The World of Warcraft Classic date wasn’t revealed during the Opening Ceremony, but we did get a timeframe launch of Summer 2019. Created with the intention of being left as if it were the original back when it launched in 2004, it truly seemed to be a throwback to Vanilla WoW. With only two areas to wander in, the Barrens for the Horde, and Westfall for the Alliance, attendees were able to play the demo at BlizzCon 2018, as well as Virtual Ticket holders. The demo comes with a 60 minute time limit, along with a 90 minute cooldown before you can log back in and continue your progress. We got our hands on the WoW Classic demo and made our way through Barrens for the Horde.
In the demo, the General chat was alive and well, but we didn’t converse with anyone while we played. We made a Tauren, because walking Steers are awesome, and voila, we were in the Barrens. Now it’s important to note that there was no story, no explanation, and no tricks to it. The only quests available were to either mine for materials, or kill a specific animal then turn it in, and that’s it. To be fair, they did warn us that the demo wouldn’t really consist of anything special, but to be honest, it felt mostly boring. The initial nostalgic feeling was soon replaced with a feeling of disinterest.
Keep in mind that this is how the game was played at the time, by doing mundane tasks to farm gold and experience. And that’s what this demo is all about, as for one hour, we attempted to kill striders, tigers, bandits, and other random animals/people who were “threatening” the territory. The inventory, gameplay, HUD, and even the visuals are all reminiscent of the original WoW. Once again, that is the intention here, and if you love playing through the game that way, then this is for you. As for everyone else, the World of Warcraft Classic demo is really here just to see how much it can handle across their servers, and to give us an idea of what’s to come when it’s officially released. A stark contrast to Battle for Azeroth, where everything is on fire, Classic is calm, with the every now and then nuisance that you have to take care of.
World of Warcraft Classic will launch in Summer 2019 for PC. In addition, if you hav a WoW subscription, you’ll receive the game for free.