Hey guys. Like so many of you I am super pumped for classic and I have THE itch… I am still not 100% sure what I plan to roll as a main, though it’ll be dps for sure.
What I am wondering and hope some one with a little knowledge can answer is how different is the 1-60 of retail vs vanilla.
So say I start a new toon on retail, how close to the same blueprint (quests, items, ECT) will it be to when classic drops? Is there a particular race that is more “vanilla” or are they all just completely different?
Thanks for your time 
I heard in modern wow, all you gotta do to get to 60 is say, badda book, badda boom.
4 Likes
Don’t play any Allied Races, Space Goat, B***y Cheerleader, Furry or Ugly Gnome.
Having done it recently, its like watching Total Recall (2012). You can see where they’ve made nods to the original. The the story is essentially the same in zones not broken by the Cataclysm.
But its so much faster and not really the same level of effort.
There’s some quests that are the same, or close to the same, as in Vanilla but so much of the 1-60 world has been Cataclysmed that it’s still really far off.
With race, naturally any of the 8 races from Vanilla would be the most Vanilla.
Classes play very differently, and basically never have to worry about mana which was a big deal while leveling in Vanilla.
The professions all more or less contain the same recipes, but the numbers are different and the items aren’t all that useful to bother with anymore.
Zones are only similar in shape. Looks, pacing, quests (especially the good ones) are completely changed. Items have all been adjusted, sometimes ridiculously. An example is emberstone staff from deadmines. On retail it gives 23 int plus other stats. In classic it gave 8 int. Differant mobs, mechanics, terrain, and quest hubs have also been added.
So if you played a zone only in retail and then played classic you would be starting from scratch relearning everything 95% of the time.
But if your hell bent on trying to find something close. Try a night elf and play using rez sickness, that will be the closest as those zones seem to be the least touched of the ones i played. But once you hit darkshore the similarities are gone. Most 1-60 dungeons are actually very similar to they where in classic but to acheive a realistic difficulty you would probably have to go in as just a tank/dps and healer, 2 manning the dungeon, possibly even a few lvs under it to make hitting stuff harder.
I’m new to wow, and Just the other day I saw one guy leveling in classic wow live on youtube and in the chat I said “that’s a slow walking animation” to which he replied “walking? I’m running.” That goes to show you how much I know about classic. I’m in for a rude awakening.
2 Likes
Dwarfs have a Cata themed starting zone now.
Gnomes have a new one of their own.
The human start zone is (minimum) drastically nerfed since Cata. I think a bunch of mobs (across the river) went from hostile to neutral. I think the story changed also.
I haven’t started a new night elf since Cata.
(I’m just vaguely aware that horde are playable… because I know that pvp is against other players).
What I am getting from this is classic just needs to come out already. Lol thanks guys that’s pretty much what I figured that they all but broke any correlation from vanilla to retail. I will keep scouring the internet making to do lists and paths and such for when classic finally does come I can have a plan in place.
Well, maybe not a rude awakening, but an awakening. Classic WOW compared to retail WOW is like comparing a real good PC game from say 10-15 years ago, like lets say Diablo 2 or Dragonage: Origins or KOTOR to a modern mobile game.
Oh buddy, it’ll be much easier to answer if you just ask what is the same between the two.
nothing about it is the same. some quests are similar in design, but no where near as hard. pull 2 mobs and its a real fight, pull 3 and your likely fertilizer. its far more immersive, when there is real danger of getting your a$$ kicked you find yourself paying more attention to everything around you in classic. There are fewer quests and hubs and may even find yourself grinding a bit to fill in between the green and red quests in your quest log.
the main thing I can tell you is not to get frustrated and enjoy the actual story lines. You will die from time to time so just get used to it now. some mob will run and call all his friends and wipe you out eventually. bwonsamdi don’t have enough smart a$$ quips for classic. but its fun and it teaches you how to play your class well. be nice to people and they will be nice to you as you will need the help of others around you from time to time. Its not the same game, but if you accept it for what it is, you will love it.
2 Likes
I mean, the fundamental mechanics of leveling and questing is the same. You definitely pick up quests from npc’s in both versions; those quests will either have you kill X of something, collect Y of something, or deliver something to another npc; you gain experience points both for killing things and for completing quests, and require an amount of experience points to level up.
Other minor details have changed between the games, but all that stuff above is absolutely the same in both versions.
Wow. Who burnt your tree d-oh wait, never mind.
2 Likes
I haven’t \taken the time to read the rest of the thread - so sorry if I’m just repeating what has been said at all…
It’s nothing alike. They’re two different games at this point. Yes - the zones are the same, a lot of the quests will be the same, but it will be far quicker and easier, and because Cataclysm changed so much, the world will be very different in many zones.
They’re very, very different in many, many ways.
One significant difference is that when you pick up a quest, you won’t have any tracking for it, no sparkles, no arrows, or whatnot. You won’t get gold from doing instances (or shoulders), and instances tend to be slower for leveling in classic. Professions matter much more, and much much more at launch I bet.
I’m not sure if there is a particular race that is more ‘vanilla,’ I’m not up to speed on racials in retail, but maybe undead or gnome? As a mage? Since you have a 100 Tauren Druid, I’d say Tauren will feel similar, but Druid will not.
Have you played with talent trees before? When did you start?
Not vary close at all. New wow Has a quest hub and 4-10 quests close to each other and are pretty fast to do and move to the next hub in the zone they send you to. Old wow has quests spread out and where send you to wherever the hell they please some of the times to different continents. Also with combat pace and quest drops with a lower% each quest from classic will take you much longer to complete.