I'm split with the content of this article. As someone who just a couple months ago decided to start playing while some of my other friends have for years already, I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of the content that was meant to be enjoyed before level 60. Several quests in the 30s and 40s range send you to instances that I can't get into because it's impossible to find a group. My friends that already play are busy running naxx and ulduar to gear up, and it seems like I'm being forced into soloing the entire game up until I at least get through the 'classic' content. Reading an article that looks back on this content with such fondness, I feel like since I'm joining up for the first time a couple years behind everyone else, I'm missing out on a lot of these experiences that really my only chance to enjoy will be when I get to 80 and offer runs for others. Most of the appeal that drew me to WoW was being able to create your own experience while you approach the level cap, and it seems I'm having to mooch off my high-level friends for gold, etc. since it takes much less time to get past the first 40 or so levels from what i've heard. All in all I still love the game, but I think it's somewhat looked over that there are still people that are just now beginning to enjoy all it has to offer.

In short, sorry for whining.

This is not a new question at all. Ask anyone who played Everquest. Did all the expansions kill EQ? I would say yes. Ask anyone who was into Magic The Gathering, did the half dozen expansions a year kill MTG? I would say yes, at least it did for me.

As someone who took a 6 month break from WoW and trying to get back into it, WOTLK definately killed it for me. New content is fine, but the amount that the core game mechanics has changed and is constantly changing is frusterating and annoying. Why would I want to relearn the game I thought I knew when I can go and try something else like Warhammer?

As for the gist of you saying that people wont group with you unless you have the achievment i dont mind i agree with any one who uses this method of grouping and its not eliteism it could be if the people are any about every little detail on your gear but other than that they just dont want to wipe
i mean any one who has every played wow can attest to a time when some one just couldnt tank or heal or dps and the group just kept dieing now wat if there was a way to show that you didnt suck and that you where able to do the dungens you set out to do NO more crappy tanks healers or DPS
the majority of where this takes place is in PUG groups not guild most guilds undertand that you might not be the best geard and dont let you in any way but there are guilds who are low level guilds and high level guilds that dont care about your gear or achievements i have joined many a guild that helped me get caught up to the rest of them they all have passed on gear that they needed so that i could do better bosse encounters with them. Achievments are like a right of passage for the instance you get to become acknowledged as a decent player.
This has always been around in WoW it started when people could inspect your gear and see how good your wepons where then with the ability to look at someones spec you could see how they chose to play and no more People claiming to be healers while they damaged specd any way. the only differnce between the two is that with looking at gear and specs you have to be right in front the person to look at them by that point you are already in the group and it is just easery for some to keep the bad player than go through the trobel of looking for a replace ment cause we all know THEY ARE SOOOO MANY TANKS
Now as for the new content i can see how they lose of population in the old zones could be sadening to any one who was around before any of the expansions and would want to see more livelyness but to any one who has never played the game this doesnt seem to be that much of a problem for new comers the only people that i have herd complain about it are those of us from the past We cant take the fact that maybe some of old zones arent as lively as they once where even after the fact that these same people dont want to revisit any of the old content with their level 80s they just want to complain about it and as for their other characters the main goal most create them is just to get another level 80 and they complain more about the leveling than anything else on their alts even though the speed at which you level has been increased greatly
Dont Blame the New Zones or Expansions for a lesser wow the only thing lesser about wow is your own thoghts about it wow hasnt gotten weeker since the old days its only gotten stronger with a stagersing 11million people playing wow is anything but week for those who seek just to go back to the old days and never have any expansions WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN you have done all of the instances and gotten all of the best look wat just one more dungen so that you can do that in a mounth and get your new awesome gear once you got the best gear in the game the only thing left to do was just do some pvp or help other get their gear in short stop compalining about wow's changes that have no influence on you any more especially if you still play it make accurate critiqs and try to improve the game not just flame it with mindless nonsense

I've been playing since release and I can confidently say I've never enjoyed the game more so than now. They have added craftable PVP sets that are on par with Season 4 gear and excellent main-hand and off-hand weapons that take only a few days to earn that has evened the playing field considerably in PVP (it's actually fun now.) I play on Hyjal and I can get into at least one, sometimes two instances a night at practically any level by using the LFG system.

I think the game is very healthy when it comes to population. The worst drop I've seen is in Shattrath but that's because Dalaran provides similar benefits but in a smaller, better, and more interesting area. The benefits of having a well-established player base is that most PUGs work out decently now as well.

I ran Drak'Tharon keep and Violet Hold last night without a single wipe (two different groups) and nobody in the dungeon was purpled out (mostly blues and greens.) It's inevitable that some zones are emptier now but I've gone back to zones such as the Barrens and Ghostlands and there's still quite a few people leveling and enjoying lower level content.

However, I think that with the recent plot developments in WOW (if you've followed the Wrath Gate storyline) it wouldn't be a huge stretch to implement a "global" pvp system for the old-world zones. It's somewhat unlikely that Northrend or Outland would fall under any one faction's control but the older Azerothian zones could be retrofitted with a really interesting goal-based PVP system that would bring armies of player down to them.

A level-cap on participation in these battles (such as a new type of "flag up") would make it somewhat unlikely that a bunch of high levels in T8 gear would crash the party.

OK, stop dots.

I thought Burning Crusade was an awsome expansion for WoW.

so wat should I do ive been thinking of going back to playing WoW I havent played it for allmos a year but Ive being getting the mnchies to play it again I gots a lvl 40 shodoe priest please give me ur advice!!!

excuse my spelling i should have double checked

Horde or Alliance?

Alliance

but dont gudge

The Expansions, sure they keep people playing, but with each one comes loads of bugs and glitches that are exploited. my friend and I were going to find some people to raid Arcatraz, there was one person in all the twisting nether, that person, a level 60 that was lost. where were all the people? Northrend. it gets so frustrating! if there is 1 more expansion, with all its glitches and new areas, im leaving and playling a different game, id rather play RUNESCAPE than go through another expansion.

I bought Wotlk. hit 80, ran some dungeons, got all of the really stupid achievements (fish dont leave footprints, fish in ironforge, etc.) and then....nothing. I was just bored, the combat is stagnant, the quests ended up being driving/disguising yourself as bullshit repeats, and dont even get me started on the why they screwed arena.

stick to SWG's..oh wait, the servers are abotu to shut down...well, how about the KOTOR MMO?

i have player Dark age of camelot for years, then i went on WoW for another 2 years. Now i stoped playing MMO.

One person brings an interesting point for casual gamers: the fact that you cannot see the full content of the game. I can relate to that in WoW and in DAOC!
I wouldn't even care about the loot. Just to be able to see the place, i was pissed off not to be able to.
It is certainly a great penalty for a casual gamer who does pay the same amount of money than the hardcore elitist freak.

What made me quit WoW was the PvP. And i guess you can blame DAOC for that. Lets face it: WoW PvP is one of the worst you could find around here.

now when is guildwars 2 coming out????

Getting a good PuG for the high level raids in LK is difficult but not impossible. I finished all the 25 man content via PuGs, but I was lucky on Malygos.

I created a new Pally to level up and I had a very difficult time on my server finding a group to run it the lower level quests with. It seems to me that people always want someone to run them through the lower level instance instead of working on beating it with like level players.

The worst part to me about TBC is that there's only 1 entry point into Outlands for your new character - HFP. The ability to get to level 68+ in Outlands means you'll be doing pretty much the same zones and quests with every new character your raise. In Vanilla Wow you could level to 60 exclusively on one continent if you chose to. At least in LK there are 2 paths to 80 for a small amount of variety.

Outlands now is mostly a ghost town. I was in Shat not long ago, and I was one of only 3 PC's there, the other 2 were Hordes. I flew around the entire city and didn't see another player but the 2 AFK Hordes sitting near A'dal. Sure, Ironforge and Stormwind have some life in them, but that's mostly due to the AH's. Darnassus is dead, it's rare to see more than 15-20 players there unless it's the Horde coming in for a raid. Of course Darnassus has always been relatively dead, my main char is a NE and this bothered me, but still. In several ways I miss the days of a spread out population instead of everyone being clustered in one city like Shat in TBC and now Dal in LK. The world felt more alive when the raids were scattered about more.

Are expansions ruining the game? 11m+ subscribers say no, but the way they bunch up the population into such a small area has for me. Raiding has gotten old - they were super easy for the most part, Ulduar is proving some difficulty until it gets put on farm status. I've cancelled my accounts as of 4 days ago and probably won't resubscribe again until a new Expansion comes out. Then it'll be like before - hit the level cap, see the end content, cancel. Maybe when you can kill Arthas I'll try again, but not until.

To Tyler,

I play on Khadgar :)
i have a 66 warlock (lvling now) and a 79 DK (i use to get money)
my warlock is called badladjon, SAY HI TO ME :P

ye well i remember playing runescape (some years ago mind you) and i soloed a lvl 72 or suming dragon with a level 38 warrior

so i win
=D

Im tired of everyone casual player whineing. You can only dedicate so many hours to wow. Ok fine I understand that but im sure if you had time to get to level 80 in the first place then im sure you can spare a few hours to do a raid or a heroic or 2 a week. If you dont have time to even do that then i9m sure mmo's arent part of the plan for your gaming time. Finding a group for the lower instances is never a problem. I reccommend downloading the mod called always lfg. It is what its called your always in looking for group. So no excuses.

Ogrim noone really raided arc during bc. Also I find it pretty impossible that a level 60 was lost in netherstorm. That would take a seriously dumb person. I mean the zone you have to be in (hellfire peninsula) is clarly dry,arid and then you have to ride through zangar marsh yeah I call bs on the level 60 being in netherstorm unless a warlock summoned him.