I’m determined to at least get through the fires on my hunter, if not my other toons. I am POOR on this server, funding my own alts, plus my brother’s and Majik’s.
So I’m running through Kalimdor. I play on a laptop (always have, actually) and not since the days of pre-60, before I discovered such things as frame rates and lag and such, have I played with full graphic details and such. Sure, on the rare occasion at my parents’ or at an internet cafe, such things have been possible, but it’s been a long, long, long time.
So while running down through Feralas, I turned up my draw distance, turned on the full-screen glow effect and such.
The difference between that and my regular all-low settings is astounding and reminds me of why I fell in love with the visuals in this game.
Running through the old world brings back so many memories! And I never know if THAT was the last time I’d be in Feathermoon or if THAT was the last time I’d visit Cenarion Hold.
I hate change in general. I really do. Bring back Aimed Shot with its 3s cast time and make it so it doesn’t break Shadowmeld until the shot is cast! Bring back 100% mana regen Illumination!
Overall, I can deal with the mechanical changes to the game. It took me several patches to understand that everything is always in flux, but I get that and I’m okay with that.
Changing the game world, though, that’s something else entirely.
On the one hand, I’m excited because Cataclysm will bring us back to the old world, where I arguably had the best times of my WoW career (barring BC raids). On the other hand, they’re screwing with my zones. There’s going to be a flight point in Dolanaar. That breaks my brain a bit.
The Barrens will be split into two.
Desolace will no longer be desolate.
Things will be flooded.
I know I’ll adjust to it, as time goes by. But a big part of me just wants to hold on to old-school Azeroth and never let it go.
I got a bit nostalgic myself, the other night. I saw the screenshot of what happens to Southshore in Cataclysm (no major spoilers, really, it’s on the Wowhead Cata site) and I started thinking I may end up going to Old Hillsbrad just to visit the tavern.
I’m definitely in the same boat as you, though. I don’t want to lose the classic world, so I’ll be grabbing a 3.3.9 private server repack if I can, so I can visit it whenever I want post-Cataclysm.
Yeah, I often get nostalgic whenever I feel like I’ve run around Northrend too much. It’s the sole reason for some of my alts to exist. I keep them low level (or rather, I level very slowly) and play them to see the classic world again.
I’ve always played on a pretty pathetic laptop and have always had everything turned down. It wasn’t until really recently that I purchased something that could, in fact, play WoW at much higher rates than 8-12fps (all the time, not just in Dalaran). One of the things I noticed right away is how pretty the game is. I was absolutely floored by how beautiful everything was. How bright things were, and the details of things like shadows (they were always blobby circles under people). And the colors!
While running around doing some of the fire stuff on alts, I remember questing in some places. I remember spending far too much time in others. I will be interesting for sure.
X – Oh, Azeroth. Don’t leave me. :(
The private server thing isn’t the worst idea ever, just to sort of hold on to it. I’m normally completely against such things (being against the TOS, etc) but… they’re changing my Azeroth!
Kaboomski – I keep telling myself no more new toons. I’ve done six of them from 1-80, now. I’ve SEEN the old content enough. I do think I ought to hurry the hell up and finish some of my dungeon guides, though.
Deinera – I think I’m going to write a post, eventually, that has one major memory for every zone in the game. Thanks for the inspiration. :)
I got a new computer about a year and a half ago that I can run on pretty moderate settings, keeping the ones I really value a little higher.
Recently, I was able to play on a computer BUILT for gaming and hooked up to a 42 inch TV. The visuals were ASTOUNDING! I just couldn’t take it all in, I don’t think I got anything accomplished I was looking at everything in awe.
Outland was even more intriguing for my eyes than Azeroth.