Oh how the world has changed
August 31st, 2009 | by TJ |So Phil and I have both recently picked up WoW again. He’d played more recently than I have, and kept up with patch notes and such, so he was on the receiving end of a lot of comments like “WHY is someone MOUNTED in the WATER?” which is apparently how things are now.
Anyway, it got me thinking about all the different things that changed since the last time I played WoW, plus all the things that changed DURING the time I was playing WoW.
- First of all, I rolled a new lock and immediately put my first 5 points in improved Corruption, because you need instant Corruption, right? Except, I hadn’t even noticed, it was ALREADY instant. CORRUPTION USED TO HAVE A CAST TIME, PEOPLE.
- When I first started playing WoW, warlocks didn’t have shard bags. I don’t have one on that toon now. It’s obnoxious.
- You could only mail ONE THING AT A TIME.
- Did you know that in order to fly anywhere, you had to manually fly from point to point? You couldn’t just choose a destination and automatically go through all the legs of the journey. If you AFK’d while flying, you’d come back and be standing at a flight point only halfway there!
- I saw a level 56 on a Dreadsteed. Something deep inside of me died.
- PHIL HAS A DREADSTEED AND DID NOT GO TO DIRE MAUL TO OBTAIN IT.
- Quest items did not SPARKLE like a fucking VEGETARIAN VAMPIRE IN THE SUN.
- There were no mounts at 20 or whatever is now, and only ONE flight point in STV. Yeah, that’s right. You had to run the ENTIRE length of STV over and over and over. No mount! No flying from top to bottom!
- The quest log only held some small ridiculous amount of quests.
- Drain Soul only worked if the target died while you were using drain soul. Now I’m pulling 3 shards off a single mob? WTF? I DON’T WANT THREE SHARDS, I DON’T EVEN HAVE A SOUL BAG.
- You used to have to be attuned to things, through a laborious process, to get to go to certain dungeons.
- You couldn’t do heroic instances unless you have exhalted or something. That changed while I was still playing to just honored, I think, or else I never would have seen a single heroic.
- WTF is a glyph, people? WTF IS A GLYPH?
Anyway, I am sure if you have been playing WoW for any length of time, you can come up with more. For people who have been playing longer than I have (4 years), I am sure you’ve got some good ones, too.
I feel like a cranky old man in the game these days.
“In MY day, we hald to WALK through STV! Uphill! BOTH WAYS! And when I took a flight or got on my mount? My summoned demon went away! AND I DIDN’T GET THE SHARD BACK. AND? When you sac’d your Voidwalker? HE DIED. DIED! He DIED so you could have that puny little bubble! YOU KIDS THESE DAYS DON’T KNOW HOW GOOD YOU HAVE IT!”
By Sass on Aug 31, 2009
I know this feeling well, but I have to say it makes alt lvling much nicer. I can’t make up my mind whether I want to scream at the damned whipper snappers to get the hell of my lawn, or just join them.
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By Ailis on Aug 31, 2009
Flying in Outland at level 60. WTF? In my day…. *grumble grumble*
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By TJ on Aug 31, 2009
Ailis – You can do WHAT? WHAAAT? Oh crap, where are my heart pills.
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By Rattavong on Aug 31, 2009
Oh and the first level flying mount moves at 150%, not 60%!!
gone are the days that your land mount was faster then your first flying mount!
Oh and Druids can TRAIN epic flight…instead of questing for it!!
/wave cane
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By Delicia on Aug 31, 2009
I feel your pain. Although the recent changes (including Bind-on-Account items that scale as you level, and getting XP in Battlegrounds) make leveling much faster, I feel like Blizz has handed us the equivalent of an in-game Dunce Cap. Can I get a refund for the thousands of gold I’ve spent on mounts in the last 5 years?
-Del
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By Strumpet101 on Aug 31, 2009
You can get past level 225 cooking without doing the QUEST?!? WTF.
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By lenebean on Aug 31, 2009
Wow. I didn’t understand a single thing you said. WoW is a whole different language!
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By Adlib on Aug 31, 2009
I play a mage, but back in the day when it would have been handy we didn’t have a portal to Theramore…now we do! Think of the time saved getting to Onyxia…but we’ll apparently get to go back so there is that.
It is kinda funny to read your post and realize just how much has changed, especially the flight path stuff.
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By Watermist on Aug 31, 2009
Haha. I’ve been playing since 2005 like you, and man, I remember those things. Here’s mine:
“Back in the day, we didn’t get our FIRST mount UNTIL level 40 – and MOST of us didn’t even HAVE the money for it until level 45! It used to cost NEARLY 100 gold, people! Man, you have it easy today! *grumble grumble*”
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By Grimmtooth on Aug 31, 2009
…
Wait, Sac doesn’t kill the blueberry now?
WHAT KIND OF WORLD DO WE LIVE IN, PEOPLE.
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By Melchoir on Aug 31, 2009
I remember back when resto druids never switched forms, raids were 40-man, you could 15-man Blackrock Spire, and rogues had to spec 3 points into improved sap to have a 90% not to drop stealth when using it. I also remember when you could not possibly attempt any instance or raid without the appropriate form of crowd control.
And if you think all the changes so far are big, make sure you check out the trailer for the next expansion pack: Cataclysm.
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By Nellisynthia on Aug 31, 2009
… and its not even “What do you mean Soul link no longer adds +05% damage …”
… it’s “you mean Soul Link Lasts more than 30 seconds?”
Mezzy and I remember that.
I remember being the shock and surprise when deep in Molten Core the raid Leader called out to me andsaid “Congradulations Nelli, the pattern for the Core Felcloth Bag is yours!”
Which was followed by a great slaughter of demons up in the various Jadefire territories …
All I have to do is look at my signature picture in our guild forums, where I snared a picture of Nelli and Mezzy on their adventures. No helm (and no, I didn’t know you could turn off helm display at the time), some cloth armor that was blue – no, not Blue-blue, but it really was blue colored … and now going “I actually was able to level in THAT?”
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By David on Aug 31, 2009
“There were no mounts at 20 or whatever is now, and only ONE flight point in STV. Yeah, that’s right. You had to run the ENTIRE length of STV over and over and over. No mount! No flying from top to bottom!”
Horde have always had 2 flight points in STV, one in Grom’Gol and one in Booty Bay. And Grom’Gol is a much more prime location for a flight point than the rebel camp… and people don’t believe me when I say that horde have (and have always had) an easier time leveling.
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By JdJdJd on Aug 31, 2009
In MY day…
Hunter pets did not go away when you mounted and some pets were better then others (not all the same stats).
AV could take hours (or in come cases days) to complete.
You LOST honor and rank if you didn’t PVP regularly
The battles in South Shore / Tarren Mill were huge.
Questing in Stranglethorn Vale on a PVP server was pure hell some days and hella fun on others.
The trip from Darnassus to Stormwind took forever the first time…there was NO DAMN BOAT.
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By Figworth on Aug 31, 2009
AKSshardmax may help with your shard problems. It limits the number in your inventory, deletes new ones automatically, and you can choose in which bag slot they go into.
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By Palladiamors on Aug 31, 2009
I remember when there were no quest givers in Forest Song. I remember when there were no goblins in Dustwallow. I remember Stratholme and Scholomance being ten mans, and being proud to do them five man with slip-shod groups I’d just tossed together. I remember when warriors were the only tanks anyone considered. I remember when all retribution paladins could do was auto attack, seal of command, and judge. I wasn’t playing at that time, but I remember DWARVEN MAGES in alpha. Or was it beta? Or both? I remember when Spirit bond used to be the hunter 41 point talent. When mana tide totem was the 41 point restoration shaman talent. I remember when feral cat form didn’t have an out of stealth stun. I remember TRIBUTE RUNS in Dire Maul. …..I remember when Scarlet Monastary was new, and there was no Dire Maul. I remember the class rebalancing patches back in the day, when everyone got a free respec. I remember the opening of Zul’Gurub and AQ.
I probably remember more, but have currently forgotten.
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By Furbsthebear on Aug 31, 2009
And when you died, your ghost moved at normal run speed!
And You had to go to Theramore to do a First Aid quest to get Mageweave Bandages. Nobody ever finished that trauma quest first time!
You had to go into the city or to the battleground Master to queue up for a battleground!
You had to carry around wood, and flint and tinder if you wanted to start a fire!
You had to mine a node sometimes 5 or 6 times to get all the ore/minerals out of it!
Paladin Seals had to be refreshed for every attack, and they only lasted 30 seconds each!
Food would only give you stamina and spirit buffs, and occasilonally health or mana per 5 seconds. Never Hit Rating or Armor Penetration.
Back in my day, Warsong Gulch would last for hours, all for 1 lousy mark if you lost, and 3 for a win. AV would last for days! And there was no Eye of the Storm, Strand of the Ancients, nor Lake Wintergrasp. In fact, PVP would often consist of battles between Southshore and Tarren Mill, and you didn’t get marks or money for it.
Back in my day, one didn’t spend hours and hours running around on a mount, poking undead things with a stick and call it “jousting”. We would get off the mounts, go into Strathome, and beat undead things with our hands and weapons. And we would get bone fragments, and abomination stitchings, and we would be happy about it dang it!
Back in my day, the bridge that ran into Lakeshire had huge gaping holes in it, and it was barely safe to traverse.
Back in my day, we had to use “crowd control”, and running a heroic would take an hour or more.
Back in my day, if I wanted to get from Darnassus to Stormwind, I’ had to take the boat to menethil, and then run to Ironforge (until I Got the Flightpath) and then take the tram to Stormwind.
Back in my day, Clams didn’t stack. And then Clams stacked, but Clam MEAT didn’t stack! So you would have a backpack full of clams. Damn clams!
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By Riverter on Aug 31, 2009
All I have to say is how many of us spent tons of hard to get gold, and pots to do the DK45? Or better yet to get our .5 set!
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By Palladiamors on Aug 31, 2009
Oh the .5 set……a right of passage…..
And I knew I forgot something! Seals used to be consumed every time you judged! Seal of the Crusader! One judgement spell, that changed based on the seal! Thank you for reminding me of those times, Furb.
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By Roast on Aug 31, 2009
I remember when leveling an alt was just as challenging as leveling your main was, except you had a bit more gold. Now if you want an alt you buy some heirlooms, send it 4 bags and 100 gold and it zooms through the old world at nearly 3 times the speed, and flying mounts at 60 in Hellfire and Zang are FREAKING Awesome.
Just sayin’
Though, it would have been nice to see at least some kind of attunement process required for the end game like there was before. Maybe not AS hard, but probably harder then “Ding, I’m 80! Can I get an invite to a raid please?”
Just sayin’
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By TJ on Aug 31, 2009
WTF IS AN HEIRLOOM?
OH GOD EVERYTHING I KNOW IS WRONG.
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By Luckedout on Aug 31, 2009
In the expansion Warlocks won’t have to worry about storing shards and they won’t be used nearly the same way. Hunter’s won’t use mana, they’ll use focus. The old world of Azeroth will be changes completely. You better get your ‘old time sakes’ runs in now, because it’s all going away.
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By JdJdJd on Aug 31, 2009
Here’s what you know but should forget…..
The ogres in Loch Modan are all elites….except not anymore
The quest chain in Jintha’Alor to get the mallet to summon Gahz’Rilla in Zul’Farrak is a long hard trek through elite mobs up to the top…except the mobs aren’t elite and you don’t need the mallet anymore anyway.
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By Nellisynthia on Aug 31, 2009
… and in My Day the hippogriff flight from Darnassus to Feathermoon took three days and came with an inflight movie, because, being raised by druids, the silly hippogriffs just had to look at every tree and squirrel (SQUIRREL!) along the way …
Wait.
It’s STILL like that!
See, some things don’t change!
**giggle**
(By the great gear, the griffon flights north from Theramore prove that Dwarves are the best when it comes to training their flying mounts …)
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By Asara on Aug 31, 2009
Oh man, I miss that about pets not despawning when you were mounted. I mean, how cool would it be to be a hunter on a wolf, with a wolf pet, and a baby worg companion following you around? *sigh* Or, you know, having and riding a Hobbes at the same time.
And you know, sometimes I miss having to use a quiver for the haste. I love the extra bag space, and the bigger stacks, but.. yeah.
But the biggest thing for me is that when I first got WoW, I was on dial-up. IF was BUSY back then, I had to stare at the floor and zoom all the way in to get from the bank to the AH. I have had two computers since that one, and why? Because I want WoW to look prettier, damn it!
And how about a 5-hour Emp run in BRD? Yeah, I did that. Once. *shudder*
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By girliegeek on Aug 31, 2009
Remember way back before the Lich King and before Outlands and before there were summoning stones?
Yeah. You HAD to lave a lock in the group to individually summon people (none of this lock portal business) or everyone had to run there.
*Sigh*. I miss those days some times.
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By Palladiamors on Aug 31, 2009
Things are easier now, sure. But some days I have to wonder if easier really is better.
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By Osethme on Aug 31, 2009
Just for a peek at the old talents:
http://wowvault.ign.com/View.php?category_select_id=8&view=Talents.View.Beta
I vaguely remember them…I’ve been playing since beta…and all the changes is a lot of information to keep in mah heed! ;)
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By RabidCoqui on Aug 31, 2009
Everything’s too easy now. Every time something gets added at the high-end they remove some difficulty from the lower end so that you can reach said high-end content fast. Makes me wonder how someone new to the game sees it… must seem like there’s no challenge other than time to get things done… and even that gets shortened every time.
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By Phil on Aug 31, 2009
For the record I had all of the mats and the quest chain mostly complete, to get Dreadsteed. I remember getting my first mount at 40 something and being ecstatic, and so very happy that I did not have to run again. when I first started playing that was what kept me from running rampant with alts.
I have been playing off and on since 2005.
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By midian on Aug 31, 2009
Remember a life without Dual Talent specs?
When the raid needed a healer or more DPS you had to run back to the trainer to “Respec” everytime…… sigh
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By Trixie on Aug 31, 2009
Someone already mentioned 40-man raids, but remember when pally buff were only 5 mins IN those 40-man raids?
Or trying to get a group that would stay together long enough just to make it to Dire Maul, much less successfully run it? Ahem, this is *before* LFG channel AND summoning stone.
8-hour BRD runs and STILL not finishing?
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By Bernie on Aug 31, 2009
OMG! If my Grandfather played WoW he would sound just like you. Wait until you see how ridiculously easy those unattuned heroic dungeons are.
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By Tay on Aug 31, 2009
I remember, way back when, raiding MC and we’d be WAY down by Major Domo or something and have to replace a couple people. You could summon… with a lock.. OUTSIDE the instance. None of this summon directly into the instance nonsense. I remember my guild had alt level 20+ish toons sitting at thorium point ready to be logged on and summon people for those occasions. (lock summon was lvl 20)
Pallies could use Divine Shield and BoP back to back. No Forbearance.
Pure Dps classes were the ONLY ones who dpsed in raids. Druids, Pallies, Priests, and Shaman all healed. The only tanks were warriors. Rogues were the only melee dps.
Hunters didn’t even bother with their pets sometimes. At least from what I remember.
The onyxia attunement was 95% of the reason why people even bothered with BRD.
Outside a lot of instances there were elite mobs.
Summon stones (then called meeting stones) were put there sometime in vanilla to just let you know what levels the nearby instance was for, I think.
It wasn’t uncommon to get a few hundred kills in AV if you stayed in there for a good length of time. There were TONS of AFKers.
There were no raid marks (skull, X, triangle, etc). /assist macros ftw.
Thats just the stuff that popped into my head while reading the comments. Cheers to the old-timers.
~Tay
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By Bo on Sep 1, 2009
I remember the first Shaman revamp, I remember when the Bears in the Dwarf starter zone had an Ice Claw attack (OK, that was in beta though). I also remember the 100g regular 60% mounts that there was no way you could afford at level 40. I got ganked by Southshore raiding parties clearing Tarren Mill. I remember being enough of a noob to look at epic crafting items and drooling.
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By Marylin/Softi on Sep 1, 2009
Lol I know *exactly* what you mean… I think the same way sometimes… I remember the days when Balance was a HARD spec to level by… no moonkin back then! ;)
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By Cassini on Sep 1, 2009
The key to Searing Gorge. That is all.
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By Ambrosyne on Sep 1, 2009
FIVE MINUTE PALADIN BUFFS.
asjhdasjdjasdjksdjahsdjka.
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By Thistleseer on Sep 1, 2009
Remember when the only sheep spell a mage had was…sheep? No pigs, cats, turtles, bunnies, or other critters?
There were no raid icons available in five mans? “Mage, you sheep the shadowmancer on the left…the little one. Rogue, you sap the shadowmancer on the right. Everyone else attack the middle target” (and praying people were actually reading party chat for instructions)
Mages had to conjure stacks and stacks and stacks of food and water for raiding?
Wiping on a boss in Scholo meant you had to reclear the front half of the instance to get back to your boss since it had all taken so long?
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By TheWicked on Sep 1, 2009
I started shortly before BC came out and I remember being amazed at seeing people in full epics.
I remember when rep grinds were hard. What’s a Daily?
If you truly want to freak out go read the coverage from blizzcon about Cataclysm.
Worgen and Goblins?
Humans can be hunters?
Tauren can be pallys?
Guilds have levels and talent trees?
W T F ?
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By Old times ... good times on Sep 1, 2009
In beta, Rogues could use shields. No joke!
Could of things about ressurection back during MC times … if you released, there was no maximum range for res. And here’s the big one … starting a fight didn’t put the entire zone into combat. So I remember on certain fights purposefully leaving certain players out of combat so they could res the people that died.
I remember when our server merged with another, and people came over in FULL tier 0 gear (the blue stuff) and being amazed, because our server wasn’t that “advanced” yet.
I remember wiping as a 15 man group in LBRS.
I solo’ed Onyxia the other day, and it really struck me because I remember wiping, wiping, wiping with 40 people back in the day. Good grief!
I remember back BEFORE the honor system when people PvPed simply for the enjoyment. And then when they instituted it, the battles back and forth for SS and TM.
And when AV first came out, those battles took days. Kvorak was a beast and people would train him onto you if they didn’t like you.
I remember hitting exalted in AB (you used to be able to get great rewards for rep). And then them increasing the amount of rep you get per game. And then again. But even more … I remember when you didn’t get anything for losing a BG.
I remember when they redid all the horde epic mounts so they would have armor on them, and removed the Ivory and Mottled Red Raptor … and because I couldn’t decide which new one to exchange my Ivory raptor for, I simply didn’t. And that was one of hte best decisions EVER.
I remember them adding world bosses and the griefing that ensued whenever anyone tried to take them down (PvP server).
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By Dzarrgul on Sep 3, 2009
I remember when everythiing was ASCII…and you had to choose warrior, mage, or ranger. When potions couldn’t be used during battle, when you couldn’t run away, only ‘flee’. When you didn’t hearth, you ‘recalled’…except when you were ‘too busy fighting!’…I remember N,E,S,W…and occasionally U and D. I remember all that once was…I’ll take my Drake now, thank you.
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By Jason R. Peters on Sep 10, 2009
TJ comments how “heroics used to require”…I played before there was such a thing as “heroic” dungeons. Or “honor points”. I vividly remember the day honor points were introduced.
Forget about AV taking forever. Those may have been younger days, but the true old hats remember days when there weren’t any BATTLEGROUNDS. Zero.
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By Bubba on Sep 18, 2009
Key to Searing Gorge? Try a key to Vex Thal. =)
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By dave on Oct 8, 2009
I remember spending +20 minutes trying to assign targets for warlock banishes on Garr in Molten Core.
There were no raid icons, and he has 8 adds that move around him in a circle. The raid leader would target one, then have a player select him, then assist target. Repeat this for each target. Inevitably, someone would lose their target and we’d have to start over.
/old.
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