What is WoW now? Who is playing it, how much and how? And why is it worth thinking about returning to World of Warcraft in 2021? We will answer all these questions in our article.
Classic and Shadowlands
To begin with, there are currently two options for playing WoW. If you consider yourself an old gamer or you like the good old Warcraft that you played many years ago – WoW Classic is perfect for you! Old locations, old mechanics in a more modern technical wrapper, as well as a sociable community ready to come to the rescue in the battle with a rare mob or go with you to a dungeon, which often ends with some adventure or even an acquaintance!
World of Warcraft Shadowlands, or current WoW, is the next stage in the evolution of the game with stunning graphics, content for every taste, difficult trials, a new storyline and a positive community. If you want to test yourself, you can always go to Mythic+ dungeons with various tricks, difficult raids or PvP battles.
How long does it take to play
It all depends on what you want to get from the game.
If you want to quickly get into high-level content from scratch, then pumping in Shadowlands from 1st to 60th level takes about 15-18 hours, but already from 48th level you will find yourself on an adventure in the Dark Lands (underworld and part-time a new zone where you will spend all time). After reaching level 60, you don’t need to play the game 10 hours a day to enjoy the progress – in fact, 10 hours a week is enough (or even less).
In Classic, pumping takes much more, but there is a significant difference – the whole game in Classic is one big adventure from the 1st to the 60th level and beyond (because, due to the complexity, even pumping in Classic will make you sweat), although, at the same time, the game will provide much less activities to choose from. If you expect that you, going for an hour a day, will quickly reach raiding, then you are definitely not in Classic.
Does anyone play WoW now?
You may be surprised, but in Shadowlands no one has ever faced the problem of lack of players. This is largely due to the high sales of the add-on (on the day the add-on was released, Blizzard set a new industry record for the number of copies sold – 3.7 million). Therefore, you will always find a group of like-minded people, be it a guild or random guys from the group search.
There are a lot of people playing in Classic too. The 30+ contingent is very fond of the memories of Warcraft. There is no cross-server, but if you choose a high or even medium-sized server, you will never feel lonely!
What can you do in WoW?
Still, the most important thing in a game is the content it provides, and World of Warcraft is full of it. Starting with Shadowlands, even if you log into the game right now, upon reaching level 60, you will have three ways to improve the level of items (and there are still achievements, pet battles, lore, old raids, etc. etc.).
The first is dungeons – 8 completely different options in which to go. There you can get useful items that will be much better than yours only after pumping. The stronger your character, the more difficult the task you can put before him.
Mythic and Mythic+ dungeons (or keys) are perhaps the most difficult content (the complexity of the keys is unlimited – it all depends on your skill) for 5 people. Keys to already difficult dungeon mechanics add 4 additional mechanics, 3 of which will change every week and 1 time in a major patch.
The second option for what to do at the start is your covenant. This is a unique add-on system, your second home in the Dark Lands, your companions, mediums, etc.
In the covenant, you can purchase and improve items for the anima to a pretty decent level to start surfing the vastness of complex content, and in parallel with this you will find yourself in a difficult story in which you need help your covenant with pressing problems and prepare for the war with the Jailer – the main villain of the expansion (for now). Each of the Covenant has its own story with many characters that are important to the game’s storyline.
The third option is PvP. The concept is extremely simple – you need to kill your opponent faster than he will kill you, but the number of factors that you will need to take into account can seem very large and frightening at the start.
Nevertheless, World of Warcraft you can always learn how to play in the arena by playing 30-50 times (one fight will usually last no more than 1.5 minutes). And further, the higher you climb the rating, the stronger the item can be purchased from a special merchant (by the way, up to the maximum level of items, you can only dress in PvP, but for this you really need to be the coolest in the arena).
Raiding has always been considered the crowning achievement of content in WoW, but now it is not – everything that you do before you get (if you want, of course) in the Mythic Raid will also bring a lot of fun.
When we talk about raiding, we still need to mention the guilds. On most medium-sized servers, you can easily find yourself a guild to test yourself in battle against huge monsters and villains. Well, of course, the best raids drop out in raids of maximum difficulty, so you will not be left without a high-quality reward.
In addition, World of Warcraft the iconic Tower of Mages Legion has recently returned to Shadowlands. The tower can be accessed through Legion Timewalking, which allows players to play dungeons and raids from past expansions. You can also use the Mage Tower boost with third-party services offering real-time coaching from professionals to help you learn mechanics, tactics and techniques to get the best out of your game.
WoW Classic is primarily a guild or just a group of guys with which you will have fun. At first, the World of Warcraft gameplay will be quite meditative, but then the opponents will give you a lot of problems, thereby creating different difficult and funny situations. While your level will slowly increase, you can visit many different dungeons, items from which will be valuable even at level 60.
Outcomes
WoW is now gaining momentum every day, has a huge fan base around the world, eSports is developing, both in PvP and PvE.
The very juice of playing WoW right now is that you can do what you like, and it will help you play better and give you a lot of new acquaintances and emotions. If you just want to try new sensations for yourself – World of Warcraft is a great option, here you will definitely find something for yourself, if, of course, you like the concept of MMORPGs. See you in Azeroth (and beyond!).
