Non-expansion, does version matter much?

I couldn't find an answer to this anywhere. If I want to play a non-expansion character, does the patch version make any considerable difference in general gameplay? Should I have a second install of the game with some older patch to avoid weird LoD mechanics that don't work well with a classic character or can I just play it in 1.13?|||Patches affect both Classic and LoD identically; the only difference is that LoD-exclusive features are not enabled for Classic. Of course, due to the prevalence of LoD, all patches post-v1.06 were never really optimized for Classic. Even so, no patch has introduced any mechanics which have resulted in significant degradation of Classic gameplay, unless you happen to have a supreme dislike of the changes brought about by v1.10. My recommendation is that if you want the purest Classic experience possible, play v1.06, otherwise just stick with v1.13.|||The main effort of Blizzard over the last eight+ years is/was clearly in LoD and some of the patch changes there have had big effects on Classic character gameplay. A few notable ones:

In Classic, the leveling is somewhat out of whack in the transition from 1.09 to 1.10. That is, it went from very difficult to way beyond difficult to think about a level 99 character in Classic. Getting a level 90 character in Classic in 1.10+ is quite an accomplishment.

Synergies changed Classic builds quite a lot, also in the 1.09 to 1.10 transition. Just like in LoD, pretty much, but in Classic where there isn't as much of a means to have huge +skill bonuses, synergies gave a way of increasing damage at the cost of not necessarily having so many different effective attacks.

Being able to buy mana potions in 1.10 and later is a huge plus.

MFing is much harder (and more interesting) in Classic as much of the desirable gear are rares and it isn't as easy to have characters running 400MF.

I've had a number of interesting Classic characters in 1.10+ and found it interesting. I find it easier to think about it as almost a different game (1.10 Classic) with its own challenges.