Since at least 2009, World of Warcraft players have requested an option to play the game as it was back in 2006, before the first expansion Burning Crusade was released. As players can be nitpicky or resistant to change, this was not taken seriously until many years later. The request persisted and the WoW Classic server (also known as ‘Vanilla’) was announced in 2017 and was launched in August 2019.
It seems to be paying off. Six months after its release, the subscribers base has more than doubled, according to a PC Gamer report from February this year. Players are even migrating from fan-made servers to the official one. This shows players are eager to play the game as it was in its early years, calming the fears of producers that nostalgia wouldn’t last long, and players would leave the server.
Beware the Nostalgia
Nostalgia is a tricky thing. As much as we love going back to what we believe was the best of World of Warcraft, we often forget the struggles we went through! I was a victim of nostalgia’s selective memories myself: I really thought that playing some Mu Online for good old times’ sake would be super fun. After all, I loved this game when I was a child. But then, the grinding… I had forgotten about it. I mean, not literally forgotten that it existed, only that it was so time-demanding. And if everybody is skipping this part of the game, it is no fun to be the one going through the hassle. This is not fun if you have other responsibilities that take time, or even if you just want to relax playing something you used to love.
One important aspect of MMORPGs in general is the game’s currency. There are three types of coins: copper, silver, and gold ones. Of course, gold coins are the most valuable: they are equal to 10 thousand copper coins and 100 silver coins. And since you’re playing Classic, it’s likely that you already know how important this is to help you through your journey: you need money to buy gear! And one of the ways to collect Wow Classic Gold is by looting enemies and completing quests, that is, grinding.
Conclusion
Blizzard is actively working on WoW Classic and delivering endgame content for those nostalgic players. To deal with overpopulation issues, the company had to use layering, where players are split in copies of the world, effectively separating characters. This, however, gives the impression that zones are not populated. Players may feel there are not many others to play with and leave the server for another time. But Blizzard has tackled this issue and now provides the Classic experience, with both US and EU players all in one single layer.
WoW Classic is a much simpler version of the WoW you may be used to, where leveling is a bit slower and the scope of the game definitely not as expanded as the current versions of the game. However, the Classic server delivers an experience very close to the original, with the benefits of being supported by a modern infrastructure and slight improvements to the original. All in all, it’s still worth reliving the original WoW experience, or at least the closest to the old experience as possible.
If these words bring you fond memories of you playing on an old PC as a teenager, hours and hours spent in exploring a whole new world, WoW Classic might be just the right thing for you to play: slowly grinding, relaxing and enjoying some nostalgic feelings.
I'm a published author and proud US Army veteran who happens to be a gamer, so I decided to combine the two and love every minute of it! Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments and I'll be sure to get back to you.
More Stories
GTA Online this Week Features Double Rewards on Auto Shop Robberies, Bonuses for Original Heist Finales, Plus More
THRESHOLD Review for Steam
On December 3, theHunter: Call of the Wild will Release Free Update and 3 New DLC Packs