WoW Classic: Guide & Review

Introduction

Greetings, Heroes of Azeroth! The release of World of Warcraft: Classic is here, so we will be able to learn what our favorite game started with fifteen years ago. We will know all the basics and all the roots of todays confrontation between the Horde and the Alliance. Varian Wrynn will still be alive and Thrall will still be a Warchief. Of course, there are dozens of big and small differences between these two versions of the same game and today we are going to speak about them. You will know how many races and professions there were at the very beginning, what the talent tree looked like, how much a Mount cost , what Weapon Skill means, and lots of other interesting facts that you might not currently know. So make yourself comfortable and welcome to the WoW: Classic Features Overview.

WoW Classic vs BFA Graphics Comparison

“Old but not retired…”

The very first thing everyone notices while looking at WoW: Classic screenshots or watching gameplay videos is the graphics differences. The models are angular, the environment is square, the grass is flat, one could not see anything in a distance, and the shades of the trees do not move no matter what. And the Prairie Dogs… Have you seen them? Well, take a look at what the poor animal used to look like and what it looks like right now. But it was the year 2004 and for those times everything was just perfect. At that time, Players admired the bright colors, high textured models, detailed trees and structures, and the enormous world to explore without additional loading screens when moving between zones. That was fantastic – Blizzard made a real breakthrough in the genre of MMORPG games.

The absolute majority of those who wait for the release of the game with such impatience, used to play Vanilla on the official or private servers and they certainly expect to get the same feelings and plunge into the same atmosphere. For these people, WoW Classic with modern graphics would not be that very game. They are so eager to play and they would be very disappointed, so the developers made the right choice.

Now a few specifics.

Despite the fact that WoW: Classic was created on the BfA engine, and beta testers find odds and ends of the retail version here and there, the whole atmosphere is original. The weather and the time change according to the original formulas; sounds, and even music are both included. These changes influence the gameplay directly, for example, only at night you may hear wolves’ howling, catch special fish or even come across extremely rare creatures that wander the forests when the sun sets.

As time passed, the developers tried to optimize original graphics to the modern ideas of how the game should look like. From one expansion to another, they upgraded the graphics engine, making the environment more realistic, adding textures and polygons to the creatures and structures, enlarging the viewing distance, and changing the animation of models. Special mentions are the shades differences in Classic WoW and in the actual version of the game. Today we may see dynamic shades for all the objects – they move according to the direction of the light source or disappear at night time, and this all is possible due to a special shades graphical engine that programmers had to create, but back in 2004, it was technologically impossible, so the designers had to manually paint the shades directly on the nearby textures.

The upgrades in playable races were always in the first place. Since the first release, they have changed dramatically: more polygons, new animation, better realistic appearances, even proud bearing for Trolls and Orcs.

WoW: Classic Races, Class Differences between BfA and Classic, Racial Bonuses

“A long time ago on the planet named Azeroth far, far away…”

Сontinuing the races subject, there will be only 8 races on the whole – 4 of them for each faction, and only 9 classes available down from 12 for each race each with unique racial bonuses.

The quick facts about Horde representatives:

Orcs may be  Hunters,  Rogues,  Shamans, and  Warriors.

Racial abilities:

Blood Fury: Instant. Increases base melee attack power by 25% for 15 Seconds and reduces healing effects on you by 50% for 25 Seconds.

Hardiness: Passive. Chance to resist Stun effects increased by an additional 25%.

Command: Passive. Damage dealt by Hunter and Warlock pets increased by 5%.

Axe Specialization: Passive. Skill with Axes and Two-Handed Axes increased by 5.

Trolls may be  Hunters,  Mages,  Priest,  Rogues,  Shamans, and  Warriors.

Racial abilities:

Regeneration: Passive. Health regeneration rate increased by 10%. 10% of total Health regeneration may continue during combat.

Beast Slaying: Passive. Damage dealt versus Beasts increased by 5%.

Berserking: Instant, has 3 Minute Cooldown. Increases your attack speed by 10 to 30%. At full health, the speed increase is 10 to 30% with a greater effect up to 10 to 30% if you are badly hurt when you activate Berserking. Lasts 10 Seconds.

Bow Specialization: Passive. Skill with Bow Weapons increased by 5.

Throwing Specialization: Passive. Skill with Throwing Weapons increased by 5.

Tauren may be  Druids,  Hunters,  Shamans, and  Warrior.

Racial abilities:

Cultivation: Passive. Herbalism skill increased by 15.

Endurance: Passive. Total Health increased by 5%.

Nature Resistance: Passive. Nature Resistance increased by 10.

War Stomp: Active, has 2 Minutes Cooldown. Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 Seconds.

Undead may be  Mages,  Priest,  Rogues,  Warlock, and  Warrior.

Racial abilities:

Cannibalize: Instant, has 2 Minute Cooldown. When activated, regenerates 7% of total health every 2 Seconds for 10 Seconds. Only works on Humanoid or Undead corpses within 5 yards. Any movement, action, or damage taken while Cannibalizing will cancel the effect.

Shadow Resistance: Passive. Shadow Resistance increased by 10.

Underwater Breathing: Passive. Underwater breath lasts 300% longer than normal.

Will of the Forsaken: Instant, has 2 Minutes Cooldown. Provides immunity to Charm, Fear and Sleep while active. May also be used while already afflicted by Charm, Fear or Sleep. Lasts 5 Seconds.

Note, that Shamans are unique Horde class.

The quick facts about the Alliance Champions:

Humans may be  Mages,  Paladins,  Priest,  Rogues,  Warrior, and  Warlock.

Racial abilities:

Diplomacy: Passive. Reputation gains increased by 10%.

Perception: Instant, has 3 Minute Cooldown. Dramatically increases stealth detection for 20 Seconds.

The Human Spirit: Passive. Spirit increased by 5%.

Mace Specialization: Passive. Skill with Maces and Two-Handed Maces increased by 5.

Sword Specialization: Passive. Skill with Swords and Two-Handed Swords increased by 5.

Night Elves may be  Druids,  Hunters,  Priest,  Rogues, and  Warriors.

Racial abilities:

Nature Resistance: Passive. Nature Resistance increased by 10.

Wisp Spirit: Passive. Transform into a wisp upon death, increasing movement speed by 50%.

Quickness: Passive. Dodge chance increased by 1%.

Shadowmeld: Instant, has 10 Second Cooldown. Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until canceled or upon moving. Night Elf Rogues and Druids with Shadowmeld are more difficult to detect while stealthed or prowling.

Dwarves may be  Hunters,  Paladins,  Priest,  Rogues, and  Warriors.

Racial abilities:

Find Treasure: Active. Allows the dwarf to sense nearby treasure, making it appear on the minimap. Lasts until canceled.

Frost Resistance: Passive. Frost resistance increased by 10.

Gun Specialization: Passive. Guns skill increased by 5.

Stoneform: Instant, has 3 Minute Cooldown. While active, grants immunity to Bleed, Poison, and Disease effects. In addition, Armor increased by 10%. Lasts 8 Seconds.

Gnomes may be  Mages,  Hunters,  Warlock, and  Warriors.

Racial abilities:

Arcane Resistance: Passive. Arcane Resistance increased by 10.

Engineering Specialization: Passive. Engineering skill increased by 15.

Escape Artist: Active, has 1 Minute Cooldown. Escape the effects of any immobilization or movement speed reduction effect.

Expansive Mind: Passive. Intelligence increased by 5%.

Paladins are exclusive to the Alliance faction.

The class system has undergone many revisions between BfA and Classic. Here are some of the top changes:

• Death Knights, Monks, and Demon Hunters were not available in Classic WoW.
• You cannot change your race, so picking the race/class combo you prefer is very important.
• Priests had unique racials based on their race.
• Druids had three talent trees, not four. Feral Combat was used for both Guardian and Feral Druids.
• Rogues had the Combat specialization, not Outlaw.
• Hunters had an elaborate Pet Loyalty system, and Survival was a ranged DPS spec.
• Talents and specializations were vastly different. Instead of picking a specialization within a class, and learning a set of unique abilities, you pick a class and the spec-flavored abilities come from talent points.

Magic Resistances in World of Warcraft: Classic

“You have no power here”

Racial bonuses are extremely important in Classic WoW and players often prefer this or that race for their bonuses in particular.

You might have also noticed that some racial bonuses refer to a now removed category of stats – magic resistance. There are five schools of resistance in Classic WoW and they are Arcane, Fire, Nature, Frost, and Shadow. One can acquire these resistances from buffs or gear, while bosses can also have these resistances. Although there are Holy spells in a game, Players and monsters don’t have any holy specific resistance. Due to multiple in-game specifics, one can either fully resist a certain spell, or partly resist it. Bosses and elite creatures will always have a chance to resist a player’s spell though. Oftentimes players will have to equip resistance gear to make a certain boss fight less challenging. Though some resistance gear spread throughout the raid, it is a misconception to think that everyone in a raid has to be in a full resist gear. Depending on the circumstances, it is primarily important for tanks to equip as much resistance gear as possible.

Leveling in WoW Classic

You are much less likely to encounter wandering monsters while following a road.

Leveling in Classic WoW appears to be one of the main aims in the game. There is no need to rush across the zones to reach the cap as soon as possible thinking, that the game will show you the best of it. It is already showing you the best of it from the very beginning. Just relax and enjoy your journey. But remember that it takes weeks and sometimes even months to reach level 60; the leveling process is not easy at all. Every single monster a player may come across represents danger and may easily kill the Character. The mob with the skull instead of a level number or even the red one stirs up only one emotion – run for your life, for if it catches you, this will be your death. Do not even try to pull several mobs of your level simultaneously – you will have no chances against them. Every single enemy Player represents even larger danger. The World of Warcraft is all about the faction war and World PvP as a result, so there is always a chance to find someone from the opposite faction, who is mining your ore or gathering your herbs, especially when it comes to the rarest and therefore the most expensive herb Black Lotus. You will have to fight for it. The whole World represents great danger. Potions and food come to an end quicker than you manage to collect them. Classes that do not have self-heal abilities need to recover after almost every fight. One should always keep in mind how much mana, or range, or another resource they  have, and that will make them think twice before entering simple combat. The best way is to travel in a group. But in case all the above said seems too annoying and difficult for you, or you are tired of the leveling process that you’d rather find a second job then to raise another character to the cup – we’ve got great news for you! Use Overgear as an option and we guarantee a level 60 Character of your choice that will be ready to challenge the high-level content. All transactions are absolutely safe. Just visit our special section and relax while we do the rest.

Gold Farming in WoW Classic

“Need more Gold…”

The amount of Gold coins the Character has in the BfA and in Vanilla differs dramatically. Everyone knows how much does the Mighty Brutosaur costs. If you do not know  – read our special overview. We know a simple way to help you to get this magnificent Mount. The only thing you have to know is that you will never have this amount of in-game currency. Everything costs money. Every single spell or ability you learn, every Mount you want, every ingredient or a potion you need, everything costs Gold. Lots of Gold. So you will have no choice but to farm it in every possible way you can imagine. Creatures are rather stingy and will not even give you Copper coins easily. Prepare yourself for a long journey if you want to buy that beautiful wolf or horse. A very common situation that perfectly demonstrates the whole process of earning Gold in World of Warcraft: Classic – you see a high-level Character dressed in the best possible gear and wearing the Legendary weapon and still using a slow Mount. That is because the faster Mounts cost too much money. But do not be afraid! Overgear is always here to help you. Our drivers are always ready to help to get the needed amount of Gold coins for you to be able to buy whatever you want. Visit our special section and learn everything you want to know about WoW Classic Gold farming.

In-Game Balance in WoW Classic

“Paladin is almost done –

We have fifteen guys and he is one”

The in-game balance is very complicated. We all know that with the start of each new Expansion the balance changes in this or that direction. On the beginning of the Legion Expansion, Druids could easily beat everyone. When the Wrath of the Lich King was released, Mages were unstoppable. There is a story when at the start of the Battle for Azeroth Expansion a Rogue spent seven minutes trying to kill a Paladin and didn’t succeed inthe end. But time passes and everything becomes more or less balanced. Well, not in WoW Classic . You must be ready for an even harder situation. Not only are there classes that easily kill others by default, but certain classes or class specializations that are not created for every game aspect. Be prepared to receive party refusals while trying to find a Raid party if you are a Feral Druid, for example, for a Feral Druid is particularly great at PvP – this specialization is actually almost the best at carrying flags, but unfortunately, is close to useless in Raids. There are only four top DPS classes in Raids and they are Mages and  Warlocks in a range zone and Warriors and Rogues in a melee zone. The best tanks are Warriors and no one else. Hybrid classes usually play healers roles. These simple statistics represent all the complexity of the World of Warcraft: Classic. So choose your class wisely, depending on your in-game aims.

PvE and LFG/LFR System in WoW Classic

“Struggling with a tough foe? Remember, just keep your health above 0 while lowering your enemy’s Health to 0. Works every time!”

To tell you the truth, the PvE content in the latest Expansions is far more entertaining than it was back in Vanilla WoW and than it will be in Classic. There are several difficulties of each Dungeon and Raid, bosses are more challenging, and every Player has an opportunity to learn every part of the in-game story, using the LFG or LFR menu. Mythic dungeons seem to be the most interesting part of all. Raids now are flexible and may consist of up to thirty persons, depending on the difficulty, but in Classic, it is forty people and not less. The Classic Raids are simpler from the mechanical point of view, but the thing is every Character in a forty people raid should be equipped in an appropriate way; everyone must have lots of consumables, which, by the way, play a large role in the game on the whole, and in the Raids specifically. The loot system also differs. Regular bosses drop two or three Items on the whole, while in the retail game, everyone is guaranteed to have at least Artifact Power. These facts make the dressing process very long and sometimes exhausting. One might wait for that very trinket for months, but when it finally drops, it might be given to one of the five other Warriors and six other Rogues, In this instance, so Players will have nothing to do except to wait for another half of the year. But the funniest thing is that the long-expected Epic Item may surprisingly be worse than your Rare or even Uncommon one because of the stats this one has. When it comes to PvE Classic content, it’s all about the time and patience.

Remember, that such thing as LFG and LFR menu just doesn’t exist in the Classic WoW and there is only one difficulty Raid and Dungeon level for everyone. You will have to look for the group by scrolling the special <LFG> chat window and typing and repeating messages over and over again. Other and better option is to be in a Guild that goes to Dungeons and Raids and is ready to pick you up.

The PvP system in the WoW Classic

“Crossroads is under attack”

The very title of the game has the word War in it, displaying the whole idea of Blizzard’s product. Everyone has someone who prefers PvP over PvE so much, that doesn’t take part in any PvE activities at all, spends all their time on multiple Battlegrounds, Warfronts or Arenas. There is a separate PvP talent tier and PvP rating. And this is great! It shows the many-sided gameplay of WoW and the titanic work developers completed. Everyone will find an interest in the Azeroth. But a surprising fact: There are only three Battlegrounds in the WoW Classic and no Arenas at all! There are no ratings, but there are Ranks, which are, actually even harder to get. There are 14 ranks total and each of them has a unique title and rewards that sticks to a Character each time, they earn a new one. Here they are:

The PvP mechanics are different in the Classic WoW and  BfA. There is no Resilience in Classic. The only way to minimize the incoming damage is to use certain magic resistance or the gear defense stats. As long as there are not lots of Battlegrounds, World PvP flourishes. Regular players come across lots of unexpected troubles while leveling in certain locations, such as  Silithus or  Stranglethorn Vale. Combat does not last long usually, everything might come to an end in less than a minute. The countdown goes on seconds – if you can’t interrupt the enemy’s spell in time, you are dead; did not put the totem in time? You are dead. BfA forgives small mistakes, Classic – does not.

Socialization in Classic WoW

“Bring your friends to Azeroth, but don’t forget them go outside Azeroth!”

The social component is a subject under the biggest discussion. Everyone seems to have shared their point of view. But this is indeed a very important issue. Every single action a Player wants to do, makes him cooperate with other people. Want to sell Items without the Auction House taxes? Use a chat. Stuck on a difficult quest? Ask in global or Guild chat for help. Need to go to the Dungeon? Chat is the only way to get there! By the way, do you know that Meeting Stones do not summon Characters in Classic? The only way to get to the Dungeon or Raid is to use a taxi and run by yourself the rest of the way. Such a trip may be and usually is rather dangerous. There are not any Mounts at all till level 40, so the whole party goes on foot and may come across players from the opposite faction. The way to the  Scarlet Monastery for the Alliance players is especially challenging.

Modern systems such as Phasing, Sharding, LFR, or even flying Mounts, all help Players to find creatures they have been looking for, to teleport to the Raids and Dungeons, and to cover huge distances in no time, but they do not give them that feeling of unity that Classic is famous for. The whole game is about socializing. People meet, talk and become friends in the vast expanses of Azeroth. Sooner or later, everyone will know almost everybody and that is really great.

Talent System in Classic WoW

“Azeroth’s got talent”

The talent system is vastly more complex with 51 points that can be placed into three trees, per class. Players can split points evenly among specialization trees, or fully invest in a single tree to get the final ability at the end.

The option to dual-spec and save multiple talent builds is not present.

Classic has the concept of Hybrids-roles that offers weaker DPS but has more utility and the capability to perform other roles in a pinch.

Spells have ranks – one has to return to Class Trainers in capital cities to train higher ranks.

Many stats that are present in Classic are removed in BfA. Some of these stats are crucial to talent builds, such as abilities that increase Weapon Skill.

Talents can improve existing abilities or stats, add new functionality to abilities, or teach players brand-new abilities. Usually, interesting new abilities are unlocked after spending 11, 21, or 31 points in a tree. Some abilities require points to be spent on specific talents higher up in the tree, in order to choose them. Here are some examples of iconic 31 point talents:

• Adrenaline Rush for Combat.
• Dark Pact for Affliction.
• Shadowform for Shadow.
• Combustion for Fire.
• Leader of the Pack for Feral Combat.

You can start putting points into the Talent Trees at level 10, and earn one for every new level, so your first 31 points special talent can be unlocked at level 40.

There are lots of customization and choices available in Classic Talent Trees – you are not locked into choosing one talent option per row, like in modern WoW. Players that end up focusing on the same specialization can have a very different array of chosen talents.

Spell Ranks in Classic WoW

Every single Spell in the game has its ranks. The higher is the rank of a certain Spell, the more damage it will deal, but the more Character’s class resources it will cost. There are infrequent cases, though, when players prefer to downrank spells. By using a lower rank of a spell, a player deals less damage or healing, but the spell will be faster or cheaper to cast.

As you level up, higher ranks of spells are available to be trained. Here is one example, using Scorch:

• Scorch – Rank 1 – Level 22
• Scorch – Rank 2 – 28
• Scorch – Rank 3 – 34
• Scorch – Rank 4 – 40
• Scorch – Rank 5 – 46
• Scorch – Rank 6 – 52
• Scorch – Rank 7 – 58

To train new Spells or to master old ones, Players must return to Class Trainers in capital cities. Generally, new abilities are available every two levels. Learning these abilities will cost Gold coins.

Class Trainers also provide the option to reset all of your talent points. There is no way in Classic WoW to select a dual specialization with a set of pre-saved talents. The cost of resetting talents starts at 1 Gold coin and steadily increases to a 50 Gold cap. Fortunately, if a Player didn’t use this option for some period of time, the cost of the reset will reduce to 10 Gold coins.

Professions in Wow Classic

“You can only know two professions at a time, but you can learn all secondary skills”

The first thing we have to remember about the professions in Classic Wow is the fact that some of those professions we got accustomed to just do not exist in the game. They are Inscription, Jewelcrafting, and Archaeology. Meanwhile, First Aid which retired in Battle for Azeroth, is alive and well.

There are several types of professions in Classic WoW:

Production Professions – Players collect recipes, granting them the ability to craft powerful gear which can be equipped or traded. Production Professions are Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Cooking,  Engineering, Leatherworking, and Tailoring.

Service Professions – These professions do not generate trade goods that are equitable but allow the Player to create items that benefit others. Enchanting and First Aid are Service Professions.

Gathering Professions – Allow Players to acquire materials that are required to create powerful trade goods. Herbalism, Mining, Skinning, and Fishing are Gathering Professions.

Some professions have additional subclasses, with unique recipes:

• Engineering – Goblin, Gnomish;
• Leatherworking – Dragonscale, Elemental, Tribal.

In order to learn the next rank of your current profession, you must return to a profession trainer. Remember that if you swap a profession, all ranks are lost and you must start over again at skill level 1.

There are even more changes from the BfA Expansion:

• Alchemy requires Players to go to specific laboratories in instances to create the best flasks.
• There is no Reagent tab in the bank.
• Profession recipes do not have ranks.
• There is no Scrapper system from BFA to acquire more reagents or Blood of Sargeras system from Legion to trade for preferred reagents.
• The Darkmoon Faire does not provide professional quests.
• Enchanters can only enchant others’ equipment via the trade window. There are no vellums that can be placed on the Auction House.
• Gathering notes are not shared-tap among players.
• The best gear can only be crafted at high profession skill levels.

Buffs in the World of Warcraft Classic

There are quite a number of different buffs in the Classic WoW. Some of them may be obtained in the world, that’s why they are called World Buffs, and some of them are regular class buffs. We will not represent the complete guide here (let us know if you need it), instead, we will highlight the main facts about them.

All the available classes have useful buffs or auras as well with the exception of Warriors and Rogues.

World Buffs are very powerful buffs which you can gather in several zones of Azeroth. One does not need these buffs to be able to beat any of the content in Classic by any means but it will strengthen the raid immensely. Class mechanics in Classic WoW, are not that hard to master, but gear optimization and World Buffs are what will make one stand out from the other Players.

World Buffs Quick List

• Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer +10% Spell Crit, +5% Melee/Ranged Crit, +140 Attack Power. Lasts for 2 hours;
• Songflower Serenade +15 to all stats, +5% Spell/Melee/Ranged Crit. Lasts for 1 hour;
• Warchief’s Blessing (Horde only) +300 Hitpoints, +15% Melee Haste, regens 10 Mana every 5 Seconds. Lasts for 1 hour;
• Resist Fire. Increases an ally’s Fire resistance by 12 for 1 hour;
• Dire Maul Buffs. There are three of them and it won’t be easy to get them, but they are quite useful.
• Mol’dar’s Moxie. Overall Stamina increased by 15%. Lasts for 2 hours;
• Fengus’ Ferocity. Attack Power increased by 200. Lasts for 2 hours;
• Slip’kik’s Savvy. A chance for a critical hit with a spell increased by 3%. Lasts for 2 hours;
• Spirit of Zandalar +10% Movement Speed, +15% Stats. Lasts for 2 hours;
• Darkmoon Faire Buffs – 12 on total;
• Lordaeron’s Blessing Buff.

Class Quests in Classic WoW

“Die Hard”

The latest World of Warcraft Expansions do not have the original class questlines, which were challenging and at the same time so interesting! Druid, for example, gets all of their forms just by reaching a certain level, but Classic WoW will carefully lead a new Druid through all the long and winding roads of their history, so the Player could feel and understand his class better. There are class questlines for the Shaman’s totems, for weapons, for Warlock’s daemons, for class skills, such as Paladin’s resurrection and many others. This is a very short list of class questlines:

• Druid class quests;
• Hunter class quests;
• Mage class quests;
• Paladin class quests;
• Priest class quests;
• Rogue class quests;
• Shaman class quests;
• Warlock class quests;
• Warrior class quests.

There is also one questline that should be done by everyone, no matter what class you choose as the item rewards at the end are extremely powerful pre-raid BiS Items. The Temple of Atal’Hakkar quest chain can be picked up at level 50 from your class trainer, though you probably won’t be able to complete them until 52+ due to difficulty. You may even wait to level 60 to do these quests as they can take quite some time. Some classes like Warrior will even use their reward Diamond Flask throughout the lifespan of the entire game for certain situations.

Gear in Classic WoW

“If you <Shift> click on a player name in the chat window it tells you additional information about them.”

As there aren’t any Raid difficulty levels in Classic WoW, there aren’t several types of the same Gear of different color as in BfA. There is only one possible Tier – 0.5 in one color design. No transmogrifications are available either. Everyone wears the armor they have and only the best of the best can afford to wear complete sets. The gear and weapon changed in BfA with extreme speed – there is now no need to remember the name of your sword because you will replace it in a couple of weeks. Every following Expansion starts with replacing Epics or even Legendaries into Green Items and one has to start the same process over and over again. On the other hand, the name of your first Uncommon Shoulder armor you might remember for the next few years because that was a memorable moment and you used it for 20 levels (if not more).

There is also an interesting gear specific. Some classes can not wear their now customary type of armor from the very beginning. Warriors and Paladins have to be content with Mail Armor until they reach level 40 and only after that they may finally dress into Plate. The same situation happens with Hunters and Shamans, whose fate is to travel in Leather armor until the same level 40.

Weapon Skill and Relics in WoW Classic

“Practice makes perfect!”

Weapon Skill represents the Player’s proficiency with a particular weapon, and increasing the Weapon Skill reduces the chance to miss when attacking a target. This huge category was completely removed out of the game a long time ago, so the information may be quite new. All characters start out with a few weapon skills by default depending on their chosen class and race and can train additional weapon skills from Weapon Masters in each major city.

Characters at level 1 start with a weapon skill cap of 5, and the weapon skill cap value increases by 5 based on your level. At level 60, a Character’s weapon skill cap will be 300.

Some Items and racial abilities grant additional Weapon Skill, which can exceed the skill cap of 300. For example, the Orc racial ability  Axe Specialization and the epic world drop item  Edgemaster’s Handguards.

Players must reach level 10 before they can train additional weapon skills with the exception of Polearms, which requires level 20. All the new skills will cost 10 Silver coins, but Polearms skill will cost 1 Gold coin to learn. Weapon Masters are accessible in each faction’s major city, although each Weapon Master can train different Weapon Skills. Each Weapon Master has a dialogue option that will tell the player exactly where to go to train a specific weapon skill. To train a certain skill isn’t that tough. Each attack that is not evaded has a chance to increase weapon skill, unfortunately, evading enemies will not increase this skill.

The amount of available weapons has not changed with the exception of  Warglaives, obviously. Besides, Wands play a larger role in Classic WoW than they do now in BfA. Only Mage, Priest, and Warlock may learn this skill and they start with it by default.

All Characters in Classic Wow have an additional slot for the secondary weapon that they may use all the time according to their current needs. A funny thing, but Bows, Crossbows, and Guns are the secondary weapons for Hunters while the main weapons are One-handed Axes and Daggers. Wands and Thrown are also counted as secondary weapons. Wands, by the way, have special talents that increase their damage.

A few words about Librams, Idols, and Totems, for these things do not exist in the BfA. They all are relics. Relic refers to a type of equipment worn in the secondary equipment slot by Druids, Paladins, and Shamans. The relics replace the ranged weapon for these classes. They typically give significant bonuses to a single spell rather than a general stat bonus of ranged weapons. There are three different types of relics, each specific to a class:

Idols used by  Druids.

Librams used by  Paladins.

Totems used by  Shamans.

Lockpicking, Pickpocketing and Poison Skill in Wow Classic

“Lock, stock, and two smoking barrels.”

Lockpicking, Pickpocketing, and Poisons are all unique Rogue skills. Lockpicking allows opening different chests, boxes, and doors and this skill is quite useful, we must confess. A Player may find lots of effective and valuable Items in the chests and boxes around the world, which give them an additional opportunity to grow rich. A young Rogue starts his thief career at level 16, by visiting his class trainer. It is recommended to buy the Thieves’ Tools from a vendor as well or to make certain thief quests with these tools as a reward because they are the main opening instruments. In addition, Leatherworkers can make Dark Leather Gloves, which increase Rogue’s Lockpicking skill by 5 when equipped.

Pickpocketing makes a company to a Lockpicking skill, as it allows filching in-game currency, locked boxes, ingredients and other sometimes very useful things from careless mobs. A player may even find BoEs like the legendary and extra rare Teebu’s Blazing Longsword, and earn some nice tips for opening boxes for friends. Pickpocketing will supply you with the lockboxes to open.

Poisons is a third specific Rogue skill that allows not only create and mix different and helpful poisons, with both found and store bought ingredients but a special tea as well that restores a small amount of Energy while in combat. This skill may be trained at level 20.

Ammo and Other Reagent Mechanics in WoW Classic

“Oops, I’m out of ammo…”

Back in the old days of WoW, ranged weapons needed either arrows or bullets in your bags to be used, but these consumable items were removed in the times of Cataclysm, so lots of Players are not familiar with this mechanic. In Classic Wow in order to fire from your Gun or Bow, you need ammo to be applied to it. There is a slot in your Character’s panel to show what kind of ammo your weapon is using. The ammo does a set amount of damage and just increase the amount of damage your ranged attacks do. So as you level up, you can buy stronger and stronger ammo just like you’d get a stronger and stronger weapon in BFA. There are special bags that can only carry ammo called Quivers and Ammo Pouches. There are additional advantages to take up one of your bag slots to use a quiver. One of them is that it does actually appear on your Character like any other piece of equipment! No other bags in the game can appear on you! But outside of cosmetics, they also auto reload your ammo into your Gun or Bow/Crossbow, because only one class, Hunters, can do it by default. In addition, they also have up to 15% Haste bonus. Fine examples of quivers are  Harpy Hide Quiver, Ancient Sinew Wrapped Lamina, and Thick Leather Ammo Pouch.

Not only Hunters or Warriors use special consumable reagents for casting certain spells in Classic Wow. Many abilities, which cost nowadays only main class resource, used special Items. Here is a short note about each of them.

Soul Shards are special Warlock only consumable reagent. They are used for many things like summoning Warlock pets, making Healthstones, Spellstones, and Firestones. The ritual of summoning also uses a Soul Shard along with Soulstone.  Soul Shards can only be received by using  Drain Soul on an enemy and will only be given if the enemy dies while a Warlock is channeling this spell. Most Players use rank 1 of Drain Soul due to the Mana cost. Also in order to receive a Soul Shard, the enemy has to be able to give you honor, reputation, or experience. As long as Soul Shards are a very important part of Warlock’s life, keep many on hand and try to gather them when possible.

Candles are another consumable reagent used by  Priests for almost every Spell they cast.

Druids use a special variety of Seeds for their  Rebirth spell. Their  Gift of the Wild buff also needs either  Wild Berries or  Wild Thornroot to be cast.

Mages create portals to every capital city in the game and they also need special reagent for this action which is either  Rune of Teleportation or  Rune of Portals.

Paladins use  Symbol of Kings for each of their Blessings.

For the  Reincarnation ability Shamans use  Ankh reagents.

All of these Items may be bought from reagent vendors in all major cities.

BfA vs Classic Minor Changes

There are, of course, lots of major and minor differences between Vanilla and BfA. Some options have been added through all these years, some have been removed. But when loading to the Classic WoW you will surely find some transfer options from the actual version of the game. Here is a short list of them, though they are not yet confirmed and everything might still change by the time the game releases.

• Even though the Vanilla WoW had only one language – English, time has changed, so in Classic, there will quite a number of them. In addition to theoriginal, German, French, Portuguese, and Spanish languages are confirmed.
• An Auto Loot option will still be available.
• Such options as Show Helm and Show Cloak have returned to the Display menu.
• There won’t be any integration with Twitter, but the Real ID and BattleTag Friend Requests button will still be there.
• The In-game Shop Icon seems to have gone.
• Seems like there will be an option that changes certain graphics positions.
• The Request Stop button for taxis will be added.
• There will be three different Auction Houses, as it was back in Vanilla.
• The Achievements system will be completely removed from the game.

Mounts and Pets in WoW Classic

We have already discussed the Gold issue earlier, but some must be added when speaking about Mounts. The thing is, no one would be able to collect all of them because they cost a fortune! The old Riding system returns meaning, that the Riding Skill is rather cheap to train, but any Mount itself is expensive. For example, a slow Kodo costs 80 Gold Coins, and the fast one will be sold to a Player for 1000 of Gold!

Hunter Pets’ system also has returned to its original state. The Stables aren’t as large as they are in the BfA, so there won’t be a chance to collect them as we all got accustomed to. Pets also need to be regularly fed, because their mood influences the damage they make. If a Hunter keeps his Pet hungry, it will not only deal less damage but may easily run away in the middle of combat. There are still some uncertainties concerning Hunters’ Pets, but if the Vanilla ideas will remain, the rare tamed creatures will have more strength and will deal more damage than ordinary ones.

Another rather important option that will not be present in the Classic WoW. No Pet Battles. Not at all.

Final Thoughts

Despite all the sometimes fatal changes, which the game had experienced through all these 15 years, both Classic and BfA are definitely worth playing. If you need any help in conquering your favorite game, let us know. Overgear is always here to lend you a hand – we work to serve you.

If you find leveling to tedious, you can always find a help at Overgear.