Elysium - Thoughts

[Vahir]

So Elysium, the hype-est vanilla World of Warcraft server since Nost, is rolling off the production line right now.

Anyone on it? I'm personally holding off for the fresh server launch next month, but I might log into the current PVE and PVP servers once the launch madness has died down a little.

 

[Fappy]

I have the client installed, but I probably won't do much with it until they launch a fresh server. I am on the fence about how much time I want to put into it considering, A) I am progression raiding Nighthold in January, and B) the server could theoretically be taken down at any moment.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Can someone please explain the appeal of a vanilla server?
Can't you go through all the vanilla content still? Why freeze yourself in time, wouldn't it get boring?

 

[Fappy]

Can someone please explain the appeal of a vanilla server?
Can't you go through all the vanilla content still? Why freeze yourself in time, wouldn't it get boring?

No, Cataclysm removed and/or replaced most of the Vanilla leveling experience. That said, it's not just about raw content. There are a million different things that separate the current WoW experience from that of the olden days, but many others have explained those things better than me (I wasn't around for Vanilla, anyway).

In a nutshell, it was a very different game back then and people looking to play vanilla again are doing so for much more than the quests and the old raids.

 

[Vahir]

Can someone please explain the appeal of a vanilla server?
Can't you go through all the vanilla content still? Why freeze yourself in time, wouldn't it get boring?

Don't be fooled by it keeping the same name: WoW is a completely different game now, with different mechanics and different draws. It's a streamlined rush to max level, and a lot of focus is put on your character and how important they are.

Vanilla is a bit like Dark Souls in that a lot of its charm is how bloody hard it is. Every level up is a struggle, and and every step is fraught with danger. Carelessness and apathy are brutally punished. But that same austerity gives it a kind of magic. When you play vanilla, you find yourself chatting with people, grouping up, helping people out, because the quests are often too much of a pain in the ass to solo. And exploring a cave is a tense and engaging thing, because you actually have to pay attention to your surroundings. Forces you to apreciate the world, in my mind.

tl&dr: It's not just an older version, vanilla is a very different game.

 

[chrissx2]

Can someone please explain the appeal of a vanilla server?
Can't you go through all the vanilla content still? Why freeze yourself in time, wouldn't it get boring?

My biggest problem with current version of WoW is, how "ani-social" it became. In vanilla WoW you had to ask people to join your group and travel together across the dangerous land to reach the dungeon. That was creating bonds between players. When someone was good, you invited him/her to your friend list so you could go again together some other time. You knew who the server clown and idiot was. You knew that enemy player that kept killing you. Server was like a one big familly. Now? You just press one button and it teleports you with other random player from different server to a dungeon/raid, you'll see them for 5-15min and then disband. The whole game feels like an mobile app for lazy people.

 

[VarietyGamer]

I was there in 2004. Vanilla WOW was...rough. But my best memories are there. It's a complete different game, as mentioned above. Terrible in some ways relative to now, but great in others.

Isn't blizzard cracking down on private servers?