Some try World of Warcraft for the first time and realize: Many have lied. Retail isn’t bad at all, as they always thought.
If you want to start with World of Warcraft, there are a few hurdles. The sheer size of the game and the knowledge advantage of all other players, the confusing timelines, or simply the complexity can discourage many newcomers.
However, many don’t even try WoW because they are told by others that the current game is terribly bad. It often helps to just form your own impression – just like an ESO player who is surprised to realize: It’s actually not bad.
What was said? In the WoW subreddit, the user ManagementNo4050 asked: “What am I missing here?” They further explained in the post:
I tried both Retail and Classic last week and as a new player who previously played ESO, I am so confused. Because I have always heard how bad Retail is, I tried Classic first. But that felt so old compared to any other MMO I play. Poor graphics, no voice acting, boring fights, and an absolutely empty world without other players.
Somewhat reluctantly, I then tried Retail since I had already paid for the subscription – and it was an upgrade in nearly every respect. With cutscenes, voiced dialogues, more classes and races, better graphics and models, and I got quickly paired with other players in dungeons… so what’s the catch?
Because I am really confused, why is Retail seen as bad?
Where does the negative sentiment come from? Why World of Warcraft in the current Retail version (Dragonflight) has such a bad reputation may have many reasons. On one hand, over 20 years of existence have accumulated many former players who simply found WoW more interesting at different times. As epitomizer1 responds:
Retail is not bad. It does have a few negative aspects. Many people miss a very specific version of the game. Either how the classes play and what performance they deliver. Or which raids and dungeons belong to the current content. PvP meta and the balance. Even the world itself.
For new players, most of this won’t matter, so just ignore other people’s reviews and enjoy it.
Or, to put it more drastically, as Ok_Money_3140 says:
As a general rule of thumb: If someone says Retail is bad, it means they haven’t played Retail in about a decade.
Others are trapped in the 10 phases of every WoW player and simply can’t break free from these habits. When did you start with modern World of Warcraft and what were your first experiences?
