The original World of Warcraft expansion has finally returned, and, with it, a large portion of the Battle For Azeroth's populous have left the retail servers to return to the game they fell in love with 15 years ago.
Whether it's pure nostalgia that drove the players back to the first expansion or if it's truly better than anything Blizzard currently offers, only time will tell. But, with the entire WoW player-base polarized between the two expansions, any new player may be faced with a difficult decision when choosing "the right" expansion to start their journey in. To make that decision a bit easier, we've decided to sum up the strengths and weaknesses of each. Enjoy!
10 Classic Is More Fun: Gear Means More
Battle for Azeroth has spoiled players with the frequency and ease with which gear is obtained. Not only that, but, with world mobs being so weak and questing losing its challenge component, you no longer feel that you need that gear upgrade. Epic gear has become something merely you pick up along the way.
At the level cap, epic items drop constantly, eventually making you completely indifferent to them. Even when you finally do get that best-in-slot item that you've been hoping for, you still have to count on it being a Titanforge item for it to be any kind of an upgrade.
Things are vastly different in Classic. Gear drops way less frequently, and seeing a green or blue item drop feels so much better than any epic in BFA. If, by any chance, it's a bind-on-equip item that you don't need, you'll be ecstatic for the fact that selling it in the auction house will earn you that gold you've been needing so much. Needless to say, obtaining an epic item for your class in Classic raid is a feeling you'll almost never get in BFA, unfortunately.
9 BFA Is More Fun: More Content
Classic fans can't negate the fact that Battle for Azeroth, with 15 years of development behind it, has the largest and richest pool of quests, areas, and dungeons to explore. This fact alone may deter a large populous of players from logging onto Classic.
Not only that, but the entire world has been remastered with updated graphics and packed with interesting structures, NPCs, and side quests that provide a rich insight into the lore or simply tell captivating stories.
8 Classic Is More Fun: The World Seems Grander And More Daunting
Azeroth in Classic is only a fraction of the size of the updated world in BFA, yet it feels larger and more daunting than ever. Why? Well, unlike in BFA, which is littered by teleportation stones, dungeon finders, swift flying mounts, and portals on every corner, the only means of transportation in Classic is your trusty ground mount. That is, if you're level 20 or above and have farmed gold for days in order to be able to afford it.
But that's not all; the lands of Classic pose a constant threat to your character, and you never know when a pack of mobs or enemy players might be there to surprise you. This, by design, makes you move more carefully and pay constant attention to your environment. Yet, it also makes the game SO much fun.
7 BFA Is More Fun: Larger And More Creative Dungeon Pool
Though they're not as challenging as once were, we have to give it out to blizzard for making the newer WoW dungeons extremely creative and entertaining. Leveling to 120, you'll have the opportunity to enter and complete dungeons and raids of every single expansion, which will be an experience no player should ever pass up on. The raids and dungeons of BFA continue this tradition. They're visually stunning, creative, and often with complex and entertaining strategies.
6 Classic Is More Fun: Sense Of Accomplishment
In WoW Classic, leveling actually presents a challenge. You feel excited about stocking up on gold, potions, and food before finally venturing out into the open world. There are a lot fewer levels which by itself makes each "ding" that much more rewarding, knowing you're one step closer to fulfilling your character's destiny. Classic World of Warcraft strikes an excellent balance of difficulty and fun, and this has enabled millions of players to get over its dated looks and design and enjoy the game for hours on end.
5 BFA Is More Fun: Fun Endgame Content
Players who "dinged" 120 and have finally explored Azeroth still have a lot of content to partake in, such as Mythic+ dungeons, war campaigns, warfronts, pet battles, battlegrounds, and arenas. For the non-competitive types, there are also island expeditions, mount farming, fun seasonal events, and gathering gear for transmogrification. Meanwhile, while arguably more rewarding, reaching the top level in Classic will leave you with not much else to do than raid, attend battlegrounds, or organizing world PvP events.
4 Classic Is More Fun: It Forces Cooperation
By making world quests less challenging and introducing a myriad of handy systems such as Dungeon Finder or flying mounts, Blizzard may have made our WoW lives much easier. However, they also inevitably removed the need for cooperation and team play that made everyone fall in love with the original World of Warcraft.
Quests no longer require you to wait for your buddy and world exploration feels just as safe on your own. There's no need to talk to players in a town and try to recruit them for a dungeon when the Dungeon Finder button is right there, poking you in the eye.
3 BFA Is More Fun: More Colorful And Less Demanding Classes
We often hear hard-core players complain about the current state of PvP in Battle for Azeroth and how the talent trees have changed, leading to a dumbed-down class design. While true, the fact is that Blizzard gave every class a richer toolkit to deal with incoming enemies by healing, increased movement speed, and activating shields - all abilities that only decorated specific classes in Classic.
On the other hand, in Classic only select hybrid classes (Druids, Paladins, Shamans, and Priests) have the ability to both heal and do damage, while other classes had to find creative ways to stay alive. For example, a rogue can never heal but can use potent stuns and misdirects to stay alive and finish off enemies, while a mage can Polymorph them and root them in place.
2 Classic Is More Fun: World PvP
Battle for Azeroth may be branded as a "PvP" expansion, but it's Classic where you'll find the most epic player fights. In fact, the dangers of questing don't only rest on the strength of the mobs, but also the constant threat of enemy players. Entrances to dungeons and raids are almost always obstructed by hordes of players looking for trouble, while guild leaders are constantly devising new groups to ride through Azeroth with the goal of raiding enemy capital cities. It's really an experience that no passionate World of Warcraft player should ever miss on, and a big reason why Classic is so popular once again.
1 BFA Is More Fun: The Story Never Ends
The thing about the current WoW expansion is that we don't really know how it's going to end. In the case of the Battle for Azeroth and the upcoming Shadowlands expansion, we feel like we're experiencing everything together with other players who are just as clueless as we are.
Moreover, we feel like our actions directly affect the unfoldings of the game, and are curious to see the next cinematic or find out what the next patch offers. Playing BFA is like reading a really good book that we can't skip to the end of. And it's exciting.