I have what is perhaps a naive hope for Classic, but a possibility nonetheless. First off, I do not think Classic will destroy, replace, or be even with retail. Not after the first month anyhow. I think a lot of Vanilla was horrendously flawed. However, I do think it will be very popular, and for good reason. A lot of Vanilla was also truly amazing, and I’m hoping that will lead Blizzard to revisit what people like so much about that version. I won’t try to speak for everyone, but here’s some things that to me, could and should be recaptured from that time period.
Classes feel so mundane now, quests feel hollow and unimportant, the environment feels really… empty. Like it’s full of stuff, but so much of it feels like filler. Class abilities are so boring. There’s no moments when leveling anymore where you’re going “Oh awesome! Now I can get so and so spell”
It’s like “I got one of my three Attack abilities. Well, back to dungeon spamming”. I wanna be perfectly clear- I’m not a Vanilla purist. I think the mentality that Vanilla was the best the game’s been is farcical. But there’s something to it. It’s not an empty sentiment. There’s no adventure anymore. There’s no pride to take in your class choice. It’s just numbers with different colors of flare.
I hope Classic brings attention to it from the higher ups, because it needs to be addressed. Somewhere along the way, the game lost a lot of its soul.