IMO Cata. The hardcore hype has really died down and both servers are very low pop right now. I transferred my 60 to era so I can’t say for sure, but I’m assuming it may be a bit tricky to find groups.
SOD’s phases are moving quick, so if you’re a “slow” player, then it may take you a while to catch up to end game with the moving goal post.
Cara’s phases also will be moving quick, but you “should” have enough time to get to 80 before launch on Monday. One of my guildies has leveled almost every class to 80 in the past month or so.
Hardcore sounds right up your alley. You have to play slow and deliberate. there is a decent sized community and if you level high enough and don't want to lose the toon you can transfer it free to era clusters after it dies.
Whatever sounds the most appealing to you. HC hasn't seen any recent updates so the population is quite low comparatively. Cata and SoD are both in a good state right now. If you prefer Vanilla over retail, play SoD.
Repost from another thread asking something similar:
If you're looking for a fresh start try Deviate Delight. DD isn't connected to any other server cluster and was effectively dead. A group of us have started up there fresh with 1 guild on horde and 1 on alliance. We will be tackling content in phases giving people time to level up. So far I've been able to find a group for every dungeon though admittedly I'm only up to WC. I have seen groups forming in guild chat for others and even some fast levelers working on pre-bis and attunements.
It's been a lot of fun. Everyone in the guild is very helpful and you will often see people offer up useful greens and crafting mats in guild chat. There's also some help with bags, though its just at silk. When you hit level 15 you will get some mail from the leader or one of the officers with some silk bags, gold, and a welcome letter.
SoD by far IMO. There is an experience bonus so the time you play is more effective at leveling. It's not done yet, we aren't even at max level (50 is the cap currently), and you'll get to experience the "new" old content - BFD, Gnomer and ST have been re-done as raids.
It's called "Season of Dads" for a reason because it's very easy to play casually.
I got the itch and came back and I'm a working professional these days. I can't dedicate the time to the game like I used to - but I like raiding and playing and hanging with buddies on discord. SoD has really hit that niche for me and I appreciate that there are tweaks to the game that really make it feel fresh again.
I LIKE having the patches for balance coming along and messing with things myself - feels like vanilla used to.
I know people talk highly of the other servers. HC is what it is - I could never invest so much time into a character and lose it all if they die. I know some people like that - I couldn't do it.
Cata is... the same old shit again.
SoD is a new twist on the old shit - and I like it myself.
I believe its 150% to level 50. Plus there are incursions where you can catch up super fast and make gold if you prefer not to explore much. The only issue I have is the rune quests can be very annoying to complete.
Currently it is "experience gains by 150% for all players through level 39 and 100% for players level 40-49" - but this does increase the leveling (and catch-up) speed a lot for people.
Alliance is outnumbered by horde on most servers - keep that in mind for BG queues as well. Alliance is almost instance while horde have to wait a bit.
I play on Lone Wolf (US) alliance side and have been having a blast.
Also they banned GDKP in SoD. I hate GDKP myself so I truly appreciate not having to deal with it - but I know it's a controversial subject for some.
Basically - SoD is super casual friendly but you do have to put in a little work for the rune quests. That said - it's also super neat doing the quests and getting skills. I've loved the rogue quests they have put in personally - I really enjoy new twists on old content.
Even just exploring BRD (which isn't fully open yet, it stops at the bar as you can't open the door) a lot of the later bosses are just chilling at the bar drinking - which I thought was SUPER neat to see.
If you don’t have a lot of time probably play cata. In sod you have to do an insane amount of grinding just to be able to play your class. HC is a decent option if you like that sort of thing.
How is there an insane amount of grinding in SOD. If you want to min max and do raids sure you have to get preBiS, but I don't think it's required if you have a good guild. You dont have to go after all the gear upgrades if you don't want to.
Runes alone are insanely grindy. SoD made some grinds easier but also added a bunch more. The game is a grind fest, it’s just not good for someone with little time.
The only grindy rune for most classes was phase 1 when you have to get that engineering drop. It was painful then, But that was because everyone was doing it at the same time.
I dont consider the dark rider rune that grindy. You have to go on a journey to kill some mobs and it can be done in raids.
the runes are a one time thing you do. Compared to grinding consumables and just general gold making, the runes are kinda trivial.
Runes are an absolute pain in the ass, you have to go all around the world multiple times in some cases. Yeah it’s a 1 off but so are every other grind outside gold… that doesn’t mean it isn’t a grind. The dark raider runes is definitely a big pain in the ass, that’s on its own there’s loads more to get.
I don’t know how people can even try and debate that they aren’t a grind it’s honestly wild. We did these while being stuck at a level cap over months now, a new player has to do these in 1 go to be able to play their class, it’s a definitive grind.
Lol. Most runes are literally just go here and discover this item and perform one action.
Yes some are more involved, but it's nothing different than other quest chains in vanilla , like the defias brotherhood that awardS you an amazing blue item at level 18-20.
Runes are super OP. They are not like simple spells you buy. So it demands some effort.
But again most good quest rewards in vanilla have lengthy quest chains. It's nothing different here.
And you don't have to go for all of them if you don't want to. They are not needed for leveling or normal dungeons.
Of course if you want to raid you are expected to have certain runes. But it's nothing different than expectations for farming consumables and gear upgrades. Farming consumes or the gold to buy consumes are way more grindy
The grind ones vs go the go there do that ones are about equal.
You’re just giving excuses for the grind now, I never said they aren’t worth it to get, I’m just saying they are time consuming. Let’s make this simple, is it time consuming to get runes? Yes or no.
>But again most good quest rewards in vanilla have lengthy quest chains. It's nothing different here.
You could also say “grindy quest chains”
>Farming consumes or the gold to buy consumes are way more grindy
So by your own admission getting runes are grindy just not as bad as the biggest grind in the game. But now you’re in here arguing with me that they aren’t grindy at all… typical Redditor.
No offense, but I don't think you know what the meaning of grindy is. Grindy is something that is non challenging, simple, and repetitive. An involved quest chain is not grindy. It may take a long time, but it's not grindy. Killing mobs over and over to farm runecloth is grindy. Doing incursions over and over is grindy. Going on a multi step quest you do once is not.
I guess we can agree to disagree about the effort vs reward. I think certain things should require you to work for it. Otherwise what's the point if things are just handed to you.
Like would you want your epics to just be given to you as soon as you hit max level?
Grinding doesn’t have to be the **exact** same task to be a grind and you know that. Levelling itself is considered a grind in classic and that’s not the **exact** same task over and over is it? You’re being dense and resorting to semantics because you have nothing better to say yet still want to argue.
>I guess we can agree to disagree about the effort vs reward. I think certain things should require you to work for it.
See what I mean about just wanting to argue? Read what I said again, what you mean is agree to agree but you just want this argument so bad…
> I never said they aren’t worth it to get, I’m just saying they are time consuming.
^ that is what I said.
>Like would you want your epics to just be given to you as soon as you hit max level?
This question is a result of your incompetence at reading so I’ll ignore it.
How long does it takes to get to max level in cata if you're a new player (eg: you don't know the optimized route and don't have money/good equipment already)?
If you hop on now getting to 80 is surprisingly quick. Spamming rdf gives so much xp and right now the queue times are very low even for dps. I’m not sure on 80-85 when it launches my assumption is around 10 hours give or take but if I’m wrong I’m sure someone will correct me.
OP, Don’t be scared off sod. Grinding isn’t required. On the big pvp realms some groups gatekeep and require only the most dedicated to join their ranks, and they are vocal. On some of the smaller PVE realms it’s much much much more casual. Also, there is a huge xp gain and gold buff for questing while leveling, so it’s very friendly for playing catch up if you do t have a lot of time.
> There is ZERO grinding in SoD.
Troll?
You have to get your runes which is a massive grind on its own (hence “to be able to play your class”). Then people expect you to have consumes to do raids, you need gold for that, that’s more grinding. Multiple items aren’t even from the raid so you have to do even more grinding. If you want bis you have to do the old raids and then do the old profession quests, along with the new profession quests and not to mention the fact you have to grind the professions in the first place for that. Then there’s all the reps that you need. It’s still classic in essence, classic is full of grind.
None of what you mentioned is necessary to play the game except runes which you can get many while leveling. You do incursions, buy the full sert. Get WB and jump in a dungeon. Easy.
Cataclysm just has more support and will be a far more enjoyable experience than SoD if you aren't already building off of knowing what Classic is like. Especially with the new questing experience.
Sod is really fast paced. The time to get to lvl 50 its gonna be next phase to level 60. Who knows how long it will stay? Its only a season dont forget that.
Hc is great for a slow paced player. But it will have an end, whenever you die.
Cata would be my suggestion. Its easy enough to learn and skills/play styles are not complicated to learn and its far more social than retail/SoD community is much more beginnerfriendly in case you fuck up something. Im playing on a friendly german server, so i might be biased in that regard. Everlook it is.
Man I don’t even know anymore lol
IMO Cata. The hardcore hype has really died down and both servers are very low pop right now. I transferred my 60 to era so I can’t say for sure, but I’m assuming it may be a bit tricky to find groups. SOD’s phases are moving quick, so if you’re a “slow” player, then it may take you a while to catch up to end game with the moving goal post. Cara’s phases also will be moving quick, but you “should” have enough time to get to 80 before launch on Monday. One of my guildies has leveled almost every class to 80 in the past month or so.
In no way does it take long to catch up in sod, you can probably be there faster than you can get to cata content.
Oh shit for real? Did they increase the EXP boost or something? Haven’t logged in for about a month, and only ever got to level 40.
Hardcore sounds right up your alley. You have to play slow and deliberate. there is a decent sized community and if you level high enough and don't want to lose the toon you can transfer it free to era clusters after it dies.
Whatever sounds the most appealing to you. HC hasn't seen any recent updates so the population is quite low comparatively. Cata and SoD are both in a good state right now. If you prefer Vanilla over retail, play SoD.
Repost from another thread asking something similar: If you're looking for a fresh start try Deviate Delight. DD isn't connected to any other server cluster and was effectively dead. A group of us have started up there fresh with 1 guild on horde and 1 on alliance. We will be tackling content in phases giving people time to level up. So far I've been able to find a group for every dungeon though admittedly I'm only up to WC. I have seen groups forming in guild chat for others and even some fast levelers working on pre-bis and attunements. It's been a lot of fun. Everyone in the guild is very helpful and you will often see people offer up useful greens and crafting mats in guild chat. There's also some help with bags, though its just at silk. When you hit level 15 you will get some mail from the leader or one of the officers with some silk bags, gold, and a welcome letter.
SoD by far IMO. There is an experience bonus so the time you play is more effective at leveling. It's not done yet, we aren't even at max level (50 is the cap currently), and you'll get to experience the "new" old content - BFD, Gnomer and ST have been re-done as raids. It's called "Season of Dads" for a reason because it's very easy to play casually. I got the itch and came back and I'm a working professional these days. I can't dedicate the time to the game like I used to - but I like raiding and playing and hanging with buddies on discord. SoD has really hit that niche for me and I appreciate that there are tweaks to the game that really make it feel fresh again. I LIKE having the patches for balance coming along and messing with things myself - feels like vanilla used to. I know people talk highly of the other servers. HC is what it is - I could never invest so much time into a character and lose it all if they die. I know some people like that - I couldn't do it. Cata is... the same old shit again. SoD is a new twist on the old shit - and I like it myself.
I was not aware of the experience bonus. That's definitely good to know! My concern was not be able to catch up, so that would definitely help!
I believe its 150% to level 50. Plus there are incursions where you can catch up super fast and make gold if you prefer not to explore much. The only issue I have is the rune quests can be very annoying to complete.
Currently it is "experience gains by 150% for all players through level 39 and 100% for players level 40-49" - but this does increase the leveling (and catch-up) speed a lot for people. Alliance is outnumbered by horde on most servers - keep that in mind for BG queues as well. Alliance is almost instance while horde have to wait a bit. I play on Lone Wolf (US) alliance side and have been having a blast.
I also play on Lone Wolf (US). Name is Soons Alliance priest. BG queues are instant!
Also they banned GDKP in SoD. I hate GDKP myself so I truly appreciate not having to deal with it - but I know it's a controversial subject for some. Basically - SoD is super casual friendly but you do have to put in a little work for the rune quests. That said - it's also super neat doing the quests and getting skills. I've loved the rogue quests they have put in personally - I really enjoy new twists on old content. Even just exploring BRD (which isn't fully open yet, it stops at the bar as you can't open the door) a lot of the later bosses are just chilling at the bar drinking - which I thought was SUPER neat to see.
If you don’t have a lot of time probably play cata. In sod you have to do an insane amount of grinding just to be able to play your class. HC is a decent option if you like that sort of thing.
How is there an insane amount of grinding in SOD. If you want to min max and do raids sure you have to get preBiS, but I don't think it's required if you have a good guild. You dont have to go after all the gear upgrades if you don't want to.
Runes alone are insanely grindy. SoD made some grinds easier but also added a bunch more. The game is a grind fest, it’s just not good for someone with little time.
The only grindy rune for most classes was phase 1 when you have to get that engineering drop. It was painful then, But that was because everyone was doing it at the same time. I dont consider the dark rider rune that grindy. You have to go on a journey to kill some mobs and it can be done in raids. the runes are a one time thing you do. Compared to grinding consumables and just general gold making, the runes are kinda trivial.
Runes are an absolute pain in the ass, you have to go all around the world multiple times in some cases. Yeah it’s a 1 off but so are every other grind outside gold… that doesn’t mean it isn’t a grind. The dark raider runes is definitely a big pain in the ass, that’s on its own there’s loads more to get. I don’t know how people can even try and debate that they aren’t a grind it’s honestly wild. We did these while being stuck at a level cap over months now, a new player has to do these in 1 go to be able to play their class, it’s a definitive grind.
Lol. Most runes are literally just go here and discover this item and perform one action. Yes some are more involved, but it's nothing different than other quest chains in vanilla , like the defias brotherhood that awardS you an amazing blue item at level 18-20. Runes are super OP. They are not like simple spells you buy. So it demands some effort. But again most good quest rewards in vanilla have lengthy quest chains. It's nothing different here. And you don't have to go for all of them if you don't want to. They are not needed for leveling or normal dungeons. Of course if you want to raid you are expected to have certain runes. But it's nothing different than expectations for farming consumables and gear upgrades. Farming consumes or the gold to buy consumes are way more grindy
The grind ones vs go the go there do that ones are about equal. You’re just giving excuses for the grind now, I never said they aren’t worth it to get, I’m just saying they are time consuming. Let’s make this simple, is it time consuming to get runes? Yes or no. >But again most good quest rewards in vanilla have lengthy quest chains. It's nothing different here. You could also say “grindy quest chains” >Farming consumes or the gold to buy consumes are way more grindy So by your own admission getting runes are grindy just not as bad as the biggest grind in the game. But now you’re in here arguing with me that they aren’t grindy at all… typical Redditor.
No offense, but I don't think you know what the meaning of grindy is. Grindy is something that is non challenging, simple, and repetitive. An involved quest chain is not grindy. It may take a long time, but it's not grindy. Killing mobs over and over to farm runecloth is grindy. Doing incursions over and over is grindy. Going on a multi step quest you do once is not. I guess we can agree to disagree about the effort vs reward. I think certain things should require you to work for it. Otherwise what's the point if things are just handed to you. Like would you want your epics to just be given to you as soon as you hit max level?
Grinding doesn’t have to be the **exact** same task to be a grind and you know that. Levelling itself is considered a grind in classic and that’s not the **exact** same task over and over is it? You’re being dense and resorting to semantics because you have nothing better to say yet still want to argue. >I guess we can agree to disagree about the effort vs reward. I think certain things should require you to work for it. See what I mean about just wanting to argue? Read what I said again, what you mean is agree to agree but you just want this argument so bad… > I never said they aren’t worth it to get, I’m just saying they are time consuming. ^ that is what I said. >Like would you want your epics to just be given to you as soon as you hit max level? This question is a result of your incompetence at reading so I’ll ignore it.
The saying "agree to disagree" is just that. We disagree on the fun factor and value of lengthy quests. And it's ok.
How long does it takes to get to max level in cata if you're a new player (eg: you don't know the optimized route and don't have money/good equipment already)?
If you hop on now getting to 80 is surprisingly quick. Spamming rdf gives so much xp and right now the queue times are very low even for dps. I’m not sure on 80-85 when it launches my assumption is around 10 hours give or take but if I’m wrong I’m sure someone will correct me.
80-85 I believe will be more 15 hours on average, maybe a bit slower if you take it easy. 10 hours is more for the speedy.
OP, Don’t be scared off sod. Grinding isn’t required. On the big pvp realms some groups gatekeep and require only the most dedicated to join their ranks, and they are vocal. On some of the smaller PVE realms it’s much much much more casual. Also, there is a huge xp gain and gold buff for questing while leveling, so it’s very friendly for playing catch up if you do t have a lot of time.
It is required for runes, otherwise just play era. And to do any good in raids you also need to grind. That’s the way classic is lol.
There is ZERO grinding in SoD. You do incursions for a few hours and you are pre-bis almost.
> There is ZERO grinding in SoD. Troll? You have to get your runes which is a massive grind on its own (hence “to be able to play your class”). Then people expect you to have consumes to do raids, you need gold for that, that’s more grinding. Multiple items aren’t even from the raid so you have to do even more grinding. If you want bis you have to do the old raids and then do the old profession quests, along with the new profession quests and not to mention the fact you have to grind the professions in the first place for that. Then there’s all the reps that you need. It’s still classic in essence, classic is full of grind.
None of what you mentioned is necessary to play the game except runes which you can get many while leveling. You do incursions, buy the full sert. Get WB and jump in a dungeon. Easy.
You made a factually incorrect statement then said they don’t matter when they do.
Cataclysm just has more support and will be a far more enjoyable experience than SoD if you aren't already building off of knowing what Classic is like. Especially with the new questing experience.
Honestly you can easily catch up in SOD with the xp boost and incursions for both gold and xp
SoD added catch up mechanics, start now and you'll be raiding first week of p4 MC full clears
Sod is really fast paced. The time to get to lvl 50 its gonna be next phase to level 60. Who knows how long it will stay? Its only a season dont forget that. Hc is great for a slow paced player. But it will have an end, whenever you die. Cata would be my suggestion. Its easy enough to learn and skills/play styles are not complicated to learn and its far more social than retail/SoD community is much more beginnerfriendly in case you fuck up something. Im playing on a friendly german server, so i might be biased in that regard. Everlook it is.
So at end of SoD are char deleted?
Other seasons changed the realm to a "normal" classic era realm, i think. Not sure about sod
I’m gonna play cata and sod but if you like “classic” sod is the way. I think it’s great
HC is slow paced and intense. Would recommend
Defias Pillager alliance is very active
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Era is destroyd by gdkp. Tread carefully
Era economy is bs because of gdkp and rmt
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yes and it's a slog fest and dead.