World of Warcraft Classic is launching on August 27th for anyone with a WoW subscription and closed beta testing begins for a select few on May 15th. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a prefabricated level 40 character at a preview event in Irvine, California. The ensuing hours of laughter and high jinks reassured me that WoW Classic has much more to offer than just nostalgia.
WoW Classic is a faithful recreation of the illustrious MMO as it existed in patch 1.12 circa 2006. There are a few modern amenities like a somewhat enhanced suite of graphics options, modern server architecture, and access to Battle.net social features but otherwise what’s here is as true as possible to the more-than-decade-old source material.
From a graphical and technical fidelity standpoint, there can be no question that retail WoW is superior. The combat is flashier, boss mechanics are more pronounced, and the quests more intricate. Battle for Azeroth is refined, polished, and soon to be brimming with new, worthwhile multiplayer content like the Azshara’s Eternal Palace raid revealed in a recent stream. But in spite of these factors World of Warcraft Classic is far and away more desirable as an MMO to me in 2019.
Simply put, WoW Classic gives you both more reasons and opportunities to have meaningful interactions with other players. The world is filled to the brim with abstruse and challenging elements that coerce you to make and maintain relationships with others if you want to succeed. This multiplayer-first motif is evident in class design, where a low-level Warrior must enlist the aid of a healer to survive the most basic of combat encounters. It’s evident in traversal where lengthy travel times can be reduced by a Mage’s portal or Warlock’s summoning ritual. But most of all, it’s evident in the unified single-shard ecosystem where your experience is directly affected by the choices of other players.
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There is a journey to reach the destination in WoW Classic that is often more memorable than the destination itself.
Some players like the infamous Orc Rogue “Angwe” may choose to hinder you, others might choose to help you. But the only way that you can accumulate enough power to make choices of your own is by adventuring in a dynamic, open world replete with both friends and foes. In Classic this mysterious and sprawling environment cannot be circumvented on the back of a flying mount or through the use of matchmaking or phasing. Part of the journey of running a dungeon is getting to the dungeon in the first place, which can prove to be an adventure in and of itself.
During the preview event I joined up with a group in Stranglethorn Vale and we decided to run the beloved and nostalgic Armory in Scarlet Monastery. Along the way, we were distracted by open world PvP, ran through high-level zones, and passed dangerously close to the Horde-controlled Undercity. When we finally got to the dungeon we realized we needed a key to get in. So we set off to beat the adjoining Library dungeon, pulling as many enemies as we could at once to clear it as quickly (and chaotically) as possible. We eventually returned to our original destination of the Armory.
The destination in both Classic and retail World of Warcraft is fun. Scarlet Monastery is great, as I’m sure Operation: Mechagon will also be great. The difference is there is a journey to reach the destination in WoW Classic that is often more memorable than the destination itself. An adventure that goes exactly as planned isn’t much of an adventure at all.
So the meat of World of Warcraft Classic is tender and delicious, but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t some fat to chew through first, especially if you’ve never played before. There are a few fundamental mechanics have fallen far out of favor since WoW launched 15 years ago, and the most noticeable is certainly the grind.
Yes, there are undoubtedly emergent moments of brilliance afforded by its obscure eccentricities, but a lot of what makes hitting the level cap such an achievement in Classic is the sheer amount of time you’ll spend with its boring and repetitive quests. Furthermore, WoW’s tab-targeting combat doesn’t really have a modern-day analog and therefore may not feel great to new players. As a WoW veteran, I was overjoyed to see that blinking out of danger or popping Ice Block moments before death felt snappy and responsive, but it takes a long time to accumulate enough spells to make these interesting moment-to-moment decisions.
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I was overjoyed to see that blinking out of danger or popping Ice Block moments before death felt snappy and responsive.
Even seasoned veterans may still be surprised by the absence of 13 years of quality of life improvements. For instance, you’ll need to dismount before attacking and there are no enemy cast bars. These issues can be fixed with macros and mods, but some players may find it deterring nonetheless. The line between crucial Classic component and unnecessary inconvenience is often blurred. I’d imagine that most players wouldn’t object to the inclusion of BFA’s group listing tool but it would come along with trade-offs no matter how small. Perhaps the constant LFG spam in trade chat makes a city feel more alive, and maybe players are more inclined to make lasting friendships when good teammates are hard to find. At exactly what point in the concession of interactivity in the name of convenience does Classic WoW lose its X factor? It’s best to leave well enough alone in this instance, and that’s exactly what Blizzard is doing.
World of Warcraft Classic is my most anticipated game of 2019 for a number of reasons. I believe that Classic has lessons left to teach both players and developers about multiplayer incentivization and player behavior, and I’m curious to see exactly how popular it will become. But most of all I’m just looking forward to playing it for the sheer fun of it. For all things, World of Warcraft keep it right here on IGN.
James Duggan may have played as an Alliance character for the purposes of this preview but his true allegiance lies with the Horde. Thrall’s Horde. None of this Sylvanas crap. Follow him @ThuggnDuggn on Twitter.
Source: IGN
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