Playing the latest expansion made me realize how easy the game has become. You can level though the expansion casually in a week and gear up in full epics in a month time.
Starting in February 2005, it took me a couple of months to even reach level 60. After that it took a long time to get enough blues to even think about raiding.
It was all so much slower and chill back then.
Wiping in a dungeon in the current expansions results in people leaving without saying a word. Heck, joining a dungeon using the lfg tool requires no communication. I've completed dungeons with the latest expansion without anyone saying a word in the party chat.
Wiping in dungeons in vanilla was part of the experience and people were fine with it. Dungeons that took multiple hours where common. Nowadays people are rushing to finish the dungeon within 30 minutes.
The sense of community is lost nowadays. Back in the days on my first server I knew every large guild, famous people with good gear and the pvpers of the opposite faction. You where stuck together on the server because you've invested a lot of time in your character. It also forced you to build a good reputation to be invited in groups and raids.
Honestly one of the main things is that there is "ceiling" in terms of gear progression - I like that I wont be punished for not playing everyday or pushing high level content everyday or whatever. Gives me more time to go do things like professions or gold making or PvP. And that's another point - I guess PvP is more "balanced" seeing as there isn't an ever shifting loot table.
This - while I am still playing retail, I think this is a huge thing for me - a ceiling.
In classic, you're just an adventurer. Your impact is small, but noticeable.
You hit the nail on the head with this one.
I’d like to add that everything matters in Classic. You farm linen cloth on retail? Who cares. You farm ANYTHING in Classic, it’s worth something to someone. You don’t need any professions in retail. Can you even imagine NOT picking a profession in Classic? You’ll be missing out! Everything is so impactful and that’s awesome. Especially important for people who work fulltime and only have a few hours to play per day (like me).
The fact that I can do whatever I want when I want and the only progress that's hindered is the expectations I set for myself. There are no outside factors inside the game that is making me feel penalized for not participating at that point in time. If I want to fish all day instead of gearing up, that's perfectly acceptable and it's my choice to "set myself back" instead of the game making me feel punished for doing so.
The whole experience...again. The feeling of achievement from the things that you did without being rewarded with "achievements". The amount of time to gear cap in vanilla took so much longer than it does in BFA and felt so much more rewarding back then. Your guild would celebrate your victories in leveling and gear with you. That aspect is mostly gone now.
There were no daily quests. Daily quests involved you getting your ass outside and gathering mats to craft or sell for gold.
In BFA I have to do a hundred quest chains to unlock certain areas or content. In vanilla it was all there ready for you to go find for yourself.
There are so many things I am looking forward to.
The whole experience...again. The feeling of achievement from the things that you did without being rewarded with "achievements". The amount of time to gear cap in vanilla took so much longer than it does in BFA and felt so much more rewarding back then. Your guild would celebrate your victories in leveling and gear with you. That aspect is mostly gone now.
There were no daily quests. Daily quests involved you getting your ass outside and gathering mats to craft or sell for gold.
In BFA I have to do a hundred quest chains to unlock certain areas or content. In vanilla it was all there ready for you to go find for yourself.
There are so many things I am looking forward to.
** Ditto ** (seriously, Ditto)
The social aspect of the game. Simply meeting people you shortly quested with, ran a low level dungeon or helped when attacked by the other faction. Only to meet them again days or weeks later and remembering their name and going "Oh yeah, I remember you, he helped me before". Just making friends along the way and building some sort of networks of good people.
The world! I think many people forgot how important a cohesive world is for an MMO. It will feel alive and much bigger than current WoW and that is great.
And lastly: The small and simple things. Finding people for a dungeon or elite quests and getting through it. Maybe picking up some loot too and feel your character progress in a meaningful way.