I’m having a hard time understanding and trying to figure out what exactly Classic WoW is?
I’ve read all the notes/blizz threads/frankenpatch and watched many videos/streams… etc.
I just don’t understand what the game is.
Is it a game made for vanilla players to give them a more meaningful+permanent home away from pservers?
Can some1 pls help me out?
ty
I got you fam.
Article: Restoring History: Creating WoW Classic Panel Recap
Source: Official Blizzard News Site
Date: 2018-11-03
In restoring World of Warcraft Classic, our guiding principle has been to provide an authentic experience. Things might run a bit smoother and the hardware is better, but the game should still look and feel like you’re playing World of Warcraft from 2006. Things like combat equations, original models, and hunter skills are certainly part of that—but things like social dynamics are a part of that too.
It is an attempt at making an authentic as possible experience as if you were playing WoW back in 2006. Certain concessions have unfortunately been made as a result of using the newer Legion Client (due to OS compatibility, anti-hack updates, and other reasons itemized by Blizzard). But, in large part, a playable museum piece of WoW circa 2006.
It is for people who enjoy what WoW was like back then and want to play it again.
It’s uh… Vanilla
For those who haven’t played in vanilla:
Classic is the base WoW before any expansions came out. The reason people want it is because it lacks the “rush” feeling of the current WoW. In current WoW you can get to max level easily in a week and we’re at, what, level 120 now? It could take months to get your character to max level in classic if you didn’t play 8 hours a day, and the level cap was only 60.
It’s just a more relaxed game and they didn’t skip content for convenience. You want to be a hunter? You need to buy ammo for your ranged weapon, feed your pet, and make sure your pet is happy in general so that it doesn’t run away. If you want to turn into a sea lion as a druid, you have to do the quest that gives you that skill. It’s a slower paced, but more in depth game.
Classic is an Open World
Retail from BC to BFA is a theme park
Classic is about artistically expressing your character with how you gear and stat and talent point it
Retail is about everyone being the same painting and no one can have a better or bad painting.
Classic gives you the tools to survive in the world and build a community and village to face the threats of the world but it dosent hand hold you or tell you to even do it an a certain way.
Retail is going on a mono rail ride, going to a designated camping spot finding a cabin then a system gathers everyone thats camping in the same spot and having social events like playing Tag, Finding the hidden box in one of the trees and if you wanna do hard mode you do a synced up dance with other camp members but if one member does the dance wrong then you gotta start over and pay a fine.
It’s the RP version of retail wow
So Blizzard has always been against private servers, but they tended to let them fly under their radar unless they were making a ton of money off of it. But then fast-forward to a few years ago when streaming in high quality became way easier to handle on the average computer. Now people were making money off of these illegal servers. That brought attention to a really popular private server where there were people streaming from and getting paid. At this point, the only way that Blizzard could protect their IP was to go after the server and shut it down. But just doing that only causes a new one to be made, so a major focus had to be put on creating their own classic server so that they still have their full rights to their copyright and have a legal leg to stand on when people are using their product to make money.
While I agree with the rest of your post, Vanilla was very much a theme park, it was just a much larger one than what is created for expansions.
I came from a sandbox MMO before playing WoW. One of the biggest complaints we had was how restrictive it felt and how everything felt hand held compared to what we were used too.
Out of curiosity, was this “sandbox MMO” EVE, Everquest, or something else? Again, just out of curiosity, you don’t have to say if you don’t want to.
Classic is a recreation of the original version of WoW - not a relaunch of the old game, but a recreation of the MMORPG that changed the world (of Warcraft). It is a recreation of the Hall-of-Fame version that changed the landscape of MMORPGs.
Before WoW (and arguably since), MMORPGs were a niche product. After WoW, there have been many pretenders and claimants trying to dethrone WoW, but none have been able to get the mainstream impact that WoW has.
Classic aims to recreate that original game, as both a museum piece and a legacy to that original build. To celebrate the 15th anniversary, etc.
Look, if you never played vanilla and you are wondering what is in it for you I think I can help. What vanilla offers you is a very different experience than what you currently have on the live servers.
First, the solo game is much more difficult. Elite quests are actually elite, and pulling more than one mob at a time often ends with an untimely death. This might not sound fun at first, but it encourages players to interact. It encourages grouping. It encourages community. Combine that with the fact that there is no LFD, LFR, or group making device of any kind… and you will find Classic to have a very different community experience. People talk to each other.
The second thing you will find different, is that game has depth. While boss fights and enemy mechanics are simplistic by modern standards, the player side is more complex. At level 40 on the beta server I now have more keybinds than I do any of my 120’s. You also have the old talent system. Sure there are cookie cutter builds, but it does a much better job of letting you customize your own character… especially when paired with the crazy gear options you have in classic. Theres gear with pure fire damage, or stacking crit… or defensive stats. In classic you have a lot more freedom to do “outside the box” builds.
I could go on and on, but Classic actually has quite a bit to offer. The modern game caters to a solo experience, while Classic promotes community.
SWG, which Im currently playing again.
What does the game have to offer me at end game? Likke a few months after hitting max level.
*puts his arm around your shoulder and waves a hand toward the sky*
Alts… alts as far as the eyes can see.
*eyes tear up*
It’ll… it’ll be beautiful. Vanilla… forever.
I remember when I brought this game home for the first time … it was exactly what I had hoped it would be. It took me over a year to reach 60 and I enjoyed every minute of it. I made a lot of friends and spent a lot of sleepless nights grinding away back when I could.
The only “rush” I felt to get to 60 was so I could catch up with my friends who had more time than I did… but when I did, I found that most people were very helpful and friendly and some even coached me through healing dungeons for the first time, etc.
As the game matured and morphed over the years I literally watched as the community changed and the attitude of players changed, etc… It’s nothing like what it used to be… I am hopeful it will be that way again in August.
What if I want to invest all of my time on only 1 char, what is there to do at end game?
Just raid and PvP?
Raid, PvP, and professions (both in skilling them and acquiring rare recipes) are probably among the big 3. Reputation grinding for certain rep-locked rewards is another thing. There’s limited pet/companion collection and even more limited mounts to collect. Mostly Raid/PvP/Professions
It’s subjectively a better gameplay experience because it offers more in terms on meaningful work/time spent rather than retail that tries to capture our attention for maybe 1-2 hours a week like Netflix.
Retail has a plethora of content, but none of it in our opinions have anything meaningful behind it because it offers very little reward since the effort is small.
You could do higher level Mythics and higher difficult raid content, but that too falls flat on its face because what’s the point of working 10 times harder if your casual peers get the same rewards that’s just as impactful to the overall game experience - just a different color?
Higher quality items and difficult raids should be somewhat inaccessible because then it requires meaningful work. In retail, all items and content are almost immediately available.
This is the best way I can explain in the least amount of words, hope it helped.