World of Warcraft: Classic Vs. Retail

What is Classic World of Warcraft? It was the first MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) made by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released in 2004 and is still being played today in two different forms. First there is the retail version owned by Blizzard Entertainment, that plays the game with expansion packs added on it. There is also the private server version which is run by third party groups that run the game without expansion packs. WoW (World of Warcraft) can be split into three main parts: Leveling, Dungeons and Raids, and Player vs. Player combat. These are the core of the gameplay but the changes towards them over time had made people wish for the unchanged version. To understand why people wish for the older version the changes will need to be explained. Leveling, this is the advancement of a character in game.

In Classic WoW they start at level one and the end goal is level sixty, however in Retail WoW it is from level one to one hundred and twenty. One might think that it would take twice as long to reach max level now but in fact it takes less time to reach level one hundred and twenty in retail than to level sixty in classic. Leveling in classic also rewarded the player more often because each time they would level up they would receive a point to access a new trait or ability compared to in retail where you only get a new point every 15 levels and receiving the last one at level one hundred. Retail also has heirloom gear which is gear that levels up with the character and increases experience gained. Many like it for removing the need for gear and making leveling faster but that just shortens a third of the games core material and removes the feeling of gear progression during that time. Raids and Dungeons are end game content except for dungeons meant for leveling. Classic consisted of six raids, four of them forty people for the main raids and there were two small raids where only twenty people where needed.

In classic there were two mega dungeons were fifteen people could be brought in. In order to do the hardest raid gear was required from all of the previous raids. There was no group finder for raids, so players had to find fellow players themselves adding one more step of difficulty. In retail wow maximum raid size is twenty-five and there are systems in place to automatically place players together in lower difficulty versions of the raid. The newer raids can be completed without entering the older raids making them obsolete. Dungeons are just things to do while leveling and become obsolete at maximum level. Player versus player combat is a form of content that can be done while leveling or at maximum level. In classic players would have to run to a battle ground entrance to join a game of capture the flag or in a game where they control the bases. There was also a huge battle ground where it was forty versus forty players that lasted several hours. Whenever a player defeated another one they would receive honor points counted through killing blows.

At the end of each week the player with the most honor would receive a title in game and the ability to purchase gear in game that would otherwise be unviable without the title. In retail there are several more battlegrounds, but most people do not pick what battleground they go to. Instead they queue up to join a random one because it gives them bonus honor. Honor is also different in retail because of how it’s used. In previous expansions players would use honor as a type of currency to purchase gear. Also, since the game no long counted honor gained and gave out titles Blizzard created a ranked system where players would queue and gain points from winning games, thus going up in rank. At the end of each week depending on your rank players would receive conquest points and those were used similar to honor because players could purchase gear with them, but the gear purchased with conquest would be better than the ones purchased with honor. In current WoW honor is used as a separate leveling bar and every few increases in level players unlock a new ability to use in player versus player combat. “You think you do, but you don’t” that was the response from World of Warcraft’s executive producer J. Allen Brack when asked if Blizzard will make server for past expansions. This shows that Blizzard at the time had no plans for making old expansions servers and believed they player bases was wrong for wanting it.

The current version of WoW does make the game a lot easier and has more quality of life improvements such has a looking for group system, transmogrification system to change the appearance of gear, and faster leveling experience to name a few. However, what happens when a large number of players have a high demand for a product a company will not make, somebody else make’s it. Nostalrius was a private WoW server which ran from February 28th, 2015 to April 10th, 2016 and at its peaked had 150k active players. Blizzard filed for a cease and desist which cause the project to be shut down. Since the unfortunate shut down of Nostalrius many small private servers have popped up giving people a place to play but some have stopped playing knowing that Blizzard could just file for cease and desist causing the player to lose all they worked for. Not all was bad about the situation though, Blizzard now knew a large audience wanted this product and on November 3rd Blizzard released at Blizzcon an announcement for Classic World of Warcraft.