Ever since Burning Crusade was launched players have been nostalgic for the good old days of “Vanilla Wow.” The good old days when instances were actually hard, classes were all unique and epics were actually epic. I myself have indulged in this nostalgia and rolled a character in a vanilla only raiding guild for a while. Since Blizzard has never worked on creating a pre BC-server these type of player created options were the best we could hope for. But with the impending release Cataclysm, Azeroth will undergo a massive overhaul and old pre-BC wow will be gone forever! Already alot of Cataclysm guides and information can be easily found. Old zones will be irrevocably changed, favorite instances will be removed and the old Azeroth we spent our first 46 days /played in will be lost forever upon the coming of this new expansion!

If this makes you feel sad you really shouldn’t let it. Nostalgia will always make us remember the good points of something and forget the bad. One of the most challenging aspects of instances was finding someone with a key to open the door. WoW Cataclysm classes were unique because only one class could tank, one could heal, three could DPS and the rest had unique ways of doing nothing well. And the reason epics were actually epic was because everything else was loaded up with spirit! Blizzard has fixed all these problems in its expansion content, but so much of it is ingrained in pre-sixty play that only a full rework of Azeroth can elevate it to the games current standard of quality. I know I’ll feel a little bit sad when I finish installing the expansion and log in because a part of the game will be gone forever. But I also know that it will usher in a brighter age for Azeroth. (And not just because everything will be covered with Lava.)