World of Warcraft: Classic is sure to be one of Blizzard’s most striking and successful projects in recent years – take the fact that at the time of launch, classic servers gathered over a million viewers on Twitch . For those looking to try the classics, we’ve picked eight things every conqueror of Azeroth should do.
Wipe on Hogger
For 2005, World of Warcraft was a fairly user-friendly online game. In the starting locations, the basic rules were revealed in detail, and the first monsters did not pose a particular danger: they could be killed with a few blows, and if you did not want to fight, then you could even run through the enemy – he did not attack first. Yes, gradually the complexity grew, but nothing foreshadowed trouble.
However, already in Elwynn Forest, the second location for people, it was possible to encounter Hogger (aka the Crusher) – a level 11 gnoll who literally killed a character of an equal level with just a few blows. The Hogger was the first elite monster that required a small group of at least a healer to kill. Beginners, of course, did not know this – for which they paid.
In fact, monsters like the Shatter were found in all new WoW locations. But probably because Elwynn Forest was considered one of the most popular in the game (many went to play as humans), it was Hogger who quickly became one of the WoW memes. It was rumored that he was a distant relative of Chuck Norris (more likely even so: Chuck Norris is some kind of distant relative of Hogger), that he single-handedly killed more players than all the bosses of Molten Core, etc. And it is also customary to collect raids on Hogger from the heroes of the minimum first level – if they call to this, by all means agree!
Have a hearty fight in the Barrens chat
If the Alliance had Elwynn Forest with Hogger, then the Horde’s signature location is, of course, The Barrens, with its legendary chat. When the races that entered the Alliance for a long time followed different storylines in different zones, most of the beginning Horde players quickly crossed paths in The Barrens. It was a unique entrance courtyard: in addition to newcomers, high-level players often wandered into the zone, and there were alliance raids.
As a result, the location chat has become very lively and toxic. Numerous newcomers constantly asked about the same, often stupid, questions in it, people got irritated more experienced, began to answer with swearing. The presence of players of different races led to disputes whether the orc would take the tauren, or vice versa, and then along the knurled people began to argue about music, politics, cars and much more. Plus, the discipline classic for World of Warcraft – to start a dialogue in your own language in the general chat (this was not prohibited in the game), causing the hatred of the rest. For you to understand the scale of what was happening, we add that the swearing in the Barrens chat did not stop even at four in the morning.
Go to the dungeon and get into an adventure
The automatic group search system in the dungeon is considered by many to be one of the most controversial innovations in World of Warcraft. On the one hand, it is convenient: I pressed the button – and in a few minutes I was in the dungeon with the right group. But this approach has robbed players of many adventures. Imagine yourself: first, you collect a group of friends, or in a chat. Then you discuss the route to the dungeon, which could easily be on the other side of Azeroth. On the way, someone is sure to get lost, someone arrives at the wrong place. And in the middle of the route, you will definitely bump into players from the opposite faction – and it is likely that the fight with them will drag on.
And in the dungeon itself, the adventure continued. It’s great, for example, to lose one of the players in the middle of a play. Now the automation finds a replacement in a few minutes, but before it was necessary to search manually, and then wait until a person gets to the dungeon. Well, or trying to pass in an incomplete composition – such visits, by the way, quickly “straightened” your arms. There were other stories: for example, the players could quarrel over the order of the quests, or someone could suggest taking a shortcut – he always led through the lava, in which the whole group was fascinatingly roasted for 15-20 minutes, trying to jump to that pebble …
Die (and more than once) on the outskirts of Tarren Mill
The vanilla version of World of Warcraft boasts some of the best open-world PvP in the history of the game. There were only three battlegrounds then, so players regularly looked for adventures outside of them. The world itself, even though it was huge, had many “points of contact”: here two guild groups of 40 players each going on a raid could easily fight, and there could be a battle for a separate boss wandering across Azeroth. They fought everywhere: battles were going on for points favorable for farming, high-level horns slaughtered newcomers right at the exit from the starting locations, and on weekends people gathered and took the enemy’s capital by storm.
But the most famous PvP location was the Hillsbrad Foothills – a seemingly usual zone for level 20-30 players. Why she? First, because Horde-owned Tarren Mill and the Alliance’s Southshore were very close to each other here, so it was easy for players to cooperate to raid an enemy settlement. Secondly, there were several locations nearby at once for high-level players, to which, in the event of a serious mix, the messengers would instantly rush shouting “ours are beaten!” – and usually received reinforcements.
As a result, the wars in the Hillsbrad Foothills were often epic in scale: both sides assembled entire raids, selected commanders, lined up in battle formations, and held the front line. At a particularly dangerous moment, a small squad of knights in shining armor could descend from the hill, immediately changing the course of the battle – the very reinforcement of high-level players.
Why is it proposed to die on the outskirts of Tarren Mill? It’s simple: at least in the first months, there were noticeably more Alliance players than Hordes on most World of Warcraft servers. Therefore, the Horde often defended the approaches to their mill, being in the minority, sometimes very serious – and when they still managed to win, the pleasure was special.
Spend several days completing one quest
Leveling up in World of Warcraft itself is not an easy one: if you play actively, you managed to keep within a few weeks, while the rest took a couple of months. But to reach the coveted level 60, the developers have prepared a particularly sophisticated surprise for the players – multi-stage quests, without which it is unrealistic to become a full-fledged hero of Azeroth. For example, the key to access the Lair of Onyxia, one of the raid bosses in the game. To get it, you need to kill a bunch of monsters, travel the entire mainland, completing mail quests, go to the dungeons several times, and for a certain object, which your group may refuse to knock out.
Another entertainment is class quests. In terms of complexity, they are even more abruptly than the chain described above, and in some cases they require a couple of assistants who will not receive much for help. In most cases, you cannot miss: for completing the quest some powerful special ability is put in, without which the class will not be complete.
Kill half a year to capture the Grand Marshal (actually, not worth it)
The rating system that rewarded players for PvP achievements in WoW Classic looked logical at first glance: every victory over another player, every task completed in PvP was rewarded with honor points. Once a week, the game summed up the points of all players, and then those who played better than others moved up the rank. And so many times in a row – up to 13 and 14 ranks, for which they were given the best equipment and weapons, as well as the honorary titles of Field Marshal and Grand Marshal.
However, due to the peculiarities of the formulas, literally 5 players per week could get to the final ranks. And this is on populated servers – on servers with an average number of players, sometimes it was impossible to get to the cherished ranks at all. At the same time, nothing really meant anything from your skill: to get enough points, you had to spend 14 hours every day on three battlefields. Someone played together for one character, someone formed groups for the farm of battlegrounds, in which GMs were taken in turn, on some servers they even agreed on the limits on the number of honor points in order to play less. These limits, of course, sooner or later were violated, which led to fierce abuse on the forums.
On average, if done correctly, it took about six months to reach the maximum rank. And Blizzard spoiled this pleasure for many: over time, dungeons were added to the game, the equipment in which surpassed the marshal’s even in PvP. There, too, I had to tinker – but most of the players in the raiding guilds still did not spend 14 hours a day.
So this advice is from the harmful category – in fact, never take a Grand Marshal.
Join a guild, meet a lot of interesting people …
But what is still worth reaching for in WoW Classic is membership in a guild that raids at least Molten Core, the simplest dungeon for 40 people. Blizzard abandoned this format already in the first expansion of The Burning Crusade – it was believed that it was too difficult to create and manage such a large guild. Perhaps this is true, but the atmosphere in such guilds turned out to be simply unique – a certain structure, a clear hierarchy and discipline were needed. But the relationship between the players was also formed in a special way – after all, four dozen more people often depended on your actions. Needless to say, in such guilds they found friends for years to come, and sometimes even loved ones.
… and kill them all
In general, the raid mechanics of the classics are not considered very cool – even the most ardent fans admit that today Blizzard designers know how to make much more interesting bosses. But in “vanilla” for a long time there was a truly explosive combination: inexperienced players (for many WoW was the first MMORPG) and raids in which 40 people had to act as one. And sometimes the mistake of one player was enough for everyone to die.
The author of these lines once decided to “train” a friend: he took his healer of the maximum level 60 and went with a less pumped comrade into a simple dungeon so that he would quickly collect good equipment there. In order not to spend so much mana, I brought low-level healing spells to the panel – and forgot to replace them back. Unsurprisingly, the next day, when my guild passed the Blackwing Lair, the group I was in charge of healing was called the “death group” – everyone died steadily at the start of the fight. However, doctors were in short supply, so they managed to slip past the punishment.
Player errors in raids spawned many memes that still live on today. This is the legendary Leeroy Jenkins, and, for example, “50 DKP Minus” – see the video in English at the beginning of the chapter, everything is clear in it.
Blizzard recently confirmed that World of Warcraft: Classic can have a very long life – the company is considering different options for developing servers, so long as the players agree. So, we will follow with particular interest the reaction of the audience – what if the “classic” gets a real second life?
