World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game that was released in 2004. Since that release time there have been multiple expansions for the game that expanded the world of the game to amazing lengths. I know what you’re thinking “Warcraft is still a thing and people still play it?” To answer your question yes, there are a lot of people who still play it and recently Blizzard has brought back a very special part of the game with WoW Classic.
World of Warcraft Classic is a special update released by Blizzard with its own set of servers outside of the ones that the retail game is played on. Retail is the current expansion set of the game. However, the reason that I am back and writing this article is because World of Warcraft classic makes me reminisce about my childhood. I was 16 years old when World of Warcraft was first released in 2004. I was in high school and only really played on weekends. Jump to today, 15 years later, and I am still playing this game. With this throwback update, I am playing even More so now than I have in the past. For most, it doesn’t make sense that someone can play a game for 15 years on and off and then come back for a version of the game that was released so long ago. People like me believe this is the best version of the game.
As stated earlier, expansion after expansion has been released starting with “The Burning Crusades”, then “Wrath of the Litch King” after that came “Cataclysm” then “Mist of Pandaria”. These were followed up by three more titles that include “Warlord of Draenor”, “Legion” and “Battle for Azeroth”. Why do I say after all these versions of the game that Classic is the best?
Classic World of Warcraft, or vanilla as we players call it, is the best version of the game because it was the most difficult. It brought a feeling of community to the game because a single player needed other people. Players needed a guild or just random players that you could group with to accomplish many tasks in the game. These newer versions of the game still have groups, but you don’t need them as often because quests, raids, etc. were made easier. The current retail version isn’t as great a challenge.
World of Warcraft Classic has really shown me and many what we have missed about this game for the last 15 years. Running from zone to zone and not having a mount. Not being able to do all the quests in one area because you need a group. Most of all, just not being able to solo grind and quest everything because you just can’t do that in this version its difficult.
The grind to level 60 has been a tough one but also enjoyable. I had to go back to old websites to research quests and figure them out instead of just having them marked on that map. Even this tedious research is welcoming! I really have just been sucked back to a great game that I enjoyed as a teenager. Dare I say I am having even more fun now!
I believe that Blizzard is on to something with this nostalgia release. If you have ever played World of Warcraft or still do give Classic a try. I don’t think you will be disappointed with what Blizzard has done!
You can check out the game information at https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/ also, one of the prequel games to World of Warcraft, Warcraft 3 is getting a Warcraft 3: Reforged. You can check out the information on that game at the site as well. Just select games from the menu and it should give you everything Blizzard has.
You can send me your thoughts about World of Warcraft Classic on facebook @NerdCaster or on twitter @reielys1280 or @Nerd_Caster. Be sure to check back for more of my articles.
