Classic+ Suggestions

Community WoW Community Council
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With the recent blue post a few days ago basically saying they are looking to expand more on Classic WoW for the future I’d like to share some suggestions.

SoD was fun but there were some things that I’d like to see in classic and some not. The things I would not like to see is the runes as they changed classes too much and made the game feel not like Classic.

The things I loved seeing were additions to the game like Demon Fall Canyon, Karazhan Crypts and Scarlet Enclave. The “Found Photographs” as they’ve been called is something I find exciting with potential. Having these side areas that don’t retcon lore but add to it is cool for example the appearance of Lillian Voss before she was raised into undeath.

What I want to see the most with Classic+ is not just end-game content but I would like to see more leveling zones and dungeons. My favorite times in WoW are during the leveling experience and I’d like to have more of that type of content.

Zones & Dungeons:

There are a lot of locations in Azeroth I would love to see expanded on. Places that exist in the lore but have not been accessible yet like Tel Abim, Plunder Isle, or the giant gate in Azshara that furbolgs guard in Azshara. Then there is the Caverns of Time which is already in Tanaris. Since timeways open and close randomly we could have new experiences in Classic that don’t have to be in retail. Maybe we see the battle at Blackrock mountain during the second war where Turaylon struck down Doomhammer? Or maybe we experience when Rexxar and co struck down Daelin Proudmoore (why was that not in BfA??). Stuff like that would be awesome.

Then there is Hyjal for example. What was it like before the fire elemental invasion? After the Third War there must have been some clean up for the leftover Scourge and Legion forces in the area (Even in Cata some Legion forces remain). Then there are the Twilight Highlands. What were they called before the Twilight Hammer invaded? There are dragons and ogres that could be antagonists and a whole new zone to adventure in!

Adding more subzones to existing locations would be welcome too. Zones like Azshara feel like they could have more going on. That and updating Dustwallow Marsh to its 2.3 revamped version would be welcome as well since it still fits the classic timeline.

Class Design:

I think there should be some class changes but very minimal. For example buffs to retribution paladin and balance druid not to make them a lot more stronger just not in the low position they are now. That and longer blessing buff durations for paladins.

New Race/Class Combos & New Races:

I think some race/class combos that were introduced in Cataclysm would be fine to bring into classic. Things like Orc/Dwarf Mage, Human/Undead/Gnome Hunter and Troll Warlock all make sense to have since there was nothing that was stopping them from having those classes from before.

I would also like to see new races that would make sense in the post-Classic world. For example high elves are already found in numerous zones and friendly with the Alliance. Similarly Goblins are a natural fit for the Horde and it would be an easy explanation to have some random goblin group want to make some ventures with the Horde that are separate from the Bilgewater cartel that joins later on. Having new starting zones would be great and help add a fresh feeling to Classic.

Raiding:

I liked how Scarlet Enclave was done albeit not the part with Sanctified gear. The addition of the new raid itself was cool though. I also think World Buffs should be toned down or removed from working in instanced content and truly have them be world buffs.

There are a number of places I’d love to see be raids in Classic that Modern WoW has not taken advantage of. For examples the Barrow Deeps where Illidan was imprisoned, the Stonetalon Peak Caverns from the Warcrat 3 with Thrall/Jaina which was a big map. Also the Titan Facility under Bael Modan which could serve as a place where arcane resistance gear could finally see use.

Bots:
I hope when whatever is next for Classic is ready that there is more set in place to prevent bots and more aggressive removal of them and gold buying. I think if there isn’t more prevention then it will taint the experience early on.

Conclusion:

If I had to summarize what I personally want to see most in Classic+ it would be to expand the world for leveling. I don’t think everything should solely be level 60 endgame content. I would love to see more zones and dungeons to explore as alternative paths to level in Azeroth.

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Which is good. Classic classes have basically 0 gameplay, and runes fixed that. There were definitely some individual runes I didn’t like, and having to reapply them to armor each time I got an upgrade was a bit annoying, but giving classes actual gameplay was good. Seeing my guildies’ “real” Classic logs where it’s just a hunter auto attacking all fight and maybe pressing 1 ability a handful of times is depressing and I’d never want to play that.

On the other hand, I wish that for example on DPS warrior, Heroic Strike/Cleave were what got phased out in SE rather than stance dancing. Stance dancing was actually pretty fun for the brief period I got to do it, while Heroic Strike/Cleave are either RSI sources or get macro’d into everything.

I really enjoyed Scarlet Enclave. It’s a perfect example of how to make a big zone raid feel alive without making you hate life by spending 80% of the raid clearing trash. It has some, yes, but it also has areas where fake NPCs are fighting or where the NPCs retreat once you clear enough. It’s nice.

The bosses are pretty solid, and I really really really liked the week 1 enrage timers which ensured that fights didn’t drag on (without most of them actually being super tight). Increasing them was sad, because 4-6 minutes is a great length for fights.

I’m lucky that I only really played BFD, late Naxx and SE, so either world buffs weren’t as much of a problem yet (BFD) or my guild just provided them anyway (Naxx/SE), but yes world buffs suck and were a big part of why I skipped the in between phases.

Agreed with everything else, I think SoD turned out to be a very successful experiment and I’d like to see more.

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I think there is a strong demand for more vanilla content which is the initial idea of what classic was and what classic+ means for a lot of people. Exploring Azeroth more as Azeroth is an incredible journey.

I’m a bit in between. As someone that like some of the retail content but prefer a more simple approach I’ve enjoyed classic going further to wotlk, cata and soon mop. I know there is also people looking for something closer to that era in term of classic content/gameplay. Moreover as someone that played a death knight for now over 10 years at this point I would greatly wish for them to be included in whatever project of classic+ that is added, I think dks are old enough to be included at this point and they have been in the game more than not.

I think the integrity of the game is also something classic players care more about. I think bots are problem toward that but banning everyone is not a solution moreover when it can’t be done easily and often fast enough. I think the idea to restrict trading in itself could work better (or at least have some servers where trading is disabled and that loot is done with personal loot which would make the game basically solo-self found) than anything done ingame to prevents bots and rmt but definitely modern solutions are needed toward a problem that has never been able to be eradicated moreover when reports can only do so much (if not too much when abused).

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I think that Classic+ should stay Classic. While there definitely are classes that need some love in Classic (as Vicara suggested), moving it so far as they did with runes didn’t work at all for me.

While I would love to see SSF realms, Classic professions are practically made so that’s impossible. I was considering something like the personal crafting orders on retail where you still have to provide the mats but someone else can do the crafting might solve it, it would most likely just end up with people having two crafting professions on one character and two gathering on another and just do all crafting via orders instead.

Me and Elfyr already mentioned a few things over in this thread (My Classic WoW Wishlist) but I’m just gonna go ahead and quote over my own suggestions from there, since they still apply:

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You could have vendors selling items in exchange for mats and mats for gold or simply let players learn all professions, there’s a couple way to do this.

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Hi Safegaurd :slight_smile:

This is a topic I care about a LOT. I want classic to be my main game but there’s always a number of gripes and big concerns I have if Blizzard were to take it to a main-supported game. In game store, wowtoken, server strategy, and certain annoyances all crop up.

My post had 40 different things on a wish list, but the main theory of how Classic ought to feel I summarized like this:

  • Game mechanics make RP/lore sense and are interconnected in an immersive way.
  • It’s easy to play, and sometimes hard to master.
  • It poses challenges that require players to work together to find solutions. Players are heavily incentivized to work together, network, and forge friendships to more efficiently handle future tasks.
  • The journey is more important than the destination.
  • The world is the main character.
  • It’s free of modern gaming tropes - online cash shops, tokens, skins, and purchases. it’s a pure gaming experience throughout the cycle and your progression in it feels relatable to others & meaningful.

I think so long as we can rally around what makes classic unique and feel so special we’d come a long way at the starting line.

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To this day, I’ve never been able to accept the idea of orcs being mages — and I’d still find it very strange if that option were added in Classic. On the other hand, I’ve always thought it made total sense for undead, gnomes, and humans to be hunters, especially considering that humans could already be archers/hunters back in Warcraft 1.

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I do not have much to add, however my community would absolutely play an iteration of Classic with Alliance high elves.

Yes, even the ones that look like that if we want to truly go #nochanges with the models.

Having that flavor is significant and we can see from servers not hosted by Blizzard that they have been well received from social media praising it.

I was directed here via people part of another community stating that they received a survey with a ‘blurb about high elves’ per them, and there is a lot of buzz! :honeybee:

Shorel’aran and have a wonderful weekend! :woman_elf: :pray: The non-voidy Alliance Quel’dorei dream is alive and well across multiple communities!

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I’ve also heard a lot of buzz about a survey and high elves for both factions. Not sure if that is actually the case but I think that could be interesting and would make sense given the right reasoning.

For example 90% of the high elf population was lost to the Scourge in the Third War so surely among those killed were also raised and later broke free just like any other Forsaken and Sylvanas did. The Darkfallen elves were always around just not playable until Shadowlands when the quest chain with cleaning Undercity. So I think if they wanted to go with the route of Horde high elves that would be the most appropriate since Blood elves don’t quite ally with the Horde yet.

On a separate note if there is a potential for a new class that is not related to the ones added to modern WoW then I’d have some suggestions. One being the Necromancer that since we would not have death knights then the class kit of raising ghouls and spreading plagues is free real estate. Likewise since we don’t have a monk class some type of brawler-style fighter or that Runemaster concept from the old RPG books would be cool.

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