Hey all, I played WOW back in 2006 for about 10 months and quit the moment I realised I was addicted to it. I was a 60 mage and never got to see BC or WOTLK. So my question is, should I come back? I have much better self control now and I think I could keep from being addicted but is it really worth it? I've heard the games got better and I've heard its gotten worse. So WOW players, should I give it another go?

Up to you.
If your expecting the whole 40 man thing, Don't bother.
If your expecting to play a game and have fun with E-friends sure.

My advice would be to STAY away! The fact that the game is not that good as it used to be back in 2006 pre-TBC days, but also playing WoW it's not appealing to chicks. And trust my, I know! :(

That depends, do you play as the horde or the alliance?
Seriously though...

Iori35:
I tried the WoW: LK trial and death knights were interesting yet, I didn't really feel motivated
with the burning crusade levels being the next place I had to go with my death knight.
I found the original game included better instances than those that the burning crusade added.
Also at that point I was just bored, I couldn't stand leveling my characters anymore.

I will probably come back to WoW, every other MMORPG I've occasionally tried was either mediocre or just plain terrible.

Iori35:
I've tried to get into other MMORPGs. FFXI was the worst MMO I've played thus far.
(Truly a shame that I ever payed for that game(FFXI) and the subscription.)

LOTR Online trial found it to be extremely dull, with classes that didn't interest me.
Age of Conan trial found it less dull that LOTRO but still very mediocre.

Iori35:
I'd stopped playing Wow a few months ago now, right after leveling my Orc shaman to 70,
then running some instances in the Burning Crusade expansion.

Death Knight starting area was fun and interesting...and then...
What lay before me for the Death Knight was outlands and the Burning Crusade content.
Also, I'd seen my friend leveling, questing in the Lich King expansion and wasn't really impressed.

However, my friend did say that he thought Wrath of the Lich King was a much better expansion than Burning Crusade.
(I sometimes need to take breaks from MMO's, otherwise the grind starts to get to me.)

I started playing in Nov 04, and quit roughly 5 months ago. If you've been away for so long, then you've missed how much more grinding is involved in the game now. Faction grinds, dungeon grinds for badges (you can get some gear with badges from 5, 10 and 25 man instances), daily fishing and cooking quests, Wintergrasp pvp, and much much more. Then when you get to 80, you have the 10 and 25 man versions of all raid instances to do. The game is also alot easier than it used to be.

I came to the conclusion I was wasting time in the game, but not getting any enjoyment / satisfaction from it anymore. As soon as my guild killed Yogg Saron, I canceled my account.

Stevedave00:
Up to you.
If your expecting the whole 40 man thing, Don't bother.
If your expecting to play a game and have fun with E-friends sure.

This pretty much sums it up... I've quit now for the *counts* 4th time so far, and I can safely say that now that none of my friends or family play anymore, the desire to go back and start up again is completely dead...

Though it hasn't stopped me from browsing WoW related sites every now and again...

The truth about wow these days is that its slowly being taken away from its hardcore roots. The leveling has been dumbed down alot in the old world, bosses have been nerfed to hell and back, elites have been removed, experience reduced to level.. The list goes on. Hell, even BGs are being nerfed in the next patch. So much for the epic clash between two factions. Its becoming more of a casuall game, the "My first MMO" so to speak. Even raids have been reduced to 10 man. 25 if your up for a challenge. While I dont view this as a 100% bad thing, I dont approve of all of what they have been nerfing/reducing.. some things NEED to be a challenge. But I digress, if you looking to be a casuall player, then It will be alot easier these days then it was in the 60 days.

If you fell in love with the hardcore raiding of Vanilla WOW or the challenges of TBC, (Kael, Sunwell) and that's what kept you playing and got you addicted.

STAY AWAY!

After having played back end of vanilla and all of TBC and finished Ulduar, (Less Algalon) the game has become and will continue to become a skeleton of what it once was. That's when I quit, after a few hard modes and seeing what was coming.

I can understand why Blizzard is doing what they are doing to WOW but at the same time players who want a challenge and not an environment that breeds bad players you are not welcomed nor wanted by Blizzard anymore.

I actually read up on the, "Call of the Crusade" patch that hit this week.

What a joke and I'm reaffirmed that it was a wise decision to quit.

All this said, not saying it's a bad game, I'm saying it's a bad game in my opinion and not worth the time.

No, WoW has enough noobs already :d

ClaptonKnophlerHendrix:
Hey all, I played WOW back in 2006 for about 10 months and quit the moment I realised I was addicted to it. I was a 60 mage and never got to see BC or WOTLK. So my question is, should I come back? I have much better self control now and I think I could keep from being addicted but is it really worth it? I've heard the games got better and I've heard its gotten worse. So WOW players, should I give it another go?

Being addicted to a game isn't a bad thing. If it was than most games wouldn't be played.

yeh,the wow has updated to new patch.but depends on yourself,if you have enough time and power.

Why not pay for just one month, play a bit to see if you like it, and then renew or not as you please?

Sure.. why not? It is one of amazing game that I've got ^^

Give it a shot. You may find something in it for you that you didn't find beforehand...

If you managed to quit, DON'T!

well i quit playing around last Christmas and started again in October and stopped playing again after the release of Borderlands and for the moment I'm playing DAO and gonna buy MW2 and AC2 as soon as i have completed DAO. open you mind start playing other games. it's way more fun playing several diffrent games that just one (if you get addicted or just don't play anything else.

When I stopped playing I noticed all the great games that had come out the last couple years that I missed out on. Maybe you weren't like that but wow killed any drive to play anything else.

if you love this game ,go back

I think you really shouldn't go back, try to enjoy life and other games, honestly.

I cancelled my account about a year ago and am amazed at how much I have managed to not miss it. I spent way too much time playing it and I wasn't event involved with a raiding guild.

Iori35:

Short version: Try out the 10 day trial for Warhammer Online first and then decide if you want to go back to WoW.

LOL, don't if you're looking for other MMORPGs. WHOnline was coded by 2 retarded monkeys, it's funny at first that it depends on the weather or your karma if the skill you use is going to work, but if you're trying to actually play not just roll face on keyboard and cry, then you'll wish you could stab the developers in the eye.

soultwister:

Iori35:

Short version: Try out the 10 day trial for Warhammer Online first and then decide if you want to go back to WoW.

LOL, don't if you're looking for other MMORPGs. WHOnline was coded by 2 retarded monkeys, it's funny at first that it depends on the weather or your karma if the skill you use is going to work, but if you're trying to actually play not just roll face on keyboard and cry, then you'll wish you could stab the developers in the eye.

At the time I suggested giving Warhammer Online a try it wasn't as dead as it is now.
I don't recommend giving Warhammer Online a chance anymore, because there aren't enough people still playing it now.

Warhammer Online doesn't have the same exaggerated art style as World of Warcraft,
so it doesn't look nearly as good on older computers.
I honestly didn't play very much of Warhammer Online, so I'm not going to compare them further.

Hasn't changed in any fundamental way. Has achievements now, more quests and stuff obviously, but essentially the same deal.

I played it for like 3 yrs b4 i quit in June since b4 TBC and all, and going back wont be the same... the whole game is currently geared towards leveling to 70 then playing at 80. 1-70 was..... well dying, though i suppose new expansion will remedy that a bit with new terrain everywere. But as for self control :P i quit it like 2 times b4 i finally quit and the reason i quit last time was cos i was in a guild raidin naxx a lot and got wayyy to addicted for a couple weeks after my exams and was basically a zombie, so got my control back, quit the guild (which i became high ranked up and led raids >.<) without tellin em, and yay ^^

anyways, dont go back to it!!! its more addictive than it was back then with all the smaller raids, daily quests and other stuff >.<

WoW is evil. Always ... just .. one... more... thing to get, or craft, or kill.

Well, what do you look for in a game?

If you're looking for interesting quests, the quests presented by WotLK are definitely more involving. There are also clever references to Norse mythology-- things you would need to grab a book for if you're not versed in it already-- but it's there. While all quests boil down to delivery or "seek and destroy," WotLK is more innovative than BC by leaps and bounds.

Is PvP your desire? Wintergrasp, from my perspective, is epic as hell. There are many things you can do: parachute off of flying ships, deliver bombs to gates, kill people doing either things, hunt for herbs, hunt for people hunting for herbs. It's a new but more polished and inviting medium to experience fighting players. There are also seige weapons and destructable buildings. Arenas? Well, nothing has changed about them except for class alterations. Though, if one didn't need a multi-button mouse to exceed in PvP before (2400+ arena rating I'd guesstimate), it is mandatory now. I'm still having fun as a 2200ish rated mage in both 2vs2 and 3vs3, but eh, that's me.

Are you looking to roleplay? Despite hateful generalizations made by players, roleplay still exists in decent quantity. The quality is negotiable, but a number of good quality roleplayers still exist. Check the WoW roleplay forums. They're littered with guilds and groups of roleplayers. Example: I believe a guild on Farstriders (don't remember the server exactly, but this information is in the roleplay forums of WoW's official site) is actively recruiting roleplayers to the extent they will help you level or use alts to level with you. While roleplaying, of course. There's that end of the spectrum, and then those folks who roleplay as vampires/dragonkin/demi-gods/etc. Who outnumbers who? I feel that too is negotiable because I've had many, many good experiences with various people. One problem exists: choosing the right server. Farstriders and Moonguard, though plagued with the latter group of roleplayers, both have good amounts of quality roleplayers. This is all from my experience, of course.

Dungeons? I can't speak about them much because I roleplay and PvP. I haven't raided since Illidan. From what I hear though, especially with Icecrown Citadel (Arthas!) being available in 3.3, dungeons are nifty...and that's all I can really say about it.

It's worth mentioning, in the same vein of quests, that the plot development is much more commendable than BC's. Space-faring species? Harnessing/controlling the light from an imprisoned divine being? That's shoved under the rug. WoW has returned to the previous story that made it appeal to players: the developments pertaining to The Scourge and Arthas in the Warcraft 3. Previous conflicts and necessary components which comprise the setting of WoW are being answered and resolved, not added to. Characters once adored and admired from a lore perspective, like Bolvar Fordragon, are "fleshed out" as opposed to uninvolved. More of the original cast of protagonists (like Jaina Proudmoore and Tirion) are not only seeing reintroduction but use as cogs to propel the story . I won't go any further than this: Blizzard revitalized WoW's story with WotLK. They have offered resolution as opposed to tying a loose end.

(If the above statement suggests I dislike BC's lore, that's untrue: I believe it didn't mesh well with the previously established setting. WotLK returns WoW to a more fantastical setting and focuses on the immediate antagonist of Azeroth. I like BC's story, but much of it seems extraneous to WoW's plot progression while WotLK feels vital.)

Why is lore important? Well, it isn't for many WoWers. But the stories in WotLK, provided by several quests, are easier to feel immersed in, roleplaying or not.

Let's see: Quests, Lore, PvP, PvE...

Oh! Yes, this is a "d'uh," but it's always, always worth mentioning. Since WotLK is an MMORPG, hell, a video game, it's repetitive. All video games are repetitive. WotLK as a game itself makes the repetition easier to deal with, though it has made repetition more visible and necessary. Why? As stated before, WoW now caters to casual players. "Dailies" and "gear grind" are true terms, more so than they were in Classic and BC WoW, though the grinding is easier and faster. The abundance of grinding in late WoW is not fun after the initial amazement fades. How is that remedied? By having good friends in WoW. It is a MMORPG after all.

In fact, that's really the bottom line of any MMORPG: exploring exciting exaggerations of genres and life with new and old friends. If you can do that, the game is worth playing for a long time.

So...

TL;DR -- Though there is grinding late game, WotLK is easier to immerse oneself in that BC, and it has progressed in all issues of PvP and PvE for the better. The game is significantly easier, communities are more developed, and 70-80 is great. The 80 experience is over-all better than TBC, but still requires good friends.

Lastly, if you're looking at whether you should play WoW from a kind of moral stand point, I can't say anything in particular. Instead, I suggest a poem by Edgar Allen Poe called "A Dream Within A Dream."

Yeah so im sort of the serial WoW player, i played in pre BC times had a 60 human pally quit a few months b4 BC came out then when it came out i went back to playing for like a year with a 70 BE lock quit a while b4 WOTLK, then wrath came out and i played for like several months with an UD mage who i got in mostly tier 7 then quit again. now all my friends are playing again and yeah im wondering if it would be worth it going back or not?

You quit it like me. Don't go back now.

Wow was better during the Vanilla days, stay away.

I've going to say honestly....maybe?

No, the game is much worse now, don't spend the money, you'll just get disappointed.

Im having this problem. I found out I was addicted so I immediatley quit because I noticed I didn't want to go to parties just to stay home and raid but now that I've been away for several months I've been having the urge to return because I miss it for some odd reason.

Gave a half a second for a similar thought, finding the immediate answer: no. Can't recommend it for you neither.

Blank Verse:
Well, what do you look for in a game?

If you're looking for interesting quests, the quests presented by WotLK are definitely more involving. There are also clever references to Norse mythology-- things you would need to grab a book for if you're not versed in it already-- but it's there. While all quests boil down to delivery or "seek and destroy," WotLK is more innovative than BC by leaps and bounds.

Is PvP your desire? Wintergrasp, from my perspective, is epic as hell. There are many things you can do: parachute off of flying ships, deliver bombs to gates, kill people doing either things, hunt for herbs, hunt for people hunting for herbs. It's a new but more polished and inviting medium to experience fighting players. There are also seige weapons and destructable buildings. Arenas? Well, nothing has changed about them except for class alterations. Though, if one didn't need a multi-button mouse to exceed in PvP before (2400+ arena rating I'd guesstimate), it is mandatory now. I'm still having fun as a 2200ish rated mage in both 2vs2 and 3vs3, but eh, that's me.

Are you looking to roleplay? Despite hateful generalizations made by players, roleplay still exists in decent quantity. The quality is negotiable, but a number of good quality roleplayers still exist. Check the WoW roleplay forums. They're littered with guilds and groups of roleplayers. Example: I believe a guild on Farstriders (don't remember the server exactly, but this information is in the roleplay forums of WoW's official site) is actively recruiting roleplayers to the extent they will help you level or use alts to level with you. While roleplaying, of course. There's that end of the spectrum, and then those folks who roleplay as vampires/dragonkin/demi-gods/etc. Who outnumbers who? I feel that too is negotiable because I've had many, many good experiences with various people. One problem exists: choosing the right server. Farstriders and Moonguard, though plagued with the latter group of roleplayers, both have good amounts of quality roleplayers. This is all from my experience, of course.

Dungeons? I can't speak about them much because I roleplay and PvP. I haven't raided since Illidan. From what I hear though, especially with Icecrown Citadel (Arthas!) being available in 3.3, dungeons are nifty...and that's all I can really say about it.

It's worth mentioning, in the same vein of quests, that the plot development is much more commendable than BC's. Space-faring species? Harnessing/controlling the light from an imprisoned divine being? That's shoved under the rug. WoW has returned to the previous story that made it appeal to players: the developments pertaining to The Scourge and Arthas in the Warcraft 3. Previous conflicts and necessary components which comprise the setting of WoW are being answered and resolved, not added to. Characters once adored and admired from a lore perspective, like Bolvar Fordragon, are "fleshed out" as opposed to uninvolved. More of the original cast of protagonists (like Jaina Proudmoore and Tirion) are not only seeing reintroduction but use as cogs to propel the story . I won't go any further than this: Blizzard revitalized WoW's story with WotLK. They have offered resolution as opposed to tying a loose end.

(If the above statement suggests I dislike BC's lore, that's untrue: I believe it didn't mesh well with the previously established setting. WotLK returns WoW to a more fantastical setting and focuses on the immediate antagonist of Azeroth. I like BC's story, but much of it seems extraneous to WoW's plot progression while WotLK feels vital.)

Why is lore important? Well, it isn't for many WoWers. But the stories in WotLK, provided by several quests, are easier to feel immersed in, roleplaying or not.

Let's see: Quests, Lore, PvP, PvE...

Oh! Yes, this is a "d'uh," but it's always, always worth mentioning. Since WotLK is an MMORPG, hell, a video game, it's repetitive. All video games are repetitive. WotLK as a game itself makes the repetition easier to deal with, though it has made repetition more visible and necessary. Why? As stated before, WoW now caters to casual players. "Dailies" and "gear grind" are true terms, more so than they were in Classic and BC WoW, though the grinding is easier and faster. The abundance of grinding in late WoW is not fun after the initial amazement fades. How is that remedied? By having good friends in WoW. It is a MMORPG after all.

In fact, that's really the bottom line of any MMORPG: exploring exciting exaggerations of genres and life with new and old friends. If you can do that, the game is worth playing for a long time.

So...

TL;DR -- Though there is grinding late game, WotLK is easier to immerse oneself in that BC, and it has progressed in all issues of PvP and PvE for the better. The game is significantly easier, communities are more developed, and 70-80 is great. The 80 experience is over-all better than TBC, but still requires good friends.

Lastly, if you're looking at whether you should play WoW from a kind of moral stand point, I can't say anything in particular. Instead, I suggest a poem by Edgar Allen Poe called "A Dream Within A Dream."

Amazing post. Best answer to his/her question, and possibly all questions about WoW, MMOs, or just video games in general. Someone read it!