Chapter 1117: Sweeping the Globe (First Update)
Some players might be very curious—were the 60-era raid dungeons really that difficult?
Isn’t that obvious…
Of course, to be fair, the difficulty of the 60-era raid dungeons in the original *World of Warcraft* was caused by multiple factors.
First, there were very few addons back then. Many players leveled up without any addons, and the official quests provided no location or area hints. You had to rely solely on the limited quest text to search manually. For quests that were too well-hidden, players simply gave up on them.
A raid group of 40 people—only a handful had addons. In the earliest days, some groups didn’t even have voice chat software; they relied entirely on the raid leader typing commands. You can imagine how efficient that was. Later, almost every player involved in progression raiding had raid addons, along with mind-numbing voice alerts like “Fire wall, fire wall, fire wall.” That boosted efficiency by more than a little.
Second, there were too many people. Forty players were incredibly hard to command. When progressing on the Lich King in the 80-era, even 25 people could give the raid leader a headache. Dodging black water took every ounce of effort, let alone facing a mysterious boss like C’Thun in the 60-era.
Moreover, players’ tactical awareness and class understanding were low. Without addons, many didn’t know how to execute a proper damage rotation, how to allocate talents, or how to gear up to maximize their output. Many raid leaders couldn’t even tell who was slacking off without damage meters, making progression efficiency hard to guarantee.
Of course, another important reason was poor internet connectivity. Disconnecting during a raid was common. Especially when progressing on the Electromancer in 60-era Naxxramas, many groups waited until after 2 a.m. when the network stabilized before starting.
To let new players experience the classic challenge of 60-era raid dungeons, Blizzard specially arranged Molten Core during *World of Warcraft*’s tenth anniversary to evoke old memories…
Many players queued for the random raid to get the Core Hound mount, only to find that the recreation was way too authentic.
Back then, the trash mobs at the entrance wiped groups for an entire night. Now, they still wiped groups for an entire night…
Many players found it unbelievable that they got an instant queue as DPS, because in other raid dungeons, tanks and healers got instant queues while DPS had to wait 5 to 10 minutes, since the former two roles were rarer.
But as soon as they entered, they understood why. The entrance trash in Molten Core was gone, but half the raid group had just been resurrected.
In other words, this random raid group had only cleared the entrance trash after wiping multiple times. Many players got so frustrated they quit the group. So many people left that a bizarre situation occurred where DPS could queue instantly.
Then, when they reached the boss, tragedy struck.
Veteran players knew that the Five Hounds in Molten Core had a special mechanic: the boss patrolled with a large pack of minions. These Core Hounds had to die simultaneously within a time limit, or they would keep resurrecting. However, many new players had never experienced Molten Core and had no idea about this mechanic.
So, you could see the entire raid group constantly cycling people in and out. One batch couldn’t take the frustration and left; another batch joined and started attacking the Core Hounds with the lowest health, only to watch them resurrect over and over. Players came and went in waves…
In the end, the Five Hounds in Molten Core took five or six hours to defeat, with countless groups cycling through, and still no one could take them down.
Although the random raid members back then were also inexperienced, they were still much better than the players who first stepped into raid dungeons in the 60-era. If they wiped that badly, you can imagine the misery when everyone first started progressing on Molten Core back in the day.
But players back then had one good quality: they were incredibly persistent.
Whether it was a 5-player dungeon or a raid, from the lowest-level Wailing Caverns to the high-level Molten Core and Blackwing Lair, everyone took pride in sticking it out and felt shame in bailing midway. Even in seemingly simple small dungeons where they kept wiping, no one blamed each other. Everyone focused on doing their part, encouraged one another, and persisted for hours until they cleared it.
In the 40-player Molten Core and Blackwing Lair, sometimes even the trash mobs caused wipes for an entire night. The main tank might repair their gear so many times that they went broke, but no one complained back then. Many substitute players logged in on time with the main raid group, waiting outside the instance entrance for hours every day. They might wait for a week or two, or until a regular member had something come up, before they got a chance to enter the raid.
Later, as fast-food playstyles became more common, players’ patience dwindled. In many 5-player dungeons, a single wipe could cause two or three people to leave. Players’ mindsets grew more and more impatient. That’s why many veteran players especially miss those days when everyone stuck together and worked hard to clear the dungeon.
…
All the Alliance and Horde on every server entered a tense and exciting progression phase. At this point, the first wave of players had mostly hit max level, farmed 5-player dungeons enough, and used spare time for quests, small dungeons, and making money, while dedicating large chunks of time to raiding and organizing guild activities.
However, a massive influx of new low-level characters continuously supplied fresh blood to *World of Warcraft*.
Many people thought that the buildup to *World of Warcraft* would be a peak for Matrix Game Pod sales. But they quickly realized they were wrong—this wasn’t a peak; it was just the beginning.
The boost *World of Warcraft* gave to Matrix Game Pod sales was even more powerful than any previous method.
At the root of it all was the difference between online games and single-player games.
Humans, after all, are social animals.
When *World of Warcraft* swept the globe and became a trend, it was truly hard for people to resist the temptation.
Online, whether on major forums or websites, everything was filled with discussions and reviews of *World of Warcraft*. Everyone heaped praise on this groundbreaking game, with many calling it an “immortal masterpiece.”
Yes, almost every element in *World of Warcraft* was commendable.
The high-quality CG.
The grand world-building.
The diverse and unique classes.
The complex, story-driven quest lines.
The varied dungeon designs.
The faction-versus-faction gameplay.
The rich battlegrounds and PvP content.
To sum it up in one sentence: *World of Warcraft* created a brand-new world that immersed all players, making them unable to stop.
Moreover, this game was an absolutely fair time-based subscription model. Sleep mode allowed most players ample game time, so for everyone, it was like a second life, with everyone starting from the same line.
In the face of such a masterpiece, those hesitant players could no longer resist the allure of the Matrix Game Pod.
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