nearly 20 years ago, when WoW was just about to launch, my friends and I had been looking for an MMO to get into that would be interesting, fun, and have pvp. and I distinctly remember the vibe being cautiously optimistic with"well, Blizzard is great. I bet they're going to do a great job."
and they did. it was visually stunning, had lots to explore, very polished experience and it engaged us all for years.
it's hard to reconcile those days with today, where if somebody told me blizzard was making some new major game, my first impulse would be to shrug and wonder why anyone still cared.