Breakfast Topic: What you miss most
by Allison Robert 
May 8th 2010 at 8:00AM
I miss feral staves. I know that nobody else liked or wanted them, but I loved that my spec had its own weapons. They didn't drop frequently (and, in the case of Pillar of Ferocity, sometimes not at all) and you invariably waited months for an upgrade, but when you finally got one, it was always beautiful and it was always yours. I made a point of saving every single feral staff I got in Burning Crusade, and they're still in my bank today. When the developers finally eighty-sixed feral weapons, we were sad but understood why they weren't a sustainable solution for the spec. Since then we've been competing for mostly hunter-themed polearms, and between that and all the hideous rogue leather we have to wear, it feels like feral's trapped in a permanent case of Outland Clown Syndrome.
A lot of things have disappeared from WoW over the years, and more are set to go the way of the dinosaur as the game evolves into Cataclysm. More than five years into WoW, what do you miss most from now-defunct abilities, items or practices?
A lot of things have disappeared from WoW over the years, and more are set to go the way of the dinosaur as the game evolves into Cataclysm. More than five years into WoW, what do you miss most from now-defunct abilities, items or practices?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Fletcher May 8th 2010 9:19AM
I won't miss the spam.
If Cataclysm comes with an authenticator in every box (as I strongly suspect it will) I won't miss the constant "Oh shit, So-and-so got hacked, time to nerf their guild ranking and hope they're not vital to the raid for the next few weeks".
I won't miss having to turn off /general in Icecrown.
I do miss the days when paladins weren't the faceroll flavour of the month (it was still DKs back then). My first toon to reach 80 was a paladin, and I dislike the way she's tainted by association.
Unexpected EOF May 8th 2010 8:06AM
8-item set bonuses.
You heard me.
Warlockami May 8th 2010 8:30AM
Agreed, agreed, agreed.
The 8 pieces not only made you look amazing, but had pretty nice bonuses
Tomatketchup May 8th 2010 9:30AM
Yeah. I miss the FUN set bonuses. Nowadays it's just some increase to something, not like the rogue's invogerate. Yeah, it was just a heal, but it was awesome to be able to heal yourself as a rogue. Now come Cataclysm, rogue's will have it back - as a spell. Kinda loses the charm of the set bonus but I'll definetely look forward to grinding with that spell!
RetPallyJil May 8th 2010 10:08AM
Preach it!
CottonCandi May 8th 2010 10:40AM
Yeah, you could say sets that looked good even. Sets that looked unique.
Sets with bonuses that were valuable rather than maybe 2piece and that's all.
Maybe even sets that took time and effort to achieve? We look no further than Triumph to prove how you can get it all in one day with chain heroics. Frustrating as hell to wait your turn for a piece, I admit. But you wore the set pieces with a greater sense of pride. OMG that bastard is in one of those 3 elitist guilds on our server that actually has the whole set...no life loser! Damn that looks cool. Ha.
8 pieces...pure crazy talk.
Kaz May 8th 2010 11:03AM
Yeah I miss the full 8 piece sets too. It was nice to have a more uniformed look, and the extra bonuses were very nice. It was also an interesting little mini-game looking at your set and being able to cross off/highlight the ones you already have.
Heilig May 8th 2010 2:41PM
Let's just go with "having to actually raid and raid well to get a tier set" instead of just having to run a random heroic every day for 3 months.
cygnus May 8th 2010 3:20PM
@Kaz
Well, the design of the gear (warrior and pally at the very least) is pretty uniformed right now, you know, even if the frost 264 gear and the ICC drops are not Tier 10, they follow the same color patterns and design lines, there's no piece I can use right now that looks 'out of place'... maybe Rimefang's Claw, but its been a while since I changed that sword... And that has always been the case since BC 5 pieces tier's... Except for Kings defender... that sword looks awesome by itself, but hardly matches any set...
CaryEverett May 8th 2010 8:06AM
I miss the feral staffs too.
I miss all the armor and weapons which were really heavily class specific. Sure they were a pain in the ass to get. But after all was said and done, they looked beautiful.
I've noticed it seems like most offsets are designed for Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, and Mage. So if you aren't playing one of those classes, you might wind up as a druid wearing something like Garona's Guise ( http://www.wowhead.com/item=45523 ).
Back before Druids were finally brought to level playing field, it used to be the one consolidation that they had the most unique armors and weapons in the game. Druids stood out in a crowd. Now, not so much :(
Kate May 8th 2010 9:22AM
Agreed! I really miss those staves... Maybe I was biased but it always seemed that whoever designed those staff models did a much better job than all the other caster staves. They really did look great - perhaps to make up for the fact you couldn't see them in feral forms!!
Having said that, why oh why did my squid on a stick (http://www.wowhead.com/item=28658) never drop when I was in a Kara run :-(
CaryEverett May 8th 2010 11:23AM
The squid on a stick dropped for me!
On my warrior... :'(
pere May 8th 2010 2:20PM
I miss the staves too. I still have Origin of Nightmares (from the picture above) and I actually keep Journey's End (http://www.wowhead.com/item=40388) in my bags so I can bust it out (along with some T7.5) whenever I feel nostalgic or want to look cool.
I'm glad that Blizzard is starting to realize this. Distant Land in ICC seems to be returning to form as far as feral staves go, but all the rest of the loot in the place is hunter polearms or the staff off LK 10, which isn't very feral imo.
Ah well, one can onlly hope that the amazingly designed feral staves will make a return in cata...
Gamer am I May 8th 2010 8:06AM
As a feral druid, I miss items that had both strength and agility on them. Rings, armor, necklaces, whatever; I miss them dearly, and to this day, I regret not holding on to a few of them from Burning Crusade, if only for nostalgia's sake. Oh Mithril Chain of Heroism, how I miss thee.
Henrah May 8th 2010 8:09AM
The tauren looks so sad in that picture. /hug
Frankly, I miss epic questlines.
Ones that sent you all over the map - often just to speak to someone, or to kill something, or just to generally cause havoc.
Sure, there's been a couple since, the Druid Epic Flight form Quest springs to mind, and, in some ways the Wrathgate Line.
But not to the epic scale of things like the Fallen Hero of the Horde line, and The Missing Dipolmat, the Paladin Charger quest even the Scholomance key quest etc etc.
They were fun. I miss things like that. Hopefully Cataclysm won't destroy the old greats, I still do them on every character I level.
Orrdeath May 8th 2010 8:55AM
The battered hilt quests are as epic as they get! The hilts are hard to come by though, But some how that makes it more epic. I did the quests on my mage with my hunter buddy, it was an awesome day.
Anathemys May 8th 2010 10:11AM
Don't forget A Tale of Honor (http://www.wowhead.com/quest=13068) that has you go all over the world looking for a way to save Crusader Bridenbrad from a horrible undeath.
I won't spoil the ending, but.... It. Is. Great.
NecDW4 May 8th 2010 11:38AM
Yeah, loooong quest chains were usually fairly cool.
icepyro May 8th 2010 4:34PM
I love epic quests when they are heartfelt like Crusader Bridenbrad, or rewards you with something awesome like some of the class specific quests or battered hilt. Some of the Old World quest chains were obviously set up just to irritate y... er make you explore though. They rewarded a pitiful amount of cash for the time invested in finding what they wanted. I'm sure I missed some story point, but still.
I also hated many of the class specific quests. I end up having to do them solo because any leveling friends have *nothing* to do the entire time. It's is a strain on leveling duos. I gain a level and you just watched me.
If they rewarded the assistance or something, I would totally love them. Like escort quests, you get the option to "join them" on certain parts of the chain purely for being a friend and making sure they arrive safely. It could even be for less experience, but give something. I love the story line of them all, but the fact the non-class party member has nothing to do during that time cheapens the experience, especially when it's something you have to do like shaman totems. "Oh, I just dinged and have a quest chain to do. I'll see you in a couple levels I guess." Not as epic as they are supposed to be.
Another option is just to make it zones that make sense, are nearby, or something. "Oh, I need to go here." "cool, I have a quest to visit someone while we are there." win. "Oh, I need to go here." "But there is nothing there, it's half the world away, and the only npc is the one you are visiting alone in a cave." fail.
Jiffah May 8th 2010 5:21PM
@ Icepyro
about class-specific quests:
"Like escort quests, you get the option to "join them" on certain parts of the chain purely for being a friend and making sure they arrive safely."
I absolutely, utterly and wholeheartedly agree.