8 Reasons You Should Be Playing World Of Warcraft Classic

This week, Blizzard released the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Shadowlands, and it made all the wrong sorts of headlines.

Server issues, queues of several hours to log in, missing spells, and missing characters are but a few of the issues the MMO titan has encountered since the Shadowlands pre-patch was released, and with all these issues in mind, it seems that now is as good a time as any to jump into Azeroth exactly as it was 14 years ago.

Modern day Warcraft is, to many, a bastardization of everything that once made the MMO great, and many fans of the game simply refuse to play its retail version, instead preferring this incredibly sound throwback.

After seeing a major overhaul of the game's narrative and a condensing of its level system, many feel that World of Warcraft: Shadowlands has finally finished off the game's dwindling reputation. Little by little, Blizzard have changed aspects of the gameplay and the story in an attempt to keep it fresh and exciting for players, although the success of Classic proves that maybe that isn't what they wanted at all.

While modern-day WoW isn't without its merits, here's just a few of the reasons that you should be playing Classic instead.

With World of Warcraft's narrative having undergone a number of paradigm shifts in the many years since the game's initial release, there have been an increasing number of storylines in which the Horde and the Alliance put aside their differences to work together for the greater good. And while this can be interesting when done correctly, it detracts from the game's original mission statement.

In Classic, you're once again forced to pick a side and stick to it. While there's nothing to stop you from having characters of both factions, doing so will limit you much more than it does in modern-day Azeroth.

Levelling a new character is hard, and being able to mail yourself a few potions, some better armour and a little cash are all literal lifesavers - something that can only be done between characters of the same faction.

As well as the faction-specific postal service, gone are the powerful heirlooms that lend a new character of any faction a boost through those first difficult levels. In Classic, you can't use your Alliance main's amassed wealth to lend a hand to your brand new Horde character, and it gives a shot in the arm to the competitive nature that used to embody the game.