HEY! So, you said you wanted vanilla WoW servers. Well, we at Blizzard LISTENED! We're going to please all you vanilla WoW fans by giving you special Legion servers with no LFG, no XP boosts, and no heirloom gear! We LISTENED to you, our loyal fans! Resubscribe now and we'll see you in Azeroth!
Watch as literally nobody plays on these servers and Blizzard gets all cocky like "See? We told you you didn't want it".
>>335644293
Good.
>>335644168
>no LFG
Good.
>no XP boosts
We had rest EXP, so I imagine that stays.
>no heirloom gear!
Perfect.
>Legion
Nope.
>players want X
>Blizzard offers Y (this is what you wanted, right guys?)
>nobody will use Y
>Blizzard says "Told you so!"
Fucking Blizzard, man. When did these fucks lose their souls and passion for vidya?
>>335644409
LFG, heirlooms, xp boosts, cross realm play weren't the reasons people stopped playing. turning the game into choosing whether you want to shoot a green/blue/red firebolt was why everyone quit.
>>335644293
Exactly what I'm expecting, kek.
>>335644501
when they made money dumb fuck
they are not gonna care about manbabies crying over stupid game when they get fat dividends and paychecks
I don't see the problem. The lack of quality-of-life shit is exactly what you niggers wanted.
>Blizzard trying to meet people half-way
Sorry Blizz, you didn't cultivate a fandom of reasonable people. It's all or nothing.
>>335644658
People wanted paladins to fight over cloth gear and bags full of soul shards.
Mages also miss being the local water cooler.
Just like it used to be. Better times.
>>335644168
why do you people even still play this game
>>335644658
It's not really metting people half-way, it's more like they're giving us their own vision of what we want. Honestly I'd take a Vanilla server with LFG over this shit.
>>335644605
They made money then too. They just lost their passion and went with the flow of things, they lost sight of what mattered in the end
>>335644824
So what the fuck is the complaint? That people aren't socializing or that people wanted full on vanilla gameplay?
>>335644507
There are a million different reasons people quit including just plain getting older. Blizzard can't make people 16 again.
>>335644802
Stockholm syndrome.Send help.
>>335644840
Making profit? Like all companies video game or not set out to do? I genuinely feel sorry for you. I dont know how anyone could be this sheltered.
>>335644507
this baka desu sempi.
Do you want your stun to be a meteor!? Or a freezy ice block???
>>335644924
>implying I wasn't playing vanilla from age 31-35
>>335644840
yeah and they couldn't care less since they are in it for the money now
its not like they have some sacred passion or dedication now. it is their job now and as long as they get paycheck they won't really care
>>335644924
except when i played on nost i put in 11 hours my first night last year. I just recently tried retail wow this december to february and put in at most 2-3 hours a night. it wasn't just me being a kid and playing wow and loving it. vanilla/tbc/wotlk wow still is leagues better than retail.
>>335644501
when arthas died
no seriously that was exactly the turning point of the game, its been straight downhill since thenpandaland was actually alright
>>335644168
>We aren’t sure whether this version of a clean slate is something that would appeal to the community and it’s still an open topic of discussion.
>One other note - we’ve recently been in contact with some of the folks who operated Nostalrius. They obviously care deeply about the game, and we look forward to more conversations with them in the coming weeks.
>We are listening.
>>335645038
Then I'm going to hope you're mature enough to understand why classic servers would be a bad idea.
>>335644605
>they are not gonna care about manbabies
But that's everyone that still plays WoW.
>Complain that the game lacks community due to things like LFG
>Blizzard offers a special server that doesn't have LFG
>People are now complaining that the problem was homogenization
Fuck it. WoWdrones will never be happy and just want to bitch and complain. I'm so glad I quit this game during BC, you people are miserable cunts.
>>335645204
they still subscribe after years of neglect
why cater to babies' needs now when they still pay money without all that cares
>>335645113
And I spent more than 10 hours a day playing WoD for the first few weeks of the expansion.
Different strokes for different folks?
>>335644913
There are tons of reasons why people prefer Vanilla over retail. What they're trying to sell us is retail with a Vanilla disguise. The expansions changed the core of the game so much that just removing LFG and xp boosts will barely make the game look like what it was before.
>>335645256
>People want vanilla servers
>Blizzard tries to offer something different
>"Y u guys not happy tho?"
>>335645359
most folks are me
>>335645425
But the point of vanilla was that it had a community, do people seriously miss resistance?
>>335645456
Id have to disagree wholeheartedly. This thread and by extension this debacle with Blizzard wouldnt exist if that were true, no?
>>335644168
Normally I think 99% of /v/ threads are over reactions or trolls trying to stir up shit.
Buy wow, holy shit, blizzard is so out of touch with its userbase. Why even mention this not even remotely similar to vanilla server bullshit
>>335645634
>We aren’t sure whether this version of a clean slate is something that would appeal to the community and it’s still an open topic of discussion.
>>335645547
no the point of vanilla is that a community was created because of the tedious shit that you had to do in the game. It was fun grinding mindless things with other people because there was a sense of joy when someone finally achieved something.
>>335644293
Pretty much what every company would do.
The only thing to bet on is how long it will take for them to shut it down and put their smug face on.
>>335646024
But won't removing the heirloom and LFG shit that removes the tedium create a community?
>>335644168
How does it feel nostfags to be gentely caressed by the dev team reachaound while getting pounded by EP cock?
You didn't even get morhaime's attention. You're getting assfucked by his lapdog.
>>335646182
People want to play vanilla WoW.
They don't want WoD or Legion without the quality of life changes, they just want to play vanilla again.
And those pristine servers won't bring vanilla back.
>>335645547
They miss quality content in the leveling experience which draws them into the community and eventually the end game.
It's part nostalgia and part a change in design that people are craving.
>>335644168
wait, you actually believed them when they mentioned "pristine servers". There's no way that'll actually happen.
or did they say something more about it?
>We're going to please all you vanilla WoW fans by giving you special Legion servers
>>335646182
Leveling is still easily soloable without heirlooms and the only tedium that comes with no LFG is having to recruit people (which isn't that big of a deal honestly).
>We're going to please all you vanilla WoW fans by giving you special Legion servers
No.
>>335646376
>quality content in the leveling experience
So not vanilla wow then.
>>335646672
>>335646478
>>335644628
>taking the meaning out of everything you do
>quality-of-life
>>335646373
>>335646376
>>335646483
Well, I assumed it was about community and not literal nostalgia-fagging.
>>335644984
What a sad life you must lead.
Quit during WOTLK and never looked back. What a shitshow that game and its company have become.
>>335644840
>They just lost their passion and went with the flow of things
Stop treating a company like a person. They had a lot of talented individuals in the past but failed to foster new talent to replace them when they left. Only a handful have been around since the Warcraft days and visiting their offices you'd be pretty hard pressed to find more than a couple 10 year shields.
Lost their passion? What is this anime bullshit?
>hurr durr Blizzard only cares about money
These fucking guys would be making a shit ton of money with vanilla servers.
Even if they could only get a few hundred thousand players, it would turn a profit. Back when they started WoW, if they had half a million subs, they believed WoW would be a huge success. Now, running servers is much cheaper.
WoW has been bleeding subs since the end of Wrath. They're literally at vanilla sub levels now.
All that's really needed is level caps and a community that isn't dispersed over a battle group. Not that any of that will particularly make people happy. Vanilla servers are basically retro-tourism run by a few guys in a basement. No one plays on them for the great fun that was everything in Vanilla. They play on them to stick it to Blizzard.
Not that Vanilla isn't fun, mind you, but the big appeal is having a crowded server, and really demonstrates the larger problem with WoW: They never figured out how to deal with a contracting subscriber base. As fewer people were around, they wanted more tools to find something to do. As more tools were introduced, people burned through content faster. As people burned through content, they got bored and quit because they did everything they wanted. So more people quit and round and round we go.
Similarly, getting back in to the game isn't exactly inviting. Want to see all that shit you missed? Well FUCK YOU go play at level cap, here's your catch-up welfare epics.
Hell, since there's an NPC who will freeze your XP gain, BASICALLY everything's in place for what they are calling these Pristine servers. They don't even have to do anything, just say "people wanting to play at 60 cap, congregate on this server. 70, over on that one, etc etc". No one's forcing you to take advantage of faster XP or LFG, and you can freeze your progression at any point you like to stop and smell the roses, as it were.
The big issue, the single biggest one, is that people want to level in the world before Cataclysm hit. And to be fair, there was some amazing shit back in the day. The epic mount quests for paladin and warlock, the world traveling cluster fucks of quests so you could get attuned to a raid, the quests in the ass end of some zone that took you through a bunch of packs of elites, shit was great. All the quality of life shit is just a side step to the fact that people want that sense of scale back.
>>335647494
>These fucking guys would be making a shit ton of money with vanilla servers
I I always hope these are just joke posts and people aren't actually this deluded.
>there are still people sucking Blizzard's cock
>on 4chan
top kek
You guys seriously gotta figure out the concept of meeting halfway.
They're not going to put up vanilla servers. It is antithesis to their goal of making a game that moves forward.
What is it that you guys want from a vanilla server that this solution can't give you?
I only play on vanilla private servers because its free. I wouldn't pay for it.
>>335648198
>>335647725
>I I always hope these are just joke posts and people aren't actually this deluded.
It's true, though. With Nostalrius' population on a vanilla WoW server at Blizzard, it would be turning a profit.
>>335648320
Not him, but if they brought back a wrath server (I play on Lordaeron) I most certainly would not pay $15 a month to play on it. The subscription fee is already a humongous rip in retail where they"release content updates". I'm certainly not going to pay it to play a version of the game that is specifically about NOT releasing new content. I'd pay $5 monthly at the absolute maximum for a legacy server. Anything more than that is highway robbery.
>>335648157
>It is antithesis to their goal of making a game that appeals to the lowest common denominator
ftfy
Blizzard is no longer going into the games development with the mentality of wanting to make an rpg
Now they go into development with wanting to make sure that everything is balanced, everything is accessible and treat the entire game like its some kind of product/esport.
This game was made by a bunch of fags who played EQ and wanted to make their own casual version. Even back in 2004 this game was normie tier in terms of accessibility.
Seeing how most people react to Vanilla now shows how badly the main demographics attention span has fallen
>>335644168
>Still the same class homogenization shit
>>335648873
It only was normie tier within the cherry picked context of the biggest neckbeard no lifers you've ever had the displeasure of meeting. In the grand scheme of video games it was still very slow paced and grindy.
>>335644168
>it's the same watered-down game you know from Legion, except without all the convenience we added over the years!
>>335647537
>They play on them to stick it to Blizzard
Why must you assume everything about people you'll never meet?
>>335648849
You act like 15 a month is a large amount.
Most people spend that on coffee in s single week.
>>335648157
>>335644658
>meeting halfway
Except it isn't. After Cataclysm, there's literally no vanilla experience left.
Meeting halfway would be like setting up WotLK servers with no LFG, heirlooms, etc. since you could at least play most of the vanilla quests and do most of the vanilla raids.
>>335648873
>BC and MoP had the most patches
>are also the best expansions
Coincidence?
>>335649335
>MoP
>good
>>335649381
Yup.
>>335648157
What is it that you guys want from a vanilla server that this solution can't give you?
The old world. I actually like LFG on a single realm, and I like the class balance they added, even if it is Red/Green/Blue fire bullshit. The one thing I can't get back, though, is all the fun quest lines and original zones before cataclysm turned the world in to a big mess that makes no sense as a matter of plot progression.
The one big thing they fucked up with Cataclysm is that you can't stick to the shattered world and make it to 80 so you can start the new zones. You play through 58 levels "ah fuck, shit just got real and Deathwing is blowing shit up" and then get sucked in to the plot line of 4 years ago to level halfway through Burning Crusade's plot before getting bumped forward 2 years to play through half of the Wrath of the Lich King's plot, before falling back in to the present with "Oh yeah, all that shit I spent the last 20 levels on is over and done with and we should get back to Deathwing". Except now you get through one, maybe two zones of the high level content of Cataclysm before you hit 85 and its off to Panda Land, where you again get through a few zones before you're ready for Back to the Draenor.
So why not stop and smell the roses, and lock your level at each individual expansion? Because every other asshole who wants to do that with you is on another server. Pristine Servers aren't the answer to that. Not the way they suggested anyway. It is absolutely imperative that they keep people together, in the world, on a release by release basis so there isn't a pull to get to the cap of the expansion just to find another human being to interact with outside of Dungeon Finder/Battle Grounds.
>>335648873
Balance is not a bad thing. Just because it was unbalanced in vanilla does not mean that aspect was good.
I really wish that people would understand that you can foster a community with the same breadth and enjoyment as vanilla days and still have a fair and updated game.
I've never played wow and have no idea how it works, but what does this vanilla server stuff mean? Are servers customizable?
I read vidya stuff and this vanilla server stuff has been on like every site for the last month so I'm just curious. If someone could just dumb it down for me it would be appreciated
>>335649270
It's not a large amount, and you're right, it's exactly those thoughts that make their business model still successful. It's easy to rationalise that $15 as not a lot, not bad for the hours played etc.
That still doesn't stop it from being a total rip off, because I don't get anything for it. The game is simply held hostage behind a subscription paywall.
But i wanna play vanilla/bc content. I might take the bait and try Lelgion if the talentree doesnt suck.
>>335649454
>What is it that you guys want from a vanilla server that this solution can't give you?
the old world
the old classes
the old talent tree system
classes and talents were shit in vanilla. they were better in tbc and at their best in wrath, but now they're shit again.
>>335649470
If anything, the class balancing shit would be fun to deal with in a vanilla-esque environment just because your raid sets were balanced around a single role.
>>335649523
Holy fuck, can you get any more entitled?
>>335649485
"Vanilla" means the game before any expansions (or even patches if you ask certain people). The game has undergone gradual but significant changes as each expansion has rolled on by, to the point that the game is drastically different now than it used to be.
Many of us don't like the changes and we all have our preference on what point that game was most enjoyable, and as such, people play on private servers that host the game at different versions.
>>335649649
Gr8 b8 m8
>>335649090
So basically every other MMO at the time. Sure is cherry picking.
The whole basis for WoW was to make an EQ-like MMO with level progression that was as fast paced and less-grindy as possible without completely trivialising it, and stacking most of the poopsock grindy gameplay towards endgame raiding. Remember in 2004 no one really new how to make a super casual MMO like today.
So "in the grand scheme of video games" is really just compared to your modern MMOs. Why is it any wonder why the whole fucking genre is in fucking shambles.
>>335649454
95% of the old quests were just awful grinding garbage. I can understand missing the class quests or something like the Onyxia quests but the vast, vast majority of it was just trash.
Elliot would have loved legacy servers
>>335649649
>entitled
There's that word again
Servers with no LFG would be pretty legit though.
>>335649686
Thanks. That's interesting. I didnt know there were private servers and there are people playing the game at different update points.
I have no dog in this fight but it seems pretty interesting to an outsider.
>>335649842
>poopsock grindy gameplay towards endgame raiding
It was actually really ungrindy compared to its contemporaries.
>>335649470
>Balance is not a bad thing.
It is when you compramise every other aspect of the game for the sake of it. Pic fucking related.
>I really wish that people would understand that you can foster a community with the same breadth and enjoyment as vanilla days
And yet they've Blizzard has faild to do so at every opportunity.
>>335649950
>Servers with less people sounds pretty legit
>>335644507
>As opposed to firing rank one green bolt, rank two green bolt, rank three green bolt, rank four green bolt, and so on.
>Or choose to do the mana-inefficient thing and cast blue bolt.
>If you're able to cast red bolt you've obviously went down the wrong skill-tree.
You know what? That doesn't sound retarded at all.
I mean, ok, lets say blizz made a Legacy server, eventually people will run out of content and then what? re-launch Burning Crusader? ok, and then? re-launch WOTLK? Ok, at some point legacy server will reach the same point that made all of thoses faggots quit the game in the first place so what?
>>335649454
So let's say they fix it so that each expansion is actually rather long in terms of leveling. You start from level 1 and it goes the way that Cataclysm intended where you level through each zone for 5 levels.
You hit Outland and suddenly the time starts to go slower for leveling. About the speed of TBC's release. You have to go through every expansion with the same speed as their respective release, with small adjustments to make things like "Oh, I don't have to do any of the Klaxxi stuff in Pandaria now that I'm 90 and can go to Draenor" less likely. The game encourages you to experience each expansion in the timeframe as release, with no real experience sources outside of quests and kills.
Would that, plus the lack of LFG and cross-realm stuff, be a good way to find a sort of middle ground? They don't want to make it so people can just ignore new content in favor of old content.
>>335650086
That's my point. Both leveling and endgaming were streamlined compared to other MMOs at the time. Most of the "grind" happened at the endgame in Vanilla.
>>335649869
Indeed, a lot of it was a ridiculous pain in the ass, like the asshole in Burning Steppes who sends you to Scholomance twice (I think) without so much as a bread crumb trail to find the guy.
I seem to recall they fixed a good portion of that in some QoL update, and ideally they cut down on collecting bear asses or at least turn every damn collection quest drop in to a bounty one so everyone in a group can get it and you aren't killing 40 zebras to get 10 zebra heads.
>>335650357
>They don't want to make it so people can just ignore new content in favor of old content.
The thing is, people are going to do that anyway. You can't forcefeed people new content that they clearly don't fucking want.
>>335650328
Spell ranks were totally intuitive and immersive, guys
>>335650497
I'd suck his cock.
>>335644168
Why do people not like this idea for a server? This actually would be pretty cool.
>>335649270
Compared to a game you only have to buy once and can play endlessly for $0 a month, yeah it kinda is.
At worst you might buy a $40 season pass, which is still less than 3 months worth of WoW time for the same amount of content especially if >>335648873 is anything to go by
Then again it's no suprise why the subscription model of MMOs has all but died out in favor of F2P
>>335650360
I misread.
>>335644168
Sony did this with EverQuest, which suffered a similar fate years before WoW. The first two expansions are largely celebrated by EQ fans, so several "classic" emulated servers exist.
To counteract the emulated servers, Sony released "progression" servers, which let players play through the expansions at an accelerated pace. The issue was that they unlocked expansions whenever a guild cleared the top raids (with like a 2 week cap or something). EQ progression servers were out of classic in weeks.
>>335650742
No worries, I could have worded it better.
>>335644168
I don't understand the people who bitch that we're getting over a year without an update, but will also bitch that they're not allowed to play Firelands for 11 straight years.
>>335650862
Difference is even Sony pulled their head out of their ass and officially endorced the EQ99 server instead of forcing players to pay for the latest expansion or GTFO
>>335650357
>Would that, plus the lack of LFG and cross-realm stuff, be a good way to find a sort of middle ground?
The good middle ground is to be able to log in, do your garrison shit for 10 minutes, raid your 3 hours once a week, and then be able to play at the cap of any of the previous expansions WITH OTHER PEOPLE.
I mean logistically speaking, we've had like 4 expansions now where we were stuck with no patches for nearly a year, and people are looking for shit to do. There's plenty of content in old expansions that could be fun to run, but the whole process is geared to getting you the fuck OUT of those areas and to the level cap of the expansion that you've already burned through. That's what they need to fix.
>>335649934
That picture is the WoW forums in a nutshell.
>>335650357
>You have to go through every expansion with the same speed as their respective release
anon that way it would take like half a year to reach legion content
>>335644168
>thought this was a troll
>its fucking real
Holy shit they're so out of touch. They don't have the resources for private servers yet people have been doing it in their fucking spare time for YEARS?
>>335645181
or you can stop being vague and just explain why you think they'd be a bad idea so we can have an actual fucking discussion
>>335650079
I'm sure you can agree that with the current retail version of the game being at it's lowest subscription level since vanilla, blizzard are cum slurping faggots for not releasing legacy servers, in addition to ruining the game.
>>335651334
>We aren’t sure whether this version of a clean slate is something that would appeal to the community and it’s still an open topic of discussion.
>>335651334
The difference is those people weren't operating under a profit motive.
Blizzard only cares about making money. The quality of their product is irrelavent as long as it doesn't get in the way of making more money.
The sooner you accept that the easier it will be.
>>335651660
Maybe they've have a bit more certainty if they didn't blanket ban any legacy server thread on the general forums over the last few weeks.
>>335645738
>>335645171
>>335651660
What exactly are you trying to accomplish by replying with copypasta of that one line of PR speak?
>>335648873
Where is the Ruby Sanctum patch on the WOTLK graph?
>>335649090
>Seeing how most people react to Vanilla now shows how badly the main demographics attention span has fallen
>>335649470
Unfortunately a lot of the "MUH VANILLA" players hate shit like that.
They want Rogues to be unfair because they play Rogue. They want Soul Shards to be annoying, because fuck Warlocks. They want AV to last for days because "MUH 24 HOUR AVs!!!" despite the fact that AV killed world PVP and only went on for so long because people were fucking terrible and the map is unbalanced and broken.
What I want is an MMO with a real sense of place. World of Warcraft had that. Vanilla did a great job of making you feel like you were apart of a real world. There were hidden inns, secluded canals, and players at lots of different points of the leveling experience. You felt like you were apart of something. That's what was great about Vanilla.
But when Vanilla balancing comes into question, people always shoot it down because enough shitters just want to roll rogues or never actually played enough end-game to realize how shitty and boring healing and tanking in Vanilla was because they don't heal or Tank. They hate Arenas in TBC because it exposes the fact that they're shit at PVP, and people just thought they were great because their Hunter topped DPS charts in AV. Those people are going to prevent the next true World of Warcraft from happening, because they don't really understand what was great about World of Warcraft.
Vanilla was interesting because smart people made a game that was fun for them. I wish they did that again. I wish World of Warcraft hadn't succumbed. I wish people could *just* improve the game, without removing so much of the weird noise or worrying too much about "empowering" players. Don't get me wrong, I think LFG was a good idea. I think the changes to tanking in TBC and Wrath made tanking a lot more fun to do. I don't want to lose those improvements. But I don't want World of Warcraft to become little more than a series of load screens and loot drops. I want better reasons to go out into that world and play in it.
>>335652102
>They want Soul Shards to be annoying, because fuck Warlocks
fuck you
i mained warlock from vanilla to cata and i liked shards
gave the class some flavor and uniqueness
>>335652102
Vanilla on the TBC client solves most class issues.
243vanilla. tk
>>335652102
>What I want is an MMO with a real sense of place. World of Warcraft had that. Vanilla did a great job of making you feel like you were apart of a real world.
That's borderline impossible to recreate thanks to the advent of the internet and how easy it is to datamine these games.
Don't kid yourself /v/
All of you are currently playing WoW in one way or another
legacy babies better just accept pristine, because that's the best you're gonna get.
man up and accept their compromise, or wait for a private classic server to be hosted out of blizzard's reach. playing on kronos is pants on head retarded, when even blizzard stated they'll continue to protect their IP when needed.
if you're lucky, a couple of taiwanese devs might host something out of taipei. this is better than a china server, since taiwanese aren't as likely to allow gold sellers, and would have no problem blocking chinese from their server.
>people think them saying they thought about an idea means it's coming out tomorrow
jesus christ
they're just spitballing ideas.
>>335652102
>They hate Arenas in TBC because it exposes the fact that they're shit at PVP,
Or maybe because competative PVP modes have always been a compelte joke in MMOs, let alone WoW.
Seriously, anyone who cares about PvP and balance beyond open world is actually autistic.
>>335652521
>they're just placating their fans with empty PR spin
fixed
>>335651914
Can't find the Blackrock Foundry patch, either.
>>335651998
>Normies worse than neckbeards
Enjoy your dragon dildos
>>335652429
Does making fun of Blizdrones on /v/ count?
Because in that case I've been playing WoW for 11 years now.
>>335652102
>They want Rogues to be unfair because they play Rogue. They want Soul Shards to be annoying, because fuck Warlocks.
As someone who is currently rolling a rogue and warlock exclusivelyon Kronosfuck you, i've spent so much time getting shit on in world PvP.
>>335650497
They were essential for healing. Sorry nobody took your b8.
>>335652531
>I'm shit at pvp, therefore, I don't think any sort of competitive nature, or balance, should be attempted
>>335652691
Enjoy your dead genre.
>>335652786
>>335652786
>I'm shit at pvp, that's why I play WoW competatively and think balance is the most important aspect of a competative game above all else, when not even real competative vidya works that way.
>>335652737
Depending on the version they are running Rogues might be less effective at ganking. I remember there being nerfs for Rogue towards the end of Vanilla. You should still be fucking people up np though...
>>335653013
>competative
Please stop.
Please.
>>335653075
Yeah, it's the patch right before TBC. Don't get me wrong, I can gank fine in the usual places a rogue would be able to, but the server sizes on Nost and now Kronos mean there's hardly ever anyone alone in a field. I'm having a fine time of it in STV at least.
>>335652737
I'm not trying to diss Rogues or Warlocks. I hit 2k on my Rogue. I loved it. I'm just saying, a lot of people don't have enough experience with all of the classes to actually understand what stuff adds to the game, and which stuff takes away from it. Soul shards only being granted from mobs that offered exp to your level, for instance, didn't really add anything to Warlock. Rogues being PVP viable naked with level 5 daggers was not a great design decision. Poisons on 5 minutes was an inconvenience at best. Stuff like that.
I'd still rather play Vanilla than WoW today, don't get me wrong. But Vanilla could be taken into some really fascinating places, and it's a shame at the community has such a vocal community who plays for nostalgia, rather than to play a truly great game.
>>335651312
Do you want the vanilla experience or not, motherfucker? We're going hardcore.
Another idea: Similar to progression servers, you have servers of "tiers" where people can play through content up to level 60, up to level 70, etc. Once you hit the cap of a server, you have the option of either continuing or staying at that server.
However, what happens is that the character is just copied and stays at that server's cap. So you can have a character that's still level 60 with Molten Core gear, but you can also have the same character in level 70 content rocking tier 6. That way you can pass through each expansion and experience them at your own pace.
In order to keep the attention of people who may rather focus on like Wrath content instead of vanilla content, they build in achievements. If you do all the Level 60 content at its correct level, then you get a special achievement or mount that is tied to your main account.
However, to make it right, you tune each server's dungeons to their appropriate difficulty. You bring Naxx40 back, for example, and make KT the real final boss of the 60 content. TBC heroic dungeons are as grueling as they were at launch to deal with. You could even do adjustments like make it so you HAVE to do Ulduar content consistently before you go to Trial of the Crusader.
This way if you go "I feel like playing Wrath content today", then you can do it without much problem and you don't screw yourself over by leveling in a vanilla only server and being stuck at 60 for the rest of your days. The only issue is to make sure that each branch of content has their suitable benefits to make you want to play through those expansions at some point and keep people playing the old content long enough to keep the groups going.
Well, that and the complaints about vanilla zones being Cataclysm zones most likely. But I think they could fix the Cata zones with a suitable amount of experience tuning and difficulty increases.
>>335644168
Co-founder of Blizzard is Muslim.
>>335652358
We had thottbott and allakazam in vanilla. It didn't change anything, except make general chat more cancerous with all the "lol thottbott it noob"
>>335644168
So has the "nostcucks" kid killed himself yet?
>>335652713
>Making fun of people who enjoyed a game for 11 years vs enjoying a game for 11 years
wow dude
>>335653013
>competative
3rd worlder, please stop
Removing all these features wouldn't fix WoW at this point. Just let it die. Move on.
>>335646364
Can't attack the Brack.
>>335653391
You know, with all the phasing they can do these days, it would be pretty cool if they could phase the old world back in, mostly.
>>335653384
>I'm just saying, a lot of people don't have enough experience with all of the classes to actually understand what stuff adds to the game, and which stuff takes away from it.
This is true, but at least (in some cases) the servers themselves can do something about it. IIRC Nostalrius used to run using the item data from patch 1.4, changing the stats to that retrofitted state despite the game also running like Kronos on the 1.12 patch just before TBC. I used to play on SWGemu a bit, before all the high tier guilds started resource node campingon multiple accounts,and they routinely make quality of life changes, or at least plan them out, the slow fucks.
For me, some of that makes sense from a perspective of what the class is. For instance in STV earlier I was ganking as my rogue with a fishing rod. Now, should this be possible? All I could do was garrote, riposte, kick, blade flurry, and slice and dice. For me a rogue is just that, someone dexterous enough to carve his oar into a sword like structure and beat you with your mighty steel blade. Similarly, a warlock would need a strong soul to render at a higher level of magic attunement.
If i'm being honest, my experience with vanilla was only reaching level cap and getting maybe one or two BiS items, and only since coming back to Nost and making it through the first tier, have I realized despite it's many flaws and old quirks it translates to community better than most MMOs. The nostalgia factor just comes from those people you remember, for most of the people I talk to, but i'm sure the neckbeards worried about preserving it as it was are more vocal on the forums of these privates. The dumbasses would do it if they got a legacy server too.
>>335652531
It's not possible to truly balance it, really. But Arenas were great fun in TBC. 2v2s with your best bro. 3s with your competitive team. 5s with guildies. It was fun to master your class.
That said, it didn't destroy world PVP. AV and the battleground grind did that. Arenas were just a fun place for people who wanted more out of their PVP experience. It was good for that.
>>335644628
BOY I CAN'T WAIT TO LEVEL IN QUEST AREAS THAT CREATURES OUT RANK ME BY 10 LEVELS EVEN THOUGH IT SAYS IT AM SUPPOSED TO BE HERE
BOY I CAN'T WAIT TO ONLY USE MY 1 SPEC FOR RAIDING
BOY I CAN'T WAIT TO FARM RESIST GEAR
BOY I CAN'T WAIT TO GRIND 342575483297 HOURS IN PVP FOR HW OR GM
BOY I SURE DO LOVE SHITTY OLD TEXTURES AND LOW POLY FACES
BOY I SURE DO LOVE HITTING KILLING ONE ENEMY AND HAVING TO EAT BECAUSE I AM ALMOST DEAD
BOY I CAN'T WAIT TO RUN A RANDOM SCHOLOMANCE. THIS WON'T TAKE LONG AT ALL
BOY I CAN'T WAIT TO GET THAT EPIC MOUNT. IT IS ONLY 1000G RIGHT?
>>335654601
>BOY I SURE LOVE AFK'ING IN MY GARRISON
So I'm confused, why don't people just play on another private server if they wanted to? or better yet why not get a pre-made Repack and make/host your own server or just play single player wow with one of those bot repacks? What's so special about the one that was shut down?
>>335654267
World honor kills giving more honor than battleground grinding would go a long way in bringing back world PvP.
>>335654826
BOY I SURE LOVE RIDING AROUND IN CIRCLES ON THE ROOF OF THE OG BANK
>>335654853
>bot repack
That's a thing? Huh. Might have to try that out.
>>335654895
Sounds like you were a shitter who had a bad rep on your server who wouldn't even get invited to 5-mans let alone a PuG MC. Sorry that everyone else was too busy having fun in the game!
>>335655096
last I checked there were multiple on acweb. Like I'm pretty sure there's a vanilla one and I know for a fact there's a wotlk one. Ahbots too. They're pretty nice honestly.
>>335654895
Lol you got me there I did that for countless hours but it still is more immersive and better than being alone in your garrison
>>335655260
>who had a bad rep on your server
Oh god I remember that. You could be fucking blackballed for being a huge asshole or fucking up too much.
>>335650215
This image is the only response necessary to why simply removing Blizzard's retarded fast lane shit is not an adequate substitute for legacy servers, the game is fucked on a much deeper level that can only be reverted by returning to a previous (preferably the original) version.
I never played WoW seriously (touched the 2 week trial back during TBC and played for maybe 2 months before unsubbing). Can someone explain what Blizzard is offering and how that's not what people want?
>>335655260
If you had played WoW 10 years ago and weren't a casual back then you'd know that there were times where people didn't do anything but mindlessly waste time in or in front of OG/IF/whatever because there just wasn't anything to do once you did it all.
>>335655648
they're not offering anything because it'd be a statistical nightmare to maintain more and more versions of the game the more expansions they put out (/v/ seems to have their head up their asses and thinks if Blizzard ever did previous expansion realms that they'd stop somewhere)
>>335655531
My old guild used to keep a list on known Ninjalooters and general shit players after some dick took the Majordomo chest and gquit during MC progression (didn't even get anything he could have used iirc). They never had a single issue after that all the way till WotLK when I quit. They used to share the list with other big guild officers too. If you were blacklisted like that most people had no choice but to server transfer where they likely pulled the same shit again.
>>335644507
lmao no, if that was true people would've quit in fucking vanilla when there wasn't a "choose what color firebolt", it was just shooting the one
>>335644168
YOU MANIACS
YOU BLEW IT
YOU GAVE IN TO THE BABIES
>>335644168
>Hey we listened
>literally did not listen
They wanna sell legion that bad haha.
"Pristine Servers"
Fuck no.
Would you play a WoW that removed all the dumbing down, streamlining and casualization, but took place on broken isles instead of old Azeroth?
And I mean all of it. Not just in leveling speed and LFR but absolutely everything.
>>335645143
>Unironically thinks it was it was Arthas' death that was the turning point.
Actually it was when they rehashed Naxx and got away with it, and then added dungeon finder.
>>335658531
actually it was when epics from raids were replaced before you even got to the next level cap
>high end bis from one tier cant even make it close to the next tier without being replaced
why is Blizzard so shit at expansions? The garrosh heirlooms were the only time they came close, and WoD was an utter shitfest in every other regard
>>335658664
>actually it was when epics from raids were replaced before you even got to the next level cap
So, TBC?
>mfw i miss my undead disc priest
>mfw i miss my undead combat rogue
>mfw i loved playing the classes no one liked and being a complete pain in the ass with him
Disarming warriors and power surging holy light that crits were some pretty hard core keks back in vanilla
>Disc tree improves fortitude buff and shields
>Pvp
>Rogue backstabs me thinking im a standard holy priest
>gets ripped to shreds with cooldowns and burst damage
>go right back to throwing shields and heals while wanding people to death
>>335655648
Its not that those changers (removal of LFR/LFG, leveling not being light speed, realm community) arent what people want. All of those are things players want to see gone.
The problem is that those alone arent enough. Removing heirlooms wont make leveling harder again, I wont need to avoid pulling 2+ mobs if I dont want to die, I can do that just fine without heirlooms. More changes would need to be made in addition to those proposed to bring current WoW closer to what people want
>>335658664
think about it for a minute retard
>let epics from raids be better than xpac greens and blues
>let people who did well in vanilla dominate the expansion and fuck over new players by getting to all the content first and then killing them in world pvp
yeah that would be fun.
>>335658531
Naxx would have been okay had the other rais s in t7 not been dogshit. Naxx was kind of fun for like 2 weeks of casual raiding. Unfortunately we had it for months.
>>335659217
It doesnt need to stay BiS pre-Kara, but it could have lasted further than Zangamarsh.
Last expac final tier epics shouldnt be replaced until next expansion heroic dungeons and max level crafted pieces. Stuff from normal dungeons, questing and earlier crafting should help fill out slots for those who didnt fully clear the final raid
like what they did with the garrosh heirlooms, which came in at or just under heroic dungeon ilvl.
>players whine en masse during vanilla
>Blizzard changes things because people asked, leading to TBC
>players whine today because they want everything to be the same as vanilla, bugs and imbalances included
>>335659162
Was also reminded of that holy tree talent where a holy light crit made the next holy light instant cast. You would chain 4 in a row if they critted.
>SHRRIINNG
>SHRING
>SHRING
>SHRING
Dead warrior
Anyone else has this nausea feeling to all blizzard games?
WoW- just thinking about playing it again
SC2 -watching a stream
Diablo - well, that i thing i simply don't like
HS - thinking about lack of cards, ranked grind
Overwatch - i don't know how but it feels the same as HS
>>335644168
>Legion servers with no LFG, no XP boosts, and no heirloom gear
I would literally come back for that.
>>335659623
no LFG helps at max level but wont do anything about
>tons of pruned abilities
>"not garrison" missions
>general player power level being above mobs
>Start leveling
>Running out of mana every two pulls
>Killing the same 15 monsters over and over
>Eventually run out of quests and have to spend an hour traveling to a new zone
>Have to spend 30 minutes every couple of levels picking up my new abilities
>Join a dungeon group
>Haul my ass slowly all the way to the summon stone as I can't get a mount at level 30
>Start summoning people after second person shows up 20 minutes later
>Tank sucks and can't hold aggro, we die a few times and disband with only a couple of bars of experience gained
>Continue leveling to 40 doing the occasional group quest with three others having to wait while they run over to me
>Can't afford my mount at 40 so I start mining iron ore but it takes quite a while to get my skill up
>Finally get enough ore which should pay for my mount
>It takes forever to sell in the AH and everyone selling outside the AH is undercutting like crazy
>Decide to grab my new armor skills and a weapon skill
>Takes a long time to replace my armor after getting a few people with high trade skills to help me
>Head to a 40 zone and start leveling my weapon skills
>Spend ages killing pirates and occasionally dying when I run out of mana when respawns pop on me
>Get sick of it and decide to do another dungeon
>Things go well this time but it still took an excruciating amount of time. I join a guild which runs MC and Onyxia
>They tell me they need new raiders and fast
>Run out of quests in the 50 zones and do some horribly long dungeons with the guild
>Finally hit 60 and have no where near enough gold to pay for an epic mount
>Guild wants me to get attuned for MC and Onyxia
>Do an expensive lava swim through BRD to get attuned for MC
>Run MC later that week, we kill two bosses in four hours. It takes forever to get anything done as people constantly AFK and resurrecting and rebuffing is a chore
>Spend the entire weekend working on the Onyxia chain with a few others. It's unbelievably boring
Vanilla fucking sucked
>>335660027
Excellent post! Check out the Level 100 Character Boost, only $60 on Battle.net!
>>335659775
Yeah, but I can live with that. It's not perfect, but those 3 changes would make it one hell of a lot better IMO.
>>335660596
I would honestly take that because 1-60 leveling was fucking shocking
>>335660815
it's 7-10 days /played depending on how much you want to fuck around
>>335661129
That's not an issue. The issue was how boring those hours were, even with a group.
>>335660609
No XP boosts and no heirlooms only account for a tiny part of the game for existing characters and the world is still RIDICULOUSLY easy to level in
LFG is the only thing that would truly change the experience. There needs to be more or its not worth even bothering
>>335652102
But Rogues were fine in vanilla and its fine that theyre amazing as you get better with them in using their skills.
Also I liked farming soul shards as a warlock, fuck you nigga.
>>335654826
>if you dislike the old content that means you like the new content!
that's not how it works.
>>335659370
>Blizzard is incompetent
>hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people asked for legacy servers for years
>blizzard keeps saying they're a vocal minority
>with Nostalrius becoming a legitimate threat to official WoW sub numbers and all the recent shitstorms about it, Blizzard grudgingly aknowledges the demand
>they do a half-assed job at putting up "pristine" servers, that have the cons of both old and new WoW, while having the pros of neither
>those servers are a colossal failure and dead after a month
>Blizzard: "see, we TOLD you you don't wan't legacy servers"
>>335660815
>>335660027
Kill yourself
Vanilla is never coming back and why the fuck would people want WoW still, it's a brain dead easy game from day 1. It was all tedious bullshit never any substance of challenge.
Play Black Desert. Enough fucking said on that.
>>335662948
>I don't like WoW at all
Feel free to leave this thread
>>335663432
You can be displeased with both. WotLK was pretty different from what
>>335654601
posted.
There's been a lot of chance between vanilla and WoD. Every single iteration of WoW has had problems.
>>335663606
>WotLK was pretty different from what
wotlk is old content. Since you like neither old or new content, it's safe to assume you dont like any content and you dont like WoW.
>>335663341
>Play Black Desert
Immediately invalid opinion.
>>335663682
when I said old content I was referencing vanilla, because the post I was responding to responded to >>335654601
Do you know how 4chan works, anon?
>>335663746
Best thing in mmos right now. Shits entirely on everything in every aspect with none of the casualized horse shit of other mmos.
>>335663341
Nostalgia. Which is a perfectly valid reason to enjoy anything.
It's not gonna happen because of battle.net integration. They could have a separate client but that means getting an entire staff to handle it, including sub payment, customer service, and shit. If they hired the Nostalrius team that could happen but they still need to unload resources onto that shit.
>>335663910
It's a Korean MMO dollhouse cash-shop grind. Literally stop posting.
>>335644168
So basically like MapleStory's Reboot Server a few months ago.
Anyone bother with this shit earlier this year? Lasted like a good 3-4 weeks then it got boring as hell, wasn't really a nostalgia trip but more like a current gen private server on steroids that went down so often because there was so many people trying to play.
Disabled trading, no NX cash shop, no XP boosts, all equips drop from mobs only, free mesos lv. 30,60,90,120. mobs have higher HP but give more XP/Mesos than vanilla It pretty much.
I'd probably get upset with Blizzard if they pulled a "reboot" server as well since there's actual money involved with subscriptions and what not.
>>335653391
>everything you want is a waste of money
>inb4 durrr blizzard has billions
>>335644293
Good then this whole bullshit can be put to bed
>>335644924
This people who played vanilla back in the day have grown up and moved on a "vanilla" server won't bring them back. People who think a "vainlla" server would be the new hotness haven't played vanilla back in the day to know how much of a chore it was
>>335664390
>moved on
lol @ this shitty argument. Have you never replayed an old game from your childhood?
>>335664641
Yes, and then you start to realize the flaws it's had.
>>335644293
I hope so, I'm sick of these entitled bitches.
>>335660596For 265 USD you can buy a new account and the warlords expansion, boost to 100, and have full 710 PvP gear and be in a heroic raid in under an hour.
By letting players do this Blizzard is literally saying the rest of the game is worthless.
>>335664390
>how much of a chore it was
But that's literally the point of mmos.
Without the tedious grind there is no game at all (see modern wow)
>>335665764
>For 265 USD
What? It's $25 for WoW + WoD and $50 for a boost, not $240.
yeah whatever. nobody wants to play vanilla. they want the experience of a new open world with a setting they liked. which is what made wow appealing. that, and six billion people playing.
you don't want to farm resist gear
you don't want to farm pvp gear
you don't want to farm soul shards
you don't want to do these shitty rep grinds
you don't want to farm materials for potions all day
you don't want to grind low level npcs all day for weapon skill
you do not want the shitty wow class talent trees
you do not want the shitty wow class balances
you do not want the irrelevant hybrid classes
and so much more...
you probably do want a open world with a setting you are familiar with
you probably do want a alive world with lots of players
you probably remember the good times while ignoring the vast majority of the tedium of vanilla.
in the end, vanilla servers would be short lived for nostalgia fags, then quickly die out after everyone gets their "fix" and unsubs after a month or two.
just find something new. jesus.
>>335652621
Exactly. They just don't want bad PR around the game in a year their new expansion is coming out. Of course, problem is Legion appears to have inherited all the problems from WoD.
>>335666556
let's be honest now, the "you don't really want it" excuse doesn't work when most of the people here played Nostalrius as recent as 2 weeks ago. like, you'd have a point if the last time someone played vanilla was literally 12 years ago.
having said that, a lot of what made Nost fun came from the fact that the server was packed to the brim. it wouldn't be the same under Blizzard's ~3000k player capped server, just look at how boring Kronos is.
>>335666826
nost was free
the amount of people that signed the petition was around 5-6% of the playerbase right now
>>335665276
And?
>>335666826
You're kinda proving my point here. You don't want it because of the game. You want it because there are lots of people who play it. Same way a lot of idiots play CSGO or any moba game. Not only that but Nostalrius was free. I doubt anything but a fraction of those people would actually pay an active sub for vanilla warcraft.
I would also be interested to see some kinda data on how long people played on Nost. My guess would be a few months to fill their nostalgia hump, and get on with their lives.
>>335666990
the amount of people that want it isn't significant.
>>335666940
It's not as simple as that, though. Yeah it's free, but private servers are also the only way to play vanilla anymore. What does that mean? It means that, yes, a lot of people will try it, but just as many will avoid it because it's a private server. There's no way to know how many would actually PAY to play on official vanilla server. Not to mention online petitions are just indicators of interest, they're hardly solid numbers of anything tangible.
>>335666390
You gotta sell tokens if you want the full 710 gear.
>>335644468
>rest exp the same as insta lvl 100 boost
>>335667089
That's a non-sequitur. Try staying on topic.
>>335666940
there's lots of free wow servers. but people chose Nost. you know why.
>>335667156
No you don't. You get it for free in Ashran... Have you actually been paying for that shit? Fucking lol.
>>335667183
I guess you can't follow a conversation on 4chan. You know how it works right?
>>335649470
>I really wish that people would understand that you can foster a community with the same breadth and enjoyment as vanilla days and still have a fair and updated game.
You actually cannot because the community has changed drastically in those ten years. People themselves are more than happy to immerse themselves in mechanical min-maxing and derive sense of accomplishment. It's most definitely not limited to high-end raiding guilds and theorycrafters anymore, now it's simply a default way how people look at MMORPGs. Hell, back in vanilla raiding was not on 90% of people's minds while they were playing the game. You weren't rushing to the end-game because "that's where the fun is".
>>335667374
The only reason endgame became the focus was because that's where all the players inevitably ended up. But I don't see how you avoid that sort of situation in MMOs anyway..
>>335667358
>I guess you can't follow a conversation on 4chan.
You couldn't even respond to an argument made 1 post ago, let alone follow a conversation. If you want to admit that you're wrong and try to make a separate argument, go ahead.
>>335667515
TSW tried this by making leveling horizontal instead of vertical.
Meaning as you leveled, you invested in weapon abilities and could freely switch between weapons. If you dedicated yourself to a specific role and spec, you'd get level 10 equipment and all the skills you needed long before you were at any sort of level-cap, so each new level just broadened your versatility.And I thought it was really fuckin' boring and hate that game.
>>335667264
You are entirely missing the argument.
Also the notion of "I farmed it therefore its free" is a false one.
>>335663341
>'eh sounds like he knows whats up'
>Play Black Desert.
Instantly trashed.
>>335644293
This is their plan.
>>335667515
Not making it all about, which is what we've had in these last 10+ years, would be a good starting point. It's almost as if doing good content for good content's sake is unimaginable to people unless they get a shiny at the end to show for it. Same cancer has infested other genres as well with their "progression elements". Yeah man, because I REALLY enjoy unlocking fucking scopes and grips so my guns can be on the same level of usability with every else.
>>335665428
>>335664263
>>335644409
Hello Blizzard.
>>335645143
Pandaland was cool except that the starting raids were shit, LFR was shit, and dungeons were easy as piss.
That being said the zones were great for the most part and had nice stories and quest lines, didnt care for kasarang though. The added stuff for cooking and archaeology was great,a lot of different rep factions and rewards. Too bad it carried over Cata's simplified gameplay.
The thunder king stuff was nice too but fuck Siege.
>>335668708
>Pandaland was cool except that the starting raids were shit
Heroic dogs alone were better than 80% of wotlk bosses, including ulduar ones
>>335667374
I still don't really look forward to raiding in MMOs of any kind. Too much prep work most of the time, and a lot of that prepwork is RNG bullshit. I would rather level multiple alts because I'm at least playing the game somewhat differently each time with different people to meet along the way.
>>335645547
The game at this point is absolute shit, removing LFG wont change that.
The game has been simplified to shit, theres no danger or need for a community in the world anymore. I know its hard to give it up but people need to just let WoW die.Maybe in 30 years we can have fun again
>>335668835
Yea dogs were cool too fucking bad I had to do that shit a million times on the easier difficulties before getting to that.
I liked the night/day dragon too
>>335668321
But that was WoW's whole thing, progression. I think the players made the game more interesting with their interactions with the world, and with each other. That was the real spark of WoW
>>335667374
This. Most players were noobies and there were no websites that offered you instructions like a cookbook on how to do every raid encounter in the game before they were even officially released and no spreadsheets that broke down every aspect of the game.
Datamining ruined the game. People were left to their own devices. Your best bet was to read comments on thottbot or allakhazam.
Most guilds zealously guarded their raid strategies. Maybe the only exception early on was conquest early on trying to exonerate themselves from exploiting golemagg in mc by posting their mc strats.
Totally different world now. Shit sucks.
>>335669573
Another WOW experience simply isn't possible in the current state of the internet.
>>335669765
True. It's too mainstream now. I watched the playerbase shift so much from vanilla to wotlk.
>>335669765
>he didn't play on Nost
>>335654601
You're forgetting who your audience is, anon. Sure, this argument might work for the casual cancer that plays retail, but people that want legacy servers have the time and wish to spend it on all of that.
>>335655260
The problem with "server rep" is that you could be blacklisted by an entire server simply for having a difference of opinion. I used to see this shit a lot in FFXI and vanilla WoW.
Good fucking riddance.
>>335645084
They were getting a paycheck with WC1-3FT, Diablo 1-2LoD, SC1-2BW, WoW vanilla-TBC. It wasn't like they were selling us Blackthorne, Lost Vikings and Rock n Roll Racing for 13 years.
>>335654601
>CREATURES OUT RANK ME BY 10 LEVELS
When has this ever happened? I just followed the quests and went to green/yellow areas.
>>335672002
No you got it for ninja looting, leaving groups all the time, and being a faggot in trade and LFG chat. You didn't get it because you think Trump is the best on a fucking Bernie server.
>>335671285
WOTLK marked the large scale infiltration of WoW by the US intelligence community.
http://gawker.com/nsa-and-cia-spied-on-world-of-warcraft-other-online-vi-1479458437
>Our country's best and brightest began disguising themselves as digital trolls, elves, and supermodels in 2008, after a top-secret NSA documents—provided by Edward Snowden and published by the New York Times and ProPublica—described the games as a "target-rich communication network" that lets terrorists and other criminals "hide in plain sight."
>Director of National Intelligence Open Source Conference in Washington, Dr. Dwight Toavs, a professor at the Pentagon-funded National Defense University
>Toavs, for one, believes that spies will have to spend more time in virtual worlds like WoW, if they want to have a hope of keeping tabs on what goes on inside ’em.
It began just before the release of WOTLK with the NSA claiming that WoW was harboring terrorist organizations that could use the in game communications to plan attacks.
http://www.wired.com/2008/09/world-of-warcra/
This was mainly so they could get their hands on millions of peoples communications, social networks, personality traits, and personal habits.
https://www.propublica.org/article/world-of-spycraft-intelligence-agencies-spied-in-online-games
>Those involved in the project were told little by their government patrons. According to Nick Yee, a Palo Alto researcher who worked on the effort, “We were specifically asked not to speculate on the government’s motivations and goals.”
>in 2009, two private companies—SAIC and Lockheed Martin—received multi-million dollar government contracts to study the links between a persons online persona and their real-life behavior
>“The Sigint Enterprise needs to begin taking action now to plan for collection, processing, presentation and analysis of these communications,” said one April 2008 NSA document, referring to “signals intelligence.” The document added, “With a few exceptions, NSA can’t even recognize the traffic,” meaning that the agency could not distinguish gaming data from other Internet traffic.
It was facilitated through microsoft with their company "massive inc." which was the first huge 3rd party datamining company used as a backdoor to exploit the behavior of WoWs player base.
Armory came shortly after this which provided a public record of everyone's habits (recorded as achievements) that were stored publicly and easily scraped by other third parties.
The industrial scale datamining of WoW players habits allowed devs to more closely monitor player habits and led to a formulaic approach to developing content in the form of more efficient carrots and grind treadmills based on what the majority of players spent the most time doing.
Instead of an intuitive creative approach to developing content it became a scientific formula.
This is reflected in the community with the rise of datamining every aspect of gameplay.
