Alright so long story short, I am fairly new to WoW and started in dragonflight. I recently have been drawn to classic and want to get into the hardcore scene, but in all honesty, I do not know too much. If anyone would be kind enough to lend me a helping hand wether it be in-game or on the forums, it would be much appreciated.
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Welcome to the hardcore scene! Starting off, prioritize survivability over everything. Pick a class with self-sustain or crowd control abilities. Always carry potions and bandages for emergency situations. Be strategic with your pulls, donât overextend, and stay aware of your surroundings. Utilize crowd control and interrupts wisely. Invest time in learning the zones and quest paths to avoid unexpected dangers. Lastly, always have an escape plan, and donât hesitate to use it when things get dicey. If you have specific questions or need guidance on your class, feel free to ask.
Here are some addon recommendations for a WoW Classic Hardcore experience:
Classic Bestiary:
Overview: Displays creature ability information in the game tooltip, providing valuable insights into their abilities.
Usage: Hold Control while hovering over a unit to reveal detailed spell descriptions.
Note: Utilizes a database generated from Wowhead, offering comprehensive creature ability information.
2.Unit Scan Hardcore:
Overview: A versatile addon designed for Hardcore play with several unique features.
Features:
Tracks and warns against Horde & Alliance NPCâs that involuntarily flag you for PvP Combat.
Warns low-level bank alts against known Grief Methods in Major Cities.
Automated alerts disappear after 7 seconds, reducing unnecessary clicks.
Alerts are disabled during Taxi, enhancing the Hardcore experience.
Throttled acoustic alerts, ensuring a balanced frequency.
Displays alerts even during combat, providing continuous awareness.
I wanted to share a strategy thatâs been helping me navigate the challenges. I use Wowhead to filter enemies by zone, react, level, and elite status. Before entering any zone, I research and add mob names to my Unit Scan addon, providing instant alerts to potential dangers. This proactive approach has significantly boosted my situational awareness, allowing me to anticipate threats and adapt accordingly.
These addons aim to enhance your Hardcore experience by providing valuable creature information and ensuring you stay alert to potential threats in the game world. Always remember to check for updates and compatibility with each WoW Classic patch.
Consider giving it a try, and letâs keep the Hardcore community informed and thriving!
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Awesome Advice given above! Whatâs Your Best Tip For Hardcore on this forum is a good place to start.
(sorry posted on wrong char)
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Good suggestion! Itâs in the âstickiedâ posts at the top of this forum or link is here:
Also another thread that might be helpful:
Take it slow, LĂĄndo, and have fun above all.
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First of all, create a bank alt !!! most important !
Assume everything can kill you. At all times.
My first HC toon died at⊠lvl 7. I wanted to solo princess because in my meory it was not hard. yeah. I killed the princess, died to adds. In normal mode, just walk here iun ghost, loot prncess, no big deal. In HC : Death
My second toon died at lvl 29 because I was like an idiot doing a quest 3 lvls above mine. Killed 2 mobs of lvl 31. Used everything, sit to regen, another 32 spawned on me : dead
3d toon : Died at lvl 7 as a tilt to losing 2d toon lol. No reason here, I was copping with loss
4th toon (Alive so far) : lvl 35.
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These are all great tips.
If you do end up dying, donât feel discouraged - you can always go agane 
In addition, you can xfer a dead toon to Era and level it there - while the experience isnât HC there is pvp (which can be a ton of fun) and, more importantly, you can level that toon right ahead of your new HC main as a sort of âtest toonâ.
So you can do a zone on era and learn the dangers, then do it afterwards on a HC toon.
Best of luck in your journeys
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just play and enjoy and donât die. long time retail player but idk much about classic-WOTLK so itâs basically a learning process for me.
only major help iâve gotten were via addons such as questie and what not which does help a lot. other then that i donât really know wth im doing XD.
only advice i can give you really is to go back and forth to different zones to catch up on levels so itâs not insanely hard for you like me i finished westfall last night am only lvl 16 and going back to loch modan to do those quests and then maybe darkshore after. probably will hit 20âs by then. and donât pull too much as some mobs do hit insanely hard.
point of hardcore is to hit 60 and then do end game if you want. itâs not a race itâs simply just staying alive.
despite how long iâve played retail like i said idk much about classic-wotlk. highest level i got in HC is 19 i think or 20. in classic 40 but i used zygor at the time so itâs not like i knew what was going on in general just followed what a guide told me to do.
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Take everything slow.
- Donât neglect your professions, level them up alongside your character
- Always have an escape plan/contingency plan.
- Pull extremely conservatively. Only fight when you know you will win. Donât pull when low on health/mana. Donât pull multiple mobs at a time unless you have to.
- Donât fight Orange/Red mobs. They are not like retail and are much harder to deal with in classic. The moment a mob goes orange your hit chance goes way down and the mob will do increased damage to you.
- Zone hop to keep your level above the quests you are doing. If you try to go Elwynn>Westfall>Redridge>Duskwood>Etc you will quickly outlevel the quests. There is no reason you canât jump over and do Dun Morogh>Loch Modan>Wetlands questd as well.
- Beware of any quest where you canât âsee the dangerâ things like quests that spawn mobs or escorts can be extra dangerous as you canât pull on your own terms.
- Only enter a cave/structure if you have to. Caves limit escape and are dangerous for this reason.
- Donât use your hearthstone for convenience. Your hearthstone is a powerful tool and can get you out of sticky situations. You will regret not being able to teleport out because you didnât want to take a flight path half an hour ago.
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Canât stress this enough. Unlike retail, the Classic hearthstone cooldown is 1 hour. Thatâs a long time so use it as a last resort and perhaps let it reset before heading back out.
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If you make a stealth character (rogue or druid), do NOT use stealth to go around things to save time. Fight through it. Sure, stealth up for openings, but not to go around.
Iâve lost 2 druids in the mid 20s (on my 3rd now) because I got lazy. The issue is youâll find yourself in a corner, something will go wrong, and you have no clear path out since you stealth around.
have fun, take your time. HC is about being strategic and thoughtful.
In classic, you were not an overpowered hero like in retail. 2 mobs at your level will most likely kill you, or get you very close.
Never start a fight without full health. Assume you will always get a respawn or an add.
Never start a fight with pots or defensives on CD. If your oh crap tools are on CD, just find a place to chill for a few minutes until they are ready to use again.
Use all your tools and skills. Coming back to classic HC, Iâve found Iâm using way more of my random abilities than I did before and become way more creative to how to deal with stuff.
Classic was a journey, not a destination. HC is even more so.
Remember weâre all here to have fun, thereâs no need rush as thereâs nothing to rush to.
Every session, be it 10 minutes or 4 hours, is meaningful as your goal is always to just survive. This feeling has meant that Iâve enjoyed every moment of hardcore, which I havenât felt for a very, very long time.
And always remember: caves are graves.
Buildings, mines, narrow valleys - anything with restricted exits are incredibly dangerous.
If you enter one of these places and itâs empty, or there are bodies already on the ground, BEWARE. This means you do not know the respawn timer, so either leave or be ultra careful as repops have killed many an intrepid adventurer.
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If youâre new to classic, youâd probably find a lot of use in playing softcore. Simply to learn how the game works. Thereâs a lot of little things that seem innocent, but will get you killed. Like the âBlood of Heroesâ spawning multiple level 58 elites when you loot it. Some people never seen it before so loot it because theyâre curious. Or the quest from Chromie, âA Matter of Timeâ that will spawn multiple worms, that slow you and will randomly spawn more after you kill them which can get you overwhelmed easy, and itâs not considered a group quest.
Some new players get overwhelmed from the start and want to stay in just one area. Iâve found that as long as I can run to another staging area, I can complete those quest and gain favor with that faction.
For instance, as a human warrior, I would do some of the easier quests in the starting zone NOT do the grape vineyard quest. Then I would head out take a few of the easy quest located in Stormwind then make my way to Iron Forge. Make my way to Coldridge valley and do those quest. This just means a lot of running back and forth.
Always Kill more then the quest gives you. Focus on other attributes/stats like blocking, dodge and unarmed because at some point, You will be disarmed.
Yeah! USE that Health potion. Itâs of no use when youâre dead.
This 100% Just keep Unarmed trained. Itâs a life saver!
As an addition to this note if you play a class that does not get hit regularly. (Ie Hunter, Warlock, or Mage) Your defense stat will start to fall behind. Itâs important to not ever have it more than 15 points below cap as mobs at your level will start doing crushing blows.
Defense skill is leveled based on number of hits you take not the intensity of the hit. My favorite way of leveling defense is the rats in deeprun tram as they always do 1 damage per hit so I can safely round up a bunch of them to level defense.
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The Silithid Swarmer in southern Barrens are a great choice to level defense for higher level horde.