Hello all

So I played WOW since Vanilla and before that I played DAOC. I left around ICC for a few reasons. First my account got hacked and it just took so much out of me having to restore everything on all my alts get everything back to 100%. I also found that heroics got to a point that it was a rush to get them through and over with so the kids could go to bed. This also took a lot of the enjoyment out of it. I didnt come back for Cata because I found that Blizzard took a game that I was used to and played for years on and changed it right around. A lot of memories lost, but I guess im just to much of a traditional guy.

So my question is to some of the players that still play after all these years. Is the game right now worth going back too? Has blizz changed anything in lets say the last year to make things "harder" or atleast make WOW more rewarding?

There is no real way that anyone else can give you a meaningful answer to that question but yourself. We all have different reasons for playing or not playing the game and the reasons you seem to give above would probably mean that you wouldn't like the game as it is now any more than you did then.

Your best bet is to open a Free to play account up to L20 on one of your old servers and have a chat with a few people and see how you feel, or if you can commit to it just drop in for a month and see how you go.

I personally have no issues with all the changes that have gone on in the past, but then again i am not what most would define as a 'Hardcore' player, i am not there to drain the content as quickly as possible, i do dungeon runs, a little raiding but much prefer the levelling, questing and social aspects of the game myself.

Unfortunately the only person that will know whether you like the game or not is you, a hundred people can give you an opinion on here, but it will be from their own personal perspective and play style, not yours.

Cataclysm is pretty terrible.

The talent changes really hurt - which apparently wasn't enough, so they're raping them even further with My Little Panda.

There is some fun to be had still, depending on what you enjoy - but keep in mind you'd be supporting a company that's did all but piss on it's long-term fans and playerbase in favor of dragging in "new" blood.

Originally posted by Razeron

Cataclysm is pretty terrible.

 

The talent changes really hurt - which apparently wasn't enough, so they're raping them even further with My Little Panda.

 

There is some fun to be had still, depending on what you enjoy - but keep in mind you'd be supporting a company that's did all but piss on it's long-term fans and playerbase in favor of dragging in "new" blood.

 

Again, this is a personal opinion as i have been a player since launch and i am still there and do not feel 'pissed on' at all. Games evolve and will generally go with the majority base to guide it's course and hardcore 'burn out content and leave until the next big patch/expansion' has never been Blizzards bread and butter whether you like it or not.

As for the Pandaran expansion, i think i will wait and see before deciding either way, putting anything down before actually playing it or having seen any detailed gameplay seems a bit crazy. Hey, you don't like it then you don't like it there is little anyone can do to change your mind as it is never going to be 'vanilla' again, but there are plenty still in there enjoying it as well.

I reactivated my Account a few weeks ago and i enjoy the game, maybe because i took a long break from the game before.

Just try it, one month isnt that expensive. thats the only way to find out if you like it ir not.

Now could be a good time to restart. The 1-60 experience is completely new, and much better than it used to be, so rolling a new character might be a good option. Unfortunately you still have to slog through BC and WotLK leveling zones. The saving grace is that BC can be done in a day and WotLK experience was sped up this patch.

Cataclysm isn't nearly as terrible as many make it out to be, imo. You have a lot of people who are seemingly burned out on the game and simply need to take a break or just walk away. The talent changes from WotLK to Cata was an improvement, imo. The trees were becoming overly bloated and consisted of mostly filler talents. There are still cookie cutter specs, but at least many of them have 1-4 free talent points to give you some choice.

The new Looking For Raid system will also allow you to get into the PvE scene a bit quicker (if that's what you're into).

Honestly, if you don't come back now, I'd wait until MoP.

I would try it out for myself.  Forum-goers will never provide you with an honest opinion.

I went back myself for the cata release after about a year off.

I started in vanilla also.  It really wasen't that hard to get back into other then you will be under geard to start.

However with a few hours put in and if ya have some gold you can get gear pretty quick in the dungeon finder. Although you should go out and fight stuff to get to learn your skills again. Also read up on some of the guides for your class to see the change's.

Game is still fun. I myself have taken off again to give SWTOR a try, but seems at some point i always go back to WoW.

Remember its a game have fun!!!

Before I quit a few months ago I had a very awesome lvling experience with my new Warrior.

I did lvl's 1 - 58 by questing and doing every instance only once, and it was very enjoyible, questing is fun again at those lvls.

For 58 - 70 I did a mixture of some PVE and BG's, BG's give alot more exp than most ppl think, it got me to 70 all the faster.

WOTLK was very enjoyible for me also, I did the basic quests in each area for the greens but spent almost all my time in Alterac Valley soaking up the contant wins my Battlegroup gets their.

But when I got to 85 finally, I got bored.

Moral of this story.

Wow end game sucks :(

Save your money.

Probably half the people on here just want more active bodies to carry them through 5 mans while they watch television and chat on Skype.

If you are looking for a more bc/van experience you will be very disapointed with wow atm, I just cancelled my sub again after doing some raiding and serious pvp this expansion.  In my opinion cata has made the game more for casuals some content has apeared to be rushed out and i personally have become very bored with it (may be because I have played it on and off for 5 years or so).  Only way you will know for sure is if u try it again I can send u a scroll of res from gf's acc if u want to try it.

Well, they' never really bothered making much new low-level content in the new expansions for one thing. Another thing that I strongly dislike was the removal of all class-specific content. I remember as a warlock going through quests to get all of my summons. Now you just get them from trainer.

That cool little quest for the Paladin ressurection spell? Gone. Get it from the trainer. The epic Dreadsteed quest? Axed literally right as I started it, got to throw away a lot of quest items and got my Dreadsteed in 5 minutes from the trainer. Did you like the quests to get druid forms as much as I did? That's too bad, Blizzard has decided that you'll have more fun buying them for 50 silver from the trainer.

They didn't even bother creating a storyline for the new Worgen race. They just get randomly dumped with the Night Elves and get to do that one.

And world PvP, in case I've really missed something, is completely and utterly dead. I wouldn't be in too much of a rush to come back if I were you.

Originally posted by Uronksur

Well, they' never really bothered making much new low-level content in the new expansions for one thing. Another thing that I strongly dislike was the removal of all class-specific content. I remember as a warlock going through quests to get all of my summons. Now you just get them from trainer.

That cool little quest for the Paladin ressurection spell? Gone. Get it from the trainer. The epic Dreadsteed quest? Axed literally right as I started it, got to throw away a lot of quest items and got my Dreadsteed in 5 minutes from the trainer. Did you like the quests to get druid forms as much as I did? That's too bad, Blizzard has decided that you'll have more fun buying them for 50 silver from the trainer.

They didn't even bother creating a storyline for the new Worgen race. They just get randomly dumped with the Night Elves and get to do that one.

And world PvP, in case I've really missed something, is completely and utterly dead. I wouldn't be in too much of a rush to come back if I were you.

True, all the class quests are gone (well, there are 2 class quests, to hit Shadow fang Keep and Blackrock Depths for weapon and helm, but that's it)

But, instead of that, you get Waaaaaaayyyyyy better quests that EVERYONE can use and that vary quite a lot from the normal "kill X" formula as they can involve vehicles, weird mechanics and stuff like that earlier only limited to WOTLK. Not to mention phasing that actually make the world change around you as you play.

I do not really miss the class quests, they were not that fun to do (Druid water form quest?? uuuugh) and the new quests instead give regional arcs to all of them, meaning that instead of being quite random, they now all focus on something going on in the region and will lead to the culmination of the region story arc at the very end of the quests. The feeling is much more organic than before, the story and the mechanics fuse together to tell a story, not with the grand Voice overs of SWTOR, but through the gameplay.

Originally posted by Volkmar

Originally posted by Uronksur

Well, they' never really bothered making much new low-level content in the new expansions for one thing. Another thing that I strongly dislike was the removal of all class-specific content. I remember as a warlock going through quests to get all of my summons. Now you just get them from trainer.

That cool little quest for the Paladin ressurection spell? Gone. Get it from the trainer. The epic Dreadsteed quest? Axed literally right as I started it, got to throw away a lot of quest items and got my Dreadsteed in 5 minutes from the trainer. Did you like the quests to get druid forms as much as I did? That's too bad, Blizzard has decided that you'll have more fun buying them for 50 silver from the trainer.

They didn't even bother creating a storyline for the new Worgen race. They just get randomly dumped with the Night Elves and get to do that one.

And world PvP, in case I've really missed something, is completely and utterly dead. I wouldn't be in too much of a rush to come back if I were you.

True, all the class quests are gone (well, there are 2 class quests, to hit Shadow fang Keep and Blackrock Depths for weapon and helm, but that's it)

But, instead of that, you get Waaaaaaayyyyyy better quests that EVERYONE can use and that vary quite a lot from the normal "kill X" formula as they can involve vehicles, weird mechanics and stuff like that earlier only limited to WOTLK. Not to mention phasing that actually make the world change around you as you play.

I do not really miss the class quests, they were not that fun to do (Druid water form quest?? uuuugh) and the new quests instead give regional arcs to all of them, meaning that instead of being quite random, they now all focus on something going on in the region and will lead to the culmination of the region story arc at the very end of the quests. The feeling is much more organic than before, the story and the mechanics fuse together to tell a story, not with the grand Voice overs of SWTOR, but through the gameplay.

Agreed. I completed all of the warlock quests, and the paladin mount quests. Not to mention the class specific quests for druids, rogues,mages and shaman back in vanilla. Sure, there were some interesting things delivered in those quests, but the new 1-60 experience is much better than the old 1-60 experience.

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Originally posted by VolkmarTrue, all the class quests are gone (well, there are 2 class quests, to hit Shadow fang Keep and Blackrock Depths for weapon and helm, but that's it)
But, instead of that, you get Waaaaaaayyyyyy better quests that EVERYONE can use and that vary quite a lot from the normal "kill X" formula as they can involve vehicles, weird mechanics and stuff like that earlier only limited to WOTLK. Not to mention phasing that actually make the world change around you as you play.
I do not really miss the class quests, they were not that fun to do (Druid water form quest?? uuuugh) and the new quests instead give regional arcs to all of them, meaning that instead of being quite random, they now all focus on something going on in the region and will lead to the culmination of the region story arc at the very end of the quests. The feeling is much more organic than before, the story and the mechanics fuse together to tell a story, not with the grand Voice overs of SWTOR, but through the gameplay.

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There was no reason to remove quests, at all. A lot of the old quests added flavour and identity to the classes, something which is sorely missing even in how they play, let alone in lore, story and quests.

One of the saddest removals to me was the Onyxia questchain, especially the Alliance version. It was pretty epic. Rather than letting it remain available and making the quest reward something that scales or at least useful for the level they removed it outright.

That said, lore consistency and contionuity has been shot to hell anyway, so removing quests for that sake didn't make sense to start with.

WoW doesn't know what it wants to be anymore, aside from being casual-friendly. I kept coming back time after time but now i've quit playing for almost a year and i don't even feel an urge to return remotely - usually i'd be subbed again for a few months at this point.

If you decide to play now get authentication to log in. I fear the Panda's. Play before they come. I am considering cancelling post-Panda. I don't play Club Penguin either so... Age of Conan maybe. And World of Darkness (cries) if they ever (sniff) release it now.

Originally posted by Volkmar

But, instead of that, you get Waaaaaaayyyyyy better quests that EVERYONE can use and that vary quite a lot from the normal "kill X" formula as they can involve vehicles, weird mechanics and stuff like that earlier only limited to WOTLK. Not to mention phasing that actually make the world change around you as you play.

It's been years since I've played WoW, but oddly enough, the Druid water form quest is one of the few that I vividly remember, and that I found to be genuinely satisfying.  Strange, how the most challenging and frustrating quests can end up being the most satisfying . . . why, it's almost as if we enjoy real challenges.

Unless you like soloing in a MMO, Id stray from it.  WoW's questing areas are desolate.  Its a lobby game now.  LFD, LFR killed the feeling of being in an active, living world.  Its pretty much down to everyone sitting in the capital city showing off their new shiny and staring at trade trolls.

Originally posted by Axeshun

Unless you like soloing in a MMO, Id stray from it.  WoW's questing areas are desolate.  Its a lobby game now.  LFD, LFR killed the feeling of being in an active, living world.  Its pretty much down to everyone sitting in the capital city showing off their new shiny and staring at trade trolls.

http://www.wowhead.com/item=19019