caseykiesling4348: My biggest difference is I can no longer get in trouble with my parents for playing at 11pm on a school night

Xteria89: This is what the "No changes" crowd got wrong. Making no changes to a game when the players have evolved will not result in the same experience as you had with vanilla way back when

greentea7180: Having played OG vanilla I can definitely confirm, lol. After weeks of wiping the day my guild cleared MC for the first time was absolutely MOMENTUS, people screaming on vent literally blew out one of my cheap PC speakers. Onyxia was one of the most epic boss fights I've ever been a part of, back then getting 40 people on the same page was no mean feat. Going into BWL was a big deal, it honestly separated the noobs from the pros because it was a massive difficulty step up compared to MC, ultimately vael rocked our shit and broke up my first guild. Having an epic mount was a massive flex, and most people at 60 rode around on level 40 mounts. Also one thing that people don't really consider are the graphics, back in the day vanilla WoW graphics (although stylized) hung with the big dogs like Halo 2, MGS3, Half Life 2, etc. Exploring the world was a big thing back then, I had a whole group of friends that would just explore the world with and summon people to hyjal, the floating crystal trees of deadmines, the hidden troll village, the caverns of time, the dwarf airfield, on top of org, etc, it was literally how I afforded my first epic mount. Oh and the city raids, oooomg they were freaking EPIC to be a part of, now a days in classic hardly anyone wants to raid a city due to DK's. Honestly Vanilla was such a crazy experience, I've got a dozen friends or so I've kept up with for 20 years because of it, and even been to a couple of their weddings. They were different times man, good times, damn I feel old saying that LOL.

ThomasKainer: I really really hope an upcoming Classic gets rid of all (!) world buffs.

GrogsGroggyGames: My first 60 took like 120 days played. A big part of it was I loved to explore. Was a dwarf paladin that had visited all horde capitals by like level 20-30

ulfgaar7724: Biggest difference: Classic didn't have the old talent trees prior to gradual revamps throughout the patch cycle. I'm looking at you Lacerate and Spirit Bond.

LoganBrown-g5h: Hardcore takes care of this. You have to play the game it’s meant to be played. And every upgrade means something and is celebrated

The123dsd: Social is a huge thing. Back in 04 the thought of playing with other people over the internet was still very new to a lot of people. For people in 25 it's the normal. This is the biggest difference IMO

brandoncastellano1858: 10 second boss fights is genuinely baffling. Accounting for the GCD, that’s only 6 button presses per person in the raid.

Jameson-o1n: I’ve been playing since 2004 which at the time I was in high school. It wasn’t until the 2019 re-release that I actually paid attention and really played the game. Up until now, I’m still learning new things that I never knew back in 2004. Love this game!

fxr.markus: One of my friends fell asleep on his Keyboard during an AV in Vanilla, woke up hours later got in an AV again... still the same round

Kamikazibroadcast: The thing that bugs me most about retail wow is that all the OG zones "Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms" have no point anymore, Oh and Flying at level 10?

therealnervana: The biggest difference is - if you actually play objectives in AV your account gets perma banned. Anybody not colluding to lose as quickly as possible le gets all 30 years of their wow account DELETED. Do NOT actually try to play BGs.

donk5355: Havent you made this video like 5 times already?

Corer_: You can't really recreate that same experience when you have players that spreadsheet everything and treat the game like a desk job. And it's kind of expected of others to do the same. The streamer-loyal servant culture, gdkp, botting, all of that nonsense made it rot just like retail.

DanKxxx: We knew edgemasters were good back in the day. Once the warrior patch came out people actually started using them. I lot of people say the game wasn't solved back in 2005 but it kinda was, just not many people knew about it. It wasn't at the same extent that we didn't have parsers to show us what the optimist piece would be, but we had a rough idea.

ps5056: Boring as fuck. Run around the world for buff then go for `boss` fights with barely any mechanics

Glonag: That's why I didn't like Wrath of the Lich King, everyone was in a hurry and was noticeably annoyed if you slowed down even a little bit

Emkay2904: My god you milk the shit out of the same videos over and over

matthewtruitt8077: 10 sec kills but giving moonkin a bit more damage is sacrilegious

TrueAzeroth: The main difference is absence of /spit

But yea, we all play for nostalgia, even flows of 2004 vanilla become its advantage

General12th: More WillEs than you can shake your nostalgia at!

diznewbzuk4093: Then you was a dwarf and now you are a human (thumbnail), now that's real progression xD

losergamer8123: How many times can Willie have a video about the same thing and I watch all of it

MikeyBradshaw28: It’s the same game, people just know everything and it’s not really that fun anymore. It’s become more of a habitual routine than an enjoyable video game.

Jul 07 2025

Buy WOW Classic Gold (lvl60)