Wow actually has four versions to play independent of each other.
With your World of Warcraft subscription you get to play all of the versions below.
World of Warcraft Retail.
World of Warcraft Classic Wrath of the Lich King.
World of Warcraft Classic.
World of Warcraft Classic Hardcore.
And a forthcoming fifth Version: Classic Season of Discovery version.
Each version of Wow has some major differences. I just went back to play Classic Wow
and realized some of these differences. But I’m not sure how extensive the differences are.
(Been so long I played Classic I had forgotten the differences until they hit me in the face lol).
I would like to ask that players who have played all three Versions of Wow give their
opinions and experiences as a preview / review of what a player needs to know about all four versions so they can make an informed decision on what to expect. And which version would be better for them to play. A comparison of the four versions.
Thanks.
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I get both of these free with my retail sub, you don’t need a separate sub to play WotLK
(Unless someone has bad news for me that im paying $30 a month and not $15)
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I think the leveling journey is significantly more enjoyable, coherent, and progressive in Wrath.
I agree, and I can’t put my finger on why it’s more enjoyable. It just… is
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Please explain the distinction that you’re trying to make between these two.
A paid subscription is required for either one through the same means.
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I havent really played either but I played WoW Classic when it was just called WoW and WotLK Classic when it was just WotLK and I always thought WotLK fanboys were simply delusional to claim WotLK had more in common with Vanilla or TBC than with Cata
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Lets get rid of the subscription and let hell lose 
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I’d also like to add that the level scaling they have implemented in retail is tremendously bad, level an arcane mage from 10-50 for example and see how much power you lose as you level up.
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They are all part of the same subscription
Retail DF
Classic wotlk will become CATA
Classic Era (normal and HC)
SOD
I have a subscrition to Wow Retail. I logged in and clicked on Classic WOTLK but a notice displayed I needed a paid account to play it? Then I clicked on Classic and played for free.
EDIT:
CORRECTION: My mistake was that I clicked on Classic WOTLK version BUT I did not notice that I also had to click on the ACCOUNT tab. Apparently the Account tab was set to W1
which I don’t even remember? So I set the Account tab to my current account and was able to start up Classic WOTLK game.
Guess this is why people like me need help LOL. I corrected this in my main post.
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Retail is easy to play and hard to master. Quick leveling because the latest xpac is where the content focus is and a huge chunk of relevant, updated activities are 10 levels below current max and then most at max.
Classic is hard to play by comparison and moderately difficult to master. Slow, grindy leveling makes leveling the base experience instead of getting at cap to experience content.
Wrath is easy to play and easy to master if you like watching how to vids and building your spec according to the meta. Fewer buttons, fewer options. It’s effectively the retail version of classic because it started to introduce a lot of solo grinding activities, easy dungeon and raid access, easier leveling and powerful class tools. So if you want the grindy feel of the old pre cata world but actual ease and qol of retail, you have wrath.
Ofc these are my perspectives tossed out in 2 mins of thought so ymmv.
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Yea, I have to say, I think the “easier game” stuff definitely started in WotLK. I really like the atmosphere of LK, but disliked the beginning of trivialization of content that it started. That’s just me and my preferences, that’s not a determination of right or wrong or who is “better” or “worse”.
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Meanwhile I leveled a marks hunter and aimed shot was a one hit knock out on normal mobs basically until the mid lvl60’s.
Retail leveling is weird.
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Thank you for the clarification. A lot of people who post here don’t bother to do that, and I appreciate it. 
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Yeah, you can solo dungeon bosses very reliably (and quickly) from 10-20 as an arcane mage. It has the really unfortunate side-effect of making everyone collectively groan if anyone in their party is above level 40.
we also have the hardcore version classic and soon the Season of Discovery version classic, I think SoD will be very exciting with all the new builds, imo nothing beats hardcore for the leveling journey.
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Thanks for reminding me. I’ll add it to the original post.
looking forward to SoD, will be neat making characters healers or tanks that normally should not be, will be some very interesting hybrids we will be able to make, great thing is it is only a couple weeks from now.
In a very simplified way I think of these game versions like this.
In a nutshell.
Wow Retail. The most modern version of the game with all expansions and quality of life improvements, and Wow Tokens so you can buy in game gold with real world cash.
Wow Classic. The original version of 2004 with a few quality of life improvements, Nostalgia abounds here, along with a grindy slow progression. You earn what you gain the hard way. No Wow Tokens either. No Dungeon finder either.
Wow Classic Wrath of Lich king. Stands somewhere between retail and classic. Has Wow
Tokens.
Wow classic Hardcore. This is classic with character permadeath.
That’s just my opinion and I leave a more comprehensive explanation to others.
im confused wht ur askin? i played all 3 all recently (classic/hc and wrath and retail?)
and i still think classic > retail. just gotta take ur time in classic
which is actually fun. after years of rushin in xiv and a bit in wow
i found out i like slow and steady speed.