Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic – Review
Slightly over a year ago, we took a closer look at the rerelease of the first expansion of World of Warcraft, namely The Burning Crusade. For many WoW enthusiasts, this was a point of entry, as things finally ‘got real’ when the online world truly started evolving. We concluded that the expansion held up nicely after this many years, but we also noticed the atmosphere and vibe were totally different from when the game was originally released. The sense of community was long gone, and people just started grinding solo on the old-school MMO. Now, we see the rerelease of yet another iconic expansion of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. There is little point diving into a full review for this one, as hundreds (if not thousands) of sites have reviewed the 2008 expansion before us. The main question here is: Will this expansion convince many older gamers to return to the game?
Truth be told, Wrath of the Lich King’s biggest feature was the introduction of the Death Knight class. Not only was this probably the coolest class in the game at that time, it was also the chance for everyone to be a Death Knight. No matter what race your picked or under which banner you’d normally fight, you could create a Death Knight of your choice. When the game originally came out in 2008, you’d see all races in the starting area, grinding away to become stronger. Now, however, the starting area was a fairly empty space, with only a few people running around. These people would mind their own business, and not a single word would be uttered in the chat. Even so, we created our character and we were getting back in the loop of the classic gameplay. Many modern conveniences would be thrown out of the window, but even so, we could still very much see the charm of this expansion.
The Classic experience mainly runs on people’s nostalgia. The opening cinematic still gave us goosebumps after all these years, and it was simply a joyous occasion that a title such as this was given a new place in the limelight. Other than that, this title very much plays the same as it used to, and those who played this title when it came out will encounter no real surprises. The only problem is that the servers are a lot emptier than they used to be, and the game has become more of a solo grinding experience. True, there are dungeons you can only tackle with a party, but the overall sense of camaraderie has all but vanished, turning the game into a husk of its former self. Don’t get us wrong, we still very much enjoyed playing the game, but it just doesn’t have the same appeal as it used to.
Conclusion
Even though this expansion still stands very tall on its own, it’s also a painful reminder of how games have evolved over the years. The grandeur of games such as this is something that has been lost forever, and now the gaming landscape is riddled with microtransactions, unfinished games, and every single game is now dubbed an MMO due to having online capabilities. Many companies try to recreate the success of the behemoth that once was World of Warcraft to just present the world with a soulless copy that incorporates money-grabbing mechanics. While we are not saying that all new games are bad, on the contrary, we are saying that many aspects of the gaming industry have devolved into something where quality is only an afterthought. If you played Wrath of the Lich King when it originally came out, we reckon this will be a bittersweet trip down memory lane, where you’ll probably miss the friends of a long-forgotten age, only to roam around having as little as possible contact with people who are just grinding their way through this rerelease of a classic experience.
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic – Review,
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