World of Warcraft celebrates its tenth anniversary on November 23. A lot has happened in WoW in the last ten years. In our series “Do you remember…” we look back at the past and want to remember special events with you. Or about game elements that have only changed a lot today or maybe don’t even exist anymore. In the second part of “Remember…” we remember skill ranks.

Class trainers seem to be underemployed in today’s World of Warcraft. They provide dual talent distribution as well as help resetting specializations, talents, and glyphs. Players can do most of this without NPC support. Moreover, it gives the impression that training is not really part of the job description of the guys and gals. Access to the Crucible can pass for advanced training – alone: class instructors aren’t really necessary for that, either. Besides, they don’t appear in the Crucible at all.

In the past, of course, it was different. We regularly visited class trainers, filled their wallets with hard-earned gold, and used it to buy new abilities that were unlocked as we levelled up … and initially without any overview of whether or not they were in the Crucible. and at first without an overview of what was actually new when leveling up. After reaching a new level, we turned to the class trainer and hoped that the journey was not in vain. In addition to new skills, there were also regular additional ranks for skills that had already been learned. The basic concept is still familiar today: Skills get stronger as you level up.

The difference: Back then, the individual ranks in the spellbook were freely accessible. The so-called “downranking” became an essential game element, especially in the endgame. Healers in particular often used lower skill ranks to conserve mana, last longer, and prevent mana-inefficient “overhealing” of targets. In the days of 40-player raids with healers and healer rotations flying everywhere, every mana point saved was worth its weight in gold. Plus, the strongest heals were usually just not necessary, especially with trash packs. Also, lower ranks of spells could sometimes be cast faster. And even damage casters sometimes used the technique, for example, when it came to applying certain debuff spells to a target.

As great and exciting as players found the “downranking” concept, the developers had somehow envisioned the skill ranks thing differently. The problem was not entirely unforeseeable: Low skill ranks received an additional malus at higher character levels. “Downranking” by a few levels still paid off in many cases. However, the developers only unpacked the big stick during the beta tests for Wrath of the Lich King. After one of the beta updates, skills no longer cost a fixed amount of mana, but a certain percentage of the base mana – regardless of the rank used. Community Manager Zarhym confirmed at the time that the WoW developers wanted to finally do away with downranking. The next logical step followed in Cataclysm: The developers abolished the skill ranks completely – since then, skills automatically scale with the character’s level.

However, there were not only skill ranks, but also weapon skills. When a character received a new weapon type, it initially hit little or not at all, depending on the level of the enemy. Most players didn’t find grinding weapon skills overly fun, but it added to the role-playing charm of World of Warcraft. Characters who barely trained with their wands, for example, then provided great amusement in the Temple of Ahn’Qiraj with Viscidus. And which longtime WoW player doesn’t remember beating up enemies with characters in the Damned Lands while drinking coffee for achievements like “Did anyone order a shiner? ” or “Master of Weapons.” Then with Cataclysm, the concept flew out of the game.

What memories do you have of skill and weapon levels? Do you miss those concepts or are you glad they’re gone? Or would you have liked to have seen them if you had started World of Warcraft after they were eliminated? Let us know and discuss with other players in the comments.

What is WoW Classic?

World of Warcraft Classic is a true recreation of the original WoW as you know it from 2006. All parts of the game – from combat mechanics and talent trees to character models and zones – have been recreated, contributing to the authentic experience.

Getting Started

All players with an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time on their accounts have access toWoW Classic at no additional cost.

1. Open the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App and select World of Warcraft from the menu.
2. Select World of Warcraft Classic from the Version menu. If you have more than one World of Warcraft account, you’ll see a second Account drop-down list. In this column, select the active account you want to play with.
3. Click the Install button. The progress bar will tell you when your game is ready to play.
4. Click the Play button when the installation is complete.

You will need to select the realm you want to play on from several different realm types. Make sure you choose the same realm as your friends – in World of Warcraft Classic, you can only group with characters that are on the same realm as you!

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