When did you realize that the game was going downhill?
January 15, 2007.
when I hit puberty
>>339566952
When did cataclysm come out? Then pretty much WotLK wasn't half bad.
It started at the end of wrath, but I didn't realize it until midway through Cata
>>339566952
When Illidan was castrated as a character in TBC, I knew it couldn't last.
Surprisingly, other characters were fleshed out well in WotLK. Shame Vashj, Kael, Illidan, Akama, Maiev, and Khadgar were trash.
>>339566952
BC is when I started to worry. Back when they removed all the keys and rep requirements to get into heroics and raids. On top of that, arena was just garbage.
WotLK was when I realized that the game was over, and now it was going to appeal to the dumbest idiots it can. Classes were gutted and changed for no apparent reason other than the sake of change. Shit like wintergrasp and Strand were added, and both were terrible gimmicky trash. DK's were broken for nearly a year, and the raids, save for Ulduar, were all complete shit.
By the time Cata rolled around they repeated the same mistakes, but amplified them to insane levels, and every class simply became a shitty parody of what it was originally.
Launch.
>>339566952
December 7 2010
Hyjal summit
>>339567504
Blizzard's ability to tell a story in WoW only got good in Wrath. I feel bad for all the characters who came before that.
Cataclysm.
Although looking back it probably started around patch 3.2.
The patch that added RDF was the end
Some where between TBC and Wrath
in my defense i was casual TBC and WotLK due to school
>>339568019
>Blizzard's ability to tell a story in WoW only got good in Wrath
hahahahahahahahahhahahah
>>is it over
>my son no king rules forever
>*passes hand over eyes*
>there must always be a Lich King
hahah
jhahqheiuhqwiehqiuhi
This>>339567161
BC was giant red flags that Blizzard knew they could get away with anything and the rabid shit eating fanbase would gobble it up and beg for seconds.
>>339568424
>Ability to tell a story =/= the story being good
When battlefields were implemented and PvP turned into a soulless repetitive slog rather than roving packs of players harassing towns and clashing in the middle of nowhere for fun.
Battlegrounds ruined WoW. Anyone who says it was anything later is a fucking newfag.
>>339568637
Cross Realm BG's for sure, but regular BG's? No way.
>>339568581
The ability to mimic cliches in movies you mean
>>339566952
It's never gone downhill. It's better than ever. Everyone besides /v/ is hyped for Legion.because /v/ hates video games and /v/ hates fun.
>>339568682
The day Warsong Gulch was born is the day the fun and dynamic Azeroth died.
>>339566952
Pandas
>>339566952
You polish it for years - make a master piece and release it - from that point only required hotfixes and patch contents that added elements on top of already balanced world, and of course using the existing world - no major stuff -mostly stuff that you planned but did not implement yet.
Instead we got 1 polished expac that got perfect by the end of last patch... then we get a hurried up expansion where they tested everything ( at least since they tried so much there was a unique feeling to it can't deny, it was still an enjoyable experience )
but after 2.4 + with sunwell and season 3 ... everything went downhill - by that time inflation got so fucking worse... it just showed what imbalanced elements and stupid ideas implemented just to cover content do to an already well polished world.
Then every expac from that point was just hurried content - good ideas faded among shitty idea, bugs, unpolished shit, shit writing, shit everything...
Basically if they wanted they could've holded on vanilla - only add game features and update models - and major patches could've just been stuff that was slightly better stuff than the last tier - mainly an alternative, another option for end game.
It's proven fact that human brain tends to stick with something and feel better from that position - constant changes hurt the brain and interest is constantly lost.
With wow every expansion changed the game almost entirely and rendered old content to useless shit - that also got broken.
>>339568581
The intro cinematic for WotLK was fantastic, but everything else was hamfisted right up to Arthas' death. Then Cataclysm came along and somehow it all got worse.
When I reached level 70 on my first character, I kept him at 68 for so long, but my friend wanted to play Warsong Gulch with me, once I reached 72 he stopped playing, so did I.
>>339568859
Sunwell brought about the new badge gear, it was far from perfect.
Patch 3.3.0http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Dungeon_Finder
WotLK beta, because it was clear that it was unfinished and being rushed out.
>>339566952
3.2 although arguably it has been going downhill in some respects since TBC was released, it's just that there was more better than worse back then. Thankfully Cata broke the addiction
Late WotLK. That long content drought was horrible and then suddenly Cataclysm seemed fucked everything up so much more.
What I find hilarious is that they still charge monthly for this crap when the last content patch was nearly a year ago.
>>339566952
85. Once I was done leveling in cata. That xpac felt so disjointed and weird. all the zones gave off this hint of "we don't really know where to take this, so here's a bit of everything"
I didn't resub to MoP for this reason until throne of thunder, and was blown away by how much better of an xpac that was than cata.
>>339566952
After playing the two week free trial.
>>339569163
They introduced tokens that can cover the cost apparently
We can shitpost about how TBC was the beginning of the end but it was still a solid expansions throughout
Wrath was a subpar expansion with the exception of 1 patch
>>339568952
Mein nigga!
>>339566952
Feb of 2005, when the forum warrior Warriors started striking on Argent Dawn ~ US.
>>339569242
Hit post too early. I'd say realistically trial of the crusader was the most noticeable point of a nosedive the game had seen.
>>339569334
Does anyone have the screen cap of Yang Wen-Li saying, "Forgive my being frank, but your argument lends to the idea that men should use fire because it burns," or something?
BC release with the badge system, though what really cut the camel's back was WOTLK for me (Sunwell badge items were another thing, too.) RDF wa the final nail in the coffin where I gave up hope of returning.
I just found out they removed eyes of the beast in catha like how retarded they can be
>>339568363
This. It was this point and a couple months later when they released Firelands that I realized Blizzard didnt care anymore. Everything about Cataclysm was a huge slap in the face to anyone that still liked WoW at that point in time.
>>339566952
2006.
When I realized there was a TON of content cut from WotLK because they had a deadline of 2 years for each expansion.
>>339569123
Yea that's what I said it was the start of the downfall.
>>339566952
After we killed litch king. There was no point in playing further.
>>339569501
>>339569334
never mind found it
When I was trying to gear for heroics in wrath and someone told me not to worry. We steamrolled them freshly capped in 3.0.
I knew then that something was wrong.
Then we got welfare epics in 3.1 and went to ulduar despite being poorly geared.
Game was basically fucked at that point.
>>339567161
Nah I'd say it was July 9th 2008
>>339569670
Sargeras tbqh
realistically how much longer can they extend it's life until free to play
Working for the WOW team at Blizzard right now must be pretty shit. Seeing the numbers fall lower and lower each day.
>>339569123
It wasnt sunwell that brought it though it was the same patch. sunwell, despite being a filler raid, is imo the best tuned and most fun raid of all time. and despite not having attunenents, very few people could even kill the first boss, and the rewards were awesome (though not,as awesome as some special items in vanilla, like ashkandi)
>>339568807
But MoP was good.
Or are you one of those faggots who actually gave a shit about the race?
>>339569646
If ToC had actually been the Azjol-Nerub raid like it was earlier planned to be WotLK would have been the perfect xpac.
>>339569670
>warcraft 3 babies in charge of lore
KYS
>>339569879
Yea MoP was like a lost jewel among dog shit expansion packs.
It was literally unique and fun - too sad not many experienced it, it was mostly newfags.
Point of no return was the talent revamp. The game is never going to reclaim its former glory without radical changes now.
>>339569914
>tfw i liked ToC
I don't get the hate. Fun bosses.
>>339569735
Sargeras isnt the end all be all of bad guys in Warcraft lore anymore. Actually they just made him another misunderstood evil type.
>>339569865
>realistically how much longer can they extend it's life until free to play
It is free to play. Just buy game time with gold.
>>339569280
Meh. Maybe years ago when I had more motivation to play. I still talk to most of my old guild on a regular basis and we've all moved on to other games. The friendships I established in WoW will most likely last the rest of our lives oddly enough. They were and are my truest bros.
>>339569879
It could be if it came before Cata, but it didn't so no and wasn't MoP the one that introduced 'phases'?
>>339570036
Seal the void - end game thing then.
>>339569965
I was over the game because Cata killed my guild. Didn't see the launch. Tried it for I think 2 months either side of 5.1. I wasn't interested.
Came back I think just before or maybe just after 5.4. With a lot of the changes they made, I really enjoyed it. I didn't bother finding a raid guild so I was fine with LFR. It was too rewarding, but the difficulty for PUGs was good. The sense of progression from spending valor on upgrading and reforging gear was something to do. ToT was great and I didn't mind SoO - although I can imagine for people on progression that got stale pretty quick. Plenty of factions to raise rep with - the storyline was good if you actually looked past the Pandas and saw the big picture. I had fun with Brawlers guild and Proving Grounds too. Not to mention Timeless Isle which was actually content unlike Tanaan.
I'm not sure how Blizzard took all the shit stuff and replace it with good stuff, and took all the good stuff and replaced it with shit stuff in the course of one expansion though. WoD is kill.
>>339566952
at the end of wrath when the majority of the original WC3 blizzard north story ended and nu-activion-blizzard took over.
End of WOTLK.
>>339570217
Do you mean phasing? They accidentally found that in TBC and started using it in wrath.
>>339570043
I didnt get the "bro" experience but the "these people I've spent years talking to and hanging out with on a nearly nightly basis arent really my friends and dont give two shits about me" experience.
I only talk to maybe 3 or 4 people I met in WoW out of the hundreds I met. I must be an asshole.
>>339569946
WarCraft 3 and the expansion were the fucking pinnacle of the series.
It is a fact.
>>339570270
You forgot to mention - even gathering was fun... professions were amazing in MoP - it felt like an worthy activity + they really earned you gold.
+ the rare farming, the various mount farming - which was actually engaging - farm this zandalari guy in 5 different spots, in beautiful places in long and entertaining fights + the bonuses were making it worth more than the actual farming.
>>339570286
>wc3 plot
>good
WC3 killed the lore tbqh. Get some taste faggot
>>339570347
It was super retarded
>hey guys I need port to some city hub called shrine of seven dicks or whatever
>sorry don't have port but I can give you ride on my motherfucking dragon shapeshift that I got through my hard Vial of Sands grinding
>fly through zone the guy was not questing in
>he disappears from my back
>I disappear from under him
>he falls to his death
>I fall into disbelief
Molten Core.
>>339570546
>not wc2
Commit sudoku
>>339570415
Na, most WOW players just weren't worth talking to and weren't that interesting.
You found your 3/4 friends so enjoy them.
For winter is coming.
Arenas
>>339570657
Get fucked.
It was a great game but it was surpassed by WC3 in every way.
I'm 30 and played them all, senpai.
Winter is coming.
>>339566952
around cataclysm when i finally got around to reaching cap and realizing i'm buying epic gear from an npc and that everyone around me were in full epic gear in a few weeks
>>339570657
>>339570657
Oh man I fucking love Ogrecraft: Tides of Bloodlust.
>>339570576
How did WC3 kill the lore?
It expanded it a great deal in a good way.
Introduced new races, etc.
WOW and its bastard expansions with their countless retcons ruined WarCraft.
>>339570808
>>339570869
>edgy main characters turning evil for vague reasons
>better than a game involving two factions duking it out for dominance
>>339570270
MoP really was surprisingly good after the complete shit show that was Cataclysm. Its like Blizzard actually put effort into it.
And then they rode that good will train all the way into the ground with WoD.
>>339567161
This pretty much. All TBC needed to do was not increase the level cap and keep content relevant. Instead they took the easy way out and set in place this mantra of, "there are swaths of untapped players out there, we just need to lure them in." While it worked for the next 2-3 years throughout Wrath's life, it ultimately shuttered a fuckton of potential that vanilla gave.
The whole game should matter, not just the current raid tier.
>>339570657
While Dwarven cannon were being loaded, some armed themselves with Elvish steel.
Tides of Darkness.
It was cool but 3 is the one true king.
Bend the knee faggot.
>>339566952
Just now when you posted this.
>>339570039
How does that work?
And I meant becoming real free to play.
Last time I played World of Warcraft was back in 2010 for aprox 2 weeks.
>>339571081
Except even at 70 all of the vanilla content was still fairly challenging because the stat gap wasnt that great.
>>339567161
>join mid-late vanilla, BC is announced
>the vanilla playerbase whines about new content, reminisces over old content and threatens to quit
>tfw this has been happening like clockwork for eleven goddamned years
>>339571000
>vague reasons
>>Arthas wants to defend his people.
Sees its too late to save them so he gives them a merciful death instead of allowing them to a lifetime of being damned as the undead.
>His lifetime mentor and long time lover abandoned him at his greatest time of need.
>Vows vengeance to the asshole who forced his hand.
Takes up a relic that was planted there for him.
>Relic steals his soul.
Like I said before, get fucked summer child.
>>339571179
There is no grinding for professions resources anymore since it was replaced by garrison(3D gimped version of Clash of Clans) and garrison itself produces large amount of gold that can be used to buy tokens to play wow instead of sub, it's either pay to play or grind to play but the grind is minimal and just here so that people are forced to use garrisons (or grind), it even has options to pay gold if your account is frozen if you have enough gold on your characters.
When I installed Cataclysm on launch after taking a break from WotLK and then uninstalling it after 20 minutes.
>>339571279
It still set the precedent though. A significant amount of people ignored 1.x raids and jumped right into Kara or Gruul. And even with the stat gap not being that great, the TBC gear appealed to more people with various stats being available in a wide range of non-purples, like spell/healing power for example.
>>339566952
BC, right after they killed attunements
When they released Battlegrounds and almost died overnight, then they tried to spark some life back into it with some shitty objectives that no one cared about.
>>339571674
and world PvP almost*
> tfw literally every moment of game's existence was mentioned in this thread
>>339566952
>Slippery slope? are you being paranoid?
>If you don't like it, don't buy it :^)
The firelands in cataclysm. The original raids of blackrock descent and twilight citadel was the last time I played the game seriously. I stopped on the firelands patch came back in WoD after skipping over Pandaria.
It was really jarring seeing how much things changed I stopped before the talent revamp and I absolutely hated it. I couldn't believe how simplified things were and how many abilities on my warrior were either changed completely, limited to one spec, or entirely removed from the game. It was even worse when I realized stances and stance dancing were almost completely removed.
When the fun guild I was in merged with a serious one.
>>339571785
>edgelords saying when it launched
>>339572003
>when a girl joined your guild
>>339571279
Dude I could 2man onyxia
>>339571370
that's so blizzard it's disgusting
this kind of sickening fixation with overly manufacturing every single game aspect to try and squeeze time and money away from your playerbase...
>>339566952
Wrath.
Played since launch and quit before BC. So I never experienced it going downhill, I came back way back now in Warlords and I didn't even recognize the game anymore and quit after 2 months never to return again.
>>339572203
Two things I've heard people say in regards to Neo-Blizzard that hit down to the core.
1) Style over substance
2) Adding too much incentive for failing/bad content
They are an art studio with people that look at stat sheets and generate content from those. Look at the failure of Titan and how shallow Overwatch is. Look at how WoD looks and how bad all the content is.
Biggest team ever to be working on WoW, how many of those are in content creation? Or just the art department.
>Finally new animations for a lot of skill and abilities in Legion :^)
One thing I will say is that Blizzards art and sound team are still great.
>>339566952
For me it was Dragon Soul in Cataclysm.
But also slightly realized it when they came out with hard dungeons at the start of Cata and people complained so much that they nerfed them. It made me realize that even if Blizzard wanted to make the game good again, they couldn't, because the game had been taken over by retards.
>>339567161
This, Burning Crusade poisoned the waterhole, it was when Blizzard realized the extent of its greed. From then on, Blizzard had the growing mindset of 'expansions first, content patches later'; which of course bloated into the ugly monstrosity that was WoD. There were high points after this, like Ulduar and ToT, but these were exceptions made possible by the few people that still gave a shit. Those great designers and old veterans are gone now.
BC also led to another mindset of theirs that the current expansion is where everyone HAS TO BE, which meant making the game easier for newcomers and other shitty players. When all of the shitty, awful players were max level, they proceeded to complain to Blizzard that they didn't get to see everything when it was current. This led to "accessibility", a term all long time WoW fans are familiar with. Accessibility snowballed into just about everything wrong we see now, besides their fucked up development cycles. I guess you could even blame that on accessibility, as it allows the overwhelming majority of players to "see" all of the content in less than a week, leaving them hungry for more.
>cata comes out
>my casual guild falls apart
>as a healer with no friends to pug with, dealing with retards in LFG is excruciatingly painful - everyone thinks mindless AOE will solve everything and tanks blame me for their fuck ups
>decide ill focus on dailies
>firelands dailies are fun at first but become tedious as fuck
>no incentive left
>leave
>DS comes out and everyone points to it as wows nadir
>mfw even without DS I still consider cata the worst time in wow
WoD has basically matched it though.
Still, Vashjir is my favourite zone. Last third was pushing it for length though.
wotlk
bc is the only acceptable expansion.
Yes I'veunfortunatelyplayed them all in some capacity.
>>339567161
>>339571081
This. They can fix their mistakes though, they can remove levels.
>>339572504
relevant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g79dWuqXe5o
>>339566952
Pandarian expansion announced.
>>339572003
When the fun but decent raid guild I was in merged with the serious but shit one.
>mfw a warforged Gaze of Arrogance drops and the RL gives it to some shitter warlock who died loads
>because "you already have a gaze and this guy needs better gear to be good"
Ree eternally
>>339566952
Middle of wrath, after ToC came after Ulduar, something inside me said "they have nothing to top this planned" and i was right. ICC was just stupid hard before buffs and thats what made it take so long on Heroic. Then when the fanboyism drained from my vains i saw the true light and started hopping private servers. sadly most of them get shut down due to operators not being able to keep servers up, or legal reason. patiently waiting for legacy servers
>>339572857
>everyone thinks mindless AOE will solve everything
That started with WotlK to make the Death Knight players feel good.
>>339573340
Yeah but cata heroics had some actual difficulty.
>>339572963
Jesus, I knew shit like this had been going on since day one. But seeing it in this context and presentation makes it hurt.
Worse still, they are doing more and more to remove ways for you to slowly move towards your goals and just stacking fuck tons of RNG against you.
>>339573441
I remember a lot of people talking about cata heroics as being so hard. I don't remember having much trouble with them but I guess I was so used to BC heroics, heroic shattered halls was literal hell. I ran it once to do my attunement for The Eye and never touched it again until I was in T5 and even then I still hated it. When I did it in Kara epics it was still difficult it had trash packs with up to 7 mobs and good group composition with heavy CC was absolutely required.
I literally can't remember the last 5 man I did that wasn't just huge AoE fest and actually took planning and CC to progress.
>>339573854
Throne of tides required CC on those siren whores who cast heals/hex or whatever.
>>339573854
My question to you though - did you heal strangers? The average player is a retard and when dungeons require everyone to do their part, you can't out heal the damage they're unnecessarily taking.
>>339573854
>I remember a lot of people talking about cata heroics as being so hard
They weren't hard, they just required the players to play smart again. The only problem with that is that some people never learned how to play smart and instead of getting smart they decided to whine about it
>>339570015
All takes place in the same room, repetitive, gear was super-meh looking. Pretty great raid compared to what we got in later xpacs though, I admit.
I actually enjoyed MoP and had a lot of fun experiencing the content through 5.2, but I can't forgive them for going creatively bankrupt and just saying "fuck it Pandaria got ORKED"
The realization towards the ass-end of the expansion that no matter how much I enjoyed Pandaria, it was destined to become another useless, abandoned piece of the game's history made my give up on WoW.
>>339566952
Whenever the looking for group queue debuted
>>339566952
When people in groups no longer had the patience for one wipe in an instance. One wipe.
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