WoW Classic....

While nostalgia is a good thing and retrospectives can make a gamer want to go back to a game(or a version of it) with visions of the past via rose tinted glasses. I've changed my mind about getting into WoW classic.

I was there back in the day. I've had my experiences and enjoyed myself. I wouldn't change it. It was special to me and not just because it was my first MMO. Going back to it now, so many years later expecting only 'the good' is unrealistic thinking. The old game mechanics are there but it's not a new thing. The playerbase has seen and done so much since vanilla that brings previous WoW baggage (mentalities/leetism) to classic now. It's not going to be the same playerbase in classic as it was at the originals time. That changes things as much as the mechanics. For better and worse. The longer classic is out the more like the original the games player-base will be imho(End game Vanilla was about raiding gear but the greater the gear the longer the grind for it. That's why there was also those that did PvP. An easier grind and active all the time. Either way there was a roadblock, an end to gaining gear. No expansions meant ti was also worthwhile spending (the slower grind) time to gear up alts. But that's all a very long term thing).

I fear that where I was once a noob in a forest sat in awe of the game, that now, I'll be an older bitter veteran eyeing everything with disdain; Mumbling about the past and how 'this isn't it'.

This isn't to knock players who are hitting up classic wow because vanilla was before their time, or who want to relive the past as much as possible. Taking away my nostalgia and I'm left wondering what I'd be looking for in it as a gaming experience. A more meaningful MMO filled with a world larger than the player? Where the adventure is a more true grounded experience? Sounds good but in all honesty I'm kind of past that. Even if I can get my head around the nostalgia to get into it, WoW is as WoW has always been; A grind. I've had my WoW vanilla days and I've had my WoW day's overall. I've not played the last expansion. Really didn't do anything with the previous one to that. Besides it can only be original and unseen once. If I go to Darkshore I'll know where things and quests are. The original wonder for me can't happen again. What is seen cannot be unseen.

WoW classic is a form of time travel. Great for those that were never there. But for me who was; Why travel back to the past to relive something I already recall as great, in order to 'just' relive old mechanics.

All my older contacts from back in the day are not playing classic either for one reason or another.
I'm not saying I wouldn't meet new people or join in on new guilds doing group content and 'having fun'. Thinking about classic now leads me down the road of 'I could do that in any MMO'. These day's that's me in Star Trek Online or Eve Online with the added bonus of not needing to pay. Different strokes for different folks.

If I experience old content and see with a broader more experienced eye that it really wasn't as good as I thought it was...... Well I don't want to pay to ruin my nostalgic retrospective memories.

Maybe I'll change or have my mind changed again in the future.....