WoW Classic features

Azeroth before the Cataclysm - Classic Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor are back. The old and loved (or hated) zones wait for new adventurers. This means that some Zone-specific features are back in business. Just to name a few: Barrens , the biggest zone of Vanilla WoW can be experienced again, along with its infamous quests, like Collecting Zevra Hooves or Search for Mankrik's Wife. The Barrens Chat* is back on-line to make your long trips through this barren wasteland more pleasurable, and the Crossroads is Under Attack** AGAIN.

* Barrens Chat is infamous for large quantities of trolls, noobs, and bored players, writing all manner of weird stuff.

** A word of explanation on the Crossroads attacks - Alliance players can easily make their way to the Crossroads by taking a Ship from Booty Bay to Ratchet. This makes the Crossroads the easiest-to-attack Horde Settlement in Classic WoW. Stranglethorn Vale and the bloodbath that happens there. Vanilla STV is a very popular mid-level Zone in which Horde and Alliance Players meet in large quantities for the first time. This results in the constant Gankfest throughout all the Zone. High-level Players remember that they were Ganked in Stranglethorn, and want their revenge, so they head straight back, and slaughter all opposite faction members in sight. Leveling in Classic STV will surely be the one-of-a-kind experience... Azshara , the zone without almost any content. There are just a few quests in Classic Azshara, which makes it almost completely abandoned. Thanks to this, however, Azshara is one of the best places to farm High-End Vanilla Crafting Materials.

- Classic Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor are back. The old and loved (or hated) zones wait for new adventurers. This means that some Zone-specific features are back in business. Just to name a few:

The World feels much larger - There are no flying mounts at all, flight paths are few and far between, and the first ground WoW mount is available at level 40. This forces you to run almost everywhere on your feet with a base movement speed. Druids, Shamans, and Hunters have it a bit better because they are able to boost their movement speed via various abilities (Travel form, Ghost Wolf, and Aspect of the Cheetah).

Race matters - Every Race is different. This difference comes in the form of Racial Passives and Abilities. The impact of some of those Race-specific traits is very large and results in somewhat low Race Disparity in some Classes (All Racials will be covered in the Races section of this Guide).

Note: Priests have two additional Priest-specific Spells based on their Race: Trolls get Shadowguard and Hex of Weakness, Forsaken get Touch of Weakness and Devouring Plague, Night Elves get Elune's Grace and Starshards, Dwarves get Desperate Prayer and Fear Ward, and Humans get Desperate Prayer and Feedback. This results in Forsaken and Dwarves being regarded as the best Priests for their corresponding Factions.

Faction-specific Classes - Drenai and Blood Elves are not here yet. This means that there are no Alliance Shamans and Horde Paladins. Faction-Specific Classes add an additional flavor to Factions but also result in some less than pleasant moments in Raids (imagine that you manage to defeat a Boss, as a Horde Player, after a few dozen attempts, and the Boss drops Paladin Gear... yes, this gets infuriating after a while).

Gold is worth much more in Classic and making it is much more difficult - Hours of farming or weeks of Auction House flipping are the main options for Goldmaking. Moreover, everything is more expensive, and everybody is constantly broke. Becoming rich in Classic WoW is quite an achievement.

Mounts are VERY expensive - The level 40 Riding Skill costs 100 Gold to learn and acquiring that much money by just leveling to 40 is impossible (the sight of a level 40+ Player running around without a mount is a very common one in Classic). The level 60 Riding Skill costs whooping 1000 Gold. This is a fortune for Vanilla standards and can be compared to buying the most expensive mounts of other expansions. Owning an Epic mount is a reason to brag in Classic.

Leveling is an inherent part of the game - There are no level boosts, and leveling takes a long time. There are not enough quests to level up with, so Players are forced to grind mobs to supplement questing. Quests are rather long and repeatable, most of them being the kill & gather type with very low drop chances.

Note: Battlegrounds, Gathering and Crafting do not award any experience.

You actually have to read Quest descriptions - Quest objectives are not shown on your minimap, and add-ons like Quest-Helper are not yet available. This means that you have to read quest texts carefully in order to learn about the place in which the said quest is located. Thanks to this, Players get immersed in the world and get to know the lore better.

Class Quests are a mandatory part of the leveling experience - In order to gain access to some of the Class-Defining features, you have to complete very lengthy and somewhat infamous Quest chains. Rogue has to complete a quest chain to gain access to Poisons. Shaman unlocks his Totems Through a series of quests. Druid does not have access to his Shapeshift Forms unless he completes corresponding Class Quests. Warlock learns how to summon his Demonic Minions via quests, and so on. These class quests are not only required to unlock your skills and abilities, however. Some of them award a Class-Specific, and very strong level-appropriate gear pieces that make leveling much easier for some time.

Leveling is difficult - Or rather, Players are weak compared to mobs they are meant to fight. Fighting against two mobs at once is very hard, and having three attacking you at once is almost certain death. Gear rewards are not that good, so any gear upgrade feels important, and visibly improves your power. Getting your hands on a Rare item (not even mentioning an Epic) feels truly amazing.

You get stronger every level - Starting from level 10, you get a new Talent Point* every level, all the way up to 60, and every even level, you gain access to new Skills and Skill ranks, that have to be learned at a Trainer**.

*Old Talent Trees are back! - All Classes have three Talent Trees to choose from, and their "specialization" depends on the way in which they allocate their Talent Points. There are 51 Talent Points available for a Level-Capped Player, and they can be spent in various different ways (but there always will be that one "best" meta build that everybody will run, of course).

**Trainers are important again - You have to visit your Class Trainer in order to learn (or rather buy) new skills, spells, and abilities every two levels. Moreover, lower skill ranks can still be used - this is very handy, as some skills are used purely for utility, and all you need is a Rank 1 (because it is cheaper, has a lower casting time, and does the same thing).

There is no Dual Talent Specialization - If you want to change your specialization, you have to reset your Talent Points, and that costs A LOT of gold. This is why most Players pick a spec and stick to it for the rest of the game. Only the Richest Players can afford to reset their Talents on a regular basis. This means that if you want to do some PvP, you better do it in your PvE build, or else nobody will want to take you to a Raid, unless you reach down your pocket, and reset your Talent Points. The tough Classic reality at its finest.

Classes can perform their unique PvE roles and ONLY those roles - Are you a Priest? Good - you are a Holy Priest Healer. A Warlock? Great - you will run to a Raid, summon everybody, use a Soulstone on a Healer, and then stand somewhere in a corner. Warrior? Excellent - we need a tank! (Even though Fury has very high Raid DPS, you may find it troublesome to find yourself a spot in a Raid party) Mage? That's handy - can you make us some food and portals? You get the idea. All Classes are unique and fill their niche.

There is no such thing as "Dungeon/Raid Finder Tool" - All Raid groups have to be assembled manually, and not only that. After your group is ready, you and your party members have to go to your chosen Raid on foot or send a Warlock ahead and make him summon everybody via his Ritual of Summoning. Meeting Stones* work differently in Classic (and were added quite late, in Patch 1.3). They can be used to find a Group for a Dungeon they are assigned to, and only for that one dungeon. This means that you have to run to a Meeting Stone location in order to join a Dungeon Queue. After your group is assembled, you have to run to Dungeon's location again, as you will not be teleported inside of it automatically.

*In reality, it is much easier to assemble a Dungeon Group manually, using a Trade Chat in a major city, as Meeting Stones are located in the middle of nowhere, and nobody uses them.

40-man Raids - Classic Raids feel truly epic. Armies of Players fight against some of the most iconic Warcraft's Villians, like Ragnaros, Onyxia, C'Thun, and Kel'Thuzad. Of course, assembling a 40-man Raid group might be a bit problematic, and maintaining it even more so, but the sheer scale of 40-man Raid encounters is definitely worth it.

Raids require you to complete long attunement Quest Chains - You can't just enter a Raid. The right of entry must be earned first, by the completion of a special, and very long, quest chain. Each of the Classic Raids has its own attunement quest chain.

Raids require specific Gear and Class-setups - Want to Raid a Molten Core? You will need a fire resistance set for that. And better not be a Fire Mage, as almost all mobs inside the Molten Core are immune to Fire Damage. Onyxia? A Fire Resistance set as well, but better than the one needed for Molten Core. Naxxramas*? Where do we even start...

*Classic Naxx has requirements so high, that only 23 Guilds have managed to clear it completely in Vanilla (on US servers). Think about that for a second - Twenty Three out of over 900 that managed to kill at least one boss there (this means that only around 1000 Players have managed to kill Kel'Thuzad. And there were about 900000 level 60 Characters on US servers back then). Going over the whole setup needed for Raiding Naxx 40 in Classic here is pointless, so we will share a little tidbit with you instead - 8 Fully Geared Warrior Tanks were needed to defeat the Four Horseman encounter, and it was not even one of the last bosses...

You can't skip the Raid progression - If you want to raid a higher tier Raid, you have to have a complete set from the lower tier Raid, as there is no other way of gearing up for it. This means that you have to start by Raiding Molten Core to get Tier 1 items, then move to the Blackwing Lair an AQ 40 to assemble Tier 2 and 2.5 sets, and then you will maybe be strong enough to attempt Naxxramas.

Mobs have limited Debuff Slots - At the launch of Vanilla, Bosses had only 8 slots for debuffs (this limit has risen to 16 at a later patch). This means that Classes like Warlocks and Hunters are not able to utilize DoTs to their full potential. Furthermore, some of those limited Debuff Slots are reserved for things like Sunder Armor. As you can imagine, the Debuff Slot limit reduces the PvE viability of some Specializations.

Epic Gear is truly epic - Getting your hands on Epic items is very difficult, as most of them are available from 40-man Raids only. The sight of a fully Epic-Geared player in Classic is quite rare and very inspiring. Even Rare (blue) items are rather scarce and every single one that you get throughout your Classic journey will increase your character's strength visibly.

Spell Batching - In Classic, all spell casts and abilities will be processed once every 400 milliseconds. This has some gigantic consequences in PvP. For example, if a Warrior charges at a Paladin and the Paladin is quick enough, he can Stun the Warrior and negate his charge if he is quick enough to react. Rogues can Gouge each other at the same time, and so on. Spell Batching opens a lot of possibilities and increases the PvP skill cap by a lot. Baasickly if you have a spell or an ability that can be used to counter another spell or ability, you can gain an advantage over your opponent by taking advantage of this system.

The 14-Rank PvP System - Rising in a PvP Ranking is a grind fest. You have to kill members of the opposite faction almost constantly to reach the Grand Marshal(Alliance) or High Warlord(Horde) rank, and only 0.1% of all Players can reach these ranks at a server, at a time (reaching and maintaining a Rank 14 requires about 12 hours of PvP grind every day). Each rank allows you to get better PvP equipment but is much more difficult to achieve than the previous one. Fun Fact - the Rank-14 grind was so long and painful, that many players who managed to get through it back in Vanilla have quit the game almost immediately after finally completing it.

The Holy Trinity of Battlegrounds - There are three battlegrounds in Classic, Warsong Gulch, Alterac Valley, and Arathi Basin. The Alterac Valley is the one that deserves the most attention. A single Alterac Valley battleground could last for over eight hours. Back in the day, it was a truly epic (and long) experience with lots of additional objectives and side quests*.

*Unfortunately, Blizzard has confirmed that it is the nerfed and much shorter version of AV that is coming to the WoW Classic.

World PvP - Everybody is traveling on foot, there is no Zoning, and the Flying Mounts aren't there. Players will meet members of the opposite Faction while questing and grinding, and these meetings will result in a lot of PvP engagements. World PvP thrives in Classic.

Weak Diminishing Returns System (or lack of it in some cases) - Yes, you read that correctly, some CC spells present in the early patches of Vanilla WoW didn't have DRs, and many of them were not shared with each other (this means that Kidney Shot + Cheap Shot, and Seduce + Fear do not share DRs, and some Spell DRs are not present in the game at all - a Frost Shock does not have one for example). This means that Rogues can stun lock you for 10 seconds without any problems, or even render you unable to do anything for as long as 30 seconds (by properly using their Cooldowns, and with a proper Talent Build). Shamans can humiliate Melee Classes in Duels by slowing them with a Frost Shock constantly and running around laughing. The Classic PvP is brutal, be prepared for it.

Note: DR issues were fixed in later vanilla patches, for example - new DRs were added in the patch 1.4 (for Frost Shock, Frost Nova, and Entangling Roots).

Note2: WoW Classic will start with a patch 1.12, which means that Crowd Control will not be as overpowered as during the early months of Vanilla (because there were a lot of DR changes between patches 1.1 and 1.12).

Mailboxes... - This might sound strange, or funny even, but it is not. There are not that many mailboxes in the Classic World of Warcraft. For example, there are only two in Orgrimar - one next to the bank (this is the one that everybody uses and the one that is blocked by Players constantly), and a second one at the entrance to the Valley of Honour (which is almost never used, as it is far away from the Auction House). So don't be surprised if you will not be able to locate a mailbox in a major city.

The New-Classic Features that differ from Vanilla

Loot Trading in Raids - Loot Trading is a feature, first introduced in Wrath of The Lich King, that allows Players to trade bind-on-pickup items to other group members, who have participated in an encounter in which said items have dropped, for two hours. This lets you give away an item that you have Needed by accident, without writing a ticket to a GM. However, Loot Trading opens a route for various exploits by, for example, allowing players to group up and mass-roll an item for someone (and rolling 1 against 4 in a Dungeon is not fun at all). Blizzard has recognized this, and the Loot Trading feature will be present in Raids only, in order to limit the number of exploits that inevitably will come with it. The Community is divided when it comes to the reception of this feature, to say the least.

This feature may also be used to keep PUG groups together, by delaying loot rolls (everyone remembers the type of player who loses a roll and proceeds to leave the group immediately after).

Nerfed Alterac Valley - We will most likely not see the first and the grandest version of the Alterac Valley Battleground, as developers plan to implement the nerfed 1.12 version to the WoW Classic. Some Vanilla veterans are outraged by this, but the decision itself might be actually a good one because a 24-hour long battleground is an overkill, to say the least. Who knows, maybe we will see the unnerfed version as a part of an event, or maybe developers will listen to the Community and release the 1.1 version at the start and change it after a few months.