Are Classic versions of old content good?

Community General Discussion
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I originally was responding to another post when I realized what I was writing was veering away from what had been said there. Rather than straight up retorting what was written there, I was writing something new. So, here we go.

So, why has classic been doing so well? This is the first question you need to ask if you want to figure out what is going on. What is the upside that HAS brought people back? I know I would still be unsubscribed if I could not do Kara or look forward to playing the best version of feral in my book. So, why does it attract so many people?

Is it attracting different people than those that play retail? If this is the case, then there is no downside to promoting both. Right now you have promoting, and frenzy, over Wrath and DF. This means that it is not a downside to have both to a corporation.

I have seen people say that post-Vanilla classic content is in Retail. I am always mystified by this. Take a character that is the right level into the Karazhan raid. Have the right number of players for it. And the one time I have heard of a group doing it, they slept through the whole place. You cannot actually play it, you more watch it. I mean, for the content to really be playable in retail, you would need to make Chromie Time allow you to play stuff even at max level with it.

Even if all the old content becomes available, it will not attract everyone who plays classic right now. The reason is that the gameplay is different. I love Kara in TBC. I love the original heroic Cata dungeons. But the main reason I will be playing Wrath is the version of feral it has. The gameplay it has is my favorite. It is not perfect, but it is the one I have liked the most. I cannot get that gameplay in retail.

For me, having the old content and gameplay available is amazing. I do not understand why some people say that Classic and Classic expansions is such a bad thing. Does it hurt Retail? If it does, then that says retail has a problem. Does that mean you should not play Retail, no. There signs that Blizz has decided to go closer to the Classic games. The return of talent trees could be because of Classic doing well. I say “could be” because I have no clue one way or the other.

I will say this, I like some of the QoL changes WoW has had added over the years. This is why I am an advocate of an upgraded Chromie time. However, I would like to keep playing the content in its original way. Even if the balancing is perfect, it will still play different from the original game. So, to me, I think they should keep at least on server for each of the older expansions and vanilla.

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For some reason, I couldn’t get into neither BC nor Wrath Classic. I’ve been sticking with perma Vanilla Classic. I can only speak, for myself.

That being said, I like how the questing world is much more immersive. There’s quests you pick up from Ruth’ran Village asking you to pick up feathers, all the way out in Hinterlands.

It’s not just a simple nor mindless pick up quests here and clear around the area. And, just because you pick up the quest then, doesn’t mean you’ll complete it with the other quests, and that you work on quests for several levels.

If this is possible in Retail (besides Outlands), I’d love to use QoL features while doing so. I (personally) don’t care for flying, in the pre-cata old world. IK that’s the main deterrent for why pre-cata old world can’t be put into Retail.

Just my opinion.

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plain and simple, WoW is too complicated now. Going back to a time where the game was simple clearly draws a lot of attention.

There’s no systems on top of systems in Classic versions of the game. You farm the items you want and you’re good to go. And people wonder why Classic is more popular…

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i’d have to pass cause my specs wouldn’t be playing them the way i want for the time period which is the main reason i picked wrath over dragonflight and your dang right if they bring mop out again i be there.

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Vanilla Classic really grabbed me, in a way that BC hasn’t.

Now, I did play Vanilla, and my reason for returning was essentially nostalgic - particularly to re-play the original, pre-Cataclysm Night Elf starter zones from Teldrassil through Ashenvale, complete with the OG Menethil Harbor Death Run to Ironforge.

But I also played races & classes I never had. I enjoyed the slower levelling pace, tracking my ammo, training my pets, etc. Putting together a cohesive “look” for my character became a whole side-project when I couldn’t just go to a Transmogrifier to do it.

And server communities had cohesion and reputations based on behavior lingered.

It’s hard to quantify enjoyment. But there was a real quality to the experience which Retail has long lost. I haven’t been in Classic for a bit - but I am glad it is there. I am glad BC and Wrath are there for those who especially enjoyed them - but they haven’t been calling to me in the same way.

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Though, I’ll admit, Retail got the FPs done right. Because I haven’t picked up Azshara, yet. Look at the FP route it wants to take me on, just to get back to Astranaar from Ratchet:

LOL, oh Classic :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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I like things easy and I like to grow my collections.

Retail is the only game as far as I’m concerned. I’d support adding a solo raid mode for retail and doing a Classic version of every expansion that doesn’t have that feature. Retail needs to be made future-proof by focusing on solo/casual gameplay, which is the only gameplay available when nobody else is playing. That’s the gameplay that will catch you when all else has failed, and that’s what we old timers who are sticking with retail need going forward into our retirements.

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What it really boils down to, is that normally with games you can always go back and play your favorites, whether that be by way of an old console you’ve held onto since childhood or through an emulator. Nobody can stop you from going back and playing Metal Gear Solid 4 or Half-Life 2 or whathaveyou.

MMOs are an oddball. In them, big chunks are routinely subject to dramatic changes (like being made trivial) or outright removed and sometimes replaced (RIP original ZG). There’s a lot of things in WoW you can’t go back and do. Even the things you can, it’s so watered down it’s barely the same thing.

And therein lies the appeal. As many downsides as Classics have, they’re the whole package. People don’t play it the same as they did as the original, but that’s turning out to not matter… the point is that it’s there.

I think the lesson learned for any MMOs in the future is that there should be systems in place to allow people to go back and accurately play the game as it once was with systems far more robust than what Chromie and Zidormi offer in WoW — the game has to be designed from the ground up to allow its players to rewind to any given point.

There’s absolutely something to be said for keeping things simple and understandable. Not just from a systems perspective, but else where too — for example if you can’t eyeball upgrades 95% of the time ya dun goofed in the design somewhere.

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I like this current Classic much more than I like retail. But do not like this Classic as much as I liked the original versions. They keep making too many changes to try and modernize it.

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Nostalgia mostly, a yearning to feel excited about a game they once loved and changed too much to their liking… I still prefer retail overall, but SL is an entire junkyard of trash.

A lot of things the older games had were just better, trees give more personalization. It doesn’t hurt retail if anything it reminds blizzard why the games were so loved at that time. It’s probably a big reason we’re going back to trees…

Retail has many great things about it, so does classic (outside of vanilla, vanilla was trash) they just need to find that balance that brings both together, hopefully DF does that.

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Because classic wow in all forms is a good game and a lot of fun, with a strong sense of community and no artificial progress. :sunglasses:

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I created this character to give wotlk for Classic a try. I have played retail mostly in the past but decided to give classic a good try.

It has a very nice feeling to it and I’m considering playing it more. However I’m not much into video games these days like I used to be.

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While I love a lot of the old questing in Classic like the Linken’s Boomerang questline, I exponentially prefer the gameplay and QoL improvements of Retail.

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Yeah, there are a lot of stuff like that, which I would not have spazzed over if it had been in Classic. But, I also respect that it was not in the original.

In a comment that might get me assassinated, if I did a Classic+, I would add in the QoL stuff.

The fact you do not need to connect them makes more sense.

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A lot of the responses are probably going to be similar here along the lines of:

-Playing for nostalgia

-No major/convoluted systems

-Deterministic and straightforward

-Unique Class/Spec design (for better or worse)

For me the game being as deterministic without overly convoluted systems is one of the major appeals compared to Retail. You can log in, know what you want to do, and how to get it, and if you don’t log in you aren’t punished for it by missing out on anything important that isn’t just a given for not playing as much as others.

In Retail people have felt obligated over the past expansions to show up daily because of rep grinds, AP, gear upgrades, emissaries, loot boxes, etc. In Classic there is very little of this to the point where my main wasn’t interested in it and I wasn’t taking any alts seriously so I mostly ignored it. It’s very refreshing to be able to sit down and pick a game that you want to play rbecause you don’t have a daily/weekly checklist of stuff to do in the game.

It’s not for everyone, but if you like doing a specific chunk of content (which is raiding for me) you can enjoy that aspect and then leave the game as you desire without worrying too much about other treadmill systems in the game.

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It’s a fun game.

And people like to replay fun games.

I’ve beaten Super Metroid probably 20 times and I can still have fun playing a new game.

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Many people enjoy classic for the grind. Just because a lot of people don’t like grinds and they like modern retail does not mean that should be implemented on classic.

To be safe, nothing should be changed beyond UNIVERSALLY agreed upon things.

This is a moot point and moot discussion anyway since Blizzard purposely just scammed a bunch of people out of money who were expecting a classic experience. Now they’re trying to scoop up more money from retail players with this change.

They make the most money the first month. They don’t care about anything after that. Screw us, basically. They aren’t interested in a quality user experience, so theory crafting what would be best is an exercise in futility. It assumes Blizzard gives a crap.

An ethical company would have announced this before the pre-patch. This is purposely trying to scam their customers.

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Is it though? Seems that it follows the same cycle as retail.

A patch is released and the population booms. Several weeks later, it dies off.

I mean I played Wrath this week just to create a deathknight and get the protodrake mount for retail. I’ve already gone through Wrath once. The first time, I was lucky to have a raiding group and friends who logged in regularly. They quit Classic again years ago after the nostalgia wore off. You’re not getting anywhere in Wrath without a guild or active friend’s list. So why would I bother playing it again?

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It’s almost like people want to play an RPG, hmmm… :thinking:

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I feel like a lot of the RPG element was dumped for the MMO agenda.

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