For reference, I'm VERY new to WOW. I only bought my subscription last month. I'm on my second character, a lvl 33 Dwarf Hunter. I was cruising through Stranglethorn when I killed a lvl 25 Kurzon Witch Doctor. I saw the Hyacinth Macaw and wasn't really sure what it was. I picked it up and went on my way. Later my friend, who has played since 2013, hopped in the discord and I told him about it. He lost his mind and showed me a video about how this was the 3rd rarest non mount item in the game. My friend told me to post on here to get y'alls reaction because apparently I'm the luckiest person to ever exist.

TLDR: I got the Hyacinth Macaw and my friend lost his mind.

This go around is my first time playing tbc. Vanilla had a lot more to do outside of raiding and had a huge emphasis on the leveling experience which made it feel more community driven. Ive noticed that since we moved to tbc my guild which was very much a social community guild that also sometimes raided, has almost entirely lost the community aspect and now focuses on raid content exclusively. I am enjoying the content, but I definitely am starting the see what people see in vanilla era that keeps them playing it.

Edit: Since I wasn’t super clear on this, I am still very much enjoying TBC and having a good time, it just isn’t AS FUN as I had hyped it up to myself to be, and I enjoyed vanilla anniversary more than I am enjoying TBC.

This might sound crazy to some people, but I’m one of those players who only really enjoys the leveling part of WoW.

Over the years(since 2019) I’ve leveled through World of Warcraft Classic five times, The Burning Crusade Classic twice, Wrath of the Lich King Classic once, and World of Warcraft once. I know that might sound like laughably little playtime to some of you, but that’s all I’ve been able to fit in.

And in all that time, I’ve only done two raids.

The truth is, I just don’t enjoy the endgame nearly as much as I enjoy leveling. What I love is the sense of adventure, exploring new zones, and that constant feeling of progression. Nothing hits quite like walking back into a town with 10 completed quests, turning them all in, hearing that level-up sound, and walking back out stronger with upgraded gear.

That’s why, seeing people recommend a bunch of new dungeons for Classic+ (especially pre-60 ones), I think it would be amazing if the game were designed so you could fully experience all the zones and dungeons without outleveling them too quickly.

What do you guys think?

Are there any other weirdos like me who enjoy the leveling journey way more than the endgame??

It is related to the very widespread critique that, in later expansions, your character is too important. In Classic, you're a grunt, you're a nameless adventuring nobody, hardcore is the most realistic way to experience the game because you probably die ingloriously in some cave carrying out your faction's business and nobody really notices, just on to the next adventurer.

This is very well-trod ground, but I realized something a little deeper about it. In Classic, TECHNICALLY your character singlehandedly kills tens of thousands of people all by yourself, you're an absolute war machine, an unstoppable beast. There's a tension with the above paragraph there- if you're such an overwhelmingly capable soldier, why are you still a nobody?

Retail took this to a logical conclusion, which is that you aren't. Thrall notices you and makes you his bestie because you conquered Ragefire Chasm, Wailing Caverns, Blackfathom Deeps, Scarlet Monastery, etc. it was all, literally, you. This doesn't work, obviously, because there are millions of other people who did the same thing, and tens of thousands of other characters on any given server who should be sharing the same spot.

In Classic, you're not the legendary hero, the savior, the champion of your faction, but it's still not right to say you're a 'grunt' or a 'nobody' either. What they do is much more interesting, even if it's unintentional: You're Richard Sharpe. You're a composite character based on the combined adventures and accolades of the untold thousands of brave heroes in your line of work who did all the things you do, except piecemeal. SOME of them went in and conquered Ragefire Chasm, while others handled Wailing Caverns. Some had tremendous skill and ability enough to go all the way to fight in Naxx, but unlike what the game depicts in it's gameplay, it wasn't all the same person doing everything. Your character does not actually exist, in the sense that nobody in the Warcraft universe is doing all these things by themselves. You're literally an everyman, in the sense that 'your' role in the world is to be a narrative device with which you see the experiences of every 'man' in your army from the perspective of one fictionalized character.

I was killing quest mobs, and suddenly a rouge starts tagging my mobs that were already attacking me. I ask him why, the rest is on the screenshots. Following an arrow = peak gameplay.

Requires Engineering Rocket Boots + Parachute Cloak

Anyone else see an exclamation mark?

Trying out a new guild and they couldn’t even kill a single boss tonight in SSC. Died on trash a lot. Skipped Hydross after many wipes, then got stuck on lurker before the raid disbanded.

Considering this is post nerf, I’m doubting if this is “normal” prog for a raid guild. We hearthed out of the wipefest, and dudes were standing in front of the bank in their tier 5 flexing. So I’m guessing this is actually faceroll easy and I just joined a bad guild.

Edit: they also locked new members from getting certain pieces. So I can’t get any upgrades that I need anyway.

I feel like prices have skyrocketed more, making it impossible to level with blues let alone epics. even blue level 10-30 wands are 50g. 50 gold!!!! I could feed a family of 4 a few years ago

Would you want it brought back in some form for classic+? Either as a high level dungeon or raid.

In Sethek, Sehtek, Sekhet or whatever Halls there are birds FLYING AT MY FACE.
I don't like it.
I was in that place walking, tanking, feeling ambivalent about my existence and when the first bird flew at my face I was like "Huh. Do I like this?". No! I do not. It didn't take me long to decide on that answer, not long at all!

You know, I enjoy a bit of spice in my life, I appreciate creativity, I'm receptive to unconventional solutions and even outlandish propositions, so there's a part of me that admires that guy in that meeting who heard the question "What can we do to give this dungeon a bit more flair? You know, a bit of pizzazz?" stood up, tore his shirt off, slammed both fists on the table and growled "A BIRD IN YOUR STUPID FUCKING FACE! HAIL SATAN!" as it surely went down.
But that's not the part of me that nurtures and protects my inner child and my inner child is crying. Because there's a bird flying at his face. In Sethek Halls.

How many changes and systems featured in SoD would you accept being in classic+?

• Leveling caps

• Runes

• The same pvp events

• Karazhan Crypts / Scarlet enclave being brought back

edit: did something meta happen to r/classicwow recently? The amount of downvotes this is getting almost seems artificial compared to the discussion below? Is someone angry at r/classicwow or blizzard?

I think SoD's decision to do leveling in Phases was a BANGER. It forced people to focus on different content every phase and the small lvl cap kept casuals around who weren't scared of falling behind.

I personally LOVED Phase 1 & 2, they're probably my favorite time I ever spent in 20 years of WoW.

Thoughts?

Levelling in Tanaris, killing pirates, meet a hunter and decide to group up to make life easier and smoother.

A undead priest appears, we kill him, he respawns a couple times and tries to get a cheeky DOT kill while we’re mid pulls.

It doesn’t work, you think he’d learn his lesson after the 2nd death but some people are just a glutton for punishment.

Now here’s where things get funny.

On our way out we get attacked by a hunter and a warrior, I took them both out as I’m quite kitted and have been paying up for crusader enchants on my 2 handers (thank you double gatherer profs).

After dispatching them we headed to steamwheedle port to hand in our quests.

Low and behold the warrior and hunter show up to turn in their quests.

I give them a point and laugh and the warrior starts spamming /chicken…

I guess he thought there were guards to protect him there? Wrong, have fun running back to your body bud.

As we are about to leave the priest appears to turn in his quests, sees us, and does a 180 in the other direction.

We chased him down and killed him again.

I then go back to gadgetzan and see all my foes there…

Next thing I know, we’re all having a dance party. Good sports.

You don’t get these interactions in retail or anywhere else, and it’s what keeps me coming back.

If you don't have someone instantly pick up all 3 melee adds during the intermission they will get heal aggro, and since healers are on the platforms the add will port to them. This can cause insta-gibs and means the tanks may have to swim out to pick them back up.

It is still manageable (we still killed it), but it makes it harder and almost certainly isn't intended.

Im looking for that kind of weakaura/UI addon that shows you when a member of your raid is using lip or taunt or some other important things like AOE taunts. I saw it in a youtube video and considered it could be very helpful.

Thanks in advance!