The solution is very simple. Split the playerbase into slow-paced and fast-paced. Because they are incompatible and don’t play much together anyway. The ones who are in-between can then choose what kind of model fits their playstyle more.
By the way, I’m not talking about someone leveling faster than another player. I don’t care about this. I care about being so far apart that it’s just not fun anymore.
Agree 100%. I dislike the rushing badly. Why cant they just open 3 realms that do not rush the game. I think they would quickly see that the majority of players would be there.
Pardon my French, but what a load of BS.
People will go to TBC if they feel like doing just that. If people feel like playing Era they will play Era.
Why is that a problem? Look at the forums. Everyday people complaining about Anniversary’s fast pace. Soon they will complain about power creep differences, and after that they will demand Fresh. We have listened to this song for ages.
Era broke off that - Even playing field, play at your own tempo and get out of it what you put in.
Do not get me wrong, I am all for people playing anniversary and having a good time. But some of us do not want our progress to become obsolete.
What do you mean by your progress becoming obsolete?
Replacing T3 gear with TBC greens. Ditching Azeroth for Outland or whatever new lands from a new expansion.
I share your deep dislike towards a fast paced release of content. During the Classic re-release, we only had 6-7 resets of AQ before Naxx hit. This exacerbated the loss in population who could not keep up back then…
I never moved my chars to TBC though and decided to stay in Era with my brother and a handful of friends. Best decision we ever made, since it allowed us to be absent from the game for long periods of time and come back and be able to enjoy the game without caring for the “next big thing”.
Hence why Era is different then any other version of WoW. It is true the content is available, but that is its greatest feature. It is also true the power creep can be insane, but nobody can stop somebody from getting to full T3 if they put in the time.
Now, I do not want to take anything away from anybody who wants to be part of the usual WoW cycle. I just got tired of it after almost 20 years, and Era offered me something other versions did not.
Agree! I hate when new expansion hits and you replace something that you have been working for really hard with some random greens. And the FOMO aspect of it, to not lose pace with other players.
Every fresh realm will be fresh for only few months, it’s a circle, and it is not smart to release new servers every now and then.
This is why I like ERA, it’s stable, no new expansions, but can still play it with your own pace and set some goals for yourself. Only wish if it has bigger population, but maybe that changes if they allow people to copy Anniversary characters before TBC. I really hope they will do that, because I would like to continue my journey with this young fellow there.
I agree with you, actually I think we don’t disagree at all. Neither do I want to take anything away.
The only thing I’d enjoy is to make that progress with a new character on fresh servers. Then a few weeks after Naxxramas is released on these fresh servers, they should be merged into Era. I think there are a lot of people who’d enjoy exactly this.
If someone is afraid of replacing raid gear then he should stay in Era. Anniversary will reset the gear but also offer new content. The choice is out there.
To me it’s like an oxymoron within WoW - to complain about it.
In GW2, there are gear tiers - rare, exotic, ascended - and that’s the end of progression, roughly. Level 80 is the max since forever. Thus, it doesn’t get obsolete. Cosmetics, mounts don’t get obsolete.
In WoW, every patch brings power creep. It’s requested, it’s why people play. BWL makes MC obsolete. AQ makes MC obsolete. Naxx makes AQ obsolete. ToC and ICC dungeons made WLK dungeons obsolete.
Expansion greens are a reset - it’s a new game. A new expansion is a new start for everyone. As such, gear from the last tier is largely irrelevant, always, except it makes said tier slightly easier.
People can not like it but it’s in the genes.
The only way to avoid that is to remove power creep. MC is the same as Naxx which is the same as ICC or BT or Firelands. Level 60 epics. (Concept of item level deleted because redundant.)
What would it cost Blizzard to open a few low paced servers with a revisited phase layout to allow those truly nostalgic for vanilla WoW to enjoy all the content they were unable to enjoy or see due to lack time or because they were too late in 2005-2006?
Initial phase: Dungeon set 1, Maraudon
Phase 1: MC, Onyxia (without loot T2) dire maul, dungeon set 2, honor up to rank 5
Phase 2: BWL, rank 11, all BGs
…And so on.
This is just an example, with phases of 3-4 months, to allow everyone to enjoy the content without feeling like they are in race, no FOMO.
I’m willing to bet, even if you hit 60 in may, you’d still find guild or pug running molten core.
Beside, vanilla raiding being 40 man, i’m also willing to be most guild will be continuously recruiting until the last day of vanilla.
T0.5 is statwise better than t1 by far, so putting in T0.5 at the same time as T1 would be insane
This is true. Design-wise, it is the game version of carrot and stick.
Era has massive power creep differences, but at least there is a possibility of reaching the carrot at some point.
A lot of us do not have 4+ hours to play each and every day with the threat of new content looming, limiting our possibility to keep up. In fact and since forever, once BWL is on farm, Fresh Vanilla starts developing massive progression differences that only get wider with the releases of AQ and Naxx.
A lot of people will not be able to kill Kel Thuzad - Not because they wouldn’t like to, but because they will not have enough time.
If I refer to the statistics available on WoWhead:
(Yes I took as an example the set warrior, the one I know best)
T0.5:
T1:
The only difference I see is that as expected, the T1 is tank oriented and the T0.5 dps oriented, for me these two sets are equivalent in their respective role and in no case one makes obsolete the other. They’re complementary. And overall the set T0.5 is much more complicated to have than the set T1.
ps: I looked at the same thing for rogue, here it is even more obvious that the T0.5 is slightly lower than its T1 version.
You only have to play 2-4 hours per week to clear MC and then clear BWL. If someone is compelled to roll on PvP realm and seek “better” parsing guild while not being a parser and unwilling/unable to braindead grind daily then it’s on them.
And why do they have to? Why is everyone expected to clear every tier and get BiS from every tier? That’s the reason why all of WoW classic is botted to the extreme and why people are so obsessed with GDKP.
Even on PvE Thunderstrike people suddenly vanish for 10+ days, some even during a raid, getting the first ban on their accounts 
The game would have to either give one gear set early and never anything new or do quick resets so there is much less incentive/pressure to nolife gearing.
You realize they will rush TBC again right?
Anyway, they need to slow down.
4 months per raid tier was a perfect balance. 11-12 weeks is waaaaay too short.
We didint really see some items drop in that short amount of time. It’s crazy.
The raid tier is over before you got your gear, not to mention you have 0 time to enjoy it.
The idea is getting the gear and then have some fun with it, not just rush the next phase.
Adding 4 extra resets for a raid won’t give you the rare gear you want either. You will have to clear it for another 4 months to get that one item 90% of the raid is after. Then most people aren’t into farming old raids and you will have problems keeping 40 people for AQ40 in a guild. ZG will be the most popular for a reason.
And when BWL comes out you don’t stop running MC/Ony. When AQ40 comes out you are still clearing BWL, not to mention MC Bindings runs.
Sharknado is projecting his own mindset and gear-mania to us, I feel like. Crazy he still doesn’t get the argument is not about getting full bis.
Then tell me what’s the difference between 3 and 4 months between MC and BWL? 
That is only raid time - Prepping for that raid also takes time, and more if resources are hard fought for. I meant however the leveling and getting pre-Bis part, but I get your point.
Not saying anybody has to - But I would bet most would like to complete the game. My point is that people operate at different speeds, while Blizzard rushes content that will inevitably leave people behind.
Or just be there, like Era, with available content and and no end date as to when to complete it. I understand you are not a fan of Era Sharknado, that is clear to me at this point, just saying it is a currently live alternative.