"Never again", I would say assertively with a slight tinge of resentment. "I am done with WoW".
In the last 15 years I have repeated this sentiment so many times that it has become a running joke of sorts. I would say it aloud to my friends so that they knew I was being serious this time, but also because audibly speaking the words made it seem more real - even if I knew there was a chance that it was ultimately going to be an empty proclamation.
Much like an addict relapses and falls back into his old ways, usually under the pretense that his relationship with substance abuse would be different this time around, so too has my relationship with World of Warcraft - a name synonymous with basement-dwelling introverts and stunted man-children alike - involved me swearing away and then subsequently coming back to its familiar comforts. This trend isn't uniquely mine, as the game's subscriber numbers tell a story very similar to my own. With every new expansion the player base drastically spikes as droves of retired players return to see if this would be the one that reignites their passion for WoW. While it may do so for a few, the drop in subscribers throughout the months following a major expansion's release is damning evidence to prove the contrary.
As time has gone on, World of Warcraft has inevitably evolved in order to appease a more casual-oriented audience, which, consequently, has helped me distance myself from a game that once occupied all of my free time and became the cornerstone of my identity. Any effort to rekindle the magic that I had once felt during WoW's "golden age" ultimately became a chore, as the game became progressively more fundamentally different than my idealization needed it to be.
I'd imagine this disconnect between players, whose ideal version of WoW existed during mid-to-late 2000's, and the version of the game that is now well into its sixth expansion, has proven more evident to the folks at Blizzard. Just as my own experience returning to a modern-day World of Warcraft does little to rekindle my interest or satisfy my desire for "the good ol' days", it seems apparent that many others feel similarly.
This is ultimately why I think WoW Classic is happening, and in only a few short hours it will cast its nostalgia-laced net to catch all of the aging, cynical, and sentimentally-inclined ex-players that have longed for a return to a simpler time. For better or worse, Blizzard is giving us exactly the thing that we think we've been wanting - a version of World of Warcraft that is time-locked in 2004.
I'd like to say that my interest in WoW Classic is purely academic, and that my primary motivation for allowing myself to be caught up in its nostalgia-as-a-service antics is to chronicle my experiences for the benefit of readers. However, I realize that this is exactly the sort of thing a recovering addict would suggest in order to justify a return to their old, self-destructive ways. That said, I am going into this endeavor equipped with enough pessimism and self-loathing to hopefully get me through it relatively unscathed.
I am at least self-aware enough to have created an aged, balding, and decidedly un-spectacular human Paladin named "Pastis Prime". After all, if I can't poke fun at myself for willingly falling into Blizzard's trap, then have I really learned anything?
