WRATH vs RETAIL: Which WoW Should YOU Play?

With 2 versions of World of Warcraft available to us now, we are faced with the choice of which one we should play? Which one is better? Which is worth our time? Should you play Classic? Or should you play Retail?
Here is a quick guide on what Classic and Retail are like to try and help answer the question of Which WoW Should You Play Right Now?
Season 4 Overview Video:
• WoW's EXPERIMENTAL Sea...

[@Steezy_Bruh]

My brother played for 15+ years and has been teaching me the ropes for the past week or so. Been having loads of fun in Classic. Will eventually jump into retail when I fully understand the basics and fundamentals of the game & get to level 60. Currently after about 5 days of classic I’m level 17 and getting my bearings of the world. It truly is a magnificent game with a big learning curve. Enjoying every moment

[@jorgenamnum6481]

I enjoyed Retail way more after playing classic and understanding the appreciation classic questing teaches you

[@Jacko-p3tfs]

So what your saying is that I should get classic for a while then retail?? im new and learning everything btw.

[@Steezy_Bruh]

@@Jacko-p3tfs that is what I am doing currently. This game is so much fun. Classic is definitely an experience. Once I do everything in this, i will venture into retail and learn the ropes of that. It helps that I have my brother along for the adventure. He’s played for 15+ years and has taught me a lot these past couple of days

[@jdsn1613]

teach me too :( @@Steezy_Bruh

[@Steezy_Bruh]

@@jdsn1613 what you need help with good buddy

[@Retro64_]

I've found classic to be a more MMORPG whilst retail is more MMO E-Sport. Levelling in classic is part of the game whilst in retail levelling feels more of a road block you have to get past to play the game "properly". Retail is so focused around instanced content and due to this there is barely anyone out in the world other than the new expansion/zone and when you're just doing instanced content 99% of the time is that even a MMO? Isn't that just a multiplayer game...

[@Sithari66]

Easy Wrath. But that’s just because I like the play style. Play what you like. That’s why we got options.

[@BrettStefani]

Exactly. Different games for different players or just what we are feeling at the time.

[@KrakkenXXX]

If youre stuck in the past sure

[@Bahrtuk]

​@KrakkenXXX I'm stuck in the past but that's because the present sucks ass

[@neverskipslegday7118]

Classic Era/vanilla on whitemane cluster forever, its active on weekends and theres raids most days of the work week. Retiring from retail/live indefinitely…played every xpac at some point or another when they were actually released. Wow will never be what it once was.

[@BrettStefani]

Each to their own for however we enjoy the game. WoW will never be the same but it shouldn't go backwards (That's what classic is for so in reality WoW is still exactly what it was). If games don't evolve and change they suffer for it. Wrath Classic is also changed for the better to bring more players and keep others.

[@spaceowl9246]

Love the editing. :)

[@BrettStefani]

Cheers mate!

[@ethancarter9136]

I recently started playing wow never having played before, and I find myself having a lot more fun with classic. I am not a huge story person but it feels like there is just no cohesive story in retail when there is some form of cohesion in classic. I finished the introductory area from retail and wanted to go around questing after, but with all the expansions there was no guidance on where to go or what to do. I get that it is an open game and you sort of pick your own adventure, but it just seems to be done in a way that makes it more confusing than rewarding. Major milestones like getting a flying mount feel pretty lackluster in retail as well, since by doing a couple quests and getting to level ~35 I had accumulated over 1000 gold. Might just be a lack of knowledge of the game, but I just find classic to be more polished and I actually have an idea of what to do next after I finish with an area or a milestone.

[@blothsear7289]

I feel the exact same way. Not only this but in classic it feels rewarding killing things that are stronger than you, loot is more random and I feel items matter more, the quests feel more impactful bc I have to read them without following a marker, and so on. I agree with this 100% and I am a new WOW player coming from retail. The only things I don’t like in wow classic is no shared loot when you hit something and not being able to use my F key to interact lol that’s about it.

[@CaptainBeano-lz6mm]

Same here new wow player and classic absolutely slaps. Retail genuinely makes me feel like im wasting my time (ironic statement for someone playing wow i know)

[@vekokrava1423]

Wotlk story in early levels and tbc is not connected to current wotlk expansion and it is same for retail. When you enter current expansion in both wotlk and retail, you will notice that the story in retail is much more fluid and has more connections and mini stories that all fit together well. Vanilla has no major story and is split in no particular order it's very chaotic and doesn't follow lore of WoW. Vanilla story is one of the worst examples on how to do lore telling within the game. Classic has only one aspect and arguably two aspects that are better than retail - 1st being open world content (duo balance of sustaining the character for competitive content), which means better economy and more fun ways to grind gold in open world. Compared to retail gold farming, Vanilla is more chill, much more varieties (spots) to farm and understands the RPG aspects of MMO much. Retail has convenient changes that go against traditional RPG nature - shared loot, skinning and too much AoE grind that make game hyper zoomer modern. 2nd element might be combat to some people, just because it has elements of traditional turn based combat in some sense, because you are not spamming buttons and instead you are waiting for right opportunity to strike. In many ways you trade attacks with your enemy and one that finds vulnerability wins.

[@osamabonjovi6764]

I feel like this is the exact same thing as rs3 vs osrs

[@BrettStefani]

I mean yeah it kinda is

[@stealth_muff1n884]

It literally is yeah 😂

[@liamh3710]

As someone who grew up playing WoW, looking back on Classic just reminds me how clunky it was way back. I appreciate it a lot, but when I’m playing I find myself playing retail.

[@SirMo]

I'm an old school player who hasn't played WOW since Warlords Of Draenor. Starting from scratch. My goal currently is just to level through quests and see what the experience is like. I'm planning on keeping it casual though, as I don't have that much time to dedicate to WOW. I got a BM hunter and got it to level 45 over the weekend. The LFG is definitely a big quality of life improvement if you're playing solo, over classic WOW I'd say. But the information overload is real. Things have changed quite a bit since the last time I played.

[@nex-grob9543]

The problem I have with retail is the getting into a guild part and raiding. In classic Im not bombarded by the amount of stuff to do and as a person with a full time job and wife and kid I dont have the time to spend on it. Classic is perfect

[@BrettStefani]

This would be true of Shadowlands, but not Dragonflight. The content in DF is not required and the requirement to raid is the same as claaaic: gear up. Unless you are buying gold and going into gdkps to get your gear, they are effectively the same in terms of what is needed. The difference is that outside of raid, retail has far more content than Classic, which is why a lot of classic players are playing retail currently.

[@Blunechi]

Catch up gear on dragon flight is insane right now without making reading trivial

[@TheModernwarfarenut]

Y’know just found your channel and love the editing and style. Easy sub

[@BrettStefani]

Cheers my dude, glad you enjoy!

[@pipinggpipingg1487]

I don't know how it is now but in the legion expansion the classes were really really bad ,you spam spam spam then press the procs if those happens etc. every class felt similar and streamlined , leveling /world interactions world pvp etc. almost non existant ,mana is not a resource but a placeholder while in classic it's a really important resource that you have to be mindful of . The only thing legion was better at are the raids and maybe having mythic+ dungeons ,raid mechanics in legi as a tank was really good and fun and challenging .

[@Thefloodsuck]

Ive always wanted to play WOW but was always hesitant because of the sub and paying for DLC. plus the lvl 20 trial just isnt enough to really get a feel. i feel like classic would be the choice for me just because you pay for a sub and you can play it. also i grew up during the time of wrath so why wouldnt i want to make my inner child happy and play wrath for the first time. ive actually been playing FFXIV and have been having fun with that trial (up to lvl 60) but WOW has always been that one game i wanted to play my entire life.

[@zglando6662]

Retail peaked when Cataclysm/Pandaria was a thing, the end of MoP and the start of Shadowlands I had ZERO interest. Now, it just looks bloated and all the content mushed into what looks like a last ditch effort to repair retail. Literally looks like every paint color was thrown at the wall hoping it would cover the whole house evenly in this expansion. There's no motivation for me for retail anymore, they reset all the levels, completely destroyed the leveling process and revamped it, now u just fly through leveling like it's nothing, which makes new players not experience everything (also why they have a new starting zone), redid talents, again (which is whatever) and you can buy gold from blizzard. It's just sad that the answer to the botting problem is "We'll just do it so they are not incentivised to do it" and blaming the player base for not reporting enough essentially. Blizzard made a lot of mistakes and classic so far hasn't been one, other than the server congestion and forced transfers at launch (and botting still) that I've noticed. I do want group finder eventually, cross realm group finder mostly. Just so you're not stuck looking on your server. I do feel LFR(Looking for raid) was where Blizzard messed up, LFG is fine, but they devalued raiding to the point where 25man LFR runs were almost as good as 10 man runs that took an entire Saturday night to do... As a returning 10+ year WoW vet....I'm going classic, for unfortunate reasons, I had sooo much progress on my main in retail it's hard to give up on that and turn the dial back, just to maybe end up with retail 2.0 I think Wotlk should go to Pandaria, and stop. Especially because the farming in Pandaria was very fun, the quest lines in MOP were also very fun.

[@Blunechi]

I love old wow and I love retail. More of a retail guy cuz I hate doing old content over and over. Retail has had some speed bumps tho in past years BUT dragon flight is incredible. They’re going back to their roots and you can feel the passion again. The game is the best it’s been in YEARS.

[@carlstigaxel]

I have barely played classic, and do like retail because i love going back to old raids as a high lvl, and just collecting transmogs and creating a cool character. I dont really want to grind and feel its a little bit less grinding on retail. But i always take big breaks between playing periods because I get bored eventually and angry at the monthly sub as well as paying for DLC

[@AdmiralDro]

This is exactly how I play it too lol. I feel very seen rn

[@chrisbushman718]

I recently came back to the game after 13 years, so there is a lot to catch up on! I tried both and have decided to stick with retail. I don't want to go back to the old game, I want to see what's new in WoW since I left. Currently leveling a shaman in Legion and really enjoying the quest content. Fighting with the Doomhammer is really fun!

[@Rudizel]

Classic wrath was the best wow ever was and that’s where we will be.

[@BrettStefani]

I have yet to experience this, but it is one of the reasons I want to. And looking at parse number comparison, you are right, It is where most WoW players are atm.

[@Rudizel]

@@BrettStefani Every class was tuned so well in this expansion that you can’t go wrong playing any of them. Not to mention the talent trees were absolutely fantastic, before cata dumbed them down to 5 rows. Can’t wait to experience wrath again.

[@BrettStefani]

@@Rudizel Totally, and I can't wait to experience that. But it was MoP that changed them to the retail version, not Cata. Everyone forgets that.

[@Rudizel]

@@BrettStefani oh that’s right, i tried to pretend that MoP never happened, its better for my mental health this way 🤣

[@AlphaSmoke100]

vanilla bis

[@Verithiele]

Whichever you want.

[@BrettStefani]

Basically yeah

[@csv1lle]

Question from OSRS player Is WoW retail and classic like RS3 and OSRS? Is Classic here to stay like OS or will it eventually die out? Im figuring out which i should start playing mainly.

[@BrettStefani]

Yes, they are similar and I would say the success of OSRS was included in their decision to commit to Classic. Chances are high that classic will continue to run for a good while so both are viable options to play. It is good to keep in mind that, like with RS3 and OSRS, Classic and Retail are very different games to play, despite the core being similar. So looking into and trying both to decide which you prefer is going to be the best option

[@malalalalalala]

I played classic on release because everyone was so hyped about it so i thought why not try it but by the time i hit lvl ~40 and got my mount i felt burned out and quit. Leveling took just way too long for me. Started retail a couple of days ago and having a blast so far.

[@cloud2298]

I never played wow, and im really looking forward to do It, but i dont know what to choose. What would u recommend me ? Also, classic is the one launched 2-3 years ago right?

[@BrettStefani]

Classic is Wrath of the Lich King, the 2nd Expansion which originally launched in 2008. It has minor changes but the fundamentals are the same. As for which you should play, that depends on the type of games you prefer. If you've played MMOs before, Classic is more traditional MMO, a bit grindy, and not a lot of convenience, but the gameplay is on the simple side. Retail has a smoother player experience, faster and more complex gameplay, and more overall content when you take into account all previous expansions and additional systems. For someone who has never played WoW, I would recommend starting with Retail, seeing what you think of it. But because you also get Classic as part of your sub, there's no reason you can't hop on and give it a go.

[@jasoncooper4737]

I miss what I experienced back in my WoW days, will I enjoy myself if I play again?

[@BrettStefani]

That depends when that was and what you were doing my guy. But you don't need to replicate the experience to enjoy it

[@galacticwarlock2271]

Welcoming. 👀

[@Losjo4093]

I have played world of warcraft retail for like a few months but today i tried classic and I dont know anymore

[@BrettStefani]

Classic takes a while to feel out if it is the right thing for you. And you need to consider there is limited content at endgame.

[@hummingbirdcity]

Gonna stick with retail because I already played Wrath in 2009.

[@bocajjones7442]

You think I'm too late to pick wrath back up? I played a little in phase one but had to leave cause of irl stuff and i'm kind of bummed out that I missed most of wrath classic, hopefully they'll come around to doing an era server :(

[@BrettStefani]

I don't think it's ever "too late" for either retail or classic. But there will be less people playing wrath currently now ICC has been out for about a month. It comes down to what you want to achieve. If you want to ouch for progression raiding, there will be less of it around for sure but chances are there will be many guilds reclearing. There will always be people doing dungeons and pvping, it just depends if you want to put in the time to meet the community expectation when it comes to doing that content with other people.

[@casanovaa666]

if you barely have 2 hours a day to play which of these would be best, I think just finding a group on wotlk classic takes its time without LFD/LFR or am I wrong.

[@BrettStefani]

Well you're not wrong, but it's not exclusive to Classic. If you are going higher than Heroic dungeons on retail, or more than LFR for raid, it can take a long time to get an invite to a group. Retail def has more convenience, and Dragonflight looks to have better casual world content, but Classic does have smaller things you can do with relevance, such as professions, and even the shorter 1 boss raids like Malygos, Sartharion and VoA mean you can look for a 10 man group for a quick bit of raiding.

[@casanovaa666]

@@BrettStefani yes, it's true, I didn't think that you can do those little things in wotlk too hehe, so in other words, I should be able to manage 2 hours a day in wotlk :)

[@BrettStefani]

@@casanovaa666 You should, yeah, I just wouldn't expect to be doing Nax Undying any time soon :D

[@s.t.5993]

Both

[@xxboxofmuffinsxx4252]

I don't play at all, but if I do go back it'll be WotLK. Retail has had its fun points but in my opinion every single year it gets worse. Guilds become more toxic, players listen less and less to raid warnings, etc. And worst of all, my favorite thing in WoW, PvP, is awful in retail. You are constantly fighting to trade cooldowns, but the only pressure you can apply to remove enemy cooldowns is by using your own. It becomes a 10 minute long game where a single 2v2 is about figuring out what cooldowns your enemy will respond with and finally getting it right which cooldowns you can give up to take the enemy's cooldowns away so that you still have the cooldowns you need to burst them. Horrible. I like the raw aspect of WotLK where you can just dish out your damage. You use your cooldowns when you want to increase that damage. Ranged classes have to give up cooldowns against melee assaults but have better kiting abilities. Melee classes duke it out and rip each other to shreds, with warriors beating DKs when runes are down and DKs beating warriors with chains of ice to prevent the free rage from charge. Such a better game.

[@pupwizard3888]

Retail is a much more streamlined game and it is gorgeous graphics wise, BUT classic is much more satisfying to play. Blizzard lost its way with the expansions after Wotlk, especially in regards to the talent system. I know they have brought the talents back now with Dragonflight but the damage was done. In my opinion, Blizzard should look to redeveloping material in Cataclysm onward for any new releases in Classic. I know this will cost some serious coin, but I believe it would pay real dividends if they did. I would be willing to pay for new rereleased expansions that stayed true to the classic format and abandoned the junked up mess that retail became. I know that I am not the only one who feels this way. Many of us that play Classic today had stopped playing retail after Cataclysm, we came back because of Classic.

[@Blunechi]

Dragon flight is actually very very good. Best the game has been in decades. They brought back the old school talent trees except they are much more intricate making the decision to choose certain talents harder. If you miss wow I think the only thing holding you back is nostalgia

[@aaronharley2436]

Being an old timer from 2004, logged into retail to have a look, I walked up to some guy and inspected him, his head piece gave him +144 stamina, then i logged out :D

[@BrettStefani]

If it was simply to affirm a belief Retail isn't what it used to be, it was always gonna happen. But if you want to engage with the way the game works now, there's every chance you'll enjoy it. Maybe not exactly the same as Vanilla was but just because it's different, doesn't mean you won't enjoy it. Can always give it a chance, engage as you did when you were playing before, and see if it's something new you can enjoy playing.

[@blothsear7289]

Are there a lot of players on classic? I don’t mind the lack of races or any of that, I play an orc warlock but I am just curious about how many people play classic, I play retail right now and there are plenty of helpful people online all the time. Can anyone give me an idea of how many people play classic? Or if you’re in a populated server lmk :)

[@BrettStefani]

There are quite a lot who play classic for sure with soem hefty servers based on your preference of PVP/PVE. Depends on EU or US but look up the server demographics on Ironforge Pro.

[@blothsear7289]

@@BrettStefani thank you so much will do.

[@AlphaSmoke100]

classic era is the best iteration of the game in my opinion i hope those of u playin wrath also like cataclysm 😂

[@BrettStefani]

Each to their own, I'm quite interested to see what they do with Cata, the changes they make etc.

[@lichh64]

I don't understand, I never played WoW. Are they two different games which have their own servers? Which one is the "og" one, is there a difference in graphics, which one has more active players?

[@BrettStefani]

They are the same game, however Classic is the version of the game from 12 years ago, which was very different to the way the game is now in how they play and the content available. Each have their own servers and the player bases aren't connected. Classic has the graphics it had back then, but some people prefer them to the newer HD style of the game. The active players is a debatable question. Right now, Retail for sure has more with the release of the newest expansion, however Wrath is extremely popular among the older player base, and people swap between them.

[@lichh64]

@@BrettStefani Alright, thanks for taking the time to explain

[@BrettStefani]

@@lichh64 no worries mate

[@zHoody]

Is Wrath the same as Classic? And does your classic transfer over to retail? Sorry, I'm just doing some research on WoW as I have never really played it.

[@BrettStefani]

Wrath is Classic, yes. It is right at the end of Wrath of the Lich King expansion and about to move to Cataclysm in a few months so there will be a lot of people online. Retail and Classic are entirely separate, nothing crosses over. Essentially they are 2 different games.

[@WorentFelix]

you choice wisely.

[@BrettStefani]

Main reason was I wasn't interested in season 4, and ive got a bunch of mates playing Classic atm so I swapped to play with them

[@maxx9941]

Playing both. Classic im only 43 level and the world is empty after wotlk game so pretty boring. Retail i see people atleast and can do dungeons etc...

[@BrettStefani]

In the first week of wrath launch I'm not surprised. A week or so ago it was a different story with the Xp buff. Retail levelling has been a solo venture for a good while now, unless you're using the random dungeon finder. Both games suffer from the "Current content is where its at".

[@doraiaky918]

OK CLASSIC ANDY

[@gutiguti6855]

Hey bro, i'am a new player and i started on classic wotlk, should i stay or go to retail ?

[@BrettStefani]

Are you enjoying classic?

[@gutiguti6855]

@@BrettStefani yes, a lot

[@BrettStefani]

@@gutiguti6855 Then you probably have your answer. The thing with either game comes down to your own goals in them. If that goal is very time consuming, such as end game raiding, then it can be hard to play them simultaneously. But there is nothing stopping you from trying Retail as well and seeing the difference in the user experience.

[@cris4529]

Do you only need subscription to play classic?

[@BrettStefani]

Yes, no need to buy any additional, the heroic version is cosmetic

[@xsykedelix3766]

classic all the way!

[@Serpentris]

I have played a few hours worth of WOTLK classic and I just feel that the leveling is much more frustrating, at least in my experience. I made it to level 10 almost twice (first time took 15 hours cause I was being a dumbass and/or just afking, can't remember) on two different realms, and during those times I had died countless times and I was playing SOLO (maybe that's the issue?). But honestly I enjoyed leveling in retail much more, even if all I did was dungeon finder and it was agonizingly long. For now I'll stick to retail. I really want to play WOTLK but classic at the core is personally frustrating for me, and I think I can point out why. I believe it's that WOTLK classic / Vanilla WoW don't have level scaling. Maybe it's just a personal problem I have. Hopefully I can work on it and come back and enjoy WOTLK later down the line before the next expansion releases in Classic (if it does). Though I hope you all have a wonderful and enjoyable experience, have fun!

[@Neothunder240]

For classic leveling you just need to keep in mind that mobs actually do damage, so pulling 5 monsters at the same time is gonna get you killed. It has a different pace but I find it a lot more enjoyable because of how you interact with the world and how it incentivizes exploration.

[@Serpentris]

@@Neothunder240 Yeah, I started enjoying it for once today. I stopped trying to pull so many enemies (though the agro range is so stupidly big even when you're far away so it's hard to pull only one enemy) and try to just go for one at a time. Thanks for the insight, too.

[@Neothunder240]

@@Serpentris I'm glad you're enjoying it now!

[@Serpentris]

@@Neothunder240 Yeah, me too.

[@jadinespy6520]

You could not have written my own feelings better.

[@k9tirion927]

It might have been that I'm absolutely unhinged and ran 80x streets and GD (F@+k everyone who voted for that dungeon in the poll, jesus the camera fighting is insane) to get a singular season 4 cloth chest for my mage but I'm already burned out of the current season despite not playing 9.1 and 9.2 (I was playing the game with the b0ob sliders uhh eeeh i mean indepth character customization.) But the main reason really? I'm afraid for dragonflight too in that regard but to me it feels like we have been playing Legion for the last 6 years in terms of game formula/structure etc., I hope wotlk can shake that up for me.

[@BrettStefani]

You're not wrong. We basically HAVE been playing Legion for the last 6 years, just with each iteration bringing slightly less coordinated systems, slightly more tuning knobs, slightly less content available. 9.1.5 was a turning point (you'd have to be an ardent wow hater to say otherwise) and DF is looking better for sure, but we need to see the full gameplay loop before making judgement. Torghast for example was fantastic in alpha and we all know how that turned out.

[@omgwtfbbqwarftw]

So erhmm.. Since im in the video i get a cut of that sweet, sweet ad revenue, right? or will i have to strike this very nice, funny and informative vid?

[@BrettStefani]

Ill send you a cheque for 2 cents

[@viktor1master]

damn i wished i ust could buy it and play it now im fucking lost xDD

[@BradVader]

Era

[@namenoname3284]

tl;dr wrath

[@vezeris]

do yourself a favor and listen on 0.75 speed...

[@BrettStefani]

@@vezeris good choice, very common

[@megamanx627]

I mean to be fair you technically could play both depending what you're doing

[@BrettStefani]

You could def do both but trying to do organised raiding on both is a struggle at best.

[@megamanx627]

@@BrettStefani That is true That's why I said depending on what you're doing

[@das-9962]

Tried classic first but couldn’t make it through the dead boring early grind. Hopped onto retail and am having an infinitely better time

[@BrettStefani]

Glad you found something you enjoy!

[@sejithevoid2059]

The thing for me about retail as a new player is its hard to care about anything. Because there is no coherent story path, the entire world just seems pointless. Everyone says the game starts once you hit max, okay. So im supposed to rush through a story and map I have no connection to to get to the "real game", which is just, you can now do A,B, or C to get said mount or item which I also have no connection to? The game just seems to be, look cool, do end level content so you are at the same level as everyone else. Stop playing until next patch and complain eternally about the games systems and mechanics. Classic seems to fix all these issues for me. But because of the nature of the game, everyone has rushed everything and now the servers are dead for new players. This franchise is absolutely destroyed. If they had actual dedicated servers for hardcore all of this would be fixed In a juxtaposition with FFIV. The entire story is connected and relevant. Meaning the entire world is important and holds weight. You are *forced to level through the main story quest line* which takes you from the vanillla story right up to the latest expansion. This means the world is constantly packed with leveling characters, many of which are completely new. Now because the world has weight and is important and nothing has been forced into redundancy, there is a bustling social scene past maxing everything and doing the latest content. People actually like to just jump into the game to hang out. When i first started playing I came across a group of 10 people hanging out in one of the starting zones that had a beautiful vista. They were all just sitting there chatting with there fishing rods out. I approached to say hello and they offered for me to come chill. They also let told me if i wanted I could meet them in a days time in one of the main cities for a fishing event that was happening. This is the kind of experience people want from an MMO. They want to live in a world that matters with people that care.

[@LazaroAchon]

and you cant play all of that on Retail?.. going back

[@BrettStefani]

Not entirely sure what you're talking about but the two games are considerably different

[@bilko3249]

Vanilla…

[@heresynco]

i left the game entirely a couple of years ago. RL stuff primarily, secondly the grotersque cultural revelations coming out about the Activision-Blizzard workplace at that time, & to be honest, the whole shebang had also just burned me out, online gaming wise. but lately, have begun taking interest in classic wow, out of nostalgia. thanks for the post.

[@BrettStefani]

Exactly who this is for, my dude. Cheers!

[@zglando6662]

I want to play retail but I feel retail should be FTP at this point, I literally have no buck anymore playing retail, they made it so easy to accomplish goals leading to endgame, also seeing the store really drops my boner for the game when I can just...buy gold..I feel like it's such a stupid answer to a problem that if the game were moderated properly, wouldn't exist, and the fact that bots can only be fixed by players reporting them (according to Blizzard) just makes me go "wtf?" and generally the extremely lax feel of retail drops my value of the game significantly. I want something that feels meaningful, and gold literally is meaningless in retail now, need gold? Just swipe...

[@slaughtergrin9908]

The Answere is. The WoW you enjoing more. No Video needet

[@BrettStefani]

And what if you haven't played either for a long while and are looking for a refresher on what each is like before resubbing? If you watched the video, you would know

[@mullenio4200]

I personally despise the amount of micro transactions and pointless collecting there is on Retail. I refer to it as World of Mount Craft. The game is much more pay to win and by this point the lore is a complete mess.

[@BrettStefani]

For sure, the unfortunate truth is it is very profitable because it works. But there is certainly an over reliance on it on Retail now and potentially (because it started in Wrath) we may see them return for Classic. Hopefully they can see that wouldn't be a smart move though. And storywise, Retail has been pulled in too many different directions as of late by different story teams. Hopefully Dragonflight returns to some better WoW stories.

[@yuhnuh2909]

I wouldn’t say Pay to Win. I’m not sure there’s any winning that is a result of paying, unless you mean the sub.

[@joshuacarter4590]

How is it exactly pay to win? Paying doesn’t give you any end game advantages over any other players. Just let’s you skip some leveling.

[@BrettStefani]

@@joshuacarter4590 currently there is an argument to be made for P2w being an issue. Money buys WoW Token > WoW token exchanged for gold > Gold buys boosted trade run.

[@brandonkruse6412]

Classic is just as much P2W with the plague of GDKP

[@maldlions5313]

TBC private server :)

[@itchin4scratches]

classic shadowlands 😂

[@ekstrajohn]

1 minute into the video and I don't know what a TBC raid is... welp

[@BrettStefani]

This isn't as relevant as it was when it initially came out. Tbc was the previous expansion so simply referring to previous content

[@ekstrajohn]

@@BrettStefani oh ok, thanks man. i'm a total noob :)

[@BrettStefani]

@@ekstrajohn all good, everyone was once

[@mattsmokes2505]

The reason I like retail better after playing the game for over 12 years is it’s not like any of the content from classic isn’t in retail it’s all still there and I know the community isn’t as good but it’s a lot better if you play on an RP server even in retail and as someone that works full-time and has a job and shit I can’t afford to spend two hours looking for a raid only to wipe instantly I’m sorry

[@Jos-F]

WOTLK Classic is the best expansion ever. Retail does not even come close. Retail is for grinding andy's.

[@Xman360z]

What the hell are all these acronyms

[@BrettStefani]

Gonna have to be a bit more specific than that mate

[@vladstark2091]

Draenei Warlocks, Undead Holy Priests, Gnome Warriors.. hell NO

[@BrettStefani]

Undead Holy Priests and Gnome Warriors are both in Wrath

[@pacivalmuller9333]

Wrath

[@flyinghead1147]

Neither. Wotlk and Retail have options to Pay to Win, buy Gold.

[@JohnnyMaverik]

The correct answer is of course, final fantasy XIV

[@BrettStefani]

Another solid choice

[@Ryan83728]

I tried TBC classic, i couldnt find a guild and no one would do a dungeon with me, sure it was the first week of release but i felt incredibly left out. a GM even gave me a refund. I would be all about classic but there isnt a dungeon finder. I spent a whole day trying to find a group ingame and in discords. I dont have friends of 15 years to play with, im not already involved in the WoW community. There isnt the same naivity there was 15 years ago that allows you to make friends as easily since online interaction isnt a novelty anymore. The players already had their groups and every day planned out. Im going to try retail, all I see on youtube is how bad retail is, but atleast I can do the content. I just hope there are players still leveling and doing dungeons and I hope BGs are active at those levels Edit retail sucks, the gameplay is as empty and meaningless as a mobile game.

[@57ashdot]

Retail is shit. Not all changes are good changes, and that goes double for what happened after the end of Panda. They killed the exploration vibe and social aspect the game entirely. It feels shallow and pointless. Dynamic leveling being the crown jewel of the mountain of crap decisions Blizz made. An ENORMOUS game world to explore, and you will reach game cap in a few days having explored maybe 4 zones max (or none you can literally just spam Groupfinder and do dungeons on autopilot). They killed both the RPG and MMO aspect of the game simultaneously. Its not fun, at all

[@BrettStefani]

For some people yeah this is 100% true. I think the dynamic levelling should be an option cus I also enjoyed the linear levelling path. Now the world is much emptier as people can level literally anywhere instead of all going through the same steps. But I enjoy the current game a lot, and a lot of changes have also been positive. It'll never please everyone and sometimes people have to accept the fact that time changes things and if the reason they enjoyed the game has gone, maybe there are other games to put their time, effort and love into instead.

[@hamadalmutairi97]

Got work, higher diploma in Public Administration and real life activities...... you guys enjoy yourselves now.

[@BrettStefani]

Grats mate!

[@rotojakku]

If you have to watch this video go play retail, we don't want you in classic

[@BrettStefani]

Gatekeeping is the reason for toxicity in MMOs dude. Seriously bad take

[@rotojakku]

@@BrettStefani dealing with retail noobs is the last thing I feel like doing when playing classic. It's also the retail gang that has been asking for changes in classic to make it more like retail so they dot cry. We do no want retail players in classic.

[@BrettStefani]

Sorry dude, its still a seriously bad take. And you are in the minority. Dealing with Noobs was what people complained about 14 years ago, its nothing to do with retail.

[@joshuacarter4590]

Players like you… ARE the problem.

[@hellothere8812]

@@rotojakku retail noobs? Pve is easier in classic, your opinion doesn’t make sense

[@mattsmokes2505]

I’ve been playing while since 2009 and I think retail is much better as an adult with a full time job and going to school.

[@Jos-F]

Never seen such a stupid reaction. I'm a director with a family and can deff say WOTLK require alot less grinding than retail.

[@BrettStefani]

Less grinding in certain areas perhaps, depending on what you are doing, but retail def caters to the more casual crowd. All there is in WOTLK is Raiding or Arena/BGs at end game, whereas in Retail there are many other activities you can just jump in and out of that don't take an entire evening.

[@1doomphd]

You should play vanilla/classic era, wrath is trash.

[@BrettStefani]

Sorry to hear your experience wasnt great

[@1doomphd]

@BrettStefani I loved wrath as a kid. It was awesome; however hindsight is 20/20 and in retrospect alot of the changes I didn't like happened In TBC and wrath, beyond that, I would much rather play retail over rather wrath classic, wrath classic is an unholy abomination.