These days, I prefer to game with one foot in both versions of World of Warcraft. It’s kind of like Almond Joy and Mounds; sometimes I feel like a Retail, sometimes I feel like a Classic. It’s a best-of-both-worlds situation because I can enjoy the latest content while still enjoying very old school vibes.
As I alternate between the two main branches of World of Warcraft, I find that there are elements to each that excel over the other. So instead of making a case that one is better overall, I thought I’d lavish praise on each title, giving them props for what they do really well. How about three apiece? Let’s do it!
WoW Retail: Much better storytelling tools
Listen, I’m not even going to pretend that I understand the spaghetti lore that goes into WoW, but whatever the storyline is in this game, Retail is telling it much better these days. Blizzard pours its heart into the cinematics, cutscenes, voice acting, scripting, recurring characters, and even some fun roleplay choices in the quest text boxes. Going through campaign arcs or plowing through a side story series is pretty enjoyable all in all.
WoW Classic: The full-throated leveling journey
Retail wants you to be at max level ASAP and will do whatever is necessary to make that happen so that you can “finally” start playing the real game. Classic, on the other hand, remembers that the leveling journey used to be the meat-and-potatoes of the game. For a whole lot of players for so long, it was leveling — not raids or mythic-pluses — that was the real progression, and it’s a great feeling to still be able to do that with meaningful milestones along the way.
WoW Retail: Emphasis on personal customization
Between transmog, mounts, titles, achievements, pets, toys, mount customization, and (soon to come) housing, Retail’s expanded to give players many more avenues for self-expression. You can look the way you want to look and have fun with all sorts of things outside of combat and questing. These aren’t silly additions to the game; they’re what draws us into this world and makes us feel at home.
WoW Classic: Gold and loot actually matters
Ask any Classic player about that heady rush they got when they scored their first six-slot bag that dropped in the newbie zone, or when they finally attained their first piece of green gear, or the day they scrimped and saved 100 gold to buy that first mount. They’ll all have a story. Gear and gold do not come easily in this version, so it still feels significant. When’s the last time you got that sort of thrill from something that dropped in Retail?
WoW Retail: A modern look and feel
For an MMORPG that’s over 20 years old, World of Warcraft doesn’t look ancient thanks to continual graphical and user interface improvements. Characters are so much better detailed and expressive than they used to be, and the world’s only gotten more gorgeous and visually diverse since 2004. One of my favorite additions over the years is the beautiful animations and effects for spells and skills. Combat looks so much more interesting as a result.
WoW Classic: A deep well of nostalgia
Many of us playing Classic were there for the first go-around back in the day and have thus formed very strong memories from those initial experiences. And you know what unlocks those memories and gives us fun little time travel trips to the past? Playing through this version of the game. We remember what we used to love… and can love once more. We’ve been reclaiming the past and joyfully romping around in it since 2019.
This is, of course, not an exhaustive compare-and-contrast list, but it’s a starting point to the ongoing conversation that players have had about these two versions of the game! What do you see as the strengths of each side? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments.
Stepping back into the MMO time machine of WoW Classic, Justin Olivetti offers up observations and ground-level analysis as a Gnome with a view. Casually Classic is a more laid-back look at this legacy ruleset for those of us who’ve never stepped into a raid or seen more than 200 gold to our names.
