A World of Warcraft player recently shared a few screenshots from the original beta test from 2004. These nostalgic pictures were a blast from the past for many World of Warcraf t players who have been around for the last 20 years.
World of Warcraft conducted a series of beta tests starting around March 2004, running up until its final release on November 23. Since then, World of Warcraft has launched nine expansion packs and dozens of major updates over the course of nearly two decades.
Recently, long-time World of Warcraft player F0xySt0at shared three screenshots they took during their time on the beta. One shows their human character sitting on a ballista in Elwynn Forest, another exploring the Jangolode Mine in Westfall, and the final picture of a raid of Alliance characters in World of Warcraft swimming up the coast to attack the Undercity. Though F0xySt0at lost most of the other pictures they took, these three relics survived and maintained their quality thanks to their high-end PC at the time.
These screenshots underpin just how different World of Warcraft is now compared to how it looked back then. Even Classic WoW has a distinctly different feel to it, despite largely replicating the original Vanilla servers. In many ways, these screenshots are a time capsule to a different era of gaming.
F0xySt0at’s screenshots instantly struck veteran World of Warcraft players with nostalgia. Many players literally grew up with WoW, so seeing these screenshots took them back to their high school and college years. These fans wondered how many of the players in these screenshots were still playing. Others were even younger when the game first came out, so they enjoyed seeing shots of a major point in World of Warcraft's history.
Other fans couldn’t help but notice that some of these screenshots looked painfully similar to some forgotten corners of World of Warcraft. The massive game world has some truly spectacular visuals, but some areas look the same as they did back in Vanilla WoW. Many of these players are hoping World of Warcraft does another world revamp to breathe life back into these rusty areas of the game.
Though it may not be the same as it was back in 2004, World of Warcraft is still going strong. A recent build of the WoW Classic developer servers indicate something big is coming soon, and Dragonflight is about to release Embers of Neltharion, its first major patch. Whether interested in reliving their nostalgia or soaring into new adventures, there’s plenty for World of Warcraft fans to enjoy right now.
World of Warcraft is available now for PC.