[0:01] What is up, guys? It's your boy Swollem
[0:02] here, back with another World of
[0:04] Warcraft video, and this one is going to
[0:06] be a little bit more classic-centric,
[0:08] but it's a video about World of Warcraft
[0:10] in general, and it's going to be retail
[0:12] versus classic. It is inspired by, and
[0:15] I'll be talking about this Reddit thread
[0:17] right here, which is titled the same,
[0:19] classic versus retail. And the thread
[0:22] itself is, "I have started wow with
[0:24] midnight retail, but got completely lost
[0:27] on the story and left. I'm a casual
[0:29] player of 2 to 4 hours most weeks, and I
[0:31] just don't have an interest to game more
[0:34] than that. Would classic be an okay
[0:36] option for a casual gamer like myself,
[0:38] or would a different issues arise?" So,
[0:41] I want to know I want to invite you guys
[0:43] in the comments down below as well,
[0:45] which version of wow would you be play
[0:48] if you only had 2 to 4 hours of gaming
[0:51] on a weekly basis? Are we thinking
[0:54] hardcore, Season of Discovery, even
[0:57] though that's kind of dead-ish,
[0:59] classic era, TBC classic, Mists of
[1:02] Pandaria classic, or retail, even though
[1:06] he's already left retail. Let Let me
[1:07] know your thoughts in the comments down
[1:09] below, and try to like be a bit
[1:12] like give me some reasons for why you're
[1:14] choosing what you're choosing. I guess
[1:16] that I made most of my content around
[1:18] classic, so there might be a bunch of
[1:19] classic comments, but I want to hear
[1:21] like why, why you would play classic
[1:24] over anything else. And I've obviously
[1:26] played quite a lot of both classic and
[1:28] retail recently. I'll be chiming in with
[1:30] hopefully what could be an objective
[1:33] opinion on this as well, instead of
[1:35] Well, actually, it's going to be
[1:36] subjective from my point of view, but
[1:39] having played both classic and retail,
[1:41] I'm not going to be like the usual
[1:42] classic Andy who's just like, "Ah,
[1:44] retail is bad, it's trash, everything
[1:46] sucks." And I'm not going to be like the
[1:48] retail Andy who's like, "Ah, classic is
[1:49] so stuck in the past." I'm I like both.
[1:52] I like retail, I like classic. Actually,
[1:55] I love retail, and I love classic.
[2:00] So, I would say for me, the answer to
[2:02] this question of the which version to
[2:04] play depends way more on who you are as
[2:08] a person, and how you want to game as a
[2:11] person as well. So, just based on what
[2:13] you like doing in video games. The thing
[2:16] is, classic WoW is great, [music] but
[2:18] leveling it takes time. If you're
[2:20] playing, let's just take an average
[2:22] here. He says 2 to 4 hours per week. So,
[2:25] let's say 3 per week. If you're playing
[2:28] classic anniversary, you will
[2:31] or TBC TBC anniversary actually, because
[2:33] TBC leveling is slightly faster now. So,
[2:35] getting from 1 to 70 in TBC is roughly
[2:38] the same time as 1 to 60 is in regular
[2:42] classic era. So, in that case, you will
[2:45] spend 1 year leveling up. In which case,
[2:50] if you play TBC and you spend a year
[2:52] leveling up, TBC is going to be over.
[2:55] We're going to be in Wrath, if we get
[2:57] the Wrath. So, if you're playing 3 hours
[2:59] per week, you will spend way too much
[3:01] time leveling, and you will never get to
[3:04] the end game. Likewise, in classic era
[3:06] as well, you will spend a year of your
[3:08] time leveling up a character before
[3:11] getting to the end game. And then the
[3:12] question is, how is the end game like in
[3:15] a year in classic era? Just any version
[3:17] of classic, leveling takes time. It is
[3:20] slightly faster in Mists of Pandaria
[3:22] classic, cuz every expansion we get,
[3:25] they do make leveling faster and faster
[3:27] and faster. So, I would say in Mists of
[3:28] Pandaria, if you're playing 3 hours per
[3:31] week, you're probably going to spend
[3:32] like half a year leveling. But, in half
[3:35] a year in Mists of Pandaria as well,
[3:37] we're not going to be in Mists of
[3:38] Pandaria anymore. We are either probably
[3:41] going to be in Warlords of Draenor
[3:42] classic, if we get that, or whatever
[3:45] happens after BlizzCon this year. So, if
[3:48] you enjoy leveling, classic is an
[3:50] absolutely amazing choice for this
[3:53] person right here. It is just you have
[3:55] to think about leveling as a piece of
[3:57] the content and not just a chore. Many
[4:00] people really look at leveling as a
[4:02] chore. I'm not one of those. I've
[4:03] leveled way too many characters and
[4:06] guess what I'm doing right now when I'm
[4:07] playing off a stream and stuff. I'm
[4:09] leveling alts in a season of discovery
[4:12] for fun. So, I'm leveling more
[4:14] characters off stream, off videos, off
[4:17] content creation. Just whenever I'm
[4:19] planning to have fun, I sit down, I game
[4:22] some season of discovery. I'm level 25
[4:24] right now on a brand new shaman that I
[4:26] made just to experience what shamans
[4:29] were like in season of discovery because
[4:31] all of sudden I played alliance, so I
[4:32] never got to play a shaman. So, I'm
[4:34] playing a shaman this time on the horde
[4:36] side on wildgrowth.
[4:38] So, if I tell you that leveling is going
[4:41] to take you between half a year and one
[4:44] year of your time, you have to ask
[4:46] yourself how do you feel about that?
[4:48] Does that make you happy? And you think,
[4:50] "Oh, dude, I get to spend so much time
[4:52] leveling and just having fun." If so,
[4:55] classic is a great choice. But if I tell
[4:57] you that leveling takes between half a
[4:59] year and one year and you respond with,
[5:02] "That's long, really? That sounds so bad
[5:05] and boring." Then maybe classic isn't
[5:08] for you or Mists of Pandaria would
[5:11] probably be the best classic suggestion
[5:14] that we have at the moment based on
[5:15] leveling speed. Season of Discovery as
[5:17] well, we have a leveling buff, so
[5:19] leveling there is faster. But the uh the
[5:21] whole uh the season of discovery is kind
[5:24] of dead at the moment until at least
[5:26] June 19th when we have a Guesu and Joker
[5:29] that are doing a fresh simulation on EU
[5:32] for example. I think they're playing on
[5:33] EU. I really hope so. Um so, we might
[5:36] get a small resurgence when streamers
[5:39] play there for a while. But in general,
[5:41] season of season of discovery is kind of
[5:43] over. So, if you want to level fast and
[5:45] get to end the game, the best version of
[5:47] classic is probably Mist of Pandaria at
[5:50] the moment, which feels weird to say.
[5:52] Now, for end game, I'm just going to say
[5:54] that is where retail really shines in my
[5:56] opinion, cuz I'm just going to say it,
[5:58] the lore in retail right now is trash.
[6:01] It's It's just gotten away too off
[6:03] track. It's like it's taken so many
[6:05] detours that I don't know where the
[6:07] story is going anymore, nor do I really
[6:10] care. I stopped caring probably around
[6:13] the Warlords, I think. They pulled me
[6:15] back in with Legion, but after BFA, I've
[6:18] just not cared about anything story-wise
[6:21] in retail ever since then. So, it's
[6:24] gotten away off track, and it's It's a
[6:27] struggle to follow. It feels like
[6:28] they're just adding story for the point
[6:31] of adding story, and it's no longer a
[6:33] cohesive book. It's like you read the
[6:35] main three books, and the IP just makes
[6:39] 10 more books, but they never had to.
[6:42] It's just to milk the IP, and retail
[6:44] feels the same. They never like BFA, we
[6:46] didn't really have need to have BFA
[6:48] lore-wise.
[6:50] Warlords of Draenor as well was kind of
[6:52] a detour. BFA was a detour. Shadowlands
[6:55] was definitely a detour. Dragonflight
[6:57] was a slight detour. The War Within as
[6:59] well, we ended the expansion
[7:04] So, Warlords also felt like a massive
[7:06] detour. I don't know. Like, retail to
[7:08] me, leveling sucks. The lore sucks. The
[7:12] end game is great. Um espe- At least
[7:15] with PvP, PvP sucks uh a little bit at
[7:17] least, but um Mythic Plus dungeons is
[7:20] great. Uh raiding is great. So, like,
[7:22] the PvE end game of retail is honestly
[7:26] really good for for gamers like me who
[7:29] enjoys that style of content. It's more
[7:31] modernized, absolutely, and it's more
[7:34] based on just like increasing your skill
[7:37] as a person, as a player, as a group
[7:39] over time, and doing harder and harder
[7:41] content over time, which I think is fun.
[7:44] And for Classic, I feel like the end
[7:46] game is not as great as in Classic as in
[7:49] retail, mainly because we've been here
[7:51] before. To me, that automatically makes
[7:54] the end game a way more boring cuz I've
[7:56] already cleared all of these raids. I've
[7:58] already progressed through all of these
[8:00] raids as well. So, I've already been
[8:01] there pretty recently as well. And in
[8:03] Mists of Pandaria, that's when I started
[8:05] hardcore raiding back in actual mop. So,
[8:08] I've already done those raids as well on
[8:11] the mythic or I guess heroic or mythic
[8:13] siege actually in the pre-patch. So, um
[8:17] I've already done most of those raids on
[8:19] the hardest content before. But leveling
[8:22] in Classic, I honestly feel like it's so
[8:24] fun. And there's a reason why I never
[8:26] level alt in retail. The only times that
[8:28] I level up alt in retail is it during a
[8:31] remix event like Legion remix when we
[8:34] had that for example because that we had
[8:37] a new way of leveling which was fun.
[8:40] Anything new is fun at least for a
[8:42] while. So, I level up characters when
[8:44] there's something new to do, but the
[8:46] general leveling experience in retail is
[8:48] just so well lost beyond redemption.
[8:53] So, the TLDR for me at least is that
[8:55] Classic does take a way more time,
[8:58] especially leveling takes way more time,
[9:01] but it's a way more fun. So, if leveling
[9:04] if you hear if you think about leveling
[9:05] and that sounds like a chore to you,
[9:08] Classic it it it it's a lot of leveling
[9:10] and when you're playing 3 hours per
[9:12] week, you will spend a year or something
[9:15] leveling up your character, which if you
[9:17] don't enjoy leveling at all, that does
[9:20] not really sound like a good way to
[9:22] spend your free time when you can game 3
[9:24] hours per week and the gaming is meant
[9:26] to be fun. So, you're meant to do
[9:28] something you think is fun. I think the
[9:30] PvE end game in retail is great. And for
[9:33] PvP, I would unironically play TBC. TBC
[9:38] to me is probably peak PvP. Like the
[9:41] introduction of arenas, for example, Eye
[9:43] of the Storm Battleground. PvP in TBC is
[9:47] honestly amazing. It does like Wrath as
[9:50] well is I think PvP in Wrath is great as
[9:53] well, but after Cataclysm it just takes
[9:56] a massive downhill. Like yeah, it goes
[10:00] downhill a lot I feel like. And retail
[10:02] right now PvP is just not great. Either
[10:05] way, I would love to hear your takes on
[10:07] classic versus retail. I honestly think
[10:09] they're both great. It just depends on
[10:10] what type of a gamer you are. And I feel
[10:13] like
[10:14] retail is just more modern. It's a
[10:16] modern MMO focused on the modern ways of
[10:20] playing video games. It's way more
[10:22] fast-paced. It's way more challenging
[10:24] content, especially when you get to
[10:26] mythic plus and also PvE content is just
[10:29] more modernized and more quality of life
[10:31] and stuff, which I don't think is a bad
[10:33] thing. It just depends on who you are as
[10:36] a gamer and kind of the mood you're in
[10:38] as well. Because every now and then I'm
[10:39] in the mood for some retail gameplay.
[10:41] And every now and then I'm in the mood
[10:43] for some classic gameplay. Just depends
[10:45] entirely on
[10:46] where I am in life at the moment. Either
[10:49] way, a kind of a the weird video here I
[10:52] guess, but I just wanted to talk about
[10:53] this post right here and chime in with
[10:55] my opinions. Just like I went from
[10:57] no-lifing classic anniversary to
[11:00] no-lifing hardcore to no-lifing Legion
[11:03] remix to no-lifing
[11:05] TBC pre-patch to no-lifing TBC itself.
[11:08] And now no-lifing Midnight WoW. And now
[11:11] that Midnight WoW is out of the
[11:12] honeymoon phase, I'm doubling a little
[11:14] bit in everything. I'm checking out some
[11:16] hardcore. I'm replaying Season of
[11:18] Discovery. I'm leveling a character on
[11:20] Spine and Shatter in TBC. I'm still
[11:22] playing some Midnight WoW as well as I'm
[11:24] just playing a little bit of everything,
[11:26] which I thankfully have the time to do
[11:28] that, but not everybody has. Plus I'm
[11:30] playing very casually at the moment. I'm
[11:33] just doing whatever I think is fun when
[11:35] I think it's fun. So, let me know your
[11:37] thoughts about everything in the
[11:38] comments down below about both classic
[11:40] and retail and the state of things in
[11:42] the comments down below. All right,
[11:44] that's it for now. Thank you for
[11:45] watching. I'll see you next time.
[11:50] Now, whether you're playing retail or
[11:52] classic, one of the things that I like
[11:54] to do in the game every now and then is
[11:56] simply shut off my brain and follow an
[11:58] arrow. Now, for this, I have I'm using
[12:01] Zygor right here. I have a following I
[12:04] have a following I'm following a guide
[12:07] for leveling through Zygor right now and
[12:09] it's following like the side stories of
[12:11] the zone. Now, I like Zygor a lot
[12:13] because even though yes, like when it
[12:15] comes to following an arrow, there's
[12:17] multiple free add-ons out there. There's
[12:19] even a add-on I think called Follow the
[12:21] Arrow. So, when it comes to leveling and
[12:22] questing, you don't need Zygor. You can
[12:24] just have any add-ons out there. I think
[12:27] even Harden has an add-on as well. But,
[12:29] what I really like about Zygor is that
[12:31] they have a bunch of guides for a bunch
[12:32] of things. So, when it comes to leveling
[12:34] for example, I can go to Midnight and
[12:36] either follow the story campaign or I
[12:38] can finish every single stone story and
[12:41] side quest or extra story lines. So, you
[12:44] can just like pick and choose what you
[12:45] want to do based on how you want to
[12:47] level your character. You also have a
[12:49] bunch of guides for dailies for example,
[12:51] so you can go in old expansions and do
[12:53] dailies, cooking dailies, Burning
[12:55] Crusade dailies. You can even do
[12:57] Midnight Wow dailies. Now, if you don't
[13:00] know how to do an event as well, for
[13:02] example, Brewfest, Children's Week,
[13:04] Darkmoon Faire, Feast of the Winter
[13:06] Veil, Hallow's End, you name it. They
[13:08] also have guides for those. They have
[13:10] gold making guides. They have profession
[13:13] guides. There's a bunch of things all
[13:15] bundled in to one add-on, which is
[13:18] honestly what I like. It's not it's just
[13:20] for leveling, it's for a bunch of
[13:22] everything. Leveling, completionist
[13:25] content, gold farming content,
[13:27] profession content. They even have
[13:29] profession guides as well for every
[13:30] single profession out there. Farming
[13:32] mounts, farming pets, farming titles,
[13:35] farming achievements, everything in
[13:37] bundle in one place. Now, I have an
[13:39] affiliate link for Zygor you can check
[13:41] out through the link down below. That
[13:43] way, if you are planning on getting
[13:45] Zygor, you can also use that link and
[13:47] I'll get a kickback. So, you're
[13:49] supporting me and getting yourself a
[13:51] great add-on at the same time. Either
[13:53] way, that's basically this a shoutout or
[13:56] sellout here, I guess, for Zygor. So,
[13:58] honestly, it's great to have affiliates
[14:00] like this. It's helping out my channel a
[14:02] lot. And if you're planning on getting
[14:03] it anyway, you're supporting me and
[14:05] getting the guide or add-on at the same
[14:07] time. So, yeah, check it out. Links down
[14:09] below.