As soon as you click [Enter World] for the first time on your fresh level 1 undead rogue, you know exactly the path your character is going to take from their first steps out of Deathknell to the end of the road of the Rank 14 grind. There exists very little variation between the beginning and the end of best in slot gearing, downing a raid tier, or the top of the PvP ladder.

Or at least the vocal player-base would have you believe that…

Type into your search of choice “1.12 rogue bis” and you will see several links, revolving around every stage of the gearing process:

• Pre-Raid BiS
• Onyxia/MC BiS
• BWL/ZG BiS
• AQ BiS
• Naxx BiS

A user on reddit went so far as to create google doc containing every single piece of best in slot gear, for every class, and every spec (even some multi-template specs), at every stage. I would go so far as to call it the holy-grail of Classic World of Warcraft gearing. There are several outspoken users in the comments, and the list has been constantly updated with suggestions and new tests as we inch closer to the release of the game itself.

Does this mean all your gearing goals are decided beforehand, that there’s no sense of freedom in your choice of gear, that the way you play Classic will be the exact same as it is for every other player of the same class and specialization?

Hard no.

The rose-colored glasses seem to be worn by nearly every player looking forward to Classic’s endgame scene are overlooking how truly difficult, erratic, and time-consuming the gearing process was. Rare and epic drops were actually rare and epic and the loot tables were open to any class, not locked to a Personal Loot table, or locked out of trading because of it being a higher item level piece.

These explicit gear lists are invaluable templates to look to for guidance, but they are not the be-all and end-all of your Classic experience.

• Both Dal’Rends may never drop for you.
• The huntarder might ninja loot the Off Hand because he needs the defense rating for his arguments.
• Your guild might need a 40th member for MC and you luck out and get Vis’Kag because all the other rogues already have it.

All the planning and preparation in the world cannot prepare you for the RNG timetable of your real life commitments, let alone the imaginary life of your character.

Play the game the way you want to play it, put your $15 to good fun, and cross your fingers for your loot drops!