Modern World of Warcraft awaits its eighth expansion, Shadowlands, before the end of this year, which will be very exciting if you have followed World of Warcraft over the years. But if you've drifted away from the game due to some inevitable changes and are looking for a slightly rougher MMO experience, there's more you can do than just jump into the World of Warcraft classic.
After years of players calling for a return to "vanilla" World of Warcraft, Blizzard has finally let up and World of Warcraft has become a reality. Over the years, players have received fixes through various private "legacy" servers, but when Blizzard ordered the largest Nostalrius to shut down in 2016, fans once again demanded the official "vanilla" servers. Blizzard finally eased up and announced World of Warcraft Classic at the opening ceremony of BlizzCon 2018.
When World of Warcraft originally launched in 2004, it attracted a large number of players and quickly grew to have millions of subscribers worldwide. In addition to the sheer size of the game, there are powerful forces behind the success of MMOs.
Azeroth has existed since the release of the original Warcraft: Orcs vs. Humans in 1994, and the subsequent Warcraft 2 games were based on stories and plots. Warcraft 3 is probably the most popular of these early games, introducing us to many of the characters that would later play important roles in World of Warcraft, such as Sylvanas Windrunner, Gianna Prodemor and Alsace Menethil.
So when World of Warcraft was released in 2004, all of the stories, settings and locations set in previous World of Warcraft games were represented in Blizzard's excellent MMO.
If you only have a few hours a week to dedicate to the MMO, then Classic may not be for you, so you're better off using modern Warcraft to fill that void in the form of Azeroth. That is, if you're not particularly focused on end-game content like raids or top-level dungeons, but just want to explore Azeroth like you did in 2006, then you'll certainly move on. However, if you want to enjoy all that Classic has to offer, then you should be prepared to spend a lot of time not only upgrading your character but also completing various tweaking quests and gaining access to certain stump instances of Reputation.
World of Warcraft Classic will not improve your quality of life as much as you would in modern World of Warcraft or many other current MMOs. Enemy sizes are much more forgiving for beginners, and if you face more than two enemies at a time without preparation, you will soon find yourself overwhelmed. In classic Azeroth, traveling from place to place also took more time: flight points weren't as plentiful as they are today, and since gold wasn't as readily available in the game, even purchase wow classic gold might have to save up for riding skills and mounts in the first place.
But not everything is so negative. The increase in the difficulty of classic World of Warcraft gives you a real sense of progression as you see your character get stronger as you grow in level, gear and overall experience.
You may be wondering if it's worth starting the journey now, about a year from the launch of Azeroth. The answer is yes.
For starters, you don't have to deal with queues to log into the game, or queues that kill individual search mobs due to congestion. Of course, the occasional login queue can still be seen on the busiest servers on big patch days, but these days are usually rare.
Another benefit from now on is that the game's economy will stabilize. Depending on the number of servers you choose, it should be easier to get crafting materials from the auction house at more reasonable prices. And, if you want to sell items yourself - perhaps to help you save money on your first load - you should have a more stable market.
While there certainly won't be as many players to work within the practice areas as there were before the launch, guilds have the opportunity to establish themselves, so there should be no problem finding someone to fit your needs and provide you with a service.World of Warcraft Classic releases in August 2019, and many believe that once the pink glasses are taken off, player numbers will drop dramatically. But the original World of Warcraft experience is still a huge success for Blizzard, and in fact, the number of players subscribing to World of Warcraft has actually doubled since its release last year.
Modern World of Warcraft awaits its eighth expansion, Shadowlands, before the end of this year, which will be very exciting if you have followed World of Warcraft over the years. But if you've drifted away from the game due to some inevitable changes and are looking for a slightly rougher MMO experience, there's more you can do than just jump into the World of Warcraft classic.
After years of players calling for a return to "vanilla" World of Warcraft, Blizzard has finally let up and World of Warcraft has become a reality. Over the years, players have received fixes through various private "legacy" servers, but when Blizzard ordered the largest Nostalrius to shut down in 2016, fans once again demanded the official "vanilla" servers. Blizzard finally eased up and announced World of Warcraft Classic at the opening ceremony of BlizzCon 2018.
When World of Warcraft originally launched in 2004, it attracted a large number of players and quickly grew to have millions of subscribers worldwide. In addition to the sheer size of the game, there are powerful forces behind the success of MMOs.
Azeroth has existed since the release of the original Warcraft: Orcs vs. Humans in 1994, and the subsequent Warcraft 2 games were based on stories and plots. Warcraft 3 is probably the most popular of these early games, introducing us to many of the characters that would later play important roles in World of Warcraft, such as Sylvanas Windrunner, Gianna Prodemor and Alsace Menethil.
So when World of Warcraft was released in 2004, all of the stories, settings and locations set in previous World of Warcraft games were represented in Blizzard's excellent MMO.
If you only have a few hours a week to dedicate to the MMO, then Classic may not be for you, so you're better off using modern Warcraft to fill that void in the form of Azeroth. That is, if you're not particularly focused on end-game content like raids or top-level dungeons, but just want to explore Azeroth like you did in 2006, then you'll certainly move on. However, if you want to enjoy all that Classic has to offer, then you should be prepared to spend a lot of time not only upgrading your character but also completing various tweaking quests and gaining access to certain stump instances of Reputation.
World of Warcraft Classic will not improve your quality of life as much as you would in modern World of Warcraft or many other current MMOs. Enemy sizes are much more forgiving for beginners, and if you face more than two enemies at a time without preparation, you will soon find yourself overwhelmed. In classic Azeroth, traveling from place to place also took more time: flight points weren't as plentiful as they are today, and since gold wasn't as readily available in the game, even purchase wow classic gold might have to save up for riding skills and mounts in the first place.
But not everything is so negative. The increase in the difficulty of classic World of Warcraft gives you a real sense of progression as you see your character get stronger as you grow in level, gear and overall experience.
You may be wondering if it's worth starting the journey now, about a year from the launch of Azeroth. The answer is yes.
For starters, you don't have to deal with queues to log into the game, or queues that kill individual search mobs due to congestion. Of course, the occasional login queue can still be seen on the busiest servers on big patch days, but these days are usually rare.
Another benefit from now on is that the game's economy will stabilize. Depending on the number of servers you choose, it should be easier to get crafting materials from the auction house at more reasonable prices. And, if you want to sell items yourself - perhaps to help you save money on your first load - you should have a more stable market.
While there certainly won't be as many players to work within the practice areas as there were before the launch, guilds have the opportunity to establish themselves, so there should be no problem finding someone to fit your needs and provide you with a service.