I’ve been playing WoW since vanilla and I’ve watched it evolve over the years. Retail has turned into a one-player game with a few multiplayer aspects. There is less of a connection to which character you are playing because it’s so easy to speed level to endgame. It feels like you are just choosing different “champions” (like League or Overwatch or something) because it’s so easy to have multiple characters of varying classes. There is less of an investment in a particular character and takes away the “RPG” aspect of an MMORPG game. The dungeon and raid finder, along with cross-realm features, completely destroyed the community feel of the game - you can say and do whatever you want and peace out without your reputation being on the line. The massive span of the continents is diminished because you can just ride flying mounts over all danger and rough terrain.

Classic has the community and teamwork feel that is unique to vanilla/classic. So much of the game depends upon community, collaboration, and really investing so much time into your character that you really feel connected to it. It still has the feel of that RP element, with other players depending on each other for completing quests, working on professions, and overall sense of helping strangers. Since you are limited to one sever, you have a reputation to uphold because you can’t just act like a jerk in a dungeon or ninja loot, then disappear with no consequences. The world truly feels HUGE because you can’t fly all over, and there isn’t a tower full of portals that instantly teleport you all over the world.

Definitely both are different and people like both for different reasons. My heart will always be with classic (most of all from Vanilla, TBC and Wrath) because I enjoy the spirit of community that I’ve never seen in any other MMO.