Good Day everyone!
FIRST AND FOREMOST - SORRY: I apologize for the poor formatting of this post. Still adjusting to the new forums and I suck lol. Still learning.
NOTE: If you have absolutely no intention to play wow classic whatsoever, this thread might not be for you. Also, a long read.
NOTE2: The below information is completely based off the best memory of my experience playing Vanilla. Any inaccurate info or incorrect info corrections are welcomed!
I know this is not the official Classic Forum, but I felt that due to the toxicity of the general public over there, and this thread is more geared towards those who are either on the fence about trying classic out or, who were never around for Vanilla WOW. My goal here is to ensure everyone under this group of people are not only ready for classic, but can enjoy classic to its fullest. Because I enjoyed Vanilla very much. Everyone should experience it.
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First, a little bit of history about me and my experience playing WOW Vanilla:
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I mained an Undead Warlock
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I started playing in the second week of WOW’s official release (a few days after the Server over-population)
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I was the third person on the Server that had the Epic Skeletal Warhorse mount. Took about 3 weeks of hardcore gold farming.
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I was obsessed with Scholomance. Ran Scholomance 2-3 times a day farming for the Headmaster’s Charge (hottest looking staff IMHO in the game), but never dropped.
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There was one time, our guild was on our 5th run for Scholomance. It was so late and I was ready to pass out, so I skipped doing that run. Come to find out the next morning, if Ida went, the staff I wanted would have dropped and it would have been mine. The priest got it instead and he felt so bad knowing how much I been farming for it, we petitioned Blizzard to transfer the staff from him to me, but it never happened.
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I was mainly a raider. Was in two guilds between MC and Naxx 40.
o First Guild cleared MC/Onyxia
o First Guild spent most of our time on the first two bosses in BWL.
o First Guild went through some management and roster changes due to the bottle neck of the first two bosses in BWL - ppl got frustrated and nights got tense.
o First Guild separated, and second guild was a mix of old guild members and new alike
o Took 3 weeks to kill Razorgore in BWL, and another month to kill Valestrasza.
o After we killed the first two bosses, BWL was a cake walk.
o Was there for the AQ Opening, the servers were so unstable that I barely got to experience the event
o Raided AQ20/40 for about 3/4 Months. Had the most problems with Twin Emps, and only killed C’thun 3 times
o We cleared Naxx40 twice. 4Horsemen/Kelthuzad were our bottlenecks. Cleared only once before TBC released. Twice while leveling TBC.
o To this day, have 36 shards of Atiesh sitting on my retired Warlock. Never got to complete it.
o Raided 3-6 hours a night for 4 nights a week.
o Funny fact: Ive passed out on my keyboard more than once raiding. I woke up to find myself alone in the raids lol
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Spent some time PVPing. Not much to say here. WPVP was a lot more fun. Was not really interested in BGs
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Completed the Dreadsteed questline, and helped fellow warlocks complete theirs for free (guildies, friends, and even strangers). I enjoyed the ritual quest in DM so much, I ran it as much as possible
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Loved the Naxx40 Scourge Event. Was probably some of the most fun I had. Some great memories.
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Never got the Grimore drops for Inferno and Ritual of Doom spells for my warlock. They never dropped (Scarshield Warlocks in LBRS dropped the grimoire of Inferno, and the Elite demons in Tainted Scar dropped the Ritual of Doom), I had to wait for the quests to be added before I got these awesome spells later on in vanilla.
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Now that you know a little about me, I wanted to share some things to help those who want to experience WOW Classic once its release and to have certain expectations, assuming WOW Classic will be a faithful companion to Vanilla WOW:
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Leveling is not meant to be rushed. You will enjoy It more if you pace yourself. Trying to rush might make leveling more frustrating experience.
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Leveling took about 1-2 months. I don’t exactly remember, but I do remember it being tons of fun.
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Most important thing to remember is your server, guild, community reputation. Everything you do in the game dictates your reputation status. You want to make an effort to make as many friends as possible, try not to piss anyone off, and refrain from bad habits (ninja looting, general chat arguments, botting, etc.). Remember, you need and want the community and your guild to want to help you, and vice versa. Remember, it works both ways. Help people out, and they will want to help you. Make a good name for yourself. Very important.
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From the start, you should know, epics are a lot more rare. Probably 90% of epics will be seen by Raiders, that was my first in-game experience with epics. Blue items are considered gold quality. You will need to run dungeons for a while to gear up. Im talking about 2-4+ hours spent in a single dungeon. Spending at least weeks getting the gear you need to progress to raiding. Its just the process for gearing up. Its not a quick process. And blue items are treated as epic level items. Epic items are going to feel more special, more valuable than ever. Legendary items require the utmost cooperation from a dedicated raid guild and plenty of patience. Expect a DKP system for acquiring gear when you raid. Don’t forget the raid attunements needed to enter certain raids.
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I remember Vanilla raiding and dungeon running to be a lot more forgivable with your party/guild. For a number of reasons: People were just more patient and willing to help. It’s a lot harder/longer to gear up a new guy or an alt to bring him/her up to speed to be raid ready. So maintaining a close, consistent roster for raids and dungeon runs are very important. That means, everyone needs to work together. Learn your class. Listen to the tank and the healers. They will need you to succeed, like you need them. Remember to count to 5 for the tanks sunder armor to stack before attacking. Don’t forget to CC mobs when necessary. Wiping and re-attempts over and over are normal. Don’t be discouraged. Its all part of the experience. Spending 6 hours in Scholomance or Stratholme was sometimes a night for me. Constant wiping and re-killing mobs you killed an hour ago because you died on the last boss. Just keep at it until you finish. Don’t quit the group. Don’t rage out. Don’t do anything in a dungeon alone. Always be together. Tanks cannot just run and collect mobs in Vanilla. DPS can’t pull for tanks unless specifically told otherwise. Each pull (either trash mobs or a boss) needs to be communicated with the group. I am not kidding. Healers and mana users spend more time OOM than not, and that’s ok. Work with them, or you will fail.
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Choosing your class: Changing mains in Vanilla has a lot more consequences. Leveling a second character and then gearing the character up is not a quick process. Do some research before picking your main to ensure that is what you want to be. Class responsibilities are important:
Hunters need to have plentiful ammo, and food to keep their pets happy. Summon pets you want to keep but don’t use that often and feed them. Dismissing them blindly increases your chances of losing them. Learn your pets strengths and weaknesses, and what makes them unique
Warlocks. You should always have at least a single bag full of soulshards. Know your pets weaknesses and strengths. Don’t be surprised if your used more often than not as a utility (summoning 35 ppl to the raid location, soulstone the healer, cast banish on that elemental or that demon).
Mages are greatly used for food/drink, portals, and INT buffs.
Priests, expect to heal spec if you are gonna raid. Bring plenty of candles. Resurrect 39 ppl in a raid after running back to avoid more accidental mob pulling, shield and buff the raids.
Shaman, know your totems. Lust is your friend. Bring plenty of Ankhs.
Paladins. Heal and buff, heal and buff, heal and buff.
Warriors, expect to tank. Learn what sunder armor means.
Druids – we want your buffs!
Rogues, warlocks hate you. The rest of us like your CC a lot. PVP is your bnb.
Mana peeps, always have a wand third slot weapon to equip with your weapons. (yes, you can equip a staff or a one hander with and off hand with your wand)
Warriors, bring a ranged weapon as your off-slot weapon (yes, you can equip a ranged even with a one hander and a shield already equipped)
Shamans: Horde only.
Paladins: Alliance only. OP for leveling
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Guilds – always have a good rep with your Guild if you intend to survive Classic WOW. Avoid drama. Help people when you can. Always participate. Always contribute to repair costs.
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Nothing is done fast. One of the most important things to remember if you plan on playing WOW Classic, is that nothing is done quickly. Expect to spend time to accomplish your goals. Leveling, gearing, professions leveling, raiding, dungeon farming, getting a mount, reputation grinding, everything. Everything takes time. There is no fast way to do anything. It’s a time investment and you will actually earn everything you get in WOW Classic (with few exceptions). The good news is a lot of bottlenecks are the grind, at whatever your pace. There is very little time-gating. It’s all about how much you wanna grind at once…for the most part.
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If you are not a warlock/Paladin, you will need to buy your mount. Gold is hard to come by in Vanilla WOW. Save as much as you can spare.
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First mount is available at level 40. Level 60 is where you can acquire your epic mount.
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Level 40 mount was 60% speed increase. Epic Mount is 100% speed increase.
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Save as much copper/silver as you can.
Make an alt and store all the money you don’t need on the alt so you don’t accidently use it.
Vendor everything you don’t need or want.
Loot everything. Leave nothing on corpses.
Professions were very profitable in Vanilla. It took a lot of time, work and money to level a profession up, but paid off in the end.
Having a gathering profession is
recommended, a good place to start making money in the game
Repair bills, spec changes, and talent reset cost lots of money. Esp for tanks
- Raiding and dungeons:
I don’t know if WOW Classic will need resistance gear, but you’ll probably need to dedicate a bag just for resistance gear if you plan on raiding
Fire resistance is needed for all raids, esp BWL, MC, and Onyxia
Nature resistance for AQ instances and Naxx40
Shadow resistance for Naxx40
Frost resistance for Naxx40 and AQ instances
There are resistance enchants, you can get resistance from gear, and certain class buffs provide resistances
For BWL, you need a cloak obtained from raiding Onyxia’s lair that is required for resisting Shadowflame from a number of bosses in BWL
Some dungeons require a key/attunement to get in. At least one member in your party needs a key for Scholomance, Stratholme, and I think one of the Blackrock dungeons
Raids require completion of lengthy questlines for attunement.
NOTE: All raid members need to have the attunement completed in order to enter!
MC – requires a short quest and a dungeon run of Blackrock Depths
BWL, kill a mob, grab a quest item from the mob and turn in quest
Onyxias lair – Lengthy quest, with lots of dungeon runs, and you will get a necklace that needs to be in a bag to enter
Naxx40 requires reputation grind with the Argent (something?):
Friendly requires a hefty gold purchase
Honored requires little less gold
Revered requires the least amount of gold
Exalted requires no gold requirement
Best way in my experience to gain rep for Naxx is to do Scholo/Strath dungeons for the tokens which give you rep
Expect to fly, run, or need to be summoned to instance entrances. Unless summoning stones are added.
Get used to having a ton more abilities than you have in BFA, and know when to use what ranks of each spell. Experiment. Its tons of fun!
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I hope this helps some of you. I also hope this is somewhat motivation to wanna give it a try. I loved Vanilla.
Again, I would like others to share their experiences and contribute to the discussion to help those who are still questioning whether or not classic is worth it for them.
If there are any inaccuracies or incorrect info, please post and I will make corrections.
Thanks everyone!