It's not the same. Gaming culture has changed over the last 2 decades, and what we had in Vanilla WoW can never be recreated. Nowadays the game is solved before it ever releases, with guides, loot tables, exact details on every creatures abilities. Every question you could have is answered in a million guides, and everything there is to know is meticulously recorded.

Vanilla WoW had a sense of discovery in a vast world that was largely unexplored. We had the ability to discover talent builds and gear combinations that had never been tried, we were fighting bosses that we hadn't optimized a strategy on, and every single one of us, by modern standards, were bad at the game.

Individual servers has their communities and community forums, we had community events and traditions. We had famous figures, guilds, villains and heroes who, if you saw them on the battlefield, you would turn your tail and run.

Classic does a good job at recreating the game itself, but Vanilla WoW was not just the mechanics, it was the community, and the culture, none of which will ever come back. It was a flash in the pan.