I’m pretty new to the forums, and I joined retail back in shadowlands, with that being said I don’t know what the game was like back in the day. I’ve been delving into Sod posts, and most of them seem to almost immediately have retail hate on it. Been curious why that is
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Good luck finding one single reason why players hate one client vs the other.
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Tribalism’s been a thing in WoW from the start. Around here, you can’t just prefer either retail or classic. You have to like one and actively hate the other. That’s been the interesting thing to me honestly,
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Know the guy who still takes out his lettermans jacket and talks about his highschool football glory days?
Thats classic/SoD players. Not able to keep up with the current changes.
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I’ve noticed that for sure… it’s either they hate one or the other, no people really neutral. A bit strange.
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I thought the classic experiment would end with LK because Cataclysm is what changed the zones on retail that were restored in Classic.
But now they’re going with Cataclysm Classic so I don’t know what’s going on. At this point just divergent clients to try to keep players subbed, which isn’t a bad thing.
Personally I don’t have hate for Classic, I just don’t have interest in playing the game I played in 2004. SoD is a nice twist, although someone pointed out to me it’s basically copying Ascension (which I didn’t even know was a thing lol).
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People love to pretend that their preferred way of playing is superior to another one. People who love classic really like the bare-bones and simplistic gameplay loop. The game is beat so you know what you get. The combat is far more simple and less mechanically demanding and is very gear reliant in true RPG fashion. The world is open to you and because everyone is grounded(at least in the case of Vanilla and SOD) you might feel a bigger sense of community.
Retail is absolutely massive in scale now with a LOT of things to do that spreads the playerbase out. M+, Raids, PVP, Profession and other world events and minigames keep people busy. Rotations and gameplay is more complicated, mechanics are harder and more varied/interesting(imo).
The truth is, you’re valid no matter WHAT you like because it’s your sub. Don’t let anyone brow-beat you into thinking that the way YOU choose to play is less viable/worth it or whatever. It’s your game, your sub money.
These forums are also victim to support biases. E.g, this is where people go to find “support” for their problem, so if you never knew ANYTHING about WoW, you might come to these forums and read them and think that this game is the worst thing that has ever happened to the planet. I highly recommend leaving these forums and never coming back. Please find joy in the games you play and waste not another SECOND of your time worrying about what faceless, cruel and insignificant people have to say about the game.
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I can tell you why I despise Classic but I harbor no ill will towards anyone who wants to play nor will I try to convince them otherwise. Unfortunately, folks love being exactly that.
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People who hate retail hate that there’s more than 3 buttons to press
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Is there less buttons on classic? Like I said, I never played and havent had any interest personally
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I could care less about Classic and its players. For me it isn’t even “Classic,” it was a made up dream of what a community of players thought was “vanilla” while grabbing it from a pay for play site of WoW because Blizzard for some insane reason had no back ups at all.
Honestly, I dont even think of Classic
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As for me, I find Classic just…boring. I’ve played it before and I don’t see any reason to do the same thing again. So, it’s not hate, but… well…that stuff is almost two decades old. 
I haven’t been into Retail much since Legion. Nevertheless, I usually pop in every few months for one month of active sub time to see what’s “new”. Enthusiasm for Retail isn’t really there either, though. 
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All I can do is speak from my own experience. I love the changes to battle mechanics since vanilla/classic. Going out and doing quests isn’t as unforgiving as it once was. But then they squished, and squished again, they invented Chromie time, and replaced the long grind to level cap with a competitive end-game. As one who thoroughly enjoys experiencing the full story, in order, rather than raiding or doing endless dungeons, my interest in the game has almost vanished. In my boredom since filling all 50 character slots with alts, I barely log in anymore. I tried Classic, but in my old age, it was just too punishing. I still log in occasionally and speak to guildees, but most of my time is now spent in FFXIV.
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Yes. Most classes use 1-3 rotational abilities. Frost mages for instance is famously just using frost bolt over and over. There’s not a whole lot that’s complicated mechanically about Classic. But people have a fond memory of being young and not really knowing what to do. Before addons could assist and before everything was mathed out.
Classic feels more like an RPG. Retail feels like a collection game or esport if you’re sweaty.
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Classic players who hate on Retail do so out of insecurity. It really is like the type of person who starts every sentence with “I remember when…”. They’re basically grasping back for a time when they felt relevant.
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I kind of like the idea of that, mage has always been so scary to approach as a class for me. Mainly because it has too many buttons.
I think there’s just things people can’t understand and because they don’t know how that person is personally experiencing it.
Just like I can’t understand why my mom hates bacon. 60 years to develop a taste for bacon, still not there. I don’t get it.
Unfortunately with strangers a lack of understanding can breed contempt and other negative feelings.
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There are more people who are neutral than those who sincerely hate one more than the other. Even more than that, there are people who just prefer one over the other.
These aren’t extreme emotions, so they’re not compelled to make sure everyone in their vicinity knows they’re “wrong” for having fun in a way they disapprove of 
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