For me, ‘Classic’ was Vanilla to WoTLK, with Cata marking the beginning of the game’s decline. Not to mention all the old world changes.
I miss Wrath.
So what are your thoughts if you played way back when – is Cataclysm ‘Classic’ to you?
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There are certainly different eras of WoW and i would break it down like this:
Classical Period:
Vanilla
TBC
Early Modern Period
Wrath
Cataclysm
MoP
WoD
Modern Era
Legion to present day
You can make the argument that Wrath is sort of half and half. It feels like the classical era still at least until the end of tier 8 but beyond that it shifts into a new phase. As to the argument of whether Cataclysm is “classic” i mean its 14 years old now, there has been more WoW post Cata than before so in that sense it is retro.
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No, Because of ruining of World, talents and so much more with Cata, Cata is not Classic. How split up rest of expansions, don’t know, neither care.
I WANT CLASSIC BACK!!!
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ERA is still there for you, what you on about huh?
@Topic, I think the ruination people blame Cata for is already started in WoTLK, cata just made it obvious. Personally though? The world is alot better, less tedious and more casual friendly. But like in EVE, players who learned it take pride in suffering through the abuse much rather than be happy for new players, or older players prefering not being abused by poor tedious design.
If play Era:
I like play Draenei - can’t.
I want level in Outlands - can’t
If play Cata:
I want visit Southshore and Quest there - Can’t
I want sill feed my pet, and many other flavour thing - Can’t
Want to decide where put talent points - Can’t
So many places, smashed, ruined, made worse, made boring, made tivial, made linear.
This so true. But still Cata took more than Cata gave.
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I would put Wrath in the Classic Period not the Early Modern Period due to it still being the old world that’s unchanged. Once Cataclysm happens the world changes.
Still Cata does bring my favourite quest ever, punching deathwing.
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In some ways Cataclysm is classic. It still has the original talents system, it still has original class mechanics. Those both are the cornerstone of gameplay and was changed in Pandaria.
But if we’re talking about open world, it’s not classic, for sure, Azeroth was changed forever.
No and no it has not. Talents and classes were change in Cata.
Yes but Wrath introduce “modern” mechanic to the game
- dungeon finder (cross realm no less, i almost never get someone from my own server)
- Tier “season”. By that i mean once a new tier has been release, the previous tier becomes irrelevant. Plus introduction catch up mechanic to further make old tier obsolete, this does not happen in TBC
- the start of class homogenization, further developed in cata
So yeah, Wrath is closer to a modern wow design than vanilla. Notice, i am not saying anything about being good or bad, just, stating what wrath has done.
My opinion, wrath destroyed the dungeon experience. I leveled a toon in wrath recently. No one talks in dungeon. Crowd control is a thing of the past, tank gather all enemy and dps cast their AOE spell, rinse and repeat. All the dungeon mix into a blur or blizzard, rain of fire, concecretion,…
It’s very very different fom classic dungeon. Worse even, when the dungeon finder drops you in a maraudon, you don’t get to do the entire dungeon, kill 2 boss, dungeon done. Sad.
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Clasic finish when tbc out.
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I started WoW in early TBC… So I don’t have a “Vanilla” memory. That been said, to me, Classic is only the 1.12+ experience we got in 2019. It was the closest I got to my original TBC experience. Since TBCC ran off the latest pre-Wrath patch, after the old world elite nerf, riding cost reductions etc. it did not feel “classic”. As for WotLK… I didn’t like WotLK even back then, in fact, I didn’t even make it to max level. It didn’t click with me then (and even less now). And Cata with its world revamp, which ruined my favorite zones, was the nail in the coffin for me back then, as I quit until Classic.
That been said, I did try CataC on Alliance side (since I have no emotional attachment to the faction or its zones), and since I have old Azeroth to go to at any time with Era, HC and SoD I’m not salty about it like I used to be and I can look at it more dispassionately and appreciate its strengths. It’s definitely better than I gave it credit… But it still doesn’t hit the same “strings” in me that Era does. I prefer Era’s more open, adventurous feeling and ambience to Cata’s more curated, streamlined approach. I do like it more than Retail though - my very first impressions are that CataC feels halfway between Classic and Retail. I could see myself going much further than lvl 20 at least, which is when I quit Retail (I didn’t like the experience enough to persist past that level).
So, TLDR, in my subjective opinion, Cata isn’t “Classic”, though I can understand why many people will disagree. That been said, I hope that the people who loved it back then enjoy it again now 
EDIT: I know we’re just in the pre-patch phase… But some important elements of Cata are already in so we can sort of start the discussion from now, at least as far as a large part of the leveling experience is concerned.
Classic for thee and not for me I guess, I started late WotLK first time and Cataclysm prepatch has definitely felt like going back the good old days to me and I know that that’s just nostalgia.
2019 Classic was fun, I made an entire guilds worth of new friends no-lifing it but it’s still objectively just a pretty bad game.
I joined in Cataclysm and I was told time and time again I “missed the glory days of WoW”. I spent years wishing I’d subbed just a year earlier. I finally got to play Wrath classic through and I was less entertained than Classic launch in 2019. Cataclysm dropped 5 days ago and I’m enjoying ALL my classes, enjoying the levelling (it’s not nearly as screwed up as people say). The worst thing about Cataclysm questing are the endless pop culture references that ruin the immersion, apart from that it’s a far superior levelling experience than Wrath (and before) or BFA (and after). Probably the best alt levelling experience the game ever had.
Cataclysm IS Classic. Before Classic launched, nobody called Vanilla WoW “Classic”, they called it Vanilla. When Classic dropped in 2019, we associated the word “Classic” with “Vanilla”, then, as it progressed into TBC, we associated “Classic” with anything pre “The Shattering”. That’s on us. Classic just means a re-release of an old, unplayable expansion and I’m here for it.
I hope you do get a Wrath server, though, genuinely. I won’t be stepping foot in it again. If I want the old world I’ll go SOD.
Cata is a form of classic. HOWEVER it is not part of true “old wow” in my opinion.
I was leveling a new alt and felt the difference right away with the cata prepatch landed. It is very, very different. Especially the talent trees no longer being flexible (rip my smite priest 
) and the lack of elites in the overworld.
Classic/tbc/wrath also has a feel when playing that was very distinct.
I’m saying this as someone who actually think Cata was amazing gameplay whise, but forcing the move from wrath to cata was a mistake.
Why not do as they did with tbc classic and make the move voluntary? No way Blizz didn’t know this would spilt the community!
I dont want to level thru the revamped zones, I’ve done that plenty in retail over the 15+ years I’ve played wow.
I love the flow of leveling through the expansions, and I’d be less upset if they let us phase back into the old world, Cata was when phasing got real big after all.
Still, tbc/wrath servers would be preferred.
Just my opinion tho. : P
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I like that. I used to think that way back in 2010, during the Cata Beta.
Nowadays the Classic period ends for me with TBC. The main argument against WotLK still being Classic is the introduction of phasing as game mechanic. I had a couple of key experiences back in original WotLK which, while not directly changing my view back then, did so in the long run.
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Vanilla and TBC were classic, it all went wrong after that and I am shocked that Blizzard think the majority of players want all the tripe that followed TBC
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I have new answer. No to me Cata not Classic. But Blizz call Cata Classic.
We have to invent new name for the trilogy Vanilla-TBC-Wrath.
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who cares?
yes there are a bunch of players including me who want to play Pandaria. there are players saying cata is just pandaria waitingroom.
i know i know “b-but pAnDaReN”
who cares? they are not the reason why pandaria was great there are other reasons behind it…
cata is retail lite same as wrath