by Hald Twinpack

February 3, 2024

Should You Play WoW in 2024

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With so many changes and updates coming to both WoW retail and Classic, should you play WoW in 2024? Let’s find out!

World of Warcraft is a name known to any gamer, even if they have never played the game themselves. For decades, the game held the title of the King of MMOs, being an unreachable height for its competitors. But as time changes and new ambitious projects arrive, gamers can’t help but wonder: “Is it worth playing WoW in 2024?” And the short answer is yes. Even now, WoW is rich with various content so that everyone may find something to their taste. For those who crave more details, it’s time to dive in and figure out why you should play WoW in 2024.

Should You Play WoW: Current State and What to Expect

There are two main branches of World of Warcraft that the developers actively work on: The Retail and Classic versions. And we will start off with Retail.

WoW Retail

Dragonflight

After the series of objectively underwhelming expansions like Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands, many players were too disappointed and decided to leave WoW and play other games. However, as Dragonflight came along, it managed to reignite the excitement of the WoW community. 

The ninth expansion brings back veterans and attracts many new players with various features, such as Dragonriding, Profession rework, and more. The time gates have become way less predatory. The new types of content, improvements to the gaming experience, and a more engaging narrative resonate well with the player base. And to add, all of these elements and more have also greatly improved over the course of time ever since Dragonflight’s release. 

Currently, we are reaching the end of the expansion, with only Patch 10.2.6 and 10.2.7 yet to hit the screen. This means it’s a great opportunity to dive into the game without needing to wait for new content.    

Seeds of Renewal

As of now, we are at Patch 10.2.5, also known as Seeds of Renewal. Despite not being a major patch, it brings new features to enjoy. 

The biggest sellpoint of Dragonflight, the Dragonriding, is now available anywhere in the world, not just on Dragon Isles. Also, the newly introduced race, Dracthyr, now can Soar through the skies using Dynamic Flight mechanics. The flight speed in other parts of the world is limited to 80% of the maximum Dynamic Flight speed of Dragon Isles. Since other zones were not created with this feature in mind, the developers don’t want you to zoom from Ashenvale to Tanaris in mere seconds. Also, new Dragon Racing cups are added to the lands of previous expansions. 

For the lore and story enthusiasts, there are new activities and events to learn about the history of Azeroth and its future. With Azerothian Archives, you may unravel the secrets of the Dragon Isles, while Gilneas Reclamation will tell the next chapter of Worgen’s story. And don’t forget to visit the new capital of Night Elves, enigmatic Bel’ameth, and get some thematic souvenirs while you are at it. This includes the Night Elven new tabards, sentinel weapons for transmog, and more. Speaking about Night-Elf-themed transmof, the Dragon Isle epilogues not only bring closure to the stories we witnessed throughout our Dragonflight journey, but also reward two Night Elf transmogs that you wouldn’t want to miss out on. 

Seeds of Renewal also brings new character customization features for Draenei and Trolls, such as new hair and skin colors. Warlock pets, such as Darkglare and Demonic Tyrant, got some new visual options.  

Another important feature introduced by this patch is Followers Dungeons. It allows you to run dungeons with NPC instead of other players. With that, you can make a run at your own pace. Only 8 Normal mode Dragonflight dungeons are available with this feature for now, but the amount will increase in the future. 

Dragonflight Season 4

Not much is known about the last season of Dragonflight expansions, but it is expected to come out this Spring. According to the roadmap and some news snippets, we may expect to revisit all three Dragonflight raids, similar to Fated Raids in Shadowlands. The developers are listening to players and want to introduce new features and various improvements to the current content formula. For example, there was a community vote recently. The player base decided what the tier gear sets for Season 4 would look like. You can check the results in our Dragonflight Season 4 Tier Sets’ Final Results article.

Draenei and Troll players can also expect the long-awaited quests for their Heritage Armor. Heritage Armor quests are considered a love letter from developers to the players of a particular race. The armor set you get is a physical expression of the race aesthetics. 

At the moment of writing, aside from Troll and Draenei, only Pandaren and Dracthyr have yet to receive one. 

In addition, a new season means new PvP rewards, new Mythic+ dungeons, and new rankings, so find yourself same-minded enthusiasts and get ready for the challenges ahead.

The War Within

At Blizzcon 2023, not just one or two, but three upcoming expansions were announced. Named as the World Soul trilogy, it includes The War Within, Midnight, and The Last Titan. 

The first part of this big journey, The War Within, is expected to be released in early Autumn of 2024, bringing new features, new types of content, a new allied race, and much more.

One of the much-awaited implementations of The War Within is the Warband system. Despite being an alt-heavy game, WoW has never been that much alt-friendly. You needed to create a new character and walk the same path as you did on your main. But that is no longer needed with the Warband! You can select a group of your characters who are going to share their bank, renown, achievements, and much more. This makes multiclassing in WoW so much more accessible.

Another notable addition is a new type of end-game content — Delves. These new dungeon-like instances are full of challenges and epic rewards. A notable feature is that you can complete them solo, with others, or even with NPC.

Of course, new expansions mean new talents! The War Within also brings specific sets of talents for each class specialization. Also known as Hero Talents, these sets are themed around iconic class stereotypes from the Warcraft universe! If you have always dreamt of being a Priest or Priestess of the Moon, or maybe get a taste of what feels like to be a Keeper of the Groove — The War Within brings the opportunity to do so. 

For more information, be sure to check out Everything We Know about WoW 10th Expansion: The War Within. 

WoW Classic

Classic WoW is always worth playing, at least to relive those epic times of an era long past or try out new surprises created by developers. In 2023, WoW Classic Hardcore was introduced. This relentless realm, where every character has only one life, is the ultimate test for your WoW skills, knowledge, and will. Meanwhile, 2024 holds another present from the developers: Season of Discovery.

Season of Discovery

Introduced to the vanilla version of Classic servers, Season of Discovery or SoD creates a feeling of a “new old game.” The developers wanted to create a fresh experience with the same nostalgic decorations of classic Azeroth, and they managed to do that perfectly.

Season of Discovery shifts around various aspects of classic WoW, adding many new things to the formula. Want to heal as Mage or tank as Rogue? Smash everything with Crusader Strike from the very beginning? It’s all possible now, thanks to the new Rune Engraving system. 

Many new items and recipes were added to Professions, while factions got new rewards for maximizing their reputations.

New battle content, such as new Raids and open-world PvP events, were added, waiting for the players to discover them.

SoD is split into 5 Phases. We are in Phase 1 at the moment, but Phase 2 is coming on February 8. Each Phase raises the level cap and adds new content to explore. So if you love Azeroth and that feeling of exploring, Season of Discovery is a perfect reason to play WoW. You can learn more about SoD in our Season of Discovery Guide: All 5 Phases here.

Cataclysm Classic

For many players, the future of WoW Classic had always been a hot topic. Would there be a completely new “alternative timeline” expansion after WotLK? Would it be Cataclysm Classic? Or maybe there wouldn’t be any further expansions because, for many, classic WoW ends with the Wrath of the Lich King? And their questions were answered during Blizzcon 2023, as the next chapter was confirmed to be Cataclysm Classic. 

Cataclysm is an iconic expansion. It was the period when WoW decided to start the big new chapter of the Warcraft universe story. If you didn’t know, the previous expansions were created to resolve the plotlines that existed way before the birth of WoW. For instance, The Burning Crusade followed the destiny of Illidan. In Wrath of the Lich King, we brought Arthas’ reign over the Scourge to an end. Meanwhile, Cataclysm introduced a fresh story based on the rich lore of the WoW universe. 

Cataclysm Classic is expected to be released in the first half of 2024. Since the current Wrath of the Lich King progression servers will be upgraded to Cataclysm, it is a nice idea to start your journey now so you have plenty of time to prepare for upcoming adventures. 

Conclusion

As we said before, whether you are a veteran who used to play the game, or one who has never tried it before, 2024 is the perfect time to start playing WoW. The MMORPG houses a vibrant world filled with various types of content to cater to your every interest. From epic raids and challenging M+ dungeons to PvP fights and numerous narratives rich with lore and history. And don’t forget all the exciting surprises the future holds for the game. 

Players agree that 2024 is WoW’s Golden Era. After all, Chris Metzen, the father of Warcraft, is back as full-time Executive Creative Director of the Warcraft universe. The developers themselves provide the community with detailed roadmaps and clear goals for the future, allowing players to know what to expect from Blizzard. The devs are listening to the player base more actively than ever and trying their best to implement their wishes and ideas. For many, WoW is great again, just like it was before.

We hope our article convinced you to give World of Warcraft a try, or perhaps, another chance.