No, it’s not just nostalgia. It’s true that I joined World of Warcraft in 2010, but back then I played on a private server and didn’t have the whole experience. Now it’s like playing the expansion for a first time properly and I just see why WOTLK is considered the best one. It just got many things right. Here’s my list.
- Phasing and new questing technologies - without overusing them.
I’m thinking about Avatar - while not the first 3D movie, it was the first modern one and it made 3D movies mainstream. When it was released I thought that cinema will be ooh and aah from now on, only to be disappointed the years that followed. Avatar was great because many things fit well and worked great.
WOTLK does use the modern technologies like phasing, but not overusing them. It still relies on the old questing method - quests are challenging, drops are not guaranteed, and there are group quests (which were abandoned forever after Cataclysm). We have some great questlines like the Angrathar in Dragonblight or Hemet Nesingwary’s in Sholazar, but still some hard to do group countent.
- WOTLK was the only time ever flying was implemented well…
And by saying that I really mean it. We got flying in BC for a first time, but it was available as soon as you hit max level. In WOTLK flying is well implemented within the questing zones. The first 7 levels rely on ground exploration, but 77-80 zones (Icecrown and Storm Peak) are created specifically with the intention to fly. Thus flying was part of the immersion of the game.
Blizzard was never ever able to replicate that feeling. In Cataclysm it was released as soon as the expansion appeared, and people complained the world feels small. In post-Cataclysm era Blizzard gated it behind a meta achievement that forced me to play the game thoroughly before releasing flying as a reward. But I don’t need flying as a reward, I need it to play the freaking game! By the time flying appears, I’m already bored of WoW.
- People cared about the story.
Part of the success for this is due to the fact that WOTLK builds upon the foundation laid by RTS game and this cannot happen anymore, because Blizzard no longer creates Warcraft RTS games. People loved Warcraft 3, they cared about Arthas, wanted to know how the story would unfold. And after that Blizzard never managed to create a story people cared about… Endless retcons didn’t help the writers either and people lost the connection with the game.
- The presence of the main villain is felt everywhere in the game.
Yes, there are side stories and quests in WOTLK. Wolvars, gorlocks, turkarr, the drakkari zombie apocalypse, the blue dragon madness… But guess what? You never forget that Arthas is your main villain during questing. Horde-side, the first two zones (Howling Fjord and Dragonblight) are specifically dedicated to the new plague and the story leading to angarthar. Then you have Zul’Drak and the plagued trolls story. Even if you go to Sholazar Basin you find that the undead are descending there.
In Cataclysm you easily forget that Deathwing is your main villain. Instead, you’re forced to follow and care about the Alliance-Horde relationship, the Thrall wedding, his inner battles etc. Even though Garrosh was promised to be the end boss ever since MOP was announced… before the first major patch it was all about hozen, jinyu and side stories (excluding the Jade Forest beginning and very ending which brought some parts of the conflict)…
- Everything about game mechanics made sense, was easy to understand and easy to follow, while the challenge was still there. Ordinary, epic items, emblems, gearing… dual talent, etc…
These are my points.