Turtle WoW or Project Epoch? My Weekend on Both
I spent two consecutive weekends playing characters on two of the most popular private Classic+ World of Warcraft servers. The first weekend, I leveled a Tauren Warrior to 22 on Turtle WoW—the established server that isn’t Ambershire. The second weekend, I leveled a Gnome Mage to 22 on the Kevan realm on Project Epoch, hosted by Ascension WoW. This is a first-hand account of my experiences on both servers, with opinions on what each one gets right.
Turtle WoW
I played Turtle WoW briefly in 2022, leveling a Night Elf Druid to 42 and getting my first mount before dropping it for Dragonflight. I came back after feeling bored with Retail patch 11.2, which I played after a six-month hiatus.
I rolled a Tauren Warrior using new custom appearance options that feel faithful to the 2004 style, trying to stay within the original game’s visual guidelines. In the Tauren starting area, I noticed a few new quests, distant buildings, and stronger low-level quest rewards.
Turtle WoW adds two new professions. Survival— a secondary profession like Fishing or First Aid—lets players place tents in the world. Other players can stand under them to gain rested XP faster. It takes about 10 minutes to get 150% rested XP. It feels a bit game-breaking, but it’s a nice social addition and helps binge players who don’t normally benefit from long breaks.
Because Turtle WoW runs on an older client, addon support is limited, but there are built-in quality-of-life options: movable unit frames, condensed action bars, auto-loot, and easy addon access in the launcher. The minimap also links to an in-game radio that plays everything from lore segments, to community-made silly commercials, to divorced dad rock. There are even live DJ sets interacting with /world chat. I’m not sure about the legality, but it’s a feature I wish existed in the official game.
I ran into a couple of disconnects, but nothing major. I tanked RFC once and Wailing Caverns twice. One WC run failed due to an undergeared healer and under-leveled DPS pulling adds, but the second run went smoothly. WC now has two extra wings—one with a crocodile boss and another with a centaur boss. I like this approach to adding content: new encounters layered onto classic dungeons.
Other additions: zeppelins connecting Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff (not sure if operational), turtle mounts from a Darkmoon Faire questline at level 20, an early jewelcrafting profession that lets you get rings sooner, pre-20 quests awarding items like trinkets and helmets, and cross-faction dungeon groups. Talent trees have been updated as well, and mounts not available in original Classic are out in the world. I saw someone in a Goblin lumber mech and another riding a gorilla. Overall, the experience was enjoyable.
Project Epoch
Gnomes have their own starting zone (I’m told other races that lacked one do as well). You start in a gnomish vault in Dun Morogh, then exit into a snowy wasteland of Troggs and a large frost-troll cavern north of Coldridge. It feels polished and blends well with the environment. Quests here are custom, with custom rewards.
Nearly every enemy has a unique ability now. Wolves have a high-damage leap; bears gain a short-duration damage buff. Travel gets a quality-of-life upgrade with carts that carry up to four players between towns; you can hop on and off while they’re moving. Boats aren’t operational—captains teleport you instantly from port to port. The speed is nice, but it cuts down on social travel.
Epoch adds new crafted and quest rewards, like a low-level tailoring helm with strong Intellect, Stamina, and Spirit for level 20, plus early ring enchants. Some world areas are modified—Goldshire, for example, is reworked with assets I think came from the alpha. Personally, I don’t find that change as aesthetically pleasing as the original.
Custom quests in Elwynn and Westfall are abundant and, in my experience, more creative than Turtle WoW’s. I revived a man by a lake and watched Defias burn down his house. In Westfall, I helped a wife kill her husband and cut his thumb off. Another quest had me assist a level 30 wizard with a powerful artifact; he was then abducted by Dark Riders from Karazhan. These were highlights.
Epoch hasn’t remedied some high-population bottlenecks, like the Defias Traitor quest. My opinion: all quests like that should be completable in a raid group. Making same-faction players compete over tags creates enemies, not friends. End rant.
Stability was worse than on Turtle. I disconnected every few hours. At one point, instant-cast abilities couldn’t be used while moving. I eventually ran Deadmines. Meeting stones work as summoning stones, but it felt janky—no cast time when clicking the portal. Parties can be cross-faction.
Deadmines itself is completely different. Artistically, it’s well done. Bosses are more involved: Smite uses cannon fire mechanics; the goblin mech hits harder; the ogre knocks you back; there’s a new flame elemental boss; and Van Cleef uses Fan of Knives for significant damage. The gameplay variety is good, but rewards don’t feel more robust, and the dungeon is longer in ways that aren’t an improvement. Captain Greenskin summons a lot of adds that can overwhelm groups without over-leveling or experienced players. You can also pull mobs through walls, so be wary of AoE.
While in Deadmines, the Kevan server shut down twice, sending my party to the entrance and forcing us to run back. We had to re-kill enemies linked to a cannon and door explosion each time. Combined with the increased difficulty and length, these disconnects brought back parts of 2004 WoW I don’t miss. I’m not sure the reimagining is worth the headache, though I’m still curious about later custom content. I may lean toward Turtle WoW’s approach of adding content without replacing the base.
Epoch uses the WOTLK client and TBC talent trees. I’m told you receive 10 extra talent points at level 60. There are barber shops and WOTLK druid forms, if my memory is correct.
Final Thoughts
Both servers try to reimagine Classic in different ways. Turtle WoW adds content that feels like a natural extension of vanilla. Project Epoch takes bigger swings with custom zones, quests, and dungeons. Each has strengths, but I’m leaning toward Turtle WoW’s additive approach.
That’s it—no fancy conclusion. Those are my thoughts.