Original World of Warcraft making a comeback

It’s one of the oldest games around

Bringing the original World of Warcraft back.

It is hard to imagine a world where massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) or shooters don’t exist, but in the grand scheme of computer gaming they’re a comparatively recent innovation.

While online gaming existed prior to 2004 – even with 56k modems and the ever-present danger of losing the connection if someone picked the phone up — it was the arrival of World of Warcraft from games company Blizzard that year that heralded a huge change in the gaming landscape.

Bringing the original World of Warcraft back.

Set in the same universe as Blizzard’s Warcraft real-time strategy games, the online game tasked players with making a character (siding with the mostly human/elven/dwarven Alliance, or the mostly orc/troll/goblin Horde) and undertaking a series of quests and adventures with other players – both real humans and computer controlled Non-Player Characters (NPCs). It was an instant success

Even though World of Warcraft isn’t the oldest still-operating mainstream MMORPG (that trophy goes to 1997’s Ultima Online), it’s easily the most successful, and 15 years after its launch has become such a cultural fixture that it’s pretty much a byword for “Online fantasy RPG”.

TV series South Park famously even set an entire 2006 episode in the game.

Fast forward to 2019 and the game is still going strong – something World of Warcraft executive producer John Hight attributes to solid foundations at launch, a passionate team, devoted players, and an essentially timeless style.

“I think we made some really good decisions back in the day with WOW setting us up for a long run,” he said.

“One is the art style, it is the Blizzard style, I think it is timeless and it has held up over the time but obviously we’ve made a lot of improvements to technology and added hi-res graphics.”

Mr Hight said World of Warcraft came about in the era before what we think of as social media had taken off – the game was launched the year after MySpace was founded and predates publicly-available Facebook by two years — and essentially become one of the first social media networks for gamers as a result.

“It (World of Warcraft) was a place where gamers would go and communicate with each other and interact,” he said.

“It was very common if you enjoyed the game, you’d invite your family and friends to join in, maybe start a guild together — it’s always had a strong social element.”

“We were one of the first virtual theme parks of the internet.”

Still going strong after more than a decade.

The game has changed a lot in the past decade and a half – new content, new character classes and equipment and locations, as well as numerous tweaks and updates – but there’s a huge amount of nostalgia around the game too, with many long-time players nostalgic for “classic” World of Warcraft.

After years of requests, Blizzard have finally decided to give players what they claim they wanted, namely the chance to play the game as it existed around 15 years ago – warts and all, given all the changes and updates the game has undergone since then.

World of Warcraft: Classic launches in August and I’ve been one of the fortunate few with access to the beta.

It’s certainly taken me back to my early days of dabbling in the game in 2005 or so, after wondering why all my staff were clearing off at 5.30pm on the dot to take part in multi-person dungeon adventures known as ‘raids’.

The classic version will have something for fans and new players.

The graphics are a bit simpler, the world is less vibrant, but it’s still unmistakably World of Warcraft and even from a decade and a half in the future, I can absolutely see how this was the foundation of one of the most successful MMORPGs of all time.

It’s also been easy to get into, because it predates all the many expansions and new chapters, meaning there’s no feeling of wandering into a complex story halfway through it with no real idea of what’s going on.

Mr Hight said the idea behind the Classic version was to provide something accessible for new players while still letting World of Warcraft veterans to have bragging rights.

“We want to make it a comfortable place for players to come in – we have different levels to things, you know all the mechanics, if you’re a long-term player you’ll probably drop right into heroic or mythical raids, if you’re casual we’ve created things like a ‘looking for dungeon’ feature,” he said.

He said the game’s fundamental philosophy had remained unchanged since launch – that it was about a fun experience in a large and vibrant multiplayer world.

“There’s been so much love and support from our players — it really helped us grow,” Mr Hight said.

“The team and I we recognise we don’t just have a normal job, we’re really the caretakers of such a precious franchise for people — I have people on the team that World of Warcraft is the first game they’ve ever played.

“I can’t think of anything else in our culture that has been a game with 15 years of continuous updates.”

Did you play World of Warcraft back when it first launched? What do you think about it being remade today? Continue the conversation on Twitter @RoyceWilsonAU

Originally published as Original World of Warcraft making a comeback