How to play WoW Classic on mobile

A World of Warcraft Classic player has figured out a way of playing the game on mobile devices running Android or iOS.

With the release of WoW Classic, which offers players the chance to play Blizzard’s popular MMO in its original, pre-expansion state, thousands of fans have flooded to the game, with interest being so high that Blizzard have had to take several steps to account for incredibly long log-in queues, and the category peaking at over 1 million viewers on Twitch for the first day.

Now, one player has figured out a way to play WoW Classic even when they’re not at their PC, by accessing the game on mobile.

• Read more: WoW Classic professions guide: Classes, how to unlearn, more

Though there’s no official mobile version of World of Warcraft, u/reallybadpennystocks has identified a way to play the game through their phone, and even levelled a character all the way to level 17 by playing on mobile.

While a game like World of Warcraft might not seem perfectly suited for mobile play, with its huge variety of abilities that players may need to use, u/reallybadpennystocks’ set-up allows him enough control to successfully take on three enemies at once – no small feat in WoW Classic.

• Read more: How to make gold in WoW Classic

For those that would like to be able to play the game on mobile, u/reallybadpennystocks also gave an explanation for how you can try it out. It’s worth mentioning that while the method involved doesn’t obviously breach any of Blizzard’s rules, they don’t officially endorse or offer a mobile version.

How to play WoW Classic on mobile

• First of all, you’ll need to install Steam Link on your mobile device, and link it to your Steam profile. For this, you’ll need to be on the same network as your PC. 
  • If the scan doesn’t pick it up automatically, go to Steam’s Settings on your PC, select the Remote Play tab, and click “Pair Steam Link”. Then select the “Other Computer” option on Steam Link, which will give you a code to enter in the dialog box.
• Add WoW Classic as a shortcut in Steam on your PC. To do this, go to either the “Games” drop-down menu, or click “Add a Game”, and select “Add a Non-Steam Game”.
  • You must add the executable that will directly launch WoW Classic, not just Battle.net. This can be found in the _classic_ folder of your World of Warcraft install – if there are multiple launchers, try them until you find the one that opens the game directly, and add that as a Steam shortcut.1. 
• Open Steam Link and select Start Playing. Open Settings in the top right-hand corner, and under “Controller”, select Base Configurations, and then Desktop Configuration. From there, select Browse Configs, go to Templates, and at the bottom of the list select “Keyboard (WASD) and Mouse”.
  • This will ensure you have access to the necessary controls for the game. If you launch WoW Classic and can’t use the WASD controls, return to these settings and ensure the Keyboard and Mouse template is set as your default.

• Launch WoW Classic from the Library. Once you’re in-game, open the Options menu on the top left-hand side of the screen, open Layout Options, and add the WASD controls. You can also arrange the controls as you prefer.
  • You can also change the Mouse Control Scheme to whatever you prefer – u/reallybadpennystocks recommends Direct Cursor.
• You can also open your in-game settings and change several settings to make the mobile experience more smooth.
  • For key bindings, u/reallybadpennystocks suggests R and F to move hot-bars up and down, and E for auto-run.
  • You can also enable left-click interact as right-clicking can be more awkward.
  • Changing the graphics options to Classic, as the lower graphics may help the game run more smoothly through Steam Link.

Once everything is set up, you should be able to play WoW Classic remotely on your mobile device – although you’ll need to leave Steam running on your PC in order to do so.

While playing WoW Classic on mobile may take a bit of getting used to, and will never be quite as smooth as playing on PC, for those that wish to play the game remotely it is possible with this method – and as u/reallybadpennystocks demonstrates, you can even get quite good at it.