The last year or so have been very interesting in Azeroth and World of Warcraft players have a pretty exciting last quarter of 2020 on the horizon, as well. Not only is Blizzard slated to continue dropping exciting endgame content in WoW Classic, but the retail version of the iconic MMO is also about to release the highly-anticipated Shadowlands expansion sometime before the end of the calendar year.
Although the Battle for Azeroth endgame became a bit stale for some players after a while, the prospect of a new expansion is always a good reason to jump back into the game. Shadowlands brings some major changes to the MMO, including a level squish that makes 60 the max once again, so it should be a very interesting time for lapsed players to rejoin the retail version of World of Warcraft. That said, Classic is approaching its one-year anniversary in just a week or so and it also has some amazing content to offer gamers who prefer an experience that more closely aligns with the 2004-2005 MMO era.
With fall and winter on the horizon, players who know they want to play some WoW but can’t decide which version to explore have a big decision to make. Although Classic comes along for free with a retail subscription to the MMO, many players prefer to choice one version or the other to concentrate on since it can be such a time-consuming game. With that mind, here are some key points that may help players come to a decision.
Although Retail WoW may be a term that is often used as an insult, it has sort of become the common way to refer to the most up-to-date version of World of Warcraft. The current era of retail WoW has been a bit of a rollercoaster. Legion was met with near universal praise for making the leveling experience more group-friendly, introducing exciting class halls, and adding the Demon Hunter – which is one of the most exciting classes to play in the game. Battle for Azeroth kicked off on a strong note, despite some controversy over the war campaign and some poor Horde leadership, but many players felt that the endgame lacked a real draw and grew fatigued by Azerite armor and Heart of Azeroth level grinding after the first year.
Either way, Shadowlands is right around the corner and is poised to help breath fresh life into the retail experience once again. As always, the expansion will bring the change to hit a new level cap, but things are a bit different this time around. As Shadowlands launches (or slightly beforehand), all max level characters will be squished from 120 to 50. Once the new content is live, players will then be able to level up to the new max of 60. This is a major shift for WoW, but it feels like it has been a long time in the making. The change will make leveling new alts and brand new characters much less of a grind for the average player.
Shadowlands also offers the opportunity to explore a brand new set of zones and align with a covenant that will help players unlock unique class abilities based on their decision. The leveling experience will likely be fairly quick for most players and then the endgame grind will bring a series of new dungeons, Mythic challenges, Raids, PvP, transmogs to unlock, mounts to collect, and all of the other staples of a contemporary WoW expansion. There is no shortage of activities to fill the time and players should be able to easily find some grind that appeals to them, whether it is mastering Battle Pet challenges, climbing PvP ranks, or pushing Mythic Keystone leveling on a weekly basis.
On the other hand, WoW Classic continues to offer a unique experience that is very appealing to players who feel the scope of World of Warcraft has expanded a bit too much and the game has grown away from its roots. The Classic experience continues to perfectly deliver a slightly optimized version of the original WoW content (though some additional raids had opened up and unlocked over the course of its first year).
The Classic servers remove the need for shady private servers that were not officially supported by Blizzard and offers paying subscribers a chance to experience all the magic of vanilla WoW with Blizzard onboard to offer support and patches to keep the servers running smoothly. The Classic experience is definitely not for everyone, but players who are looking for a strong dose of nostalgia and don’t mind a longer leveling grind and some additional character management will likely fall in love with this experience all over again.
Both Shadowlands and Classic should have something special to offer gamers this fall and there is no right choice for which one to play. Each version of the game offers a very different experience and players need to think about what they are looking for in an MMO before deciding where to spend their precious time. Players who prefer to make decisions with long term impact – such as spending talent points that will become very expensive to redistribute – will enjoy the WoW Classic endgame grind.
Alternatively, players who prefer to have the option to swap back and forth between different specs easily will probably prefer the Shadowlands system quite a bit more. Obviously, there are a lot of other factors to consider, as well. The grind to max level itself is very different in Classic versus Shadowlands. Expect to spend a lot of additional hours grinding levels, professions, and reputation on the way to max level in Classic if you prefer that route.
Some MMO players will try to make the case that one version of the game is better than the other, but at the end of the day, it really comes down to the preferences of each player and what sort of game they are looking for. The foundations may be the same, but each version of the game is geared towards a very different type of player.
Be sure to check back in the coming weeks as more details about Shadowlands emerge. Until then, For the Horde!
World of Warcraft is available now for PC. At this point, World of Warcraft Shadowlands does not have a confirmed release date.
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