While many fans of Classic and Retail WoW verbally bang their heads, our editor Karsten is really looking forward to the new expansion AND Classic Phase 6! In his new WoW column, he writes why it doesn’t always have to be black or white.
Even before the announcement of the Classic server for World of Warcraft, there was trench warfare within the WoW community. On the one hand: the fans of past eras like Vanilla, The Burning Crusade or Wrath of the Lich King. On the other side: the friends of the modern World of Warcraft, with all the comfort functions and game systems that have found their way to Azeroth in recent years.
The launch of the vanilla remake further fueled the verbal skirmishes. Again and again I read how classic connoisseurs disparagingly express themselves about “Retail-WoW”. At the same time, I know a lot of players who quickly returned to Battle for Azeroth after a short visit to Classic. Classic is too tough, too unbalanced, too uncomfortable. And looking ahead to WoW’s near future, it seems it’s just black or white for many players: Classic or Shadowlands? Some Classic players are even intimidated by their guild leaders: If you play Shadowlands, then you’re out of the picture! But why does it have to be Classic or Shadowlands? I look forward to both!
The best comes last
It’s no secret that I’ve been completely bogged down in WoW Classic for months. I log in almost every day, clean week after week with my awesome guild MC, BWL and the Temple of Ahn’Qiraj and twink a bit or chill while farming. I clearly have the start of Classic Phase 6 in mind . After Naxxramas and with Kel’Thuzad, I want to beat an adversary into the dust that I couldn’t defeat in vanilla WoW at the time. Once that’s done, I’m dying to get the complete, very nice (and strong) tier 3 set for my rogue. For me, this will clearly be the most exciting phase of the entire Classic era.
I’m in the mood for Shadowlands!
But it’s good that Classic Phase 6 will be a few weeks away. Because after my beta experiences, I also feel the desire for Shadowlands. Reason number 1: A new WoW expansion is always something special. So far I haven’t missed a launch and I intend to keep it that way in the future! The new zones look stunning, features like Torghast could make me happy in the long run and the cards are being reshuffled in the class all sorts – exciting! Reason number 2: Speaking of classes, for the first time in many years, the villain’s deception style of play feels really good – whether it’s leveling, dungeon visits or PvP. I’m curious if this first impression will be confirmed on the live servers.
Reason number 3: In BfA my focus was on the two classes rogue and shaman. However, this is set to change with the upcoming expansion. In the future I want to take on the role of the tank more often again, and since fast melee fighters are easy for me, my choice of the second character fell on the demon hunter. The preparations for the beta and live servers are already complete, so I can start with him right away in the new zones of Shadowlands. I’m looking forward to the new project, especially since Shadowlands seems to be becoming a lot more twink-friendly than the current Battle for Azeroth expansion!
What’s your plan now?
Playing Classic and Shadowlands at the same time will of course be a time-consuming project. Especially since the developers are very likely to announce classic servers for The Burning Crusade at BlizzCononline in February , and yes, when I revisit Outland, I’ll be storming through the Dark Portal at the forefront of the crowd. My hope is now, however, that Blizzard will stagger the upcoming content for WoW wisely throughout the year, out of self-interest alone.
The first setback for Blizzard’s schedule has already happened: the launch of Shadowlands had to be postponed . Accordingly, the first – Season of the addon will not start in November. Previously, I was expecting the Scourge event leading up to Classic Stage 6 to be in December, so Naxxramas would have landed on the servers in January. In the months that followed, Patch 9.1 and – Season 2 of Shadowlands could have followed, only to kick off the Classic TBC beta. There is now an even bigger question mark behind all of this than before.
Exciting WoW year 2021
Nevertheless: All this in combination sounds to me like the most exciting, packed WoW year of the last decade! And best of all: nostalgics and fans of the modern World of Warcraft, have equally reason to celebrate. At least if Blizzard listens to the community when implementing the classic TBC servers, and if the new features of Shadowlands are better than the island expeditions and war fronts from Battle for Azeroth. I keep my fingers crossed!
What is WoW Classic?
World of Warcraft Classic is a true recreation of the original WoW as you know it from 2006. All parts of the game – from combat mechanics and talent trees to character models and zones – have been recreated, contributing to the authentic experience.
Getting Started
All players with an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time on their accounts have access toWoW Classic at no additional cost.
- Open the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App and select World of Warcraft from the menu.
- Select World of Warcraft Classic from the Version menu. If you have more than one World of Warcraft account, you’ll see a second Account drop-down list. In this column, select the active account you want to play with.
- Click the Install button. The progress bar will tell you when your game is ready to play.
- Click the Play button when the installation is complete.
You will need to select the realm you want to play on from several different realm types. Make sure you choose the same realm as your friends – in World of Warcraft Classic, you can only group with characters that are on the same realm as you!
Heroes&WIKI, WoW Classic, World of Warcraft Classic, WoW ClassicSpecial, WoW ClassicSpecials
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