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WoW Classic

World of Warcraft – Classic

And finally, the opening of Blizzard’s servers for the old world of Azeroth, as it was on vanilla (the first game version before any expansions) is almost there. Just next 27th of August and the anxiety of elder players, like me, it’s up high. Until then, it’s possible to reserve 3 character names, by creating 3 characters, for those who have their account active.

It’s true, I admit I’m addicted to WoW, but it’s also true that lately, I don’t enter the game for months. For those as purists as me, it’s easy to understand why. We are almost reaching World of Warcraft 15th anniversary and a lot of things have changed. Those who play WoW now and also played on vanilla would feel the same. I started to play around February 2007, shortly after the first expansion was launched – The Burning Crusade – and I remember well that only by the next summer I reached level 60. Then I bought TBC and, to reach the new level cap of 70 I took some weeks. Of course, I was playing with a normal regularity and without spending entire nights playing. Currently, it’s easier to level up. As new expansions were launched, the experience points (XP), needed to level up, were getting progressively lower for each level (only for levels previous to the new expansion, of course).

First release

The first release was launched on November 23rd of 2004 in North America, Australia and New Zealand. Next it was released on Korea by January 18th of 2005 and, finally, in Europe by February 11th of 2005. The first versions and patches still had some bugs and there were some significant differences between the strength of each race and class. But, as time went by, Blizzard was able to tune these issues and the game was considered more stable since patch 1.12.0, released by August 22th of 2006. It’s precisely this version – 1.12 Drums of War – that WoW Classic will be based upon it’s release.

World of Warcraft timeline

Since the original version – vanilla – until today, with information about the character’s level caps:

Name

Vanilla

Release date (dd-mm-yyyy)

23-11-2004 NA/NZ/AU 18-01-2005 Korea
11-02-2006 Europe

Level cap

60

The Burning Crusade

Wrath of the Lich King

16-01-2007

13-11-2008

70

80

Cataclysm

Mists of Pandaria

07-12-2010

25-09-2012 NA/EU
27-09-2012 KOR/TWN

85

90

Warlords of Draenor

Legion

Battle for Azeroth

13-11-2014

30-08-2016

13-08-2018 America
14-08-2018 Global

100

110

120

Classic

27-08-2019

60

Azeroth in vanilla

For those who know the current expansions, the world of Azeroth has been growing over the 7 expansions. On vanilla time, Azeroth only had the continents of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms.

Wow Classic - Azeroth in vanilla

World of Warcraft – Azeroth in vanilla

The zones that were affected by some expansions, like the huge devastation occurred in Cataclysm, are all in their original state. There are also areas that are not yet reachable, like Mount Hyjal and Uldum in Kalimdor and Gilneas and Twilight Highlands in Easter Kingdoms. The cities affected by Cataclysm are also in their original state, with their zones undamaged, specially the city of Stormwind (Alliance).

WoW Classic - Cidade de Stormwind no Vanilla

World of Warcraft – Cidade de Stormwind no Vanilla

Factions, races and classes

The game presents two major factions, the Alliance and the Horde. Long time ago, they united to fight a common foe, the Burning Legion. But today, the drums of war are sounding again and the two factions are in war.

NB: The available races and the combination of races and classes are much lesser than in the current expansion.

Alliance

Race

Classes

Humans

  • Mage
  • Paladin
  • Priest
  • Rogue
  • Warlock
  • Warrior

Dwarfs

  • Hunter
  • Paladin
  • Priest
  • Rogue
  • Warrior

Gnomes

  • Mage
  • Rogue
  • Warlock
  • Warrior

Night Elfs

  • Druid
  • Hunter
  • Priest
  • Rogue
  • Warrior

Horde

Reces

Classes

Orcs

  • Hunter
  • Rogue
  • Shaman
  • Warlock
  • Warrior

Tauren

  • Druid
  • Hunter
  • Shaman
  • Warrior

Trolls

  • Hunter
  • Mage
  • Priest
  • Rogue
  • Shaman
  • Warrior

Undead

  • Mage
  • Priest
  • Rogue
  • Warlock
  • Warrior


Professions

Gathering

Production

Secondary

  • Herbalism
  • Mining
  • Skinning
  • Alchemy
  • Blacksmithing
  • Enchanting
  • Engineering
  • Leatherworking
  • Tailoring
  • Cooking
  • First Aid
  • Fishing

Leveling up zones and factions

Kalimdor

Zone

Levels

Faction

Durotar

Mulgore

1-10

1-10

Horde

Horde

Teldrassil

1-10

Alliance

Darkshore

10-20

Alliance

The Barrens

10-25

Horde

Stonelaton Mountains

15-27

Contested

Ashenvale

18-30

Contested

Thousand Needles

25-35

Contested

Desolace

30-40

Contested

Dustwallow Marsh

35-45

Contested

Feralas

40-50

Contested

Tanaris

40-50

Contested

Azshara

45-55

Contested

Felwood

48-55

Contested

Un’goro Crater

48-55

Contested

Winterspring

53-60

Contested

Silithus

55-60

Contested

Moonglade

Contested (druids only)

Eastern Kingdoms

Zone

Levels

Faction

Elwynn Forest

1-10

Alliance

Dun Morogh

1-12

Alliance

Tristaf Glades

1-10

Horde

Loch Modan

10-20

Alliance

Silverpine Forest

10-20

Horde

Westfall

10-20

Alliance

Redridge Mountains

15-25

Contested

Duskwook

18-30

Contested

Hillsbrad Foothills

20-30

Contested

Westlands

20-30

Contested

Alterac Mountains

30-40

Contested

Arathi Highlands

30-40

Contested

Stranglethorn Vale

31-45

Contested

Badlands

35-45

Contested

Swanp of Sorrows

35-45

Contested

The Hinterlands

40-50

Contested

Searing Gorge

45-50

Contested

The Blasted Lands

45-55

Contested

Burning Steppes

50-58

Contested

Western Plaguelands

50-58

Contested

Eastern Plaguelands

53-60

Contested

Blackrock Mountain

49-60

Contested

Deadwind Pass

55-60

Contested

Remember that contested zones are those were normally exist villages from both factions. In PvP servers (Player vs. Player) it’s where most of the fights between players, from different factions, occur, since it’s extremely easy that those players cross each other paths. But in normal servers, role play and PvE, it’s only possible to attack an enemy player if they have their PvP flag enabled.

WoW Classic phases

Although in version 1.12, some advanced dungeons, raids, events and zones already exist, Blizzard wants to offer the same old vanilla experience in terms of phasing them. So, upon Classic release, in a first phase, only 3 instances will be available. Throughout time, more instances will become progressively available on a phasing base.

To learn:

Phase 1

  • Molten Core
  • Onyxia
  • Maraudon

Phase 2

  • Dire Maul
  • Azuregos
  • Kazzak

Phase 3

  • Blackwing Lair
  • Darkmoon Faire
  • Darkmoon deck drops

Phase 4

  • Zul’Gurub
  • Green Dragons

Phase 5

  • Ahn’Qiraj War Effort
  • Ahn’Qiraj raid (after war effort)
  • Dungeons loot reconfiguration: Tier 0.5, relics, drop rate and change locations

Phase 6

  • Naxxramas
  • Scourge invasion

Talents

On vanilla, the talent’s system is very different from the current system that exists in earlier expansions. In my opinion, it was the best talent system ever on WoW. It is build based on a tree of improvements that can be updated, as players level up, according to their strategy. Below, you can find more information in the recommended links.

WoW Classic will also bring some improvements in relation to vanilla, specially on graphics. For further information, find below a list of recommended links and some references.

Recommended links:

References:

Copyright information: The images on this post belong to the game World of Warcraft and they are property of Blizzard.



About Carlos Santos

Frequency of master studies in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Freelancer developer (also works remotely): Websites, Web Applications (JAVA and PHP), J2SE/J2EE, C/C++ and Android. Private instructor and professional trainer in computer science and electrical engineering. Teaches in classrooms and remotely using Skype and Team Viewer. Interests: Music, audio, video, science, astronomy and mythology.

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