Title really says it all. We’re sitting here a week or two until Blizzcon and Classic WoW still has server queues on the big realms. The massive dropoff people expected was actually a much smaller amount than anyone thought it would be.
In fact, perhaps because of the new commercials and marketing, there seems to be an influx of newer players in just the last week. However this is just from my own observations on my server Fearlina.
This is despite many bumps along the road and many other things. This is despite the shrieking haters who, for whatever reason, wanted everyone to believe Classic would be a short ‘nostalgia trip’ for a few weeks to a month before everyone quit.
I’m very happy to see this because I always knew Classic was a winning product and a solid game.
I’m just wondering now what this means for the future of retail WoW, WoW Classic, and any other potential future announcements. It’ll also be interesting to see what is said at Blizzcon about it.
Reminds me of the meme where people are enjoying a game and the guy on the side yells at them to stop having fun.
As far as future goes, I see Blizz is the kind of company to keep driving the burning vehicle for as long as they can.
Only way something would dramatically change things is if Classic playerbase exceeds Retails.
But with the Subscription covering both, it’d be hard to know.
I, personally, (as someone who does not play Retail any more), think they should split the sub so we can know for sure. That’s pretty steep, but that’s just me.
It has been amazing, as someone that didn’t give private servers a shot, I’ve loved every moment of classic so far, and with alts and need raids/PvP coming I can’t see anything changing for quite awhile.
They tied them together because subs for retail weren’t doing so well. I’d be in favor of this suggestion also since I despise retail and won’t touch it ever again unless all of the changes that were made to it that killed my enjoyment of it are removed.
This idea is a good one IMO and will only really affect the people who play both. Separating Classic from retail subs will actually give them an accurate count as to just how many prefer one over the other. At least then they can decide what direction to take retail in relation to Classic and maybe fix the majority of what players don’t like about it
I’m having more fun than I expected to, to be honest. Leveling takes forever and it really doesn’t bother me at all. I’m actually enjoying finding a green drop that I can actually use.
The little things are what make it so much more enjoyable.
Through constant conversation as you and I have been in though as we all have come to agree and have a fear of, how would Blizzard ‘fix’ it.
Retail just seems so… flashy. It’s not meaningful for anything you do. That’s not to take away from things like arena rankings or end game raiders, that’s a player effort there.
There are some things I do like about retail, but there is way too much I don’t like about it.
Well it’s a bit of a catch 22 though. People who like retail exactly as it is most likely won’t be in favor of removing the LFG tool, Transmog, Barbershop, etc. What would be the most humorous thing, is if people on the retail side started shouting #nochanges against it becoming more like Classic or one of the older expansions such as TBC/Wrath.
Honestly though, they really need to quit with the same BS boring gameplay and progression methods they’ve been using since WoD and Legion. The mission table, the AP grind, the rep grinds…etc. The game feels more like a job than a form of entertainment. Locking character progression behind rep grinds was the dumbest thing they ever could’ve done…that and the stupid RNG gear casino with war/titanforging. ALL of that needs to go. The QoL things I don’t mind all that much except it makes lower level greens more expensive and out of reach of newer players who don’t already have a mountain of gold to feed to a lowbie alt.
Things feel much more rewarding in Classic because you have to bust your @ss to get some of them, and that concept just doesn’t exist in retail outside of Arena rating in PVP or Mythic raids as you said earlier. Getting a purple every 10-15 minutes for doing a piddly easy WQ just kills the excitement of it
I don’t think classic wow will ever fall off as long as retail wow keeps on kicking with new content / expansions. When people get bored of retail they always have the option to come to classic for a different “feel” game play. Even if they quit WoW and play another game, just knowing classic wow exists and is here to enjoy or get back into, that in effect will always keep people coming back to WoW. That’s just my opinion.
The biggest evolution I’d like to see is keep the cap at 60 henceforth and just expand on the current world and fine tune classes as you go.
I’d like to see WAY more with what exists IN Classic/Vanilla rather than all the terrible story they started kicking out after WotLK.
As I’ve given examples, I’d love to see a Lo’Gosh questline with the ‘King of Stormwind’ NPC or as someone else mentioned, make use of the airfield in Ironforge. Expand of those things.
Blizzard can already tell this by your playtime. They know exactly who is playing where and spending how much time on each version.
Blizzard isn’t going to separate them because it doesn’t benefit them to do so. Giving players the ability to flow back and forth between the two is in their best interest. It gives retail players something else to do in lulls and allows Classic players the opportunity to see the live product.
Too soon too soon. There are plenty that will quit before 60. Plenty more that will quit after 60.
Leveling in Classic fill time. Many people will stay casually engaged. Once they get to the point of belief that raid logging is all there is then poof, they are gone.
Knowing how to keep Classic going post 60 is the trick.
While I agree with you there is some churn going on. We were having 20 or so people a night on, now its 4 or 5. My buddies guild is seeing the same thing and we are seeing some signs of wear on certain players.
Thats not to say Im surprised by it, I just think in some cases lots of people got further than expected. At least for those around us it seems to be the mid 40’s is where ot seems to get lots of people. If you can push through it they seem to get a second wind, but many aren’t making it.
Yes that’s true, matter of fact I made a similar comment elsewhere in the forums about Classic’s inception being a solution of sorts for them about players who unsub during content droughts and resub when a new patch drops. Eliminating or reducing cyclical player behavior was one of their goals they kept in mind while working on Classic I’m sure.
As to getting Classic players to go look at retail, many of us see what retail is and have already experienced how bad it is first hand, so outside of people who merely want to check it out for curiosity’s sake that haven’t played for several years, I don’t see that happening quite as much
Oh it won’t but the option is still there, and if they can even get a handful of extra people to buy an expansion it is worth it to Blizzard.
I agree with your sentiment on the lulls, and in fact it may allow them to rethink how they are making content for retail. They can focus more on making things fun, and less on systems to drag out play time.
Could end up being a win win for both playerbases. It allows different content to be made for retail and allows a base of players to help keep populations up on Classic.