World of Warcraft Classic: 10 Things You Need To Know Before You Start

World of Warcraft first came into the scene over a decade ago in 2004. This was a big change up to the franchise where it allowed gamers to experience a deep and rich lore-filled world. Since its release, the game has been moving on with countless updates and expansions. There are no signs of the game slowing down but as it continues to receive new updates and content, there is a clear sign from gamers who wish to jump back to the early days of the game. For a while now, the development team Blizzard Entertainment left gamers to create their own servers in order to relive the early years of World of Warcraft, but will soon have an official means to join the classic days.

Coming later this year in August will be classic servers for World of Warcraft that drops off the different updates and expansions. Instead, gamers are given the original feel of the game which has plenty excited to test it out. Now just how popular these servers will get obviously remains to be seen. However, in a couple of months, we’ll get our chance to dabble back in time.

#10 Content Drop

This is an easy one to start off with. Because with the game going back means losing out on current day content. Various expansions will no longer be available within the server and it’s uncertain if they ever will be brought back. There has been speculation online that perhaps World of Warcraft classic servers will receive early expansions as time goes on but at the moment it’s uncertain just how far these updates will go before being capped off.

#9 Content Updates

Going in hand with our previous point, the community manager for Blizzard has stated in the past that the development team will be bringing in updates over time. There’s a total of four content phases that will roll out over time. Starting off you’ll get the original vanilla experience of World of Warcraft but as time goes on you’ll also receive content that was provided in the 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, and finally 1.6 patch updates.

“Our first phase primarily focuses on launching Classic with Onyxia and Molten Core, but we’ve decided to hold off on Dire Maul for a while. Maraudon is still in the first phase because it was originally released on December 18, 2004, just two weeks after the first player hit level 60, but we recognize that Dire Maul is in a different category. Some of the loot that’s attainable from Dire Maul is so good that it would affect progression through those early raids. We’re also planning to hold off on releasing Kazzak and Azuregos at launch as well, for the same reasons.”

#8 Tools

There will be a slew of tools you’ll find missing as well. If you go into the game, don’t expect a Dungeon Finder, Achievements, Auction Houses, among other new additions that were provided in the game over the years. Not to mention, flying is no longer a thing so you may find yourself being quite limited to the gameplay experience if you’ve never jumped on World of Warcraft during the early years. It’s like the old saying, you don’t know how good you have it until its gone. Luckily, this is just a server variant to the game so if missing out on some of these common tools today is a bit too much to handle then you don’t have to stick with the server.

#7 Getting World of Warcraft Classic To Work Modern Day Was A Challenge

Another little aspect that you may find of interest is just how much work went into the classic edition of the game. It’s not easy to pull off apparently as in an interview with PCGamesN, World of Warcraft game director, Ion Hazziokstas stated that the team has a few obstacles to overcome. While the developers still had all the server and data for the original 1.12 client, this content was designed for older hardware not used today. As a result, it took a lot of manpower to go through the data and deal with the various bugs. So after a few years rolled by and the community continued to ask for the classic experience of World of Warcraft, the team looked at a means to take the original data and design a modern client and server architecture to understand the 1.12 data.

#6 Combat May Feel Different

Again, this goes back to our point about tools but you’re going to lose a few components on how combat handles today. There are more options to run with when combating against an enemy that’s not available in World of Warcraft classic, as a result, there could be a bit more strategy played into battles or to some, it could just feel a whole lot slower. We’re definitely interested in seeing the reception when it comes to combat from players who may not have experienced it before.

#5 Timeline

If you’re looking for more lore behind World of Warcraft then you may want to go back and read up on the events leading up to the game. World of Warcraft takes place four years after the events of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Fans online have even suggested that gamers go back and play the campaign of Warcraft III or watch it through YouTube let’s plays. The start of World of Warcraft does offer a number of references to the game. While it’s not an absolute must to go back and play Warcraft III, you may still find the narrative adventure appealing and worth going through as you still have time before the classic server officially launches.

#4 Loot Trading Will Remain But There’s A Catch

Loot trading was added into World of Warcraft as a means to solve a problem. In a post made by the community manager over at Blizzard has stated that with loot trading was added because a player could accidentally loot an item meant for another player. While this system could be abused, the feature is still attached to the game but the catch is that there will only be a two-hour loot trading system placed and it will only apply to soulbound gear that drops in raids.

#3 Create Your Characters In Advance

If you’re ready to jump into battle and start your journey then you may want to take note that you’ll be able to create your character early. Blizzard Entertainment has stated that character creation options will be available on August 13, 2019. This will give players time to build up to three characters but this option will only be available to those who have an active subscription or game time attached to their account.

#2 There’s Already A Beta

The beta has already started which is a stress test for the servers and only those who received an invite to participate can enter the beta. Invites will go out to those who have an active subscription or game time and there’s also a certain pool of players who will get invited. Blizzard Entertainment is factoring in how long a player has been subscribed to the game among other aspects before sending out invitations to join in on the fun. Regardless, if you do get an invite then the stress test schedule going forward will be listed below according to the post listing on the official World of Warcraft homepage.

Stress Test Starting Times

Stress Test 1: Wed May 22–Thurs May 23
Stress Test 2: Wed Jun 19– Thurs Jun 20
Stress Test 3: Thurs Jul 18– Fri July 19

#1 Official Start Times

If you’re still interested in jumping back into yesteryear with World of Warcraft then mark your calendars. The server will go live on August 27, 2019, worldwide or August 26, 2019, for those in America. Below will be listed the official starting time around the globe.

Starting Times