Classic+ done safely

I know that we don’t trust anyone to know what made vanilla WoW so good and to make a worthy classic+ version of the game. What do you think could be implemented into classic+ that doesn’t make it stray too far from the spirit or greatness of vanilla?

Here are some of the easiest features to implement that definitely would not change the game. What else can you think of?

  • Update graphics to at least as good as retail’s (including UI)
  • Character customization at least as good as retail’s
  • Better tool for making groups than just spamming chat and using inferior tool.

Seeing the vanilla zones and instances with higher pixel count and modern lighting would be awesome. I’ve played vanilla so much that more hairstyles and character customization would be welcome. They don’t even need to devote resources to these graphical updates because they already exist in retail.

The TBC/Wrath group tool sucks compared to the tool in retail. So maybe classic+ can finally have a good group making tool if they can import it directly from retail.

What other things from retail could classic+ get that would not turn classic into retail or push it too much in retails direction?

This is what destroyed classic in the first place. There is nothing wrong with the way you form groups in classic. It encourage interaction in the community. If you cant find a group in 10 min in classic era right now you are on the wrong server cluster.

8 Likes

Does this include models and animations from retail?

If so I personally won’t touch it.

5 Likes

Should alliance get shamans and horde get paladins in classic+?

This is garbage.

All I want is for blizzard to rehire as much of the original dev team as possible and release a new content patch — Karazhan raid, associated dungeons and catch-up 20 man, at absolute most some bug fixes.

If that isn’t a total disaster, we can talk about a tier 5 emerald dream raid. This probably could be standalone (as in, no new dungeons or 20 mans).

An honor update would also be worth considering. The currently imminent honor update is a big step in that direction, but if classic tier 4 and tier 5 are released, may need to consider additional PvP gear so PvP gear keeps pace, possibly with a TBC arena style system, but imho without 2v2 and 3v3 arenas. Maybe 5v5 and 10v10 as the only arenas. DO THIS WITHOUT IMPLEMENTING A NEW STAT LIKE RESILIENCE.

New PvP updates should include PvP in Azshara including a new BG and perhaps some good world PvP therein.

3 Likes

I think this should be toggle-able. I remember the new character models being really bad at first, but they have become better. There was an option to toggle between old and new models I think… and they should have it for classic+.

Now I’m back on board.

I also recall they failed miserably when they attempted to implement this toggle in prior releases.

But to be completely fair, I’d still rather have a buggy version than be forced to use the abomination that is the new models and animations.

How are graphics updates garbage? Because it’s low effort? It’s true that graphics update shouldn’t be all that’s in classic+ but it should definitely be there, with the option to toggle old and new character models.

If diablo 2 resurrected graphics can be toggle-able between old and new graphics… would it also be possible with wow?

Graphics updates wouldn’t per se be bad, unless it is cutting and pasting retail graphics into classic +.

These are unfortunately very different cases.

I think a better comparison would be the toggle in Halo 1/2 Anniversary.

D2 is an isometric game, and the graphics over the top are a wrapper, which is a really cheap way to do it.

What I’m not aware of, is how exactly Halo pulled it off.

I do think that a company like ATVI should be able to pull it off though, the graphics are client-side represented, and code should be possible to translate the information to old style animations and models.

Oh yeah. What about dual spec? This would allow healers to do damage in the real world or let people PVP without worry of respec costs.

If dual spec is too far… what about reducing the respec cost or removing the cost?

Btw, classic+ tier 4 and tier 5 loot should be very incremental improvements over Naxx. Gameplay and more should be the main rewards players take from it.

1 Like

I agree very incremental upgrades are good. Since going for BiS is the meta, even if it’s a small upgrade, making it a small upgrade makes the game all around better by making those without upgrades still be viable and ensuring the people there actually want to be there and enjoy the game.

1 Like

I personally would be vaguely open to dual spec but primarily as a gold sink. Should entail a dungeon quest chain on par with tier .5. Total cost should be something like 2k gold. Maybe more.

Also would need a 12+ hour cooldown so it doesn’t become mandatory for raids.

To be frank, Blizzard shouldn’t be tinkering with Classic it ought to be tinkering with RETAIL. The entire Classic project proves that the old dog still hunts, doing “upgrades” to it is just repeating the mistakes of the past.

Why are they not working on a sequel? They could take the old storyline up to wrath and have it in a single seamless game with the same classes and quests just greatly improved , learning from nearly two decades of being #1.

Blizzard and the fanbase should be pushing for a product for the next 10 years, that will bring in NEW players, repopulate the genre.

4 Likes

QFT

Blizzard should make changes to retail to make it more like classic, rather than vice versa.

1 Like

No.
Faction identity is important in Era.

It tanked something awful when attempted before and quite frankly it’s not needed.

Healers can farm just fine. May not be as fast as other specs/classes but the current respec situation in Era is fine.

All of your proposed changes are viable for seasonal but Era shouldn’t change that drastically. People that want more qol changes have other Wow products to choose from.

3 Likes

Why the gold sink? I agree a cooldown could be good but it could make some annoying scenarios where you switch to farm things but then you can’t join friends in a 5man if you’re a tank or healer.

Dual spec mandatory for raiding? Perhaps. Are you worried about being forced to tank when you’re a main spec DPS warrior? Even in high-end guilds you don’t want your good DPS warriors to tank if they don’t want to. There’s usually a chad DPS warrior that wants to do it when the others don’t want to anyway. I don’t think dual spec is a huge deal.

I don’t think all these barriers to flexibility are actually good. Dual spec being mandatory isn’t as bad as making the game annoying by being locked into a spec you don’t have a use for at the moment.

Oh yeah, another cool thing for classic + would be a classic tier .75 quest line that allows you to upgrade tier .5 gear but gives multiple versions (at least 2) of the gear.

As in, Druid tier .75 would allow a Druid to get feral or healing gear that is close to Molten Core level. Paladins would get healing or tanking gear. Each quest reward lets you choose between 2 different versions.

I just MT’d BWL in a pure DPS spec. You can tank or heal any 5 man in any spec.

Because a gold sink is needed

Not at all. I’m worried about raids rejecting people who haven’t yet completed a tier .5 equivalent quest line because they can’t bring the marginal improvement of being full DPS on a patchwerk style fight and then becoming fury-prot off tank number 5 on a 4 horseman style fight and then immediately back to pure DPS for a Sapph style fight.

1 Like