Of all the World of Warcraft private servers, Turtle WoW is the closest it comes to a fanmade WoW Classic Plus experience. After being around for almost seven years, the private server offers a huge suite of radical changes to the base game to freshen up and revitalize the now 20-year-old original MMO.
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Some changes are relatively minor, like updates to the Flight Point locations and Zeppelin/Boat functionality, while others are enormous changes that add significant new content and completely change the Classic WoW experience. Whether you’re a longtime WoW player looking for something fresh, or someone who’s just not satisfied with the numerous WoW versions out there, you might just love everything that Turtle WoW changes.
1
High Elves & Goblins Are Playable In Classic
High Elves For The Alliance, Goblins For The Horde
There are two new playable races in Turtle WoW: the High Elves of the Silvermoon Remnants, and the Goblins of the Durotar Labor Union. Both of these new races are designed to suit vanilla WoW aesthetics, borrowing Goblin customizations from existing models in the Classic version of the game, and using original Blood Elf models (with some adjustments) for the High Elves.
Both of these new races in Turtle WoW start in a new starting zone and come with a suite of racial bonuses.
- High Elves begin with increased Arcane resistance, a spell that lets them recover Mana, and bonuses to the Bow and Enchanting skills.
- Goblins begin with an ability that increases their Movement Speed for 5 seconds, and bonuses to the Alchemy, Mining, Dagger, and Mace skills.
2
More Character Creation Options
New Class & Race Combinations & Customizations
Among the many changes to the original WoW experience are flavorful additional class and race combinations. For example, Orcs and Dwarves can now be mages, Gnomes, Humans and Undead can be Hunters, and Trolls can be Warlocks.
Additionally, existing Races in the base game have new character creation customizations. All races have hair, face, skin color, and other options that are not available in vanilla WoW.
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These two features combined make for some pretty big changes to the character creation system, and allow for a lot more variety and personalization than in the vanilla game.
3
New Quests & Leveling Zones
The Leveling Experience Is Completely Different
One of the biggest changes in Turtle WoW is the addition of dozens of new zones and more than a thousand new quests. These countless new quests span all of Azeroth and include quests added in new zones and quests added to existing zones to flesh out the stories. These quests all naturally fit the vibe and feel of the original vanilla WoW quests very well, and don’t feel out of place within the existing lore of the game.
New zones house the majority of new quests, though – and there are a lot of new maps in Turtle WoW. Many of the new areas in Turtle WoW are areas that were cut from the vanilla game’s release, like Mount Hyjal and Gilneas. These new zones fill in the areas of the classic WoW world map that were previously un-explorable with their own environments, original soundtracks, quest lines, dungeons, and even new items.
If you liked the leveling journey in classic WoW, Turtle WoW delivers a lot of new content along the way to 60 and makes for a very satisfying overhaul.
4
Fresh Endgame Content In Turtle WoW
New Dungeons & Raids For Turtle WoW’s Endgame
When you reach max level in Turtle WoW, the game is far from over – especially with all of the new endgame updates Turtle WoW adds. Like the new leveling zones, Turtle WoW fleshes out dungeons and raids that were scrapped from the original game’s release, like the Karazhan Crypt. It also adds brand-new raids, like Gilneas City, with unique bosses, mechanics to follow, and brand-new endgame items.
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The endgame experience in Turtle WoW feels like an expansion of the original game, with new dungeons and raids that fit into the game’s lore alongside updated versions of vanilla WoW raids.
5
Transmogrification & Jewelcrafting
Later-Expansion Features Adapted For Classic WoW
Like with High Elves and Goblins, Turtle WoW borrows from later WoW expansions for two other features: the ability to Transmogrify gear, and the Jewelcrafting profession. Transmogrification was originally introduced in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, while Jewelcrafting came earlier in The Burning Crusade.
These two systems will feel familiar to WoW veterans but have some particular quirks when adapted for Turtle WoW.
Jewelcrafters can make a variety of gear, notably including necklaces and rings, rather than socketable Gems like they can in the retail game – they’re almost like a specialist Blacksmith.
Transmogrification, on the other hand, cannot be purchased with Gold. Instead, players have to earn Fashion Coins from quests given by the Fashionista in the capital city to purchase Transmog.
6
New Turtle WoW Mounts & Pets
And Ground Mounts Speed Up Based On Your Riding Skill
Of course, what would an expanded version of classic WoW be without a horde of new mounts? Turtle WoW has dozens and dozens of new mounts to get, more than enough to satisfy diehard mount collectors. Some are available through the game’s microtransaction store, but most can be earned from in-game sources.
Turtle WoW also updates the way that ground mounts work. Instead of a flat bonus to your speed at the 75 and 150 Riding skill breakpoints, your mounted speed increases based on your Riding skill, which now works like a Weapon skill.
There are lots of new noncombat Pets to collect in Turtle WoW, too, some of which are Critters from vanilla WoW that are now available as companions. There are also lots of brand-new pets, but like with new Turtle WoW mounts, many of these are only available in the Turtle WoW shop.
- Released
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November 23, 2004
- ESRB
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T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence (online interactions not rated)