Breakfast Topic: Do you miss any of the old content?
by Andrew Ross 
Jun 19th 2011 at 8:00AM
When Blizzard announced that Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep would be coming back as level 85 heroics, players went crazy with speculation. Would Blizzard make other classic instances into heroics? One of the most frequently requested revamps since Cataclysm has launched has been Scarlet Monastery.
Revamping old content has been met with mixed reactions recently, though. The biggest complaint since a revamp to Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub was announced was that the classic version of Zul'Aman was going the way of Onyxia and Naxxramas. How many people really visited the original raids once they were considered dated content? How many of those people who did visit the raids did so at the appropriate level?
With every new expansion we find ourselves yearning for parts of the previous expansion. Once we've had an expansion for a year or so we want something new -- we get bored with the same routine, the same sights and raids. A new expansion comes along and we reminisce about the way things were.
I am guilty of missing old content that I can no longer visit. I do miss parts of each past expansion, but I also welcome a new expansion when it's announced. In The Burning Crusade I loved Nagrand's beautiful scenery and the story line with the Isle of Quel'Danas. In Wrath I loved the music in each zone, with the Howling Fjord being my favorite. The scenery in each zone was amazing and the quests connected all the zones together.
Do you miss anything from the previous expansions? What do you miss from each expansion and why? Do you ever go back and visit your favorite content?
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Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
zach.l Jun 19th 2011 8:09AM
i miss wrath ppl say it was 2 easy and stuff like that but i dont care it was the best expansion for me personaly and i made alot of progress in the game and IRL so i will not be forgetting aobut it in a long time
dartheranul Jun 19th 2011 9:35AM
Wrath was a perfect time for me to get into raiding just because it was so easy, but I'm glad they put the challenge back into raiding in Cataclysm. I do wonder what old content was like at appropriate levels, though.
Philster043 Jun 19th 2011 7:36PM
I agree. When Wrath was the pinnacle of the game, it felt like a tremendous achievement and also the pinnacle of my own character's abilities and knowledge, exemplified by being part of the powerful raids into ICC. Cataclysm does not give me that same feeling, and neither does the revamped old world to Wrath anymore. Everything has been so streamlined it's taken the sense of adventure and self-accomplishment out of the game almost completely.
I hate to say it, but while I did enjoy certain aspects of the revamped areas (such as the better writing and convenient localization for many of the quests), I think the game was better before Cataclysm.
The reason I still look at this site is because of WoW pre-Cataclysm - it's like checking up on an old hometown that's not quite as recognizable as it used to be anymore, hence why you moved, but you're still nostalgic about your old memories there.
lethian Jun 20th 2011 3:18AM
Tbh wrath was easier, but that was Game play, many layers quit soon after from Vanilla nad Bc. but as far as lore i loved it, now that said give cata some time, trust me Neltharion or now Deathwing will be big, that dude has been sitting down in Deepholme just sitting, getting more mad and crazy, plotting. Arthas had a human side to him which is why i got to like him as a villain but Deathwing is a bit different he does not care about anything, the Lich King didn't but in halls of Reflection i truly believe what Uther said. but the fact that Deathwing has no humanity and clearly has no shred of a stable mind, makes him more dangerous that and the fact he has combined powers of the other dragons to some extent not sure how much. he will do something crazy i know it
Vítor Oliveira Jun 19th 2011 8:09AM
Cool pic the one above. Where is it from?
Tapukimastra Jun 19th 2011 8:34AM
That looks to be from the Alpha stages of the game, or Pre-Alpha even.
Debesun Jun 19th 2011 8:36AM
It's the old Goldshire well before WoW was officially released.
Debesun Jun 19th 2011 8:44AM
And you can find that picture, and lots of information about pre-release and release WoW here.
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/726876-Some-things-you-didn-t-know-about-WoW...
It's noted that "Goldshire was a lot bigger, and it resembled a real village. But Blizzard realized that they can't make other starting zone hubs that big, and they removed a lot of buildings in goldshire so it would be even for all zones." "... like 10x bigger.".
Manti Jun 19th 2011 10:28AM
Thanks for the link, Debesun!
Also,
> Discipline tree for priests was supposed to be a "melee" tree (think of like monk)
Do want.
Josho Jun 19th 2011 8:10AM
I can't make that special connection with Cataclysm. I think it has something to do with the fact that, outside reading up on him, I have no idea who Deathwing is - whilst playing Wrath I *felt* that special connection, having played Warcraft 3 and its expansion pack over and over again.
And despite that Azeroth has practically cracked in two with Cataclysm, I felt more like the world was going to end when I was under threat of being turned into a mindless zombie, not into a charred corpse.
farmer boy Jun 19th 2011 8:28AM
I think that's because we're venturing outside the "mortal" realm by fighting him, its somewhat hard to imagine where he fits into it all.
Tabasa Jun 19th 2011 8:57AM
I'm actually having something of the opposite issue. I know exactly who Deathwing is, and I'm a little disappointed that we're seeing so little of him up to here. Sure, he's flying around and torching us at random, but most of the plotting and scheming seems to be going on with his lieutenants while he's just flying around being a crazy dragon.
I loved the psychological warfare and the political mayhem the Black Dragonflight has always shown itself to be capable of, but they're barely even there (they're very close to extinction at this point story-wise). There's a little bit of this going on with the Twilight's Hammer, but none of the infiltrator storylines seem to go anywhere too interesting in particular before they wrap up, and the Twilights aren't exactly the most subtle bunch in the world when you get down to it.
It's part of the reason I'm really not fond of Old God focused storylines. "I'm evil now cause something made me craaazy" is relatively shallow and gets old after seeing it so much.
loop_not_defined Jun 19th 2011 10:03AM
I don't see anything wrong with asking players to find out specific details outside of the game. The Warcraft universe is huge; expecting Blizzard to explain every detail in quest text strikes me as highly unreasonable. Consider the fact that almost everything you could want to know can be discovered without spending a dime (Wowpedia and even the Official WoW website). Having said that, Deathwing *is* explained as being the ex-Aspect of Earth, or Earth Warder. He's also been a known entity long before Cataclysm. Having to explain who he is now - long after all of the Black/Twilight Dragonflights' involvement in all versions of WoW - seems a little silly.
Finally, the Twilight Dragonflight shows up *repeatedly* throughout almost all of the 80-85 zones. I say "almost" only because I haven't been through Vashj'r.
loop_not_defined Jun 19th 2011 10:10AM
Josho, in your one example you pointed at an outside source for your connection with Wrath, and then complain that Deathwing requires outside sources to know about...which isn't even true. As I said above, his Dragonflights have been involved in the game since Vanilla - even Wrath had Black/Twilight Dragonflight involvement.
Josho Jun 19th 2011 10:20AM
I wasn't complaining: I was just saying *I* don't know enough of his backstory, so him being the new big villain in Cataclysm feels wasted on me in comparison to my knowledge of the Lich King.
Don't hate me, bro. :( I'm just not as informed on Deathwing as I am with the Lich King.
loop_not_defined Jun 19th 2011 11:08AM
Ach...crap. Sorry about that.
Hob Jun 19th 2011 7:23PM
I agree completely. I came to WoW at the end of BC, and knew nothing about the backstory or mythology. I tried to read up on Arthas when Wrath was announced, but his story line was so long and convoluted (uh, I mean "rich in detail"), that it was a bit hard to follow. But details aside - it's not hard to feel personally involved with a former prince who betrayed his kingdom and became the master of all undead. He was human once; now he isn't.
I read many of the Warcraft novels during Wrath, including "Day of the Dragon," so I felt pretty up-to-speed with Deathwing's identity when Cataclysm finally launched. But it's hard to feel personally involved with an ancient, all-powerful dragon, who is also the Aspect of Earth, and was given that power by the Titans. It's a bit like feeling personally involved with an asteroid collision, or a hurricane. It doesn't matter how much you know about him, Deathwing is so far beyond human scope that he's just a force of nature.
The Lich King was a definite presence in Wrath. Every place on Northrend was touched by the scourge, and of course - we all knew that Arthas was hanging out in Icecrown Citadel. Deathwing's presence on Azeroth has literally been that of a force of nature: earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes. You can't really say that the Twilight cultists are working for Deathwing, because who knows? And Deathwing doesn't have a single lair that's been identified as the final raid of the expansion. Some debate that Deathwing isn't even the "boss" of this expansion, that the Old Gods or some other crazy thing will turn out to be the ultimate bad.
Scooba Jun 19th 2011 8:21AM
I miss tauren mill / southshore random pvp...
Kaphik Jun 19th 2011 8:24AM
I was going to say the same thing!
Rhamona Q Jun 19th 2011 11:22AM
Hallow's End just won't be the same, this year.