The only thing i have done in retail over the last couple month is farm up tokens for game time for classic … That is currently the only reason I will ever log into BFA.
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I stopped playing already bfa is doo doo I stopped to play ff14 and 11 but 11 is dead and 14 is not really a mmo.
I only came back to play classic. Time will tell if I stick around.
Already stopped, 6 months ago. But my passion died a week after BFA launched. Just one too many gear/rep re-starts.
Really tired of chasing the gear dragon…
better question and maybe even more relevant, how many already stopped playing?
I stopped right after Uldir.
Just waiting for Classic. No need for retail.
I will as i simply will only have the time to play the most engaging game…Classic.
My intention is to play Classic as a replacement for BFA and when the next expansion hits I will play it by ear.
Current game design philosophy does not really mesh with what I am personally looking for, and believe Classic will satisfy that for quite some time.
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Character progression in retail doesn’t feel good, collecting the same item over and over again praying for min max rolls doesn’t feel good, speed run m+ stopped feeling good, ap grinds really don’t feel good, leveling a fresh character just feels like a giant obstacle that prevents you from just getting started at the relevant part of the game, 1.5 GCD, the list goes on
They’d really need to reevaluate the game, it’s just not fun for me or anyone I know. No amount of cosmetics or pretty mounts will change that. I just want the game to have that addictive feel that Classic has over me.
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I’ve remained subbed but I can’t stomach retail anymore. Everything from the story to the economy are so wonky that devoting any real time to the game doesn’t feel right.
Retail has slowly been adding more and more “chore” mechanics since Wrath, to the point that raiding for decent gear isn’t even necessary anymore. The whole system feels so broken that it’s unappealing to the masses and has gutted the whole social aspect of the game. I miss making friends.
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I would consider going back to retail wow if they actually un-pruned classes and went back to a MoP level of class mechanics.
This seems unlikely, so it seems unlikely that I will return.
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I haven’t played seriously since TBC. Dabbled a tiny bit in WotLK, Pandaland and Legion. Haven’t been subbed since the 1 month I played in Legion.
I stopped playing after it became quickly apparent BFA was crap
No plans to start retail again
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I am planning to play both. I overall prefer the playstyle and design of Vanilla but man do i love all the new races in the game since then and flying. However, i will be playing a lot more of Vanilla since it is a “new game” to me, having started in WotLK.
i haven’t played retail since last year, so, me. i don’t even have it installed 
Absolutely going to stop playing Retail until we get the changes we need in regards to class design and mechanical function and feel of combat.
I’m not looking for 9.0 to be the change we need either. I’m thinking 4+ years or never. You give me a Classic+ though, I’d abandon Classic and Retail both for something that gives me such things as Paladins having instant strikes, fixes to talent trees, you know… Much of what was done in TBC but better and without TBC.
Love TBC tho, just sayin.
I actually resubbed for the stress test. I got zero desire to play Retail though, so I guess I’ll just hang out for a couple weeks.
Haven’t read a single response yet, so this a response directly to OP:
Yes, I don’t ever plan on playing retail again.
“Why is that?”
Blizzard has managed to make a thousand and one different things to do in WoW, but none of it is meaningful or worth the time investment. They’ve tried too hard to reach to as wide of an audience as possible.
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LFR allows you to see the endgame content with little to no skill.
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LFD and cross-realm technology has taken away community.
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Transmog has made every single player just blend into a single crowed. Just by looking around, you cannot distinguish a dedicated player from a LFR player who logs in once a week for a few queues.
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PvP may as well be removed from the game at this point - there’s no team Arena, no currency, no gear rewards, and the elite cosmetics are obtainable in a day or two.
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Blizzard has focused on how to make loads of content that can be completed at the speed of light with little to no effort and time investment, instead of the opposite of what it has been - not as much content, but it was challenging and meaningful.
Cataclysm gets a lot of hate because of Tier 13, but the questing experience of Cata. and the difficulty of Tier 11 and new mechanics and return of Ragnaros in Tier 12 was the last time WoW was genuinely fun for me.
The introduction of LFR mid Tier 13 single handedly destroyed our guild because people left to just do LFR, get their gear much more easily, and log off.
The people who we tried to replace: people refused to fill out applications, refused to parse at all, or even completely refused to do a quick interview or quick heroic dungeon run. We decided to hand out the guild vault loot and fold because we refused to give in to this system and just let anyone in who could barely understand fire mechanics. I haven’t raided full time since, and it’s a damn shame.
I miss WoW for what it meant to play an MMORPG, not necessarily because I WANT to play a 15 year old game. I wish blizzard would change how retail works in a single complete overhaul, with the return of old content and mechanics that worked that should’ve never been removed in the first place and the removal of anti-social, anti-MMO tools - but they have too many chefs in the kitchen and believe every single expansion must be a brand new experience every single time with the addition of more crap.
So that’s why I plan to never return to retail. I haven’t really touched it in over a year, I have just been logging in from time to time to earn elite PvP gear then not log back on for something to do for maybe a few days.
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i stopped halfway through legion, i just couldnt stand the game any more, came back a couple times for new content, but it wasnt worth it, and i have no real draw to it now
There are somethings I like how retail (I’m playing it on my European WoW account since I moved from the US) but overall, Classic is where my my home is.
I decided I will play on American servers though since I find it more fun and it’s been a while since.