Basically, entire classic outside of raid lockout is controlled by players. Endgame is gold farming, everying is tied to gold and gear. And gold + gear tied to player interactions through professions and raids. Professions have super good crafts that cost millions (not literal) and thus gold is so important. And you get it from grinds or selling your service to players.
So in classic you’re playing a game with players, you’re a part of giant machine.
Nothing like this exists in retail. Entire retail endgame is controlled by devs via systems. Everything is a system, you’re playing with a machine that thows other players by your side, but you should beat a machine, not players.
Yes, mechanically retail raids and m+ are excellent and fun to do. But it feels more like a destiny or another session looter game, not like mmo.
Still playing both tho. Classic have a lot of annoying issues and downsides, just like retail have it’s own.
Though Burning Crusade would fix everything
TLDR Classic is you being part of playerbased machine vs. Retail being fight against machine made by devs
Classic is “Intelectual’s WoW”. It is like those new baked vinil people talk about as if they were something special.
Beyond that, it is just a salt ridden community of people whining about nonsense and others being elitists while some good chunk just play it their fill and logout having fun with friends and oblivious of all the made up stories people make to look smart.
don’t be like that, i’ve done both 5 mask runs and killed Nzoth on herioc in retail. And i am playing classinc on my 60 priest and leveling warlock. Games are different and you don’t have to be hostile
The only actual argument I took away from this ramble is “Tradeskills were more valuable in Classic”.
And yeah, you’re right.
Nothing else about Classic is good. It’s barely an RPG.
The only choice you got to make with talent trees was: “Do I want to use the mathematically correct cookie-cutter spec? Or do I want to be bad?”
Gear was typically “Do I wear the Strength and Intellect pants or the Strength and Spirit pants on my warrior? Which poorly itemized thing is less bad?”
kind of an irony that Id prefer running the old content for the 200th time leveling up four new hunters to 60 in the last two weeks instead of playing that new/current stuff
And you have to spend 14,000g on special Soul Shard bags to make space for the 3 hours of farming you have to do before raid.
Most of those buttons are not even on your bar, because they are worthless. Better get to making your Major Spellstones. Oh wait. I don’t need a conjured offhand that gives me 1% crit, because that’s dumb.
Oh boy someone trying to sound smart. I’ve never had to spend gold on bags, let alone soul shard bags. I have enough space for an entire raids worth of shards and it doesnt cost me a dime.