To be honest it’s a waste of their time. People will play what they want for whatever their reasons are but what I really dont understand is the bile and vitriol spewed all over each other - seriously, what a total waste of energy!
Its like poking at someone and then being amazed that they get irritated. The whole one upmanship is tiresome and quite frankly ridiculous
Fact: You can enjoy yourself in BfA too. Or in both. 
Opinion: People stick with BfA because they’re stubborn.
I am almost 40, and as I said somewhere for me RPG is about story and journey trough it, not arbitrary levels and weapon skills that contribute nothing.
And while you like to insult people clowns, then for me you are just a sad troll who has hard time to accept different views and tries to use strong words to feel yourself above others.
Not liking weapon skills and levels etc. is a subjective thing.
They are objectively RPG elements, though.
Ain’t gonna change
I, for one, prefer Retail but still enjoy Classic nowadays for three reasons: 1. Its nostalgic charm, 2. The quests that don’t exist in Retail anymore due to the catacysm or the A vs. H war, and 3. To see for myself if the the claims of the Classic cultists true about the superiority of the community in Classic and the game itself, so I know what I’m talking about when I compare and argue with someone about both version of the game.
With that out of the way, I do not believe Classic will die. In fact, I know that Classic will remain a thing for many long years to come. Maybe some realms will die off with barely any population left, just like what happened in Retail, but the game will remain for a long time probably, because it has a core hardcore player base that enjoy its style to death.
I also never ever suggested such a thing. I get surprised how many times I heard this message from Classic fans. I never challenge a Classic fan’s enjoyment of the game or his preference for it, and I never reduce the enjoyment to just nostalgia. I’m fully aware that Classic fans like many things about the game, not just its nostalgic charm. However, what triggers me is when Classic cultists start to claim that X doesn’t exist in Retail but it exists in Classic, and there’s barely any Y in Retail but Classic has a lot of it, and so on.
It’s not forcing their opinion on anyone to invite people to be less delusional about their view of Classic versus Retail. I don’t call some Classic fans “cultists” for little; I call them that because some of them are obviously fanatic and deluded to cultist levels. It’s like they choose to be blind to things they can find in Retail just to hype themselves more for Classic, or something like that. Who knows how a cultist thinks.
And if 400 and counting is not inviting discussion about the issue, I don’t know what is, mate. Whether they intended to or not, they’ve certainly started an epic discussion about the issue. And the issue is how some Classic fans are deluding themselves and others, and spreading likes about Retail just to hype themselves more for Classic.
Well Classic isn’t an RPG, it’s an MMORPG. Also, MMORPG elements do not only include story and journey.
Wait a moment though - all the things that you love about Classic, maybe post them on the retail General Discussion and all the things that you hate about Retail see what the reception is. I can assure you that it wont be pleasant but, in your words it’s ‘different views’, no?
Thy are. But they are not needed for RPG to be RPG. As i said above - as many people, as many views on good rpg, but none us can say what degines RPG to one or another. Essentially people play RPGs to be in a role, escape real world and what each person sees that works for them might be very different.
For me a good rpg needs a strong narrative above weapon skills, for ecample.
Im not sure what we are arguing about…lol
I say its wrong when people, be it retail fans or classic “cultists” (as u call them) try to force the “this is the only right thing” upon the other half…
I enjoy classic more than retail. I dont say retail is bad, just what i enjoy the most.
I dont evey say “retail will doe because of classic” because it wont.
There will be players enjoying classic, and players enjoying retail… Just dont try say “you are wrong” when people play something they enjoy…
like OP…
I like you. A lot and whatever wording i may have used in this thread - this post of yours is closest to what i was trying to get trough !
No, BFA is still an RPG.
But having less RPG elements objectively makes it less of an RPG
The OP didn’t say that, man. That’s what I’ve been trying to explain. The OP said, for example: Stop deluding yourself and others and saying that people are much friendlier and nicer in Classic, because that’s not true.
And from my personal experience, they are right! That’s simply not true, because it’s the same exact player base, and because I’ve seen my share of complete rude pricks and a-holes in Classic since launch.
So, no, the message is not that it’s wrong to like or prefer Classic; the message is that you don’t need to lie about Classic or Retail to justify your preference for Classic! You can just like and prefer Classic, period, without telling lies that have to do with comparisons with Retail.
Idk I didn’t see many times that High said that it’s not an RPG whatsoever, so maybe I missed that part somewhere.
My point is that the game has become more linear and lost RPG elements over the years of expansions, note that some like yourself may see them as arbitrary, but most RPG fans like RPGs for specifically all those small things!
Those who don’t but still want to play multiplayer tend to opt to other online games such as mobas, shooters etc. (not always the case of course)
It’s not all black and white in the end either way.
He tells me im deluded due to the social aspect AND people telling their experience on the social part.
I’ve had more social interaction with ppl the few days of classic, than i’ve had the last 5 years of WoW.
Fck sake im even having conversations with random people while we wait for a Q…
Why? Who knows…
I know. It’s because your attitude before you get into something has much more significance and importance than many people give it credit for, and your expectations also play a huge role. Meaning, if at least some part of you expected a better experience before you started playing Classic, if you were happier and more excited than usual just before you started playing Classic and after you started playing it, then all of this affected you in a positive way. It works to a minor degree in text chat or games, in your choice of words and such, and it works to a much, much larger degree in real life, because your very facial expressions, posture, and tone while you talk becomes more cheerful, happier, and inspires those same feelings in the people you talk to, at least most of the time.
This won’t keep working forever as you play the game, so things will even out and you’ll be able to get a more balanced view of the other players around you.
And if nobody has ever stolen a tag from you, or watched you die so they can kill the mobs themselves, in Classic, so far, then consider yourself very lucky, because those are extremely frequent occurrences in this competitive launch period, where elites were competing for world first, and even casuals are competing for spawns and tags.
On the other hand, I went in with a neutral attitude. I was open to any pleasant surprises, but I knew that it’s the same exact player base, so that’s what I was able to see. There’s nothing at all extra friendly about Classic players. They’re a bunch of good, bad, and ugly, and the ratio is almost an exact copy of Retail. And I can see through the hypocrisy when someone says “inv plz” for a named quest mob then leaves without a word. That same person joins dungeons and doesn’t even respond to a “hi” in Retail.
When forum software messed up my responses…
And its true. I can play a role also IRL with pen and paper and be fully immersed, but that is probably due to my real-life job where I am supposed to imagine worlds that do not exist …
So perhaps my criteria reagrding good/bad RPG as whole are so much different due to my creativity that may be a bit different from 'normal people.
It’s possible, and I’m also pretty sure people with similar creative minds are also able to have completely different views and preferences on this
When you pick up new weapon type would you instanly know how to effectiy kill someone? No you wouldnt. Thats why weapon skill exist. It is rpg element for immersion it doeant have to have any deep meaning. It is rpg element what was put into the game for same reason why picking up flowers takes time so you wont damage herb or why you have to mine 1 nod several times becouse in rl you also have to break stone several times to get chunks of ore from it. It makes sense and creates immeraive world.
When on a different gaming forums someone pointed this out to me that my background makes me horrible judge about RPGs I took it as an insult, but later i realised that this statement was more true than 1st glance let me believe. It was not insult, it was actually smart point out that - while I can raise my eyes from computer- and literally see the Darnassus, and I could imagine I wear long dress and speak elven. And then I can draw what I just saw. Just like that. So when I go to game, this undead rogue I know what she can do or cannot do as persona… And thus for me I need the narrative to give me the ‘darnassus’ and describe me the elven lore. Rest becomes much more irrelevant.
And this is to show how complex topic ‘what is a role and roleplaying game for us’ can be.
Retail is not a social game, you just join LFR/LFD/LFG and get a random group from whatever realm got people in the que and thats it. People are not caring about who they join, 1 sec after last boss people leave without saying anything. One of the many mistakes from Blizzard, the realms served as communities. Now in retail there is not community, you hardly see anyone from your realm.
Same goes for flyingmounts, you just fly over everyone with your mount not need to interact or face the dangers on the ground. In classic I see people on the road, on the boats there are always 3 to 4 people traveling. No teleports, 4 type of heartstones etc to get away from people.
The game is as you say not different, but way more basic and you need to socialise to get further. No more easy tools to get into groups which you dont know and dont care about.