World of Warcraft

Back in the old days...

Posted Sep 17, 2008 by Stormwire

Post your Comment (47)

I remember when Stratholme, Scholomance and Onyxia were a big deal. Back when conquering MC and Blackwing Lair were, "OMG we did it," moments.

But not anymore. Nowadays when you find yourself in WoW, even with 10 million+ players, it seems nearly impossible to find a group to go after these "old world" instances.

This is a shame for the newcomers to WoW, seeing as they may never get the chance to experience these instances like some of us veterans once did. Sure, they could go back when they are 70 and play through the instance, but is it really going to be as fun as it would be when the adrenaline of getting that first class set item is running through your bloodstream?

So this brings forth a question that has been brewing and being whispered for months, "Did the Burning Crusade ruin the old world instances?"

It seems a sad fact that you can finish your first quest in Outland and receive a green item that is far superior to the hardest blues to acquire in the old-world instances. In my opinion, Blizzard only dwarfed its own game when it added TBC, seeing as the instance content from levels 50-60 is relatively useless now.

It is a shame really, because some of those instances and raid content were a whole lot of fun. Yeah, if you have a good guild there is a nice chance you can get enough people together to still go take Onyxia, but is the thrill still going to be there? I have my doubts.

But all may not be lost. With the upcoming WotLk expansion on the horizon (and the drool seething from all of our gaping maws) Blizzard can still turn it around.

Perhaps just adding new servers, while denying character transfer for a specified amount of time, could help bring back the old world content. Before the opening of the new Ghostlands PvE server, there hadn't been a new server in nearly a year, since the release of TBC. Chances of this seem low, however, as Blizzard is having enough trouble populating some of the older current servers.

Still, with the addition of the new Death Knight class, many veteran players might be interested in visiting these old dungeons, just to reminisce.

One concern to be had for instances when WotLK comes is the new level 80 level cap.

Will instances in TBC be dwarfed and forgotten when we are introduced to the awesomeness of Utgarde Keep? Is there something Blizzard can do to bring back our old favorites like MC and Stratholme?

What do you think?

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  • Kraid said 
    Tue, Feb 5 2008 4:02 PM ()

    I think the only thing they could do to save these instances is make the loot worth acquiring, or easier to acquire. I'm sure many people have other ideas, and better ones at that though. I never had the chance to do these instances (hit 60 just after TBC came out), but I would like to play them as well.

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  • Aldarius said 
    Tue, Feb 5 2008 4:02 PM ()

    Nostalgia present? Sure it is. Stratholme and Scholomance are awesome dungeons with awesome design. Same goes for Blackrock Depths.

    However, the problem of upgrading these dungeons is not as easy as it sounds. Blizzard is signing a contract with it's customers just as we sign a contract with Blizzard. One important part of this contract is that Blizzard is obliged not to reduce (only to improve) any of the gameplay a customer already purchased.
    Thus, old dungeons must remain as they are, available to non-TBC users. If adding "heroic" mods for those same instances (Heroic Wailing Caverns? YES PLEASE!) was easy as you guys say it would be, they'd already add those.

    I'll point out only two issues:
    1. summoning stones able to summon for heroic dungeons would drastically change the world transportation system... level 30 players suddenly able to summon level 70 characters Gnomeregan? Very bad on PvP servers.
    2. heroic dungeons require heroic keys. That means a whole new system of reputation based features must be introduced for every single dungeon in the old world. While not necessarily bad (i just LOVE the Tranquilien rep system), it would require a LOT of changes in the current Vanilla WoW. Too much effort, they'd basically need to make a whole new game out of it.

    Sincerely,

    Haradan

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  • Biotoop said 
    Tue, Feb 5 2008 4:02 PM ()

    To change these things now for Outland ... it's too late for that.

    But I think it would be nice to be forced to do the old world 'end game' instances at least once before you're allowed to set sail to Northrend.

    That way all the ppl who skipped them get the opportunity to experience them.
    I started playing wow 1 month before TBC came out so I would love to see those good old instances at least once with all my chars :)

    I hope blizz puts in place a long quest line that guides us through all the instances from Scholomance --> Stratholme --> Naxxramas --> Northrend :D

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  • druruz said 
    Tue, Feb 5 2008 4:02 PM ()

    I'm a post-BC player (my main char is a Draenei, protection Paladin), and I was always worried about not experimenting those old-world instances as well. But then my brother (who plays classic Warcraft and WoW since the first betas) said something really interesting. It's kinda roleplaying, but explains everything:

    "Onyxia is DEAD. Ragnaros is DEAD. We, old players, killed them. You have no point on fighting them since we already defeated that threats to Azeroth. Get the shiny new gear from that new zone we managed to break into, Outlands, and help us defeat those new threats: the fel orcs, Malchezaar, Magtheridon, Vasjh, Kael, Illidan. Once we stop this threat, there's no point on repeating it: we'll have written that new page on Warcraft's story, and then we must proceed to the next: stop Arthas."

    So I stopped bitching. If you want to really "feel" the Warcraft story, play Warcraft III and the Frozen Throne expansion. You'll get the entire idea of the story behing Arthas, Illidan, Vashj, Kael... You don't need to raid MC or kill Onyxia. It's a beautiful storyline: yes, it is. Google about it, read the story, and proceed to the current, real challenge on WoW. Play on the present, read about the past.

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  • Aceada12 said 
    Tue, Feb 5 2008 4:02 PM ()

    The solution maybe easier then we think. Heroics. Make em good for 80s. We loved Strat Scholo and them. Now they are old decripted and forgotten. They do need a revival.

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  • TheVade said 
    Tue, Feb 5 2008 4:01 PM ()

    As far as the summoning stones go, it's not too hard to make two seperate summonable groups. For example, if an instance (non-heroic) is lvl 18-25, they could only be summoned by a player within that lvl range. Same goes for the max lvl chars. That was a lvl 19 couldn't summon a 70, but he could summon 18-25s, and a 70 could only summon other 70s.

    Also, you don't NEED heroic keys for everything. They just put them in place so there wouldn't be a ton of new 70's thinking they're up for heroics in their full green gear, they'll have to get some experience first.

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