Balanced

As we're approaching four weeks since Classic's launch, I have three tauren ladies in their mid-twenties. It's not how I expected things to go at all (I very much expected to be much more focused on my main), but I'm having fun. I do want to level up, but I keep feeling the pull of other attractions.

One thing I've found very striking about playing Classic is how well-balanced everything feels. Expressing it like this may raise some eyebrows, since balance is usually only associated with things like raid dps and PvP, and I certainly wouldn't claim that Vanilla WoW was all that great in those areas.

But when exactly did we decide that those two aspects of an MMO needed to be balanced above all else? What about things like levelling speed, difficulty of soloing or profession rewards? Why should these be treated as also-rans?

Almost everything in Classic's levelling game feels extremely thoughtfully balanced against each other. One-on-one combat is not difficult by default, but you can dial the difficulty up or down not by selecting some sort of UI toggle, but by choosing to engage mobs that are above or below you in level. Soloing is comfortable, but the world is threatening enough that grouping usually feels beneficial anyway.

While levels are your primary progression mechanic, they are far from the only thing to care about. There are flight paths to unlock, weapon skills to level, professions to work on, class-based progression mechanics like a shaman's totems, a hunter's pets or a rogue's lock-picking to consider. All of these matter and everything feels logically tied together.

Take something as simple as money. Having gone through the same starter zones multiple times in quick succession, I found it notable how they are designed in such a way that as you complete that very first handful of quests, you should - on average - have just enough money to afford your new spells as you level up, but nothing else. You may have a few copper left, or be just a little bit short of an upgrade, but you'll likely be close.

And this continues as you level up, as you'll probably find that for a long time you'll only have just enough money to get by, and always find yourself longing for more - again, on average. If you spend all your time grinding mobs you'll probably be somewhat better off financially compared to someone who's trying to level a crafting profession as they go along.

Also, something as simple as which class you play can make a difference: For example I noticed that my shaman has a much harder time with money, being expected to upgrade a bazillion different totems every other level, than my druid or hunter, who'll often have less than half a dozen new spells to train. Still, the trend is clear that you're given enough to get by but are always left longing for more.

As another example of balance, let's look at something like fishing. It's a secondary profession, purely optional, and I'm sure many people skip it altogether because they consider it boring. However, it does have benefits that make it worth your time: It's an easy source of food, both to level your cooking and just to have something to eat if you're a class that doesn't have any healing abilities. Most hunter pets also eat fish, making it a great source of free pet food as well. Alchemists need certain rare fish for a couple of their recipes, and if you seek out fishing pools you can also dredge up kelp (another alchemy reagent) and crates full of money, leather and cloth bolts for tailors.

Nothing feels bolted on and like it's just intended to be busywork: all systems are interconnected in ways that make them extremely engaging. It's something that I haven't seen done this well in any more modern MMO that I've tried. Seems that the original dev team weren't just lucky with their timing and all that, but also actually knew their craft very well. Who'd have thought it?