Should you play World of Warcraft Classic or Retail?

WoW is such a beloved game, but it can be kind of confusing to get into.

World of Warcraft is such a big game and as such it takes a lot of time to get into and even more to get accustomed to the game itself. However, you’ll find that it’s such a gratifying experience to take part of this game and experience everything that it has.

If you’re already planning to get into it and wish there was a way to make the game move a long a bit faster, you can always buy WoW gold. Now that you’re all set, let’s compare these two version of WoW.

What are they

• World of Warcraft Retail refers to the modern, current version of World of Warcraft that receives regular updates, expansions, and new content.
• World of Warcraft Classic is a version of World of Warcraft that recreates the game as it was when it first launched back in 2004, with some small quality-of-life changes.

Leveling

WoW Retail feels a lot faster than classic, thanks to it’s high level cap that allows for there to be more levels to reach. However, in Classic you level up very slowly, you can be playing that version of the game for hours and barely advance your level.

Game feel

In World of Warcraft Retail you can squeeze in a quick hour session and do a lot of things, probably level up, for sure a lot of quests and go about your day.

Classic is very different. WoW Classic feels very slow and dramatic, but this doesn’t mean it’s worse in any way. The old school feel of the world makes for a more intense feeling of role-playing within the world. The game doesn’t hold your hand when it comes to where to go, who to talk to and what to do, so everything you do feels good because you managed to do it. Not necessarily because you do a task and your eyes get shot with notifications of gained XP and congratulations. This is how it used to be, so expect it to feel old.

Onboarding process

If you’re like me, you might hate some newer MMO style of onboarding. Wanting to play the game, but not being able to because the game wants you to look at hundreds of things first before letting go of the leash and letting you find your own way. Classic wow disposes of most of it because it didn’t have it when the game first released. Back then, devs trusted players’ intuition a lot more than they do now. Although, if I could play devil’s advocate, World of Warcraft is so old and so many things have been added to it through the years. It is absolutely necessary for some players to be taught these things in a sort of forceful manner because games nowadays are absolutely more complex. So while I not a fan of the practice, I do get that it has its place in modern gaming. If you’re going for simple but tough, I recommend Classic in this respect.

Gameplay variety

WoW classic just doesn’t have that much variety. It’s sad, but it’s true. Specially compared to the retail version of the game, it can feel sort of empty in some areas. Retail edition however has a lot of variety in almost every regard to classic, such as:

• Endgame content.
• Character customization.
• Level design and zones.
• Gear.
• Events.
• Cinematics.
• Story telling.

And when I put it this bluntly, you would be excused to think that classic doesn’t hold a candle to retail, but you have to understand that it’s a drastically different experience. Most of the story is told to you through scrolls of text and mission briefings, and while there are events, they are fewer and far from each other. But with this version receiving a lot of quality of life changes, they managed to make it feel like you remember it more than how it really was. The game still features a good community, you’ll find very dedicated fans that are eager to make up for the game’s lack of help when it comes to some information gathering moments. I found that this community is a lot nicer and accepting than Retail.

Nostalgia factor

This is something that mostly effects Classic edition, but hey, last point was almost entirely embellishing retail, so let’s give it a win here.

World of Warcraft released back in 2004 and ever since it’s been a colossal figure in gaming, releasing beloved expansion after expansion and having so many people playing it since so long. There are documentaries out about the impact this game has had in people’s lives and how amazing the community is. It’s only natural that people would want to relive these moments. However, just because you might’ve missed it doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate it. Playing classic and sending your mind back in time makes you see even Retail edition in a completely different light. You’ll appreciate some changes a lot more and maybe fall in love with the game all over again, as I said, the experience is a lot different. When people talk about WoW a lot of them are talking about Classic because that was retail when they played it! What’s so great about this is that in so many other games, if you got into it late, you basically missed out on the game’s history and cultural impact. But with WoW classic, you can virtually go back in time and see it for what it was!

Why choose?

Here’s a part of the article that I have been dying to get to. When you pay for a World of Warcraft subscription, you’re not simply deciding an edition that you want to play and be locked out of the other. You get both! So you can just try to dip your toes in each and see which one you like better. And if you still need some convincing to give both a try, let’s list some of their features.

In Retail WoW you can expect:

• Faster gameplay and leveling.
• Lots of events.
• Lots of quality of life improvements and polished mechanics.
• Developments in WoW’s current lore and new expansions.

In Classic WoW you can expect:

• more immersive RPG gameplay.
• The feeling of going back in time and seeing what all the fuss was about.
• You like more challenging gameplay and less hand holding.
• You like slow gameplay that rewards your efforts.

In conclusion

World of Warcraft is an amazing game, and it has been an amazing game for a long time. However, the way that they were amazing was different from then and now. I won’t lie, Classic isn’t for everyone, but if it clicks with you, you’ll find one of gaming’s biggest and best achievements yet with a trip through time. It has been given a few quality of life improvements, but not enough that it looses its old-timey feel. But I don’t want it to sound like I don’t want retail or that I’m biased towards classic. Retail is also great with expansions still coming out that add fun and innovative systems to the game like one of the game’s latest additions, cars!