What vanilla did better than retail over the years and what retail over the years done better than vanilla?

WoW Classic WoW Classic General Discussion
1

What vanilla did better than retail over the years and what retail over the years done better than vanilla?

That’s a big @$$ question with every person having different opinion hence why fanbase is so split between retail, Wotlk classic and Classic Era. So feel free post your own thoughts and I will post my own.

Before I go more into detail I would like to say a few words about my WoW total experience. That ranged from mid TBC back in 2007 where I was an average raider until Wotlk to casual BFA with gaps here and there for Cata/Pandaria/Legion and after BFA I didn’t play at all except for fresh Classic release until mid TBC and now I am back in Classic Era. So my knowledge will be limited but still I have very good comparison as the game evolved so please take to consideration that my view might be outdated since I have not experienced new solutions introduced in later expansions after BFA.

So personally what vanilla (todays Classic Era) did well for me was a very high learning curve. Going there, having that skill tree trying to figure out what will work best for your personal experience was great. I know DF introduced that skill trees back but like I said I didn’t play it so I can’t comment on that in detail.

Another thing vanilla did well was lack of PvP gear, resilience stat. Again I know it was later scrapped or changed (don’t track that no more) I fully understood that certain people enjoyed PvP rather than PvE but I think rewards should be the same for both raiding and bgs/arenas. Same tier sets with same exact stats. I mean if you are skilled PvPer you had an edge in world pvp anyway, you didn’t need extra layer of resilience. That’s my point of view. But that’s what I think later killed world pvp. Lack of desire going out having fun PvP duels if you were a raider simply because there were hardcores in PvP gear having upper hand each time.

Another thing Vanilla did well for me was attunement quests for raids. I enjoyed them including dreaded Jailbreak. Something that expands on the lore, causes interactions between players to group and conquer content together. I think that was spot on.

What retail did better. What retail personally did better for me was class diversity. Each class who could heal/tank/dps had all their roles viable. Some people argued that by making each class specs in line for example ret paladin on par with fury warrior in vanilla has taken away the class identity. I disagree with that, it wasn’t fun having 20 fury warriors in 40 ppl raiding group. And they were there just because they were op but you still had people out there that would enjoy playing ret pally or moonkin thus making raid group more equal in classes participating and loot distribution would be also far easier.

Another great retail thing I recall was dual spec. Even today in Classic Era when trying to group people for Maraudon we managing to get that dps, heal and then 30 minutes spamming chat with no luck for tank. In between we finding out that one of the dps got some tank gear on him and could tank it but its not viable to go back respecing. And I feel the same, I would many times step in as a tank and help out the group. Dual spec also is great for questing when most kills quest benefits greatly from dps spec.

And another thing is…graphics. Yes I know vanilla is vanilla but cmon most of us do not own calculators which we had back then playing vanilla. Just bring it in line with retail.

There is of course more bigger and smaller things between vanilla and retail which I did not mention and for which I greatly apologise but I just woke up and thought I will make this thread to see what people think. I will update it over the time.

2

Vanilla keeps me subbed/playing. Retail didn’t.

6 Likes
3

Vanilla > Retail

  • I feel like basic stats itemization has a more noticeable impact over your general gameplay. you feel it when you gain +100 armor or +2 damage per second on weapons.
  • I miss weapon speed in retail. Weapons in retail are so blend we do not put any regards on secondary stats. Sure, it’s probably harder to balance and most classes would not even see the difference, but those who could would be nicely affected, build-making wise (DH with Demon blades, warriors, rogues…). I think it’s a nice part of the itemization/build making that as been abandoned over the years. There is something unique playing the slower over the fastest weapon of the patch (Or vice-versa) that as been lost.
  • The overall flow of leveling (As a content to play) is far better in Vanilla than in retail. the Retail leveling speed is so fast you don’t really enjoy each level and look forward for the next. The re-implementation of talent tree helped, but the xp rate is still too fast in my taste.

Vanilla < Retail

  • If you want a reroll to be ready to play in endgame fast, the leveling is so fast it’s now just a matter of one big afternoon. It contradict my precedent point, but this is either a good or a bad thing, depending of what goal you have with each character.
  • Transmog collection is my true endgame. It makes me crazy not having it in Classic.
  • The gameplay is more diversified and far better designed overall.
  • The storytelling methods are just straight better (scripted and voice acted quests, cinematics, cutscenes, environmental storytelling…)
  • As someone who dislike the Raid-logging style, i like having something do do every time i come online. DF steped-back on that point, but it’s still far better than Vanilla that had no point playing outside of raid and comp farm after 2-3 months.
  • The implementation of the Action mode and the interact button as been such a great QoL feature i cannot play Classic anymore. while before it felt like just a different gameplay, now playing classic feel like playing a clear downgrade that can’t even be fixed by addons.
3 Likes
4

I will try to list only things that Retail is doing better than Vanilla as I am sure there will be plethora of people to point out every single pro of Vanilla over Retail (and mostly I will tend to agree with them).
Plus, I recently switched from Classic (having played since launch up until Ulduar) to Retail (where I haven’t played since WoD) so everything is still fresh to me.

  • Cross-realm and cross-faction pretty much everything.
    This fixes almost entirely all the socio-economic problems of realm seggregation. Population, A:H balance, open world activities, sustainable future population, character migration - everything is obsolete and you can enjoy the realm you have been playing on for more than a dacade without all these worries.
    During my Classic stint, I had to switch realms 4 times - FOUR TIMES - because, out of the blue, they just died by either having no population at all or my faction suddenly diciding to migrate to a megaserver because of some top guilds doing so. This is beyond ridiculous and it is such a relief I no longer have to worry about that.
  • Mythic dungeons
    Finally, 5-man content for raiders. Reminiscent of TBC’s heroic dungeons. Less time-consuming while providing gear on par with raiding.
  • PvE difficulty variation in general
    With normal, heroic, mythic, mythic+ all the way to >20 keys dungeons and normal, heroic and mythic raids + raid size scaling - everyone can find end-game content to do whatever their free time and willingness to put effort is.
    I cannot express well enough how much of game-changer this is for adult people.
  • PvP variation
    It is insane! Rated battlegrounds, skirmishes, brawls, epic battlegrounds - how do you return to afk spamming AVs for HKs ?!?
  • Combat playstyle and animations
    Retail has leaned towards a more hack-n-slash RPG style when it comes to combat and I think that’s a good thing. It is muuuuch more dynamic, visually appealing and fast-paced.
    I have mained a paladin all my time playing WoW and I couldn’t be happier how the new spells feel. It’s so so so nice and pleasing. I will ask again - how do you return to afking between each Judgement cds ? Warriors and rogues feel especially nice in Retail. Casters have stayed relatively the same, but the spell visuals are on another level, which is my next point.
  • Graphics in general
    I have never played WoW solely because of the graphics, but, oh boy, are they stunning. New zones on max settings are just beautiful. Every inch of the world is full of details and graphic assets. The zones in old versions of WoW seem just filled with so much dead space. Just a plain field with a ground texture on. None of that is present anymore.
  • The sheer amount of content
    You are not forced to do anything besides raiding and pvp to feel the end-game, but you can do so much more if you choose to do so. Exploration, achievements, cosmetics, pet battles and my personal favourite - collecting old pve/pvp tiers for appearances.
  • Toys and miscellaneous stuff
    This has a high chance of being a totally unpopular opinion, but with the addition of all different toys and gadgets, you feel much more engaged with your surroundings and you participate in your environment in a higher level.
    For example, it may sound stupid af, but I recently got a toy that creates me a small boat when I am swiming in water. How is that not awesome ? :smiley:

I will stop here as it is getting like a wall of text that nobody will read, but Retail feels like a more complete and polished game than Vanilla (Classic). The end.

6

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.