I have very good memories of classic and I'm jumping in.

I never finished nax or killed the last boss in aq40. Is this my chance? No idea, but i'm going to try.

That said, even speed leveling it will take weeks (months) to hit 60.

I have a pally on Atiesh. (US PVE server - clearly ally as i'm a pally.) - feel free to poke me if you are playing. I HOPE i don't drop out quickly (but i think like most, it is about finding a crew to play with.)

(there is also the issue of MHW expac…. which will move to the top of my play list when that is out. Maybe i can hit 60 before then? Not likely when the speed record for leveling in classic was over a week of game time...)

Are others jumping back? Post your server/char/faction below so we can group up.

Anyone new, that never played WoW, jumping in?

If you are looking for a guild:

CookieParty

Server - PVE - US - Atiesh - [A]

the BAD website i put up yesterday :)

CookieParty

Anyone else have a guild they want me to list here?

And for people that don't know. Classic WoW is old wow, as it was. 1-60.

One doesn't have to buy the game, but you do need a monthly sub.

The game is out on August 27th.

while it is old wow, everything isn't out right at the launch. It is broken into Phases. (The game patch for Classic sans content is patch 1.12)

Phase 1:

Molten Core 40-man (originally out Nov 2014 in patch 1.1)

Onyxia 40-man (also patch 1.1)

Marudon 5-man (patch 1.2 dec 2004)

Phase 2:

Dire Maul 5-man (patch 1.3 march 2005) (i guess i need to wait for this for my epic pally mount?)

World bosses - Azuregos, Kazzak (patch 1.3)

PvP honor system - but no battlegrounds yet - rank system. (this will be kinda hard to rank on a non-pvp server)

Phase 3:

Blackwing Lair 40-man (Patch 1.6 July 2005) yeah!

Darkmoon faire and desks (Patch 1.6 July 2005)

Warsong Gulch & Alterac Valley (patch 1.12) - time to start the pvp grind!

Phase 4:

Zul'Gurub (ZG) 20-man (patch 1.7 sept 2005)

Arathi Basin (patch 1.7 sept 2005)

World boss - Dragons of nightmare (Green Dragons... 4 of them)

Phase 5:

Ahn'Qiraj (AQ40 and AQ20) 40 and 20 man raids. Also the opening event. (patch 1.9 jan 2006)

Phase 6:

Scourge Invasion

naxxramas 40-man (patch 1.11 June 2006)

As someone who didn't play WOW for the first time until Legion, which I enjoyed briefly but fell off of, I am very excited for classic. I fell off of Legion and other Expansions of modern WOW specifically because everything was so easy, streamlined, and just all around shallow. Transmogging can be cool, but I prefer the loot system where the cool shit represents hours of dedication, effort, and a bit of luck. I don't want to have everything unless I have completely abandoned the real world. Otherwise it all feels like busy work. I don't know for certain if I'll love the classic experience, but I'm eager to check it out. With that said, I'll also be working on a Masters Thesis over the next 3 months, so who knows how much time I'll have to play. It may be my game to pass the time once the job hunt is on.

I haven't subscribed early reserve a name, so I don't have a character or server yet. As long as Ateish isn't full on launch day, maybe I'll play on that server and shoot you a friend request.

i've been thinking about checking this out. i played WoW regularly for the first couple years and then dipped in for a few months at a time every couple years. i remember being blown away with how big and detailed that world was back in 2004.

WoW stopped being a "role-playing game" after TBC. After WotLK is was simply a multiplayer action game, with progress gated behind a single number that you chased.

I consider vanilla WoW a completely different game, and one I haven't played since 2006. You can't go back to 2004, but you don't have to. The very structure of the game is based around community engagement, everything you do is in service of building a group of friends and playing with them, or building a blacklist of enemies that are kill-on-sight because they ganked you one too many times.

It's a more mellow and grounded experience compared to retail. You aren't a Commander/Champion/Hero/Lord and Savior. You're just an Adventurer, or Traveler. Some grunt who came out of no where who is probably about to get their ass beat if they pull one too many mobs.

I don't have as much time as I did in my youth, but that's a situation a lot of people are going to be in going into this. I won't be playing on launch though, because based on numbers purely out of name-reservations, they did not anticipate the hype and there are not enough servers. All the same, I'm really looking forward to it, and experiencing something akin to what I did in 2004, not exactly the same, of course, but close enough.

Started originally playing in the beginning of 2006, so I guess some things in Classic might be even more tedious to do than they were when I first played. Despite it being a long and bumpy ride for me to reach 60 though, the community and experiencing a massive online world for the first time made those first years of WoW probably the best gaming experience I've ever had.

Having read the official classic forums for the past week or two, there's a lot of familiar faces returning to play the game, but it obviously still won't be as magical as back then. I'll probably try it at some point (Control is going to be my game to play on launch week) though, just to see how fast it'll break my current-self.

I' m hoping we'll get more than just Rorie leading a Quick Look. Like...whole GB team abandoning every other feature so that each of them can reach level 60 and then raid? Yeah, that sounds good to me!

Why not bring this to ps4?

Some modern MMOs, like Final Fantasy XIV, I'm sure play fine on PS4, but this going to be a (just about) 1:1 re-creation of an MMO that launched almost 15 years ago, without any of the QOL additions that WoW has received along the years. I can't imagine that being appealing to console players, when I'm sure that even new people on PC will struggle.

Plus I can't imagine the hassle it'd require to make this work on a modern console, plus having to make it a whole seperate subscription on it's own, since on PC it is playable if you have a sub running for retail WoW.

Can only speak for myself but I'd be all over it

I do not understand the appeal or the people who want to go back to this version of the game but I wish all of you the best. I hope your memories are being truthful to you.

It was a very different game back then. Now wow is everyone can do everything. Everything is simple for anyone to do with little time. WoW classicis also more of an RPG. People have their roles/different stats, bring different skills to the table.

It also feels like the time (a lot of time) that you put in has a pay off. If you have the sexy gear is because you (most likely) earned it - not just waiting till the content got ez.

Lacking some of the QOL will make people work together.

That said, i worry that not enough people will make it to the end game and finding 40 people in a guild will be hard. I'm not sure people understand the farming investment required for raiding.

WoW has some of my favorite gaming memories associated with it, specifically Vanilla - Wrath. There is some curiosity there, but I feel like a lot of the fun from the game came from the friends I made along the way (I can't believe I said that unironically). I'm never going to find Beeps the Mage or Canaan the Warlock or Pencil the Shaman again. It's not going to be the same, and I feel like I'd just be chasing a hit of nostalgia.

I do kinda miss being valued as a warlock for your summoning portals.

@doombot13: That is the odd part with me too.. as someone that hates people :)… i miss playing with people :)

WoW forced you to play with others.

Did you try the reconnect forums? maybe Beeps is looking for u? :)

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/get-started-finding-people-here/215459

I will not be. I'm currently into FFXIV a nice amount and I don't really like playing more than one at a time. I also probably wouldn't really like it. I played vanilla WoW back in 2005 and while I enjoyed it at that time for a bit, (I think I got a hunter to level 40) I remember how much of a pain in the ass everything was. I actually didn't really get into WoW much at all until Lich King. (actually did some raids) I still see WotLK as the best the game ever was.

interesting poll for WoW:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeQwB39WyONgFnnJzPnhU4MorbNFGnzN09Q-aq5Tkc_065rwA/viewform

I plan to alliance druid it up on Mankrik, PvE US EST. I am mostly interested in the pre-raid content, namely dungeons while leveling and dungeons at max level. Raids in Classic (MC and BWL namely) are incredibly boring, but I may try them out (joined a guild already).

The class balance in classic is so bad its unreal, I almost didn't play as my mainstay classes (non-warrior tanks) are only viable from TBC onward.

Hearing talk about Pagle[A]. I'm currently planning Atiesh[H] as my main. I'll probably be rolling Whitemane[H] with some random friends as well.

I’m looking forward to it. I never raided (or really even did dungeons) but I had a pretty terrific mining business running for a while. Honestly, I think that’s the thing that will throw most people off: money. Earning gold in vanilla was a thing, and it did not come easy.

I’m also definitely playing on a PVE server this time around. I leveled every class to 60 and there were days where it became so miserable I had to give up for the night. I think it’s probably going to be even worse on classic servers because it’s going to attract more diehard players, so plan accordingly.

I just made a human character on Atiesh. I didn't touch WoW until Mists of Pandaria so I'll be going into the vanilla experience basically blind.

Im excited for it, but wish they aren't doing this weird phase thing. Vanilla improved constantly after launch, and for good reasons. Seems awkward and frustrating to time gate things like pvp and dungeon content.

I never played WoW classic but I’ve read things like “stuff you don’t remember about vanilla wow” and it all sounds really hard, like not fun hard but just like, having to run back to town every time you level or how hunters had to use one of their bags for arrows, and hp and mana regening really slow. I think a lot of the changes in expansions were made for good reasons. I would be more interested in a WoW classic but that had the modern mechanics... we kind of did that by just making new characters and playing like we were new, but it would be fun to see what it was like before cata

@mochibunny2005: Those mundane things are what people say they want, so it’ll definitely be interesting to see how many will stick around after the first few months.

I can see the whole ”working harder for something makes it more rewarding” being a thing for some players, but I definitely didn’t get that joy out of every small thing I had to do back then. Levelling weapon skills with all characters, oh boy...

But hey, I hope it works out for everyone interested.

@glots: Oh wow! I didn't even know about the weapon skill leveling. I looked it up and that looks really tedious... also I just read that hunter pets have to be leveled too? I don't even know how you would level a level 4 adorable snow leopard when you only get exp from level 55 enemies that are especially good at killing adorable snow leopards :x

The working hard thing is a good point though... I really liked the Legion expansion because I didn't want to work hard for stuff, because I'm lazy, and I loved being able to do raids and dungeons just from doing world quests and getting 700+ gear or whatever.... but there's a lot of people who like it the other way, where they want to look at their high level gear and think "I earned this. I'm in Molten Core or whatever the classic WoW raid was, because of the things I did, the things I worked for!" and not everyone gets to kill Magmos, only the people who actually did the things are allowed to kill him. I guess it's the same appeal that achievements have, and back then, achievements (and raid kills) meant something, I guess! =)

If you are on Atiesh and need a guild (ideally to stay and raid.. but also to hang out till you find a new homes)

The guild is CookieParty

the BAD website i put up yesterday :)

https://cookieparty.wowalliances.com/

(it has a wall of text about loot 'n stuff if you want to raid.)

@mochibunny2005: Oh you have to level pets and keep them fed and happy or they leave.

Oh and of course they won't learn abilities on their own either you have to teach them and you learn them by going out and taming all sorts of things you don't want but have skills to pass on.

@glots: @efesell: it’s not really the mundanity that some of us want, it’s...have you ever been playing a game, gotten stuck at a certain point and turned on a cheat to help? Threw a spare rocket launcher in your inventory to get past a boss? When you do it, it makes all the sense in the world - you’re not having fun beating your head against the wall, so you just tweak things in your favor to get past the tough part. Once you move past the obstacle, you’re either stuck having a rocket launcher you’re not supposed to have yet, or you’re trying to correct course and play without it but all the while knowing that the rocket launcher would make things easier. Basically, you’ve ruined the game for yourself.

That was what removing the need for a quiver felt like. Or weapon leveling. Or using trainers. For a lot of us, those quality of life changes ruined the game in that same way. I know it’s dumb but that’s what it felt like. I honestly don’t know how long I’ll play Classic, maybe only a month, maybe a year, but at least that is interesting to me whereas current WoW doesn’t interest me at all.

@ltcolumbo: nod nod :)

haha.. i would like to remove weapon leveling tho.. i'm going to waste a few hours leveling everything on those guys near the Dark Portal that can't die. :)

I remember in classic being in awe of some of the people standing around in IF. "wow, i want that stuff"

… and i did get it .. after working my ass off :) I felt rewarded for my mass time investment.

I am worries about finding a good crew to run with (thus me making my own guild - IF YOU ARE PLAYING CLASSIC PVE AND WANT A GOOD HANG WITH OTHER DUDERS....) 40 people just to raid is A LOT. That said, who knows if one even needs that. We were all bad 15 years ago.

I'm really hoping to feel some of the magic again. No, this isn't some kids magic. I'm in my 40s.. and i was older than most of you guys when i started play WoW. :) (in fact most of the people i'm going to play with are also in their 30s-40s...

I'm interested in joining a GB clan, but I'm not sure I can commit to raiding.

You are welcome to join the cookie party :)

i assume most of the guild won't be raid hardcore raiding. the 40 man limit lends to people pop'n in and out.

@zurv: Hey Zurv, I checked out the site, and you all seem cool! I'll send you a message once the servers are up.

I played WOW for the first time in Legion I believe, so I may be a complete scrub starting out. I intend to main a paladin, but I'm gonna see how the play style fits me.

Nice. (also, lies, the site is butt :) hahaha)

Note it might be a day or two before we have enough gold to make a guild (.. and i have a bad feeling i'll be paying for most of it.. blah). But do poke me and i'll get the invite out.

Do note, in raids, Pallies are only good for healing. I'm going to TRY ret (as the GM i'll let myself...), but at some point i know i'll have to go Holy (100% in bwl as a bunch of the mobs are holy damage resistant.) I'm going to farm for hours a day to see if i can get gear, mats, pots, etc for it to work. :D but.. yeah.. (the AQ40 Ret gear is pretty good... but that is far off.)

That said, Ret is really run in PVP..

… tanking.. hrmm.. pally tanking even stucks in 5 mans :(

@zurv: Yeah, that's what I've read. While Holy pally may not be the most fun, I love the class fantasy of the paladin, and it has the best damned armor set in game. I figure I won't have to roll holy until raiding anyway, so I don't necessarily mind.

@jacksmedulla: Paladin is just sort of a deeply unfortunate class in Vanilla.

Ret gameplay for instance is watch auto-attacks happen until you can use Judgment, use it, and watch auto attacks happen until you can use it again.

Sometimes after an especially spicy auto attack lands you'll be able to use Consecration.

@efesell: Yeah, that's why I also have a hunter created, haha. It's another class fantasy I'm really fond of, and I've been oscillating between the two classes for months. So, depending on how I'm liking the paladin play style, I may just flip over to my hunter.

Either that or I'll flip again and want to roll the hunter out of the gate. We shall see.

I plan on playing Horde on Bloodsail Buccaneers (which is obviously the best server name) but maybe I'll go ahead and make my Alliance toons on Atiesh. Not having (or even needing) people to play with is honestly probably one of a couple factors for why I've stopped playing retail. I don't have as much time as I used to, that's for sure, but I'm definitely all in for playing Classic casually.

funny video:

@zurv I'll definitely join up then. I was planning as running as a frost mage.

@tds418: more like hack mage! Ez level, ez farming, mad deeps... PVP face melt'r

/me asks himself why he is going to play a pally.... hrmmm..

I'll see you on in a few hours! (It might take a day or two form the guild. It cost gold and for people to warp back to Stormwind to sign the charter.)

Definitely could've used a live stream for today, in which they sit in a queue for a couple of hours, unable to get in and just play other games until the stream's over.

Honestly though, I hope there's a Quick Look, a live stream or at least a segment during the UPF.

So I'm pretty sure I'm going with a dwarf priest. But holy paladin and a druid both sound appealing too (because I like playing the "bad" classes apparently lol)

@frodobaggins: I don't want the Classic on consoles but I've crying for a console version of standard WoW for years. YEARS. Nothing. I know it can be done - especially if you consider that both main consoles accept K&M for some games. Though my real appeal would be to finally play WoW with a controller on my couch. If FFXIV can do it I don't see why Blizzard can't make this happen. Especially when they're already familiar with the technology (Overwatch, Diablo 3).

@fateofnever: fear ward!! darn priest are so OP in classic.

sooooo soon

If you are thinking about joining CookieParty

Do type: /join CookieParty in the Chat window

That will put us all in the same chat channel will we can form the guild. Hopefully enough of us are human and near SW so we can sign the charter.

@misfittoy: oh hell no, I wouldn't want to play today's WoW. Classic WoW though I'd be all over.

So how's everyone liking the classic experience so far? I'm loving it myself. There's something so relaxing to me about the pace of Classic WoW, not constantly feeling like everything is a race to the end only and getting to just take my time and explore and quest. General chat has always been lively in a way that I've really missed, but we'll see if that keeps up or not or if the chatter dies down in a few days. Makes me wonder what Barrens chat is like right now!

@fateofnever: I'd like to imagine Barren's chat is full of Chuck Norris jokes again.

@fateofnever: I got in for a bit last night. I made an undead warlock and it was super annoying to have hundreds of people running around trying to kill the same 5 starting enemy types to finish the quests. I'm thinking that might die down over time, but we'll see.

@hippie_genocide: I have a feeling the high pop servers might be like that for a bit. We'll see though!