Zygor’s Classic Guides Efficiency Update Coming Soon

by (4 years ago).

Zygor’s World of Warcraft Classic guides released last week and for the most part the launch has gone smoothly. We were eager to see what the community thought about the guides and we’ve definitely heard your voices. While bugs and other issues have been minimal, there have been some concerns about the leveling routes taken in the guides, particularly when it comes to traveling to other zones.

In Vanilla WoW, leveling was always a much slower process, which made guides essential in order to speed things up. Over time, the Retail game changed and has seen a number of quality of life improvements to make the game easier and more friendly to a wider audience of gamers. As such, our own community has reflected this change, and over the years we’ve changed the style of our guide writing to cater more to these casual types of players.

During the World of Warcraft Classic beta, we started off by updating our original Vanilla guides to a modern format, but remembering how different the game was, and how much our community has changed, we were concerned these guides would not be appealing to our current community. For this reason we took extra steps to make the guides more friendly to all player types. One of these changes was instead of grinding as much we opted to travel to other zones to pick up even more quests. We also included additional quests in the lower levels so players would be much stronger in the higher levels when they had to face harder enemies.

It has become clear, however, that the audience for WoW Classic is different from the Retail game and these casual friendly improvements are considered hindrances by many users. Some have even felt that the guides were somehow rushed, or not optimized, even though we actually put more thought into them to try to make the experience in Classic feel closer to Retail. This was something we actually debated considerably in beta and was not a decision made lightly, but in the end, it was the wrong call.

So here’s what we’re doing to address these concerns. We still have the original Vanilla guides reworked to modern standards that we completed in beta. We’re going to re-apply the bug fixes we have found since launch, along with a few other minor touch ups, and then we’re going to replace the current guides with these. Additionally, we’re changing the formatting of our guide titles to use zone names rather than level ranges. Note, however, that Classic is indeed different in this respect from Retail, and you should not expect to be able to freely choose zones to quest in if you are not the appropriate level or have not done all the pre-requisite quest chains needed to unlock quests in a particular zone.

We’re calling this release the “Efficiency Update” and the complete Horde version should be available early next week. The Alliance version will be available roughly the following week.

We’re confident this update should address all the major concerns we’ve been hearing about since launch. As explained in this post, we genuinely aimed to provide the best experience to our users and simply misjudged the wants and expectations for these guides due to the very different player type most interested in WoW Classic. However, we hope you can see that we do listen to our community and are making the requested changes promptly.

– The Zygor Team

77 thoughts on “Zygor’s Classic Guides Efficiency Update Coming Soon

  1. Marcus

    I definitely want to avoid mindless grinding and would prefer travel and questing where it’s available to grinding. Most of all I’m just thankful for having Zygor at all. I’ve been using Zygor guides for year and love the ingame info rather than all the alt-tab research had to do in the old days. Thank you for all your hard work and care with the guides!

    Reply
  2. Firegodd

    Everyone needs to CALM down! They are going to keep the guides the way they are. Just adding the “Efficiency” option to them. That is all!!! Oh and reorganizing the way the guides are listed in the contents part of the addon. Thank you Zygor Team!!!

    Reply
  3. Kevin Leemans

    I’m level 54, and so far the guides were fine, I liked it. Except some wrong stuff here and there on higher level.
    I don’t think this guide needs to be changed tbh. We just need more options on how we want to level. Something I really want to see is the guide including popular dungeons and picking up all their quests.

    Reply
  4. Tom

    I’m 58lvl and my experience had been fine so far. I would love if you could add separate guides to select for all dungeon quests/chains including attunement quests.

    Reply
  5. Kenshin

    I like the guide so far except for a few things like long grind exp times but i would still like to keep using it how it is. Please offer an option to use either or.

    Reply
  6. Joe

    Please at least leave they way the guides are now for those of us that like the traveling and questing. If there are really that many speed levelers that don’t like the traveling then make a different option for them for grinding or whatever else it is they are complaining about.

    Reply
  7. Xynzo

    I hope you did some heavy research before making a decision like this.

    What made Zygor unique is the all skill level and exploring aspect which made it perfect for new and returning players since it makes you discover the world via quests.

    Don’t make this another generic speed leveling guide.

    Please, this feels like a hasty decision based on complaints. If you look through this comment section, many of us don’t want this change, rather than some improvements.

    The main problems with the guide:

    – Completely forgets even to remind about class quests.

    – Instead of grind to X level, there should be dungeon or grind zone recommendation not just a few words to grind.

    – The guide advices to go for around 10 minute spawn timer mobs that aren’t tied to a worthy quest chain, or just a 1 time drop item for extra XP. These mobs are heavily contested, it could be months before the population settles down to a size that this becomes viable.

    Keep up the good work and thanks for everything!

    Reply
  8. Akio Watanabe

    I’d like to commend the team at Zygor for all the hard work put into these guides. It has certain helped streamline the leveling process in the retail version. That said, I think this is the right call with respect to the classic guides and very much look forward to testing this out when it releases.

    Thank you

    Reply
  9. Konrad Nakielski

    Okay, when we can expect the update?

    To all the people ending up grinding: You can always do a dungeon quest run or two to get a level ahead of the guide, then it’s smooth sailing from there.

    Reply
  10. Jeff

    Guys, the update is completely necessary, there’s a lot of inefficiency such as “grind to lvl 44” when you’re level 43 @ 0% xp, this is the type of stuff they are fixing. Stop saying you don’t want it, of course you do

    Reply
  11. Domax

    Sorry, but are you saying that the vast majority on here want to do mindless grinding for a lvl or two instead of taking 10 min’s to travel to a new area, do quest, earn rep, earn coin etc and then return?
    If so, surly they can turn off Zygor while they do there mindless grind and then turn it back on again and leave us serious Zygor user’s to enjoy your hard work the way you meant it to be without complaint.

    Reply
  12. TJ

    Because of this announcement today, I tried playing Classic w/ AAP and Questie and w/o Zygor’s. It was TERRIBLE. Zygors is the only option when it comes to a nice guided leveling experience. For instance, how would I have known about jumping off the back if IF to get to Menethil Harbor w/o Zygors? Please keep things as they are or give us options.

    Over the last 10 years using Zygors, I have found that time and time again you listen to the complaints of a small % of your playerbase and not the silent majority who are just enjoying your Guides fine.

    Same thing happened when you switched from Pay per Guide to Pay per Month. Please give us options and not take away the best part of Classic 🙁

    Reply
  13. Xanxia

    I remember the old days of being outleveled by the quests and even then I preferred to zone hop rather than grind. I’m enjoying the pace at the moment and like many others would ask if you are able to add the new guides you are suggesting as an alternative rather than a replacement! Thanks

    Reply
  14. ZalidTheBur

    I think you have listened to the vocal minority on this issue and agree they should be listened to. But I agree with the vast feedback here that the majority were happy with how the guides were working for the most part. Yes, there were some issues and the guides could do with some tweaking, but I do not agree with totally replacing them with this new system you are creating in response to vocal feedback.
    I totally agree with others in giving us the option of keeping the guide as it is with some tweaks from feedback and the other option of more aggressive power levelling.
    Hopefully you are able to do this.

    Reply
  15. VoodooKnife

    I just want to add that you guys are making an amazing job. Some gamers are harder than others but they can always level
    at their own rate. Continue the great works and no matter what decision you are coming up with, I will be there with you along.

    Reply
    1. David Rogers

      Absolutely agree, don’t enjoy grinding for experience, but do so when farming profession mats. Maybe add grinding suggestions that double the outcome but being useful for both?

      Reply
  16. PostGhosties

    After reading all the comments about the guide in its current state and that most players would like the option to choose between 2 different play styles, it got me thinking…what if the Zygor guides system had the option to submit an idea at any stage of the guide? This could give all types of players an opportunity to submit their idea/concern at any stage of the guide. This type of feedback could allow for the guide to change at any step where the player currently is, notifying the player that an alternate path is available from the current progress and allowing the player to choose if they want to go with path A or B. If a player chooses to go with an alternative option and then finds that its not what they wanted, they have an option to switch back to the previous path and leave a comment why they switched back. This way every player has more than one option at any stage of the guide and Zygor will get valuable data for every step in all the available paths.

    Reply
  17. Scott1

    Guys, the Classic’s guides are slowing me immensely. If I don’t allow them to, then I’m not following them. Right?
    Too much “Reach level X by killing mobs in this area” where I’m like over half a level away from that level, and I ignore the guide and just do the quests the guide told me to skip in a forced messed up manner and still get to level faster than “Kill mobs here”.
    Too much quest skipping, ignores classic important quests like class quests, routes need some tuning, little options of where to go next. I played Undead and Orc and they’re like that. Many areas with no guides at all.
    Can’t wait for the guides to become close to how good they are in modern WoW (at least the ones for MOP and WOD were good and needed for sure). Classic is an older state of the game. I wish the guides are improved soon because it’s now that they’re wanted.

    Reply
  18. Gold

    I think it would be wise to keep the old leveling guide that sends you to other zones.
    I’m sure you chaps at Zygor could easily have it set up so you can either pick a, powerlevel with mob grind and b, relaxing leveling multiple zones.

    Please don’t abandon one for the other.

    Reply
  19. Richard White

    I think you have done a fantastic job of it so far. I love it how it is, though it could obviously use the odd tweak here and there. I imagine that it will require continuous improvement, so nothing out of the norm there.
    I totally agree with the calls to give your customers a choice. Playing Classic is a lot more than trying to emulate retail. WoW back in the day was hard, AND IT WAS EXCELLENT BECAUSE OF IT. I mean wait until raids start. Then you’ll hear people moaning. I predict that the large majority
    of players on Classic then will be serious players, not casual. The raids were difficult, complex, and required a great deal of time, especially before the actual event itself in order to ensure that you had enough potions, well fed food, on top of needing to meticulously learn the encounters, and then have plenty of gold for repairs. It was not for the faint-hearted, more for serious and dedicated players. There was no such thing as casual raiding.

    One last thing – PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WILL YOU FIX WHATEVER BUGS ARE STOPPING THE VIEWER FROM SAVING OPTIONS WHEN YOU LOG OUT.
    I have 10 characters created now and it is seriously annoying having to reconfigure every time I log one in.
    And please, obviously, fix the bugs that are causing sticking points in the flow of the guides, such as making inns home, and getting Flight Points known, as well as a few other steps that seem to get stuck and require being told that they have been completed.

    Thank you for such an excellent product so far, and good luck with the changes to come.

    Reply
  20. Grapple

    Please make something that indicates you are about to sell a quest item and not when you that item, because you forget. I have been having a few issues with quest chains. Had to use wowhead for some support on these. Keep up the great work zygor. Thanks.

    Reply
  21. Naydine B.

    I just want to thank you for the classic guide. Like many of the above, I am happy with the present format and would like the option to continue with it. I have been playing Wow since it was released in 2004 and well remember the grind and much prefer jumping zones over that. I think those that were satisfied did not complain and so you may have gotten a lop-sided view since you only heard from those that did not like it. Thanks again for a great guide!

    Reply
    1. John Campbell

      I much prefer zone hopping to grinding. Just a teeny problem. The guide keeps suggesting I sell my skinning knife and fishing rod. So I have to manually sell the other items. A great guide guys. I grind anyway coz I kill and skin every beast in sight. lol

      Reply
  22. Thewishmaster

    If you guys going to change it please keep it like it is now and maybe add that option to have old and maybe the new version. But alo for me its great like it is now. Put your time in other things like farming.routes or professions and such

    Reply
    1. Tim Cruz

      Same here! I am enjoying the alliance classic guide as is and enjoy being able to jump to other zones while lvling, even when I had to die and spirit walk to get the menthol harbor flight path in the Wetlands. Please leave the option to choose the original guide, thanks!!

      Reply
  23. Gopher

    I like the fact that I am getting quests and flight points earlier and doing zones in a mishmash way. I do feel there are quite a few moments, especially in the early bits around going to the Barrens, where it felt like we were making quite a few back and forth trips when those could have been optimized a bit more, but I would prefer sticking with the current system. Could you PLEASE offer the option to do the guides one way or the other? I understand that it’ll probably make switching back and forth impossible, due to the two guides probably having quest chains progress at different rates, but I’m ok with that! Just make a warning pop up for those who wanna change for whatever reason!

    Reply
    1. Gopher

      And I personally like the avoidance of too much grinding. I get the purists point of view, but fuck em! They can play their way while we all play ours! I say you should just ignore them and move on to dungeon and profession guides!

      Reply
    2. Elishevah

      My sentiments exactly! I love being higher level when facing mobs. Dying is not fun and takes a lot of time to get back to your body, not to mention the costly repairs. I’m a long time subscriber to Zygor guides and am a casual player playing classic. You might have more casual players out there than you realize because we like the guides the way you’ve set them up and so we’ve not complained. The only issue I had was that at first I was dropping quests when I changed zones not realizing that I would be going back and so I would have to repick up those quests, but now I know to just go ahead and keep those quests in my quest log until they gray out.

      Reply
  24. annerose

    i hope something is done, i dont understand why as a horde troll it sends me to the barrens, to SPF, back to barrens and then back to SPF, UC, Thunder bluff back to freaking SPF.

    Reply
  25. Tom Blood

    Although happy with the new guides, I will be very pleased to see the guides in a zone format rather than level format. Super job, keep up the good work, thank you.

    Reply
  26. Maureen Stonebraker

    I like the guides as they are! Please stop listening to the crybabies . Classic was a grind, if they want easy go play retail😃. Thanks for all you do to help. Your guides are great!

    Reply
    1. Richard White

      Totally agree with you. Classic (Vanilla) was hard, it’s supposed to be hard. It makes levelling and questing a lot more satisfying because of it.
      All I’d really like fixed is the freaking ability for the guide to actually save options and not require me to enter them in again EVERY SINGLE TIME I log a character in.

      Reply
    1. Steellz

      Get TradeSkillMaster it works in classic, but with manual scans as simple as doing /tsm scan

      Best AH addon you can get. the more time spent customizing it, the more money it can make you.

      Reply
  27. DavidR

    I would like to suggest that since you do have the original files along with the current files that you include both. In the menu give the option for each player to choose which path they want to take – original Vanilla by zone vs current multi-zone by level range, of course with the option to change that selection in the menu at anytime.

    Reply
  28. Kyle

    I think the major concern for me was:
    Step 190: Run to the Barrens
    Step 191: Turn this quest in
    Step 192: Run back to Bloodhoof

    If I had already turned in that quest from 191, I just wasted like 15 minutes of my time. Instead, like other quests, just add it a multiple step to the step: Run Here, Run Here, Then Turn in Quest — all in one step.

    Reply
  29. Souldisease

    I agree with just about everyone above. The guides are great as is. Sure there is a bit of time sink with traveling to other areas, but u get to see those areas a bit and generally explore more. I would like to see u leave the current guides in and then add the old guides so we can choose.

    Reply
  30. Ramon Santos

    I think what most I would like to see is all the quest a available in the zones instead of being told to go here or there. Idk if there’s another addon that shows all quest other than questie which I been using along with Zygor. Granted I know we shouldn’t have to use 2 questing addons. I haven’t had to much to complain about other than what I just spoke of

    Reply
  31. Michael Olszewski

    No worries. I guess I am in the minority then… I did notice the zone jumping (specifically Auberdine as a human), but I liked it. I could see that it was boosting my level so that the harder quests (specifically in Westfall) were a bit more manageable (as a mage). I liked that it was less “grindy” too. I’m good either way, follow was the majority needs. However, I suspect that there are a good number of users that are in my camp. Again, no worries.

    Reply
    1. Richard White

      I’m a human mage too and they are so totally squishy in Classic. Nothing wrong with that as they have wicked spell damage, however it has been great swapping between zones to minimise the amount of time having to take on tough mobs.
      Fortunately, as I have been playing this for so long, and used to level new toons up for fun when bored with retail, I know a lot of the quests and chains, so have been able to pick and choose from a lot of areas to make it easier.

      Reply
  32. TJ

    I’m confused, the current guides work great. Can we please choose instead of you just replacing? I will most likely cancel my subscription if you replace the current guides with these new ones.

    Reply
    1. Bubba

      I agree with this – the only changes I would like to see is to skip quests that rely on slow spawning mobs or mobs that drop items with very low drop rates – given how popular wow classic is, it is a waste of time to battle other players over these.

      Reply
  33. Nextt

    The real problem with the guide is it having you do quests way too high level. Like worgrn in the woods at level 24/25 when mobs are 29-30 and it has you do this before raven hill where mobs are 24/25.. Doesn’t make sense. Darkshire was where I decided the guide was useless. Classic leveling is much more complex than retail, you don’t just do every quest you can pick up.

    Reply
  34. Carol

    Thank you Zygor! I like the Classic guides, especially the fact that there are lots of quests at the lower levels vs. grinding. I think they might just need some tweaking. Hopefully the new versions will still allow for picking up lots of quests at the lower levels and becoming strong enough to fight those harder enemies later. I am hoping that eventually you will come out with profession guides for classic too.

    Reply
  35. Cass

    Sadly I was one of the people who enjoyed going to other zones to level rather than grinding my time away. I’m prepared to see how these new guides feel, but I’m not hopeful. I know you have to listen to the majority of your customer base, but sometimes the majority aren’t always correct. Great product and great quick release, you all did fantastic.

    Reply

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