Why do you guys love Vanilla so much?

[Banezilla]

Short answer: everything you do is so much more rewarding. Hell, getting a mount is one of the most rewarding things you can do in vanilla. Just getting to 60 is a challenge on its own. Then you got the massive raids, WPvP etc. And NO flying. Yes, you actually have to explore the world >.> Vanilla also tends to have a larger sense of community, due to the fact there is no LFR/LFD. Player actually have to communicate and work together.

Pretty much this. Challenging games are far more rewarding.

[TheLockKing]

The flavor abilities.

Also the fact that some items you can find at WAY below cap levels can be useful even at 60.. some of the best pre-raid gear was level 49/41 gear.

[Shadowlurk]

• Less dumb classes (Death Knight)
• More difficult (I hate how easy retail is)
• More sense of accomplishment (somewhat due to the difficulty)
• Clean content with minimal bells and whistles (it's straightforward and to the point...hence the name "Vanilla")
• No LFG. You actually have to try in order to get a group for something.

This is why I love Vanilla so much.

[shadesofjoe]

I enjoyed Vanilla the most because the community was self-policing, and one's reputation was worth every bit as much as one's gear. Ninja looters were persona non grata and couldn't hide behind the LFG tool to keep their identities secret. You couldn't pay to change your name, either. So if you got labeled as an unsavory type, you were pretty much forced to re-roll or go to great pains to make recompense if you wanted to continue progressing in the game.

Each server was it's own social construct. Competition/cooperation of guilds, PvP environment, economy and social interaction was at its height during Vanilla, IMO, because it was necessary to interact with the other people around you in order to be successful. It's not that way anymore, sadly. WoW is pretty much a single-player game now. But at least here we can actually play an MMO that encourages social behavior rather than isolating each player.

[silver437]

I never played on Vanilla but I already loved Vanilla before playing on Vanilla.
Am I weird?

[tunguska]

40 man raids, the classes with 1.12 talents that is so much fun. I like playing as a feral druid, despite clear handicaps in certain areas, and still coming out on top of my opponents in pvp due to the amount of tools available to me.

[Sakuraba]

Nostalgia.

(fake) Sense of accomplishments.

I like that it is difficult or at least very time consuming.

Ability to use PVE-gear in PVP makes me much more motivated to raid.

[Mimma]

I like that things requires an effort. To plan ahead long-term how to gear or evolve is simply great - that gives you a better feeling when you finally finish whatever your goal was.

[Ryson]

All the points already mentioned, however I gotta admit that TBC was also really great, at least until 2.3 hit. After this patch it slowly turned into the abomination we know.

[TheLockKing]

• Less dumb classes (Death Knight)

>_> DKs were cool you shut your mouth.