Why do we play vanilla ?

[Eov]

This is a question I've been asking myself a lot lately.

Why do we play/enjoy vanilla wow ?

I've been playing wow retail at the launch of every xpac (except for mop) and really enjoyed the experience every time except for wod. This is the first time though that I play on a vanilla private server and I think it is for the following reasons:
- The slow leveling (6 days of /played for my 60 though);
- The real need to team up (pve & wpvp);
- The bosses I couldn't face back in the days (C'Thun, 4 Horsemen, Thunderaan...) and which built the magic around the end-game for me;

--> But also somehow the will to revive the past, this environment we had 10 years ago with all the knowledge we have today, obviously expecting to be way better than the first time. We all wish we could have been as good as we are now, back in the days.

So my real question is the following: do we play vanilla because of the first reasons i mentioned, or do we unconsciously believe we could be able to revive the past ? By bringing back this past, I imply reviving something with a total control over it. Haven't we all wished at some point we could have done something differently ?

I know it might sound puerile or clumsy. I might not be putting the right words on it (I'm not a native English speaker).
But if you get my idea, I'd love to hear your analysis about this urge to replay our cherished game: a game that we deliberately have stuck at a time (an MMO is supposed to evolve) and which may have bound IG & IRL experiences.

I'm not asking for a psychotherapy, but I start to believe that I do not play for the reasons I thought at first, that my expectations are way too high, and maybe not sane.

[armwvingtoobman]

I was pretty young - and, frankly, terrible - during the Vanilla days. I didn't even know what open world games were, and being a fan of the Warcraft universe, to be plopped in to Teldrassil was just mind blowing. To be overwhelmed by the environment, the music, the quest storylines, the professions, the openness and grandeur. And then to realize that Shadowglen opened up in to this much larger, fuckin, like, giant ass tree. And then to realize that the giant ass tree was just a tiny ass island compared to Kalimdor itself. And, of course, there was that first time I walked in to a capital city, that memory that all fans seem to empathize with.

I got lost. I fell off the tree. I died. A lot. I took forever to get anywhere. Going from Auberdine to Stormwind via Menethil Harbour, I felt like Frodo slowly trudging through the treacherous wilds of Middle Earth.

My gear was shit and mismatched. My character looked bizarre. The quests were, originally, not very epic: "go kill a few furbolg to protect our village", etc. I didn't feel like the hero. More like some random dude, with patched up clothing, no shoes, a stick, and a nearly empty book of beginner spells.

And now? I always know where I'm going, because the map tells me. Beyond a certain level you can even fly there, so no need to worry about death...or immersion. A flightmaster will fly you in to Darnassus from Dolonar, robbing noobs of what is for many their fondest Warcraft memory. You can skip on to Stormwind right from Auberdine now. Quests will rain green items. Not that you'll need them, since you can solo all open world content. And instead of being some chump running around Teldrassil, you're now the Champion of Elune, helping Malfurion to save the world, confronting Azshara and battling elemental lords.

I miss feeling like I was Azeroth's bitch, rather than the other way around. I want to feel helpless, basically. Granted, being older and less terrible, this is partially unatainable. But, well, I've already found myself needing to use alchemy while leveling, to group up, to be careful, and I've died, and it's perfect.

That said, I do love me my retail Wow. I loved leveling through Draenor.

[armwvingtoobman]

Also, I don't think a lot of native English speakers casually use the word puerile.

[Eov]

I miss feeling like I was Azeroth's bitch, rather than the other way around. I want to feel helpless, basically.

I think you're mentioning something very important here that I couldn't put words onto. YES ! Feeling like you're not the hero but just one more pawn in this gigantic world, having little control over what is actually happening.

I'm even pretty sure that if you go over the quests scripts, you're almost always considered as a hero in wow retail, while in vanilla you gain little respect from your quests NPCs after lengthy and epic quest chains. But this is somewhat out of the topic.

I might have wanted to over-analyze the reasons why I enjoy playing vanilla. Your testimonial shows me that it's probably no more than pure nostalgia and I guess I should stick to it. I appreciate your experience sharing and must admit that I've also been through some of them

Also, "puerile" is a transparent word in English and my native language.

[riq and snog]

This is the actual mmo version
Need grps to survive, cant just fly away
Lots of talk, help, communityy pride

For a new game id suggest azeroth of cata with tuned dungeons , raid content, new bgs, but old 60 talents an abilities and mayhaps a little less rep grind:-)

[Viorus]

C'mon man... Let's be honest here... Because it's free!

[Fusken]

If 12 dollar a month is why you're playing here.. Well...

[ceen2]

You can play retail for 5 € per month, that's not the issue.

[Technoghoul]

I came for endgame raiding and to finally finish vanilla Naxx , that was the only Raid I never cleared. I watched four guilds desentegrate over the frustration . good times I kinda wish there was a PVE server, all the gank squads are a big hinderence. But I understand because it would mean having to maintain more realms . so I will push on and continue to just stand there and die. I will never have any player kills no matter how hard the pvp people try to get me involved . But I will make it to end game .

[Miv]

I would prefer BC but there is no good BC server, so I'm here along for the ride until they release a BC followup server.