This post isn’t for people that want to play classic with no updates or dlc so please don’t derail this like reddit does. Classic servers can stay untouched.
So by not having a future outlook for what will happen with classic after a few years doesn’t this set the game up for failure right away?
A lot of people, myself included want some sort of future to classic, this is a fresh start to get every reputation completed and do all the things they missed out on and feel overwhelmed with from retail.
It’s human nature to know if something is gonna have a future then its worth investing into, if it doesn’t then why bother.
Now I know we can’t tell if classic will be as great as some think but isn’t now the time for the dev’s to create a post asking us what we would like to see for the future of classic +.
Classic Plus is in my opinion only a dream scenario for a developer. You get to fix all the things that were wrong with your first try. Plus is so much cheaper creating a new mmo from assets and story that is already created then just outright creating a new type of mmo.
Success of classic will open new doors. Take some cheer from the prospect that, when the success of classic totally outshines retail, new things will happen.
Edit: personally, rather than going down a new timeline with classic, with alternate expansions, or something tricky to pull off like that, I think I’d like them to just make a new mmo entirely down the line, but stick to the same beautiful formula that made vanilla while such a wonderful experience. I don’t care if they put the mmo in a brand-new intellectual property, or use one of their existing ones, but I’d like it to be at least partially a fantasy setting. I think there’s some cool potential in the idea of them using the Nexus setting from Heroes of the Storm in some way. Even if they just used it as a catalyst to create something new while retaining some fun and familiar elements. Whatever they do, the most important thing in my mind, is that they keep the {time+effort+skill = reward, promote social interaction for success, delay gratification until after a long struggle has been involved} formula.
Why are you worrying about years down the road. You might not even be alive or your life might have huge changes that don’t even let you game effectively or at all.
Classic is a nostalgia rollercoaster not made for everyone. Pservers have been a thing for 10+ years I’m told and they were going strong.
I was always hoping for Pristine servers. I know they mentioned it a few years ago but never said anything else about it. But that was going to make me want to come back to retail but I GUESS NOT! Then they announced classic and I had forgotten somewhat about Pristine servers. Can’t wait for classic!
Nope. The last thing Classic needs is a Content Roadmap, any mechanics from D3, or new content added post release.
That last one mostly because I don’t trust the current game design team @ Blizz not to inject more of the same timeless isle 2.0 formulaic poppycock that has been a major feature of every patch since Legion launch.
Maybe some players look forward to some slightly different but mostly the same new sets of chores, WQs and pointless rep grinds to do every day for 3 months when DLC? comes out. I don’t really get it…
Playing the game is the game.
Not padding achievement scores or pushing a lever for a recolored piece of cheese.
You answer the question yourself because you might be dead 10 years down the road. It’s human nature to not invest into something that has no future as time is finite.
Now clearly classic has a future no matter what, pservers prove that but I feel there is a large portion of us in between retail players and classic players just trying to find a path to take.
This is entirely subjective. What’s “wrong” with Classic is only people’s opinions. For some it’s nearly the perfect MMO. For others it may not be so fun. But there’s nothing to correct.
Making “Classic +” would require a time machine because Classic is already vanilla and adding the + negates that. The closest thing anyone can hope to get is WoW 2.
Seems like a pretty bleak way to look at life mon amis. I do plenty every day could be characterized as pretty pointless. Even in this moment
Drinking a coffee - Yep, pointless
Posting on the forums - Yep
FFXII on pause - Yep, No future there, 13 years since the last patch
Classic WoW is totally pointless and a waste of time in the grand scheme of life. I’ll play as long as it’s entertaining but not because the devs promised to keep it online until the end of time or release + patches that will probably just ruin everything in iteration if retail is a solid indicator of track record.
So to the question
No, I don’t feel like it’s set up to fail.
I’m not against Classic getting further content a couple years from now, though I’m strongly in the ‘No Changes!’ camp for those first few years.
If the populations maintain and Classic becomes a true powerhouse in its own right, I’m sure something will happen - whether it’s TBC opening up or (as they have said is a possibility) additional new content being added to Classic.
That last one is kinda my own hope, because I don’t want to just go down the same path that leads to eventual ‘ruin’ if we can help it. If the old school WoW of Classic really catches fire and the public responds well, I’d love to see a rebuilding on that base that goes differently than the Xpacs did.
I dunno, it’s definitely not the time to worry or even really talk about this - it’s way too premature, in my mind.
Let’s just be excited as hell for Classic and the (at least) couple years worth of amazing gameplay we’re being gifted, and let the future decisions and ‘wants’ come naturally if and when they do.
EDIT: When I say additional content though, I want to be really clear - I never want all the previous efforts to be trivialized in the way they are now, where each new Xpac or even Patch makes everything you did totally worthless because the new Questing gear is light years better than the old Raiding gear.
I don’t know if that means staying forever at the same level and just putting in new content that gives different angles on things rather than direct iLvl-style upgrades, but if so, I’m all for that - because my least favorite aspect of modern gaming is that old content becomes poop when new content is added.
Classic will be fine. Blizzard made a mistake years ago when they decided that each expansion would mean changes to the previous game. Vanilla should have been left as a stand alone game all along, even as players went through the portal and copied their toons to TBC. They won’t make that mistake again.
No way on earth is classic going to fail at the start. But i can confirm that just shortly after aq is releases many, many players are either gonna quit or reroll a fresh server/fresh private server because ive seen it first hand for myself. The only way blizz can keep classic alive for as long as possible is to add additional content without increasing levels or maybe even gear two in a few seperate servers which i personally would like to try one day. But itd be best if new content was added like a few years after launch so everyone got their fill. Not gonna hurt anything as long as there will always be pure classic servers.
If it stays relevant for a few years and gains a large net profit then that would be a success.
If people are still playing after 10 years or more, that’s more or less a miracle but wouldn’t surprise me because I think classic will be a game that people eventually revisit from time to time.
If you’re talking about the decay over time, then that’s everything in existence which I wouldn’t call failure.
if we want to talk about resilience to time, then look no further than EVE: Online. It has a much smaller player-base, but it has held on to their player base extremely well over the years in a much better way than WoW because it always held on to its core player experience of notorious long hours needed, the hardest learning curve ever, but extremely satisfying content with meaningful work.
