Many Earthen Ring players have played World of Warcraft for several years. The game has changed much from its launch in 2004. For fun, let's think back to times with old or broken game mechanics, zones, items, class abilities, imbalance and other game growing pains that we can fondly look on, but thankfully no longer experience!
I remember a time when...
...flight points were not connected, and you needed to click on them manually, one-by-one till you arrived at your desired location.
...when you first mount was acquired at 40, and cost roughly around 100g. This was not cheap at the time, especially if you were a class that also upgraded to mail or plate at the same level.
...when your epic mount was acquired at 60, and cost roughly 1000g to obtain.
...the pally epic mount quest, the copious amounts of mats required. It was a long, long chain, with many mats, and many bosses to kill. LF4M Dire Maul.
...the following phrase or its likeness in Party chat: "Hey guys, someone go to Ironforge and check the LookingForGroup channel in there for a tank."
...the following phrase or its likeness in Party chat: "Hey rogue, are you specced for Sap?"
...Lagforge.
...Saurfang soloing the AQ gate opening event. Several times.
...Shamans being so broken during Patch 1.6, all they needed to do was cast Frostshock, and the procs of Flurry and Windfury would result in automatic win.
...this one as well.
...the original proc and effect of [The Unstoppable Force].
...9 hour Alterac Valley matches, wherein you could hop into the match in the morning, leave, eat lunch, go to work, eat dinner, and hop into the same AV match in the evening.
These are to name a few, there are so many more. These were from Vanilla, but feel free to think back to previous expansions as well.
When Hunters had a melee DoT in their final talent point for Survival.
I remember Tarren Mill and Southshore, when it felt like a battle for survival.
I remember our heroes--level 60s who plowed through Alliance players to defend our lands, and strike back.
I remember the Honor Patch, and the road of bones from Astrannar to Auberdine.
I remember when being on the Horde meant you were probably going to lose, and fighting anyway with a big, black-tooth grin. ;D
-- When queuing up for a Battleground meant forming your own 10-man and standing outside the Battleground instance gate (Ashenvale or Barrens for Warsong, Arathi Highlands for Arathi Basin) and having someone run inside to enter the queue.
-- No duel spec. And it was possible to heal as a feral druid in Molten Core, just not very well.
-- Armor for hybrid classes had all stats on them, from Int to Str. It was possible to be a healer and a tank.
-- No raid IDs, and consequently, no raid extensions. You either did the instance or suffer the reset on Tuesday. 4-day long AQ40's anyone?
-- EVERY Tuesday had a 6-8 hour server maintenance. You had no WoW on Tuesdays.
-- Speaking of long instances: SEVENTY-TWO HOUR ALTERAC VALLEYS!
-- Alliance being the hardcore PvPers and Horde being the n00bs.
-- 40-man raids. Enough said about that.
-- 5-minute paladin blessings... FOR EACH CLASS! (i.e. each paladin had to bless each class-type with a blessing, including pets)
-- Upper Blackrock Spire, Stratholme and Scholomance being 10 to 40 man raids. (All instances were once capable of holding 40 people. Blizzard later changed it to cap at 10)
-- This guy.
Grinding Scarlet Monastery for the money for a mount.
Raids saving to the day you killed your first boss, instead of resetting on Tuesday.
Out of Combat rezzing in raids.
Hunters tanking (Survival used to tank, it was sweet).
One shotting clothies as a hunter (<3 Ashjre'thul, Crossbow of Smiting).
Defending the bridge in AV for ten hours straight. Yes. Ten hours. Then take a break, requeue, get the same AV, repeat!
Running five man dungeons as ten man dungeons and ten man dungeons as fifteen man dungeons.
When Mauradon and Dire Maul were new.
When Devilsaurs ate you alive. D=
When World PvP existed... SS vs TM, Astranaar vs Warsong Lumbermill.
Lykiss... *sigh*
Longarms......................... dieing constantly in AV and feeding the Horde honor grinders.
World PvP chat talking. <3
When the PvP area required a certain rank to unlock the door and enter.
When PvP ranks didn't exist!
Dishonorable Kills!
Ice Barbed Spear <3 <3 <3
Ancient Bone Bow... Y U NO DROP!? h8 Gandling
Um... Imma stop there for now. So much crap behind us now. The game has come a loooooooooooooooong way.
Hehe... the more I read ... the more I reflect. It has been a long road indeed!
Kanta Wildsabre said:
When Hunters had a melee DoT in their final talent point for Survival.
Hey! I *was* that spec for the longest time! Just to buck the trend!
The most savvy captain in all of Azeroth: Captain Placeholder
Scholomance - Took 4-8 hours to do and mobs were packed wall to wall.
Warlock quest for the Dreadsteed. Along with paladins, best class quests ever!
Armor sets before they were labeled with "Teirs". They were the bees knees then.
Hiding from the spawned guards in Tarren Mill by jumping in the pond. The day they learned to swim was a frightening experience.
Plate drops with spirit.
Paladin tanking was "experimental" at best, non-existant at worst.
The Tainted Scar in the Blasted Lands. The demons there could mop the floor with you.
Naxx was in the Plaguelands.
Seduce and Fear had their own diminishing returns.
Staff of Jordan and Robe of Insight - Those were truely epic in the day.
Dieing to Stiches the first time in Duskwood.
Going back to Duskwood to get your revenge on Stiches after hitting 60.
Mobs in Silithus had no loot tables, and there was nearly nothing of interest in the zone.
OMG DEVILSAUR RUN!!!
Tribute Runs.
Frenni said:
Ships kept mysteriously sinking en route. Thousands of lives were tragically wasted. And then came Cap'n Placeholder to save the day.
When you had to farm PvPs all week just to keep the same rank you had the week before.
When the hardest "raid" in the world was trying to get through the last two rooms before Emperor Thaurrisian.
When DM meant Deadmines, and not Dire Maul.
When it took hours to grind a single level just because all the quests were on one side of the zone, and the quest NPCs were on the other.
When Blasted Lands and Azshara were there just for looks because there weren't enough quests to warrant going there.
LEVEL 45- 55 SLUMP! GOOD LUCK FARMING THOSE LEVELS, LOL.
When STV had the best quests for leveling (Just 30 more tigers!), but was almost impossible to level in due to gankers hiding behind that tree.
When as a warlock you had to make due with the crappy voidwalker until level 50, than you got a felguard (WHICH WAS A TANK!) and proceeded to feel awsome till you hit 60.
On that topic, lock tanks using voidwalkers to tank 3d OS
When a loud mechanical screech ment you where about to die in Hellfire. (Oh, no, wait, that still happens)
When you had to do difficult quests to get the Doomguard and the Infernal. When you could summon an Infernal or a Doomguard in a city or a starting zone and 'forget' to enslave it, causing widespread destruction until some warlock enslaved it or a group killed it.
-Keys being used for dungeons, raids, and pretty much everything awesome (Gnomer, anyone?)
-Getting the gryphon glitch after flying into Westfall.
Azhandris Summerwind said:
Ha! I had never heard about this, thank you. My memory of the AQ opening: attempting to fight giant Anubisaths, but the real enemy was Lag, a Lvl ?? mob. Main abilities: Stun, Disconnect.
Valinthras Snakewrithe said:
-- When Sylvanas' model was a night elf.
Yes! When I drum up a mental image of her model, the nelf first comes to mind. Still.
Edit: formatting fail.