World Of Warcraft has gone through multiple expansions in the last decade. Fans of the popular MMORPG give high praise to Shadowlands, the latest expansion from 2020. But plenty of fans doesn’t like paying for an expansion and monthly subscription just to play WoW. That’s why WoW Classic remains one of the most popular versions of the Blizzard videogame.
For new players giving WoW Classic a try, here are the things to do.
Fight the War In Hillsbrad Foothills
WoW Classic, or WoW vanilla, lacked many features. As Blizzard added expansions, it pawed the way for modern PvP and PvE. Back then, there was no real way to fight players from rival factions. Arena didn’t exist, and the only way players could battle against one another was by stumbling upon one another. And that’s exactly what happened at Hillsbrad Foothill.
The battle at Hillsbrad Foothills was a strange one. It emerged randomly, with players simply holding opposite positions of the battleground. The Horde was in control of Tarren Mill, while the Alliance controlled South Shore. Hillsbrad Foothill was the battleground for this massive PvP war that lasted for months. It was the first time players could get a sense of what it’s like to fight the opposite faction in mass. Hillsbrad Foothills became a war of attraction. Although strange and random, it was the most fun players ever had in vanilla WoW.
For new payers giving WoW Classic a try, head to Hillsbrad Foothills to score some faction kills.
Travel To Desolace
Desolace is an area in Kalimdor with landmarks such as the Stonetalon Mountains, Molgole, and Ferals located on each side. These areas compel the player to travel to Kalimdor as they’re important to the story. However, Desolace is a particularly popular region full of gold, silver, and iron. Ask any WoW Classic veteran, and they’ll tell you Desolate is the place to farm these materials.
The sheer abundance of resources is available to the player, but you have to be level 30 to get there. In addition, what makes traveling to Desolace fun is that the road to the area is quite mazy. For first-time travelers, it’s best to watch a tutorial on how to get there, as the maps can be quite complex at times.
Players from different races can get to Desolace in several ways. While we won’t get into many details, check out this guide on how to get to Desolace with each race.
Explore Oldschool Barrens
Oldschool Barrens, before Cataclysm, was the nesting pot of trash talking and noobs trying to do quests to progress through level 20. No one liked the Barrens, as it was vast, boring, and deserted. Sure, there were a couple of landmarks, but Horde players dreaded going to the Barrens to progress the story, their class, and crafting skills.
Since Cataclysm, Blizzard turned the Barrens into a fun area with multiple landmarks from where Horde players could progress. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take a trip to Oldschool Barrens just for the nostalgia. Everyone knew what the Barrens were like. Spamming Chuck Norris jokes, Metalica lyrics, and of course, the futile efforts to locate THAT one quest.
In WoW Classic, you do have to go there to progress. But we love it for the sheer nostalgia.
Give Ahn’Qiraj A Go
One of the most fun things to do in WoW is raids. Back in 2006, Blizzard showed their loyal followers what teamwork can achieve. The Temple Of Ahn’Qiraj was a brand new raid that both Alliance and Horde can do. However, there was a trick. To launch the raid, players from each faction would need to mine resources to sustain the war effort.
In between all that, a single player has to go through a very long questline to acquire the Scepter of the Shifting Sands and start the raid. Once the player forges the Scepter, they have to open the doors to the temple by hitting a gong. Blizzard hasn’t attempted anything similar ever since. Despite the raid being one of the most difficult ones to pull out, it was immense fun. You simply knew that once the faction is ready to start, you have to grind and attribute to the war effort.
It was long, difficult, and required immense grinding. But in the end, the thought of finishing it first before other factors on different players was euphoric.
Kill Hogger
Hogger was an early-level Alliance quest that caught thousands of human players by surprise. Imagine this, you’re level 10 and just picked up a quest to kill a simple gnoll. You go there, and he kills you in three hits. You’re shocked and notice that everyone else in Elwynn Forest is as well.
Quests like this one are common throughout WoW Classic. They require teamwork and coordination to pull off. Hogger was the very first quest where the game requires you to do that. In WoW Shadowlands, there are no other quests like it. Blizzard moved away from quests that require teamwork, and nearly every quest nowadays doesn’t require a party to pull off.