---
title: 'Retail VS Classic | which version of WoW should you play in 2025?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=qFkCHQaVhOE'
video_id: 'qFkCHQaVhOE'
date: 2026-06-14
duration_sec: 1119
---

# Retail VS Classic | which version of WoW should you play in 2025?

> Source: [Retail VS Classic | which version of WoW should you play in 2025?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=qFkCHQaVhOE)

## Summary

This video compares World of Warcraft Retail and Classic, with two new players debating which version is better for newcomers in 2025. Retail offers modern conveniences, frequent updates, and extensive endgame content, while Classic provides a slower, more immersive leveling journey and a sense of nostalgia.

### Key Points

- **Two versions of WoW** [0:03] — There are two versions: Retail (modern, updated) and Classic (original 2004 version).
- **Retail: Constant updates and variety** [2:19] — Retail has 20 years of updates, more classes, customization, transmog, mounts, and endgame content like raids, Mythic+, and delves.
- **Retail: Easy leveling and endgame focus** [4:11] — Leveling is streamlined to reach max level quickly for endgame activities like raids and Mythic+ dungeons.
- **Retail: Raid difficulties** [5:00] — Raids have Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulties, scaling in challenge and rewards.
- **Retail: Mythic+ dungeons** [5:28] — Timed, scaling dungeons with modifiers that increase difficulty and reward better loot.
- **Retail: Delves for solo players** [6:45] — Solo or small group instances with NPC companions, but less social than group content.
- **Retail: Transmog and collection** [7:49] — Extensive transmog system allows collecting appearances and mounts across old content.
- **Classic: Slow, immersive journey** [9:28] — No flying mounts until level 40; world feels massive and immersive. Leveling is the main experience.
- **Classic: Hardcore mode** [10:15] — Permadeath mode where dying deletes your character, adding tension to every encounter.
- **Classic: Cozy and simple** [11:34] — Simpler skill system, fewer abilities, and a focus on exploration and community.
- **Classic: Recommended add-ons** [12:57] — Questie and VoiceOver add-ons enhance questing experience by providing guidance and narration.
- **Classic: Larger raids** [13:33] — 40-player raids create epic scale compared to Retail's smaller groups.
- **Classic Plus speculation** [15:21] — Blizzard may expand Classic with new content (Classic Plus), as seen with Season of Discovery.

### Conclusion

Both versions offer distinct experiences: Retail for modern, fast-paced endgame content and customization, Classic for a nostalgic, immersive leveling journey. New players should choose based on whether they prefer a streamlined path to endgame or a slower, more social adventure.

## Transcript

huh so you want to jump into the Video
Game World of Warcraft or you just want
to charge into battle
screaming or maybe they just want to
jump into a fantasy MMO RPG game with
their friends that could be the reason
as to why they want to try out World of
Warcraft actually yeah you could be
right that could be a reason as well
well if you want to play World of
Warcraft there are two versions of the
game that you can pick from there's
retail World of Warcraft or there is
classic World of Warcraft which is the
best version that you should play oh my
God all right all right bro hold on a
second we can't just go on full scale
rants as to why they should play our
version that we suggest of the game why
don't we do this we'll both have our
time to share why they should jump into
either retail or classic wow and then
the viewer themselves can decide which
version of the game they wanted jump
into how does that sound actually that
sounds perfect I'm looking forward into
diving into it all right in this video
we're going to go ahead and dive into
the two different versions of the game I
will be supporting retail World of
Warcraft and I'm going to be repping
classic wow and spoiler alert I am
probably kind of like a new player
sharing my opinion as to which version
of the game you should jump into we are
actually new players I started playing
the game in early February February 2023
so we're noobs sharing our opinion but
regardless I'm giving a very unique
opinion as to which version of the game
that you should try out because I'm not
some hardcore crazy player who's super
into the game and knows the best way to
DPS and do the most numbers yeah we
sometimes don't even know what our
skills are when we're reading our skill
bar we are that new exactly and that's
why this video is probably a little bit
more unique than some of the other ones
that are out there on the internet but
have no fear I have played retail World
of Warcraft and I am actually playing
classic wow on Twitch I'll be live
streaming it there you should check me
out okay bro listen there's no reason
for you to start you know sharing the
twitch channel that early on let's just
go ahead and jump into the
[Music]
video so which version are we going to
start off with I think we should
probably start out with the version that
has been around for the longest
technically speaking is actually retail
World of
Warcraft this version of the game has so
many updates that have been sprinkled
into the game over the past 20 years if
you want to go ahead and try and beat
the Lich King with an overpowered
character you can do that in this game
if you want to play the newest expansion
that Blizzard Entertainment is
constantly adding updates on currently
with this video it's the war within you
can do that in this video game they're
constantly adding brand new transmogs
into to the game for you to acquire in
new raids seasonal updates all this kind
of stuff there's always something to do
within retail wow so what makes it stand
out compared to its younger little
sibling classic wow well there's a lot
more to do in the game there's way more
classes to pick from at the character
select screen as well as way more
customization for your character classic
is a bit more limited obviously the game
was made in 2004 and hasn't been updated
since but with retail wow if you want to
be a giant dragon walking around in the
game or maybe you're just looking to
have more hairstyles to pick from when
you create your character yeah if you
want to have dreadlocks as a human you
can't do that in classic World of
Warcraft it's only allowed in retail wow
for the time being I don't know maybe
they'll make Classic Plus at one point
and we'll have new character creation
options but for the time being if you
want to be a little dreadlock human boy
you have to play retail wow aside from
that though when you jump into the game
you might think okay I'm I'm super far
behind how am I going to go through the
game and actually get to the max level
currently it's level 80 but I don't know
maybe when you're watching this video
it's level 100 or 200 who knows well how
do you catch up Blizzard Entertainment
makes it very easy for you to actually
level in the game the main appeal with
retail wow is for you to actually hit
max level so that that way you can start
farming out higher level gear that way
you can jump into the raids in the game
or Mythic plus now these are the two
different I guess I would say endgame
content that a lot of players jump into
with raids it's your typical large scale
player group activity in an instance
where there are multiple bosses that you
can defeat and hopefully one of them
drops those items that you're looking
for and you have your fingers crossed
that you win the role to get that item
raids are some of the most fun I've had
within World of Warcraft it's one of my
favorite things that I really like about
retail and blizzard does a great job at
tuning it and making it so it's still
difficult but it's not easy for you to
kind of steamroll through and if you
think wow this raid is kind of easy
there are higher scales you have the
normal difficulty you have heroic and
then you have Mythic difficulty wow I've
only done a couple of Mythic raids
within World of Warcraft and they're
actually pretty hard if you don't have a
good or high enough item level aside
from raids the other type of content
that players like to do is called Mythic
plus this is essentially dungeons that
are scaled up so if you want to do a
level two Mythic dungeon that
essentially means there will be some
kind of variables that are sprinkled in
to make it a bit more difficult maybe
the enemies are a bit more tankier they
have more Health perhaps you have a
debuff on your character that makes it a
little bit more difficult and of course
the dungeon or Mythic dungeon is timed
so you can't just kind of steamroll your
way through take some breaks you know to
eat some food or I don't know scroll on
Tik Tok to watch some mless content no
you got to go through and there's a
timer that you got to beat if you want
to get the loot from the Mythic dungeon
and it constantly scales up which is
really fun because you could do content
that is normal you know you used to do
this dungeon before and you're like ah
it's easy it's whatever I did it once
but this is constantly evolving you can
try and challenge yourself and be like
okay can I do a level five Mythic
dungeon or can I actually hit that max
level of of level 10 for this Mythic
dungeon or is that too difficult then
can I only do a level eight for the time
being this is constantly getting more
difficult as time goes on of course the
rewards are a bit better but this is
something that a lot of players like to
do but maybe you're a solo player and
you're like I don't have time to put
together a group or try and get into a
guild to run this instance-based content
how can I enjoy World of Warcraft this
would be when the delves come into the
game this is essentially solo instance
dungeons that you can with NPC
companions in all honesty like delves
are fun if you're looking to do it like
once or twice every once in a while but
in my opinion it's an MMO RPG game it's
way more fun when you do instance-based
content with other players which means
you can do delves with other players
it's something that you can consider and
I would recommend doing this instead
instead of jumping into it with your NPC
companion named uh Bran or whatever his
name is he he's so annoying he he
doesn't heal me when he needs to but
whatever he's kind of a meme at this
point I recommend playing the MMO RPG
game with other players w you know
that's crazy and when it comes to
playing with other players you might
find that they have some unique looking
outfits and then you'll ask them how did
you get this piece of armor where did
you get this weapon and this is when the
other element of retail wow comes to
shine so much brighter compared to its
little sibling classic with retail World
of Warcraft there's so much transmog
this means that there's lots of
different armor there's lots of
different weapons and there are tons and
tons and tons of mounts to collect in
the game this means that you'll spend a
lot of time going back through old
content to put together a unique looking
appearance for your character I think a
lot of players really enjoy this aspect
of retail World of Warcraft so much so
that when they're done getting together
an outfit and a a mount that matches
that outfit for their main character
they will create an ALT character to
make a very unique outfit for them so
that that way when you log into the game
your War band where all the characters
are at this kind of campfire area you
can look at all the characters and be
like wow I made all of these characters
they're all decked out in very unique
appearances that I collected across all
of Azeroth this is something that is
truly amazing and to be honest with you
I think I covered a lot of points as to
why players like to play retail wow I'm
sure there are other points that you
might want to drop in the comment
section down below but I do know that if
I take up too much time this guy over
here is going to be incredibly rude to
me later so I'll go ahead and stop
talking let's give the microphone over
to our classic World of Warcraft fan
over here and see as to why you should
play that version of the game all right
take it away yeah can't believe you
actually listen to that guy chat for
that long let's dive into the best
version of the game classic World of
Warcraft so classic World of Warcraft is
the version of the game that people
literally ruined their lives playing
they dropped out of college they stopped
dating their girlfriends they wanted to
level up and get to endgame within this
version of the game there's no flying
mounts in the game you have to run
everywhere on foot that is until you hit
Level 40 when you can finally get your
Mount that means that the game's world
and scale is so large and massive of
course you think well I have to run
everywhere is this just a running
simulator well it isn't because you can
unlock flight paths in certain areas but
the fact that you have to run everywhere
in the game at first makes the game's
World feel so immersive and massive for
you as a player this is something that
you'll realize classic wow is a bit more
slower compared to retail wow it's more
of the journey to leveling up to max
level than just rushing to max level and
then doing a bunch of endgame content
the real journey with classic wow is
trying to level up and get to level 60
there are some classes that you can pick
from in the game they do have a little
bit of character customization I know
the previous guy was chatting about how
oh there's there's more hair in our
version of the game who cares bro just
make your character it doesn't matter
you're going to deck them out and
hopefully some good armor drops that you
get from from different enemies and
different Dungeons and then eventually
you'll be running through the game and
you don't want to get too tied to your
character if you end up playing the
hardcore version of the game where if
you die you have to delete your
character and go back to level one again
so who cares about spending an eternity
at character customization it does not
matter if essentially if you play
hardcore wow like you are in the thick
of it you better be prepared to dive
into it and maybe lose your character
unless you're a gig Chad like me who
hasn't died yeah I'm level 30 right now
but regardless why should you play
classic wow the journey is a bit more
slow it's a it's a really chill game and
you'll get to understand why MMO RPGs
are where they are today this version of
the game is the reason why MMO RPGs
still exist it's so massively successful
classic wow that people are still
playing this old version of the game 20
years later that should speak for itself
the music when you enter Stormwind for
the first time the experience that you
get going through deadmines and kind of
freaking out like am I going to make it
through exploring the different zones
within the game that you would normally
just fly over in retail because you
quickly hit max level so you didn't have
to go to Zone to Zone to Zone to level
when it comes to Classic wow you'll be
experiencing most of the zones within
the game of course if you do make an
alliance character and you never roll on
over in to The Horde then maybe you
won't see all the zones but for the most
part you're going to see a lot more
compared to retail World of Warcraft
you're going there because of quests
you're going there you know to get
through a map to unlock a flight path in
the next Zone that is you know
neighboring it the world within classic
wow is just I don't know it's just a
whole lot more immersive than retail wow
at least in my opinion because you're
not rushed to some certain area in the
game to get the end game no you're
you're slowly leveling and going through
the game world I recommend a couple of
add-ons though if you're going to play
classic World of Warcraft one of them is
called questy and the other one is
called voiceover it essentially will
voice over the text that a lot of people
will just skip over when it comes to
Quest but if you want a AI voice that
actually does a pretty fairly decent job
at voicing the quest if you want them to
essentially voice over the quest and
read things out loud I would install
this add-on because it makes The Quest
thing and the experience with it way
more better in my opinion aside from
that though there is endgame content if
you make it to the end they do have big
big big raids like way more players than
you would actually experience in retail
World of Warcraft see with classic they
had larger scale raids I think it was
with 50 or 40 people I'm still new I'm
I'm still only level 30 so hey you go
easy on me but I think the larger scale
with more players in a raid makes it all
the more epic I think with classic wow
it's it's more simple you know there's
not tons of skills within your skill bar
there's only the set from Level 1 to 60
obviously with retail wow they have
sprinkled in a bunch of things like oh
you have you know like different skills
that you can pick and there's there's
more talentry things that you can deck
out and it's just way more confusing I
feel like with with classic wow it's a
bit more tamed down you have still the
talent points that you can kind of build
out a different tree and different
skills and obviously your skill bar will
look pretty loaded if you want it to but
it's still dumbed down in a way that is
a bit more simple to understand there's
a reason why people stick around with
classic because it feels cozy this is
something that a lot of players love to
experience the music the the different
content and of course when you're
playing through the dungeons within
classic most of the time you're within
the level bracket so it's going to be a
challenge for you or at least other
players within your group when you're
doing instance-based content the main
appeal with classic is just no knowing
that this game led to so many other MMO
RPGs rising from the ground up there
wouldn't be a Guild Wars 2 if classic
wow didn't do so well there wouldn't be
new world or even any other MMO RPG that
is out there and that has been
influenced by classic wow it wouldn't
exist without this game and that's why
this game is worth playing at the end of
the day now of course you can't really
deck out your character in transmog but
that does not mean that blizzard isn't
thinking and in the kitchen with Classic
Plus and I think I'll spend a quick
minute chatting about what Classic Plus
is everyone really loves classic World
of Warcraft this is their favorite
version of the game they still play it
to this day and it's constantly fun
because when they hit the 60 they go
okay do I want to try out you know the
hardcore version or reroll another
character blizzard knows though that
this version of the game isn't forever
people will churn out eventually when
you hit Level 60 when you do the raids
when you get the best gear you'll
probably stop playing the game unless
you make another character or play with
a friend or or join a guild it's very
important to play this game with other
players I highly suggest it but they are
thinking about probably doing something
what they call Classic Plus is what the
community is saying it's essentially
taking what classic World of Warcraft is
and building onto it basically adding on
new content new expansions all that kind
of stuff within classic World of
Warcraft and that's very exciting that
could mean that the formula of what
makes classic World of Warcraft really
good fun and exciting they're not over
complicating things they're just adding
more content within the game maybe
that's more endgame content for you to
dive into maybe it's more um you know
middleof the road content for level 30s
20s 40s we really don't know what it is
but we do know that blizzard is trying
things out they tried it with season of
discovery which is like an off-brand
version of classic wow and of course
they are doing that re-release of brand
new servers where if you do want to
continue playing the classic wow you can
jump into burning Crusade later on in
2025 and I don't know maybe we'll have
Wrath of the L in 2026 like classic is
really exciting and Blizzard
Entertainment knows that a lot of people
really like this version of the game
it's hard to explain why classic is good
because if you look at the the gameplay
you're like this looks kind of boring it
it it seems like it kind of plays by
itself but I promise you if you dive
into classic wow you get to at least
beating deadmines like past level 20
it'll click For You especially if you're
looking for a challenge I highly
recommend diving into hardcore wow it is
like my favorite version of the game
especially if you don't know what you're
doing every little encounter with a
murlock or or any anything in the game
has you on edge because you know if you
die you're going back to level one and
essentially this is why I recommend
classic wow maybe you have some
recommendations yourselves or advice as
to why you play classic wow be sure to
leave it in the comment section down
below I do read every single comment I
do want to take a moment to thank my
patreon supporters it's only one person
thank you very much SAS pass I
appreciate you so you're nearing the end
of the video and this is where we want
to know what version of wow are you
going to pick are you going to jump into
retail World of Warcraft or are you
going to jump into classic wow or are
you going to jump into both let us know
in the comments section down below and
thank you very much for watching to the
end as always stayed gamers
[Music]
he
[Music]