Several of these items also increase the amount of experience you earn. Retail WoW offers Heirloom gear - items that increase in level every time you do. My goal with this series of articles is to compare the leveling and game experience between Classic and Retail, without taking advantage of any of the additional bonuses Retail players can use to level faster. Protection Warriors are preferred tanks for endgame raiding in Classic, but for leveling, all of the hybrid classes (Druid, Shaman, Paladin) have healing, DPS, and tanking options.

They are also capable of fulfilling all three of the game’s primary roles (DPS, healing, tanking) while leveling in both Classic and Retail. Paladins are not the fastest levelers in Classic, but they have excellent survivability. I recall the original Paladin leveling experience in Classic, and I wanted to use a class I was familiar with in both versions of the game. I’ve tested the game(s) by leveling a Paladin in both Retail and in Classic. I’m rather proud of how well I was able to blend these two images, screenshots are hard to match across two different game clients.

World of warcraft graphics overhaul