Cataclysm went down in World of Warcraft history as the first expansion to experience a decline in its player base. The changes made during this era had long-term consequences, and subsequent expansions struggled to recover from this downward trend.
As discussed on the classicwow subreddit thread (“World of Warcraft no longer forces players to form groups and cooperate”), 360.000 redditors have agreed that the vast majority of WoW players are team-oriented, valuing cooperation, forming groups, and working together. However, there’s also a smaller group that prioritizes convenience, seeking fast, solo experiences that don’t rely heavily on others.
When Blizzard introduced features like the Dungeon Finder and reduced the number of team-based quests, they shifted focus toward convenience, catering more to solo play. This undermined the challenge and cooperative spirit that once fostered a strong sense of community within the game. Players began to lose the reliance on teamwork, friendships, and identity that had previously defined the game’s appeal.
By restoring Vanilla WoW’s more challenging and community-driven aspects such as removing or simplifying the Dungeon Finder on PvE servers Blizzard could reignite communities that thrive on teamwork and cooperation. PvP servers, on the other hand, could continue to focus on convenience and solo play for those who prefer a more individualized experience. This balance would allow for the return of a meaningful and rewarding gameplay experience without alienating players who value convenience!
To be fair, thats just another “cata bad because dungeon finder” thread. Cata classic is bad because blizzard completely neglected it, not because you dont have to spam “lf tank for heroic whisper me” in the tradechat (btw some people still do that, no one forces you to use the finder).
I originally first played WoW in wotlk and loved the game then continued with the expansions and gradually found myself enjoying it less and less. I wasn’t sure why.
When I returned to play wotlk classic my friends in my retail guild told me I’d find it dated and I only wanted to go back for nostalgia but actually it sparked everything again. It was just as magical as the first time.
I really think the reason why was because it forced a social element, not just on random people in a finder but people in a community you have to talk to and cooperate with and where there are consequences if players don’t act nicely. Everything felt meaningful in a way which later WoW expansions don’t.
I get the point in the OP, the fast and convenient solo experiences feel great for a while but quickly drain the energy from the game.
Cata while having a long range of problems, had one that they never fixed.
Massive lack of content. Now it may not seem like it, but Deathwing flew over Azeroth for most of the expansion. Where in reality it was a prepatch-early game thing. It was interesting for the first month, but almost a year in getting killed by that was already mega triggering.
And they continued to do the same crap 5 expansions in. They would promise faster release for content, and do their famous “We have learned from our mistakes” line which iv no jokes heard at least 4 times in my 20 years of WoW. (Shocker, they never did learn) And then they release content A, everyone is hyped, and then content B comes out a year later, half the pop is gone. Tons of Guilds dead because they could not recruit.
Cata is fine atm as an expac, even solid. But Firelands was suppose to be out 2+ months ago. Most people that cleared the tier in the first month were fully geared LOOOOONG ago, even their alts alts are fully geared long ago.
No, they get all their classic money from subs, so they try to milk it up until almost everyone has quit. They deserve to fail.
WoTLK is way easier of an expansion than Cataclysm so of course if you are a dad guild you aren’t going to have much success. This is why there was a decline, not because boomers don’t get their own way with RDF.