I can't find Nostalgia Lane on the map! Who thinks we should Heritage list some WoW quests/places?

Today I had a good giggle and then a long hard think after reading Liopleurodon's post "Frog".

It was the flipside of the coin, the antithesis, the Jekyll to my Hyde of my post earlier in my 10 days of Pet Battles about what pets I don't like. (which reminds me, I need to finish that when I have time!)

Liopleurodon starts his post saying that there are very few things that remain from the "old WoW".  So many things have changed.  For example, Mankrik's wife is buried, Gamon is no longer a simple punching bag, Hogger is easy to kill.  Stormwind was damaged, then rebuilt.  Camp Taurajo was destroyed.
But, there is one thing that has remained the same. One thing that binds us all, regardless of faction. One constant through the turmoil that has been our lives, in-game and out.

- Liopleurodon, May 8 2013
Frogs.  I had to laugh.  Right there with squirrels and rabbits, with their dreadful blocky textures almost like an April Fool's day joke from Warcraft Pets, and Variable Model rendering.
But more than that, low texture frogs are a touchstone. Low texture frogs are a reminder of what once was. In this time of faster, smarter, brighter, prettier, low texture frogs remain as Blizzard’s embodiment of the Pandaren mantra, “slow down.”

Liopleurodon, May 8 2013
I thought of all the things that had an updated model and couldn't think about how I liked it back in the good ol' Vanilla WoW.  I do admit, I like some new changes!

Like Sylvanas - the now totally sexed up fantasy leader of the Forsaken... I am sure she used to be a banshee model in Vanilla, but I can't find a single picture of it...

Newer goblin models are funkier and cuter
 


And of course we have a new frog model for frog snobs like me - I love you swamp croaker!
But things change.  That's life.  Nothing stays the same - we grow up, we get older.  Buildings fall down.  New ones come up.  Shops change.  People die.  The game SHOULD evolve, to match those things, because that's the way things are in real life.  But then after considering all the things I liked that had changed, I was struggling to think of things which HADN'T changed.  And I wondered, should WoW have some of those things?  You know, like heritage listing certain buildings - heritage listing certain items in WoW because of their classic and timeless value?  Now that would be awesome - an achievement for completing all the "Heritage WoW quests/visiting Heritage WoW sites".  Just to get a feel of the classic old WoW LOL!

This is the symbol for World Heritage listed.  Maybe need something for World of Warcraft Heritage listed? :D
One of the few things I could find that had not changed was... Moonglade.  The NPCs, the buildings are all the same there.  The Cataclysm didn't touch Moonglade as far as I could tell.  Even the starting areas and quests had changed for Tauren and Forsaken - I'm not too sure about Orcs and Trolls.  So many quests in the classic zones were different after Cataclysm.  I suppose if I look at the dungeons, the lower level ones, like Dire Maul - they hadn't changed had they?  With only one main toon (and a horde one at that), it's hard to remember...

I suppose that because I have had the same toon pretty much since early vanilla and ONLY played that one toon, that would be my constant as time has passed.  I have seen so many druid changes over the years...

  • Healing before there was tree form
  • Rank 4 Healing touch (LOL back in the days when you could use lower rank spells for cheaper mana and faster casting)
  • Nerfs and buffs to wild growth
  • 10 minutes CDs on tranquility
  • When Tree form made you walk slow and you COULDN'T decurse in it
  • Only having 4 spells to heal with (regrowth, healing touch, rejuvenation and tranquility) for raids
  • I MISS STARFIRE and THORNS
So tell me, what nostalgia things do you see still in game, intact from Vanilla (if you played back then) and what things do you think should be WoW heritage listed? :)

I vote for Lunk's quests.  They should all be heritage listed :D



Comments

  1. I know the two zones I feel closest to Vanilla in are Winterspring and Silithus. I know the quests have changed but at least the Goblins haven't put an oil refinery in them. And oh, I'd forgotten about using lower ranked spells!

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    1. You know, I am not even sure the Silithus quests HAVE changed... have they? Winterspring has changed, yes. I guess Deathwing didn't feel like flying too far up or down, eh?

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    2. Silithus quests have changed from launch, but not since late Vanilla. At launch there were like 3 NPCs right at the front of Silithus, and the rest was sandy nothingness and bugs. A rogue friend was really put out after the revamp. Before, the only people who mined there were a handful of gold farmers and him. Arcane crystals galore! He had like, 2,000g!!! lol.

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    3. I don't remember much of Silithus pre AQ event. OMG arcane crystals - those things were the bomb back in the day!

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  2. You forgot the biggest most awesome druid healing change ever! A regular rez! No more waiting for the group to run back in because you don't have a shaman, priest, or paladin in the group to rez people but actually being able to rez them yourself! My guild thought I was nuts because I was bouncing in my seat and off the walls waiting for that change.

    As for something I still see in game. Go to Westfall and find Captain Sander's map. He's still there with a treasure hunt and a bunch of bouty at the end of it. I think the locations are pretty close to being where they used to be although the landscape around it has changed a bit.

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    1. Oh that's right! I remember when all we had was Battle Rez and we were the only battle rezzers and no normal rez!

      Westfall... is that an alliance quest? or can horde do it to? I suspect it's the former. Which will make it some sort of NEW quest to me LOL!!

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  3. This is so timely...I was in Exodar recently and it is the same...hope it never changes. This will spawn a post from me...comments typed in the phone can't contain it!

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    1. I think because I'm Horde I don't have the Theramore nostalgia but I think that it should have some special place in there!

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  5. How about Nat Pagle? He hasn't changed from his spot in Dustwallow. But the treasure map you can do on either side. It's one of te first things I like to do when I'm around that level on most of my toons. I still wear his shirt!

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    1. I just realised I have Captain Sander's shirt on one of my toons somewhere! :)

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  6. Sylvanas as a banshee? I must have totally missed that. The only graphics of Sylvanas that I can remember from vanilla is the night elf graphics. Here's a screenie from the first time I saw her with my first ever WoW toon at aproximately lvl 10: http://loreleispixels.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/sylvanas_lvl10ish.jpg

    It was back when high elfs looked really strange, so I guess that is why they went with a night elf look for her even thought she technically is an undead high elf. I wonder if I have any screenies of the old high elf model...

    Now to the things I miss the most:
    - I miss down ranking. I really enjoyed that "system" for healing. And I miss healing classes that was radically different from eachother.
    - I miss the type of out door PvP raids you would get before battle grounds was added to the game (even tough BG's are fun).
    - I miss Dartol's Rod of Transformation that would turn you in to a Furbolg.

    Come to think of it I'm quite nostalgic, might have to make a post on the topic inte the future.

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    1. I'm wondering if my memory is faulty because everyone has been saying that. I could SWEAR I remember some huge Banshee in the royal throne room. But if I am wrong, I stand corrected!

      You can still get something that turns you into a Furbolg... what is it, I can't quite remember.

      I look forward to reading your post on it Lorelei :)

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    2. Maybe she was a Banshee in the beta?

      The potential furbolg thingie needs to be further investigated. I used to the old one and I really do miss it. Furbolgs are kinda awesome after all. :)

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  7. Down-ranking and the five second rule definitely. Being able to use more than pot per combat session too and starshards in it's pretty sparkly version. Same server battlegrounds because pvp is more fun when it's personal. These are definitely the bits I miss the most about the current version of the game.

    The Battle for Darrowshire, everyone should be forced to do that at some point, preferably whilst listening to Cranius's song. That definitely needs some sort of listing just in case the next disaster to hit Azeroth attempts to flatten the Plaguelands.

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    1. Battle for Darrowshire - that is a good questline, I agree. Oh mana pots every 2 minutes... that was pretty cool too - gosh I miss those!

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  8. I'm glad that Sun Rock Retreat has gone unchanged. I know the quests are removed and the NPC up the hill is gone, but otherwise it is untouched by the Cataclysm.

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I hope these comments work! Not sure why people can't comment lately, it makes me sad :(