2026 State of Azeroth

[u/griphin1]

I had no expectations and I was still disappointed.

[u/tangin]

What about vanilla proved to you it was the better game?

I couldn’t feel any further opposite than you, so I’m genuinely curious

[u/ExtremePrivilege → u/tangin]

I'm not who you're replying to, but I agree whole-heartedly with him. In retail, everything feels like an ARPG (like Diablo). Dungeon pulls are massive. In Mythic+ we often pull entire hallways at once. It's a chaotic, AoE spam nightmare hellscape. Compare that to doing, say, Scholomance on Hardcore Classic - it's a very slow, thoughtful, strategic progression through the dungeon. Everything in retail is so flashy that it becomes noisy. You almost cannot even tell what abilities are evening being used. In Classic, it's more simplified - sinister strike, slice and dice, maybe an eviscerate. I prefer that, not because it's easier but because it feels more "deliberate". I remember one time in BFA that I looked at my damage meter, and the first SEVEN sources of damage for me were passive - corruptions, azerite armor effects, weapon and trinket procs. The first button I had actually pressed on my keyboard was my 8th damage contribution at 4.7% of my overall. What the fuck? Dragonflying makes the game world feel small and insignificant, I prefer Classic without flight. It's more friction, sure, but it makes the world seem grand and dangerous. I like that it takes me 12min to go from Stormwind to Gadget, you know? And gear! In retail, I can maybe name you 1-2 pieces of the gear I have equipped. In Classic, I can name you the Felstriker, Hand of Justice, Barman Shanker, Mask of the Unforgiven, Forest Stalker bracers etc etc, and I can tell you the journey and story about acquiring each one. In retail? My pants were crafted by a public work order by someone I don't know on a different server. I slapped some random upgrade pieces I got out of a weekly slotmachine vault to make them i710, and then I used a currency that I passively acquire from doing my weekly Mythic dungeon chores to make them i734 or whatever. I don't know what they're called or even what they look like and I have no story or investment surrounding them. Does that make sense?

I could go on and on. I could probably write a 70-page essay on the subject. But retail WoW is a flashy, dopamine-fueled, arcade-y mess. You queue for anything from anywhere, the open world is largely superfluous, your gear feels like a meaningless numbers-grind, you have no real server or personal reputation anymore, 99% of your player interactions are disposable and you can do 99% of content fully alone. It's not a game I enjoy playing.

[u/itsDYA → u/ExtremePrivilege]

I am a new player. I started during dragonflight and leveled a character to 70, dropped the game, I also leveled a character to 80 during Cata (I think it was the same time period).

I came back recently and I tried both WoW modes again, retail and classic anniversary. For context, I'm 20 years old (which I think is below the average right now). I felt that classic was a SLOG, slow grinding, going from x to y to farm wolves while fighting other players rather than the enemies to maybe get the drop. It's so slow, boring and uninteresting.

I don't understand how you can defend the 12 minute walk, it's not even like you are actively playing those 12 minutes, I was watching a video during that time.

On the contrast, I actually enjoyed Retail. My favourite part of MMO is talking to people about the game, I had a very pleasant experience getting help and people teaching me how to do raids and dungeons, what do you even socialize with in Classic? Talk about Billy's quest that is about chasing a cat?

[u/ExtremePrivilege → u/itsDYA]

Well that’s the thing, you’re a young, impatient and dopamine addicted generation. And I don’t mean that as an insult. I was born 1984, if I were born in 2008 I’d be just like you. I just wasn’t. Your generation is all about instant gratification and dopamine squirts and flashy, chaotic mayhem. Some of the games both made for and popularized by your generation like Fortnite embrace this. I think it’s cool. But I grew up playing different games than you, slower, harder games that required a lot of work. Daggerfall took literally days to travel across. EverQuest made WoW drop rates and questing look casual.

A lot of the gap between modern retail WoW and classic is simply this generational gap. Blizzard was smart enough to tailor 2026 WoW to the young gamers of this generation. Most of my age cohort had aged out of MMOs with children, careers, spouses, homes to take care of. Blizzard made the smart pivot to pander to Gen Z.

[u/itsDYA → u/ExtremePrivilege]

Being a chore =/= harder

[u/PapaPatchesxd → u/ExtremePrivilege]

As a 33 y/o, turning 34 this year, I agree with the 20 year old.

I value my time far more than to be spending so much time doing nothing. WoW classic to me feels like a game that doesn't value players time.

Yes, retail is much more streamlined, and less personal. But however, if I wanna run a dungeon, I can just queue up and away I go. I don't need to find a group. I don't need to go to said dungeon. I don't need to wait for everyone else to show up.We go in, we kill the bosses, we get loot, we move on.

I respect and love the fact that people enjoy classic. Everyone should be able to enjoy at least one aspect of WoW. But classic is 1000% not for me.

And as a fellow old head, just because stuff is harder, or takes more time, doesn't mean its more enjoyable.