Measuring Success
With all of the original content being added to World of Warcraft (WoW), and the next possible Classic expansion pack being announced in a manner of weeks, it’s a good place to look back at all of the experiences we’ve had with the game. It’s not a question of if the game is worth it or not because, of course, it is worth it. It’s more of a question of: Did this version of the Vanilla game patch live up to your expectations? The experience of playing this game was a rollercoaster, and not everything went well with the first try. That being said, you have to admit, it was pretty epic. The game stood the test of time these past 12 months, though many had doubted that the hype would last, even the game’s own developers.
The legendary server queues lasted for a while. Respected forum experts had predicted that it would only take a month until the masses will stop flooding into the game, when their first month of subscription ends. However, the experts and prophets were wrong–huge queues lasted until November 2019, when they finally began to thin out. By that time, the developers opened up a few new servers, which, weirdly enough, nobody really visited. They also increased the server’s capacity to accept more players. Still, the hype hasn’t faded away for some time, it was revived for a second wave when the quarantine kicked in. All responsible workers who moved to work from home often mistook the WoW shortcut with other work-related shortcuts on the desktop, which also increased its popularity. Based on all of those factors, the experiment with reviving Vanilla Wow was successful.
The Spirit of Vanilla
What a lot of players liked about experiencing this older version of the game is the feeling of playing a true RPG. All of the older mechanics in the game that made it more difficult and not very player-friendly at the same time encourages players to really get in the shoes of their chosen characters. It’s hard to get the same feeling in Retail (another WoW expansion) with all of the systems and mechanics that make the game’s interaction with the fantasy world as seamless as possible. The Classic game mode feels nostalgic, while also giving gamers lots of new memories like taking part in the server’s opening, or realizing what it means to farm yourself to sleep. Many gamers witnessed the opening of the Ahn’qiraj Gates opening for the first time, which in itself was one of the most essential events in the history of this game. The paradox of the spirit of Vanilla is an interesting one.
On the one hand, you have the turtle-like speed of leveling in Vanilla, an almost meditative gameplay that creates a unique experience. On the other hand, in 2021, not a lot of us are ready to spend time in something as calm and tranquil. If 15 years ago, this game had too much content, today, it doesn’t have quite enough. We constantly desire to be entertained every second. That being said, there are a lot of ways to speed up the boring routine. One of the best methods to do so is using a WoW Classic boosting that speeds up the progress only when gameplay starts to feel like a drag, making World of Warcraft truly special.
