In this guide,"Retail" describes the current version of the sport,"Classic" refers to classic gold the servers Blizzard found in late August, and"Vanilla" identifies the original game and associated experiences from 2004 onwards. Replies to Vanilla are references.
I've played World of Warcraft as before the game launched. I combined the Closed Beta March 2004, only after the drive. I briefly played a Paladin, but finally wound up maining that a Warlock and hit Lvl 60 before the game started. I wrote widely on Warlocks in the time, but once WoW had actually shipped I decided I'd rather try course and a new job and rolled a Paladin on Zul'jin.
I have tested the game(s) by leveling a Paladin in both Retail and in Classic. I recall the original Paladin leveling encounter in Classic, and I wanted to use a course I was familiar with in both versions of the game. Paladins are not the fastest levelers in Classic, but they also have excellent survivability. They're also effective at meeting all three of their game's main roles (DPS, healing, tanking) while leveling in both Classic and Retail.
My aim with this collection of articles is to compare the leveling and match encounter between Classic and Retail, without taking advantage of any of the extra bonuses Retail players can use to level quicker. Retail WoW provides Heirloom gear -- things that increase in level every time you do on mywowgold. The total amount of experience you earn also increases. My playthrough doesn't use these items. I do not craft equipment because of my Paladin using a personality that is different. This usually means that my Paladin won't level as quickly as a player with alts will be very likely to level. My goal, however, is not to compare the experience of playing WoW with a lot of alts, but to compare the way the game feels and plays with a brand new player experiencing the game for the first time in both variations. I have met with folks in Classic and Retail undergoing WoW for the first time in 2019.
