My ideal Classic WoW game loop would be something like:
A 3 year long “seasonal” server:
Year 1: Vanilla 1-60, phased release of content
Year 2: TBC, phased release of content
Year 3: WOTLK, phased release of content
Rinse and repeat, I’d probably enjoy this for the next decade or so. Heck, blizzard could even say something crazy like “once the season is over after WOTLK, we won’t retain your characters, go start a level 1 in the new season and do it all over again” and I’d probably just thank them for making such a server.
3 years is enough time for me to feel like any part of the original trilogy is “fresh” feeling and exciting to be doing again. I’d be happy to see the SoD-style updates on a server like this (please let my Shaman tank Karazhan, please) so parts of the game still feel “new” while being able to replay the golden zones and raids. It’s strange to me that people seem to fall into the camp of “Vanilla forever” or “keep progressing through expansions past WOTLK, it’ll be fun.” But I seem to be stuck somewhere in the middle, where I am ready to do TBC content for the third time, and I’m sure a year or two from now I will be missing the early WOTLK days of Nax and Ulduar.
This type of sever may also alleviate SOME of the fragmentation that would happen if Bliz just gave us era servers for each part of the trilogy- A triology-progressing server would scoop up each of the fragmented player bases and carry them along the ride far better than any other solution I can think of.
Am I alone in this? Is anyone else in a similar camp? Not trying to start a debate, honestly curious if I am the odd man out here but interested to hear others’ thoughts.
I would rather have Era servers for each of Vanilla, TBC and WotLK. Allow characters to transfer from Vanilla to TBC and TBC to WotLK for a fee (and limit the gold transfer).
If Blizzard wants to run an independent progression cycle, like you suggest, fine but allow players to then move to an Era server at the end of the cycle.
Ok so maybe a hybrid model would be 1 set of “trilogy progressing” servers, with an era server opening at the end of each game. That would still help alleviate community fragments (imagine Bliz releases an era server for each game in the trilogy at once) while still allowing people to stay on their favorite version of the game?
This would be perfect. I want to be the player that goes through the original experience. It would also be helpful to include some sort of linearity indicating patch order too. And an ability to complete dungeons alone, since the games might not have enough people to group up.
It would be neat if those dungeon instances were shared across the eras, so you could matchmake into old dungeons people don’t run often.
Classic 1-60 WoW (as it is today) on a 2 year cycle.
Permanent Era server that all the characters pool into after #1.
Repeat forever.
For the good of all people’s needs, I’d love to see things I wouldn’t play like:
Seasonal Trilogy as you mention
Era for all variants
In game methods to progress in Era’s as a choice, not mandatory (like actually walking through the dark portal to phase into TBC era or taking a boat to Northerend to phase to wotlk era)
More experimental options like SoM/SoD/Classic+
The big risk is playerbase fracture, and increased maintenance and operational investment from blizzard.
While I’m only interested in 1-60 vanilla wow, I’m all for player choice, as well as the preservation of games as a medium into the future, regardless of if I’m playing them or not.
Guessing that is what will happen once the majority barreling through Classic progression decide they’ve had enough. If that’s after Cataclysm or Mists or whenever, then Blizzard will rinse/repeat.
Or the new overlords believe this whole product isn’t worth the outlay then who knows?
Yeah, I’m like you… love my alts and I am casual. I unfortunately can’t keep pace with the classic progression servers so Era is the right fit for me. I just want to have access to future expansions via Era support.
Players should be given the choice and flexibility of playing the expansion they like, and moving on when they are ready. I also like the idea of seasonal progressive servers for each expansion, with a reasonable timeline. I don’t want a race.
Have three individual servers (Era, TBC, and WotLK). Allow players to transfer from one to the other. There will be groups/guilds that want to progress from one to the next. Most people will be happy either staying where they are, or jumping around. Easy to maintain and then Blizz can focus more on Retail and other games, where they probably need their resources anyway.