Returning player - off for about 6 or more yrs. Don’t recall last expansion, I know we had Mists of Pand..not sure if any d/l after that one. Started WOW back in 2004/2005. Husb and I only casual players, just for fun, at our own pace, loners etc. We were able to get account back, however our lvl 120’s gone, multiple same char names added on, some names changed with numbers added onto them etc. Was really confusing, we deleted all but the ones we had in our guild. Banks etc still in tact, nothing lost there. So we decided to create new characters to start fresh (humans) however we leveled in no time to 78, too fast. Seemed everywhere we went the critters were our same level, nothing lower or higher. Used to be (example)(alliance/human) northshire, goldshire, westfall etc to move up in leveling. Bought expansions and you continued playing. Now its all confusing. So we are currently in classic to get that back in the day experience but realize that once we hit 60 there is no where to go. Is there not a version of this game anymore like classic, start your (human) in northshire, move to goldshire etc etc and all your expansions that you paid for thru the years are connected and available to go to that area? I’m sorry if I’m not saying all this right, again we are just casual for fun players in our 60’s and just enjoy playing, but seems we can’t find what we are looking for or it doesn’t exist anymore? Any help would be appreciated.
Welcome back!
(If you had level 120s, you last played in Battle for Azeroth. There was a “level squish”, where characters levels were divitde by two and a bit, to keep the numbers in check.
The numbers added on to the name is just to free up the name of an unused charactrr in case someone else wants it. When you try to log in on one, it will allow you to enter the name.)
Yeah, what you expect dosn’t exist any more.
Consider that there are now three strands of WoW:
- Retail
- Variations on Vanilla Classic, limited to the original level 60 game but with tweaks. Soom a Burning Crusade Anniversary version.
- Classic Progression, which is working its way up through the expansions
The nearest you will get to what you expect is Mists of Pandaria Classic. You will find it available in your BattleNet Client.
You can make new characters there, and level them into the game as it was near the end of Mists of Pandaria. That is an option.
Blizzard have not announced what happens to that Classic Progression after Mists. It has announced Mists server merges. I suspect that the Classic Progression will not go on to Warlords, but we have no official word.
So if you want a classic type experience, you can get it for months still in MoP Classic, but that may be the end of the line. Maybe they will start a new Classic Progression line. Who knows? You can certainly get a levelling experience out of it.
I would also encourage you to take another look at Retail.
I KNOW that it is alien and confusing and repugnamt at first. But you may get used to it, A lot of people do.
But you have to approach it with differemt expectations.
Having everything scale to you feels unsatisfying and unfulfiling. I know. You will get no argument from me about that. I compare it to wading through an endless swamp of room-temperature porridge.
But you do get some things in exchange.
Retail leans heavily on alts.
What you can, and probably should, think like is raising an army of alts of different classes and races.
As you have seen, levelling is super-fast now.
And you can level each character in a different expansion. At level 10, you send your character to Chromie, and she will send it to whichever expansion you want. And any expansion will give you more than enough XP to level to 70, soom 80.
Unlike Vanilla, where you needed to raid to continue at max level, Retail provides a bunch of stuff for solo (or duo) people to do.
You can do Delves solo or as a pair to get really good gear at max level - as good as Heroic Raids. Also World Quests, and Follower Dungeons where you enter solo or as a pair, and are accompanied by NPCs that will fight with you to fill out the party.
There is a vast amount of Collection possible. Transmog, Mounts, Achievements, Pets, Toys.
Here is a video guide for beginners. Yes, you are not a beginner, but you probably feel like one, with all the changes!
It is massively long, but divided into chapters of 1-2 minutes per topic, and there is a Table of Contents if you clock “More” on the Description to extend it, soyou can jump around the sections you are interested in.
It may help you undertstand what’s going on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyqj414Se1Y
I can also refer you to
Wowhead.com for items, quests. maps and so on and
Icy-Veins.com for how to build and play your class
and you would be surprised how helpful AI chatbots can be if you ask them questions - though they do sometimes find sources that are out-of-date, or get confused between versions of WoW. I would stast with
Perplexity.ai
if you don’t use a chatbot regularly.
And PLEASE PLEASE do ask again here if you have any specific questions about anything. There is no point in getting frustrated when others already know the answers!
I KNOW this is a lot to take in at one time,so as many questions as you like! 