Why would you race to the end to raid? The content has already been beaten, the race was called a long time ago…lol
I don’t worry about Try Hard’s…you shouldn’t either. The Classic community is going to be different, the game is different. Most of the people you worry about will be going back to Live sooner rather then later. Classic is like a fine wine,you don’t chug it,you sip it and you enjoy it.
Some people want to relive different things. I want to relive the leveling experience, but I also want to relive raiding.
It doesn’t seem that hard to implement a solution to have both, as some private servers have done. Sure, I won’t be able to beat the crowd that have extremely flexible schedules, and that’s understandable. But the adrenaline of competition to some degree is still desirable.
If you can please as many people as possible without a whole lot of extra effort, why not?
The first year will be rough. I started playing WoW in 1.12, on end of September 2006, that’s a month after 1.12 hit basically. Our server was the rp server Sentinels(US), and it was created on July 12, 2006, Naxxarmas was released June 20, 2006 to put it into perspective progression wise.
Basically on our server we had a lot of people reroll just to get server first and Rank 14s (or as high as they could get.)
We also had people reroll on our server to do rp and pvp events. And these were a fun bunch of people. They had basically just given up on their main characters on other servers since BC was coming out soon anyways, and maybe too were burnt out on the grind.
The server was also listed as “New” so players like me and my guild came over from other games to play there.
The rerollers who wanted to go for server 1sts or high pvp ranks were elitist. Not saying this in some insult way. But they didn’t have time for noobs basically. They also didn’t bother to rp or engage in many server events. They were too busy grinding.
This did kind of hurt the server. And drama in those guilds killed them before they could do endgame Naxx. (Maybe the one ally guild killed one boss in Naxx. I’m pretty sure that same guild didn’t get past twin emps though.)
Then we had the fun rerollers leave to play their mains back on old servers once BC hit.
Our server was always low pop, up until Wrath. Basically the first year of BC it was a ghost town and pretty rough.
I think Classic will have similar experience on many of its servers.
The high end players (and experienced pirate server players) will just grind away in their own world. New players to Vanilla (not to WoW) will be complete noobs, with ZG raid being a high light once it comes out. Maybe AQ20 also. They’ll miss out on tier 1 progression likely. They’ll also be a fun bunch of rerollers/nostalgia players at launch and they’ll play for 2 to 3 months heavy or so, maybe if summer release then the winter months will extend their play time.
Players new to WoW will struggle to find a home in Classic, and likely try retail but hate that cause it doesn’t have minecraftian survival features and competing vs decade plus veterans in game stinks for kids.
Blizzard is also making a HUGE mistake expecting WoWhead to guide new (wow) players to love Classic. Blizzard should be the one on point, driving information, guides, videos, and host (reward) player created content to help incite fanaticism in the new to WoW and new to classic community. I like WoWhead, but a new face is needed for the new crowd, and it has to be integrated into the game and Blizzard’s mobile platform, the new generation needs it that way(and the old generation is savy enough to accommodate it).
So, I think months 7 thru 19 will be a building time for Classic. The only players to survive it will be happily grinding at their own paces. Then it will get really good for many who loved Vanilla as the communities define their space. By then everybody should be playing for fun and love of the game.
People play the game for different reasons, there is no right way to play any game especially not MMOs. One of the biggest wants about Classic is its raiding scene some people by nature are driven to compete.
We have no idea how the community will turn out, a lot has changed about people sense those years, I don’t think it’s not a safe assumption that the retail crowd attitude will not be in Classic in some shape or form.
That is an individual choice.
Players may have to decide which is more important to them:
A) being server first MC clear
or
B) taking time to smell the roses and enjoy the leveling experience
There is nothing wrong with players having to make that choice.
My personal choice is going to be to enjoy the journey. Classic will not be going anywhere. If I’m not part of the server first MC clear, so what? If I’m not the first to be able to sit in IF stroking my e-peen while people gawk at my epics, so what? I’m in no hurry.
It doesn’t have to be a personal choice. People can enjoy raiding competitively while also having time to level characters, provided Blizzard creates a grace period to allow leveling before raids open. Blizzard has done this in the past four expansions. Many private servers do this.
I loved Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, but my least favorite part of them by a long shot was having to rush through the leveling experience to raid with my guild. Mists of Pandaria solved this problem by not having raids open on release.
There is no reason not to implement this. It reduces burnout for hardcore players, it allows for players of all stripes to enjoy the journey, and it puts everyone on a level playing field for when raids release. Everyone has to do 5 mans for attunements anyway, so they might as well give us some time to do them.
Sure, Blizzard could change their plans for the “Classic schedule” in order to cater to you and your desires, but they do not have to do so, nor should they, IMO.
We have 14 years of history to show us where trying to cater to everyone has led.
Let players make that personal choice.
I’ve clearly seen the effects multiple times of CRZ and sharding and how it separates the chat channels per shard. I’ve been in the same zone and on different shards as my partner and both were unable to see each other shards chat.
So clearly SO
Back in Vanilla the server i was on used LFG DMN, DMW, DM trib etc and Deadmines was either VC or just plain DM.
The typical player this attracts will be more pro community. I believe it is similar in some ways to an RP server where the community tends to be strong even today. Of course you have to make an effort and your guild does as well.
They can be and they have one of the most powerfull undead priest exclusive skills. “The devouring plague”
So… you’re saying you want time-gating? Because people might have no self control or ability to say “Guys, this is nuts, let’s just enjoy the game first”?
Anyone got an Bufferin? I’m getting a headache.
Yeah, i think servers had their own ‘code’ for differentiating between Deadmines and Dire Maul, and people just assume theirs was the universal.
Your post raises an interesting point - will there be more raiders this time around in WoW Classic? The game, after all, won’t be new in the strictest sense anymore. Will people rush to the end and try to raid? To whatever extent, there will always be those who will blast through the content as quickly as they can. But I like to think that Classic, as it is, forces that pace of rushing down.
I know people can get to 60 crazy fast if they want, and perhaps some private server heroes will lead the charge there, but I’d like to think that most of us who are interested are older now. My experience will be slower, not only due to the sluggishness of the vanilla experience, but also because I work now. I don’t have as much time to play. I have to balance work/life/play.
Also, people who maybe prefer retail will come and go more casually, also taking their time leveling should they choose to indulge in Classic on occasion, providing that more casual portion of the community.
Honestly, it’s concerns over the community that make me the most worried, that once classic was gone, that was it. That even if it’s remade, the collective knowledge of the game is too vast, and thus the experience despite being distinct from retail will never be the same. But I won’t know until it happens. I just hope people are interested in a more hardcore and less friendly version of WoW. I laugh typing that, because I remember a couple of us leaving UO to play WoW getting called casuals for going to such a softcore MMORPG.
Magtheridon always used VC as far as I remember, we reserved DM for Dire Maul. DM North, etc.
Yup a still successful MMO after all that time.
No one is saying that retail is not successful.
It bears little to no resemblance to vanilla or classic, though.
fair enough:O)
That is exactly why I think a lot of people raving about the “good old days” are deluding themselves.
“You think you do, but you don’t.”