From 1 to 40. My experience so far.

[Vrinara]

I thought I would post my thoughts since I hit 40 on the 12 of October. (Yes it took me this long.)

To start, I am leveling a warlock, and generally it has been rough for me since I never got to experience the vanilla experience. I joined Late TBC, when wrath was in Beta still. So going into this, I didn't know ANYTHING about classic other then what people have said about it. Going into classic, I am not playing because I want nostalgia. I am only playing because it's free with my sub, and told myself I wouldn't burn myself out on it by rushing to 60 like other mad men. (You do you though, If you rushed, good on you!)

Addons I used: (Yes, I used addons. I do not care what anyone says about people who use addons. I am not here to be told how to play my game.)
Questie
TRP
Azeroth Autopilot (NO longer using due to it being completely broken and confusing)
Allyroute

1-10: Because I started playing during launch, it was rough questing in the starting zones. There was waves of people just destroying mobs everywhere. It was very hard to level, even on a rp server like I am on. But once I hit level 10 and got my first talent point.. I felt like I accomplished something, and considering Live (BFA) leveling, when you get to your talents and have to pick on, It doesn't feel like I accomplished anything. Here it felt great and made me smile. Leveling as a early lock with no Blue berry was rough, but once I got it, I had little issue at this level.

11-20: This was very rough because I didn't know where to go after completing the human starting zone. At this point, AAP was telling me to go to Darkshore. Like almost every zone, it was packed with people, made it harder to level in some places. After leveling to 18 I switched zones, went to Loch Modan, and got a new addon known as Allyroute. AAP was being a pain in the ass, so decided to just stop using it. around 16-19 I really wasn't feeling warlock and I kept going back and forth on if I wanted to continue or not. This happened a lot till around 34ish. I wasn't having too hard of a time killing mobs, but it was so boring! But I did do my first dungeon of classic at 20, and I really enjoyed it.

21-30: I stopped using Allyroute and just began grabbing every quest I could since it wanted to put me in Wetlands, and I was having a hard time with mobs there. So I left and went to Redridge and completed the zones. Had many groups with people. Some were assholes some were good people. I also ran BFD with a very good group and SFK. Sadly though, this time I really wasn't feeling Classic. I had started working IRL and I just didn't have the time to play. Plus I was bored and didn't know what I was doing. and the fact that people were telling me to go back to Retail, as if it was an insult, really was turning me off to the game. Thankfully my guild is what kept my hopes up, and around 28, I switched specs and decided to try my hand in Drain Tanking. Which at first, was very rough, mainly because I had made a huge mistake while putting my points in, that wouldn't be fixed till around 36ish. While leveling through this area, I did many of the warlock quests. The Class quests are something I have missed in WoW for a long time, and one of the reasons I liked Legion. Class quests are something I wish Live (BFA) had. And the talent points are something I do hope they bring back. I Got my succubus, and at 30, my fel hunter. Was so fun getting them.

31-40:I ran gnomer about 3 times at 30ish. As much as I dislike the dungeons, the quests it has really helped me level a bit. It was at this point where I really started having fun with Warlock. While I did die a few times while questing, they were because either people had pulled mobs, died and their mobs got put on me thus causing me to be overwhelmed. Or just pulling too many mobs I couldn't out heal. At around 34 is where I started using Allyroute once again, and started to fly through the quests, and though I took time to go and explore a bit I generally stuck to what Allyroute was telling me to go. At about 36, I respec again to fix my talents because I stupidly did them wrong and it made me broke from 36-38. I also ran SM for the first time since Wrath, and oh my.. I have missed it.. My group went through GY, Lib (Where I got my Caster dagger) Arm, and Cath. In cath we wiped on the last bosses, but killed Morgraine... So we couldn't kill Whitemane, which sucked. Running SM brought a lot of memories back. I also continued doing the class quests, and even got my lock orb which goes great with the dagger from SM Lib. After a lot of back tracking and doing quests, I finally hit Arathi Highlands. Which is where I finally hit 40.

40: After hitting level 40, I honestly was feeling a bit burned out on Classic, something I said I wouldn't do to myself, so I decided to take a break from it and play some other games. Get some rested xp before hitting the grind again to 60. While I've had my ups an downs on classic. I really am enjoying the game. I feel like I am on an adventure. Something I don't feel on Live (BFA) anymore. It's something I miss. I got my fel horsy, and logged. Overall? I really do hope that Blizz takes some things from classic and integrates them back into Live. and this isn't the end of my adventure. I still have 20 levels to go, and I can't wait.

This has been my experience and thoughts after spending 2 months of leveling. Honestly it has been a roller coaster ride. I am taking a small break to recharge, as well as get some rested xp, and play some other games. But I will be back. How's your experience so far? From what I have read, many are kinda in between liking and hating classic. I've even seen people who have had their experience ruined by Elitists of classic. How do you feel so far?

[ReD-EyeD]

My two cents:
Everytime I hear someone blaming "elitists" ruining their game it's their own fault in some way or another.

[l7arkness]

Preety cool post

[Huntingbear_grimbatol]

Key word in your post: ADVENTURE.
You remember people that helped you, you remember generous people, you remember the hateful quests and how good it felt getting your mount.
Honestly does anyone remember leveling or world quests the past 2-3 expansions (apart from the fucking turtles)??? No they don’t, because they weren’t hard or dangerous.

Time invested = Remembering.

[AeneasBK]

Which server were you playing on?

[ReD-EyeD]

Key word in your post: ADVENTURE.
You remember people that helped you, you remember generous people, you remember the hateful quests and how good it felt getting your mount.
Honestly does anyone remember leveling or world quests the past 2-3 expansions (apart from the fucking turtles)??? No they don’t, because they weren’t hard or dangerous.

Time invested = Remembering.

An actually smart and insightful person on these forums? Get the fuck out, there is no place for your wisdom here.

But in all seriousness yes, this is a big part of classic design, even tho it wasn't intentional. You can't have good quests without bad quests, you can't have good willed people without absolute assholes to contrast them and you can't have fun without boring periods.

Retail, being overall a better game in my opinion, just lacks the fricktion needed for pleasure.

[Akasha64]

Classic WoW I think definitely caters to those who want a more old-school feeling in their MMOs. I think as time goes on, and even more expansions come out for retail, more people will prefer to stick with something they know they like, rather than investing every 2 years into learning a completely different game with each new expansion. Yes, you may like the next expansion, or you won't. It's a gamble. But.... you know you will like Classic/Vanilla WoW no matter what.

As people get older, time for experimentation gets less compared to their youth years, overall time gets scarcer, so many will just choose the safer route and play what they know. It's difficult to teach an old dog new tricks. They know the vanilla tricks cause they played it in their youth years. They won't know the tricks of the 12th, 13th and 14th WoW expansions (unless they put a big time investment into it).

[ReD-EyeD]

While I’m worried about their extreme easiness at the moment, I’m also a huge fan of the more accessible raid design in classic.

Retail mythic raids are all about hyper coordination and personal responsibility. This is extremely exclusionary. The coordination requirements mean that your raid team has to be very consistent, people have notes on screens with cd rotations etc., and that coordination takes a really long time to get comfortable with.

The personal responsibility means that in most fights, your 20th best player can wipe the raid. You can’t really carry anybody.

Vanilla raids are mostly about gear. Your tank needs this much armor to survive, your dps needs to be above x. It means that you can be a bit more flexible and pug, or carry a few people. It means that your worst player can’t wreck the raid. It also means that you can join a group fresh and do the fight without reading a 1000 word article on wowhead describing the mechanics. You just get geared up and go. It’s so much better.

Not sure what you're implying here as LFR is pretty accessible in retail and you're comparing classic to a fucking mythic which is intended for hardcore players.
Get your priorities straight.

[Halyon]

Key word in your post: ADVENTURE.
You remember people that helped you, you remember generous people, you remember the hateful quests and how good it felt getting your mount.
Honestly does anyone remember leveling or world quests the past 2-3 expansions (apart from the fucking turtles)??? No they don’t, because they weren’t hard or dangerous.

Time invested = Remembering.

Adventure doesn't just mean leveling taking ages. I found vanilla abysmally boring when I wasn't with a friend or guild group. The cohesion really wasn't there for me. Something that can be said is lacking in BfA, which is true. The questing is much more streamlined, and there's progression through the zones, and I really like that personally. It's an adventure. It's there even if you're leveling or max level (if you spammed dungeons or fac changed, etc) which is def. both a blessing and a curse.

Dailies don't all need to be hard/dangerous, they're dailies. You just do them to fulfill some endgoal or to do catch-up. You're never forced to do them as such. It depends what you have access to when it comes to gearing (catching up), if you have a guild, or just do LFR and go about things on your lonseome, which is fine, the caveat being what sort of time and effort one has to invest to reach their goal in their desired time-frame. If you feel the game is a grind, be it classic or current, take a break. It's better in the long run. Playing under duress/stress is not worth the time.

What current has a problem with is convoluted af writing. There's more sense in it than many people do give it credit for, but I can see why they say it. I'm hoping they can get something better done if they 'unite' the factions and don't have to keep the balance on a razor's edge, lest they invoke the nerd-rage from either side about favoritism. It should have been done a long time ago. PvP doesn't have to change in the least because of it, it's just 'friendly fire' wargames for those interested and to keep themselves sharp when it comes to lore.

The only things I remember from vanilla were mucking about with my friend when we were leveling druids, but that was because we had fun as friends, the game was just the medium. My best memories are scattered from TBC and beyond, cataclysm being one of the highlights, but mostly because I was really unlucky with Deathwing roasting the zone I was in constantly, ended up writing a fake complaint and the GM had a lark for 5 mins.

Maybe it's me being the problem, but I don't remember anything of randos. My memories of people are from my guilds or friends I also socialized with outside of WoW. Either way, you're not wrong, but different strokes for different folks and such.

[Schmilblick]

My experience so far 1-56 : worst experience ever.

[ydraw]

It means that you can be a bit more flexible and pug, or carry a few people. It means that your worst player can’t wreck the raid. It also means that you can join a group fresh and do the fight without reading a 1000 word article on wowhead describing the mechanics. You just get geared up and go. It’s so much better.

Then your group kills 1 boss and disbands for whatever reason and then you can't raid for the rest of the week. Retail is infinitely better for casual players, there is a level of play for every level of player.

[avitush]

I've only made it to 44, and so far, I'm having a good time.

I got outvoted by my guildies on PvP server vs PvE server (I wanted PvE) when we were discussing our plans for Classic. So I'm stuck on a PvP server because that's what the majority wanted. Which kind of sucks for me because I don't like enjoy ganking or being ganked, but I've been playing WoW with this same group of friends for the better part of 12 years. So I sucked it up and rolled on their server because playing with them is more important to me than PvP server vs PvE server. Although they're the only reason I'm playing on the PvP server, so if the guild ever falls apart for whatever reason, they all lose interest, or whatever else happens, I'll reroll PvE in a heartbeat. Even if I'm level 60 and geared at the time.

Aside from that, I've been having a lot of fun. I'm currently bouncing back and forth between Feralas and Tanaris, and those are two of my favorite zones in Classic. I'm not really sure what I want to do at 60, but I should still have some time to think about that.

I've barely run dungeons so far. For the most part, I've just been grabbing all the quests for a particular dungeon, running it once to knock out all the quests, then moving on. The only dungeon I've run more than once so far has been SM, and that's just because I got in a group of higher levels who were willing to carry a couple of us lowbies through armory repeatedly because they wanted tabards. Most of my XP has been coming from non-dungeon quests. Although I do expect that to change when I get higher level and start needing pre-raid BiS gear.

[ReD-EyeD]

While other difficulties do exist on live, the game is designed around mythic and as a result the other difficulties are pretty terribly designed as pale shades of mythic.

This statement has zero basing, especially after you calling them "terribly designed pale shades of mythic".
I also fail to understand how "waiting for a pull where no one fucks up and the boss dies" is a flawed design.
So what you're saying that you only want a zero personal responsibility spamming 1 button, right?

[hulkgor]

Did i end up on blogspot by mistake?

[Donald Hellscream]

I've reached level 42 so far and I have no desire to continue playing, unsurprisingly I don't feel the same way about classic as I did when I was 13. It just isn't for me anymore.

[ydraw]

Wow anger.

Ok secondary points here. While other difficulties do exist on live, the game is designed around mythic and as a result the other difficulties are pretty terribly designed as pale shades of mythic.

They are all still way better designed than classic raid fights lmao

but the coordination requirement is mostly gone because you overwhelm mechanics that require coordination with gear.

Ok chief, guess you just blew up Jaina's barrels with your awesome gear. Guess you dunked your orbs in Ghuun's vag by waving your awesome gear at them.

You're dribbling shit. Raiding in retail is better than classic in every way. If you like classic anyway, that's ok, but don't make shit up.

[ReD-EyeD]

While i dont agree with his statment thats a idiotic conclusion.
People prefer differnt things in online games. When someone is asked to perform a dance dance revolution boss mechanic and its insta wipe because 1 guy didnt get it right its gets frustrating quick. Nothing to do with pressing 1 button. And obviously that's 1 attempt so in the next one i could be the one or someone else. Varying people have differnt opinions, including myhtic raiders.
Also i agree that the game teaching you ignoring mechanics is retarded and killes of its own playerbase. The raiding community is in a steady decline forever because new recruits have no grasp of anything. A blizzard created problem because they give people gear that they have no business having which let them brute force mechanics that they dont even read the tooltip off.

Being angry about single person wiping a 25 people raid on a higher difficulty is really strange to me. It is basically a team game want it or not. If your goalkeeper didn't catch the ball you lose. If your mid player fed the enemy Meepo/Ahri, guess what, you lose. Don't expect a zero responsibility from a team based game. It's like jumping into a winter lake and whine about the water being cold.

In contrast, lower difficulties are made SPECIFICALLY for this where you can kill the boss with only a half raid alive while simultaneously being harder than classic raiding.

[ReD-EyeD]

If we catch a goal as a forward i can turn the tide. Thats the point.

Yes, you also can do extra as a dps if other dps dies or rotate healers saves on hard hitting abilities when the tanks are supposed to switch. Obviously I'm talking about LFR here, but you don't get instantly blown in normal and heroic. Yes, you can't ignore the core mechanics, but they're very forgiving there and instead of instagibbing people they just make your raid life harder. So yes, I stand by my analogy.
Class immunities were nerfed because they were abused to ignore raid mechanics, nothing more, nothing less.

[Dacien]

For me, I always wanted to raid in Vanilla, so that was my goal with a side helping of enjoying the questing experience. When I look back, I actually breezed through leveling with the help of a guide. I took detours for dungeons here and there, but it was mostly questing and grinding. I listened to an entire audiobook slamming levels into those squishy blood elves in Azshara. But I noticed I like to have the sound and music up just a little bit; it helps keep me connected to the game if that makes sense.

It's been fun, can't wait for the other raids.

[Celarent]

Key word in your post: ADVENTURE.
You remember people that helped you, you remember generous people, you remember the hateful quests and how good it felt getting your mount.
Honestly does anyone remember leveling or world quests the past 2-3 expansions (apart from the fucking turtles)??? No they don’t, because they weren’t hard or dangerous.

Time invested = Remembering.

This is exactly it. I didn't think I'd enjoy simple questing as much as I am.

The formula is content challenging enough to be inefficient or difficult for a single at-level player to complete, and challenging enough for small groups to have to consciously cooperate. Frequent need for this level of teamwork, as well as a closed environment, necessitates courtesy. At the same time, the content is enjoyable to play solo, so grouping is often a polite or friendly means to an end, discouraging full parties from spiraling into a Diabloesque, numbed flow, clearing quests and tasks that aren't well-designed for them. Add several layers of object-related gameplay like relevant professions, consumables and even vendored items, and there's a pretty robust RPG underneath the interaction.