I get to fly here without jumping through stupid hoops.
12 Likes
The big reasons would be âŚ
Cross realm zones
Borrowed Power
Focus on spec over class
Idiotic talent point system
2 Likes
I donât own a copy of the current retail. Not sure if I own the previous expansion either.
Maybe I should download it and checkâŚnah.
1 Like
Classic is my palate cleanser.
1 Like
Everything but Shadowlands comes with your subscription.
1 Like
I care about lore, RP and immersion. Retail fails at all three.
10 Likes
Have you SEEN the garbage they call lore these days?
No thanks.
2 Likes
What are you smoking? 
5 Likes
Well, it used to be a better game. But Blizzard wants to change everything.
5 Likes
I accomplished everything I wanted to do in retail. Classic might be easier, but I didnât do this stuff when it was current.
The constant need to reinvent the game with each expansion is exhausting. Like, how many times does Inscription need to be completely remade before they settle on what it even does, and just make another new profession instead? Not to mention other âoldâ recipes just churning out trash (looking at you, luck pots.)
CRZ + Sharding is a huge issue for me. I chose to stay on my small pop server. It would have been fine if it was just merged, but also having to deal with mega server issues on top of still being small server for things that matter (guilds, AH, etc) is a big issue. CRZ/Sharding comes to Classic, Iâm done.
And BfA just blew so damn hard. Did you see the âhubâ they made Horde side? They really tried to make a single player RPG city instead of an MMO hub, and it shows. And âequalizingâ damage in PvP? What even was that? If not for the anniversary AV event, I wouldnât have leveled into it at all.
And the last time I played, I finally got Mimironâs Head + Invincible + Onyxiaâs Drake. Not any real carrots left for me.
edit: whoops, got so into why I donât play retail, forgot the other half.
BGs are more fun in Classic. My friends all play Classic. I never got to experience non-PvP endgame content when it was relevant in TBC, so itâs been fun there too. And when I get into a fight with another player, itâll probably be over in under 30 seconds.
3 Likes
I personally play neither, they somehow magically made both suck in my opinion, only possible with this dev team 
but me and my friends still hold on to that last sliver of hope that some day things get better
Depends on what you mean by similar. Class designs are far different and thats the main reason i play classic over retail. Specs have no soul on retail they are all too homogenized. I do not enjoy dungeon content like i used to and i dont have the time to raid anymore so pvp is my go to option. I just enjoy classic pvp far more than retail. Ive eaten my fair share of convoke, divine toll one shots on my whole team to not ever look back at retail. Oh and dont forget that 1 shot rogue gimmick running 1 dance. I have yet to get destroyed that hard by one button in tbc and i dont even have 100 resil yet
4 Likes
There are an absolute ton of reasons, BUT the main reason, and really the determining factor is that there is no Cross-realm. The community is TBC is an actual thing. Retail is watered down trash.
6 Likes
Retail Dungeon Finder is a toxic mess. People treat each other like trash. If you make one mistake, you are usually kicked; this doesnât foster growth, community, learning â because itâs easier/faster to kick and find a replacement than help someone out. Ability pruning definitely hurts class identity in Retail. The world also feels kind of bloated to me. Thereâs so much going on and so many âsystemsâ that are created to brandish âcontentâ, but they all play out like hamster wheels with the same rewards.
Classic and TBC were the days when it was a lot less bloated. People have to form groups on their own, so theyâre forced to muscle through. Yesterday, my group wiped on BRD probably 4 times. No one left. No one can kick. We just kept trying until we got it. I like that experience even though the group is harder to find. Iâm not treated like a disposable number in Classic.
13 Likes
The games are eras apart from one another. Beyond sharing the warcraft theme, thereâs very little they have in common./
2 Likes
If warmode crz sharding had not made it difficult to hold events without being in a group-i probably would of stayed on retail. I prefer lore to move forward, not play in the past. I disliked seeing people from other servers running around and having to group with a friend or guildie just to see them in the worldâŚseems petty but i personally gave zero care to random crz player who i would never see again and preferred seeing people from my server (emerald dream)
3 Likes
This is the money quote right here.
How Blizz doesnât get this is beyond me.
2 Likes
Theres so much difference between the two
This feels like a real rpg progression. Retail is so far from that
Im loving this way more mainly due to that fact. I love progressing my character in all aspects. Obviously this might not be for everyone.
1 Like
I watched Asmon do the new raid today and some of the fights looked really fun. But I log in for 20 minutes on retail and it just feels lonely to level. If it had the wpvp/world leveling experience of TBC and actually required social interaction, Iâd probably play it. It seems the only thing they put effort into at this point is Raids.
1 Like