Hi! So I wouldn’t say I’m new to WoW, but I definitely don’t have that great of an understanding on the changes that’s happened to the game over the years.
For the longest time I’ve had the want to play through the entire game’s story, from vanilla to the current expansion, particularly in order. But from my understanding, when Cataclysm came out, that pretty much got rid of vanilla’s entire storyline? Meaning technically you’d have to start from Burning Crusade? And if that’s the case, would I just have to play WoW Classic in order to experience the original vanilla story?
Sorry if I seem really uninformed, but it’s just hard to find an exact answer for this. Thank you!
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No worries about seeming uninformed, don’t need to apologize for that at all.
You are completely correct - Yes, Cataclysm got rid of pretty much everything from Vanilla WOW with later expansions such as MoP further sealing the deal (eg; Kor’kron buildings in the Northern Barrens.) The earliest possible starting point to play through the entire game’s story in Retail would be in Burning Crusade, and even some parts of that have been removed, though not many parts, though this is true for other lore points in expansions (example; in WOTLK Horde DKS are sent to meet Thrall at the end of the starting zone whereas now we are sent to meet Saurfang, and you can’t forget the Battle for Undercity being removed in WOTLK either.) Despite the removal of some content, i think you could play through -most- of the entire game’s story in retail.
In order to experience the OG Vanilla Story, you would indeed need to play through WOW classic, same for Wrath if you wanted to experience the Battle for Undercity.
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