Part 1. An Explanation for clarity and civility.
Since the announcement of Season of Discovery there’s been a lot of discussion in all forms of media regarding Classic+, and this has led to an astounding level of misunderstanding around the topic that is brimming with division and rancour. Some of this is due to purposeful baiting and some to wilfull ignorance but I hope that the majority is down to just an honest lack of understanding as to what Classic+ represents to a lot of people, and has done for many years now. While I do not speak for every lover of Classic, and everyone hopeful for Classic+, by talking in pretty broad generalities I’ll hope to cover most bases.
While Classic+ will mean something slightly different to literally everyone, there is a fairly general consensus regarding what the hope is for this version of the game. Bear in mind that all the below points are covered by the caveat that any additions or changes hold true to the “feel” of Classic. Once again, while there is much nuance to this term, for any addition or change I think everyone can make the decision of “feels like Classic” or “does not feel like Classic” and that the majority will fall fairly clearly on one side or the other.
Everyone understands that it is impossible to go back in time and perfectly recreate a piece of history, but what is hoped is that we could study that little bottle full of sparks and create something that is a faithful approximation and that at least “feels” right.
For me, and I believe for most, the basic tenets of Classic+ can be condensed into 4 main points:
Level Cap of 60 & Vanilla World
Part of the loss of the Classic Feel was the insane jumps in player power that quickly invalidated prior content. One of the goals of Classic+ is to ensure the old Azeroth remains relevant and that the world remains the main character of the Classic story. Horizontal, and very minimal vertical, progression is the name of the game. This one simple design choice not only ensures the relevance of the world and content but it ensures its longevity.
Persistent Longevity
MMOs by their design lead to long-term play. You might be happy with playing a game of Slay the Spire for a few hours or spending a few weeks with Lara Croft on one of her many adventures, but the MMO lends itself to a longevity of play that is not matched by any other game type. People become attached to their characters, their guilds and the world itself. This is pretty self-evident in that we are still here playing, and talking about, a 20 year old game. The hope for Classic+ is a game that exists for many years, a persistent world in which we can adventure to our hearts’ content without the fear of being forced to move on as servers progress as they have done with the retail expansions.
Additional Content to the Classic World
This is a big one, but it encompasses new: dungeons, quests, items, zones, events and raids. There is a vast amount of information regarding those parts of the game designed and worked on for Vanilla that never made it into the final game, as the crunch to release kicked in. This happens with most games, and if you are interested in diving in to what existed in the WoW Alpha builds, there are a couple of great youtube channels that have been exploring this for years, but there is also the WoW Diary by John Staats that is one of the best videogame resources I have seen (well worth it if you can get your hands on a copy).
The “worked on” content includes things like Karazhan and the Karazhan Crypts, Hyjal, the Azshara pvp zone, Uldum and Grim Batol, the Emerald Dream, Gilneas, etc. But proponents of Classic+ are also interested in seeing new content added that we have not heard about – it’s why many were excited to hear Chris Metzen was back, one of the people instrumental in the development of the story of Classic. Not only could we have some of the underworked aspects of Vanilla see some love (Timbermaw, Essence of Eranikus questline, Bael Modan, etc) but we could also see some new NPCs, new storylines and some new quest chains that weave in with current content.
With new dungeons and zones comes new items. The addition of many new pieces of gear that would help to break the meta of everyone vying for the same small handful of items. The point to remember here is to keep the flavour of the original vanilla items with on use effects, proc effects, weird stats and fun flavour effects. Everyone can remember at least a handful of items from Classic, be they iconic quest rewards or dungeon gear, not only because of the power of the item but the flavour. How many of us remember items from the expansions (outside the legendaries)?
The addition of new content is exactly that: an addition. The current world and dungeons should all remain in the game as they have their place in the world, the lore and the story.
Class Balancing
The WoW devs did their best with class design and class balance during the development of Vanilla, but they were kind of working in a vacuum. They could only know what truly worked once it was out in the world and in the hands of the players. They got a great many things right, but they also flubbed pretty hard on some aspects. Over the life of vanilla they were constantly patching and updating class design, in some cases quite drastically changing classes. With the limited time available though, not everything was achieved. Classic+ is the chance to fix some of the more glaring issues with some classes and specs, with the benefit of 20 years of hindsight and player and developer knowledge.
I won’t go into specifics here but generally these changes are seen to be small to help with certain aspects of a class, to adjust the feel of the playstyle to provide better flow. The caveat on class balance is to maintain not only the “feel” of Classic but the individual “class fantasy” and faction identity.
And that’s basically it. The concept of Classic+ is pretty simple. It is also pretty simple to understand what Classic+ is not.
Part 2. Bit of a Rant
Season of Discovery is not Classic+. SoD is a mad scientist’s experiment. It is an experiment with a built-in end date. The hope of many is that it is a testing ground for Classic+. SoM was the first step in gathering this information. The small tweaks were tentative and, due to the unfortunate circumstances of the launch, didn’t provide as much feedback as it could have, so we have SoD – a crazy throw everything in a blender experiment. Even though I know this, personally I feel less hope for Classic+ now, due to the sheer scale and scope of the changes and additions in SoD and to how many run directly counter to the feel of Classic.
I really do hope that Blizzard continues to add in seasons to keep people engaged, and where they can experiment, but I sincerely hope that they are also working on Classic+. The moment Classic was released the playerbase was irrevocably split, and while a lot of people play bits of everything, there is a large section of the playerbase that only plays one. As we’re on the Classic forums, I’m interested in that Classic section.
I haven’t played retail for more than a decade and have no intention of doing so in the future. I don’t follow the news or announcements and have zero interest. I see retail WoW as a completely separate game, and am as interested in it as I am Guild Wars or FFXIV. I know, from both in game talk and out, that I am far from alone in this. The Classic journey, and especially the release of Hardcore, has crystallised how I feel about WoW.
I’ve no interest in Seasonal servers, Cata classic or any version that is not set in the Vanilla world, pre-expansion. It is the original game design and world that I keep coming back to and which keeps me engaged, like none of the other 11 MMOs I’ve played over time has been able to do. I’ll play Hardcore and Era for the foreseeable future, but if Classic+ is not to be, then Blizzard will lose me as a customer. I’ll head to an independent server (something I’ve not done to date) that is at least trying to provide an authentic experience or try out something new like Ashes of Creation when it launches. I’m really looking for a home for my gaming and realistically Classic+ is the only thing that Blizzard has to offer me.
Part 3. The Problem with Classic+: Monetisation
I had always expected Classic+ would release with a box price, just like an expansion. This would be a big boost to offsetting the costs of the development and with the required sub, would make Classic+ a nice monetary prospect. The issue comes with post-release. The current mindset from gaming companies seems to be mainly focused around monetisation over game design. Many of the modern game design features that provide the ongoing revenue streams are antithetical to the design of Classic+.
The introduction of tokens, level boosts or cosmetic mounts are all deeply opposed by the Classic+ playerbase, and for many, if not most, these are dealbreakers if they become part of the design. That leaves a calculation for Blizzard over what profit margin they are willing to make with Classic+: a balance between lost subs, revenue from subscription/box price and loss of “potential” revenue from the inability to monetise in the modern way.
Classic+ would definitely make money, but it won’t make as much money as retail. Can the modern Blizzard accept that?