So, I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out how exactly I'm supposed to get two copies of World of Warcraft onto this blasted machine. I am, by no means, a computer expert. In fact, I'm practically technologically impaired! Anyway, I already have the retail edition of the game patched up to 4.1, and I would like to keep it this way. However, I would also like to be able to have a second WoW folder that includes the game patched up to 3.3.5a, but I am unsure as to how to do this. I've dug around the forums in hope that I might find information and while I've found some, I haven't quite had all of my questions answered. Is it possible to do it from the WotLK disk? If so, how might I go about doing that? Upon installation, it does not ask for a specific direction to install it. I don't want it to override my current version! Soo...
As far as the WotLK discs go, I -think- you still need a copy of base WoW installed when you're using them but I don't recall. The easiest way is to follow the global announcement regarding reinstall help. While you will have to download an entire new folder, it is tried and tested. Just be sure to install it to somewhere easy to remember, and name the folder something descriptive like "WoW-Emu" or the like.
Once it's installed, just run the patches like the announcement instructs.
If you have a Mac... well, Thrall help you for I cannot.
It would seem that I have solved my dilemma! At least, I think I have. It turns out that I had Curse Client running in the background. This was preventing me from renaming the original WoW folder, so I couldn't install a second copy of the game without overwriting the preexisting one. I'm currently in the process of nabbing the necessary patch files via torrent. If anything else goes wrong, I'll be sure to let you know! Thanks for the help!
Update: It's currently trying to make me patch up despite being at 3.3.5a! I've checked the realm list and am using wow.exe. D: