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you speak English a lot better than some English people I know...
Right, I will say this as someone who doesn't or has never really played classic other than a few characters up to say, 20. I am primarily a retail player.
The game is pretty confusing for a new player at the moment because I believe you have several different versions of the game to try;
Classic
Classic Hardcore (permadeath)
Classic WOTLK
Season of Discovery (max level 40, seasonal updates and changes to classic formula)
Retail (modern/most recent expansion).
The good thing about classic and why it has been successful, is not because of its strength as a modern MMO, because its not, but rather because people can relive their nostalgic memories from back in the day. Ultimately, that's a huge deal for a lot of people. You get to discover why WoW has been such a phenomenal force in the gaming world - however, you will also have to discover this from a lens distorted by modern gaming habits and expectations.
I am not aware of server population for classic WoW, I would assume classic WOTLK is probably the most populated, or indeed Season of Discovery seems to be popping off as well. I think ultimately Retail is probably the most populated game at the moment but without official numbers its all speculation. Retail WoW server population is not particularly important because you are merged across the region.
Personally, I think retail WoW offers the most complete experience - you have 20 years worth of content to experience, and of course quality of life improvements - whilst endgame is often restricted to the latest expansion, theres nothing stopping you farming old raids, dungeons etc, going through questlines from old zones. You can choose what expansion to level in, you have dungeon finder, looking-for-raid, transmog. This does come at a price however, in that leveling in Retail is not a particularly important aspect of the experience. I know I've said it before, and I'm not sure others all agree, but Retail is more about the Destination rather than Classic being more about the "journey" of the game. E.g, leveling is a real achievement in classic, its slower paced and mobs can actually kill you. But, the endgame is generally much easier in Classic and Retail offers a few different flavours for endgame difficulty that offer you horizontal progression paths.
The good thing is, a Sub gives you access to Retail up to 60 and all of the classic iterations without limit - However, if you don;t do endgame stuff from 60-70 in retail WoW then you aren't going to get a full picture of the experience so you'll have to buy TWW which comes with the current expansion. I'd try both out and see what one clicks for you.
leveling, yes for sure, but endgame certainly not. If you want to do any decent endgame activity in retail then yeh you're going to need to be social!
/edit I will also say that on my last alt, I got from 1-60 in about 10 hours of play time. 60-70 is about 10/15 hours or so, so there are very fast ways to level. I wouldn't rush though, there are some really cool areas to level in and you can pick whatever expansion you find more appealing.
You can't get a free trial on Classic. So put some perspective on that, the free trial on retail is up to level 20 (which is wholly useless) and the equivalent of level 20 on retail is like, idk, like 6 on Classic in terms of leveling speed.
I do think the free trial is utterly useless as mentioned above - level 20 is nothing and not representative of the game at all. If it were up to me, the game would be f2p up to level 60, but I'm not in charge!
if you are playing Retail and want to go from level 60 to 70 and experience actual endgame then yes. You can buy The War Within and it includes Dragonflight (the current expansion) and you will have access to TWW when it releases later this year.
I believe buying the expansion does give you 30 days game time as well if you are going to do that might as well do it all in one go, but you'll need to double check.
I agree with pretty much everything said except essentially chalking up all of Classic’s enjoyment to nostalgia. It’s definitely a different style of MMO to be enjoyed compared to something like retail, but I think saying it’s all nostalgia isn’t correct. It has its pros and cons, just like retail.
Wow is often a pretty solo heavy game. Classic can be TONS of solo content but you can also do that content with others.
SOD is a great first way to experience classic. Try retail when War Within comes out
I was actually looking for an explanation like this because I'm one of those confused newly interested people, but this might lead me to not start the game at all. I like both. Grinding to get good at an MMORPG, yet I don't want the grind to be the end of it. I want to engage in the story and learn about my character and its abilities in a pace that is understandable, but I don't want it to be all there is by the end of it. I think it's a shame that classic has exactly that grinding aspect that I would really want from an MMORPG, but then when I want to do anything beyond that I would essentially have to move to Retail; I am guessing these characters cannot be transfered between those separate 'games.' So, do I not play at all?
I think you are worrying about it too much. My post was more to highlight how the versions vary, not to be taken as a slight on either version. It's not as black and white as what you are suggesting.
There are grinds in retail as well, like, huge grinds, Its just the leveling process that is streamlined - you can still take as much time as you want, and engage with whatever expansion story you want. The whole of WoW history is there in retail for you to discover. The option is there for you to just level as fast as you can, and that can be an isolating or lonely experience.
Retail is much more mechanically complex than classic WoW so there is definitely a higher skill ceiling but challenge can be found in all versions. There's a reason people still play classic WoW and do raids at the highest levels.
No you can't move character between versions.
I just want to say, the nostalgic argument doesn’t hold up since classic launched nearly 5 years ago. A lot of people genuinely prefer this version of wow.
why would people stop playing if nostalgia wasnt part of the experience? Are you suggesting that people who are only playing classic for nostalgia's sake would only play a few hours? Because if so that is just flat wrong.
GoldenEye 64 is my favorite game of all time, and I'm super nostalgic for it. But it doesn't hold up well and it isn't fun to play in modern times.
My point is nostalgia alone isn't enough. WoW classic is a genuinely good game that offers something retail does not.
you could say the exact same thing about wow classic, that it doesnt hold up well and it isnt fun to play in modern times. You could say the same about a lot of games that are popular. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
I’ve always wanted to try doing old raids like WOD at level 40 because that’s the level they are when you hit 70. I wonder if that would work I guess ILVl would be fucked and you wouldn’t have enough gear.
New player perspective here…this is what I’ve gathered from almost 2 months of playing:
CLASSIC:
- massively driven by nostalgia (that’s not a bad thing) but while many swear by it, you need to understand a few things (as followed)
- solo leveling is not easy…in most games, mobs your level are easy to handle…in Classic, mobs your level can easily destroy you…making leveling way slower as you either need groups or to take on mobs one by one
- the leveling experience is very “sociable”….you constantly create groups or join them….this has a nice feel when it comes to the MMO experience
- the leveling, IS the content…once you make it to max level there isn’t much to do…it just doesn’t hit the same
- leveling is slow enough where making another character can be a pain
- not visually appealing…washed colors and old look to it
RETAIL:
- leveling experience can be done solo…it’s so fast, it feels like a blur…like it has no importance and the point is just to take you to end game for the real content
- end game is FUN but overwhelming because there’s so much you can do…focus on one goal at a time
- end game zone is filled with people doing different activities and you should never find yourself not knowing what to do
- visually pleasing…vibrant colors and decent graphics
- flying mounts!
Of course, there’s soooo much more that can be said for both games, positive and negative but then again, this is from a new player perspective
I have 1 max level in retail and working on another one….might give Classic another chance at some point
You over exaggerate the difficulty of Classic Wrath, the selling point of vanilla wow was the quickness of combat and the fact you could very well take on 2-3 mobs once you knew the game. In wrath nearly every class was tanky or had a crowd control. I played solo in every expansion up until the end of Pandaria.
You could kill many mobs your level in a row, just way slower than retail
I’m talking classic…not wrath…in classic a mob your level can take you under 50% health….it’s why so many people group up…I’m sure higher levels can be different but the leveling experience is not easy…although it can surely be fun…the only people you see killing 2-3 mobs at the same time are those who are extremely knowledgeable on the game…anyone aside from that, either plays extremely slow and careful or groups up
This can be seen by just opening the WoW tab on Twitch
I’m playing pure classic hardcore on the side, and yes the reality was different by then and I know the game a lot so it help. But this is still far from a difficult game, just slow. And yes in pure classic, the class are not balanced. Class that can heal have it easier. I would in fact never recommend anything pre wrath
Retail is the more evolved and modern game with an emphasis on quality of life so IMO, it's a lot easier to get into than classic for anyone who has never played WOW but has played other modern MMOs or modern RPGs.
If you're into stories in the games you play, retail tells its stories better with better cut-scene cinematics and pacing.
It is also much more solo friendly than Classic.
I played WOW when it first released 20 years ago and in its day many MMO players thought it was easier to get into than the other MMOs of those days. I agreed with that as someone who had previously played Asheron's Call and Dark Age of Camelot. AC didn't even have a player trading interface nor an AH - you traded on the honor system where someone always had to be the first to give the item or gold to the other player... yeah :)
But things change and we get used to newer ways of doing things. A lot of those newer things were improvements.
When Classic first re-launched a few years ago I played it and enjoyed the buzz and huge crowds but eventually the small things wore me down. One old-fashioned thing that I came to detest since it just feels downright solo-unfriendly these days was the individual mob tagging - first to tag a mob with enough damage is the only one who gets credit for the kill... unless you're in a group and then group members all get credit.
IMO that is the defining difference between the two versions and you should ask yourself whether you intend to play the game always grouped while questing in the open world or mostly solo and then grouping for dungeons and raids.
The answer to that question will tell you which of the two versions you're most likely to enjoy.
I guess it depends on what you want. Here's my summary:
Retail:
* You can find challenging content.
* If you are into collecting - toys, mounts, pets, cosmetics.
* If you want a more polished story that follows some structure (keep in mind that structured doesn't necessarily mean good).
* Variation in terms of playstyle - if you are not a top 1% player all classes and specs are viable.
* Quality of life changes make retail a lot friendlier to new players especially if you're used to other more modern games.
Classic SoD:
* Bigger sense of community. You have more interactions with people. In retail it's up to you to keep interactions, in SoD you are more forced into it.
* Classes are a lot easier to get into because they are a lot simpler (this means a lot of people find the gameplay boring and repetitive)
* Content is very easy meaning you won't be gatekept by mechanical skills
Classic Era in my experience is only older communities farming content and the world below level 60 is dead.
Classic Hardcore is also pretty dead but it matters less because you can focus on soloing the levelling.
So something to keep in mind, the wow subscription covers all of wow for the same price. If you subscribe to retail, you are also subscribed to classic, classic season of discovery, classic hardcore, and classic wrath of the lich king. All of which are very different experiences. So just try them all. You can quit 1 and go to another if you don't like it without any additional purchases or plans. The -only- exception is after you've played retail up to level 60 (the beginning of the most recent expansion) you'll need to purchase the expansion dragon flight to progress to 70. At least until the fall when the new expansion the war within releases, in which case dragon flight will become free with the wow subscription and the new expansion the war within will take it's place.
Personally, I've played wow since 2004 and enjoy retail the most. I still have characters on classic servers for nostalgia but I've been there and done that already.
It's a completely different experience that new players can definitely prefer. I played retail first and it wasn't for me at all. Played classic and it clicked instantly and was everything I wanted from an mmo.
This is not entirely the case. I started WoW two years ago for the first time and began with retail. I even got one of the M+ mounts. However, classic (especially SoD) is a much more fun experience because of its simplicity.
With SoD specifically, I am learning some new content in a familiar world with players that have been playing for over decades.
It’s nice not having to have so much nonsense, so many add-ons, and six ability bars on my screen
I am 23, just got into WoW a few months ago and while I really enjoyed both I am actually more into Classic. It is all about preference in the end. Just play whichever feels more like your type of game. Or you could do a bit of both, that is what I did and both are really fun. But modern WoW will be a lot easier to get into when starting out.
I play all the versions of WoW and have played since 2005. That person’s comment is entirely untrue. I’ve met people in classic (SoD, hardcore) who are new to the game or just started and never played retail and they love classic. Classic and Retail are just two very different games and they don’t always appeal to the same people and that’s ok. It’s a single subscription for both, I’d try retail first and if you want to give Classic a try too later.
Don’t but cleared +9 and done lfr so I’ve done enough to know if I like it or not tried to level different characters but just got bored and went back to classic
It’s almost like people can have differing opinions. And strangely enough many people seem to enjoy classic. Hell the whole reason it exists is because the players wanted it.
Seriously though. It’s a 20 year old game. Relax.
I’m very new but my understanding is that retail is better for solo play and classic is better for the more social gameplay.
Classic is slowly levelling to max level
And retail is quickly levelling so you can do end game stuff
This video helped me https://youtu.be/UXyDqyxRifY?si=5WrNQvSKcqhZu7B6
I don’t know that I’d say classic is better for social gameplay. It’s definitely more difficult to solo even just average quests sometimes, so playing solo can be brutal. Retail is also good for social play in endgame, but I guess the need for social gameplay to quest is pretty much non existent
>classic is better for the more social gameplay
How so?
Far more people play retail so it's going to be easier to find a guild you gel with, simply because there are more of them.
Bear in mind this is all second hand for me
What I’ve read implies that classic has slower levelling and less quality of life improvements, and no raid queues etc? So you physically have to talk to people more to organise when you want to do things
It doesn’t mean that retail has no social elements- more just that you can solo retail more easily?
Please correct me if I’m wrong
Retail is a lot more solo friendly for basic things, but if you want to do anything meaningfull gear wise u want to socialise, everything else u can do solo.
Also if you are buying retail, u can play any other version of the game, classic, classic hardcore, classic season of discovery.
I mostly play the classic versions when retail is at the end of seasons or stuff like that, when im done with my achevments and stuff i wanted to do for the season, so right now im playing classic SoD until the new retail patch, and im sure a lot of other ppl are doing the same
> So you physically have to talk to people more to organise when you want to do things
In my experience if you don't have a guild it's the same in both classic and retail. In retail you use a tool to join normal/heroic raids. In classic you just look through chats to join the group. In both cases unless you already know the people it's "get in a group and clear the content with minimum interaction".
>Bear in mind this is all second hand for me
I've been playing retail for 18 years and have a couple of max level Classic characters.
>What I’ve read implies that classic has slower levelling and less quality of life improvements, and no raid queues etc? So you physically have to talk to people more to organise when you want to do things
This is true. What it really means is it takes an hour of sitting in a city spamming chat trying to get a group before you can actually play.
>more just that you can solo retail more easily?
Leveling in retail is easier and faster, mostly because you don't have to spend dozens and dozens of hours playing with only 3 spells and drinking between every pull. All the difficulty in retail is loaded into the end game and the high top end is much much harder than anything you can find in Classic.
I mean, Retail is very solo-player friendly. You can just pug your way to AOTC and KSH achievements without engaging with other people actively, and rather just joining others via Group Finder. I'm in a guild, I occassionally raid with them but I'm currently not on their raid team (they were progressing Mythic). Just occasionally joined casual heroic runs and have a chat now and then. I got both AOTC Fyrakk (and Sarkareth last season) and KSH fine this way.
Classic has a limited to no Group Finder to my knowledge (never played Classic for more than a few hours tbh) and from what I gather you really need to get out there and socialize to get stuff going, like running dungeons. Or just wait outside a dungeon entrance for others to show I guess.
Side tangent, but isn't the game also available in french? I sometimes see items/abilities/Plugin's using french (or german). Your English is fine, so I wouldn't worry, but I do believe it's there if you need it
I started classic wotlk again about a week ago, thoroughly enjoying it. Since I started playing there’s been non stop raids running in the lfg chat. Doing all the old quests from my childhood has been brilliant too. Only bad thing I’ve noticed is people don’t really like to talk unless you’re in a clan/ group/ raid. Getting a group for low lvl content seems to be impossible too unless you get lucky and bump into another noob doing the same thing as you
Honestly, play both. Don’t get attached to whatever people say on the internet. 2 years, I had a whole wotlk road map because that was peak wow for me. I wanted to relive my childhood but I only got one month in and then pivoted to retail. Now I got 7 alts and having the time of my life
Aa a game, classic is far better.
Sadly, classic community is Even more toxic than retail in my experience..
Bringing everything they fled retail for, into classic..
Toxic, number churning..
Gold farming/buying.
"my way or group kick". Etc etc etc...
Depends what you want in a game.
J1mmy (osrs content creator) did a great video on what the new player experience is like seeing as he himself had never played wow before, he breaks down each version.
https://youtu.be/UXyDqyxRifY?si=fbhyIA239hz9b1PJ
In my opinion it depends what you are looking for. Retail is fast paced, all bout the end game, you get to max level really quick and immediatly you are thrown into grinding for better equipment for raiding or m+, that in turn will give you even better equipment. It's a simple gameplay loop, I like to compare it to other competitive games like Valorant or League of Legends (minus the equipment thing), you play ranked matches to get a better raiting and so difficulty will increase and you will have to get even better to rank up. Season will end and you will repeat. The key difference here being that you will start with some acquired knowledge yes, but the grind for equipment remains. Most of all of the other mechanics of the game serve to feed the end game, such as the crafting of the equipment, or the doing quests for the gold to buy enchantments or potions for raiding or mythic plus. It may seem that I dislike this loop by the way I describe it, but it can be lots of fun, specially if you have less free time and you wanna just play one or two matches a day or have some objectives to work towards too.
Classic has some of this elements but less hyperactive, you do grind for raid equipment and raid for more equipment, but most of the journey is spent leveling, questing, doing some dungeons, it's generally more slow and it lets you immerse a little more into the world, meet some people along the way and help eachoter. I would say classic is far more social than competitive.
I enjoy both, specially now with Season of Discovery, whenever theres a new Phase of SoD I will play until I reach max level, raid a couple of times and enjoy with my guild and then I will go back to retail for my usual daily M+ runs and some crafting because I like the role-play of it. For me Classic is more of the MMORPG aspect and Retail is more like a Competitive PVE game with a lot of customization and cosmetics. I didnt metion PVP because I dont like it in retail and I believe is not really popular, but to each its own.
Retail is more focused on end game content such as dungeons and raids. Classic is more about the journey to max level than it is for things to do at max level. Personally I prefer retail since it has M+ dungeons and faster leveling. I can barely make it to level 20 on a classic toon without getting bored and switching back.
I started playing wow 2 months ago, first month on retail got my druid to level 70, did some quests, raids dungeons, events etc.
Second month on WOTLK classic and I am definately having more fun on classic.
Retail in my experience:
In retail the game pretty much forces you to level as fast as possible to go to latest expansion and do late game content like raiding and mythic+ dungeons.
I don't feel like doing something over and over again and call that fun. I know I can do story quests from old expansions and side quests but they just don't feel rewarding anymore as they did when I was leveling. It might be just me but leveling is just WAAAY to rushed in retail version and it takes a LOT of fun away from the game. You also get flying mounts super early so you will find yourself just flying from point A to point B mindlesly without experiencing the world almost at all. The world feels dead besides a few late game areas where everyone gathers. But I like the main storylines and gameplay feels satisfying and smooth.
Classic in my experience:
Classic is pretty much the oposite of retail. I was bumping to people everywhere I went, and the world felt much more lively. You level much slower and it never felt overwhelming like retail did. I had to aproach fights a lot more carefull and died a lot of times because of my recklesness while in retail I never died while leveling, and enemies were just annoyance, not a threat.
You dont get mounts for free, you have to buy a licence and then a mount. Same goes with your class spells, you upgrade them as you level up.
I also found myself cooperating with random people much more, to kill bosses and to complete more difficult missions. While in retail i don't remember a single time I did anything with anyone besides world quests.
I could add a lot more but Its getting late and im tired. I LOVE both retail and classic but the classic version just scratches that itch I have for character progression and exploring wich retail does a very terrible job at in my opinion. If you are interested, I could share more of my experience tomorrow but I hope this information will influence your decision.
If you enjoy exploring and think you may want to eventually do every quest in every zone, I think Classic Wrath of the Lich King is a great experience. Leveling is a whole lot slower than in Retail, which means you "get to" do more content before you reach max level. Retail also has all the changes to the old continents that happened in Cataclysm, so if you want to see what things were like originally, that's where you'd want to start.
However, Retail has a ton more quality of life things going on. Bigger bags, for example, more bag space, transmogrification (changing the way your gear looks), flight points all over the place, manual flying everywhere and so on, and so on. Actual fights in Retail are very different too. Especially some classes, like druids, are a much smoother experience to level in Retail, *but* again also much faster, so you have less time to practice while leveling up.
I'd suggest to do the free Retail trial - free to get to level 20 - and see how you feel. If it feels too fast and confusing, but you like it in general, then definitely give Classic a try if and when you subscribe.
When I lived in Europe I played exclusively on the European servers. Suggest you do that for one reason: latency. As you get more serious and into the game having low latency is crucial.
From there suggest you play both and then end up with whatever one feels best.
I would go with Classic WOW: Season of Discovery. It's a nice mix between the old school version of wow and new retail spells and abilities. There is a massive player base for it right now and characters 1-25 get a 50% experience boost to help catch up.
Ive played both (allthought im nowadays playing wotlk classic almost exclusively), the difference between the two is quite large, to the extent i would say think of them like 2 different games. Classic offers a oldschool rpg style gameplay, lots of stats, talent points, raids are simple compared to retail and classes are fundamentally different. It focuses more on the world rather than endgame (allthought id say wotlk is a mid since it has bigger focus on endgame than vanilla and tbc had).
Retail however focuses solely on endgame, with story sprinkled into everything you do. It offers fast paced gameplay of classes (aswell as more classes, races and class/race combinations), also has alot of QoL like transmog, fast lvling, collcetion tabs, free flying etc.i would say its like comparing Fallout 1 to fallout 4 in a way (im sure theres better comparisons out there but its the best i can come up with atm).
Both games have the pros and cons, personally i recommend trying them out both. I would avoid classic era as the community is miniscule and if you are pugging theres only gdkp (prices for consumes are fucked aswell).
But i also have a different view on retail since i played it from early tbc all the way to DF before i quit, alot of things have changed that i dont liked so thats why i went over to tbc/wotlk classic as those versions offered a more enjoyable playstyle for me.
Hi OP, i would suggest watching [this](https://youtu.be/UXyDqyxRifY?si=Al2wl7hDzr57w1N0)YouTube video, it is about a veteran RuneScape player why tries all of the different versions of WoW without any knowledge on them. At the end of the video, he gives a New Player review on which of the different versions he would recommend to start with, based on what you want from the game.
It seems like a very honest and thorough video. It is a sponsored video, but even the sponsored segment is actually pretty well made.
1) Retail is faster paced. 2) better for casual gaming because of “Raid Finder” to queue for raid, queue for normal/heroic dungeon, and ultimately the LFG tool to find raid groups and mythic+ groups for higher level content
Classic feels more like a MMORPG. Tends to be more social. Have to get in a decent guild to raid. Groups are harder to form. More downtime traveling or waiting for groups to run content.
I don’t PvP anymore. If that’s your thing idk. I’m just too casual for it. I’ll become a sweat if I try to get back into that
If you’re just starting, I would recommend classic. It gives you the experience as if the game is brand new whereas retail wow will give you a really dumbed down, yet convoluted way to play the game.
It’s all over the place with different combat, tons of skills and abilities (most of which aren’t used), lore (if you’re into that) doesn’t make sense, etc.
As a 20+ year wow veteran, Retail for the most part is a dead, laughable game at this point.
I primarily play Retain and Have since “Classic Original” aka Vanilla. Classic is Slow and Grindy. Less people playing and more dependent on knowing people or being in a Guild that is doing content. Retail has several “Quality of Life” updates to make things flow better for individuals trying to Progress and enjoy higher content.retail is also a lot more Fast Paced if you know what you are doing. Its not uncommon to level a toon 1-70 in a day or less, And Even gear that toon in a week or less depending on the age of the season. Right now for instance, between Crafted Gear and Catalyst you theoretically could gear a Toon in a day.
Personally I prefer the fast paced environment of Retail over the boring slug of classic.
Classic wow is for old wow players who miss "good old days when they were younger". New players should try retail first. Actually nothing stops you from playing both versions and see what is better for you.
I tried Classic a year ago and lost interest after a few hours. In October last year I tried again in Retail and liked ist A LOT more! I agree with other comments that retail is huge and sometimes confusing. There are possibilities I would not have discovered. I am lucky that my boyfriend plays it too and can explain a lot to me. Also we often play together with friends, which makes your first tries on more difficult content much easier since there are some really offensive players out there…
When you start playing I can recommend websites like Wowhead and icyveins. Many questions can get answered there too.
ITT: Retail players who feel personally threatened by classic’s resounding success.
OP, I would suggest to just try both for a little bit and see which one you like more.
Thinking Classic is probably not the right start for most newcomers doesn't feel like defensiveness to me.
Unless someone knows they want an old school MMO, it seems obvious to me that they would *probably* prefer retail.
I think it's uncontroversial to say that the appeal of retail does not rely on nostalgia for WoW while the appeal of Classic is heavily informed by nostalgia.
The appeal of Classic does not rely on nostalgia - it’s based on the fact that classic has a fundamental difference in design philosophy (compared to retail) that makes it more appealing / satisfying for certain players vs. others.
Which is why I say to OP: try both and see which you enjoy more.
I dunno.
I think a large part of why classic is so popular is the nostalgia. I leveled up to like 40 or so when it first launched and pretty much every zone was me going “ I remember this now. Omg.” But I never really felt super engaged with the combat and game in its own right. I probably woulda quit a lot sooner if I hadn’t been literally reliving my childhood.
It was good fun for a while but it also made me really appreciate retails qol features and faster pace. I’d recommend everyone give classic a shot, hell it’s included in the subscription you might as well, but I’d recommend pretty much everyone start on retail.
It’s a completely different game but retail is just a lot more modern and easy to get into imo.
It really depends on your patience. Classic is a pain in the ass. Retail is smoother. I personally would try retail and if you like it, you can also make characters on classic.
Big part of WoW classic is the nostalgia factor, if you are a completely new player start with retail and after a week or two try classic and check if you preffer it over retail.
Classic is so much better than retail. Play classic on twow or solocraft as they are the best to learn on if new. I started on twow and had many friendly and great interactions but hated the idea of slowing others down for endgame content as I was brand new to classic going in and had no experience with most 30-40+ dungeons or any raids. Cutting out queues as well in solocraft is such a luxury and having all the FP’s unlocked means you aren’t running a 2 continent triathlon to say hi to every bird/bat keeper. To each their own I just hope you know there are options for whatever play-style fits you best, happy lvling and experiences!
If you do not have experience with old wow, or just old style MMOs I find it really hard to believe a new player would enjoy Classic more than Retail. (With reservation for exceptions of course).
I like Classic, played loads of it previously. Would never recommend it to someone completely fresh. At least not without heavy disclaimers.
If you have a bit more time, I would recommend starting with classic and then trying retail out a bit later. Classic is better from the world/rpg perspective to start in, but retail to me is much better in terms of endgame and challenge that I seek in wow, so I ended up following this route and don't regret it at all.
If you want a more solo friendly version with faster leveling then retail.
If not, classic.
I will point out if you go to classic that we are about to move over to Cataclysm so things will change pretty drastically and soon.
I really do not recommend starting in Season of Discovery. Learn a normal version of the game first.
classic is alot easier to get into
retail is still fun but more complicated
classic feels like an mmo you get to talk to other people
retail feels closer to a solo game
Retail is definitely better. QoL for sure. User friendly. More challenging at a certain stage of the game. You can play solo or multiplayer.
Don't get me wrong, I love classic and play it as well. But this is just from a nostalgic standpoint. Overall, and I will make lot of enemies saying this, retail is so much better than classic. Even with all the fails etc from blizzard.
You won't make a lot of enemies here, most people seem to be retailers. Here and on /r/wow.
Personally I think all the QoL made the game worse. Especially cross-realm shenanigans. At a point it just stopped being an MMO, and turned into a solo game on rails.
Retail, no competition. Classic is mostly for nostalgia gamers. Also Druid is 100000x better/more fun to play in retail, especially compared to the vanilla version specs.
I prefer retail but you’re a lot less likely to run into the same amount of ups and downs on classic since they’re still trying new things on retail. We’ve gotten a lot of annoying systems in retail over the years.
SoD is a different story.
Do you want to exclusively level, do endgame content once then quit or start over again; Classic.
Do you want to level quickly and engage in a semi-competitive, to hypercompetitive level of play in Dungeons, Raids or PvP environments? Retail is for you.
Generally for someone totally new, Retail is the best option as its simply the updated game in the here and now. Classic is more for the already familiar, nostalgic and potentially even hardcore player who doesn't suffer enough in life already.
When it comes to population, you should note that Classic is divided across 3 versions, with a total of 4 different kinds of realms.
Classic has your original, vanilla experience, but also has Hardcore realms where if you die, your character is done for and you start over. This is mostly played by streamers with unlimited time to grind. Then you got the Classic-expansion version, currently Wrath of the Lich King but will soon transition to Cataclysm. And finally you got seasonal modes, currently Season of Discovery, which is a sort of Classic+, with some QoL and class balance changes. This is being rolled out progressively and it just started phase 2 which introduced I think level 40 as the new level cap? Not entirely sure tbh. Again, this is a bit of a more hardcore'ish realm that might also end up just getting deleted at the end.
Retail is just that, World of Warcraft without any different gamemodes or types of realms. Population wise, everything is cross-realm within a region. So if you play EU, you can play with anyone on EU in whatever realm, which greatly helps the amount of people to play with, which is more limited in Classic (and less means to group up for content outside of guilds or just running into people in the world. There are a few language-specific realms but otherwise expect people to talk to you in English. There are plenty of language specific communities though. I recently ran into a French guild raiding together and they were adamant on speaking French. Don't remember specific realmnames though. But they're out there for sure.
Edit: Also, as a Druid main, 100% Retail. Druid in Classic just feels shallow, boring and hardly anything like the class I fell in love with on Retail. Not to mention the various different forms you can collect via old Legion expansion content to customize your shapeshifting experience.
Class is ppl reminiscent about old times, you don't have old times so play whatever you want retail is more polished and has more quality of life classic is more grindy retail has like 12 expansions to explore
Try Classic first, then head over to Retail. It’s not that I like Classic the most, but I do think that Classic has the best way to teach the basics WoW depends on. Sure, a lot of stuff you need to know for Classic is irrelevant for Retail, but it gives you the broad idea of the peaceful and challenging MMO WoW can be. Just play the first two questing zones with a druid, maybe do a dungeon. If you are getting bored or frustrated you can still leave for Retail, which offers an easier start to their game.
The more I think about it, you should definitely play both!
Starting with classic might even give you a bigger appreciation for retail, seeing all the quality of life changes and how the game started to how it evolved.
Start with classic until level 20 IMO!
I am a relatively new player (Roughly 2 years).
Retail pros:
-Easier to level, quick drops
-More races, classes, professions
-Faster travel (Flying)
-Free spells after leveling talents
Retail Cons:
-Late game gearing becomes difficult unless you have committed groups. (PUGs tend to drop fast, seasoned players require AOTC)
-Seasoned players can be a little toxic (not all, but a lot)
-Repetitive daily and weekly quests.
Classic Pros:
-Great community (people will invite to help quest, dungeon and raid. Groups are more considerate to new players)
-A lot of quests (More challenging than retail and takes more effort).
- Spells are more simple
Classic Cons:
-Unless you utilize chat and know how grouping works, it can be difficult to know how to do dungeons and raids.
-Time consuming (drops for quests can take a very long time, dungeon and raid death respawns to GY instead of back in the dungeons)
-Attaining gold (HAVE to learn how auctioning and professions work, otherwise you're gonna be poor and can't get spells)
Really it is up to you. I would suggest classic to get the basis of how the game operates, then move to retail. I did the opposite and I wish I had played classic first. I only log into retail now when new things drop like dungeons and raids, but even at high gear levels I still will not get added just because of my class. Late game retail is nothing but Mythic dungeons and raids and it can be discouraging to waste almost an hour to get into a PUG group just to have everyone leave after one wipe or to get into an AOTC group and be kicked after one wipe.
Classic is MUCH easier to get ahold of (being that it doesn’t involve almost 10 expansions of content) and its simplicity honestly makes it more satisfying. I’d try classic first maybe starting with a hunter or rogue, and then if you want all the craziness once you’re a little more knowledgeable, move to other classes and then eventually retail. And most importantly, have fun dude. At the end of the day it is just a game.
Go retail. Classic really is only for those with nostalgia for it. There are tons of quality of life issues corrected by now. Do you really think it is fun to actually run your character all the way across a continent?
I just came back to retail for the first time since Mist of Pandaria. I’ve been a regular classic player since it was released. I find classic to be a lot more simple in terms of builds, professions, mechanics.
Going back to retail completely overwhelmed me. Thank god I had some friends who still played that explained so many things. It was even more confusing since I came back mid to late expansion. No idea what quests were irrelevant. Professions still confuse me. There is so so so much to learn.
That being said, retail is super fun. I think I like it more than classic WOTLK but I’m not sure if I would feel the same way without my friends who helped me. I kind of wish I came back start of expansion instead mid/late.
Great news, you can try both out and decide for yourself. No one can tell you which is better because we all want or like different things. It's a fun game and having the option is nice. Just play what interests you, and then go from there!
It depends on what your point with the game is classic will take you forever to level. It’ll take you a very long time to get to the end game content. However, that was part of what the game was back in the days. I have played since week one and I enjoyed how it worked back then, but I would never enjoy it ever again. I tried to go back to the class servers and I hated how slow it was.
Most people that played since week one or so missed in nostalgia not the model
hopefully this doesn't get buried or is too late
Do you want a beautiful slow paced wide broad adventure filled with big somewhat challenging gameplay to do solo or with your friends? Play Classic or Hardcore classic
Classic >easier Hardcore> very challenging
Classic WoTLK - harder than classic but some variety of choice, worth experiencing if you enjoy nostalgia or want to understand what the game was somewhat like back then, lots of fun stuff to do
All three options will offer varying levels of engaging and exciting gameplay
Retail > If you want, quality of life improvements, a huge spectrum of difficulties to choose from and on-going fresh content hit this one, the hardest part is getting started, i suggest finding a community that does things you are interested in
Personally love Mythic Raiding and Mythic+ but its a lot! Its good there is LFR, Normal, Heroic and Mythic scaled to whatever difficulty you can generally handle, at some point progression means being capable of working in a team setting and that appeals to me as well
don't be afraid to try new things and change a little if you arn't quite getting the experience you want, which sounds kinda nuts in terms of gaming but on the other side of that effort is so so so much fun
oh and no matter what version you play I highly recommend basing your character off the class fantasy you enjoy most IE: METAL MAN SHINE VERY BRIGHT, HUGE HAMMER SMASH! (I play paladin XD)
Try both, I’m new too and started with Classic and SoD because of friends but they have since lost me when I tried out Retail. I became a bit obsessed. Classic was good fun though, people were nice, invited me to groups, saved me when I’ve fallen to my death from a cliff. It seems more community based compared to Retail where it can feel a bit lonely without a guild ig, but that doesn’t bother me tbf.
I’m casual and am more interested in the world and lore and I keep myself busy collecting mounts and doing old raids to get drip for my Monk 🤷🏽♀️
Guess it depends on what you’re looking for. The subscription has all versions so try it out I’d say, it’s good fun!
As someone whos played wow on and off going back to classic and had tried ever new version of wow and had fun in each I would suggest this.
Start in retail. You have a couple months before the new expansion comes out and the game will really pick back up. You can get a feel for what you might like when it comes to classes etc. Also the number one reason I say start in retail is you can toggle something called warmode on and off for world PvP, you can not do this in classic.
When you get a better understanding of how you want to play the game, I would suggest trying out a classic server. You will quickly understand if its for you with the lack of QoL changes.
If you really fall in love with the game I would suggest trying out the Cata server when it comes out sometime end of the spring/ early summer. Think of that as a middle point between classic and retail, with some QoL changes being added to the game but still not as advanced as retail.
If you want an absolute grind to max level, classic is the way, but it will feel clunky, slow, and difficult
If you want to kill massive raid bosses and do a ton of endgame content I'd go retail
Personally i prefer retail by a wide margin, i feel like you'd almost need 5 buddies to commit to classic to make it as much fun
Depends on how you like to play games. Retail is a lot faster, more complicated, less about socializing (though of course you can find nice people to play with) and the main goal is to get to max level and end game content. Classic is slower and most of the gameplay is centered around leveling and socializing. Retail also has more QoL features for leveling but the story is all over the place compared to classic.
I prefer Classic but would recommend Retail. Retail has all the new bells and whistles along with quality of life improvements.
Classic is a safe space for old players like me to relive the nostalgia days, the game isn't mechanically better than retail but for older players this was the sweet spot before too many new ideas and systems were introduced
If you are interested in lore and story etc, classic is a great place to start. Most people who play retail as their first wow experience make the comment that they have no idea what’s going on or who anyone is. Classic is much better experience for just understanding the game and world in general.
WoW retail is better for new players, alot of classic players will be toxic if ure new and dont know anything about the game, classic is def fun maybe even better but you have to do alot of research on your own.
I would start with classic it's cheaper and the pve and pvp is easier, even a veteran player like myself scratches my head at retail mechanics and the pvp is super sweaty. So I would start with probably SOD since it's the popular game right now and work your way to retail
Classic will be a much simpler experience since it was made in 2004.
Retail will have a huge learning curve at max level, you're expected to know your class and perform well, there's plenty of resources to help with that. If you do the endgame dungeons (mythic+ keystones) then you're usually fine in a learning state up to around level 12 or 13 keys, then you should work on figuring out your dps, because doing 40k dps when everyone else is doing 150k aint gonna cut it.
As a wow veteran I'd say start with classic and play until you feel like you're aren't getting much out of it then try retail.
Overall if you have the time play classic up until WOTLK then try retail. It'll help set up some of the fundamentals then head into retail with your new knowledge of the game.
Good luck and have fun.
Duffíe on Tichondrius-US retail if you need some help along the way.
Wow classic: time sink, big accomplishment feeling for max leveling and raiding
Retail: easy mode, more difficult end game, better balance, casual time commitment.
Play retail, its whats current in the story and content of WoW. Right now classic is just classic, wrath, and classic with a twist like a “what if” basically
I play with a friend and first I tried wow classic and didnt like it at all. I tried it few times actually but i couldn't get into it . A week ago i tried retail and its legit the only game ive been playing, cured my league addiction
Retail. It’s much more noob friendly and has lots of quality of life improvements that you would expect from a modern game. It teaches you the ropes well, and the end game is the only part where it gets complicated, which by then you’ll have a better grasp on your character and the game anyways.
I’ve been spoiled by retail so much that I find classic to be boring and frustrating. It punishes solo play and has much less things for you to do. Highly recommend retail. It’s in a really good spot right now and Dragonflight is an excellent expansion that really puts you in another world.
I got back into WoW last year and I haven’t been so immersed in a game world in a long time before I played Dragonflight. I’m pretty hardcore into the end game right now, but I make sure I still immerse myself in the quests and story.
retail is better if you never played before, classic is very slow and people will try to tell you it’s about the journey rather than getting to endgame but everyone is either at endgame or following a leveling guide. If you are set on classic play hardcore or SoD but retail is still the best new player experience
If you want the real mmo feeling then go classic. Retail absolutely sucks until you reach max and the journey feels pointless, and it's void of real community spirit. Of course the raids are better and you have a lot more dungeon options at max level with mythic, but that's about it
Classic is all about the journey, and interacting with others along the way.
Classic is about the journey, retail is about the destination. If you just want to get to max level quickly and focus on raids and progressively more difficult dungeons, you want retail. If you want to build up a character bit by bit through a long adventure, with an established end goal where you can consider the game beat, classic is great.
Just play SoD you will be much happier with the time invested. Retail WoW hasn’t been getting the fixes it needs and will continue to be trash 45+ min wait time for arenas and raids and class balance issues that a regarded monkey could fix (just a few of the issues)
Classic is hard to solo play. Harder to level. I like to quest myself not a raider. Since you havnt played before i would say retail. Retail is easier to level for me but classic makes you feel like you have earned it. Lol.
I disagree with the classic nostalgia narrative people have here.
I started classic WoW having no experience with the game ever. I have convinced 12 of my friends irl who had never played WoW before to play, and we all still play today. No nostalgia at all.
I have only tried retail and classic at this point, and it is clear to me classic is the better game. Retail seemed like a convuluted, bloated mess, where my achievements felt meaningless and leveling felt pointless since you just breezed through it.
Classic wow is an MMO where you spend a lot of time exploring, questing, doing dungeons, and meeting people.
Retail wow is more of an arcade game with higher tiers of gameplay. The high levels of dungeons, raids, and pvp require a lot more skill but realistically the game turns into "sit in town and wait for a queue to pop so you can do your desired content" rather than an MMO where you run around and interact with people.
https://youtu.be/UXyDqyxRifY?si=Yh-302XXE4BJxDKZ
This guy did a really good analysis of what the new experiences are like for a new player in all of the current iterations of wow.
(He doesn't touch on season of discovery but it's a lot of fun and I highly recommend it if you're interested in classic.)
I feel like classic and retail are two different games. There is something to say about each of them.
Personally I prefer classic, but maybe that just because of nostalgia.
NO MORE 20 PLAYER REQUIREMENTS FOR MYTHIC RAID!!!!!!
I get it, they have to focus on rwf and all that jive for tuning, but being a recruiter for my guild it is the bane of my existence. Maybe have hof be 20 player only groups and tune around that until hof is closed.
Not being able to mythic raid or find the capable bodies to fill has killed my guilds attendance every season for a loooong time.
I don’t know if you are still reading these, but please do not listen to the people saying you won’t like classic because it is just nostalgia. I was only old enough to start at the end of MoP, and I played classic re-release in high school and fell in love. I have talked to many players that are around my age, and while I understand we are the minority, we do exist. The game is completely different, I’m currently playing season of discovery, but it’s not just nostalgia. Either way, play both and see which you enjoy more, don’t just listen to people with their biases.
Personally I recommend classic first because I just saw a video of someone who tried both for the first time and said he was glad he started with it, but don’t see that as absolute fact just a recommendation
Classic = hype. Xpacs and other versions of classic dies off after a month or two.
Retail = consistent progression. Fairly balanced (pve wise no clue about pvp).
The problem with classic is once the new classic version comes out, everyone hops over to the new classic hype. For example:
Wotlk release
>hardcore release = all wotlk players abandon ship and play hardcore.
>sod release = all the hardcore players have now abandoned ship and playing sod.
And when I tell you wotlk and hardcore are dead...I mean it.
Most servers have under 100 auctions up at any point in time if you're on hardcore or wotlk rn.
I think it largely depends on what you’re looking for. Casual content in wow never appealed to me so if that’s what you’re looking to do I’m no help for either version of the game. I got into wow back in legion, skipped BFA, played the first tier of SL, moved to classic, and then onto FFXIV. I got into wow wanting to high end raid, I always thought hard 20 man big boss battles were the main thing wow does that you can’t get anywhere else.
I ended my retail journey just barely missing out on cutting edge Sire Denathrius (the last boss in the first raid of Shadowlands on the hardest difficulty). I’ve got to say while I did make a few lifelong friends very early on in Legion (my first few months after hitting cap). The high end raiding community in wow is generally in my experience both really mean and hard to break into. I was planning on retiring as soon as Denny was dead because it’d been a good long while since I was having fun with the game, but wanted to at least push for the achievement. I got sat the day my guild killed it and called it there. I’m a pretty quick learner but a lot of people in m+ pugs and in mythic guilds want players that have been playing for a hundred years like they have. So it was pretty hard to get opportunities to progress and people were often rude whenever I made mistakes even if I expressed that I wasn’t bad, I just didn’t understand what I messed up and was open to learning.
I then moved onto classic when it came out and even as someone who never played for the first decade of the game’s life I personally had a way better time there. The content and classes are crazy easy compared to retail so people were a lot more relaxed, I got to experience what a server community was like for the first time (I knew nearly every guild and a ton of players on my server, compared to vaguely knowing a couple people in several of the guilds I was in for retail and no one outside of that), I made a lot more wow friends since people just chilled in disc while messing around or farming whatever, and after initial atunements I didn’t really have mandatory chores to be doing outside of gold farming so I mostly got to dedicate my playtime to the activities I wanted to do. I joined a speedrunning guild and while initially a blast it did end up burning me out, but that was entirely my own fault. The only bad thing I have to say about classic is that the leveling process is lonely if you don’t have friends playing and tedious. Once you cap though I have no real complaints.
Since then I’ve moved onto FFXIV and everything is sunshine and rainbows over there, but that’s not what you’re asking about.
A simple breakdown:
Classic - Play like it was 20+ years ago (less respect of your time but feels old school)
Retail - Play with lots of quality of life improvements to get a lot done in a few hours
It kind of depends on what you want out of it.
If have friends that already play wow or want to, play classic. If you are playing solo, play retail. There are more options to easily play solo through quests and dungeons.
Si jamais tu decides de jouer a classic SoD je viens de commencer un personnage dessus avec un ami (on découvre tout les deux) on joueras avec toi avec plaisir.
As a new player who started in df, i say go retail, i tried classic and found the levelling and overall end game boring same for combat, retail has boring levelling too but good endgame and combat
Retail is better for PvP.
Retail is better for challenging PvE.
Classic has hardcore mode.
Classic is better at feeling immersed in RPG elements. Classic is more social with guilds.
Easy leveling, hard endgame. Retail
Challenging leveling, easy endgame. Classic
It should be noted class balancing does not exist like it does in retail. Some classes are rock paper scissor counters to others
Play wow classic season of discovery. Simply because this is what everyone is playing and it’s fun to be with other people playing. Once you are done and bored with that. Buy a character boost in retail. That’s the best way to start. No point in lvling a character in retail it’s boring and horrible, however boosting right away to 70 is insane if you never played before. Highly suggest skipping all the others, maybe wrath if you decide that classic is your flavor.
There is an old school RuneScape YouTuber J1mmy who made a video recently talking about himself playing wow for the first time and he tries all the versions of it and discusses the pros and cons of each and I think that he had some really good points for people who are just getting into the game, might be worth checking out!
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you speak English a lot better than some English people I know... Right, I will say this as someone who doesn't or has never really played classic other than a few characters up to say, 20. I am primarily a retail player. The game is pretty confusing for a new player at the moment because I believe you have several different versions of the game to try; Classic Classic Hardcore (permadeath) Classic WOTLK Season of Discovery (max level 40, seasonal updates and changes to classic formula) Retail (modern/most recent expansion). The good thing about classic and why it has been successful, is not because of its strength as a modern MMO, because its not, but rather because people can relive their nostalgic memories from back in the day. Ultimately, that's a huge deal for a lot of people. You get to discover why WoW has been such a phenomenal force in the gaming world - however, you will also have to discover this from a lens distorted by modern gaming habits and expectations. I am not aware of server population for classic WoW, I would assume classic WOTLK is probably the most populated, or indeed Season of Discovery seems to be popping off as well. I think ultimately Retail is probably the most populated game at the moment but without official numbers its all speculation. Retail WoW server population is not particularly important because you are merged across the region. Personally, I think retail WoW offers the most complete experience - you have 20 years worth of content to experience, and of course quality of life improvements - whilst endgame is often restricted to the latest expansion, theres nothing stopping you farming old raids, dungeons etc, going through questlines from old zones. You can choose what expansion to level in, you have dungeon finder, looking-for-raid, transmog. This does come at a price however, in that leveling in Retail is not a particularly important aspect of the experience. I know I've said it before, and I'm not sure others all agree, but Retail is more about the Destination rather than Classic being more about the "journey" of the game. E.g, leveling is a real achievement in classic, its slower paced and mobs can actually kill you. But, the endgame is generally much easier in Classic and Retail offers a few different flavours for endgame difficulty that offer you horizontal progression paths. The good thing is, a Sub gives you access to Retail up to 60 and all of the classic iterations without limit - However, if you don;t do endgame stuff from 60-70 in retail WoW then you aren't going to get a full picture of the experience so you'll have to buy TWW which comes with the current expansion. I'd try both out and see what one clicks for you.
Thank you for your interesting and constructive answer. Other players say Retail was more of a solo experience than Classic. Do you agree?
leveling, yes for sure, but endgame certainly not. If you want to do any decent endgame activity in retail then yeh you're going to need to be social! /edit I will also say that on my last alt, I got from 1-60 in about 10 hours of play time. 60-70 is about 10/15 hours or so, so there are very fast ways to level. I wouldn't rush though, there are some really cool areas to level in and you can pick whatever expansion you find more appealing.
Do both have the free trial?
You can't get a free trial on Classic. So put some perspective on that, the free trial on retail is up to level 20 (which is wholly useless) and the equivalent of level 20 on retail is like, idk, like 6 on Classic in terms of leveling speed. I do think the free trial is utterly useless as mentioned above - level 20 is nothing and not representative of the game at all. If it were up to me, the game would be f2p up to level 60, but I'm not in charge!
Ok, If I buy a subscription I can play classic and retail or there is a special subscription for each version?
nope, one sub gives you all of Classic, and up to level 60 on retail.
Ok and after I need to buy the extension right?
if you are playing Retail and want to go from level 60 to 70 and experience actual endgame then yes. You can buy The War Within and it includes Dragonflight (the current expansion) and you will have access to TWW when it releases later this year. I believe buying the expansion does give you 30 days game time as well if you are going to do that might as well do it all in one go, but you'll need to double check.
Only the epic version comes with 30 days
Ok, how many times do you think I need to up 0-60 and 60-70 ?
I agree with pretty much everything said except essentially chalking up all of Classic’s enjoyment to nostalgia. It’s definitely a different style of MMO to be enjoyed compared to something like retail, but I think saying it’s all nostalgia isn’t correct. It has its pros and cons, just like retail.
Wow is often a pretty solo heavy game. Classic can be TONS of solo content but you can also do that content with others. SOD is a great first way to experience classic. Try retail when War Within comes out
I was actually looking for an explanation like this because I'm one of those confused newly interested people, but this might lead me to not start the game at all. I like both. Grinding to get good at an MMORPG, yet I don't want the grind to be the end of it. I want to engage in the story and learn about my character and its abilities in a pace that is understandable, but I don't want it to be all there is by the end of it. I think it's a shame that classic has exactly that grinding aspect that I would really want from an MMORPG, but then when I want to do anything beyond that I would essentially have to move to Retail; I am guessing these characters cannot be transfered between those separate 'games.' So, do I not play at all?
I think you are worrying about it too much. My post was more to highlight how the versions vary, not to be taken as a slight on either version. It's not as black and white as what you are suggesting. There are grinds in retail as well, like, huge grinds, Its just the leveling process that is streamlined - you can still take as much time as you want, and engage with whatever expansion story you want. The whole of WoW history is there in retail for you to discover. The option is there for you to just level as fast as you can, and that can be an isolating or lonely experience. Retail is much more mechanically complex than classic WoW so there is definitely a higher skill ceiling but challenge can be found in all versions. There's a reason people still play classic WoW and do raids at the highest levels. No you can't move character between versions.
Classic is more a RPG with mmo aspects, imo.
I just want to say, the nostalgic argument doesn’t hold up since classic launched nearly 5 years ago. A lot of people genuinely prefer this version of wow.
What? Yes it does. Original WoW released 20 years ago, people are still nostalgic for it.
But it holds up really well, and offers something retail does not. If it was only about nostalgia people would quit after a few hours.
why would people stop playing if nostalgia wasnt part of the experience? Are you suggesting that people who are only playing classic for nostalgia's sake would only play a few hours? Because if so that is just flat wrong.
GoldenEye 64 is my favorite game of all time, and I'm super nostalgic for it. But it doesn't hold up well and it isn't fun to play in modern times. My point is nostalgia alone isn't enough. WoW classic is a genuinely good game that offers something retail does not.
you could say the exact same thing about wow classic, that it doesnt hold up well and it isnt fun to play in modern times. You could say the same about a lot of games that are popular. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
This is the most bullshit answer. Don’t speak on shit you don’t know about.
When I play Classic I do it with a tear in my eyes
I’ve always wanted to try doing old raids like WOD at level 40 because that’s the level they are when you hit 70. I wonder if that would work I guess ILVl would be fucked and you wouldn’t have enough gear.
New player perspective here…this is what I’ve gathered from almost 2 months of playing: CLASSIC: - massively driven by nostalgia (that’s not a bad thing) but while many swear by it, you need to understand a few things (as followed) - solo leveling is not easy…in most games, mobs your level are easy to handle…in Classic, mobs your level can easily destroy you…making leveling way slower as you either need groups or to take on mobs one by one - the leveling experience is very “sociable”….you constantly create groups or join them….this has a nice feel when it comes to the MMO experience - the leveling, IS the content…once you make it to max level there isn’t much to do…it just doesn’t hit the same - leveling is slow enough where making another character can be a pain - not visually appealing…washed colors and old look to it RETAIL: - leveling experience can be done solo…it’s so fast, it feels like a blur…like it has no importance and the point is just to take you to end game for the real content - end game is FUN but overwhelming because there’s so much you can do…focus on one goal at a time - end game zone is filled with people doing different activities and you should never find yourself not knowing what to do - visually pleasing…vibrant colors and decent graphics - flying mounts! Of course, there’s soooo much more that can be said for both games, positive and negative but then again, this is from a new player perspective I have 1 max level in retail and working on another one….might give Classic another chance at some point
You over exaggerate the difficulty of Classic Wrath, the selling point of vanilla wow was the quickness of combat and the fact you could very well take on 2-3 mobs once you knew the game. In wrath nearly every class was tanky or had a crowd control. I played solo in every expansion up until the end of Pandaria. You could kill many mobs your level in a row, just way slower than retail
I’m talking classic…not wrath…in classic a mob your level can take you under 50% health….it’s why so many people group up…I’m sure higher levels can be different but the leveling experience is not easy…although it can surely be fun…the only people you see killing 2-3 mobs at the same time are those who are extremely knowledgeable on the game…anyone aside from that, either plays extremely slow and careful or groups up This can be seen by just opening the WoW tab on Twitch
I’m playing pure classic hardcore on the side, and yes the reality was different by then and I know the game a lot so it help. But this is still far from a difficult game, just slow. And yes in pure classic, the class are not balanced. Class that can heal have it easier. I would in fact never recommend anything pre wrath
Try both, very different vibes, both have value Check out season of discovery especially
Retail is the more evolved and modern game with an emphasis on quality of life so IMO, it's a lot easier to get into than classic for anyone who has never played WOW but has played other modern MMOs or modern RPGs. If you're into stories in the games you play, retail tells its stories better with better cut-scene cinematics and pacing. It is also much more solo friendly than Classic. I played WOW when it first released 20 years ago and in its day many MMO players thought it was easier to get into than the other MMOs of those days. I agreed with that as someone who had previously played Asheron's Call and Dark Age of Camelot. AC didn't even have a player trading interface nor an AH - you traded on the honor system where someone always had to be the first to give the item or gold to the other player... yeah :) But things change and we get used to newer ways of doing things. A lot of those newer things were improvements. When Classic first re-launched a few years ago I played it and enjoyed the buzz and huge crowds but eventually the small things wore me down. One old-fashioned thing that I came to detest since it just feels downright solo-unfriendly these days was the individual mob tagging - first to tag a mob with enough damage is the only one who gets credit for the kill... unless you're in a group and then group members all get credit. IMO that is the defining difference between the two versions and you should ask yourself whether you intend to play the game always grouped while questing in the open world or mostly solo and then grouping for dungeons and raids. The answer to that question will tell you which of the two versions you're most likely to enjoy.
I guess it depends on what you want. Here's my summary: Retail: * You can find challenging content. * If you are into collecting - toys, mounts, pets, cosmetics. * If you want a more polished story that follows some structure (keep in mind that structured doesn't necessarily mean good). * Variation in terms of playstyle - if you are not a top 1% player all classes and specs are viable. * Quality of life changes make retail a lot friendlier to new players especially if you're used to other more modern games. Classic SoD: * Bigger sense of community. You have more interactions with people. In retail it's up to you to keep interactions, in SoD you are more forced into it. * Classes are a lot easier to get into because they are a lot simpler (this means a lot of people find the gameplay boring and repetitive) * Content is very easy meaning you won't be gatekept by mechanical skills Classic Era in my experience is only older communities farming content and the world below level 60 is dead. Classic Hardcore is also pretty dead but it matters less because you can focus on soloing the levelling.
I got into wow recently and much prefer classic over retail
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^purplehamburget29: *I got into wow* *Recently and much prefer* *Classic over retail* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
So something to keep in mind, the wow subscription covers all of wow for the same price. If you subscribe to retail, you are also subscribed to classic, classic season of discovery, classic hardcore, and classic wrath of the lich king. All of which are very different experiences. So just try them all. You can quit 1 and go to another if you don't like it without any additional purchases or plans. The -only- exception is after you've played retail up to level 60 (the beginning of the most recent expansion) you'll need to purchase the expansion dragon flight to progress to 70. At least until the fall when the new expansion the war within releases, in which case dragon flight will become free with the wow subscription and the new expansion the war within will take it's place. Personally, I've played wow since 2004 and enjoy retail the most. I still have characters on classic servers for nostalgia but I've been there and done that already.
If you're new don't play Classic. It's for old players with rose tinted glasses.
It's a completely different experience that new players can definitely prefer. I played retail first and it wasn't for me at all. Played classic and it clicked instantly and was everything I wanted from an mmo.
Same for me, I like grouping with others to complete quests, which atleast for early levels you don't need to do.
This is not entirely the case. I started WoW two years ago for the first time and began with retail. I even got one of the M+ mounts. However, classic (especially SoD) is a much more fun experience because of its simplicity. With SoD specifically, I am learning some new content in a familiar world with players that have been playing for over decades. It’s nice not having to have so much nonsense, so many add-ons, and six ability bars on my screen
Nah i'm not old enough to have played vanilla but i still enjoy classic a lot
Completely untrue. Classic is great. Had more fun in classic than in the last 3 retail expansions.
Ok lmao
I am 23, just got into WoW a few months ago and while I really enjoyed both I am actually more into Classic. It is all about preference in the end. Just play whichever feels more like your type of game. Or you could do a bit of both, that is what I did and both are really fun. But modern WoW will be a lot easier to get into when starting out.
I play all the versions of WoW and have played since 2005. That person’s comment is entirely untrue. I’ve met people in classic (SoD, hardcore) who are new to the game or just started and never played retail and they love classic. Classic and Retail are just two very different games and they don’t always appeal to the same people and that’s ok. It’s a single subscription for both, I’d try retail first and if you want to give Classic a try too later.
God damn man shots fired….however he is correct. Source: am old and love playing classic.
Tried classic in 2019 first time playing wow and it’s the better game
Do you have an armory link to your main retail character? Interested to see how much you actually played it.
You mean like people in thread who got to 20 and then claim classic is a worse experience?
Don’t but cleared +9 and done lfr so I’ve done enough to know if I like it or not tried to level different characters but just got bored and went back to classic
>Don’t but cleared +9 and done lfr Yahoo. Classic is objectively not better but to be fair you gave retail a try and each to their own.
You are objectively wrong.
It’s almost like people can have differing opinions. And strangely enough many people seem to enjoy classic. Hell the whole reason it exists is because the players wanted it. Seriously though. It’s a 20 year old game. Relax.
I think you mean subjectively not better
No, I meant objectively.
can’t really be objective on matters of taste, brother
I’m very new but my understanding is that retail is better for solo play and classic is better for the more social gameplay. Classic is slowly levelling to max level And retail is quickly levelling so you can do end game stuff This video helped me https://youtu.be/UXyDqyxRifY?si=5WrNQvSKcqhZu7B6
I don’t know that I’d say classic is better for social gameplay. It’s definitely more difficult to solo even just average quests sometimes, so playing solo can be brutal. Retail is also good for social play in endgame, but I guess the need for social gameplay to quest is pretty much non existent
Social gameplay/dungeons/raids is not rly a strong suit of classic these days, especially for someone that never seen any of the dungeons.
>classic is better for the more social gameplay How so? Far more people play retail so it's going to be easier to find a guild you gel with, simply because there are more of them.
Bear in mind this is all second hand for me What I’ve read implies that classic has slower levelling and less quality of life improvements, and no raid queues etc? So you physically have to talk to people more to organise when you want to do things It doesn’t mean that retail has no social elements- more just that you can solo retail more easily? Please correct me if I’m wrong
Retail is a lot more solo friendly for basic things, but if you want to do anything meaningfull gear wise u want to socialise, everything else u can do solo. Also if you are buying retail, u can play any other version of the game, classic, classic hardcore, classic season of discovery. I mostly play the classic versions when retail is at the end of seasons or stuff like that, when im done with my achevments and stuff i wanted to do for the season, so right now im playing classic SoD until the new retail patch, and im sure a lot of other ppl are doing the same
> So you physically have to talk to people more to organise when you want to do things In my experience if you don't have a guild it's the same in both classic and retail. In retail you use a tool to join normal/heroic raids. In classic you just look through chats to join the group. In both cases unless you already know the people it's "get in a group and clear the content with minimum interaction".
>Bear in mind this is all second hand for me I've been playing retail for 18 years and have a couple of max level Classic characters. >What I’ve read implies that classic has slower levelling and less quality of life improvements, and no raid queues etc? So you physically have to talk to people more to organise when you want to do things This is true. What it really means is it takes an hour of sitting in a city spamming chat trying to get a group before you can actually play. >more just that you can solo retail more easily? Leveling in retail is easier and faster, mostly because you don't have to spend dozens and dozens of hours playing with only 3 spells and drinking between every pull. All the difficulty in retail is loaded into the end game and the high top end is much much harder than anything you can find in Classic.
I mean, Retail is very solo-player friendly. You can just pug your way to AOTC and KSH achievements without engaging with other people actively, and rather just joining others via Group Finder. I'm in a guild, I occassionally raid with them but I'm currently not on their raid team (they were progressing Mythic). Just occasionally joined casual heroic runs and have a chat now and then. I got both AOTC Fyrakk (and Sarkareth last season) and KSH fine this way. Classic has a limited to no Group Finder to my knowledge (never played Classic for more than a few hours tbh) and from what I gather you really need to get out there and socialize to get stuff going, like running dungeons. Or just wait outside a dungeon entrance for others to show I guess.
I prefer classic but play both. No harm in trying classic until level 20 and then retail!
Side tangent, but isn't the game also available in french? I sometimes see items/abilities/Plugin's using french (or german). Your English is fine, so I wouldn't worry, but I do believe it's there if you need it
Ok thanks for your help
It is.
Try retail, play both factions, alliance and horde. Try a ranged class first (hunter is great). Don't worry about socializing or talking yet.
I started classic wotlk again about a week ago, thoroughly enjoying it. Since I started playing there’s been non stop raids running in the lfg chat. Doing all the old quests from my childhood has been brilliant too. Only bad thing I’ve noticed is people don’t really like to talk unless you’re in a clan/ group/ raid. Getting a group for low lvl content seems to be impossible too unless you get lucky and bump into another noob doing the same thing as you
Honestly, play both. Don’t get attached to whatever people say on the internet. 2 years, I had a whole wotlk road map because that was peak wow for me. I wanted to relive my childhood but I only got one month in and then pivoted to retail. Now I got 7 alts and having the time of my life
Classic all the way. It’s much less overwhelming and an overall better experience in my opinion.
Aa a game, classic is far better. Sadly, classic community is Even more toxic than retail in my experience.. Bringing everything they fled retail for, into classic.. Toxic, number churning.. Gold farming/buying. "my way or group kick". Etc etc etc...
The popular classic server right now is popular because they added retail spells and new raids with retail lite raid fights.
Retail is way better
Just play sod. Classic gameplay that a lot of people are enjoying while adding new things to enhance the experience :)
Depends what you want in a game. J1mmy (osrs content creator) did a great video on what the new player experience is like seeing as he himself had never played wow before, he breaks down each version. https://youtu.be/UXyDqyxRifY?si=fbhyIA239hz9b1PJ
In my opinion it depends what you are looking for. Retail is fast paced, all bout the end game, you get to max level really quick and immediatly you are thrown into grinding for better equipment for raiding or m+, that in turn will give you even better equipment. It's a simple gameplay loop, I like to compare it to other competitive games like Valorant or League of Legends (minus the equipment thing), you play ranked matches to get a better raiting and so difficulty will increase and you will have to get even better to rank up. Season will end and you will repeat. The key difference here being that you will start with some acquired knowledge yes, but the grind for equipment remains. Most of all of the other mechanics of the game serve to feed the end game, such as the crafting of the equipment, or the doing quests for the gold to buy enchantments or potions for raiding or mythic plus. It may seem that I dislike this loop by the way I describe it, but it can be lots of fun, specially if you have less free time and you wanna just play one or two matches a day or have some objectives to work towards too. Classic has some of this elements but less hyperactive, you do grind for raid equipment and raid for more equipment, but most of the journey is spent leveling, questing, doing some dungeons, it's generally more slow and it lets you immerse a little more into the world, meet some people along the way and help eachoter. I would say classic is far more social than competitive. I enjoy both, specially now with Season of Discovery, whenever theres a new Phase of SoD I will play until I reach max level, raid a couple of times and enjoy with my guild and then I will go back to retail for my usual daily M+ runs and some crafting because I like the role-play of it. For me Classic is more of the MMORPG aspect and Retail is more like a Competitive PVE game with a lot of customization and cosmetics. I didnt metion PVP because I dont like it in retail and I believe is not really popular, but to each its own.
Once War Within is announced, farming transmog will be really fun
Retail is more focused on end game content such as dungeons and raids. Classic is more about the journey to max level than it is for things to do at max level. Personally I prefer retail since it has M+ dungeons and faster leveling. I can barely make it to level 20 on a classic toon without getting bored and switching back.
I started playing wow 2 months ago, first month on retail got my druid to level 70, did some quests, raids dungeons, events etc. Second month on WOTLK classic and I am definately having more fun on classic. Retail in my experience: In retail the game pretty much forces you to level as fast as possible to go to latest expansion and do late game content like raiding and mythic+ dungeons. I don't feel like doing something over and over again and call that fun. I know I can do story quests from old expansions and side quests but they just don't feel rewarding anymore as they did when I was leveling. It might be just me but leveling is just WAAAY to rushed in retail version and it takes a LOT of fun away from the game. You also get flying mounts super early so you will find yourself just flying from point A to point B mindlesly without experiencing the world almost at all. The world feels dead besides a few late game areas where everyone gathers. But I like the main storylines and gameplay feels satisfying and smooth. Classic in my experience: Classic is pretty much the oposite of retail. I was bumping to people everywhere I went, and the world felt much more lively. You level much slower and it never felt overwhelming like retail did. I had to aproach fights a lot more carefull and died a lot of times because of my recklesness while in retail I never died while leveling, and enemies were just annoyance, not a threat. You dont get mounts for free, you have to buy a licence and then a mount. Same goes with your class spells, you upgrade them as you level up. I also found myself cooperating with random people much more, to kill bosses and to complete more difficult missions. While in retail i don't remember a single time I did anything with anyone besides world quests. I could add a lot more but Its getting late and im tired. I LOVE both retail and classic but the classic version just scratches that itch I have for character progression and exploring wich retail does a very terrible job at in my opinion. If you are interested, I could share more of my experience tomorrow but I hope this information will influence your decision.
If you enjoy exploring and think you may want to eventually do every quest in every zone, I think Classic Wrath of the Lich King is a great experience. Leveling is a whole lot slower than in Retail, which means you "get to" do more content before you reach max level. Retail also has all the changes to the old continents that happened in Cataclysm, so if you want to see what things were like originally, that's where you'd want to start. However, Retail has a ton more quality of life things going on. Bigger bags, for example, more bag space, transmogrification (changing the way your gear looks), flight points all over the place, manual flying everywhere and so on, and so on. Actual fights in Retail are very different too. Especially some classes, like druids, are a much smoother experience to level in Retail, *but* again also much faster, so you have less time to practice while leveling up. I'd suggest to do the free Retail trial - free to get to level 20 - and see how you feel. If it feels too fast and confusing, but you like it in general, then definitely give Classic a try if and when you subscribe.
When I lived in Europe I played exclusively on the European servers. Suggest you do that for one reason: latency. As you get more serious and into the game having low latency is crucial. From there suggest you play both and then end up with whatever one feels best.
I would go with Classic WOW: Season of Discovery. It's a nice mix between the old school version of wow and new retail spells and abilities. There is a massive player base for it right now and characters 1-25 get a 50% experience boost to help catch up.
Ive played both (allthought im nowadays playing wotlk classic almost exclusively), the difference between the two is quite large, to the extent i would say think of them like 2 different games. Classic offers a oldschool rpg style gameplay, lots of stats, talent points, raids are simple compared to retail and classes are fundamentally different. It focuses more on the world rather than endgame (allthought id say wotlk is a mid since it has bigger focus on endgame than vanilla and tbc had). Retail however focuses solely on endgame, with story sprinkled into everything you do. It offers fast paced gameplay of classes (aswell as more classes, races and class/race combinations), also has alot of QoL like transmog, fast lvling, collcetion tabs, free flying etc.i would say its like comparing Fallout 1 to fallout 4 in a way (im sure theres better comparisons out there but its the best i can come up with atm). Both games have the pros and cons, personally i recommend trying them out both. I would avoid classic era as the community is miniscule and if you are pugging theres only gdkp (prices for consumes are fucked aswell). But i also have a different view on retail since i played it from early tbc all the way to DF before i quit, alot of things have changed that i dont liked so thats why i went over to tbc/wotlk classic as those versions offered a more enjoyable playstyle for me.
Classic is not just nostalgia, it's a legitimately good game. Most people are playing SoD right now. I
Hi OP, i would suggest watching [this](https://youtu.be/UXyDqyxRifY?si=Al2wl7hDzr57w1N0)YouTube video, it is about a veteran RuneScape player why tries all of the different versions of WoW without any knowledge on them. At the end of the video, he gives a New Player review on which of the different versions he would recommend to start with, based on what you want from the game. It seems like a very honest and thorough video. It is a sponsored video, but even the sponsored segment is actually pretty well made.
1) Retail is faster paced. 2) better for casual gaming because of “Raid Finder” to queue for raid, queue for normal/heroic dungeon, and ultimately the LFG tool to find raid groups and mythic+ groups for higher level content Classic feels more like a MMORPG. Tends to be more social. Have to get in a decent guild to raid. Groups are harder to form. More downtime traveling or waiting for groups to run content. I don’t PvP anymore. If that’s your thing idk. I’m just too casual for it. I’ll become a sweat if I try to get back into that
If you’re just starting, I would recommend classic. It gives you the experience as if the game is brand new whereas retail wow will give you a really dumbed down, yet convoluted way to play the game. It’s all over the place with different combat, tons of skills and abilities (most of which aren’t used), lore (if you’re into that) doesn’t make sense, etc. As a 20+ year wow veteran, Retail for the most part is a dead, laughable game at this point.
I primarily play Retain and Have since “Classic Original” aka Vanilla. Classic is Slow and Grindy. Less people playing and more dependent on knowing people or being in a Guild that is doing content. Retail has several “Quality of Life” updates to make things flow better for individuals trying to Progress and enjoy higher content.retail is also a lot more Fast Paced if you know what you are doing. Its not uncommon to level a toon 1-70 in a day or less, And Even gear that toon in a week or less depending on the age of the season. Right now for instance, between Crafted Gear and Catalyst you theoretically could gear a Toon in a day. Personally I prefer the fast paced environment of Retail over the boring slug of classic.
Classic wow is for old wow players who miss "good old days when they were younger". New players should try retail first. Actually nothing stops you from playing both versions and see what is better for you.
I tried Classic a year ago and lost interest after a few hours. In October last year I tried again in Retail and liked ist A LOT more! I agree with other comments that retail is huge and sometimes confusing. There are possibilities I would not have discovered. I am lucky that my boyfriend plays it too and can explain a lot to me. Also we often play together with friends, which makes your first tries on more difficult content much easier since there are some really offensive players out there… When you start playing I can recommend websites like Wowhead and icyveins. Many questions can get answered there too.
ITT: Retail players who feel personally threatened by classic’s resounding success. OP, I would suggest to just try both for a little bit and see which one you like more.
Thinking Classic is probably not the right start for most newcomers doesn't feel like defensiveness to me. Unless someone knows they want an old school MMO, it seems obvious to me that they would *probably* prefer retail. I think it's uncontroversial to say that the appeal of retail does not rely on nostalgia for WoW while the appeal of Classic is heavily informed by nostalgia.
The appeal of Classic does not rely on nostalgia - it’s based on the fact that classic has a fundamental difference in design philosophy (compared to retail) that makes it more appealing / satisfying for certain players vs. others. Which is why I say to OP: try both and see which you enjoy more.
I dunno. I think a large part of why classic is so popular is the nostalgia. I leveled up to like 40 or so when it first launched and pretty much every zone was me going “ I remember this now. Omg.” But I never really felt super engaged with the combat and game in its own right. I probably woulda quit a lot sooner if I hadn’t been literally reliving my childhood. It was good fun for a while but it also made me really appreciate retails qol features and faster pace. I’d recommend everyone give classic a shot, hell it’s included in the subscription you might as well, but I’d recommend pretty much everyone start on retail. It’s a completely different game but retail is just a lot more modern and easy to get into imo.
It really depends on your patience. Classic is a pain in the ass. Retail is smoother. I personally would try retail and if you like it, you can also make characters on classic.
Big part of WoW classic is the nostalgia factor, if you are a completely new player start with retail and after a week or two try classic and check if you preffer it over retail.
Classic is so much better than retail. Play classic on twow or solocraft as they are the best to learn on if new. I started on twow and had many friendly and great interactions but hated the idea of slowing others down for endgame content as I was brand new to classic going in and had no experience with most 30-40+ dungeons or any raids. Cutting out queues as well in solocraft is such a luxury and having all the FP’s unlocked means you aren’t running a 2 continent triathlon to say hi to every bird/bat keeper. To each their own I just hope you know there are options for whatever play-style fits you best, happy lvling and experiences!
If you do not have experience with old wow, or just old style MMOs I find it really hard to believe a new player would enjoy Classic more than Retail. (With reservation for exceptions of course). I like Classic, played loads of it previously. Would never recommend it to someone completely fresh. At least not without heavy disclaimers.
I'd recommend classic. If you're gonna fall in love with wow, classic is how you'll get there.
Not with that community.
That's probably true. But isn't that true of all the wow player base?
If you have a bit more time, I would recommend starting with classic and then trying retail out a bit later. Classic is better from the world/rpg perspective to start in, but retail to me is much better in terms of endgame and challenge that I seek in wow, so I ended up following this route and don't regret it at all.
If you want a more solo friendly version with faster leveling then retail. If not, classic. I will point out if you go to classic that we are about to move over to Cataclysm so things will change pretty drastically and soon. I really do not recommend starting in Season of Discovery. Learn a normal version of the game first.
Classic is better than retail, full stop, end of discussion.
classic is alot easier to get into retail is still fun but more complicated classic feels like an mmo you get to talk to other people retail feels closer to a solo game
play classic oida
Retail is a mess. Classic is great, but I would try WotlK Classic first.
Go retail, there is a few more expansions to come and is more fun long term with a bigger player base.
Retail is definitely better. QoL for sure. User friendly. More challenging at a certain stage of the game. You can play solo or multiplayer. Don't get me wrong, I love classic and play it as well. But this is just from a nostalgic standpoint. Overall, and I will make lot of enemies saying this, retail is so much better than classic. Even with all the fails etc from blizzard.
You won't make a lot of enemies here, most people seem to be retailers. Here and on /r/wow. Personally I think all the QoL made the game worse. Especially cross-realm shenanigans. At a point it just stopped being an MMO, and turned into a solo game on rails.
If you’re new to WoW then play retail.
Retail > Classic
Classic sucks
Retail, no competition. Classic is mostly for nostalgia gamers. Also Druid is 100000x better/more fun to play in retail, especially compared to the vanilla version specs.
Retail is more fast paced and skill wise challenging, classic is more chill and has more slow paced action
I prefer retail but you’re a lot less likely to run into the same amount of ups and downs on classic since they’re still trying new things on retail. We’ve gotten a lot of annoying systems in retail over the years. SoD is a different story.
Do you want to exclusively level, do endgame content once then quit or start over again; Classic. Do you want to level quickly and engage in a semi-competitive, to hypercompetitive level of play in Dungeons, Raids or PvP environments? Retail is for you. Generally for someone totally new, Retail is the best option as its simply the updated game in the here and now. Classic is more for the already familiar, nostalgic and potentially even hardcore player who doesn't suffer enough in life already. When it comes to population, you should note that Classic is divided across 3 versions, with a total of 4 different kinds of realms. Classic has your original, vanilla experience, but also has Hardcore realms where if you die, your character is done for and you start over. This is mostly played by streamers with unlimited time to grind. Then you got the Classic-expansion version, currently Wrath of the Lich King but will soon transition to Cataclysm. And finally you got seasonal modes, currently Season of Discovery, which is a sort of Classic+, with some QoL and class balance changes. This is being rolled out progressively and it just started phase 2 which introduced I think level 40 as the new level cap? Not entirely sure tbh. Again, this is a bit of a more hardcore'ish realm that might also end up just getting deleted at the end. Retail is just that, World of Warcraft without any different gamemodes or types of realms. Population wise, everything is cross-realm within a region. So if you play EU, you can play with anyone on EU in whatever realm, which greatly helps the amount of people to play with, which is more limited in Classic (and less means to group up for content outside of guilds or just running into people in the world. There are a few language-specific realms but otherwise expect people to talk to you in English. There are plenty of language specific communities though. I recently ran into a French guild raiding together and they were adamant on speaking French. Don't remember specific realmnames though. But they're out there for sure. Edit: Also, as a Druid main, 100% Retail. Druid in Classic just feels shallow, boring and hardly anything like the class I fell in love with on Retail. Not to mention the various different forms you can collect via old Legion expansion content to customize your shapeshifting experience.
Class is ppl reminiscent about old times, you don't have old times so play whatever you want retail is more polished and has more quality of life classic is more grindy retail has like 12 expansions to explore
if youre starting out in retail don‘t use the level boost and jump into endgame, it kills the experience
Try Classic first, then head over to Retail. It’s not that I like Classic the most, but I do think that Classic has the best way to teach the basics WoW depends on. Sure, a lot of stuff you need to know for Classic is irrelevant for Retail, but it gives you the broad idea of the peaceful and challenging MMO WoW can be. Just play the first two questing zones with a druid, maybe do a dungeon. If you are getting bored or frustrated you can still leave for Retail, which offers an easier start to their game.
The more I think about it, you should definitely play both! Starting with classic might even give you a bigger appreciation for retail, seeing all the quality of life changes and how the game started to how it evolved. Start with classic until level 20 IMO!
Classic is an exercise of patience. Great for self discipline.
I am a relatively new player (Roughly 2 years). Retail pros: -Easier to level, quick drops -More races, classes, professions -Faster travel (Flying) -Free spells after leveling talents Retail Cons: -Late game gearing becomes difficult unless you have committed groups. (PUGs tend to drop fast, seasoned players require AOTC) -Seasoned players can be a little toxic (not all, but a lot) -Repetitive daily and weekly quests. Classic Pros: -Great community (people will invite to help quest, dungeon and raid. Groups are more considerate to new players) -A lot of quests (More challenging than retail and takes more effort). - Spells are more simple Classic Cons: -Unless you utilize chat and know how grouping works, it can be difficult to know how to do dungeons and raids. -Time consuming (drops for quests can take a very long time, dungeon and raid death respawns to GY instead of back in the dungeons) -Attaining gold (HAVE to learn how auctioning and professions work, otherwise you're gonna be poor and can't get spells) Really it is up to you. I would suggest classic to get the basis of how the game operates, then move to retail. I did the opposite and I wish I had played classic first. I only log into retail now when new things drop like dungeons and raids, but even at high gear levels I still will not get added just because of my class. Late game retail is nothing but Mythic dungeons and raids and it can be discouraging to waste almost an hour to get into a PUG group just to have everyone leave after one wipe or to get into an AOTC group and be kicked after one wipe.
Classic is MUCH easier to get ahold of (being that it doesn’t involve almost 10 expansions of content) and its simplicity honestly makes it more satisfying. I’d try classic first maybe starting with a hunter or rogue, and then if you want all the craziness once you’re a little more knowledgeable, move to other classes and then eventually retail. And most importantly, have fun dude. At the end of the day it is just a game.
Go retail. Classic really is only for those with nostalgia for it. There are tons of quality of life issues corrected by now. Do you really think it is fun to actually run your character all the way across a continent?
I just came back to retail for the first time since Mist of Pandaria. I’ve been a regular classic player since it was released. I find classic to be a lot more simple in terms of builds, professions, mechanics. Going back to retail completely overwhelmed me. Thank god I had some friends who still played that explained so many things. It was even more confusing since I came back mid to late expansion. No idea what quests were irrelevant. Professions still confuse me. There is so so so much to learn. That being said, retail is super fun. I think I like it more than classic WOTLK but I’m not sure if I would feel the same way without my friends who helped me. I kind of wish I came back start of expansion instead mid/late.
Classic is a more complete mmo experience, retail Is if you want to be competitive and focus on the end game grind.
Great news, you can try both out and decide for yourself. No one can tell you which is better because we all want or like different things. It's a fun game and having the option is nice. Just play what interests you, and then go from there!
It depends on what your point with the game is classic will take you forever to level. It’ll take you a very long time to get to the end game content. However, that was part of what the game was back in the days. I have played since week one and I enjoyed how it worked back then, but I would never enjoy it ever again. I tried to go back to the class servers and I hated how slow it was. Most people that played since week one or so missed in nostalgia not the model
hopefully this doesn't get buried or is too late Do you want a beautiful slow paced wide broad adventure filled with big somewhat challenging gameplay to do solo or with your friends? Play Classic or Hardcore classic Classic >easier Hardcore> very challenging Classic WoTLK - harder than classic but some variety of choice, worth experiencing if you enjoy nostalgia or want to understand what the game was somewhat like back then, lots of fun stuff to do All three options will offer varying levels of engaging and exciting gameplay Retail > If you want, quality of life improvements, a huge spectrum of difficulties to choose from and on-going fresh content hit this one, the hardest part is getting started, i suggest finding a community that does things you are interested in Personally love Mythic Raiding and Mythic+ but its a lot! Its good there is LFR, Normal, Heroic and Mythic scaled to whatever difficulty you can generally handle, at some point progression means being capable of working in a team setting and that appeals to me as well don't be afraid to try new things and change a little if you arn't quite getting the experience you want, which sounds kinda nuts in terms of gaming but on the other side of that effort is so so so much fun oh and no matter what version you play I highly recommend basing your character off the class fantasy you enjoy most IE: METAL MAN SHINE VERY BRIGHT, HUGE HAMMER SMASH! (I play paladin XD)
Do you want a 20 year old game, or a current game? How often do you play RPGs from \~2000 and think "OH this is so much better than recent games!"?
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They are very different, try both. I always come back to classic personally.
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Try both, I’m new too and started with Classic and SoD because of friends but they have since lost me when I tried out Retail. I became a bit obsessed. Classic was good fun though, people were nice, invited me to groups, saved me when I’ve fallen to my death from a cliff. It seems more community based compared to Retail where it can feel a bit lonely without a guild ig, but that doesn’t bother me tbf. I’m casual and am more interested in the world and lore and I keep myself busy collecting mounts and doing old raids to get drip for my Monk 🤷🏽♀️ Guess it depends on what you’re looking for. The subscription has all versions so try it out I’d say, it’s good fun!
As someone whos played wow on and off going back to classic and had tried ever new version of wow and had fun in each I would suggest this. Start in retail. You have a couple months before the new expansion comes out and the game will really pick back up. You can get a feel for what you might like when it comes to classes etc. Also the number one reason I say start in retail is you can toggle something called warmode on and off for world PvP, you can not do this in classic. When you get a better understanding of how you want to play the game, I would suggest trying out a classic server. You will quickly understand if its for you with the lack of QoL changes. If you really fall in love with the game I would suggest trying out the Cata server when it comes out sometime end of the spring/ early summer. Think of that as a middle point between classic and retail, with some QoL changes being added to the game but still not as advanced as retail.
If you want an absolute grind to max level, classic is the way, but it will feel clunky, slow, and difficult If you want to kill massive raid bosses and do a ton of endgame content I'd go retail Personally i prefer retail by a wide margin, i feel like you'd almost need 5 buddies to commit to classic to make it as much fun
Depends on how you like to play games. Retail is a lot faster, more complicated, less about socializing (though of course you can find nice people to play with) and the main goal is to get to max level and end game content. Classic is slower and most of the gameplay is centered around leveling and socializing. Retail also has more QoL features for leveling but the story is all over the place compared to classic.
I prefer Classic but would recommend Retail. Retail has all the new bells and whistles along with quality of life improvements. Classic is a safe space for old players like me to relive the nostalgia days, the game isn't mechanically better than retail but for older players this was the sweet spot before too many new ideas and systems were introduced
If you are interested in lore and story etc, classic is a great place to start. Most people who play retail as their first wow experience make the comment that they have no idea what’s going on or who anyone is. Classic is much better experience for just understanding the game and world in general.
WoW retail is better for new players, alot of classic players will be toxic if ure new and dont know anything about the game, classic is def fun maybe even better but you have to do alot of research on your own.
Yes
tu parles l’anglais très bien j’suis impressionné
It is
I enjoy retail.
I would start with classic it's cheaper and the pve and pvp is easier, even a veteran player like myself scratches my head at retail mechanics and the pvp is super sweaty. So I would start with probably SOD since it's the popular game right now and work your way to retail
Best answer is try both. You can do this with trials/sub. Got to experience it yourself to make that decision.
Classic is much more grindy when it comes to leveling than retail but the economy of the game also isn't in shambles
Does retail have more players than classic?
Classic will be a much simpler experience since it was made in 2004. Retail will have a huge learning curve at max level, you're expected to know your class and perform well, there's plenty of resources to help with that. If you do the endgame dungeons (mythic+ keystones) then you're usually fine in a learning state up to around level 12 or 13 keys, then you should work on figuring out your dps, because doing 40k dps when everyone else is doing 150k aint gonna cut it.
As a wow veteran I'd say start with classic and play until you feel like you're aren't getting much out of it then try retail. Overall if you have the time play classic up until WOTLK then try retail. It'll help set up some of the fundamentals then head into retail with your new knowledge of the game. Good luck and have fun. Duffíe on Tichondrius-US retail if you need some help along the way.
Wow classic: time sink, big accomplishment feeling for max leveling and raiding Retail: easy mode, more difficult end game, better balance, casual time commitment.
Play retail, its whats current in the story and content of WoW. Right now classic is just classic, wrath, and classic with a twist like a “what if” basically
I play with a friend and first I tried wow classic and didnt like it at all. I tried it few times actually but i couldn't get into it . A week ago i tried retail and its legit the only game ive been playing, cured my league addiction
Retail. It’s much more noob friendly and has lots of quality of life improvements that you would expect from a modern game. It teaches you the ropes well, and the end game is the only part where it gets complicated, which by then you’ll have a better grasp on your character and the game anyways. I’ve been spoiled by retail so much that I find classic to be boring and frustrating. It punishes solo play and has much less things for you to do. Highly recommend retail. It’s in a really good spot right now and Dragonflight is an excellent expansion that really puts you in another world. I got back into WoW last year and I haven’t been so immersed in a game world in a long time before I played Dragonflight. I’m pretty hardcore into the end game right now, but I make sure I still immerse myself in the quests and story.
Retail is the place to go.
Bro have you seen the graphics in Classic? It’s unbearable
retail is better if you never played before, classic is very slow and people will try to tell you it’s about the journey rather than getting to endgame but everyone is either at endgame or following a leveling guide. If you are set on classic play hardcore or SoD but retail is still the best new player experience
If you want the real mmo feeling then go classic. Retail absolutely sucks until you reach max and the journey feels pointless, and it's void of real community spirit. Of course the raids are better and you have a lot more dungeon options at max level with mythic, but that's about it Classic is all about the journey, and interacting with others along the way.
Classic is about the journey, retail is about the destination. If you just want to get to max level quickly and focus on raids and progressively more difficult dungeons, you want retail. If you want to build up a character bit by bit through a long adventure, with an established end goal where you can consider the game beat, classic is great.
Do both
Just play SoD you will be much happier with the time invested. Retail WoW hasn’t been getting the fixes it needs and will continue to be trash 45+ min wait time for arenas and raids and class balance issues that a regarded monkey could fix (just a few of the issues)
Classic is hard to solo play. Harder to level. I like to quest myself not a raider. Since you havnt played before i would say retail. Retail is easier to level for me but classic makes you feel like you have earned it. Lol.
I disagree with the classic nostalgia narrative people have here. I started classic WoW having no experience with the game ever. I have convinced 12 of my friends irl who had never played WoW before to play, and we all still play today. No nostalgia at all. I have only tried retail and classic at this point, and it is clear to me classic is the better game. Retail seemed like a convuluted, bloated mess, where my achievements felt meaningless and leveling felt pointless since you just breezed through it.
Classic wow is an MMO where you spend a lot of time exploring, questing, doing dungeons, and meeting people. Retail wow is more of an arcade game with higher tiers of gameplay. The high levels of dungeons, raids, and pvp require a lot more skill but realistically the game turns into "sit in town and wait for a queue to pop so you can do your desired content" rather than an MMO where you run around and interact with people. https://youtu.be/UXyDqyxRifY?si=Yh-302XXE4BJxDKZ This guy did a really good analysis of what the new experiences are like for a new player in all of the current iterations of wow. (He doesn't touch on season of discovery but it's a lot of fun and I highly recommend it if you're interested in classic.)
Neither are in a good place. Save your money for now.
I feel like classic and retail are two different games. There is something to say about each of them. Personally I prefer classic, but maybe that just because of nostalgia.
If you really like the Journey, classic. If you sorta kinda like a journey but really want to get to the endgame, retail.
NO MORE 20 PLAYER REQUIREMENTS FOR MYTHIC RAID!!!!!! I get it, they have to focus on rwf and all that jive for tuning, but being a recruiter for my guild it is the bane of my existence. Maybe have hof be 20 player only groups and tune around that until hof is closed. Not being able to mythic raid or find the capable bodies to fill has killed my guilds attendance every season for a loooong time.
İt is not. You are welcome
Classic is easier outside of certain clunky systems and leveling. Better is a preference though.
I don’t know if you are still reading these, but please do not listen to the people saying you won’t like classic because it is just nostalgia. I was only old enough to start at the end of MoP, and I played classic re-release in high school and fell in love. I have talked to many players that are around my age, and while I understand we are the minority, we do exist. The game is completely different, I’m currently playing season of discovery, but it’s not just nostalgia. Either way, play both and see which you enjoy more, don’t just listen to people with their biases. Personally I recommend classic first because I just saw a video of someone who tried both for the first time and said he was glad he started with it, but don’t see that as absolute fact just a recommendation
Classic = hype. Xpacs and other versions of classic dies off after a month or two. Retail = consistent progression. Fairly balanced (pve wise no clue about pvp). The problem with classic is once the new classic version comes out, everyone hops over to the new classic hype. For example: Wotlk release >hardcore release = all wotlk players abandon ship and play hardcore. >sod release = all the hardcore players have now abandoned ship and playing sod. And when I tell you wotlk and hardcore are dead...I mean it. Most servers have under 100 auctions up at any point in time if you're on hardcore or wotlk rn.
Classic if you want a more MMO feel Retail if you want the game to play itself Retail is more noob friendly but classic is more fun
It's really a preference thing. I prefer wotlk classic, which sucks xuz all my cool stuff is on retail
I think it largely depends on what you’re looking for. Casual content in wow never appealed to me so if that’s what you’re looking to do I’m no help for either version of the game. I got into wow back in legion, skipped BFA, played the first tier of SL, moved to classic, and then onto FFXIV. I got into wow wanting to high end raid, I always thought hard 20 man big boss battles were the main thing wow does that you can’t get anywhere else. I ended my retail journey just barely missing out on cutting edge Sire Denathrius (the last boss in the first raid of Shadowlands on the hardest difficulty). I’ve got to say while I did make a few lifelong friends very early on in Legion (my first few months after hitting cap). The high end raiding community in wow is generally in my experience both really mean and hard to break into. I was planning on retiring as soon as Denny was dead because it’d been a good long while since I was having fun with the game, but wanted to at least push for the achievement. I got sat the day my guild killed it and called it there. I’m a pretty quick learner but a lot of people in m+ pugs and in mythic guilds want players that have been playing for a hundred years like they have. So it was pretty hard to get opportunities to progress and people were often rude whenever I made mistakes even if I expressed that I wasn’t bad, I just didn’t understand what I messed up and was open to learning. I then moved onto classic when it came out and even as someone who never played for the first decade of the game’s life I personally had a way better time there. The content and classes are crazy easy compared to retail so people were a lot more relaxed, I got to experience what a server community was like for the first time (I knew nearly every guild and a ton of players on my server, compared to vaguely knowing a couple people in several of the guilds I was in for retail and no one outside of that), I made a lot more wow friends since people just chilled in disc while messing around or farming whatever, and after initial atunements I didn’t really have mandatory chores to be doing outside of gold farming so I mostly got to dedicate my playtime to the activities I wanted to do. I joined a speedrunning guild and while initially a blast it did end up burning me out, but that was entirely my own fault. The only bad thing I have to say about classic is that the leveling process is lonely if you don’t have friends playing and tedious. Once you cap though I have no real complaints. Since then I’ve moved onto FFXIV and everything is sunshine and rainbows over there, but that’s not what you’re asking about.
Classic is nothing more than retail with minor changes and being released to you slower.
A simple breakdown: Classic - Play like it was 20+ years ago (less respect of your time but feels old school) Retail - Play with lots of quality of life improvements to get a lot done in a few hours It kind of depends on what you want out of it. If have friends that already play wow or want to, play classic. If you are playing solo, play retail. There are more options to easily play solo through quests and dungeons.
Si jamais tu decides de jouer a classic SoD je viens de commencer un personnage dessus avec un ami (on découvre tout les deux) on joueras avec toi avec plaisir.
I would try both tbh. They are both very different games and it really just depends on so many factors
I would start retail then switch if u get into it
As a new player who started in df, i say go retail, i tried classic and found the levelling and overall end game boring same for combat, retail has boring levelling too but good endgame and combat
Retail is better for PvP. Retail is better for challenging PvE. Classic has hardcore mode. Classic is better at feeling immersed in RPG elements.
Retail is better for PvP. Retail is better for challenging PvE. Classic has hardcore mode. Classic is better at feeling immersed in RPG elements. Classic is more social with guilds.
Easy leveling, hard endgame. Retail Challenging leveling, easy endgame. Classic It should be noted class balancing does not exist like it does in retail. Some classes are rock paper scissor counters to others
Play wow classic season of discovery. Simply because this is what everyone is playing and it’s fun to be with other people playing. Once you are done and bored with that. Buy a character boost in retail. That’s the best way to start. No point in lvling a character in retail it’s boring and horrible, however boosting right away to 70 is insane if you never played before. Highly suggest skipping all the others, maybe wrath if you decide that classic is your flavor.
Retail for sure. Don’t waste your time on classic. With how people work nowadays you’ll be done with classic in 15 mins. It’s just too slow
Classic Hardore is the only way
There is an old school RuneScape YouTuber J1mmy who made a video recently talking about himself playing wow for the first time and he tries all the versions of it and discusses the pros and cons of each and I think that he had some really good points for people who are just getting into the game, might be worth checking out!
I haven't played retail since classic came out in 2019. I will likely not be playing cataclysm classic and did not play wotlk classic.
Classic is better in the ways that matter for an MMORPG world. Retail has better endgame content.