1000% agree with you. I have never heard anyone explain it the way you did, and you did a phenomenal job explaining what’s good and what’s bad about WoW. I hope Blizzard sees this video and learn from it. We need WoW 2, new zones but with the simplicity of vanilla. No additional races, no more extra stuff. Just relaxing beautiful zones we can adventure in! Maybe new professions or a twist that makes us explore the game more.
Didnt play vanilla (I was 4 lol) but i have such a fondess for classic that feels ancient but i know is not nostalgia. I think you have encapsulated why it feels that way very well. I know gamers have changed and there is a lot more knowledge out there but i feel there is still a lot of magic and wonder to be found in the game, especially in servers that add new things like SOD or Turtle. My favourite thing about classic is how its emphasis is on the journey. Subsequent expansions and especially modern wow are so reward oriented, and while they can be enjoyable to play as games, i often feel like they miss that "soul". Classic is deliberatly slow, and organically encourages you to socialize, smell the roses, enjoy the world, and as a result you are much more immersed, and form a much stronger connection with your character, and everything and everyone you interact with. Playing classic has taught me that what i actually value is the journey, and that holds true for more than just games...
I just started playing WOW this year and I am SO GLAD that I made the choice to start in Classic first. It hooked me and eased me in. Going from zero to sixty was a genuine adventure. Now that I've switched over to playing mostly retail, I still carry the love I built for Classic into that experience.
Anybody who wants this kind of feeling should really try out Lord of the Rings Online. It's a fantastic game that has a very classic feel and it's very cozy. You can play as a Hobbit and choose not to leave the Shire for around your first 30 levels. It's a very vast world with lots to do, but is also very cozy and realistic wherever you go. Every town and settlement and camp feels alive and lived in. Seriously. Check it out. It's free to play.
I agree 100%. I tried to play retail for a day and I just couldn't do it. I was so overwhelmed, everything's moving, shining, talking to you, there's too much happening at the same time, I can't tell players from NPC's. It was just exhausting. It was so calming to log back into an Era Tirisfal Glades, where you can just breath in the incredible gloomy atmosphere which was somehow achieved without having anything going on.
It's also worth pointing out for especially older players at this point we literally grew up in WoW. During a time in WoW where everything took a significant amount of time to do like: level, grind gold and items, raid and being part of a guild / community, you'd be spending most of your time as an early teen in WoW. So in a way it's like returning to your home town or country after you've gone and left for a long time. It holds memories of people you interacted with. To my surprise tho, it was something it managed to do again in Classic Vanilla- which might've even been more special now that I'm old enough to appreciate its worth.
Haha I watched the documentary about Ibelin too and the nostalgia was so strong I did resub and started just doing some solo leveling. I think you nailed it with this video.
I never got into WoW, but so great to hear you lend your voice to the subject. It's such a broad cultural phenomenon at this point, you've basically witnessed a mini-history of how Blizzard and games industry in general developed over the past 2 decades, if you've played it long enough
I played and role played in WoW. Put that feeling of home never goes away in 14 for me, no matter how much they add. Those early areas still feel like home. It's one of the only instances I can think of where upon taking a break I can honestly say that I have felt homesick for a place that doesn't exist.
How nice of you to give a positive shoutout to Turtle WoW. I started playing there two months ago and have greatly been enjoying the added custom content, the class balance changes (paladins can taunt!), the custom challenges (such as Hardcore 1-60 with optional immortality at 60), the absence of botting/goldbuying/cheaters and the general friendlyness of the community. It's a better classic WoW experience than Blizzard's official servers, imo.
I first played WoW Classic in 2023 on hardcore servers and SoD. I've been playing games for about 20 years, but it was WoW Classic that really stuck out to me. It is filled with the spirit of adventure. Even the trivial need to drink water on a cliff at sunset to restore mana adds to the atmosphere of the experience. As well as helping a traveler in trouble with healing, exchanging buffs, teaming up for another elite or fighting camp with mobs. The game is very down-to-earth compared to the retail version, which makes the world feel more realistic and the actions you take more meaningful. The rare items that fall out give cool emotions, the game doesn't feel like a session game like retail (I love the retail version and actively play it, but I like it as a league of legends type session game, it doesn't feel like an MMO).
And I also love the hardcore version, and here it gives all the same emotions, but many times stronger. You have to be more careful with the trials, think about weaponry, and helping others and from others feels even stronger. Here's a story: on a sunken ship in Auberdine I saw a level 15 dwarf that didn't move. I thought it was strange, surfaced to get some air, and went back to him. He started choking, and I decided I would heal him (I was playing as a druid) until I ran out of mana. When my resources were almost out, he started moving, floated back up and thanked me. Turns out he had disconnected, and if it wasn't for my help, he might have lost the character. There was a lot of emotion.
I'd also like to say that I'm not happy with blizzard not developing the classic version. SoD has been a disappointment in the last phases, and it didn't bring as much content as I would have liked. I have a subscription to WoW right now, but I only play retail there since classic is stagnating. But I play the unofficial version of Turtle WoW, where the developers are balancing classes and adding new abilities, adding new zones, dungeons, bosses, but it's all exactly classic+, absolutely the same experience as the official game, only even more interesting. It's like HotA for HoMM 3, after this version you don't want to go back to the classic that blizzard return without changes. If they bring back the same game, but with improved content, I'll gladly go back. But right now it is WoW Turtle, despite being technically worse (based on Vanilla, not Classic), that gives the emotions of the classic version, but makes the game even better. There's good online, and there's a hardcore mode too.
I came back to WoW with the new expansion after quitting with Legion and it is just soooo overwhelming. There's so much to do, I don't even want to do anything anymore. Played through the main story and dropped it again. I'm going for classic fresh now, since I've missed 2019s release. Leveling is just so much more satisfying and fun - and the classic world just has a very special place in my hearth.
I look back on my OG Vanilla experience fondly, my vanilla private server experiences fondly, and my WoW Classic experience fondly. It wasn't just nostalgia.
This perfectly captures the nostalgia I have for WoW. I played the game at launch (coming from the RTS games) and basically only explored the starter zones. Never did any endgame content, barely any dungeons, and never played the expansions. I just loved walking around the more peaceful areas, trying out all the races starter zones. Maybe I should actually give WoW Classic a go.
Vanilla: "Hey, could you help out with these murlocs? They're terrorizing our village." Quest is actually challenging. Retail: I kill one enemy: Level 3! "OMG, Hero, you've been tasked with saving Azeroth! Here's 15 minutes of cinematics to catch you up."
the closest I've found to recreating those experiences is the turtle wow private server. the added quests and content really brings the life back into it, and its populated enough that you'll always find other real people out in the real world.
I started playing retail again last year after a decade long hiatus. I spent a lot of the past year chipping away at old content that I missed while also experiencing Dragonflight and the War Within. I get the same warm "at home" feeling when playing retail now. Especially considering that a lot of the friends I made in SoD made the jump as well.
wow you really got some great insights. I can relate to this when I used to play wow back in 05. It was a calming experience without the minmax attitude.
I never really played WoW activly. Maybe 50 hours summed up since 2008. But once in a while i buy classic wow for a month just to relax. It has this calm big epicness feeling. Everything feels big, communication is important. Achieving something really FEELS like achieving something I mean when was the last time you asked someone for help for a quest?
Ah, you brought up a lot of memories about back when I played WoW (when it was "new"). I understand a bit about nostalgia, and you're correct in that it's hard to re-create how it was when we were younger and more naive. I still remember that first guild I joined. They were so helpful and I wouldn't have gone through some of the dungeons I did without their help. Lol...I still "technically" owe one of them 40 gold as they helped me buy my first mount. It wasn't that long after that we all stopped playing. Thanks for another one of your relaxing videos. Your voice is soothing.
я помню в 2007 году я, молодой ночной эльф, около Дарнассуса, куда я добирался месяца полтора со стартовой зоны, выполняя все квесты, все приключения, читая тотбот и вовхед, так вот - путь занял пол-лета до столицы. и вот, у ворот города я впервые увидел человека. не просто человека, а это была магесса, на белой лошади. в шляпе, которую носят маги. и вечернее солнце запуталось в ее волосах, и она явно как будто бы смотрела ТОЧНО НА МЕНЯ. я, понимая, что это не нпс, просто застыл от удивления и восхищения. она была 60 уровня, а я около 15 и это было самое сильное впечатление от игры. потом она приняла меня в гильдию - помню как сейчас - muppets на сервере кул-тирас, где я играл до 2009 года. потом я стал героик-рейдером, во времена 4.2 - файрленд. но это другая история
LFG Hogger pls help
hogger killed me many times.. inv pls
tienes planes de regresar a tu canal en español??
Best I can do is gnoll armbands. Sorry.
❤
Hogger has more souls on his hands than Arthas in ICC.
I am one of those sad people who really likes games starter areas & the people vs late game... the calm of Elwyn Forest & StormWind is unbeatable for me
yeah, I like wow for the leveling and experience of adventure. modern wow is just about rushing to the endgame, it's so lame and sad
That's not that crazy I've found myself making alts just for the sake of experiencing low level content again
hey dude love your diablo and elder scrolls content!
Same as horde player durotar and bareens always in my hearth cruel lands for hard people.
I just came back after a looong time, and i never thought I'd say this, but I level way too fast. It pushes me out of zones before completing. Even with disabling that Joyous Journey buff.
Warcraft 3, Frozen Throne, and early WoW are so well made and superbly crafted
Peak Warcraft universe imo
I always go back go back to them. Also, lovely video as always
@@Angelikatosh Turtle WoW?
WC3 definitely one of, if not the greatest, RTS ever made
@@vp7219 It really is
"Elves in an enchanted forest, the seat of evil being located in a scorched fiery land. But what's wrong with that?" Exactly!
Old Blizzard did add on enough fresh elements to make their simple stuff still compelling, however. Some of these elements were toned down for WoW.
Just look at the Night Elves. In WC3, they were tree huggers... but they were just as fierce the Orcs and several degrees more xenophobic. Which was a shame, because I think that reconciling or winning over the hardliners in the Night Elves would have made a good story.
I feel the same way
You are so right about exploration, the "slow" pacing and the simplicity is so important to create a true memorable ambiance and experience, which are built during the long walks just like Skyrim
I would add that mounts can add or completly detach from the experience, modern flying mount completly neglects & trivialize the world, even at 60 in vanilla
Flying mounts were a mistake.
I understand the players REALLY wanting them, but they fucked up the balance the game had.
The night elf starting zone invokes a real unfathomable nostalgia within me. The music coupled with the magical ambience just feels amazing. It was childhood, just wandering around and not having to minmax or rush to level 60 to raid or pvp
Yeah Nelf starting zone is so peak and the fucking music is just superb.
the music is so important to the feel of each zone. I can remember the first time i walked into Stormwind and heard that epic music as you walk over the bridge. So Iconic.
I can vouch for the Turtle wow experience. Yesterday I was going through Durotar, leveling an orc warrior which is something pretty new to me, and I've had more social interactions while leveling in one night than I've had in all my time playing modern retail. Everyone was welcoming and willing to do even simple quests together, or just talk... One thing that will definitely stay with me is when it started snowing randomly (in Durotar of all places!) while I was AFK, a fellow orc sat down next to me and waited for me to get back, and we just chatted about how beautiful the weather was. It's simple moments like that, which make the world feel so alive.
That community and feeling of the original WoW we all love is still there, you just have to seek it out and not get burnt out trying to minmax everything.
Completely agree, really captures that magic and reiterates upon it :)
yes if only pvp server wasnt dead. Cant stand these "meows" in chat 24/7 on pve realm. They got their modern e-girl shit into the old fantasy world
Totally agree. "Everybody knows everyting and no sense of discovery in Classic?" Say hello to Turtle WoW! New races, new zones, new and updated dungeons, new quests, different leveling modes with rewards, new zones, new and updated dungeons, class balance with updated racials and class talent trees with new spells/abilities, new professions, a new bg and arena in Classic, low lvl zones that feel alive, a nice community, devs who actually listen, and no wow token, gdkp and no gold spamming. Oh and next year the graphics will be updated to unreal 5. Insane!
I also really enjoy TurtleWoW. It's great that they have a small development team, so while things are added and changed, it's never so much change that you feel like you have fallen behind after not playing for a few months.
... and then you enter one of their new custom dungeon (which as a concept is really cool) but in practice is done very poorly. The scripting sucks etc. It's just thrown together.
The truth really hits home... your voice just enhances it, and so does the bat.!
100k subs soon!
The bat just makes everything better
simp
Back then my motivation was to log in after work and hang out with friends. We all wanted to get the white tiger mount, but none of us could afford one. The world felt so large. No twitch. No wowhead. No gear calculators. Kids these days will never know how relaxing that was.
as a guy who played World of Warcraft on a private server in 2013, the private server was hosted by my dad (my father actually played WoW back when it came out) and it was always on the Wrath build. I had lots of fun messing around in it but never leveled legitimately as I was kind of young. But fast forward to 2019 or so when Battle For Azeroth launched, I began leveling legitimately of course since this was the public version of WoW that required a subscription to play.
Anyway I had fun with it but I started missing the zones I would find in Wrath, and classic coincidentally launched soon after and I was still a large noob of the game. I still lack certain knowledge people have known about for years so learning the ropes of the game mainly through classic has been a very interesting and fun journey so far. I managed to hit level 50 on a blood elf Mage when Cataclysm classic launched.
vanilla zones actually feel like real places you are exploring, retail zones feel like what they are, zones in a game
Yes! An elegant explanation
100%
I remember back in 2004-2005 when a friend of mine was playing an odd game in his PC, I asked him what he was playing, he said "World of Warcraft", I really liked the aesthetics of the game but you had to pay a subscription to play, he then brought his CD box from WoW and gave me a paper, it was one of those codes that used to come in the game boxes that gave you access to the game for 20 days and level up the character to 20 max cap, I thanked him, later I went to my house, installed the game and it managed to glue me to my PC for at least 8-9 straight hours, just exploring, doing quests, talking to people, WoW was so alive back then and felt like you said: home.
Eventually with WOTLK I decided to hop in, best decision ever, now I had Runescape and WoW, I still play OSRS 'till this day, but WoW will always have a special place in my heart.
I played WOW at launch in 2004 with my brother. I was home from the military and saw him playing it during the first xmas event. I was blown away at the ingame holidays events. I had never seen that before. So I jumped on and started playing. I played until about 2008 when I had too many things going on in my life so I had to set it aside. I started playing again about a year ago. It is very different. But I like the changes. I played classic WOW and yes it does feel like home. Both are good fun again and I am glad I rediscovered it.
Less is more is such an important concept to understand nowadays...
T-T-T-T-ETSUOOO!!!
You have a very soothing voice, and your insights are thought-provoking. I'm glad that I discovered your TH-cam channel.
and she doesn't reply to comments with "thank you"
never expected to find ytube channel, that ticks all three
@@sasha_ytube Marriage material.
@@maxthedoomer you weren't the first to notice, she's wearing the wedding ring already
Loved this video, you explained everything so well
WoW and it's first expansions have a very handcrafted feel. And you can just feel the passion for what they were making radiate off the smallest details and things. Down to the icons. I remember watching the behind the scenes dvd for WoW, specifically the art segment. They talk about how they really put their hearts into making the "feel" right, and wouldn't stop until it was just right. And that resulted in the timeless visuals it has. By using the technical limitations to stylize the game in the way that holds up still today. Classic doesn't necessarily look old because of how they nailed the artstyle. Anyway I think a major reason why people have such nostalgia for the original trilogy of WoW and it's expansions is the art. It changed somewhat in cataclysm and even more going forward. Retail wow today has almost none of that original flair and style. It's like playing a different game. So that's one of the main reasons it feels like coming home, because you return to that old style you knew even since warcraft 3, for me anyway.
Azeroth really feels like home.
Love your channel 👌 wish you all the deserved success.
"Is this going to be a problem?" Nope. No Ma'am. Carry on, please. I started playing WoW right after BC was released but really had my most nostalgic moments with wrath. I had an awesome twink pvp guild I was a part of and was a respected healer on my server at max level. This video is so spot on. I've tried many times to recapture my original feelings playing the game but haven't bought an expansion since Legion and was very disappointed. I did try classic for a bit too and for a time it did scratch that itch but the social aspect was missing. Maybe I didn't try hard enough but I just think online gaming isn't the more inclusive family atmosphere that it used to be. Great vid as always!
this is so well said!!! you really articulated just how cozy classic wow is. i started playing wow during vanilla as a literal child so wow has always evoked so much nostalgia in me. and i relate so much with going back to classic and just leveling to 20 by myself... i've literally done that so many times lol. so many memories
I remember finally logging into Classic as an OG player literally blasting Home by Madeon and (I admit) weeping.
A friend and I ran an RP guild that imploded. There was many reasons, some of them my own fault, but a big part of it was that Meta-slave raiders took over the server... the RP server... so people were to busy raiding to want to RP.
Like you say, the best part of classic WoW was just being a single unit. What I mean by that is you are just a foot soldier in the war, not THE hero. It makes you feel more part of the world and community to just be a simple soldier. You are nobody so you need others and others need you.
But ya, going back to classic was... depressing. Basically if you had the experience shown in the "Classic - Wow - Doomin" video by Pint then you can say you had the genuine classic experience.
This video was a treat, thank you.
Edit: Right after writing this I listened to Madeon's Home like I mentioned and couldn't finish it, it hurt to much. They say you can never return home.
When I played wow as a kid and revisited classic later. The thing is I find just existing in these regions and their older aesthetic, absorbing the feeling and vibes, how more is done with less. I don't really spend that same amount of time with overly dramatic and beautiful landscapes. There's almost too much to take in. Looking across an old wow forest and it's older graphics holds me like looking out at a Minecraft landscape and its simplicity.
Retail WoW has given me that early sense of awe and discovery. Just flying around The War Within zones gave me that sense of wonder and discovery that I’ve been trying to feel again.
There’s something so comforting about the music of the new expansion. It’s some of the best they’ve ever made.
I understand retail isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but I think a lot of people disregard the sheer depth of the current game’s content and worlds and get too focused on thinking that endgame content is all there is.
Between exploring the new zones, working on professions, world quests, taking on solo delve dungeons as a challenge, I am never finding myself bored even when I'm not doing endgame content.
You made some great points in this video! But like you said, those places are still there if you wish to return home. I also made a RP alt on Argent Dawn after watching the Netflix documentary, and I already met so many lovely new people I can now call my friends. Also subscribed, because I also see you cover a lot of Elder Scrolls :)
For me, classic WoW (as in pre-Cata) just gives me a cozy feeling because of its world design. What I liked doing the most was to just explore the world itself and quest while listening to that soundtrack. That's the thing that gives me such nostalgic felings. Never got into the hardcore content like raids. When I maxed out, I'd just make an alt and do all of the leveling experience again, but this time with a different race or in different areas. After Cata, the leveling experience became so on rails and so much easier, that I wasn't having fun anymore. Combined with a major change to the game's world, it just lost that cozy feeling to me.
Ishnu-dal-dieb Sister. Thank you for another excellent video 🙏
Playing Wow as a Hoard character l always felt at home in the barren zone. Remembering the chat, and Chuck Norris jokes, fun times. 😊
Oh god the chuck norris jokes.... they were also in stormwind
Nothing hits more in the feels than the music at night in barrens
Beautiful video! I agree with all what you said, I played retail WoW since 2004 and it's hard to say but it's impossible to recreate that experience, sometimes I think about it with a little sadness, it's just a game in the end, but I lived so many experiences through it, especially in the first three years, that I could write a book about them. But yeah, you are right on the vibe of Classic, the pace and everything. Well done.
I think you nailed it down. Classic WoW lets you fulfill the role playing fantasy: "what if I could actually be part of a fantasy world? who would I be? what would I do?" instead of essentially a forced narrative as it is today, with many immersion breaking "features" like mythic+
I miss gaming sooo so much.
I never played Vanilla, but I’m hooked on Turtle WoW. It is very cozy. Currently level 50 and levelling at my own pace, taking it all in. World chat loves to hate gnomes.
Its a very similar experience. They fast tracked leveling a decent amount, but you still have to follow certain paths especially past 40/ end game. A lot of the content unlocks remain the same as vanilla wow, forces you to flesh the game out in ways
GNOMES RULE
TURTLE HYPE!!
@@TaediumVitae5700 ey dont diss the turtles
[Purge] Gnomes!
The sound track is the glue that holds the imagination... it's the memory of it... anytime you hear it you automatically think of your younger self playing (for me it was 20 years ago)....
Guild Wars' Pre-Searing Ascalon was a similarly nice and calm starting zone that served as a great intro to the world, and felt like coming home to a warm cozy cabin in the meadow. So much so that people made characters that would just stay there forever (because once you left you could never go back). Those who remember will speak fondly of the warm morning breeze.
Delivery of your onpoint points is masteful. I agree on everything you said, and this needs to be heard. Wonderful channel.
Thank you so much for this.
You explained all of this so good! I played the game since 2004 and i agree with every word you said. And also, your hair looks gorgious!
12:57
Im so glad you mentioned this about seeing warcraft 3 buildings brought to life in wow. It really made it that much mroe impressive and meaningful to young me. Great vid!
Ive been playing classic since it dropped, wont stop anytime soon, on that hardcore grind
I literally just installed a private WoTLK a couple of days ago just to play with my partner and the same friends since middle school, and NOW it feels like home. It's unreal how soothing it's been. Just there, walking or riding from point A to point B doing chores again, or collecting stuff we never did...not thinking about the metagame or flashy mounts... I mean, it's probably just being older and nostalgic, but I honestly can't remember the last time I enjoyed gaming like this. Almost therapeutic.
same!
There will never be another MMO experience (to me) that is as good as a fresh populated journey from 1-60 in Vanilla/Classic. I still get that excitement and hilarity running around with everyone, being excited for that green drop, and just enjoying the adventure. The sense of wonder, immersion, soundtrack, the social interaction, the time spent to do things and just exist in the world and not constantly chasing another goal, lack of overstimulation...it's beautiful. And by today's standards, it's so underappreciated when everything is so in your face and asking you to do things under a sense of pressure for time, FOMO, etc. Got close to these things in the launch of GW2 and still go back to it from time to time. A different journey, but still lovely and cozy in similar ways.
And as a kid playing it for the first time, I wasn't rushing, I didn't care about doing anything other than having fun and exploring/playing everything. We often lose sight of enjoying the game vs trying to complete tasks and following points on a map/UI. But that's just my take. Great video
Oh Lord you are really great, loved the video, so relaxing.
10:32 This is such an extraordinary point and one of the most astute observations ever! I've been saying this since like 10 years ago, when talking to a friend and explaining why I didnt like the modern (at the time) WoW expansions. That old WoW used to be at least somewhat based in reality, as in it had simple classic medieval fantasy tropes, the setting, the races, even the buildings, the armours, the weapons, everything. The human armour and swords from the Kul Tiras sailors, or the Theramore Marines from the starting zones in the game come to mind. The simple critters roaming around, the snakes in durotar or chicken, rats or whatever else. It just made sense, it was a high fantasy game with all the recognizable themes.
Elements that you already knew or felt familiar with from stories, from movies, cartoons, from other fantasy games etc. that "meant something" other than self defined by the game, even if in a low poly but artsy sort of way that took advantage of that limitation, but I always loved early WoW art direction in that way. It was indeed so pleasant to look at.
But after Wrath lets say, and even before with outland, things started being more and more overt, Huge swords, staffs, ridiculous armours with 7 d*cks on your shoulderpads to look flashy and legendary, that started to loose that trace to any sort of even remote reality. It became self-defined and in an exagerated way that lost sense and meaning and no longer felt familiar with anything.
It does indeed suffer nowadays from way too much content in a bid to make new and different stuff, but exactly as you point out, less is more, and society was in a less neurotic state back then and it was ok to just... chill. Nowadays it seems thats not ok, no chill, only high stakes gaming, min maxxing bullshit, with their guides open in the other tab, which is lame af. And if you don't play the game like them with strict 10/10 min max flawless strategy you are kicked out of raids, dungeons etc. Because everybody is doing it that way.
And at that point, honestly, why play the game at all? It feels more like an e-sport now or like a 2nd job if you actually wanna get good at it, with very little reward. And no one pays you, you pay it, if you play on official servers. In a world that lost any trace to classic medieval fantasy and now is some kinda weird Disney Pixar-ish themes mixed with Avengers type of sh*t. Nevermind I don't even like the art direction ever since they "revamped" the graphics a decade or so ago.
WoW was a great part of my life starting with mid 2000s but since like early 2010's it went downhill, I never even played MoP. Bruh pandas... No.
But yeah those are my thoughts and Im happy to have found a channel and a person who understands. I love your videos.
Good luck with future endeavours!
You spoke all of my opinions exactly. I'm really excited for classic fresh coming up here in a week. Nice Video!
1:32 El rata alada (bat) is going to be there for more time.
Even we will see him with a christmas hat :3
That's my theory...
Murciélago ☝️🤓
Wow was so much fun in 2007-2010. It’s definitely lost something over the years
WoW simply has no aesthetic peer when it comes to traditional fantasy games except for Oblivion. I still haven't been able to get over those games, their lovely OSTs, their warm and inviting visuals. Just great stuff. I'm all for more creativity, but it's hard to beat the classics.
What a great video. In my opinion you nailed it at every turn with sensitivity and eloquence. Subscribed
WoW is just, WARMTH. Every time someone asks what game can you return to and feel good playing it, Elwynn Forest will forever be home. It's a comfort food for my eyes.
😊🏠 _"Your home is where your hearthstone is."_
I like your video essays. Whether I agree or disagree, you present yourself well. While I did mess around with Warcraft and C&C, I never touched WoW. But I watched this video essay anyway.
I will also add that the more barren areas of Vanilla add a sense of serenity and peace as you maneuver through the zones. The empty areas also give Roleplayers a chance to just chill without having to worry about mobs attacking them. The extra space can be filled with the community, its a blank canvas that allows for creativity and imagination. Modern MMO's pack everything and use-up all the space they have, leaving you no time to breathe.
I don't know though. When I play vanilla I can't downplay the sheer amount of grip the world has over me. The music is perfect, I do not know any other game that ingrains such a nostalgic memories within me, to the point where I find even the Teldrasill music to invoke a feeling that I've lived a past life in WoW. I know that makes little sense but I truly feel it. Perhaps the Lunar-esque vibes of night elves perfectly immerses me into the world. The art style also remains simple and uncluttered, while also retaining a sense of style. And it maintains a pretty timeless appearance. You're correct when you talk about the simplicity, at least I think so.
I'm considering playing classic again, especially wanting to play nelf Druid again. Now that I'm older (well 22) and can actually afford to play it I'm strongly considering it; though that might just be FOMO talking. Maybe I can just play for just a month...
Once every few years I go back and play Everquest. Just walking around the old empty unchanged zones really does feel like going home, if only for a visit.
One of the many small pleasures in life!
Classic WoW really is home for me, to the point where I know every millimeter of the world map about as well as I know my own home. I think the memories of doing things like the Felcone quest for Zenn Foulhoof in Teldrassil and the Hemet Nesingwary hunts in STV will be vivid in my mind for the rest of my days.
Your eyes make me feel like I'm home, your voice makes me feel like I'm living the sweetest dream and all of you make me feel like I'm in heaven! The Ibelin story was really touching but not as much as hearing you talk about a game I've played about half of my life
The starting location Teldrassil for the night elves is a fairy tale that always calms me down and takes me to another reality away from all real life problems, the soundtrack in Classic is simply magic.
I've always found it hard to roleplay in open world video/computer games but I know many people who have had great roleplaying experiences in MMOs like Wow, Lotro, Swg, and still has! For me roleplaying is done with dice, pen and papers and face to face interactions. My few, attempts at MMOs always resulted in me just powergaming, wanting just to maximise rather than roleplay. Anyway, thanks for another entertaining video! 🤩
Each time I'm overwhelmed by my worldly responsibilities, and spending way more time doing things for others (like working all day), feel like life sucks, I just need to close my eyes, turn on the westfall, barrens or elwyn forest soundtrack, and feel that warmth feeling that just hits like home
The Sarumar music in the background
Elwynn, westfall, redridge and duskwood are such an incredible, well polished experience. It's very clear that they made those first.
Great video! I know what you mean about the nostalgia, and not knowing what to do with it. Everyone I used to play with (as well as me) quit back in 9.1, and I haven't fallen into Classic again, despite raiding through to AQ40 in the initial launch. My guild didn't quite have the chops to get into Naxx, especially as player drop-off set in.
But when I think of WoW, even though I have fond memories of raiding and doing M+ in retail, that tends to be about the -people- I was doing it with. When I think of the world, I'm not thinking of Oribos or Bastion. I'm not waxing nostalgic about Azsuna or Suramar down in the Broken Isles. Most of the time, it falls to those starter zones you were talking about as being big in the RP sphere; Stormwind, Elywnn, Duskwood, and Redridge especially, along with Westfall. I've leveled so many baby human toons in my life, those zones are -deeply- familiar to me, and the main thing I love about them is that they feel lived in! I didn't play WCIII back when I started WoW; I had no clue it existed to tell you the truth. But even still, the sense that this world was lived in, and had history and lore playing out -without- my involvement made it all feel so big and fantastical, no matter how humble Northshire Abbey might have been.
The moment I hear the Elwynn music, I'm right back there. Smacking around wolves, getting ganged up on by Defias bandits or rabid murlocs, collecting lumber, and putting my whole back into finding a quest with better boots, because I thought the gladiator-style mail boots at that level looked stupid. It really is the little things.
P.S: The bat deserves to be a year-round fixture. He's adorable and I love him.
I played from Vanilla through to the end of Legion. I recently (within the last two weeks) came back to the retail game and I am absolutely overwhelmed by it. "Too much there" is an understatement.
Never really thought about the exploration and world in that way, but it makes a lot of sense to me, it was more fun to explore a simpler world.
I haven’t played for years, but whenever I’m in a ‘zone’ that reminds me of Azeroth I listen to music from WoW. For example, while vacationing in the Caribbean I was wading around turquoise water while the Stranglethorn Vale theme played through my Bluetooth headphones.
Someday I’d love to visit the fjords of Norway just to listen to Grizzly Hills.
WoW is my happy place. It’s where I go in my head when life is stressful. I feel really lucky for ‘having no life’ as a teenager and playing it so much.
I was an alliance player from vanilla to BfA, when is stopped.
Now i have the urge to come back to classic era servers, but i need something new, so i think i gonna take the horde path this time. Yes, the zones will be the same, but with different settlements and quests, i think it will give the sensation of something new.
Played the original release back when it was new, with my dad and brother and some school friends. Tried playing again since and it's fun, but you really can't recreate how it was back then. It was magic.
I remember my first steps in WoW, right after the server gone online, were breathtaking.
It was like walking around in Warcraft 3, you've seen places and characters you've known from the RTS. The comic look was so amazing, the ambiente in each region remarkable and unique. After UO2tSA and DAoC this was a world, you immerse into in a way you didn't knew before it would be possible and you were excited to explore, fight, questing or just sitting on a hill or fishing with a friend and chatting. People were friendly, liked to meet new people abd become friends and played in partys with strangers, not only for the actual 1 minute quest. Other MMOs come and go, but IMO no one reached what Blizzard created back then.
Fantastic insights! Never really figured out why newer online games feel so impersonal. Modern worlds feels "open" in the sense of being advertised to, watched and motivated by transactions, "login incentives", etc, and is exacerbated by the tendency of modern games to not only look visually cluttered but non-committal in their artstyle's palettes (think Fortnite or similar). Older games felt "open" in the sense of community playing, but "closed" in terms of the world being cohesive and consistent. It's like the difference between meeting friends in a busy sports bar in a large city, vs meeting friends in a small-town English pub. Or how it feels to be scrolling social media on your phone with the TV on, vs reading a book by candlelight when the power goes out. One competes for your attention while playing the game, the other makes you pay attention to the game itself.
Man just seeing the first few seconds of Azeroth makes me want to play it again..
I've been playing recently in a new way, I made a WotLK private server on a Raspberry Pi, so I'm the GM of my own server. Man classic wow is easy when you can set your movement speed to 5x normal. But the downside is you're playing with yourself. Or all your housemates!! That would be cool af.
I first play wow in november of 2016 and i feel nostalgic playing classic, and i cant explain, but it's a very comfortable sensation
finally, chill time
I've been playing Turtle WoW for the past few weeks and it's honestly the closest to a "true vanilla" experience I've had since 2004. In-game GMs exist, they're ruthless on botting and RMT, no layering/sharding, and most of the added content is in the world and includes new quests and zones. All of these things shifted my mindset from "gotta level to reach endgame" back to just enjoying the process of questing and seeing all the new custom content they added. I know some people will never give a private server like this a chance but it's honestly a master class in terms of re-creating that "vanilla" feel that we all remember back in the day.
Blizzard today, more specifically the Classic team, is too focused on creating an engaging endgame experience while completely ignoring the actual allure of vanilla which is in the "middle" of the game, i.e. dungeons, questing, zone exploration. Re-creating a vanilla-like experience is possible but we have to leave behind the future expansions of WoW and get back to the roots of what the original game was built on.
EDIT: I finished this comment right before I got to your section mentioning Turtle WoW xD
I love your videos. Incredible summaryy of what made WOW a phenomenon. I am an older soul here, and I realize that many younger people will NOT ever understand the internet or online games the same way. It is really incredible. And also really kind of scary what we have created.
1000% agree with you. I have never heard anyone explain it the way you did, and you did a phenomenal job explaining what’s good and what’s bad about WoW. I hope Blizzard sees this video and learn from it.
We need WoW 2, new zones but with the simplicity of vanilla. No additional races, no more extra stuff. Just relaxing beautiful zones we can adventure in! Maybe new professions or a twist that makes us explore the game more.
Didnt play vanilla (I was 4 lol) but i have such a fondess for classic that feels ancient but i know is not nostalgia. I think you have encapsulated why it feels that way very well. I know gamers have changed and there is a lot more knowledge out there but i feel there is still a lot of magic and wonder to be found in the game, especially in servers that add new things like SOD or Turtle.
My favourite thing about classic is how its emphasis is on the journey. Subsequent expansions and especially modern wow are so reward oriented, and while they can be enjoyable to play as games, i often feel like they miss that "soul". Classic is deliberatly slow, and organically encourages you to socialize, smell the roses, enjoy the world, and as a result you are much more immersed, and form a much stronger connection with your character, and everything and everyone you interact with.
Playing classic has taught me that what i actually value is the journey, and that holds true for more than just games...
I just started playing WOW this year and I am SO GLAD that I made the choice to start in Classic first. It hooked me and eased me in. Going from zero to sixty was a genuine adventure. Now that I've switched over to playing mostly retail, I still carry the love I built for Classic into that experience.
Anybody who wants this kind of feeling should really try out Lord of the Rings Online. It's a fantastic game that has a very classic feel and it's very cozy. You can play as a Hobbit and choose not to leave the Shire for around your first 30 levels. It's a very vast world with lots to do, but is also very cozy and realistic wherever you go. Every town and settlement and camp feels alive and lived in. Seriously. Check it out. It's free to play.
I agree 100%. I tried to play retail for a day and I just couldn't do it. I was so overwhelmed, everything's moving, shining, talking to you, there's too much happening at the same time, I can't tell players from NPC's. It was just exhausting. It was so calming to log back into an Era Tirisfal Glades, where you can just breath in the incredible gloomy atmosphere which was somehow achieved without having anything going on.
It's also worth pointing out for especially older players at this point we literally grew up in WoW. During a time in WoW where everything took a significant amount of time to do like: level, grind gold and items, raid and being part of a guild / community, you'd be spending most of your time as an early teen in WoW. So in a way it's like returning to your home town or country after you've gone and left for a long time. It holds memories of people you interacted with. To my surprise tho, it was something it managed to do again in Classic Vanilla- which might've even been more special now that I'm old enough to appreciate its worth.
Haha I watched the documentary about Ibelin too and the nostalgia was so strong I did resub and started just doing some solo leveling. I think you nailed it with this video.
I never got into WoW, but so great to hear you lend your voice to the subject. It's such a broad cultural phenomenon at this point, you've basically witnessed a mini-history of how Blizzard and games industry in general developed over the past 2 decades, if you've played it long enough
I played and role played in WoW. Put that feeling of home never goes away in 14 for me, no matter how much they add. Those early areas still feel like home. It's one of the only instances I can think of where upon taking a break I can honestly say that I have felt homesick for a place that doesn't exist.
The unique way to recreate that sense of help and adventure in classic, its hardcore.
How nice of you to give a positive shoutout to Turtle WoW. I started playing there two months ago and have greatly been enjoying the added custom content, the class balance changes (paladins can taunt!), the custom challenges (such as Hardcore 1-60 with optional immortality at 60), the absence of botting/goldbuying/cheaters and the general friendlyness of the community. It's a better classic WoW experience than Blizzard's official servers, imo.
I first played WoW Classic in 2023 on hardcore servers and SoD. I've been playing games for about 20 years, but it was WoW Classic that really stuck out to me. It is filled with the spirit of adventure. Even the trivial need to drink water on a cliff at sunset to restore mana adds to the atmosphere of the experience. As well as helping a traveler in trouble with healing, exchanging buffs, teaming up for another elite or fighting camp with mobs. The game is very down-to-earth compared to the retail version, which makes the world feel more realistic and the actions you take more meaningful. The rare items that fall out give cool emotions, the game doesn't feel like a session game like retail (I love the retail version and actively play it, but I like it as a league of legends type session game, it doesn't feel like an MMO).
And I also love the hardcore version, and here it gives all the same emotions, but many times stronger. You have to be more careful with the trials, think about weaponry, and helping others and from others feels even stronger. Here's a story: on a sunken ship in Auberdine I saw a level 15 dwarf that didn't move. I thought it was strange, surfaced to get some air, and went back to him. He started choking, and I decided I would heal him (I was playing as a druid) until I ran out of mana. When my resources were almost out, he started moving, floated back up and thanked me. Turns out he had disconnected, and if it wasn't for my help, he might have lost the character. There was a lot of emotion.
I'd also like to say that I'm not happy with blizzard not developing the classic version. SoD has been a disappointment in the last phases, and it didn't bring as much content as I would have liked. I have a subscription to WoW right now, but I only play retail there since classic is stagnating. But I play the unofficial version of Turtle WoW, where the developers are balancing classes and adding new abilities, adding new zones, dungeons, bosses, but it's all exactly classic+, absolutely the same experience as the official game, only even more interesting. It's like HotA for HoMM 3, after this version you don't want to go back to the classic that blizzard return without changes. If they bring back the same game, but with improved content, I'll gladly go back. But right now it is WoW Turtle, despite being technically worse (based on Vanilla, not Classic), that gives the emotions of the classic version, but makes the game even better. There's good online, and there's a hardcore mode too.
Honestly the art direction is Original wow is next level. The new artists just can’t replicate it, they don’t have the sauce
Lots of us played WoW when we were kids, myself included. It always reminds me of my childhood.
I came back to WoW with the new expansion after quitting with Legion and it is just soooo overwhelming. There's so much to do, I don't even want to do anything anymore. Played through the main story and dropped it again. I'm going for classic fresh now, since I've missed 2019s release. Leveling is just so much more satisfying and fun - and the classic world just has a very special place in my hearth.
I came for the content but stayed for the smile. Incredible.
I look back on my OG Vanilla experience fondly, my vanilla private server experiences fondly, and my WoW Classic experience fondly. It wasn't just nostalgia.
This perfectly captures the nostalgia I have for WoW. I played the game at launch (coming from the RTS games) and basically only explored the starter zones. Never did any endgame content, barely any dungeons, and never played the expansions. I just loved walking around the more peaceful areas, trying out all the races starter zones. Maybe I should actually give WoW Classic a go.
Vanilla: "Hey, could you help out with these murlocs? They're terrorizing our village." Quest is actually challenging.
Retail: I kill one enemy: Level 3! "OMG, Hero, you've been tasked with saving Azeroth! Here's 15 minutes of cinematics to catch you up."
Experiencing the world for the first time with your friends was truly amazing. Started playing in TBC back in the day
the closest I've found to recreating those experiences is the turtle wow private server. the added quests and content really brings the life back into it, and its populated enough that you'll always find other real people out in the real world.
I started playing retail again last year after a decade long hiatus. I spent a lot of the past year chipping away at old content that I missed while also experiencing Dragonflight and the War Within. I get the same warm "at home" feeling when playing retail now. Especially considering that a lot of the friends I made in SoD made the jump as well.
wow you really got some great insights. I can relate to this when I used to play wow back in 05. It was a calming experience without the minmax attitude.
I never really played WoW activly. Maybe 50 hours summed up since 2008. But once in a while i buy classic wow for a month just to relax. It has this calm big epicness feeling. Everything feels big, communication is important. Achieving something really FEELS like achieving something
I mean when was the last time you asked someone for help for a quest?
Ah, you brought up a lot of memories about back when I played WoW (when it was "new"). I understand a bit about nostalgia, and you're correct in that it's hard to re-create how it was when we were younger and more naive. I still remember that first guild I joined. They were so helpful and I wouldn't have gone through some of the dungeons I did without their help. Lol...I still "technically" owe one of them 40 gold as they helped me buy my first mount. It wasn't that long after that we all stopped playing. Thanks for another one of your relaxing videos. Your voice is soothing.
I love your 2000s nostalgia content
я помню в 2007 году я, молодой ночной эльф, около Дарнассуса, куда я добирался месяца полтора со стартовой зоны, выполняя все квесты, все приключения, читая тотбот и вовхед, так вот - путь занял пол-лета до столицы. и вот, у ворот города я впервые увидел человека. не просто человека, а это была магесса, на белой лошади. в шляпе, которую носят маги. и вечернее солнце запуталось в ее волосах, и она явно как будто бы смотрела ТОЧНО НА МЕНЯ. я, понимая, что это не нпс, просто застыл от удивления и восхищения. она была 60 уровня, а я около 15 и это было самое сильное впечатление от игры.
потом она приняла меня в гильдию - помню как сейчас - muppets на сервере кул-тирас, где я играл до 2009 года.
потом я стал героик-рейдером, во времена 4.2 - файрленд. но это другая история