First off, let me start off by saying since they announced WoW Classic two years ago at Blizzcon, I was pretty much on the anti-Classic train. In the months leading up to the release, I was one of the people who believed it was not going to bring back WoW to its glory days of 12 Million monthly subscribers after the hype died down and that too many people were looking back at the game with nostalgia tinted goggles. In many ways, I still believe this is the case but let me preface that by saying that I was wrong about how much I personally would be enjoying the game.

I've been playing WoW since 2005 and I shit on Classic for months, saying things were going to be boring/tedious, how people would hate the absence of all the QoL improvements we've gotten over the years, and that a large chunk of players would quit before they even hit level 40. I said I was likely not going to be playing it long-term, that I would log in and get to level 10 then be done with the game after my trip down memory lane. I didn't activate my sub the day the game came out, I was still on the anti-Classic train even then but it wasn't until the full magnitude of the hype hit me that I was starting to see that I was probably wrong about Classic, in a lot of ways. Little by little guildies who I hadn't seen playing WoW in years started coming back, people I know IRL, started coming back (a few playing for the 1st time) and all of them were pinging me to come play with them. I decided to just bite my tongue and resub, if at all to play with my friends, even if it was for a few weeks, I knew I'd still have a good time.

Right from the beginning, playing Classic felt like riding a bike, as in you never forget the core things about the game that made you love it in the first place and muscle memory kicked in. I jumped right back into the ebb and flow of the questing just how I remembered it 15 years ago. There was however, many details I didn't remember which has lead to many "Oh YEAH! I FORGOT ABOUT THAT!" warm n' fuzzies. One of the things I criticized about the game adamantly for months, was that same ebb and flow, that slow burn pacing that I said would be boring, well it's not, I was wrong. I have been loving the questing experience and like many have mentioned, the random counters with other players have lead to some charming exchanges which are completely absent from anything retail has to offer. One of my favorites happened just yesterday when I was doing the Blackrock Orc Axe quest in Lakeshire. This quest can be a little tough because the mobs respawn fast and the packs are big. I grouped up with a fellow hunter and we started tackling the experience together. Eventually, funny enough my Gun broke and rather than run all the way back to get it repaired, I just kept chugging along in Melee. Iris (the other person) got her axes before I did, but instead of saying "gg thanks" and leaving me to fend for myself, she stuck it out with me and helped me finish my quest. Getting those last 2 axes took quite a few packs (and at least 10 min) but we did it together. She didn't have to stay, had this been retail she'd of vanished like a fart in the wind (on to the next quickly digested World Quest if we even had to group at all), but she stayed and made sure some total stranger completed their little piece of the journey. It's the little moments like these that make up the DNA of WoW that snared all our hearts many years ago and it's something retail WoW desperately needs.

With that said, I am no Classic purist and feel the game has A LOT of flaws that have been corrected through years of innovation. Many of the user experience functionality that is gone, well I wish it was back because there are moments when I'm downright annoyed and frustrated with how old the game can feel. There's things that take too long, such as the drop rates on some quest items seem unreasonable, the re-spawning of specific quest mobs (Defias Messenger) are stupid, Quest Givers not showing up on your minimap, not automatically tracking quests, not being able to sort by stack sizes in the AH. etc. Ultimately, they're mostly minor annoyances, many of which can be corrected by add ons but they are there. One big one is the lack of group finder functionality, I think having to spam "LFM [insert Dungeon or Quest Title here]" in chat menus hoping somebody sees it is archaic in 2019 and a simple group finder tool that allows people from the server (only, no x-realm shit) find each other so they can do other things while they also look for a group wouldn't IMO break the game much.

With all this said, my absolute favorite thing about WoW Classic has been the new breath of life the community has been given, tons of old people coming back and even new people who didn't play the game before finally trying it for the very first time. This proves that there is still an appetite for this MMO we all love and my hope is that Blizzard is learning and that they apply all the things about Classic that hook people in and keep them engaged into retail. The future of Classic is still up in there air, I don't think it will ever die at this point and I'm happy that people who are those hardcore purist out there have this official version of the game to play forever. For myself, I'll probably hit level 60 and go from there. I might keep playing I might not, in the end I think the game is awesome.