Addictive Nature of Classic

I was shocked how much time I've poured into the game with Classic (and I wasn't even looking forward to it, I've never touched a Vanilla server and didn't have much interest). I always assumed that wow was like a virus, super virulent when you first get it but that that intense focus would never return because I've had that flu before. (I don't want to talk about my time /played the first 8 months but it was... more than 4 hours a day sustained over months).

I think for me it is working for the talent point (which feels like a meaningful choice in the moment as you level, even if blizzard wants to argue that "everyone ends up with the same spec anyway) and spell upgrades. I'm also really entertained by being poor, I started the game with 5g in BC and peaked at about 3.3 million back when that was an impressive number. I never had to choose between a flight and buying a useless spell and everything feels so meaningful. The nature of the questing is also part of it. I have been uncomfortable with what I describe as a "theme park roller coaster" feeling for several expansions, like you climb into the cart and theno do all the quests in an exact order and you are just showing up and following the next arrow (is doing the zones in any order you like really meaningful?). I also like that areas start hard, but become easy. I think that nerfing questing to make it so that you don't outlevel zones was a terrible mistake of saminess.

I'm an impatient player in retail, bitching about having to be a "cockroach" when my flying gets taken away, but somehow I'm still playing a game where it routinely takes me several minutes to run back where I was going. on my slow little feet!

Qualities I am loving (in order of importance)

• Talent points
• Questing in a free world not a theme park
• Buying spells as an event/reward as you level
• Danger/challenge (I die so much) - choices I make on talents etc affect this! it matters!
• Nostalgia for original characters

On the other hand, people at blizzard HQ must be hating their lives. All it took to get back real passion and what has to be hundreds of thousands of subs was to undo more than a decade of their work?

Spend 1 silver on a flight when I only have 5 silver and need to purchase that spell upgrade at 2 silver a pop. Hmmmm I guess I'm walking ......

This is vanilla/classic for me. Making choices, not steamrolling quests, watching your ass for adds in the open world, cursing at your repair bill.

I think the pain of getting around makes the world feel more real/immersive/bigger... Having to actually travel around gives consequences...

There are many things about Classic that I love (you mentioned some) but I just get too frustrated, I will stick with retail.

I am currently playing Classic solo and was going to level a team after I had a main at 60. Starting to regret that though, I should have boxed from the start, not sure I want to go through leveling again. We do need to level a team to 60 though, There is a slight chance we will get a free 110 boost for BfA for reaching 60 in Classic. (Brazil Blizzard did)

Honestly, classic is a boxers dream from a PvE perspective. It's the only version of the game where it's really feasible to box at all levels of content. Many high level heroics/mythics in modern expansions are just too complex and have too many mechanics to consider boxing.

Even a moderately skilled player should be able to manage 5 characters in a classic raid environment since the most you ever have to monitor as DPS is not standing in fire and/or decursing occasionally.