Well, it has been over a month and I can say that I’m a little tired of Classic WoW, but at the same time I’m getting tired of retail WoW again as well.
As I’m playing back and forth between retail and classic, it just doesn’t seem to draw me in like it used to, whether that’s because I’m no longer in the 12-17 year old demographic or maybe I just have less time then I used to to play games and it makes me less invested.
In this post I’ll list and describe in detail some of the features that WoW included in expansions after WoW Classic. The features included: different playable races, different classes, level increase, flying mounts, achievements, archaeology, pet battles, PVP vehicles, and raid finder.
The different playable races were an a big draw when they first came out. People were originally limited to 4 races per faction. If you were on the Alliance side you could only pick Human, Dwarf, Gnome, and Night Elf. If you were on the Horde side you could only pick Orc, Tauren, Troll, or Undead. When the first expansion came out you could pick a brand new race for each side and they brought their own stories.
It seemed like in every other expansion a new class would become available, this would also draw interest, an entirely new class that could add new dynamics to fights and groupings. Original classes were Priest, Warrior, Druid, Mage, Warlock, Shaman, Paladin, and Rogue. New classes that were introduced included: Death Knight, Monk, and Demon Hunter. These classes offered more opportunities and chances to play in different ways.
In addition to all of the different features every expansion would offer, they would always have a level increase. For those who might not know, levels increase your base stats and the higher your stats, the more powerful you are. Making the main way for people to get the most powerful characters and equipment was to explore and make your way through each expansion.
Flying mounts were a BIG HIT when they were first introduced. In WoW classic you could only have a mount in the sense of a non-flying mount. You could get from point A to point B by using a predetermined flight path, but never with your own flying mount. When the mounts were introduced everybody wanted one and people went everywhere once they got them. Not only were they a big hit, but depending on which one you rode on, it was a kind of status symbol. Some mounts could only be obtained through special events and completing challenging objectives. Needless to say, flying mounts had multiple layers to them.
Achievements are another major development in the entire WoW system that changed the game permanently. Do you ever have numerous statistics that you’ve done in a game that doesn’t add to your character’s strength or the main story line in any way? That is essentially what the achievement system is about. It would be anything from hitting someone with a snowball during a winter event, fishing one of every type of fish in the world, completing all of the main quests in an area, or beating the hardest raid boss in the world at the time. Every achievement would give you points and the points were primarily a status symbol. There are some achievements that would give titles and mounts as well.
Archaeology was a pretty minor aspect when compared to the other features expansions would give after WoW classic. Archaeology had you search all over the worlds for artifacts for each race that didn’t really have any value to them. How did this feature work with tracking down the artifacts, you might ask? Well, what it really cracked down to was just a game of hot and cold. You would go to a archaeology area and get a notification if you were getting warmer or colder to finding an artifact and then dig it up when you got close enough.
Now we come to battle pets, this is one that people tend to really criticize, or at least they talk about it a lot. This feature doesn’t have any influence on the main story line or increase your character’s stats in any way. What pets used to be in WoW were just little animals that hovered around you and they really didn’t do anything else. After one of the expansions they became a lot more. They essentially became a full blown Pokemon rip off. Now you might think that I’m being unfair with that analogy, but take this into consideration. You run around with pets of different types that all have special attacks. The types that the pets area can be weak or strong against other types. You can purchase pets or go out and capture them by battling them and you can only have a limited number on you when you fight. You can also fight against other players’ pets. Now tell me how that is not like Pokemon?
PVP, or player vs player, vehicles were another interesting aspect that entertained a lot of people when they were first introduced. The usual mass PVP games that WoW had were capture the flag, king of the hill, and resource acclimation. Then there was an expansion that introduced fort defense and offense with vehicles that could be operated. There were a few different vehicles that could be operated, one of fast attack with less defense, one that was in the middle, and one that was essentially a big siege tank. This new PVP aspect really drew people in and added more to the game.
One of the BIGGEST changes that players probably wept tears of joy for when they understood what it meant was raid finder. Now imagine for a minute that you are a gamer and one of the main things you want to do when you’re playing is head to a raid boss to get that sweet loot. There is just one problem, you need to gather up a group of 40 same level players in order to start, shouldn’t be a problem right? Trust me, trying to get a group of 5 people together is hard enough. Factoring in needing tanks and healers, which are hard to get into a group as it is, you may not ever get into a raid group on the night you want. That is where the raid finder system comes in. Once you reach the minimum level for the raids or dungeons you want to go to, you simply go into raid finder, pick your position (healer, damage dealer, or tank), and you wait for the system to group you with enough people to run the dungeon or raid. This made things so much easier, before you would need to go out on the chat like some beggar asking pleading for people to group with you. After raid finder was introduced, you never had to beg again. You did have to wait though and that varied depending on how heavy the traffic on the game was on the night you were playing.
Some of the features changed the game for the better and some just seem like you’re pouring a lot of time into something that doesn’t contribute to your main playing time. Sometimes it was the hope of improvement that kept you playing at times.
