As 2024 continued, I started to hate Windows more and more. I’ve finally decided to remove Windows from both my laptop and desktop (both use AMD CPU+GPU) starting next month.
I’ve replaced Windows on my gaming laptop today (using Pop!_OS) and I’m quite impressed with how smooth things are working with all my Steam games, but I haven’t tried WoW yet.
For those of you who play WoW on Linux, any helpful tips or pieces of advice you wish you knew before switching?
I’ve been running WOW on linux for a decade. The performance is really strong, you can even download curse and on linux now and update your add ons. I run a 7800xt on one computer and a Intel Arc A770. I have ran it both through lutris and Steam but for now I’m only running through lutris. I will say one thing with the Intel ArcA770 the performance is 100% better if you run dx11 rather than dx12
It works well, but make sure your peripherals like gaming mouse work equally well. If you have a programmable mouse you can do the programming on a windows based PC and bring it over to your linux box.
I’ve used GNU/Linux off and on for the better part of 30 years, but I still don’t recommend using it as a full time gaming box.
I’ve been in your shoes before and end up coming back to Windows for the compatibility.
Still, I highly recommend you give it a try.
Found this when looking for advice. I have the same experience as earlier poster. Linux off and on for 30 years. Because of MS’s AI integration and advertisement delivery in the OS, I’m fully Linux for my daily driver. Gaming is the main issue. If it weren’t for the efforts from Valve (steam) I don’t think I would have been able to do it. That said, Blizzard apps still freeze from time to time (using proton through Steam’s desktop client).
Blizzard: please compile your code for Debian (at least) and make a native Linux game client. Pretty please. We Linux folks are generally tech savvy and I don’t think we’re going to be much of a hassle to support.
This is what I came here to see. I am done with Windows and its privacy violations. If I have any insight, Linux compiling will be coming soon(I hope), what will Blizzard do when SteamOS is the second biggest OS in the world LOL.
I would come over gladly if Linux is as easy to get into as Windows with the same file structure and compatibility without going though hoops, and without ever interfacing with the terminal or software package managers and use it 100% exactly how i would on Windows.
Because as it is right now, i can’t really switch as my Desktop day to day use. It’s fine for smaller stuff tho.
Linux Mint is popular for this reason its almost windows, but unfortunately there are times you have to go through some hoops. Terminal is almost optional since most things can be found in the Software Center.
but at the end of the day, unless you are willing to tinker Windows will still be better for most users.
Yea it’s kinda why i went back to Windows like, ugh..
I don’t do almost. I think my issue is… well i say my issue, but …I don’t think Linux Community should tell people they can use it just as 100% same as windows they can’t. 
I mean Linux is never built to be windows to begin with. And still isn’t.
Mint can make one of old crappy office laptop (with 4 gb of Ram LOL) i found in the trash one time, run better then it did with Windows 10, so there’s that.
Tbf, there is some tools or way to tinker with Windows. Not to the same degree as Linux, but something that is pretty much QoL.
One i use is WinAero Tweaker. 
It gives me classic full context menus, disable co-pilot, disable some UI things like aero shake, disable web search, add to the context menu and the best feature of all.. Disable Windows Updates. 
And that’s not even scratching the surface. There’s WAY too many to list. Like actually too many to list.
I wasn’t expecting this old thread to get new posts, but here’s my update:
I put Windows back on my desktop 
My laptop is using Mint and my ROG Ally is using Bazzite.
Linux was working well for a few months, but then I started having constant issues with WoW, forcing me to switch back to Windows. I just don’t have the time or energy to keep troubleshooting/tinkering every few weeks…
I know this thread is old but…
I use Pop!_OS. I also use Steam. I added Battle.net to steam and a non-steam game. Proton from steam seems to work great, I have not had many issues.
If you do go this route, you have to do it in two steps. Add the battle.net installer and a non-steam game first, let it install. When it is done, you need to add another non-steam game entry but this time you browse for the battle.net.exe program. This is what will let you actually play.
I just bought a Mac mini M1 to run WoW. I tried to get WoW to run on Mint, but I ran into some difficulty.
I switched to Bazzite and had a relatively painless experience. For wow I had to pick up Faugus Launcher to use battlenet.
I just did this and yeah, there are some undocumented “gotchas”. But a lot of googling got me through it. Running Battle.net and WoW Retail on Linux Mint 22.2 with Lutris 0.5.18 and Proton-GE. On a fairly old machine (7th Gen i5, NVidia 760) but still performs OK all things considered. I wouldn’t raid on this setup but it’s OK for world content like Remix.
Hi T, may I ask why you started hating Windows?
In my experience with Linux, running wow on the same drive as the os works 99% flawless. Running wow from a secondary drive causes weird problems like random freezes, extremely slow launcher, booting into the wrong resolution.
My computer is currently set to dual boot Windows and Zorin OS. My main SSD is split into separate partitions for Windows and Linux, with the Linux partition mounted to the root (/) directory. My secondary HDD is fully reformatted to EXT4 (Linux file format) with it mounted to the /home directory.
I have started playing other games on Zorin OS through Steam, and those games seem to run pretty much flawlessly. I have not run Battle.net on Zorin OS yet.
Also, word of advice: Don’t try to install or run your games on an NTFS partition if you are using Linux.
I’ve read that using proton for anything on an NTFS partition can/will cause serious file corruption.