The Game Director of World of Warcraft shared a few anecdotes from the past. This included that players used to play WoW incorrectly – most of them did.
That World of Warcraft has changed significantly over the course of more than 15 years is no longer a secret. However, the current WoW Chief, Game Director Ion Hazzikostas, reveals a few interesting details about these changes. For example, back then, everyone was essentially playing the game incorrectly and even raid groups of the developers broke apart due to typical loot drama.
In an interview with wired, the Game Director spoke about the changes and the development of WoW. We filtered out the most exciting statements.
Here’s why the game was played incorrectly: Hazzikostas compares the early days of World of Warcraft to classic arcade halls in various cities. Each city would have its small “Street Fighter” scene:
You had a complete hierarchy in your local arcade hall, where a particular character was regarded as the best or strongest because someone from your neighborhood was great with them.
In the next city, however, it would be a completely different character, as the best player there would use different strategies or know other tricks.
The truth is that almost everyone played the game incorrectly.
This refers mostly to the effectiveness and “best performance” one could achieve in the game.
It was quite similar in World of Warcraft as well. Many Classic veterans might still remember: Groups of players formed that had a few experienced players who could handle a certain situation particularly well. This led to some characters on a realm having a special reputation or using specific tactics against bosses that other groups did not try.
There were no rules. There was no right or wrong way to play. Just you and your wolf pet as a hunter, trying to find your way through the world and figuring things out.
A bit of this “magic of the unknown” is something the developers are trying to bring back with WoW: Shadowlands.
Information has changed everything: Over the years, this has fundamentally changed. With large databases like wowhead or just Google searches that can answer everything, information is widely distributed.
Today, people are basically trained to optimize. The community pushes players in this direction, especially socially. Even if it’s not your personal favorite playstyle, the people who want you in the group will measure you against these standards. Once information is available, it is expected that you know it.
This also explains why raids and dungeons in WoW Classic are perceived as much easier than back then. Most players are now familiar with a somewhat optimal playstyle. This also led to previously unimaginable successes, with a raid group mastering the Molten Core, even though many players were not yet level 60.
Classic drama still exists today: Towards the end, Hazzikostas shared one more small anecdote. The typical “loot drama” still exists even among the developers today.
I have an employee who was part of the original development team of World of Warcraft. You would definitely recognize his name if I mentioned it. His personal WoW Classic group split at level 60 due to a loot drama in Blackrock. That was a group of developers who played and worked on the game 15 years ago.
Unfortunately, Hazzikostas does not reveal which developer it was. Some quirks of MMORPGs will never completely go away.
