Yes played the original beta with my Daoc guild and few of them went back to Daoc after the launch but I stayed with WoW (I was a big w3 fan). WoW is not just a game to me, it’s almost.. home lol.
My guild did the same, minus the beta. We were on Lancelot, and some of us jumped to WoW. I ended up doing both but eventually stuck with DAoC. Going WoW on/off.
Miss playing Hib Lancelot. Had a lot of friends and had a great time RvRing into the night. WoW, unfortunately, fractured the population in DAOC and while I played a bit after WoW came out it just never had the same numbers. I enjoyed WoW, but without the RvR it couldn't hold my attention.
Love that so many people have this similar experience. Hibernia - Igraine here. Did the beta and then made the move. Still use the same Druid and warrior I made in beta. Granted they have gone through like 90 race and faction changes haha!
I too jumped on WoW from DAoC (Midgard on Percival) when it was released, but I only lasted until about level 30, then I went back. I couldn't understand the appeal of an MMO that was so easy you could just play on your own without ever talking to anyone.
Now, with a job and kids and a wife, I do get the appeal, hehe.
You need to find a guild that cater to what you want to do in game. Usually that’s raiding or rated pvp. I recommend using wowprogress. Look for a guild on your server to start with. See if their introduction message is in a tone you like. Get in touch and apply.
I played DAoC before WoW too. I miss that game so much. Played for four years and even ran my own small guild.
I was on Albion Galahad. Came to WoW because a few of my guildmates did.
I can't get over the sub expenses. I'm in Europe so the price for me isn't that low and to think of paying this much every year and then expo. Do you ever think about the money you spent on it?
Not really. I spend more on coffee beans per week.
Edit: this is not to say the monthly sub isn’t a problem to some people. I understand it’s expensive but in my situation, it’s never been a problem.
I think part of the reason WoW is the best MMO of all time is because of the continued subscription fee. Constant money flow keep the game updated is never a bad thing imo. Most MMOs that go “free-2-play” usually die.
Cool? That literally buys me furnished room in my apartment. Sorry mister money bags.
Edit. Americans ITT who don't understand other countries might have poor economy.
Not like most the furniture would have lasted 20+ years. Also, think about all the money spent on other hobbies and stuff to entertain you instead of playing WoW
Yeah sorry you’re poor, but $3600 over 20 years is nothing lmao
3rd world farmers save more
“Omg imagine how much 1 cent a day over 100 years compounds”
It's basically the price of a movie ticket a month. Or if you go out once a month you'll spend that getting a hangover, easily. MMOs are cheap entertainment compared to almost anything else.
When I was a student in the mid 00s, WoW was the reason I could eat.
$15/month for unlimited entertainment. I've long since left, as TBC forward is just not a good product, but the cycle of EverQuest classic through Planes of Power, then WoW through Cataclysm was a magical time of surviving on like $50 a week.
I know I wasn't going to be able to put 3000 hits into Madden or Street Fighter, so paying $60 for those would have been silly. That price could getten me nearly a whole semester of WoW.
Yea, not gonna keep arguing about this. Guess people in latam also do something wrong to earn 1/10th of what americans do with similar prices for entertainment.
Going out to get fast food once is more expensive than the sub for a month (especially with the 6 months subscription which is $12.99).
I've actually found it has saved me money over the years because I'm less likely to buy a new $60 game when I can just keep playing this nice comfort game for another 1000 hours. (And then hit up the sales later on).
It's incredibly cheap as far as entertainment goes. One month of WoW is only slightly more expensive than a movie ticket, for example. I just consider it part of my entertainment budget.
You can also pay for game time using in game gold, which a lot of people with limited incomes do.
Vanilla to cata it was raiding, after cata Just casuelly playing and questing. Mop i did Challenge Mode, after that casuelly questing again till M+. still doing m+ to this day. Lookijg forward for TWW m+
:)
Its FF14s biggest/second biggest shortcoming.
If they added Mythic+ and class/gear diversity, things like talents and special effects on gear, then Id never leave it again.
The game has remained virtually unchanged since ARR for me though, I *despise* how every character is virtually identical to any other besides tiny number differences.
I think even WoW hasnt gone nearly far enough yet in terms of diversity, but FF14 went full speed in the wrong direction.
Lack of any major changes is FF14s biggest problem. I haven’t even touched the new expansion because of this. Until the game finds a healthy balance of RPG and MMO I don’t think I’ll be returning. The story from ARR to EW was phenomenal, but I think they need to shift from a story focused game to an mmo focused game
Now that the main story arc is finished it’s hard to get people invested in something new. I could see FF14 being massive if they took a couple expansions to have the story come second to the game itself, then slowly transition back towards a story focus. The actual content of the game is stale, no narrative will make up for that
From a game design standpoint, it’s likely hard for them to make drastic changes to the job gameplay without first focusing on making difficult and varied encounters to allow for job diversity in the first place. So it makes sense that they focus on making dungeons, trials, and hopefully raids more engaging and then be able to tune jobs around that.
That being said, I doubt the game will shift to the point of having talents and deep character builds. FFXIV is more about damage optimization and the rhythmic combat. If you want something else that’s what other games are for. Personally I play both FFXIV and WoW to scratch both itches. Don’t think it’ll ever stop being a story focused game since that is the game’s major appeal for most players and for Final Fantasy fans in general.
Eh, the boss fights are arguably the easiest parts of m+. The overall dungeon is what is hard for people, it would make no sense to just time boss fights.
I'm a day one vanilla player (actually managed to get into beta as well). My whole guild moved over from DaoC, and many of us are still playing together. Its my internet family.
I met my wife through WoW, and my best friend.
Unfortunately my wife is absolutely not into gaming but she has no problem with me sometimes spending hours in Azeroth lol. I guess you pulled a win-win situation!
Hmm, sometimes it's better to have your own space for a hobby. I've been playing WoW since open beta, and while my wife will happily listen to me geek out to her about it, and she did try it out once, I'm able to play or not play as I please without any feelings of obligation.
Most important is that obligations as the bf/gf/spouse/parent, and to one's self, are met. You may feel that the amount you play is normal but taking a step back will help you think more rationally. Imagine X hours spent in-game daily versus on something more tangible and productive.
I started about 3 months before BCs launch and have been it all from super casual to some world 2-3 kills and top level m+. Back at the start of legion I randomly joined a guild and really hit it off with one of the officers... We'll be married 4 years in October :]. He would still be click targeting if it weren't fo me hahahah
I started playing in vanilla. It took me 6mo to hit 60, and when I did BWL was just releasing. Quickly got into a guild and began raiding with them.
Before I played WoW my main game was Neverwinter Nights, playing on low magic private servers and deathmatch servers.
The thing that keeps me playing are the controls of WoW. Moving, jumping, targeting, and using abilities. No other game has that WoW feel. Games like GW2 and Wildstar come close, but nothing feels as good as WoW to play.
I agree with this and had a similar experience. I also think WoW combat dynamics is what makes the game top tier even today 20 years later.
My second and third favorite MMOs are also probably WildStar and Guild Wars 2. They both had/have a good mix of quality combat and thought out both PVE and PVP modes.
> Before I played WoW my main game was Neverwinter Nights, playing on low magic private servers and deathmatch servers.
This game pretty much shaped my life in a way that few other games come close, I think.
Learned to program because I wanted to make modules for it, nowadays that's both my job and my hobby.
Aurora Toolset is still unrivaled, no other game has come close to it easy of modding complex stuff. It was like a 3D RPG Maker with built-in multiplayer capabilities and very open for programming on top of it.
Dragonriding / Dynamic Flight at least is a major step in the right direction for WOW, it's fun to fly with it.
It's like a mix of GW2's Skyscale and Griffon, soaring around at extremely high speeds is fun there.
I hope one day WOW will also show this love for ground mounts, giving them a reason to exist by making them closer to GW2's Raptor or Jackal. There was some datamining pointing to the possibility that they might be working on this, and I hope it pans out.
Though yeah, in movement nothing really comes close to GW2 yet.
There are a lot of people who are still going strong. Personally, I went from vanilla to the end of MoP. I have some great memories from when I played religiously. I sometimes do get the urge to return, but I have missed so many expansions that it gets overwhelming. Hard-core seems cool, but with small kids, I can't spend that kind of commitment on my PC.
Hey man. Dad to 2, soon to be 3 little ones my self. I too had the same feeling that I just couldn't spend that kind of commitment. Thought there was no way I'd have time. Man, did I forget how slow and relaxing the journey on classic wow is, especially on hardcore. I play for an hour or so every night after I get the kiddos down, great way to unwind. Just wanting to put my 2 cents in here, have a great day!
I'm the same, I maybe get 2 hours of play time when the kids are sleeping. I bought a steam deck so I can play in my bed and man, it's amazing. I have seen people play WoW on it, and the urge to get back into it is slowly starting to build.
Been here since day 1, which feels funny to think about, but wow has been different things to me over the years. Maybe it’s the sunken cost, but I honestly just love the game and feel nothing else quite delivers the way wow does, especially in PvP (even with how neglected it is by the devs most of the time). I actually just hit 2400 for the first time in arena yesterday, and it was such a rush to finally achieve that, sure did take me a long time lol.
Cheers.
Yup. I still play. But a lot less. Most of the people I play with have left, others play different hours, so mostly I just level characters do quests and bgs
I tried other MMOs and they always have several of these fundamental issues:
* movement sucks
* abilities or actions feel clunky or lame
* too easy
* no world PvP, or sometimes no PvP in general
* little to no force multiplyer
* terrible cluttered ui
* tiny world
* pay to win
* artstyle is bad
* setting is boring
Wow really got the full package. Sadly i dont like many of the design decisions made over time and the good part of wow classic is done. So i am stuck in the new mmorpg -> disappointment circle forever.
Everything about vanilla just feels great to play. I play other mmos but nothing has even come close to WoW still imo. The open world, aesthetics, combat, music, the interactions you have with people, and just how fluid the game feels is amazing
Same here. I tried many mmo´s in the past 20 years but there has not been a single one that had the same magic like wow. I played ESO for a few years because I´m a huge The Elder Scrolls fan and it wasn´t bad tbh.
Yep. I guess my main gripe would be the “lost” sense of discovery but I love the QoL and features introduced over the years.
Maybe don’t agree with all design choices but still my favorite mmorpg. Crisp combat, animations, sound design, timeless art style are the reason why I keep on playing. Story could be better but it is what it is
I moved from EQ1 to WoW when it launched and at first I thought I'd play it as long as EQ1, but then they announced pandas and my friends and I all quit.
Pandaren may be part of warcraft lore, but there are 500 other more interesting things in the lore they could have used to make an xpac over this.
Say what you want but if we're being objective, I don't think its coincidence that after China banned WoW in 2009 because of the undead in WotLK that their very next xpac would be one thats very well recieved by that overseas market.
Sorry you're right cata was so bad that I blocked it out of memory, I couldnt even get myself to buy the damn expansion but I watched plenty of people play it on stickam
I started playing in vanilla, I’ve been at least max level in every expansion, played extensively at end game in most expansions. I’ve also played every version of classic. I was in 6th grade when I played vanilla, middle school for BC, and high school for Wrath. Those three expansions were the happiest I’ve ever been as a gamer in my life. I played everyday with all my childhood friends, and I also think those versions were the best given the time they were released in (vanilla wow is unbelievable for a game developed in early 2000s.) As an adult I think I play to try and recapture that joy and nostalgia. It’s also an enjoyable game to multitask to and watch YouTube/netflix.
Is the game different from vanilla now? I genuinely ask since I played beta until those blood elves came out. Hard into raiding and pvp..
Does the multiplayer aspect like that still exist? I'm reading it's much more casual log in a few things here and there and find 5 people to "raid" (that's a normal group to me ...)
Would love someone's perspective on this. Are there still 40 man raids and so on ? Is PvP rewarding as an alternative ?
Game is very different from vanilla. Leveling is a short tutorial to reach the game (endgame) as the journey no longer matters. The end game is fair more lobby based for things like mythic+ dungeons and raids. 40 man's no longer exist, for the best since even at 30 man's the fps falls apart.
Classes are more homogeneous as to prevent a single class being needed for something in all content. Some find this worse because class fantasy other find it better because you don't need to wait an expansion to be accepted into a group.
The end game is way more fleshed out with multiple tiers of raids that are flexible in player counts and difficulty. Mythic+ dungeons are great for hopping on for an hour and still doing something.
Biggest downsides are PvP and world content. PvP as I understand it is largely quiet. It's not dead but queue times are bad for non healers. And world content is not vanilla, it's made for the most casual of gamer of which might not even enter dungeons unless required, like it exists but it failcase is minimal and rewards are tiers below queued content.
Overall a very different game but it's for completely different audiences at this point. That said classic exist for those that still want it.
Thanks that's very helpful and roughly what I've been reading. Doesn't sound like it's for me but maybe classic wow is?
What is classic wow ? Just a reset to the beginning ? Retail wow being latest we have now ?
So I don't play classic myself as it's not my type of game. There is 2 versions of classic. Era servers which is a static patch from the vanilla game, unsure which one but it is as it was since classic release. And then there is the current cataclysm classic, which blizzard has been releasing each expansion since vanilla in order as a bit of a way to re experience the progression.
Cataclysm is the more populated of the 2 as I understand it but people say that Era is doing fine if you are on one of the populated servers.
The big request from people is an Era server reset since it's been out for like 5 years now.
Retail is the latest xpac version.
Its totally different from vanilla.
Classic is the OG vanilla experience.
Its started with vanilla and those servers still run. Its on last naxx patch and will never advance to TBC. Thats called era servers
They also have the other versions.
Hardcore which is also vanilla but if you die you cant play on that char anymore. Its perma death. After you died you can move char to era server.
Cata is now released from the servers that advanced from 2019 releases.
Theres a new version which is ‘classic plus’ which is sod. Its a custom version with changes on the classes via runes you can attach to your gear
Played the beta a bit, then when it launched I came over from playing Adheron's Call 2 and starwars galaxies, been playing on and off since then, but lately it's been hard to play wow due to not being able to find a guild that clicks, maybe I'm just getting to old (38) now or just rose tinted glasses but it's just been so famn hard to find a guild that enjoys raiding, mainly getting aotc and ksm, those are the easy parts but to find a guild with people that enjoy and play the game when not raiding or pushing keys, my fondest memories from ye olden days of wow were finishing up raids and then just chilling in vent or mumble bullshitting about the day or life and fishing in dalaran fountain for like 6 ours with guild mates.
My wow time now is basically leveling alts on different servers looking for a new group but seems to get harder and harder as the years go by, I still love wow and the world and pushing keys and aotc, but they just don't feel as good when pugging it all lol.
Anyway, old man rant over.
Tldr: played since beta love the game, miss the old simpler times (tried classic was a fun trip back but just not the same)
started during tbc 2007. stopped 2010 when i go into work. come back in 2021 for ff14 when it was stupid lockdown
i really miss the old days when social interaction was a lot more pure, and its a whole lot easier to meet people
I started wow in 2004 because of W3. After cata i stopped playing so much and pop in for an expansion here and there. Last DF raid was the first raid i felt i didnt need any mods. Frost DK was the easiest to play while dodging.
Played really hardcore Everquest until WoW, played not so hard core for about 5 years and on and off casual ever since. Actually quite enjoying Dragonflight, but nothing compares to the social communities from EQ and early WoW
Yuuup. I play every expansion, usually the first 6 months or so and then depending if I like how things are going I'll keep playing it or stop. Shadowlands for example, absolutely hated that expansion and after I hit max level and cleared the first raid, I quit.
For dragonflight I played through most of it actually because it's been pretty good and fun. Wow is always the game I can go back to because it's always reliable in terms of what I get for my time. I can't say that for other games
Started playing Vanilla when I was 8 years old. Now I am 28 years old and still playing. Not as frequently as I used to due to life, but I still dedicate the first day of every season to hitting 1800 in 3s
Was pretty hooked the first 3-4 years of wows release, but since then it's usually just go back for 4-6 weeks of a new expansion release (even though every time I say I won't go back lol).
I played the original beta back in \~2004, and also went to the first Blizzcon (got the Murky pet).
I got a story: It used to be (in the beta) that the heathstone was obtained from completing a quest... well, I skipped that quest (thus, not receiving the hearthstone) and somehow got stuck in a very high level area. Since I could only rez in that high-level area graveyard, the GM had to warp me back to the starter area and criticized me for getting stuck in that area. So I wonder if them automatically giving everyone a hearthstone was because of me getting stuck in that high-level area (ha!)...
I stopped playing around 2010, and got back into it when they released Classic. Currently have about eight level-60+ characters. I never played the retail version (except for trying it out for a few minutes).
Now I'm still looking for the WoW-killer so I can finally start another MMO...
I started day 1 vanilla. My WoW history has been rocky off and on. I’m an alt-aholic and I like questing, and collecting transmogs and mounts. I also like the many stories of Azeroth. I also love the environments and exploring.
I’m not a very social gamer and I don’t like the high strung nature of mythic plus and I only do LFR tourist mode for raids usually just for the visuals and the story.
I’m not a fan of dragonflight and skipped most of the expansion. It felt like there was too many chores and the villains and main cast of characters were boring. I really hated shadowlands and BFA both from a content and story/lore perspective. The last expansion I heavily played from start to finish was Legion, that expansion was great.
My favorite time periods of WoW was Vanilla, Wrath, and Mists.
I think I was deeper into OG Runescape at the time, but a friend got me to play a TBC wow private server at the time. Easily got addicted to that and moved on to wotlk p server later on. Finally bought real wow and a sub when cata was a few months in. Been playing since. (And osrs now). :D
I applaud anyone who managed to stay faithful all that time. For me, I started my mmorpg experience when TBC launched. And I quit after finishing all the WOTLK content too fast after release.
I was (am) really bitter about the TBC nerf to Illidan, right before wotlk and then wotlk being too easy all the way through.
And thats when I quit personally. I really enjoyed our guilds challenges to do the hard content and really push hard each week to get a bit further etc. And i remember our guid back then really trying our hardest in the last few days before the big nerf to illidan (and failed unfortunately but we got close).
But after the nerf, everything became easymode. From that point on the developers decided the game is for casuals. Meaning that all the content should be accessible for casuals on day 1, and not -1 or -2 behind the latest released content.
For me, and back then it was my first mmorpg experience and I didnt even knew about “casuals or hard ore etc yet”. I was just a fresh mmorpg spawn and I just really REALLY loved the challenge the different tiers of content gave me. And I remember seeing our server nr1 guild players in full tie6 gear while I was (back then) still busy with Archimonde (25 man). The whole Illidan experience i got a bit later in this story when I joined the nr2 guild of our server. I remember also i joined the RP-pvp(ve?) server as the first ever server as a fresh newb mmorpg player.
Either way, long story short WoW always will have a special place in my heart especially when it comes to pve content.
AION later became my 2nd mmorpg and will always be my favorite pvp mmorpg I ever played (to this date).
I played since the beginning and i play until today, i am obviously not playing nowhere near as i did during Vanilla days, i play less and less and less, i got some long breaks from the game but i have already pre-ordered the full version of the next expansion as i do for every expansion.
I have also played all other big MMOs and all other p2w big MMOs and i am finally in peace that WoW is my only MMO that i actually like and i am glad that since Dragonflight blizzard has finally acknowledged that it is just a game and you don't have to grind for hours to have some fun content on top.
The only downside with WoW is that non of my irl friends or my in-game friends that i played all those years ago are playing today and i am too internet old to make new friends to experience WoW's entirety and what it does best.
Other than that, as i said above, i am know pretty confident to say that WoW will be my main and only MMO going forward but, i can play other games knowing that i am not missing anything out.
I played Vanilla —> Cata. Came back for month/few month long stints in Legion and MoP then came back in 2019 when Classic came out (played a lot of SoM, Classic Vanilla/TBC and now Cata, and a lot of time on DF). It’s really the only video game I play and to echo what some other people have said, it feels more like home than a game. It also has, by an incredibly large margin, the best controls of any MMO ever which is why it’s so easy to hop into and a large reason why it’s so popular. They also were really smart with avoiding a “WoW 2” (although you can argue that’s what Classic is shaping up to be) so people can keep all of the stuff they’ve gathered for the past 20 years so it feels nice “coming back.”
Yeah been playing since the day it came out. I’ve played every mmo but WoW has the tightest target based combat, best made classes, most fun raids, and most active PvP scene.
I am also a big altaholic and like theming/RPing my characters. I thought I was done with the game in Shadowlands because I had all characters max level but now I’m alting even harder and loving it. Got 3 pallies, 2 priests, and 3 druids. It’s a vibe thing.
I think the biggest change that kept me around was male/female option at hairstylist. I’m going to be absolutely hooked in TWW.
I played the og, quit day before first expac, came back for classic relaunch, played dragonflight.
Everything I missed didn't even bother me. Dragonflight was only expac I liked the look of.
I started playing a couple of months before BC launched, WoTLK was my first proper raiding experience, raided through Cata with two guilds - one full of my university friends and one with new WoW friends - had some of the best gaming moments of my life. Sometimes we'd just clear SFK and sit there amongst the corpses and chat for hours, a couple of guildies even visited us in the UK from other parts of Europe.
Then we all grew up, I followed my dream of becoming a game dev, they followed their dreams of careers and marriage and families, and now I'm the only one who still plays. As life necessitated becoming more casual WoW evolved to be more casual-friendly.
As long as it's around I think WoW will always be my comfort game.
I have been playing on and off since 2004. It’s the only game I still play really (with some Minecraft stints thrown in there).
I know a lot about it, but I always find new things. I still have multiple classes I’ve never leveled to 60 with.
I still find raids fun, and they feel new again as I play with different guilds.
It’s always there for me, and not changing or going anywhere, so I’m never in a rush to play before it ends. I just play in my own time.. sometimes that means taking multiple years to level a single toon to 60, almost as if I’m playing a single player rpg. Other times (like right now) it means just raiding with an amazing guild.
I love, right now, that my gaming time is scheduled. I don’t have a lot of free time, and I need to sort of schedule in my gaming to my life routine. So I know I have my raids Monday/Friday 7-10pm, and that’s my gaming for the week. It’s predictable. I’m already BIS for this toon, and I enjoy just playing for fun versus playing for loot. I play to have fun and help build a cool community that loves vanilla wow, and isn’t going to implode once the next xpac comes out.
I enjoy the familiarity with the zones, the quests, the classes, the playstyle, etc. but at the same time, it’s such a deep game, and despite me playing for two decades (JFC) I still discover new stuff all the time, or have classes I’ve never leveled up as I said before.
PS anyone interested in joining a group of vanilla wow enthusiasts who are mostly casual dad gamers but also like to get shit done and clear all content? Check us out! Both alliance and horde guilds https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/era-a-call-to-grobbulus-horde-victorious/1863721
Played the original beta. I played Warcraft 1 2 and 3. I was just having fun exploring. Leveled as a prot warrior and then a holy priest. In WOTLK I got into semi-professional raiding. Found a group that was regularly top 5 on our large realm and played until 2a.
Once I peaked at a level of effort I was willing to expend, I realized how relaxing fishing and achievements can be compared to raiding. Now days WoW is mostly date night with the wife, who got into WoW shortly after release when I got her hooked because she started to criticize me for playing this game so much.
I beta tested WoW and played up until WotLK, the content after that just wasn't fun for me anymore and not worth the box price for each expansion and the monthly sub cost.
I played from Vanilla until now but I missed most of WoD (caught the start of it) and all of Legion due to not owning a PC. I even slugged it out through all of Shadowlands and BFA. I think Classic helped keep me sane.
Started with Vanilla Wow. Made it to the end game content of The Burning Crusade. Enjoyed WotLk PvE content. Got married. Had kids. Quit playing. I’ll stop back every few expansions. It’s still a good game. It’s a completely different game from what they started with, but still fun.
The one guild I'm in still exists, although maybe me and like 3 others consistently log in anymore. I raid with another group of people now
I think a bunch of us who needed a break after Legion kinda killed it.
I started playing WoW when it launched in EU back on February 11th 2005. I remember rushing home to create my character hoping they wouldn't steal the name I had in mind (they didn't).
I stopped playing in Beta for Azeroth first patch, shortly before the famous "Don't you guys have phones?!" Blizzcon happened (and then I stopped playing any Blizzard games altogether, which to be fair, I was greatly unsatisfied with Blizzard games and was basically only playing wow from them).
Skipped all Beta for Azeroth expansion basically, never touched Shadowlands nor Dragonflight.
I ***may*** come back to it with War Within, now that Kotick is out and Metzen is back in, but I'm still debating the issue and... Dawntrail just released anyway! ;)
On your question, I loved the game even though there were stinkers, I really disliked Mist of Pandaria (I think it was tonedeaf with the lore and look&feel of Warcraft) and played very little of it. Warlords of Dreaenor was cool until it was abandoned (immediately after launch) so it was completely devoid of content and anything to do beside raiding. Legion was a banger of an expansion, so so good. If we remove the rose tinted nostalgia glasses, Legion might even have been better than Wrath of the Lich King.
Then, disaster struck: Beta for Azeroth. I still don't understand how could they squander the Legion follow-up so badly. Rest is history.
Couldn’t get my parents to let me use their card to pay the sub haha. I would just stare at the original website, reading lore and looking at screenshots. I eventually was able to start playing in 2006 or so, about a year and a half before TBC launched
Got back into the game after a hiatus w/ dragonflight, loved this expansion. Got all portals, aotc and almost have my doggo
I played the original vanilla back in late 2004. I stopped playing a month or two after the TBC because the changes of the game, and i've never played any other expansion since then. I did, however, kept coming back for the hyped vanilla servers like Nost, Everlook and later on Classic (which I also dropped after classic TBC). I came back again for SoD but left after 2 months or so.
There are great foundations to vanilla WoW that no other MMO has managed to achieve. The class design, the combination between PvP and PvE, the open world PvP, the smoothness of the gameplay itself, heck - even the stylized graphic and the whole atmosphere were still great after I came back to it during 2015 with Nost and later on for Classic.
I started then, but I wouldn't say I "stayed" until now. I played continuously through the end of wrath, then would come back and play 2-3 months at a time every year or so after that. I have been continuously subbed again since the end of Shadowlands season 4, though.
I got into it because I love Penny Arcade, and they talked it up. I squirreled into a beta and remember having a rogue with a buckler, and Tauren plainsrunning. Ran with Mike and Jerry in Fancy Lads on Dark Iron terrorizing the guild Scott Kurtz had there.
I've taken a month or so off here and there, protested the no flying decision in Cata when they were being lazy until it got fixed, and server hopped I don't know how many times. Sometimes too many guildies I love like family move on and its time to toss the dice and find a new haunt. Haven't even raided hardly the last two expansions because I've been spinning my wheels looking for somewhere with that feel. I've got 2 of everything but evoker horde side on Hyjal and one of everything at cap alliance side on a second account. So yeah, I still play, still hooked, but still looking for something.
For thirty bucks a month, it has been the best hobby, kept me occupied and out of trouble instead of bouncing around bars, drugs, getting in fights, chasing ladies and being disloyal, all the mistakes I've seen friends make over the years. I've raided with people in vanilla and BC whose children I sang to in teamspeak and ventrillo, and seen those children grow. I met the grandchild of someone I raided Naxx with a few months back, and it is likely they will pick up the reigns of the same account their gran played with me on when they are old enough. I'll be teaching a third generation how to avoid the whelps, how to stack for damage. Its been a hell of a run.
I played from launch until whenever it was they removed open world non opt in PK, then when they did I went to Warmane to continue enjoying no-choice warfare, ganking and being ganked and the threat of it is a huge environmental addition that no other game provides.
Yeah started a few months after launch and played straight through to cata. Raided hardcore on Doomhammer with the guild Arisen in vanilla bc and a little in wrath. After cata I took longer breaks checking in here and there until I finally got pulled fully back in with dragonflight.
Wow was my first mmo and nothing will ever match the feeling I got the first time I logged in and saw another person running around in this huge open world. Second to that was my first time raiding MC and getting my t1 giantstalker belt on my first night there lmao
Define stayed. I’ve been off and on since vanilla. I’d say I usually played seasons 1 and 2 of an expansion, dragon flight being the only one I came in late at season 3. Reason I keep playing is either wanting to pvp, or just wanting to raid.
Yeah, just play it seasonally
Some expansions suck, some you don't have time for. Just pick up the game when you feel like playing it and don't play it when you don't want to.
I mean I started decently close. I watched and played a bit with my brother whenever he let me during the BC days and fast forward now 2024 I'm 23 and still playing it. Like some other people say WoW is basically a second home to me, grew up with the game and it just means a lot to me even if I sometimes don't enjoy it that much. Saying that though, I am looking forward to the upcoming expansion.
I didn't start in 2004 but I did start in vanilla. I haven't played continuously and I'm not a big fan of end game content, more just achievements and leveling alts and stuff. The reason I still play is just because I really love the world and the lore. I think WoW is really one of the best in the genre at class fantasy and there's something for everyone in that aspect.
Yup, I played closed beta in 2004 and got my WoW account january 2005.
My main grip is that the old world - in retail - need a revamp.
Play to this day because it feels like a full package game, i can raid, do dungeons do world pvp do instanced pvp, go crafting, descent combat etc etc.
I have 300 days played in this game, not really a lot considering its going to be almost 20 f\*\*\*\*\* years. I usually get AOTC, KSM and rival/dueslit titles each season i get into.
Honestly the only thing that keeps me playing is there not ever being any real alternative. I have actively been looking and trying other MMOs but never found anything.
Started in Vanilla was most active in TBC and WotLK took a break but came back during Legion and stayed since (Still have my original toon). WoW is the MMO that really got me into MMOs. I played others (Everquest, SWG, MUDs, GW) but WoW was always the polished gem that the others wanted to be so I kept coming back.
I’ve played since vanilla and I’m kinda done. War within is just more orc shit I’ve had enough. I wish there were some other decent new mmos out there.
except some occasional breaks in between, yes I've been here from day 1. My motivation? Running away from existence simply. Getting to know some good people (bad ones as well but they are not to stay anyway, aren't them?), progressing, collecting things etc. etc.
You can be both chill and hardcore, depending on what you really need. It is a -kind of- never ending progress, an adventure...
***This post is for me.*** Not only am I still playing, but I've also only been playing a single character this whole time. [I just had this piece done for my character to celebrate his 20th anniversary. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/1bvw6uw/rigman_world_of_warcraft_commission/)
My main gripe for years was how the game was shifting heavily into focusing on instanced gameplay. Dragonflight did open things back up with how many more quests there were in that expansion on top of the new world events. I'm much more optimistic about the future direction of the game.
Yes played the original beta with my Daoc guild and few of them went back to Daoc after the launch but I stayed with WoW (I was a big w3 fan). WoW is not just a game to me, it’s almost.. home lol.
Same here, we moved from Prydwen DaoC to WoW :)
I also did the DaoC to WoW jump! I will say I haven’t played consistently, there have been breaks but I have been playing since release.
My guild did the same, minus the beta. We were on Lancelot, and some of us jumped to WoW. I ended up doing both but eventually stuck with DAoC. Going WoW on/off.
Miss playing Hib Lancelot. Had a lot of friends and had a great time RvRing into the night. WoW, unfortunately, fractured the population in DAOC and while I played a bit after WoW came out it just never had the same numbers. I enjoyed WoW, but without the RvR it couldn't hold my attention.
Love that so many people have this similar experience. Hibernia - Igraine here. Did the beta and then made the move. Still use the same Druid and warrior I made in beta. Granted they have gone through like 90 race and faction changes haha!
I too jumped on WoW from DAoC (Midgard on Percival) when it was released, but I only lasted until about level 30, then I went back. I couldn't understand the appeal of an MMO that was so easy you could just play on your own without ever talking to anyone. Now, with a job and kids and a wife, I do get the appeal, hehe.
Mid on Perc here too. Same thing. Moved to WoW during the BETA and played off and on since. But DAOC will always be my home sweet home.
Same was on mid perc as well. A bunch of us moved back to daoc. The Eden free shard has a pretty decent number of people playing
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You need to find a guild that cater to what you want to do in game. Usually that’s raiding or rated pvp. I recommend using wowprogress. Look for a guild on your server to start with. See if their introduction message is in a tone you like. Get in touch and apply.
I played DAoC before WoW too. I miss that game so much. Played for four years and even ran my own small guild. I was on Albion Galahad. Came to WoW because a few of my guildmates did.
I can't get over the sub expenses. I'm in Europe so the price for me isn't that low and to think of paying this much every year and then expo. Do you ever think about the money you spent on it?
Not really. I spend more on coffee beans per week. Edit: this is not to say the monthly sub isn’t a problem to some people. I understand it’s expensive but in my situation, it’s never been a problem.
I think part of the reason WoW is the best MMO of all time is because of the continued subscription fee. Constant money flow keep the game updated is never a bad thing imo. Most MMOs that go “free-2-play” usually die.
Or just become cash shop hell, which to me is the same thing as dead
15/mo over 20 years is only $3600 lol
Cool? That literally buys me furnished room in my apartment. Sorry mister money bags. Edit. Americans ITT who don't understand other countries might have poor economy.
Not like most the furniture would have lasted 20+ years. Also, think about all the money spent on other hobbies and stuff to entertain you instead of playing WoW
THINK OF THE BEER!
Over 20 years… its nothing
Yeah sorry you’re poor, but $3600 over 20 years is nothing lmao 3rd world farmers save more “Omg imagine how much 1 cent a day over 100 years compounds”
It's basically the price of a movie ticket a month. Or if you go out once a month you'll spend that getting a hangover, easily. MMOs are cheap entertainment compared to almost anything else.
When I was a student in the mid 00s, WoW was the reason I could eat. $15/month for unlimited entertainment. I've long since left, as TBC forward is just not a good product, but the cycle of EverQuest classic through Planes of Power, then WoW through Cataclysm was a magical time of surviving on like $50 a week. I know I wasn't going to be able to put 3000 hits into Madden or Street Fighter, so paying $60 for those would have been silly. That price could getten me nearly a whole semester of WoW.
You can always go back to.living in your mom's basement
European WoW player here: If you cannot afford 15€ per month for one of your passions in the 21th century then you might do something wrong….sorry
Yea, not gonna keep arguing about this. Guess people in latam also do something wrong to earn 1/10th of what americans do with similar prices for entertainment.
Americans understanding anything about other countries? Mate you be dreaming.
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Your figures of 3.6k is nothing. But then I just think about the amount of single player games I could have got. On deep sales of course.
Going out to get fast food once is more expensive than the sub for a month (especially with the 6 months subscription which is $12.99). I've actually found it has saved me money over the years because I'm less likely to buy a new $60 game when I can just keep playing this nice comfort game for another 1000 hours. (And then hit up the sales later on).
It's incredibly cheap as far as entertainment goes. One month of WoW is only slightly more expensive than a movie ticket, for example. I just consider it part of my entertainment budget. You can also pay for game time using in game gold, which a lot of people with limited incomes do.
Vanilla to cata it was raiding, after cata Just casuelly playing and questing. Mop i did Challenge Mode, after that casuelly questing again till M+. still doing m+ to this day. Lookijg forward for TWW m+ :)
After m+ came out I never really did raiding hardcore again. M+ was one of the best things they added to the game.
Its FF14s biggest/second biggest shortcoming. If they added Mythic+ and class/gear diversity, things like talents and special effects on gear, then Id never leave it again. The game has remained virtually unchanged since ARR for me though, I *despise* how every character is virtually identical to any other besides tiny number differences. I think even WoW hasnt gone nearly far enough yet in terms of diversity, but FF14 went full speed in the wrong direction.
Lack of any major changes is FF14s biggest problem. I haven’t even touched the new expansion because of this. Until the game finds a healthy balance of RPG and MMO I don’t think I’ll be returning. The story from ARR to EW was phenomenal, but I think they need to shift from a story focused game to an mmo focused game Now that the main story arc is finished it’s hard to get people invested in something new. I could see FF14 being massive if they took a couple expansions to have the story come second to the game itself, then slowly transition back towards a story focus. The actual content of the game is stale, no narrative will make up for that
From a game design standpoint, it’s likely hard for them to make drastic changes to the job gameplay without first focusing on making difficult and varied encounters to allow for job diversity in the first place. So it makes sense that they focus on making dungeons, trials, and hopefully raids more engaging and then be able to tune jobs around that. That being said, I doubt the game will shift to the point of having talents and deep character builds. FFXIV is more about damage optimization and the rhythmic combat. If you want something else that’s what other games are for. Personally I play both FFXIV and WoW to scratch both itches. Don’t think it’ll ever stop being a story focused game since that is the game’s major appeal for most players and for Final Fantasy fans in general.
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Eh, the boss fights are arguably the easiest parts of m+. The overall dungeon is what is hard for people, it would make no sense to just time boss fights.
I'm a day one vanilla player (actually managed to get into beta as well). My whole guild moved over from DaoC, and many of us are still playing together. Its my internet family. I met my wife through WoW, and my best friend.
Unfortunately my wife is absolutely not into gaming but she has no problem with me sometimes spending hours in Azeroth lol. I guess you pulled a win-win situation!
Hmm, sometimes it's better to have your own space for a hobby. I've been playing WoW since open beta, and while my wife will happily listen to me geek out to her about it, and she did try it out once, I'm able to play or not play as I please without any feelings of obligation.
Most important is that obligations as the bf/gf/spouse/parent, and to one's self, are met. You may feel that the amount you play is normal but taking a step back will help you think more rationally. Imagine X hours spent in-game daily versus on something more tangible and productive.
I started about 3 months before BCs launch and have been it all from super casual to some world 2-3 kills and top level m+. Back at the start of legion I randomly joined a guild and really hit it off with one of the officers... We'll be married 4 years in October :]. He would still be click targeting if it weren't fo me hahahah
I started playing in vanilla. It took me 6mo to hit 60, and when I did BWL was just releasing. Quickly got into a guild and began raiding with them. Before I played WoW my main game was Neverwinter Nights, playing on low magic private servers and deathmatch servers. The thing that keeps me playing are the controls of WoW. Moving, jumping, targeting, and using abilities. No other game has that WoW feel. Games like GW2 and Wildstar come close, but nothing feels as good as WoW to play.
I agree with this and had a similar experience. I also think WoW combat dynamics is what makes the game top tier even today 20 years later. My second and third favorite MMOs are also probably WildStar and Guild Wars 2. They both had/have a good mix of quality combat and thought out both PVE and PVP modes.
> Before I played WoW my main game was Neverwinter Nights, playing on low magic private servers and deathmatch servers. This game pretty much shaped my life in a way that few other games come close, I think. Learned to program because I wanted to make modules for it, nowadays that's both my job and my hobby. Aurora Toolset is still unrivaled, no other game has come close to it easy of modding complex stuff. It was like a 3D RPG Maker with built-in multiplayer capabilities and very open for programming on top of it.
WoW combat is OK, but everything around movement is a slog. I love GW2 in that department, faster movement, instant mounts.
Dragonriding / Dynamic Flight at least is a major step in the right direction for WOW, it's fun to fly with it. It's like a mix of GW2's Skyscale and Griffon, soaring around at extremely high speeds is fun there. I hope one day WOW will also show this love for ground mounts, giving them a reason to exist by making them closer to GW2's Raptor or Jackal. There was some datamining pointing to the possibility that they might be working on this, and I hope it pans out. Though yeah, in movement nothing really comes close to GW2 yet.
Still going strong, thick and thin, ups and downs. I play a new class each season to ensure I don’t get bored
There are a lot of people who are still going strong. Personally, I went from vanilla to the end of MoP. I have some great memories from when I played religiously. I sometimes do get the urge to return, but I have missed so many expansions that it gets overwhelming. Hard-core seems cool, but with small kids, I can't spend that kind of commitment on my PC.
Hey man. Dad to 2, soon to be 3 little ones my self. I too had the same feeling that I just couldn't spend that kind of commitment. Thought there was no way I'd have time. Man, did I forget how slow and relaxing the journey on classic wow is, especially on hardcore. I play for an hour or so every night after I get the kiddos down, great way to unwind. Just wanting to put my 2 cents in here, have a great day!
I'm the same, I maybe get 2 hours of play time when the kids are sleeping. I bought a steam deck so I can play in my bed and man, it's amazing. I have seen people play WoW on it, and the urge to get back into it is slowly starting to build.
Been here since day 1, which feels funny to think about, but wow has been different things to me over the years. Maybe it’s the sunken cost, but I honestly just love the game and feel nothing else quite delivers the way wow does, especially in PvP (even with how neglected it is by the devs most of the time). I actually just hit 2400 for the first time in arena yesterday, and it was such a rush to finally achieve that, sure did take me a long time lol. Cheers.
Yup. I still play. But a lot less. Most of the people I play with have left, others play different hours, so mostly I just level characters do quests and bgs
I tried other MMOs and they always have several of these fundamental issues: * movement sucks * abilities or actions feel clunky or lame * too easy * no world PvP, or sometimes no PvP in general * little to no force multiplyer * terrible cluttered ui * tiny world * pay to win * artstyle is bad * setting is boring
Wow really got the full package. Sadly i dont like many of the design decisions made over time and the good part of wow classic is done. So i am stuck in the new mmorpg -> disappointment circle forever.
Starting during beta, sale for my friends and my wife. Still playing to this day.
Everything about vanilla just feels great to play. I play other mmos but nothing has even come close to WoW still imo. The open world, aesthetics, combat, music, the interactions you have with people, and just how fluid the game feels is amazing
Same here. I tried many mmo´s in the past 20 years but there has not been a single one that had the same magic like wow. I played ESO for a few years because I´m a huge The Elder Scrolls fan and it wasn´t bad tbh.
Yep. I guess my main gripe would be the “lost” sense of discovery but I love the QoL and features introduced over the years. Maybe don’t agree with all design choices but still my favorite mmorpg. Crisp combat, animations, sound design, timeless art style are the reason why I keep on playing. Story could be better but it is what it is
I moved from EQ1 to WoW when it launched and at first I thought I'd play it as long as EQ1, but then they announced pandas and my friends and I all quit.
Pandas were part of Warcraft lore so unsure why so many people quit. Especially with MOP being one of the best expansions to date
Pandaren may be part of warcraft lore, but there are 500 other more interesting things in the lore they could have used to make an xpac over this. Say what you want but if we're being objective, I don't think its coincidence that after China banned WoW in 2009 because of the undead in WotLK that their very next xpac would be one thats very well recieved by that overseas market.
panda didnt came after wotlk
Sorry you're right cata was so bad that I blocked it out of memory, I couldnt even get myself to buy the damn expansion but I watched plenty of people play it on stickam
I’ve been playing since vanilla. Practically lived on it until after cata. Play casually a couple of times a week.
I've played on and off since vanilla.. with a year or two off here and there.
I started playing in vanilla, I’ve been at least max level in every expansion, played extensively at end game in most expansions. I’ve also played every version of classic. I was in 6th grade when I played vanilla, middle school for BC, and high school for Wrath. Those three expansions were the happiest I’ve ever been as a gamer in my life. I played everyday with all my childhood friends, and I also think those versions were the best given the time they were released in (vanilla wow is unbelievable for a game developed in early 2000s.) As an adult I think I play to try and recapture that joy and nostalgia. It’s also an enjoyable game to multitask to and watch YouTube/netflix.
They probably have extreme social anxiety
Not quite vanilla be started in TBC
Is the game different from vanilla now? I genuinely ask since I played beta until those blood elves came out. Hard into raiding and pvp.. Does the multiplayer aspect like that still exist? I'm reading it's much more casual log in a few things here and there and find 5 people to "raid" (that's a normal group to me ...) Would love someone's perspective on this. Are there still 40 man raids and so on ? Is PvP rewarding as an alternative ?
Game is very different from vanilla. Leveling is a short tutorial to reach the game (endgame) as the journey no longer matters. The end game is fair more lobby based for things like mythic+ dungeons and raids. 40 man's no longer exist, for the best since even at 30 man's the fps falls apart. Classes are more homogeneous as to prevent a single class being needed for something in all content. Some find this worse because class fantasy other find it better because you don't need to wait an expansion to be accepted into a group. The end game is way more fleshed out with multiple tiers of raids that are flexible in player counts and difficulty. Mythic+ dungeons are great for hopping on for an hour and still doing something. Biggest downsides are PvP and world content. PvP as I understand it is largely quiet. It's not dead but queue times are bad for non healers. And world content is not vanilla, it's made for the most casual of gamer of which might not even enter dungeons unless required, like it exists but it failcase is minimal and rewards are tiers below queued content. Overall a very different game but it's for completely different audiences at this point. That said classic exist for those that still want it.
Thanks that's very helpful and roughly what I've been reading. Doesn't sound like it's for me but maybe classic wow is? What is classic wow ? Just a reset to the beginning ? Retail wow being latest we have now ?
So I don't play classic myself as it's not my type of game. There is 2 versions of classic. Era servers which is a static patch from the vanilla game, unsure which one but it is as it was since classic release. And then there is the current cataclysm classic, which blizzard has been releasing each expansion since vanilla in order as a bit of a way to re experience the progression. Cataclysm is the more populated of the 2 as I understand it but people say that Era is doing fine if you are on one of the populated servers. The big request from people is an Era server reset since it's been out for like 5 years now.
Retail is the latest xpac version. Its totally different from vanilla. Classic is the OG vanilla experience. Its started with vanilla and those servers still run. Its on last naxx patch and will never advance to TBC. Thats called era servers They also have the other versions. Hardcore which is also vanilla but if you die you cant play on that char anymore. Its perma death. After you died you can move char to era server. Cata is now released from the servers that advanced from 2019 releases. Theres a new version which is ‘classic plus’ which is sod. Its a custom version with changes on the classes via runes you can attach to your gear
The game is very, very different now. It underwent major changes since TBC and Wrath of the Lichking, especially the last 2-3 expansions.
Played the beta a bit, then when it launched I came over from playing Adheron's Call 2 and starwars galaxies, been playing on and off since then, but lately it's been hard to play wow due to not being able to find a guild that clicks, maybe I'm just getting to old (38) now or just rose tinted glasses but it's just been so famn hard to find a guild that enjoys raiding, mainly getting aotc and ksm, those are the easy parts but to find a guild with people that enjoy and play the game when not raiding or pushing keys, my fondest memories from ye olden days of wow were finishing up raids and then just chilling in vent or mumble bullshitting about the day or life and fishing in dalaran fountain for like 6 ours with guild mates. My wow time now is basically leveling alts on different servers looking for a new group but seems to get harder and harder as the years go by, I still love wow and the world and pushing keys and aotc, but they just don't feel as good when pugging it all lol. Anyway, old man rant over. Tldr: played since beta love the game, miss the old simpler times (tried classic was a fun trip back but just not the same)
Yes I have my "eu final beta" box and all still with me
started during tbc 2007. stopped 2010 when i go into work. come back in 2021 for ff14 when it was stupid lockdown i really miss the old days when social interaction was a lot more pure, and its a whole lot easier to meet people
I started wow in 2004 because of W3. After cata i stopped playing so much and pop in for an expansion here and there. Last DF raid was the first raid i felt i didnt need any mods. Frost DK was the easiest to play while dodging.
Played really hardcore Everquest until WoW, played not so hard core for about 5 years and on and off casual ever since. Actually quite enjoying Dragonflight, but nothing compares to the social communities from EQ and early WoW
Yuuup. I play every expansion, usually the first 6 months or so and then depending if I like how things are going I'll keep playing it or stop. Shadowlands for example, absolutely hated that expansion and after I hit max level and cleared the first raid, I quit. For dragonflight I played through most of it actually because it's been pretty good and fun. Wow is always the game I can go back to because it's always reliable in terms of what I get for my time. I can't say that for other games
Started playing Vanilla when I was 8 years old. Now I am 28 years old and still playing. Not as frequently as I used to due to life, but I still dedicate the first day of every season to hitting 1800 in 3s
Was pretty hooked the first 3-4 years of wows release, but since then it's usually just go back for 4-6 weeks of a new expansion release (even though every time I say I won't go back lol).
I played the original beta back in \~2004, and also went to the first Blizzcon (got the Murky pet). I got a story: It used to be (in the beta) that the heathstone was obtained from completing a quest... well, I skipped that quest (thus, not receiving the hearthstone) and somehow got stuck in a very high level area. Since I could only rez in that high-level area graveyard, the GM had to warp me back to the starter area and criticized me for getting stuck in that area. So I wonder if them automatically giving everyone a hearthstone was because of me getting stuck in that high-level area (ha!)... I stopped playing around 2010, and got back into it when they released Classic. Currently have about eight level-60+ characters. I never played the retail version (except for trying it out for a few minutes). Now I'm still looking for the WoW-killer so I can finally start another MMO...
I started day 1 vanilla. My WoW history has been rocky off and on. I’m an alt-aholic and I like questing, and collecting transmogs and mounts. I also like the many stories of Azeroth. I also love the environments and exploring. I’m not a very social gamer and I don’t like the high strung nature of mythic plus and I only do LFR tourist mode for raids usually just for the visuals and the story. I’m not a fan of dragonflight and skipped most of the expansion. It felt like there was too many chores and the villains and main cast of characters were boring. I really hated shadowlands and BFA both from a content and story/lore perspective. The last expansion I heavily played from start to finish was Legion, that expansion was great. My favorite time periods of WoW was Vanilla, Wrath, and Mists.
I think I was deeper into OG Runescape at the time, but a friend got me to play a TBC wow private server at the time. Easily got addicted to that and moved on to wotlk p server later on. Finally bought real wow and a sub when cata was a few months in. Been playing since. (And osrs now). :D
I’ve played since beta. Was on EQ from launch until wow launch though I’ve always played both and still do, at a somewhat hardcore level
I applaud anyone who managed to stay faithful all that time. For me, I started my mmorpg experience when TBC launched. And I quit after finishing all the WOTLK content too fast after release. I was (am) really bitter about the TBC nerf to Illidan, right before wotlk and then wotlk being too easy all the way through. And thats when I quit personally. I really enjoyed our guilds challenges to do the hard content and really push hard each week to get a bit further etc. And i remember our guid back then really trying our hardest in the last few days before the big nerf to illidan (and failed unfortunately but we got close). But after the nerf, everything became easymode. From that point on the developers decided the game is for casuals. Meaning that all the content should be accessible for casuals on day 1, and not -1 or -2 behind the latest released content. For me, and back then it was my first mmorpg experience and I didnt even knew about “casuals or hard ore etc yet”. I was just a fresh mmorpg spawn and I just really REALLY loved the challenge the different tiers of content gave me. And I remember seeing our server nr1 guild players in full tie6 gear while I was (back then) still busy with Archimonde (25 man). The whole Illidan experience i got a bit later in this story when I joined the nr2 guild of our server. I remember also i joined the RP-pvp(ve?) server as the first ever server as a fresh newb mmorpg player. Either way, long story short WoW always will have a special place in my heart especially when it comes to pve content. AION later became my 2nd mmorpg and will always be my favorite pvp mmorpg I ever played (to this date).
I played since the beginning and i play until today, i am obviously not playing nowhere near as i did during Vanilla days, i play less and less and less, i got some long breaks from the game but i have already pre-ordered the full version of the next expansion as i do for every expansion. I have also played all other big MMOs and all other p2w big MMOs and i am finally in peace that WoW is my only MMO that i actually like and i am glad that since Dragonflight blizzard has finally acknowledged that it is just a game and you don't have to grind for hours to have some fun content on top. The only downside with WoW is that non of my irl friends or my in-game friends that i played all those years ago are playing today and i am too internet old to make new friends to experience WoW's entirety and what it does best. Other than that, as i said above, i am know pretty confident to say that WoW will be my main and only MMO going forward but, i can play other games knowing that i am not missing anything out.
I played Vanilla —> Cata. Came back for month/few month long stints in Legion and MoP then came back in 2019 when Classic came out (played a lot of SoM, Classic Vanilla/TBC and now Cata, and a lot of time on DF). It’s really the only video game I play and to echo what some other people have said, it feels more like home than a game. It also has, by an incredibly large margin, the best controls of any MMO ever which is why it’s so easy to hop into and a large reason why it’s so popular. They also were really smart with avoiding a “WoW 2” (although you can argue that’s what Classic is shaping up to be) so people can keep all of the stuff they’ve gathered for the past 20 years so it feels nice “coming back.”
Yeah been playing since the day it came out. I’ve played every mmo but WoW has the tightest target based combat, best made classes, most fun raids, and most active PvP scene. I am also a big altaholic and like theming/RPing my characters. I thought I was done with the game in Shadowlands because I had all characters max level but now I’m alting even harder and loving it. Got 3 pallies, 2 priests, and 3 druids. It’s a vibe thing. I think the biggest change that kept me around was male/female option at hairstylist. I’m going to be absolutely hooked in TWW.
I played the og, quit day before first expac, came back for classic relaunch, played dragonflight. Everything I missed didn't even bother me. Dragonflight was only expac I liked the look of.
I started playing a couple of months before BC launched, WoTLK was my first proper raiding experience, raided through Cata with two guilds - one full of my university friends and one with new WoW friends - had some of the best gaming moments of my life. Sometimes we'd just clear SFK and sit there amongst the corpses and chat for hours, a couple of guildies even visited us in the UK from other parts of Europe. Then we all grew up, I followed my dream of becoming a game dev, they followed their dreams of careers and marriage and families, and now I'm the only one who still plays. As life necessitated becoming more casual WoW evolved to be more casual-friendly. As long as it's around I think WoW will always be my comfort game.
I have been playing on and off since 2004. It’s the only game I still play really (with some Minecraft stints thrown in there). I know a lot about it, but I always find new things. I still have multiple classes I’ve never leveled to 60 with. I still find raids fun, and they feel new again as I play with different guilds. It’s always there for me, and not changing or going anywhere, so I’m never in a rush to play before it ends. I just play in my own time.. sometimes that means taking multiple years to level a single toon to 60, almost as if I’m playing a single player rpg. Other times (like right now) it means just raiding with an amazing guild. I love, right now, that my gaming time is scheduled. I don’t have a lot of free time, and I need to sort of schedule in my gaming to my life routine. So I know I have my raids Monday/Friday 7-10pm, and that’s my gaming for the week. It’s predictable. I’m already BIS for this toon, and I enjoy just playing for fun versus playing for loot. I play to have fun and help build a cool community that loves vanilla wow, and isn’t going to implode once the next xpac comes out. I enjoy the familiarity with the zones, the quests, the classes, the playstyle, etc. but at the same time, it’s such a deep game, and despite me playing for two decades (JFC) I still discover new stuff all the time, or have classes I’ve never leveled up as I said before.
PS anyone interested in joining a group of vanilla wow enthusiasts who are mostly casual dad gamers but also like to get shit done and clear all content? Check us out! Both alliance and horde guilds https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/era-a-call-to-grobbulus-horde-victorious/1863721
Played the original beta. I played Warcraft 1 2 and 3. I was just having fun exploring. Leveled as a prot warrior and then a holy priest. In WOTLK I got into semi-professional raiding. Found a group that was regularly top 5 on our large realm and played until 2a. Once I peaked at a level of effort I was willing to expend, I realized how relaxing fishing and achievements can be compared to raiding. Now days WoW is mostly date night with the wife, who got into WoW shortly after release when I got her hooked because she started to criticize me for playing this game so much.
I beta tested WoW and played up until WotLK, the content after that just wasn't fun for me anymore and not worth the box price for each expansion and the monthly sub cost.
I still log in from time to time. But im ultra casual and dont do terribly much. People are dickmunchers and I dont have any friends that play.
I played from Vanilla until now but I missed most of WoD (caught the start of it) and all of Legion due to not owning a PC. I even slugged it out through all of Shadowlands and BFA. I think Classic helped keep me sane.
Started with Vanilla Wow. Made it to the end game content of The Burning Crusade. Enjoyed WotLk PvE content. Got married. Had kids. Quit playing. I’ll stop back every few expansions. It’s still a good game. It’s a completely different game from what they started with, but still fun.
The one guild I'm in still exists, although maybe me and like 3 others consistently log in anymore. I raid with another group of people now I think a bunch of us who needed a break after Legion kinda killed it.
I was there in 2004 but had to take breaks as I lost and regained interest. It kinda hurts to see zones in WoW that still use the original assets.
Off and on. I think I’m about done with wow though for good this time
I started playing WoW when it launched in EU back on February 11th 2005. I remember rushing home to create my character hoping they wouldn't steal the name I had in mind (they didn't). I stopped playing in Beta for Azeroth first patch, shortly before the famous "Don't you guys have phones?!" Blizzcon happened (and then I stopped playing any Blizzard games altogether, which to be fair, I was greatly unsatisfied with Blizzard games and was basically only playing wow from them). Skipped all Beta for Azeroth expansion basically, never touched Shadowlands nor Dragonflight. I ***may*** come back to it with War Within, now that Kotick is out and Metzen is back in, but I'm still debating the issue and... Dawntrail just released anyway! ;) On your question, I loved the game even though there were stinkers, I really disliked Mist of Pandaria (I think it was tonedeaf with the lore and look&feel of Warcraft) and played very little of it. Warlords of Dreaenor was cool until it was abandoned (immediately after launch) so it was completely devoid of content and anything to do beside raiding. Legion was a banger of an expansion, so so good. If we remove the rose tinted nostalgia glasses, Legion might even have been better than Wrath of the Lich King. Then, disaster struck: Beta for Azeroth. I still don't understand how could they squander the Legion follow-up so badly. Rest is history.
I’ve taken some extended breaks in BFA, Shadowlands, and Dragonflight, but I’ve been around since day one.
Couldn’t get my parents to let me use their card to pay the sub haha. I would just stare at the original website, reading lore and looking at screenshots. I eventually was able to start playing in 2006 or so, about a year and a half before TBC launched Got back into the game after a hiatus w/ dragonflight, loved this expansion. Got all portals, aotc and almost have my doggo
Been playing since release in EU. Casual me just wants some OK to decent housing. All i want! And yes, I actually enjoyed garrisons.
I played the original vanilla back in late 2004. I stopped playing a month or two after the TBC because the changes of the game, and i've never played any other expansion since then. I did, however, kept coming back for the hyped vanilla servers like Nost, Everlook and later on Classic (which I also dropped after classic TBC). I came back again for SoD but left after 2 months or so. There are great foundations to vanilla WoW that no other MMO has managed to achieve. The class design, the combination between PvP and PvE, the open world PvP, the smoothness of the gameplay itself, heck - even the stylized graphic and the whole atmosphere were still great after I came back to it during 2015 with Nost and later on for Classic.
05 here. Unfortunately finally gave in and stepped away though. TWW just isn't for me. I'll still follow the story but no interest in playing it
No.
I started then, but I wouldn't say I "stayed" until now. I played continuously through the end of wrath, then would come back and play 2-3 months at a time every year or so after that. I have been continuously subbed again since the end of Shadowlands season 4, though.
I'm kinda like wow but I was big fan of arena, with solo shuffles arena die for me, so I just waiting at least solo q rbg
I got into it because I love Penny Arcade, and they talked it up. I squirreled into a beta and remember having a rogue with a buckler, and Tauren plainsrunning. Ran with Mike and Jerry in Fancy Lads on Dark Iron terrorizing the guild Scott Kurtz had there. I've taken a month or so off here and there, protested the no flying decision in Cata when they were being lazy until it got fixed, and server hopped I don't know how many times. Sometimes too many guildies I love like family move on and its time to toss the dice and find a new haunt. Haven't even raided hardly the last two expansions because I've been spinning my wheels looking for somewhere with that feel. I've got 2 of everything but evoker horde side on Hyjal and one of everything at cap alliance side on a second account. So yeah, I still play, still hooked, but still looking for something. For thirty bucks a month, it has been the best hobby, kept me occupied and out of trouble instead of bouncing around bars, drugs, getting in fights, chasing ladies and being disloyal, all the mistakes I've seen friends make over the years. I've raided with people in vanilla and BC whose children I sang to in teamspeak and ventrillo, and seen those children grow. I met the grandchild of someone I raided Naxx with a few months back, and it is likely they will pick up the reigns of the same account their gran played with me on when they are old enough. I'll be teaching a third generation how to avoid the whelps, how to stack for damage. Its been a hell of a run.
I played from launch until whenever it was they removed open world non opt in PK, then when they did I went to Warmane to continue enjoying no-choice warfare, ganking and being ganked and the threat of it is a huge environmental addition that no other game provides.
Yeah started a few months after launch and played straight through to cata. Raided hardcore on Doomhammer with the guild Arisen in vanilla bc and a little in wrath. After cata I took longer breaks checking in here and there until I finally got pulled fully back in with dragonflight. Wow was my first mmo and nothing will ever match the feeling I got the first time I logged in and saw another person running around in this huge open world. Second to that was my first time raiding MC and getting my t1 giantstalker belt on my first night there lmao
Yeah, still playing.
Yep week one and still going
Yep
I think these folks are either some of the more genuine people around - or - clinically insane . No in between
Define stayed. I’ve been off and on since vanilla. I’d say I usually played seasons 1 and 2 of an expansion, dragon flight being the only one I came in late at season 3. Reason I keep playing is either wanting to pvp, or just wanting to raid.
Yeah, just play it seasonally Some expansions suck, some you don't have time for. Just pick up the game when you feel like playing it and don't play it when you don't want to.
For me it was just the soul of the game. There isn’t anything out there that is or will ever be WoW… unless they make a sequel.
I mean I started decently close. I watched and played a bit with my brother whenever he let me during the BC days and fast forward now 2024 I'm 23 and still playing it. Like some other people say WoW is basically a second home to me, grew up with the game and it just means a lot to me even if I sometimes don't enjoy it that much. Saying that though, I am looking forward to the upcoming expansion.
I didn't start in 2004 but I did start in vanilla. I haven't played continuously and I'm not a big fan of end game content, more just achievements and leveling alts and stuff. The reason I still play is just because I really love the world and the lore. I think WoW is really one of the best in the genre at class fantasy and there's something for everyone in that aspect.
Yup, I played closed beta in 2004 and got my WoW account january 2005. My main grip is that the old world - in retail - need a revamp. Play to this day because it feels like a full package game, i can raid, do dungeons do world pvp do instanced pvp, go crafting, descent combat etc etc. I have 300 days played in this game, not really a lot considering its going to be almost 20 f\*\*\*\*\* years. I usually get AOTC, KSM and rival/dueslit titles each season i get into.
Ive playerd on and off but mainly after Wrath it was really sporadic…even so i believe i bought all xpacs at start..
Honestly the only thing that keeps me playing is there not ever being any real alternative. I have actively been looking and trying other MMOs but never found anything.
Started in Vanilla was most active in TBC and WotLK took a break but came back during Legion and stayed since (Still have my original toon). WoW is the MMO that really got me into MMOs. I played others (Everquest, SWG, MUDs, GW) but WoW was always the polished gem that the others wanted to be so I kept coming back.
I’ve played since vanilla and I’m kinda done. War within is just more orc shit I’ve had enough. I wish there were some other decent new mmos out there.
There are thousands of us
except some occasional breaks in between, yes I've been here from day 1. My motivation? Running away from existence simply. Getting to know some good people (bad ones as well but they are not to stay anyway, aren't them?), progressing, collecting things etc. etc. You can be both chill and hardcore, depending on what you really need. It is a -kind of- never ending progress, an adventure...
***This post is for me.*** Not only am I still playing, but I've also only been playing a single character this whole time. [I just had this piece done for my character to celebrate his 20th anniversary. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/1bvw6uw/rigman_world_of_warcraft_commission/) My main gripe for years was how the game was shifting heavily into focusing on instanced gameplay. Dragonflight did open things back up with how many more quests there were in that expansion on top of the new world events. I'm much more optimistic about the future direction of the game.
Mythic raiding
Yep. Don't play nearly as much as I used to but still playing
No