World of Warcraft classic

Here's an other old one that's getting a translation. Even though it's in a way 16 years old, it is now also a year old. This is a game that was originally released in 2004 and after a huge amount of updates and expansions has changed quite a bit. The version that World of Warcraft (WoW) classic is on is from 2006, so just a little bit before The Burning Crusade expansion. 

The story

The story in the original WoW is a lot more simple than it is compared to a lot of it's later expansions. We have seen a lot of expansions where the whole expansions is focused on a single story and later on we've had stories that span expansions. Originally there was no real big story arc that you work your way through but there is still a backstory to this world (of warcraft). The main story is a battle between the two factions, alliance and the horde. Even though this doesn't much show in a grand story line, it does still show in some areas and in pvp. The addition of actual storylines I think is good because it can keep me interested much better than classic. 

Gameplay

In classic you can clearly see that it was originally released in 2004. Even though the gameplay can be quite boring at times, it still brings out challenges that are difficult to find in a game these days. This includes quality of life issues that make the game harder to play, but also just the difficulty of combat where you can't just run though zones like these days. And since this is a patch from 2006 that is being played, it means that the developer had 2 years to fix on some of these quality of life and even balance issues but it took many more years since those issues were addressed, a lot longer than it took a lot of addon makers. 

The Audio Design

Is one of the best things in this game and compared to a lot of other games. The orchestral music that plays from time to time is a beautiful thing that you could listen to forever.

Open world

The world in this game is called Azeroth and it is open. You have the chance to explore the continents of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms and both of those places have a lot more smaller zones to conquer. The world takes a long time to fully explore, especially when you can only get a mount when you are level 40 (when the max level is 60) and even then you probably can't afford it right away. Thus a lot of the exploring is done on foot which can get quite boring when you have to travel to the other side of the continent to meet an NPC who might not even want to meet you. A bunch of people had said that the world seems larger without a mount and not being able to freely fly around, unlike in later expansions, but sometimes I just don't have to time to spend all day walking to the next zone. Later expansions have brought a lot of solutions to these issues and not everyone has liked those solutions but personally I feel like life is much more enjoyable the faster travelling to somewhere is. This is also true in real life. 

The review

Even though I did not play WoW originally and only started during the launch of Wrath of the Lich King, I still felt a little nostalgic. The game has changed so much since those days and being able to go back to places that have been completely changed since felt great. Playing the retail version of the game is much smoother than compared to classic but it also feels less rewarding. Maybe it has to do with the amount of content. When in retail you achieve something it feels like you are no closer to your goal but in classic, even finally getting that first mount felt so rewarding. I kind of hope that Blizzard will take classic in the same direction as Jagex has taken Old school runescape, or at least add those quality of life additions that we have seen in later expansions, while still keeping the gameplay of classic as it is. 

Even though I enjoyed classic, it wasn't as smooth going as retail and a lot of other games are these days. 7/10