Experiencing World of Warcraft Classic bugs? Nope – they’re old-school features

World of Warcraft turns 15 this year, and the premier, veteran massively multiplayer online role playing game is celebrating by returning to its roots with World of Warcraft Classic. It turns the clock back on the adventure, rolling back updates and expansion packs to an earlier 2005 ‘vintage’ period for the game that many players consider a golden age for the title.

But as is often the case with nostalgia, things aren’t always quite as rosy as you remember. World of Warcraft Classic will be released fully to paying subscribers of the main game on August 27 2019, but a beta early access has given some players a sneak peek at what to expect – and it’s been a bit of a shock for some.

Classic players have been reporting a series of bugs to developers Blizzard Entertainment. Except the problem is, they’re not bugs. They’re actually accurate, old-school features of how the game used to play.

The best MMO games: from Final Fantasy XIV to Guild Wars 2
Star Wars Galaxies: how modders are keeping the MMO dream alive

Rose-tinted glasses

From minimap quest markers to player-balancing attack distances, World of Warcraft has received innumerable small quality of life improvements over the years. And as the saying goes, you only miss the things you love when they’re gone – the same goes for patch fixes.

“The nature of WoW Classic sometimes invokes different memories for different players, and this leads to certain misconceptions for some about what is or isn't working as intended,” explains Blizzard in a Battle.net post.

So, what is, or isn’t, a bug in World of Warcraft Classic? Here’s what Blizzard has highlighted as being a non-bug in the new, old game mode:

Tauren's hitboxes and their melee reach is slightly larger than other races.
Being critically struck while using /sit to sit does not cause abilities like Enrage, Blood Craze, and Reckoning to activate.
Using the "Automatic Quest Tracking" option does not auto-track newly accepted quests. (It instead will start to track an existing quest once progress towards an objective is started.)
Warrior health Regeneration is working at the expected rate.
Quests objectives and points of interests are not tracked on the map or minimap.
Completed quests are marked on the minimap with a dot. (and not a "?")
Feared players and NPCs run fast.
Standing on top of other players while facing away allows spells and attacks to be used.
Creature respawn rates are much slower than in Battle for Azeroth.
NPCs which offer multiple quests may inconsistently display them as a dot or a "!" on the available quests list. They were inconsistent in 1.12, and we've reproduced the exact inconsistency they had back then.
Quests that are too low level for do not show up as a "!" in the game world.
Available quests do not display a "!" on the minimap.
On level up, the message: "Your skill in Protection increased to 15" was added in 1.12.1, and we're intending to keep that.