The only thing that makes sense to me is that the anniversary servers will stop in TBC or Wrath, dividing their communities in debate during that time. I think I remember seeing them mention that you could keep your anniversary character in vanilla, or transfer to TBC, but I’m not positive. I could be confusing the HC realm which is where Im playing, and since they claim there will be no TBC HC realm.
But there is absolutely no good reason for these servers to progress into Cataclysm again. The most popular era of wow was TBC-WOTLK. Cataclysm drastically changes how the game is experienced, especially leveling, which it tosses to the side. The 10 extra levels in TBC and WOTLK are actually pretty packed in terms of adventure, exploration, and quests. Theres even some challenge to leveling in those expasions. The 5 levels in Cata are crammed into relatively small zones scattered across the map, killing a lot exploration, but at least the quests are still decent, although everything is SO EASY until raids give you the only challenge in the expansion. Sure you can now explore the world on a flying mount, but that doesnt mean anything when you no longer need anything from 90% of the zones, except archeology oh wow… On a side note, a fresh cata server would’ve been interesting to see, everybody starting at level 1 and having to level through the changed world together (DKs not allowed until 55 of course) but instead a good chunk of players just spam dungeon queues or buy a boost, which just waters down the overall player experience. But anyway…
There also is no good reason to the community as a whole for these servers to add in game purchases such as boosting or the wow token. The cata servers are absolutely wrecked in terms of the economy, forcing casual players to buy tokens or be left in the dust. GDKPs should also remained banned. The economy, at least in fresh HC, is the healthiest Ive ever seen on WoW. Even during the wrath server (i joined about a month before cata and quit shortly after) I couldnt afford almost anything without buying a token or trying to be apart of a GDKP group. The auction house was littered with bots buying out and reselling items due to the rampant abuse of gold purchasing. I would post something below average sell and it would be bought immediately. If i tried to buy something listed below average sell, it was already sold…
This is a chance for Blizzard to retry the disaster that was the progression forward from their first classic timeline. Keep the broken timeline moving into mists for all the pay to wins, and keep this timeline pure for the players who want an experience without all that stuff. It sucks that the fanbase is so divided, but its hard to coexist in a server with people who want the game to play completely differently than you and your friends. Of course, since TBC and WOTLK are the most popular, pay to wins will of course want to infiltrate these servers with more real world gold trading, wow tokens, auctionhouse bots, and GDKPs. Our community needs to keep our voices loud and clear that we DO NOT WANT these.
I’m just enjoying the innocence of this HC server while I can. I’ve even brought my buddy in who’s never played before and is doing HC on a rogue with a controller add-on. Just ride it out while we can.