WoW really was the biggest gaming phenomenon i can think of. all these morons gibbering over 2-bit LoL nowadays do not even know. i saw the most hardcore FPS players imaginable get bitten by that bug and sink years of their life into it -- without regrets (i have none, either). even though it was a reinvention of so many already-existing MMO features, WoW just seemed to come along and offer the perfect balance for almost everyone. it was so fully realized and immersive, as well, back then when hardware/internet connections were just getting up to a level where it was feasible.
more so than any 'HD re-release' of an FPS game, i would pay huge amounts of money to be able to play a legitimate and supported version of vanilla WoW again. fuck the disgraceful expansion packs. the original WoW boiled down that 'community'/'hobbyist' ethos i was talking about w/r/t early FPS games, and established it in concrete, played out over a hundred little microcosms, as WoW servers. it was great.
more so than any 'HD re-release' of an FPS game, i would pay huge amounts of money to be able to play a legitimate and supported version of vanilla WoW again. fuck the disgraceful expansion packs. the original WoW boiled down that 'community'/'hobbyist' ethos i was talking about w/r/t early FPS games, and established it in concrete, played out over a hundred little microcosms, as WoW servers. it was great.