WoW Forever has absorbed a huge portion of World of Warcraft player base, leaving many WoW Classic servers almost completely deserted. This is particularly true for TBC Anniversary. Although Zul'Aman was released on October 22, finding groups has become increasingly difficult due to a player decline of more than 85%. At present, WoW Thunderstrike (EU) is the only server that continues to maintain a relatively high population. WoW Thunderstrike Population and Progression | Why Players Are Still Choosing This TBC Server? WoW Thunderstrike (EU) Server Overview WoW Thunderstrike was launched in late 2024 as an EU PvE (Normal) server for the official 20th Anniversary Realms. The server maintains a nearly 50/50 population split between Alliance and Horde. This means players on either faction can find enough companions for group content and plenty of opponents for PvP activities. WoW Thunderstrike Population Following the launch of TBC Anniversary, WoW Thunderstrike's population once surged to nearly 80,000 players. However, this overcrowding also caused problems such as competition for quest mobs and difficulties gathering resources. After the official announcement of WoW Forever on September 15, Thunderstrike also experienced a sharp decline in population. It now maintains more than 20,000 players, making it the busiest server in Europe despite the decline. Rather than fading into obscurity after the population shift, Thunderstrike has settled into a still-substantial server with balanced factions and a community that is more focused on casual and consistent gameplay. Moreover, the players who remain are genuinely committed to completing TBC. The population is unlikely to decline much further, as many players intend to stay until Phases 4 and 5 of TBC are complete. For players who enjoy dungeons, raids, profession leveling, and Auction House economy, Thunderstrike remains an appealing choice. How To Play on WoW Thunderstrike? Character transfers between servers are no longer available, so the only way to play on WoW Thunderstrike is to create a new account. After opening Battle.net launcher, go to WoW Classic game page and locate the game version and region selection. Switch the region to Europe and make sure Anniversary Realms is selected. You should then be able to find WoW Thunderstrike server. If you currently use a US or another region's WoW account, you will need to create or use a separate EU WoW game account and purchase game time for EU region. US characters and game time cannot be transferred directly to European servers. How To Level Up on WoW Thunderstrike? Some players may feel hesitant about starting over. After all, TBC Phase 3 is already halfway through. Is it too late to join now? Will you struggle to catch up with the top players? The first major milestone is naturally reaching Level 70. You can either level up normally or use a Level 58 Character Boost. Normal leveling is actually quite comfortable at this stage. Leveling zones are no longer overcrowded, quest objectives are easier to complete without competing against players camping the same mobs, and plenty of people are still leveling alts in both the open world and dungeons. More importantly, you no longer have to race against the entire server. When the expansion first launched, everyone was under pressure to reach Level 70 as quickly as possible and enter the endgame. At this point, however, most of that pressure has disappeared. If you enjoy the classic leveling experience, you can take your time and genuinely enjoy the journey. By comparison, using a Level 58 Character Boost is not particularly recommended right now. The boost was originally designed to help players jump into the content quickly, but at this stage of the expansion, starting from Level 1 actually makes more sense. Although leveling from scratch takes some time, you can accumulate gear and gold along the way while also leveling your professions. If you choose the boost, you will have very little besides your character level. Unless you have a lot of WoW Thunderstrike gold, you may face a difficult period at first due to a lack of suitable gear. Unless you are specifically trying to catch up with friends who are already raiding, it is better to save the money, enjoy the leveling experience, and let the game's built-in catch-up systems help you progress. Zul'Aman WoW TBC Zul'Aman Zul'Aman provides excellent gear, allowing you to improve your character much faster than by progressing through an entire raid tier. As raid bosses begin dropping Badges of Justice, these tokens will also become more plentiful and valuable. Older raids such as Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, and Magtheridon's Lair will continue to help your character progress. With this phase underway, players will be running a wide variety of content regularly. Furthermore, with the release of Zul'Aman, the attunement requirements for Mount Hyjal and Black Temple have also been removed. PvP gear is another option worth considering. Since WoW Thunderstrike has a relatively balanced faction population, finding PvP opponents is not particularly difficult. PvP gear is comparable to early raid gear, so if you enjoy PvP, you can improve your equipment quite quickly without stepping into a raid. Although joining now may not guarantee that you will catch up with everyone else, Sunwell Plateau is expected to open in mid-to-late December, giving you time to catch up before then. Many players consider The Burning Crusade one of the best WoW expansions ever released. It would be a shame to miss out on Sunwell Plateau simply because of WoW Forever. Guilds across WoW Thunderstrike are actively recruiting to compensate for the recent player decline. If you enjoy TBC, this is a good opportunity to join before the expansion reaches its final phase.

In the first week of World of Warcraft: Forever's launch, veterans and new players from Azeroth flocked to this reimagined world. From the emergency rollback of Dungeon XP, to the subtle changes to quest gold rewards after reaching the level cap, and the shifts in Dual Spec pricing and class popularity, the adjustments and community feedback in the first week are revealing the differences between Forever and the traditional Classic. Here are some noteworthy recent developments. Dungeon XP Increased by 50% WoW Forever First Week Recap: Dungeon XP Buffs, Dual Spec Costs, and Class Trends The first thing to spark widespread discussion was the official quick adjustment to Dungeon kill experience. In the early days of Forever, many players found that dungeons had a problem with replayability: the quest rewards were decent on the first run, but once the quests were completed, the XP from kills in subsequent runs was so low that there was almost no reason to re-enter. The official response was swift. Community manager Kaivax confirmed on the forums that a hotfix had been deployed, increasing the XP from killing all enemies in dungeons by 50%, the rationale being to make it more worthwhile for players to re-enter dungeons. It's important to note that this 50% only applies to monster kill XP, not the total XP from dungeons. Quest rewards remain unchanged, so the actual experience depends on the number of monsters cleared and the route taken in each run. For players who enjoy group dungeon runs, especially those who joined late, didn't get their gear, or simply wanted to play more runs, this change significantly improved the social engagement of dungeons. One player tested Scarlet Monastery and found that four runs increased the XP bar by approximately 60%, which is an acceptable rate of return at the current stage. Level 60 Quest Gold Mechanism Remains Unclear Compared to the officially implemented Dungeon XP adjustments, the gold mechanism for quests after reaching the level cap still has many questions. Several players who reached Level 60 early have reported that completing quests after reaching the level cap no longer seems to grant extra gold converted from experience points. In Classic Era, after reaching the level cap, the experience points earned from completing quests were converted into bonus gold at a certain ratio. This motivated max-level players to continue completing quests even if they no longer needed experience, using it as part of their daily gold income. However, based on current player feedback, Forever seems to have removed this conversion mechanism. Furthermore, there are reports that the developers mentioned potentially providing random gold rewards through weekly quests as an alternative income source for max-level players. However, there has been no official announcement confirming whether this mechanism will be implemented, or the specific rewards and refresh rules. For a permanent version emphasizing long-term operation, the source of gold after reaching the level cap will directly impact players' daily activities and economic planning. How quests, dungeons, professions, and potential weekly rewards will constitute the main income streams after reaching the level cap remains to be seen and requires further official clarification. Dual Spec Unlocks at Level 40 for 50 Gold WoW Forever Dual Spec Dual Spec can be unlocked at Level 40 for 50 WoW Classic+ gold. The feature itself isn't particularly controversial: players can save two talent setups and switch freely depending on the situation. The real controversy lies in the unlock time and cost. Level 40 is also the threshold for unlocking mounts, and learning riding skills and acquiring mounts already requires a significant investment. Adding the 50 gold cost of Dual Spec at the same stage, concentrating two important growth goals at the same time, will undoubtedly increase the financial burden on players, especially those who frequently switch character roles. Players who support the current pricing believe that Dual Spec is a convenient feature with long-term benefits, and using it as a savings goal during the growth process is not inappropriate. However, opponents raise a more specific issue: the 50 gold is functionally close to a healing tax. Without Dual Spec, some healing classes will experience a less smooth leveling experience in the open world; however, purchasing it forces players to postpone their mount acquisition plans. Therefore, the community has proposed other unlocking solutions. One popular suggestion is to change Dual Spec from a simple gold-consuming activity to a class-specific questline, allowing players to unlock a second Talent build by completing challenges related to their class. For example, Paladin could accept quests to eliminate Undead across the land, while Shaman could complete exclusive challenges by communicating with Elementals. This wouldn't eliminate the sense of investment, but it would transform the investment from pure gold farming into a gameplay experience. Class Distribution: Paladin Takes the Top Spot, Mage Popularity Unexpectedly Declines WoW Forever Paladin The class distribution in the first week of WoW Classic Plus showed some trends different from Classic. The sample, based on approximately 200,000 characters tracked by a third-party census tool around November 7th, while not an official, precise count, is sufficient to reflect the trends. The most noticeable change came from the surge in Paladin popularity. In WoW Classic, Paladin was faction-restricted, only selectable by AlliaWoW Forever is already giving Classic fans plenty to talk about, with familiar progression systems taking some unexpected turns. From the way players approach leveling to the choices they make for their characters, the new server is beginning to carve out its own identity.nce players, naturally limiting the class's population. However, after Forever introduced Undead Paladin, Horde players showed overwhelming interest in this combination, making it the most popular choice for a single Race/Class Combo. On the Alliance side, Dwarf Shaman also gained a considerable player base by breaking down faction barriers. In contrast, Mage's situation is quite intriguing. In WoW Classic, Mage consistently ranked among the most popular classes due to its high AoE grinding efficiency. However, Forever's repeated nerfs to AoE have altered this class's efficiency advantage during leveling. First-week data shows Mage, along with Warlock and Priest, at the bottom of the class distribution. However, this doesn't mean Mage lacks competitiveness in max-level content. But at this stage, players are more focused on actual leveling efficiency and return on investment when choosing a class. Hunter continues to enjoy high popularity, its solo leveling advantage making it a consistently popular choice. Meanwhile, KSuper2 became the first player to solo-level with Night Elf Beast Mastery Hunter, further boosting community attention to the Hunter class. Overall, the adjustments and player choices in WoW Forever's first week have initially demonstrated the version's unique direction in terms of leveling efficiency, gold economy, and class balance. However, as more players reach Level 60 and subsequent updates are implemented, whether these mechanisms can maintain balance in the long term remains to be seen.