In late 2024, Blizzard Entertainment celebrated World of Warcraft`s 20th anniversary by launching new classic servers. Having missed previous opportunities to experience “that same old WoW,” I decided it was time to finally close this long-standing gap in my gaming history and subscribed to WoW Classic.
Well, that was quite a break… I hope you`re all doing well, spoiling yourselves with tasty food even without my articles, and occasionally feeling nostalgic for old games. Nevertheless, let me remind you that my articles in this series on Cybersport.ru are not about objective assessments, dry analysis, charts, formulas, or whatever else my colleagues dabble in. This is about gaming experience, a free-flowing style, and a love for games.
This piece is not a review or a full guide, but it might help those who, like me six months ago, want to try WoW Classic for the first time and not lose their minds. My first six months in this game were incredibly vivid and interesting, although challenging at times. I`ll share the details below. If this kind of content isn`t for you, please forgive me – just don`t complain too loudly, people are reading, after all. Or at least skip directly to the second paragraph: from there onwards, you can start looking for inspiration for critical comments. Thank you for your understanding.
As I`ve mentioned in previous articles in this irregular series, I find it emotionally difficult to start new installments of long game franchises if I haven`t played the older ones. Sometimes, this leads to absolute absurdity, like trying to get through everything related to Warhammer 40,000 just so I can finally launch Space Marine 2 and paint my space dwarves.
With World of Warcraft, the situation is slightly different. Firstly, as I`ve gathered from friends familiar with this MMO, you can essentially access most content in the current version without needing to “complete” every single expansion. Secondly, my desire to fully explore WoW wasn`t driven by a love for the genre, the universe`s lore, or simple curiosity.
Sometime in the 2000s, I occasionally visited my older cousin who played World of Warcraft. If he played something, I absolutely had to try it too. As it turned out, this was a nearly impossible task for my eight-year-old self.
The main obstacle was the lack of internet at home. I had a computer, actively traded discs, and my parents weren`t particularly opposed to my hobby – my dad even came to the store with me when the clerk refused to sell me GTA: San Andreas due to age restrictions. But I could only get online at friends` houses.
When internet finally arrived in my apartment, a second problem emerged: boxes of World of Warcraft discs in stores were always placed on the top shelf with astronomical price tags. The final blow came from the salesperson`s words: “You also have to pay a monthly subscription.” How could that compete with free Lineage II on a blank disc and a group of friends already playing on a local server?
To be fair, I did eventually try 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. A second attempt was in 2019 with the first launch of classic servers. The result was the same.
Each time Blizzard announced new World of Warcraft expansions, I felt the urge to buy a subscription again, but I stopped myself, remembering that nothing good had come of it before. However, with the announcement of classic servers for the game`s 20th anniversary, I decided the time was right.
I immediately posted on the Blizzard forums asking for advice on which server a newcomer should join and which guild to approach. All the answers could be summarized as: “Anywhere is fine, the main thing is to enjoy it. Just go to PvP, otherwise, you won`t understand WoW.” I didn`t argue with the latter, but for my first experience, I decided to go for PvE so I wouldn`t be constantly killed while trying to read quests.
Around the same time, I started watching WoW Classic videos and learned that these servers were primarily for people over 30, nostalgic for simpler times. I even considered the modern version, but issues with buying the expansion, stories about bans for using European accounts in Russia, and ultimately, the desire to experience the authentic, even if slightly approximated, classic Azeroth grass brought me back to my original plan.
While waiting for specific instructions, I naively assumed 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 to the forums specifically looking for guild recruitment threads. I needed – despite all condemnation of alcohol consumption – a group of “casuals” who would welcome even absolute beginners.
Eventually, 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. Most of all, I wanted to organically immerse myself in the game – without having to read millions of guides and Reddit threads – so I was more than satisfied.
Even before joining the guild, I realized I had made a mistake by creating a Dwarf Warrior. As it turned out, min-maxers squeezing everything out of the class only used Humans and Orcs, who had innate weapon proficiency bonuses. I had to buy an expensive item to negate the difference, whereas as a Human, I could have worn much better gloves.
And here two diametrically opposed questions immediately arise – it all depends on the reader`s experience level. The first: “Where are you going? It will devour you! Study the material, 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 you just play anymore? In short: “You can, but only a little.” By and large, no one will forbid you from playing the way you think is right, but if it hinders the progress of a group or especially a raid, any guild will quickly revert you to solo adventures.
Although no one threatened to kick me, I myself constantly asked guildmates about everything and read online materials, gaining experience on specific issues. In my 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 in a different build; don`t take all gathered resources if others in the group can also gather them, and so on. Basically, I received a brief guide on how not to accidentally be a nuisance in dungeons.
Again, such minor details, as well as a wealth of other basic information, I could have certainly found in guides. However, a rare author of such videos or texts will explain *why* everything works exactly this way and not differently. But in good company, everything will be explained to you without issue – casually, with one hand, not even looking, and barely interrupting their discussion of mundane problems.
I am confident that when starting WoW Classic, you shouldn`t study every possible guide, use tons of addons, and follow the meta. All of that will be needed much later, unless, of course, your goal is to level up as quickly and efficiently as possible. The fact is, there are so many different nuances 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 this situation. A seemingly not-so-young man joined the guild and started asking about all sorts of things. As it turned out, he had read a lot of guides about different classes but still couldn`t decide on a choice. Additionally, he installed dozens of addons that simply hindered him more than they helped. Although we patiently helped him with every little thing, within a week he stopped logging in – apparently, he didn`t get what he expected from online videos and texts.
I was incredibly inspired 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, bothered with 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 shown the right path – meaning they explained there was a list of 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 original goal: clearing all the dungeons in the game. Again, thanks to the previous guild, I had the minimum knowledge not to be a burden in groups, and I had no problems communicating in English in chat (after all, I was playing on a European server).
Unintentionally, I became a novice naturalist and began studying people who play WoW Classic in their natural habitat – in dungeons without a pre-made group. The World of Warcraft community had 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 displays of clumsiness and lack of knowledge about anything. Even if a group member`s mistake led to a full wipe, people encouraged each other and didn`t curse in chat – at least for a while. Many helped me with difficult quests free of charge, shared potions, and even gave me 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 simply didn`t seem to want to play. Once I encountered a mage who triggered a bug causing an infinite spawn of new enemies, and then claimed he had been paid a hundred gold to troll the group – whether it was a joke with a random coincidence, or if someone truly profited at the expense of my time and nerves, I never understood.
On my third attempt at the same dungeon, I met a Druid tank who was constantly typing in chat. I have nothing against chatty teammates, but he typed for so long that at times everyone else was afraid he had simply disconnected or walked away from the computer. Moreover, this tank was typing whole stories completely unrelated to our current adventures. And this was despite the fact that I myself needed to leave soon, so my frustration burned long and bright.
I didn`t play very actively, but always with pleasure. Frankly, I don`t even understand why I liked playing WoW so much, as I had never felt a strong pull towards MMOs before. Perhaps I actually enjoyed the grind that many hate: it was incredibly satisfying, after getting a new level, talent, ability, or item, to return to that mean monster that had previously sent me back to the graveyard twice and kill it in five seconds. Solo play also had its charms, but during that period, I missed so much that I had to repeat the process of questioning guildmates in a new group.
Around level 40, I joined another Russian-speaking guild. Although I continued leveling on my own, the chat was now filled with messages about forming groups for high-level dungeons, heated debates and arguments, or late-night discussions about everything. Once, I tried to explain to someone that anime is not a single genre, so if he didn`t like “Shaman King” and “Death Note” based on a friend`s recommendation, he shouldn`t say that all Japanese cartoons are made for fools. It`s a shame he never took my recommendation to check out “Baki the Grappler”…
It turned out this guild – Aurore – had started raiding in January. This had always seemed like something unattainable to me. 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 the content, so I set myself a goal to prepare for my first raid within a couple of weeks – before my vacation in March.
I finished the last 15 levels mostly without guild help again, although I did start asking questions in chat once more. They quickly explained that not only had I chosen the wrong race, but I was also using an outdated specialization. Despite this, I did figure out on my own that I needed to complete a couple of questlines to go raiding, which I successfully managed within my self-imposed deadline, even though, as it turned out, people have problems with that too.
In WoW Classic, it`s very easy to make a mistake and complicate your leveling, or even the life of your entire group or raid. An experienced player knows exactly what items they need and will run dungeons for them until they drop or they can start hunting for more valuable ones. They won`t waste gold on leveling useless skills and won`t do quests that don`t give them anything useful. I, of course, stumbled at every step: created a Dwarf Warrior; missed a bunch of useful items because I didn`t run dungeons enough; sold many expensive resources to NPCs, although I could have gotten rich on the auction house. I regret nothing; 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 had neither the basic consumables and other supplies for my class, nor all the necessary pre-raid gear, nor the experience – only a minimal understanding of bosses from guides. Fortunately, nothing terrible happened: they took me into the group anyway because there aren`t that many people in the guild, and the raid was cleared because the main core group was responsible.
In fact, I was just an ordinary, poorly-geared, and inexperienced “passenger” – I didn`t deal enough damage for my absence to be noticeable even in a group. Kind people took me to dungeons and helped me acquire the necessary items, including the best ones for my class at the time. Meanwhile, I continued to learn daily and repeat my line, “What are you talking about? I`m just playing WoW for the first time.” Sometimes I was caught making foolish mistakes and they`d explain how to actually press buttons; sometimes I`d pick up interesting points from others` conversations and research them 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 include formulas and tables in this story, but at some point, I had to study them too with a serious face: WoW Classic is mathematics, and there`s nothing you can do about it.
Let me quickly give an example. On the way to level 60, I initially took items with Strength and Stamina for my Warrior – after all, I should not only deal damage but also take hits, as I thought. Then I switched to Strength and pure damage, because in reality, I should only be dealing damage. And eventually, it turned out that in raids, I might simply miss opponents, so I needed to increase my hit chance, and also my critical hit chance – because it hits harder and activates a pleasant buff.
I integrated myself into a small group of players within the guild who literally taught me everything and turned out to be very pleasant people. And I am terribly grateful to each of them for the knowledge, emotions, and interaction within the game – outside of it, I had plenty of all that anyway; it`s not about a lack of friends or social interaction.
The point is, in the world of WoW, it`s very easy to get bored or even lost if you do everything alone – especially as a beginner. Of course, you can figure everything out without outside help, but interaction with others provides much more enjoyment. Now, I absolutely don`t want to go into a dungeon with strangers, even if I really need to get a certain item. But if friends invite me to a different dungeon where I will get literally nothing useful, I will gladly spend an hour or hour and a half playing.
I understand that some people don`t want to join a group and burden themselves with extra social connections. In WoW Classic, this isn`t mandatory, but you will still have to interact with others – it is an MMO, after all. However, I believe that asking people questions, even just in text chat, is not at all shameful if it ultimately helps you improve and helps others. If even that level of communication is too much for you, then perhaps this game isn`t worth your time.
Within the guild, there are other small groups of players who do pretty much the same thing: chat, run dungeons together, simply because they want to spend time that way. Aurore generally positions itself as a social guild, tolerant of everyone who doesn`t behave in a completely unpleasant manner. Including people here who engage in pure charity: helping newcomers gear up, pointing out mistakes, and teaching everything – at least as long as patience lasts. As it turns out, this can also backfire.
Due to the large number of inexperienced players, we are already finding it difficult to clear raids on our own, even though more challenging content lies ahead. Firstly, there are only about 20 raiding players in the guild, whereas ideally, you need all 40. Secondly, some haven`t managed to acquire the necessary items yet. Thirdly, some people seem to have a strong allergy to potions and consumables that provide a significant boost to stats.
Some runs were so difficult that participants who were truly prepared for raids, knew boss mechanics, and correctly used their abilities, 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, in WoW Classic, nothing requires superhuman effort – only the desire to learn and free time to play.
Thanks to the help of my new friends and personal efforts (I spent, I think, a hundred hours in PvP mode, grinding rank for cool gear), I can now deal at least acceptable damage and rank among the leaders. Of course, I am far from an expert, but even I 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 turned out that we constantly have to look for a new raid leader, and almost no one plays the strongest class in the game – Warrior. Even I sometimes wonder: why stay in such a guild?
Besides purely gameplay aspects, the social component can also affect the state of a guild in WoW Classic. Sometimes people just don`t mesh, but within a group, you have to adapt. About a month ago, a character left us who knew a lot about the game and did his healing job well, but absolutely didn`t want to listen to others while refusing leadership responsibilities. To us, he was like a radio or a walkie-talkie with the transmit button stuck – a stream of information poured out, sometimes interesting and useful, but calls couldn`t get through. Ultimately, he couldn`t stand it when during another argument, no one adopted his position, and ignoring all counterarguments, he 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 certainly in any other MMO – nothing is more important than the people around you. A beginner will need patient teammates willing to encourage and teach, and an experienced player needs those who, like them, will do everything necessary without errors. Someone will look for a guild for socializing, someone for quick raid progression and good logs. The main thing is to find your company, with whom you personally want to play.
What will happen to the Aurore guild is still unclear: the mood for many is downbeat, but people aren`t giving up and are collectively solving new problems. I simply don`t want to abandon my first character, into whom I`ve truly invested time, effort, and emotions. And for that not to happen, I might have to move to another group. Fortunately, I`ve already found people with whom I can continue playing parallel on another server or simply as part of another guild, even if everyone there speaks a different language and isn`t looking for social interaction.
Initially, I entered WoW Classic with the goal of “completing” all of World of Warcraft: thankfully, developers are actively re-releasing content. I thought I would quietly play in the evenings, level up, gear up, and eventually run raids – even if with a delay. But in the end, I feel like I`ve moved to Azeroth and, it seems, have started to understand people who have played only this game their whole lives.
Of course, I don`t plan to stay here forever, but I`ve clearly found a new main game, considering I`d like to join my group on a PvP server, continue raiding on PvE, start when Mists of Pandaria launches soon, and continue moving through the re-released old expansions. I don`t 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, made new friends, argued a couple of times with people I didn`t know at all, and probably annoyed everyone around me with stories of my adventures. I already miss other games, but for some reason, I still enjoy logging into WoW. It feels like an 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 asking “Why did I read a noob`s story?”, please share your own stories from World of Warcraft or any other MMO.