Too late to start playing classic?

[Kallor]

It's never too late, as the leveling part of the game is beautiful and always fun to do. Endgame classic is utterly boring unless you're in a social and fun guild imo.

[SimithDAEN]

On the one hand yes, it is too late. The fun levelling experience happened in September / October last year.
On the other, Classic suffers from terrible player attrition. If you aren’t braindead and can google some basic class and raid guides, raiding guilds will tear you limb from limb as soon as you hit 60 just to have a warm body in their raid who can press 1 button and move out of the fire.
If you want to raid end game, now is as good a time as any. Just be ready to level via solo quests/grind/boosts. Personally, I’d recommend waiting for FRESH, to get the “proper” levelling experience, however.

[Koward]

On the one hand yes, it is too late. The fun levelling experience happened in September / October last year.
On the other, Classic suffers from terrible player attrition. If you aren’t braindead and can google some basic class and raid guides, raiding guilds will tear you limb from limb as soon as you hit 60 just to have a warm body in their raid who can press 1 button and move out of the fire.
If you want to raid end game, now is as good a time as any. Just be ready to level via solo quests/grind/boosts. Personally, I’d recommend waiting for FRESH, to get the “proper” levelling experience, however.

What is « FRESH »?
I am also thinking of coming back, as even solo Classic always felt great to me, and I could prepare chars for TBC.

[RickJamesLich]

I started quite seriously to play classic when it launched but at level 35 or so IRL happened and I stopped.

So wanted to start over and play pretty relaxed and find a casual raiding guild.

Is this possible? How is the leveling now? Old the zones completely barrens and no chance of getting dungeons or group quests done?

Thanks for answers.

I think a big part of it would depend on your class and the server. I rolled a warrior 8 months after classic released and it was a challenge because warrior's are not easy to level up solo and world pvp was rough at times. Plus everyone else had an 8 month head start.

On my server, many people have stockpiled mats for Naxx, which means you'll be at a disadvantage because things are going to get pricey once Naxx hits, in many ways they already are. I'm on Sulfuras, one of the biggest servers, most of the PUG raids are GDKP's, which means you need money to win the items, and the good stuff can go for A LOT. Also dungeons are not run as frequently as most people have geared up even their alts.

Not trying to say this stuff to dissuade you, but rather, you may want to ask different people about their experiences on the servers before you choose. Also the right class can make it a lot easier getting into a guild. As for classes, Hunters, Bear Tanks, and Resto Druids are easy to gear up since you'll have little competition. Locks are also rare and quite valuable right now (they are needed on fights like Twin emps anyway). If you roll a healer, you'll always find a guild that has a need as well.

[jeokaleo]

I don't think it's ever too late to start. There are always going to be people raiding MC, and once ZG comes out, there'll always be people running that too, and that's effectively an entry-level raid too.Kodi nox

[Synical123]

What is « FRESH »?
I am also thinking of coming back, as even solo Classic always felt great to me, and I could prepare chars for TBC.

FRESH means when they open up servers (possibly with TBC or just in general) where only new characters can be made, existing characters can't transfer to these servers, so everyone is starting on a blank slate.

Some people think these servers are going to open up and completely restart the classic cycle, some think they will open up with tbc so only new characters can start on a that tbc server specifically. Honestly, we don't even know if this is going to happen but this is what he meant.

[Nak88]

Yes, it was too late already 3 months ago.

[ifrah]

I started quite seriously to play classic when it launched but at level 35 or so IRL happened and I stopped.

So wanted to start over and play pretty relaxed and find a casual raiding guild.

Is this possible? How is the leveling now? Old the zones completely barrens and no chance of getting dungeons or group quests done?

Thanks for answers.

Want to experience the leveling? No problems
Want to experience the wonders of oneshotting through MC with no gear whatsoever? Can be done, although I doubt anyone wants to go there too much.
Want to experience the wonders of steamrolling through any other raid content? Can be done, just find a PuG and/or a guild doing such.
Want to experience the wonders of wiping several times at Naxx before clearing it? Harder to achieve as probably by the time you get to that level, there's not too many raiding guilds making progress, so you'd need to stick with just farming it.

Pop level depends on the realm you've chosen, some can be pretty quiet nowadays when it comes to low level content, or anything pre-raid to that matter. Not much different to what has happened in live the last 10+ years.

[FuxieDK]

Not too late untill TBC is announced.

If that ever will happen..

So far, I haven't seen any official statements about TBC. Not even a "We'll look into it" or "Maybe"..

[Nak88]

If that ever will happen..

So far, I haven't seen any official statements about TBC. Not even a "We'll look into it" or "Maybe"..

You must be in denial if you are skeptical at this point about the release of Classic TBC.

[quite an expert in wow]

Yes, it is too late. This is the politically incorrect sentence, but that's the truth. The leveling experience, which is 70% of WoW Vanilla gameplay, is over. No one is leveling, the few guys leveling up alts are just buying boosts and AFKing in SM, Maraudon, ZG. You will really struggle to lvl up alone from lvl 1 to 60 without gold. By the time you reach lvl 60 (if you don't quit before, which is pretty likely) Naxx will be out and Classic will die fast since most people will quit once they kill KT and they will instantly enter the huge TBC waiting room.

so this is the actual politically incorrect sentence:

leveling is the best now, you dont need to share quest mobs with thousands of players, no lag, no big server disruptions, dungeons might take a longer time but thats how vanilla wow was too, remember? (you probably dont)

many people wont play tbc

[Kuja]

I don't think any MMO is too late to start playing. I've played plenty of very old MMOs that haven't been updated in a long time, and they are still great and there's other people too.

[RevolverLynx]

You must be in denial if you are skeptical at this point about the release of Classic TBC.

Wasnt blizz asking people how they should release tbc a while back?

[Nak88]

Wasnt blizz asking people how they should release tbc a while back?

Yeah, in fact there was a second wave of surveys a few days ago.

[RevolverLynx]

Yeah, in fact there was a second wave of surveys a few days ago.

Thats basically a confirmation in my book.

[schwank05]

I started quite seriously to play classic when it launched but at level 35 or so IRL happened and I stopped.

So wanted to start over and play pretty relaxed and find a casual raiding guild.

Is this possible? How is the leveling now? Old the zones completely barrens and no chance of getting dungeons or group quests done?

Thanks for answers.

I guess I would argue that now is the perfect time in my eyes to start playing again. Find a good guild and get boosted to Max level and then get Gear Boosted and blow through Content with ease you can 15-20man most of the early raids, maybe even less now that everyone has Naxx gear.

[FuxieDK]

You must be in denial if you are skeptical at this point about the release of Classic TBC.

I'm not in denial of anything.. I just haven't heard any Blizzard emplyee mention Classic TBC or seen any blue posts about it.

Mind you, Vanilla Classic was announced some 3 years prior to release, and there have been no official words (that I have seen/heard) about TBC (yet).

If I'm mistaken, please show me some links.

Given the fiasco, that was Classic Vanilla, I doubt they will make Classic TBC, even though it is by far the best expansion to date.

[Echocho]

It's probably too late if you want to experience endgame unless you find a guild that's rerolling somewhere. Naxx is out and for many players the game ends when they clear.

[Kralljin]

Considering they just released a poll in regards to Fresh Classic servers, it might be your best shot to wait for those (if they happen).

Given the fiasco, that was Classic Vanilla, I doubt they will make Classic TBC, even though it is by far the best expansion to date.

I'm just going to repost what i posted in another thread:

-Blizzard saying the "legwork is done" for TBC, as TBC is much smaller in scope than Classic
-Ion saying "TBC is the logical next step"
-A poll on how to roll out TBC servers
-J. Allen Brack saying that they have plans for the future of the modern game and Classic in a recent earnings call
-Blizzard still hiring engineers for WoW: Classic
-John Hight saying that Classic has its own team
-A recent poll in regards to Fresh Classic servers also asked about TBC Classic

[Beuargh]

I'm not in denial of anything.. I just haven't heard any Blizzard emplyee mention Classic TBC or seen any blue posts about it.

Mind you, Vanilla Classic was announced some 3 years prior to release, and there have been no official words (that I have seen/heard) about TBC (yet).

If I'm mistaken, please show me some links.

Given the fiasco, that was Classic Vanilla, I doubt they will make Classic TBC, even though it is by far the best expansion to date.

Blizzard sent me a survey about how they should release it. if it's not a pretty clear sign, I'm blind