For many years, World of Warcraft players had requested a vanilla style server to go back to the so called good old days. Before flying, before heirlooms, before welfare epics. A simpiler time that focused on fostering a community, earning legendary rewards- and above all, a fair environment. But such requests would fall on deaf ears, as Blizzard instead went down a path of destruction, releasing mediocre after mediocre expansions that only dwindled the playerbase down in population further, to the point where they became too embarassed to release subscriber numbers to investors.
In retaliation, dedicated vanilla fans decided to create their own servers to play on, the most prominent of course being Nostalrius. However, Blizzard would only close them down via cease and desist orders, leaving these fans without a means to play. This would only widen the gap between those who hated the current version of the game and those who wanted the orginal back.
Thankfully, after many years of silence, rejection and frustration, Blizzard caved. At Blizzcon 2017, World of Warcraft Classic was announced to the world. The hype was unmatched. Finally, after over a decade, these players now had a way to enjoy the game they adored so much without worry.
Though the launch was certainly a huge success, rekindling the flames of nostalgia for many, it quickly became apparent for many players that World of Warcraft Classic, despite being almost identical in terms of actual gameplay, was nothing like World of Warcraft Vanilla. Times had changed- and with it, so did the experience as a whole.
In this production, despite being a self proclaimed vanilla fanatic, I shall attempt to give my thoughts as to why I feel disappointed with how Classic turned out. From the endless drama of warring guilds across subreddits and discords, destroying the community of my realm of Zandalar Tribe EU, the ultimate redundancy of rewards and the horrendous lack of fairness as a result of streamer privilege.
