Late in 2024, Blizzard Entertainment marked World of Warcraft`s 20th anniversary by launching new Classic servers. Having missed the previous opportunity to try `that same old WoW,` I decided it was time to finally close a lingering personal quest of similar vintage and subscribed to WoW Classic.
This isn`t a traditional review or a comprehensive guide; rather, it`s a personal account of my initial six months diving into WoW Classic. I hope it offers some helpful insights for fellow newcomers. My time in the game has been incredibly vibrant and engaging, though at times challenging. I`ll delve into the specifics shortly. If you`re seeking objective analysis or dry facts, this might not be for you. But if a beginner`s perspective on a classic MMO journey interests you, read on.
As I`ve mentioned in previous articles in this irregular series, I feel a moral obligation to play older installments of long-running game franchises before tackling the new ones. This sometimes leads to rather absurd situations, like attempting to play through everything related to Warhammer 40,000 just to finally launch Space Marine 2 and paint my space dwarves.
World of Warcraft is a bit different. Firstly, as friends familiar with the MMO told me, you can generally experience most content in the current version without needing to `complete` every expansion. Secondly, my desire to seriously get into WoW wasn`t driven by love for the genre, its lore, or mere curiosity.
Sometime in the 2000s, I`d occasionally visit my older cousin, who played World of Warcraft among other games. If he was playing something, I absolutely *had* to try it. As it turned out, this was a practically impossible task for eight-year-old me.
The main obstacle was the lack of internet at home. I had a computer, swapped disks actively, and my parents didn`t particularly object to my hobby – my dad even went to the store with me when the salesperson refused to sell me GTA: San Andreas due to age restrictions. But I could only get online at friends` houses.
When internet finally arrived at my apartment, a second problem emerged: World of Warcraft box sets in licensed game stores were always placed on the highest shelves with astronomical price tags. The final nail in the coffin was a salesperson`s comment: `You also have to pay a monthly subscription.` How could that compete with free Lineage II on a burnt CD and a group of friends already playing on a local server?
To be fair, I did try playing World of Warcraft later. I think it was during the Warlords of Draenor expansion, but back then I didn`t even try to find company, learn mechanics, let alone venture into raids. My second attempt was in 2019 during the first Classic server launch. The result was the same.
Every time Blizzard announced new World of Warcraft expansions, I`d be tempted to buy a subscription again, but I`d stop myself, remembering that nothing good came of it. However, with the announcement of Classic servers for the game`s 20th anniversary, I decided the time had come.
I immediately posted on the Blizzard forums asking for advice on which server a beginner should join and which guild to look for. All the answers could be summarized as: `Anywhere you like, just enjoy yourself. But definitely go PvP, otherwise you won`t understand WoW.` I didn`t argue with the latter, but for my first experience, I decided to play on a PvE server so that I, a complete greenhorn, wouldn`t be constantly attacked while trying to read quests.
At the same time, I started watching videos about WoW Classic and learned that these servers are mostly populated by people over 30, nostalgic for things like good old sausages and real ice cream. I even considered the current version, but issues with buying the expansion, stories about bans for using European accounts in Russia, and ultimately my desire to experience the `true` flavor, something close to the original Classic Azeroth, brought me back to my initial plan.
While waiting for specific instructions, I naively decided that people would be everywhere and started playing on the Russian server `Anniversary`. When I couldn`t find players even in the Horde capital, I went back to the forums to look for specific guild recruitment threads. Despite my disapproval of alcohol, I needed a `chill` guild that would welcome absolute beginners.
In the end, I found an Alliance guild on the Thunderstrike server. The first thing they did was invite me to Discord to chat and level together. They didn`t demand anything from me and were happy to answer my questions about the game. More than anything, I wanted to organically immerse myself in the game without having to read millions of guides and Reddit threads, so I was more than happy.
Even before joining the guild, I found out that I had made a mistake by creating a Dwarf Warrior. As it turned out, min-maxers who squeeze everything out of their characters only use Humans and Orcs for this class, as they have innate weapon bonuses. I had to buy an expensive item to compensate for the difference, whereas as a Human, I could have worn much better gloves.
Here, two diametrically opposed questions arise, depending on the reader`s experience. First: `Where are you going? It will devour you! Study the facts, fool!` Yes, indeed, ideally, I should have shown respect to other players and read guides, but I took the stance of just wanting to play. What, can`t I just play? In short: `You can, but only a little.` By and large, no one will forbid you from playing however you think is right, but if it hinders your group`s or especially a raid`s progress, any guild will quickly send you back to solo adventures.
Although no one threatened to kick me, I constantly asked my guildmates about everything and read online resources, gaining experience on specific issues. In my very first joint dungeon runs, I was introduced to several rules of group behavior: don`t take items that won`t make you stronger *right now*, even if they`d be useful for another build; don`t take all gathered resources if someone else in the group can also gather them, and so on. Basically, I got a quick guide on how not to accidentally be a jerk in dungeons.
Again, I could have gotten these kinds of minor details, along with a mass of other basic information, from guides. However, rare is the author of such videos or texts who will explain *why* everything works the way it does and not differently. In good company, they`ll readily explain everything to you – with one hand, casually, without looking, and barely interrupting their discussion of annoying everyday problems.
I`m convinced that when starting WoW Classic, you shouldn`t study every conceivable guide, use tons of addons, and strictly follow the `meta`. All of that will be needed much later, if you even reach that point, unless your goal is to level up as quickly and efficiently as possible. The point is, there are so many different nuances here that after absorbing a huge amount of information at once, you can easily burn out, especially if you end up not liking the game itself.
Later, I had a perfect example of such a situation. A seemingly older man joined the guild and started asking about all sorts of things. As it turned out, he had read tons of guides about different classes but still couldn`t decide which one to play. On top of that, he had installed dozens of addons that simply hindered him more than they helped. Although we patiently helped him with every little thing, he stopped logging in after just a week – apparently, he didn`t get what he expected from the videos and online texts.
I was terribly excited by my first dungeon runs with guildmates and how easily and naturally I was learning more about the game. I even started doing `homework` and studying parts of guides so as not to let others down – for example, I began choosing talents more consciously, started caring about leveling professions, and so on. However, during the New Year holidays, people from the guild simply vanished, and for about a month, I played alone.
Since I had already been guided onto the true path – meaning they explained that there`s a list of the best items even for leveling – I decided not to rush into finding a new guild. I wanted to find company later, to join a group already prepared for the first serious challenges, so I returned to my initial goal: clear all the dungeons in the game. Again, thanks to the previous guild, I had enough basic knowledge not to be a burden in groups, and I had no problem communicating in English (after all, I play on a European server).
Unwittingly, I became a novice naturalist and started studying people who play WoW Classic in their natural habitat – in dungeons with randomly assembled groups. To me, the World of Warcraft community seemed terribly strict towards newcomers and incredibly demanding of experienced players. It turned out that in `Classic` dungeons, especially on a European server, everyone is maximally tolerant of any manifestation of clumsiness or lack of knowledge about anything. Even if a group member`s mistake led to a wipe, people would encourage each other and not unleash curses in chat – at least for a while. Many helped me with difficult quests without asking for anything in return, shared potions, and even gave up rare items.
Of course, there were less pleasant situations too. Some dungeons I simply couldn`t clear on the first attempt. It wasn`t about level or gear, but about people who seemed simply unwilling to play. Once, I encountered a mage who triggered a bug causing endless waves of enemies to spawn, then claimed he was paid a hundred gold to troll the group – whether this was a joke coinciding with random events, or if someone truly profited off my time and nerves, I never found out.
On the third attempt at the same dungeon, I met a Druid tank who wouldn`t stop typing in chat. I have nothing against talkative teammates, but he typed for so long that sometimes everyone else feared he had disconnected or left the computer. Furthermore, this tank was writing entire stories completely unrelated to our current adventures. And this was despite the fact that I myself needed to leave for real-life errands, so my patience burned long and bright.
I didn`t play very actively, but always with pleasure. Honestly, I don`t even understand why I enjoyed playing WoW so much, as I had never felt a strong pull towards MMOs before. Perhaps that grinding many people hate actually appealed to me: it was very satisfying, after gaining a new level, talent, ability, or item, to return to that mean monster that had previously sent me to the graveyard twice, and take it down in five seconds. Playing solo had its charms too, but during that period, I missed so much that I had to repeat the process of interrogating guildmates in a new group.
Around level 40, I ended up in another Russian-speaking guild. Although I continued leveling independently, the chat was now frequently filled with messages about gathering for high-level dungeons, heated arguments and squabbles, or late-night discussions about anything and everything. Once, I tried explaining to someone that anime isn`t a specific genre, so if he didn`t like `Shaman King` and `Death Note` recommended by a friend, he shouldn`t say all Japanese cartoons are for idiots. It`s a shame he never took my recommendation to check out `Baki the Grappler`…
It turned out that this guild – Aurore – had started raiding in January. For me, this had always seemed like something unattainable. In MMOs, I usually just logged in to kill mobs with friends and didn`t aspire to top-tier gear, coordinated teamwork, and so on. But now I was determined to clear all content, so I set myself a goal to prepare for my first raid within a couple of weeks – by the start of my vacation in March.
I grinded out the last 15 levels mostly without guild help again, although I did start asking questions in chat. They quickly explained that I had not only chosen the wrong race but also used an outdated specialization. Despite this, I figured out on my own that going into raids required completing a couple of quest chains, which I successfully did within my self-imposed deadline, although it turned out people sometimes struggle even with that.
In WoW Classic, it`s very easy to make a mistake and complicate your leveling, or even the life of your whole group or raid. An experienced player knows exactly which items they need and will run dungeons for them until they drop or until they can start hunting for more valuable ones. They won`t waste gold on leveling useless skills and won`t do quests that yield nothing beneficial.
I, of course, hit every bump along the way: created a Dwarf Warrior; missed a ton of useful items because I barely ran dungeons; sold many expensive resources to NPCs when I could have gotten rich on the auction house. I don`t regret anything; I was playing the game.
Despite all my efforts and the help of guildmates, I arrived at my first raid completely unprepared – mission failed. I didn`t have the basic potions and consumables for my class, nor all the necessary pre-raid gear, nor experience – just a minimal understanding of the bosses from guides. Fortunately, nothing terrible happened: they still took me into the group because there weren`t that many people in the guild, and the raid was cleared because the core group took things seriously.
Essentially, I was just an undergeared and inexperienced `passenger` – I didn`t deal enough damage for my absence to be noticeable even in a group. Kind people took me through dungeons and helped me get the necessary items, including the best for my class at that time. All the while, I didn`t stop learning daily and repeating my mantra: `What are you talking about? I`m just playing WoW for the first time.` Sometimes I was caught making silly mistakes and they explained how I *should* be pressing buttons, sometimes I`d pick up interesting points from others` conversations and research the topic myself.
When you`re surrounded by people who understand your common endeavor better, you yourself want to be better. At least, that`s how it should be, in my opinion, and I tried not to disappoint my teachers. I`ll keep my word and won`t stuff formulas and tables into this story, but at some point, I had to study them with a serious face too: WoW Classic is math, and there`s nothing you can do about it.
Here`s a quick example. On my way to level 60, I first took items with Strength and Stamina on my Warrior – because I thought I should not only hit but also take hits. Then I switched to Strength and pure Attack Power, because, actually, I should only be hitting. But ultimately, it turned out that in raids I might simply miss opponents, so I needed to increase my hit chance, and also critical strike chance – because it hits harder and activates a nice buff.
I integrated into a small group of players within the guild who literally taught me everything and also turned out to be very pleasant people. And I am incredibly grateful to each of them for the knowledge, emotions, and communication within the game – outside of it, I had enough of all that, it`s not about a lack of friends or social interaction at all.
The point is precisely that in the world of WoW, it`s very easy to get bored or even lost if you do everything by yourself – especially as a newcomer. Of course, you can figure everything out without outside help, but interaction with others provides much more emotion. Now I absolutely don`t want to go into a dungeon with strangers, even if I really need to get an item, but if friends invite me to another dungeon where I won`t get literally anything useful, I`ll gladly spend an hour or two playing.
I understand that some people don`t want to join a group and burden themselves with unnecessary social ties. In WoW Classic, this isn`t strictly required, but you will still need to interact with others – it is an MMO, after all. At the same time, I believe that asking people questions, even just in text chat, is not at all shameful if in the end you become better yourself and help others. If even this level of communication is too much for you, then perhaps this game is not worth your time.
There are other small groups of players within the guild doing roughly the same thing: chatting, running dungeons together, simply because they want to spend time that way. Aurore generally positions itself as a social guild, loyal to everyone who isn`t doing something completely unpleasant. Among other things, people here engage in pure charity: helping newcomers get geared, pointing out mistakes, and teaching everything – at least as long as their patience holds. As it turns out, this can also backfire.
Due to the large number of inexperienced players, we sometimes struggle to clear raids with our own forces, even though more difficult content lies ahead. Firstly, there are only about 20 raiding players in the guild, when ideally you need all 40. Secondly, some haven`t managed to get the necessary gear yet. Thirdly, part of the group seems to have a strong allergy to potions and consumables that provide a tangible boost to stats.
Some runs turned out to be so difficult that participants who were truly prepared for raids, knew boss mechanics, and pressed their buttons correctly simply left for other guilds and servers afterward. And you can understand them: why put in effort month after month to carry those who don`t want to improve? And believe me, nothing in WoW Classic requires supernatural effort – only the desire to learn and free time to play.
Thanks to the help of my new friends and my own efforts (I spent, I think, a hundred hours in PvP mode gaining rank for cool gear), I can now deal at least some acceptable damage and sometimes climb into the top performers. Of course, I am far from an expert, but even I now find it painful to watch those who simply don`t want to learn and be useful to the group.
At the same time, for the sake of the guild, I had to take on a couple of organizational duties and start learning the basics of playing a tank – and that`s a completely different game. It just so happened that we constantly have to look for a new raid leader, and hardly anyone plays the strongest class in the game – the Warrior. Even I sometimes ask myself: why stay in such a guild?
Beyond purely gameplay moments, the social aspect can also affect a guild`s state in WoW Classic. Sometimes people simply don`t fit together, but within a group, you need to adapt. About a month ago, a character left us who knew a lot about the game and did a good job healing, but absolutely refused to listen to others, while also declining leadership duties. For us, he was something like a radio or walkie-talkie with the transmit button stuck – a stream of information flowed from it, sometimes interesting and useful, but incoming calls just didn`t get through. In the end, he couldn`t stand that during another argument, no one adopted his position and, ignoring all counterarguments, simply left the guild.
As it turned out, even a complete beginner can figure out WoW Classic – if they have the desire and the right group. In my opinion, here – and surely in any other MMO – nothing is more important than the people around you. A newcomer needs patient teammates willing to encourage and teach, while an experienced player needs those who, like them, will do everything necessary without mistakes. Someone will look for a guild for social interaction, someone else for quickly clearing raids and getting pink logs. The main thing is to find *your* company, the one you`ll want to play with.
What will happen to the Aurore guild is still unclear: the mood among many is low, but people aren`t giving up and are collectively solving new problems. I really don`t want to abandon my first character, into whom I`ve truly invested time, effort, and emotions. To prevent that from happening, I might have to move to a different group. Fortunately, I`ve already found people with whom I can continue playing in parallel on another server or simply as part of another guild, even if everyone there speaks a different language and isn`t looking for constant social interaction.
Initially, I entered WoW Classic with the goal of `completing` all of World of Warcraft, since the developers are actively re-releasing content. I thought I`d calmly play in the evenings, level up, get geared, and eventually clear raids – albeit with a delay. But in the end, it`s as if I`ve moved to Azeroth and, it seems, I`m starting to understand people who play only this game their entire lives.
Of course, I don`t plan to stay here forever, but I`ve clearly found a new main game, considering that I`d like to join my friends on a PvP server, continue raiding on PvE, start with the upcoming Mists of Pandaria launch, and move forward through the re-released old expansions. I don`t even know how I`ll manage all this without losing all my friends and family in real life, but I`ll cope.
In just six months in WoW Classic, I`ve gone through several stages of getting acquainted with the game, found new friends, argued several times with people I didn`t know at all, and probably bored everyone around me with tales of my adventures. I already miss other games, but for some reason, I still gladly log into WoW. It feels like some kind of abusive relationship, but for now, I even like it.
I`m sure everything said above applies to any MMO, but I haven`t had serious experience in other games of the genre. I honestly admit this here – right above the comments section, so instead of `Why did I read a noob`s story?`, please share your own stories from World of Warcraft or any other MMO.
Finley Holt