So, my wife and I rolled new toons on retail...

[Novae]

It was awesome! We made level 1 rogues, put on our heirlooms and 16 slot bags, and went out into Azeroth for some adventure.

Four hours later we were already level 16 and were 1-shotting mobs our level the whole time from level 1 up with a single sinister strike or even auto attacks.

I tried taking off my 'looms. Nearly the same result. Between 1 and 2 shots per mob our level. WTF?

Did an intro quest to Deadmines and decided to try doing the dungeon. We two-manned DM and took out most of the trash and every boss with ease. I think I used a bandage once, no potions, and my wife ate food once.

At level 16!!?!?? So many vanilla world quests are harder, more challenging, and rewarding than taking on a whole dungeon and its "bosses" in retail. What a joke.

Oh, and yeah - our accounts have been cancelled since the announcement of the C&D. It was nice to log into retail and send several bug/feedback tickets regarding Nostalrius. I mean, what are they gonna do, ban me for playing on a pirate server?

"You can't fire me - I QUIT!"

PS: It's really sad. In retail vanilla, I proposed to my wife back in 2005 with a letter and a ring in the game that matched my real-world letter and ring. She read my proposal while I was behind her on my knees. She said yes. She's a keeper. 11 years going on strong.

[Jellytime22]

I feel ya. I met my current gf during the final months of WotLK. 5 Years later....

As for retail gameplay, its a joke. If you have a full-version and can get past 20, you can throw on full heirlooms, and get to 30 in a day EASILY, if solo. Throw in some potions of knowledge from those rares in MoP and your laughin'. Retail fanboys say they don't see the appeal of Vanilla; it's because they don't want a challenge.

[Badday]

I really enjoyed reading this

[Drain]

Last time I played was back in Cata. I reached 1-85 faster per char than 1-60 on retail or Nost. With heirlooms, I could take on entire groups of mobs without ever feeling threatened. In fact it was dumb not to. Quests were effortlessly, devoid of any danger, with any elite quests being removed, and largely pointless because leveling off the dungeon grinder was faster. Quest areas were totally empty. No one bothered out in the field. Everyone leveled in dungeons. You click the magic button, poof off to the dungeon, plow it in 15m, poof back, then repeat. This is how you level the entire road from 15+(dungeon finder unlocked here). The dungeons would typically have 10-20 mobs pulled all at once by a nearly invulnerable tank, a healer that rarely had to do anything, and dps that just blew everything up without risk. Tanks couldn't be hurt, and healers couldn't possibly run OOM, and dps didn't have to worry about aggro or even damage taken. It's hard to keep up with all the bodies you have to loot, much like being boosted, except it's just a normal level run. All to get item drops that aren't worth squat because the heirlooms are better in stats and have a XP bonus.

Was no community either. Every person in a dungeon group or BG was from a different server, people you've never seen before, and will never see again. The other faction may as well not exist because you only see them inside BGs or arenas, meaning it doesn't matter what race is fighting what. There was basically zero world PvP until max level, where you then had to do daily quests to make decent money, and heroic queue times were painfully long for dps, so you may as well ding these quests. But even then it's rare to get into fights because Tol Barad had an ownership for 1 faction at a time, and typically the other faction would stay out until they controlled it. Only rarely would the other faction come in to gank, since they can't do daily quests there without zone ownership.

All around disgusted, I sold the account in Dec 2011 and have yet to ever touch retail again. Them shutting down my new home hasn't encouraged me to return. I said back then that only the hosting of legacy servers would bring back my return. I considered the game to be totally fucked beyond repair with Cata.

[Novae]

Thanks for the positive feedback, guys.

While I have to say that I would jump back on the Blizzard train if they introduce PROPER legacy servers, my time spent on Nost will be sorely missed. Not just for vanilla's sake, but the community and unpredictable nature of the adventures spent here.

Thank you, Nostalrius!

[Pixiestixie]

It was awesome! We made level 1 rogues, put on our heirlooms and 16 slot bags, and went out into Azeroth for some adventure.

Four hours later we were already level 16 and were 1-shotting mobs our level the whole time from level 1 up with a single sinister strike or even auto attacks.

I tried taking off my 'looms. Nearly the same result. Between 1 and 2 shots per mob our level. WTF?

Did an intro quest to Deadmines and decided to try doing the dungeon. We two-manned DM and took out most of the trash and every boss with ease. I think I used a bandage once, no potions, and my wife ate food once.

At level 16!!?!?? So many vanilla world quests are harder, more challenging, and rewarding than taking on a whole dungeon and its "bosses" in retail. What a joke.

Oh, and yeah - our accounts have been cancelled since the announcement of the C&D. It was nice to log into retail and send several bug/feedback tickets regarding Nostalrius. I mean, what are they gonna do, ban me for playing on a pirate server?

"You can't fire me - I QUIT!"

PS: It's really sad. In retail vanilla, I proposed to my wife back in 2005 with a letter and a ring in the game that matched my real-world letter and ring. She read my proposal while I was behind her on my knees. She said yes. She's a keeper. 11 years going on strong.

I think this is why people in retail started doing the Ironman challenge.

[Novae]

I think this is why people in retail started doing the Ironman challenge.

I understand where you are coming from, and I did try Ironman back in Wrath, but it was more stress than fun.

I don't want to put my money, time, and interest into a game that I have to manually gimp to gain any enjoyment out of it.

But I know where you are coming from, yes.

[Soolin]

Heirlooms definately ruined the game. No need to run the dungeons for gear. Also whenever noobs joined with their first ever toon, they would be rushing through so fast if all the others had looms that it couldn't have been much fun, and not much immersion either under those circumstances.
Back in retail vanilla, I remember even now when I finally hit 60 - at 5am, half asleep, dribbling on my keyboard, killing yetis.....what a buzz.
The guys at Nost did a fantastic job allowing some of us to relive those great gaming days (and nights lol) and allowing others to experience what it was 'really' like.
Thanks

[Xaverius]

We two-manned DM and took out most of the trash and every boss with ease.

Some MMOs actually make this possible and I wouldn't be surprised if it's beginning to be some sort of a trend so Blizzard joined. Off the top of my head, Allods and Skyforge. In Skyforge you can straight solo the instances, it just takes more time (the game's a grindfest anyway), and in Allods you can hire NPC mercenaries.

Also the xp potions allow you to level 90-100 in few hours I heard. Ridiculous.

I proposed to my wife back in 2005 with a letter and a ring in the game that matched my real-world letter and ring. She read my proposal while I was behind her on my knees. She said yes. She's a keeper. 11 years going on strong.

This is beautiful you silky-smooth bastard. Congrats.

I considered the game to be totally fucked beyond repair with Cata.

I agree. Actually I always looked at Cata as if it was a wow 2. It's funny, at first I didn't like it, then I went there for Gilneas and scripted questlines, then I saw the endgame and hated it more than ever before.

[Winterflaw]

[snip how easy retail is]

Yup. It's not a game. A game is something which requires skill. WoW requires no skill. WoW is a game-shaped object.