Classic WoW did quite a lot right, despite the complaints and crying you see on the forums, but it is not without its mistakes.
Here is a quick opinion on what Blizzard Classic WoW team did well and what they blundered; well its as quick as it can be since there is a lot of ground to cover here.
Positives, and these are big things
- We got Classic WoW and TBC now; this is a major victory for WoW the gaming community
- We can enjoy a reasonably good connection to stable servers and even though they’re slow they do fix some of the bugs. I have reported many and the have been largely resolved excluding a few.
- We got Pre-nerf T4 and T5 Raids and dungeons, this was actually super fun, and I know tons of people who really enjoyed the pre-nerf content; thank you for this Classic Team, good work!
- batching is kinda eliminated; mostly but some things are batched still OR the order of operations on certain things is wacky at best, or something wrong with time stamps if that’s the method used.
- You Listened and removed the Eng belt and net.
- You Listened and nerfed the chicken.
- You Listened and nerfed the drums.
- You Listened and opened some free transfers to salvage what’s left of the existing player base from transfer destroyed servers.
- You Listened and fixed the BG honor vs cost situation.
Blunders
- Layering enabling stacked servers and layer hopping and all the exploits associated.
- Paid server transfers further enabling stacking on servers.
- Leeway still exists; this made sense and was tuned for 2005, but in the modern day not needed and creates problems, especially with it applying to AE effects and instant casts making mages even worse to deal with for everyone because it no only buffs their AE but also long as they or you are moving buffs the range on blanket, PoM sheep, etc (this is just an example)
- Too soft a hand when combating RMT and gold buying and selling over the last 3 years.
- Paid character boost in TBC making the Belf / Draenie leveling experience really empty and void of players.
- Allowed the Eng belt and net (Finally removed in S3)
- Added rating req on items in S1 and 2 killing participation.
- Used the Retail MMR and start at Zero rating system killing participation. (Its unfriendly to casual players)
- Using early TBC and Late TBC mixed BG Points vs Costs creating a longer grind that really should have existed for BG players. (later resolved with tuning than you!)
- Failed to re-set BG points gained at level 60 pre-Portal opening.
- Poor quality control on bugs and frankly hyper active RNG and resists that were never this bad to deal with in original TBC. Yes resists were a thing, but it was never this bad.
Some of these blunders have been and others can be corrected.
Since the Arena Rating system is a symptom of the “Retail” client we play on, the solution is very simple.
- Eliminate the Rating req on items entirely for the remainder of TBC; I would even recommend to do so in Wrath also; since Warglaves and other PVE items are better than PVP weapons in most cases anyway; so this is not harming raids nor does this harm Arena, it actually improves arena because now our PVP is a little more attractive for casual players who may get to enjoy arena and become Glads and the new superstars of PVP.
- Reduce the cost on Arena gear by 35%, its harmless but makes up for the shorter Arena seasons and suppressed ratings of the Retail system and the problems it created.
- Remove Leeway from instant cast, range attacks and AE entirely; If its determined that some leeway is needed for melee to play then nerf Leeway on melee by at least 75% so that they have a tiny bit to make up for the microscopic net lag that exists now days, but tuned far more appropriately for the modern era. Frankly I am sick of getting clipped by melee and AE’s that I know I am fully out of range of but due to leeway they still hit me when I am trying to drink or able to kick at 40 yards because LOL they’re moving.
- Server Management Woes; this is way too complex to now instantly fix and may be something that could be remedied in the Wrath Pre-Patch, strongly consider this Blizzard, the transfers and layers made this problem possible; you know what you must to do to fix it.
- Take seriously the in game bugs, even the small ones that are a painful to think about because they harm the players and in turn longevity of the game.
Blizzard Classic I know you guys may think we hate you, or even think we are out to get you, but we’re not and we do appreciate the work you’re doing but would like a few things from you; more and better communication and the problems created by the “Retail” run environment corrected.