The Lich King rises again

My dealings with the Lich King as a faithful servant in game in 2022.

 

World of Warcraft was one of my favorites mmos in the 2000s, starting with 2007 but I never really got to experience the full impact of Wrath of the Lich King because even though I started playing after TBC, I was mostly a casual and doing low level newbie stuff and content. I played on and off from 2008 to about 2014 and then didn't really log on again until classic dropped in the summer of 2019. 

I distinctly recall playing a good chunk of it in 2007-08, staying up late on weekend nights doing dungeons or world and pvp. I recall how fun it was to make alts of the different races on the horde side. Even though I did buy Warcraft 2 when it was new, I never really got into the RTS as much as I did the mmo. 

This is a good time to get back into wow, or at least that is what Blizzard wants us to believe with the upcoming release of WoTLK classic later this month. 

So it is the hopes of the developer that they are banking on nostalgia when they had (arguably) their most successful expansion and they want us all to experience it, especially those of us who didn't experience it to the fullest. They are certainly making it easy as they gave me a free level 50 boost and have made Shadowlands free content, which they usually do before another expansion drops. Thus I have been playing Shadowlands and trying to get my warrior to max level, but really it is just biding my time until Classic WotLK drops. 

I have been thinking a lot about classic versions of games versus their modern counterparts because of my involvement with D&D 5e and the ongoing debates about game mechanics of old and new ones being added to that game, especially with the recent announcement of the One D&D playtest. 

And let's be honest, what is wow but a better version of the official D&D video games and mmos? I think DDO is great, but it never really captured the mainstream's attention or became part of the zeitgeist quite like wow did. DDO and Neverwinter are fun mmos in their own right, but wow was virtual D&D done right, if you don't believe me, remember how influential mmos and wow in particular were to the design of D&D 4e in 2008? That was not an accident. 

I suppose as long as there is legacy content in any medium, there will always be the possibility of debates about which version (or in the case of D&D which edition) was actually best. While I am not an old gronard or hating on 5e like many people do online, I do realize that these type of arguments will always exist and people will have their preferences about which version of whatever game they like best.

I will admit that I am a bit excited about another expansion launch, no I am not talking about Dragonflight, I am talking about Wrath Classic, we all knew it was coming after Blizzard made Classic TBC a thing. I really like the feeling of a full world and servers teeming with new and returning players and I think Wrath Classic will bring that kind of excitement back to wow. 

For the horde!!!