NOTE ADDED 4/8/2019: UNTIL MY TRUST LEVEL INCREASES I AM REMOVING ALL LINKS FROM THE OP SO I CAN KEEP THE LIST(S) UPDATED AND CURRENT.
Hey all - I wanted to put together a mega-thread that will put the majority of the CONFIRMED information into a single place to both help people new to the board, as well as dispel any fake rumors or information.
I will be attempting to put in links for citation, but it will require both digging them up and validating the information, as well as figuring out how to bypass the no linkingâ rule. If you have suggestions on content please reply to me in the thread and give me a way to validate the info and Iâm happy to add. Some of this (the âwhatâs changedâ section) has been lifted from a Reddit link I found.
Discord: Banja#4862
Q: What is WoW Classic?
A: WoW Classic (Or âClassicâ) is a (supposedly) faithful recreation of the game we all knew and loved as it existed before expansions and major Quality of Life (QOL) changes began shaping both the look and feel of the game.
Q: When will it launch?
A: Late day August 26th for USA, August 27th for rest of the world
Q: Will there be a beta?
A: Yes - Blizzard will begin to invite player for âstress testingâ beginning May 15th, however you have to both opt in (through the normal method) AND have an active subscription.
Q: What version of the game will be used?
A: The game will be based on patch 1.12, which launched on August 22, 2006 â shortly before The Burning Crusade.
Q: Is there going to be a cost?
A: Classic will (as of Nov â18) be bundled into the normal subscription for retail.
Q: ARE THEY SHARDING?! I WONT PLAY IF THEYRE SHARDING!!
A: It has been floated by the dev team as one way to help combat the expected overcrowding at launch of lowest level starting zones. BUT IT IS NOT YET GUARANTEED TO BE IN THE GAME. Naturally the forums have been a source of calm, rational discussion on the matter.
Updated answer: It has been confirmed by Blizzard that they will be using a ânew technologyâ like sharding, but instead of being limited to a specific area around you or zones, it will be a server-wide âlayerâ (hence the term LAYERING) this will allow people to continue to see the majority of the same people in their layer as you move from one area to the next, while helping to control populations that will almost certainly be experiencing radical shifts at launch and shortly after.
Blizzard has stated that - at the latest- the layering will be removed by the beginning of content bucket #2
Q: How many servers will there be? What will the population cap be on the servers?
A: Nobody knows. But we DO know what kinds of servers there will be as mentioned: PvE, PVP, RP.
Q: Will there be raiding?
A: Yes. The Dev team has laid out âcontent bucketsâ that will progress naturally:
((We havenât yet determined exactly when phases 2-6 will occur, and PvP content is notably missing from the list above. Thatâs because weâre still evaluating our options regarding PvP rewards, as they also changed over time (both in power and in terms of which PvP reward items were available).))
**Updated 4/8/2019: PVP **
Phase 1 (Classic Launch)
- Molten Core
- Onyxia
- Maraudon
Phase 2
- Dire Maul
- Azuregos
- Kazzak
- Honorable Kills, DHKs, PVP Rank rewards
Phase 3
- Blackwing Lair
- Darkmoon Faire
- Darkmoon deck drops begin
- Alterac Valley and WSG launch
Phase 4
- ZulâGurub
- Green Dragons
- Arathi Basin launches
Phase 5
- AhnâQiraj War Effort begins
- AhnâQiraj raids open when the war effort dictates
- Dungeon loot reconfiguration: Tier 0.5 Dungeon gear, Relics, drop rates and location changes
Phase 6
- Naxxramas
- Scourge Invasion
- World PVP Objectives (EPL, Silithus) launch
Q: What about PVP? I love to PVP!
A: Battlegrounds will be added, it was originally slated for the 2nd bucket but is now confirmed using the schedule above
Q: What Version of Alterac Valley will we get?
A: Version 1.12
Q: What about addons? Will there be addons? I canât play without addons!
A: Blizzard has stated that they will be breaking addons that automate gameplay, such as Decursive, EZHealing etc. âNormalâ addons will still be allowed.
Q: Will all of the current races and classes be in the game? I REALLY want to be a Goblin or Draeni
A: No, the game will be âexactlyâ as it was in 2006.
Q: I heard this is going to have loot trading, this is going to RUIN THE GAME!1!1!
A: Loot trading WILL be in the game, and has been a major topic of concern - however THE DEVS LISTENED TO PLAYER FEEDBACK and announced that it will only apply to soul bound items dropped in raids
Q: What API version are they going to be using?
A: This will be a modified version of the current 7.3 API, modified to fit things that existed in Vanilla but do not in current retail (weapon skill etc)
Q: What about characters? Are servers faction locked?
A: In WoW Classic, youâll have the following character limits per WoW account:
- A maximum of 10 characters per WoW Classic realm
- A maximum of 50 characters across all of the WoW Classic realms in your region
- Only one faction per realm on PvP realms
- No overlap or regard with the character limits in Battle for Azeroth
Youâll be able to have up to 50 Battle for Azeroth characters and up to 50 WoW Classic characters at the same time.
Q: What about the graphics and models? I like the ones in retail
A: This is still unknown, some players are reporting that a âleaked screenshotâ shows a âClassic Settingsâ button in the graphics section, however I played the demo and I didnât see it. There was a slider that allowed you - much like modern Blizz games - to set the settings anywhere from low to ULTRA. The models I could see were as they were in 2004.
Q: What about spell batching?
A: Spell batching was announced to be a retro-fitted system AND CONFIRMED THAT IT WILL BE IN THE GAME
Q: Are the items you obtain in Classic going to transfer over to your modern/BfA account?
A: No. Itâs really important to the developers that the two ecosystems are kept separate.
Q: What mount system will be used?
A: Per interview Blizzard will be using the âoldâ system of cheap training, expensive mounts
Q: I have the original Collectors Edition, and I want my pets back!
A: Well thatâs not really a question, but good news - you can have them!
Q: Whatâs going to be different from Classic:
A:
¡ The client will not run on 32bit systems.
¡ Accessibility options such as colorblind will be present, though modified to fit Classic.
¡ Widescreen monitors are now fully supported.
¡ Right-clicking on a player to report them has been enabled.
¡ The modern engine no longer permits certain behaviours that could be used to get out of bounds.
¡ Battlenet chat will be integrated into Classic.
¡ Loot Trading will be introduced to Classic, allowing players to trade Bind on Pickup items to other players who participated in the same kill for up to 2 hours after the loot dropped, and assuming the item was not equipped. (Loot trading per THIS POST will only apply to soul bound items in raids)
Q: Things we KNOW will NOT be in the game?
A:
- LFR/LFD
- Cross realms
- Races after Vanilla
- Any content beyond Vanilla (as of right now)
- Transmog
- Achievements
- Progressive itemization
Q: Some of the information on this post is wrong or inaccurate
A: Prove it using a link or screenshot etc and Iâm happy to update, I try my best to stay up to date on content and information but I am human, and I work about 70 hours a week so Iâm bound to miss something. Likewise, if you have a suggestion for content let me know and I can add it.
Questions we, as a community, have for the Devs:
- Which version of AV are we getting? ([ANSWERED: Version 1.12]
- Is it possible to have pre-1.11 warrior threat?
- Is âspell batchingâ being recreated?[ANSWERED: YES]
- Will there be DHKs? If so - how will it be handled? [Yes - same as Vanilla]
- Will there be different types of realms? (PVP, RP, PvE etc) [(ANSWERED: PvE, PVP, RP]
- Will servers ever be reset/forced to progress? (Assuming TBC/WOTLK later)
- Will there be Cross Realm BGs?[ANSWERED: YES BEGINNING WITH AV CONTENT]
- Sharding - what would be a timeframe, what are âstarting areasâ and how committed are you to not sharing past those starting areas? [ANSWERED ABOVE]
- What alternatives to sharDing are being considered?[ANSWERED: LAYERING]
- Current status of content buckets? (This was mentioned as being malleable at Blizzcon) [ANSWERED - SEE ABOVE]
- Hunter pet speed - normalized or dynamic?
- Will there be a beta? [YES Beginning May 15th]
- What version of the API is being used?
- Cross faction communication on PVP? (ANSWERED: You can chat with friends already on your friends on B.Net, you cannot just add opposing players via in game)
- Unarmored mounts? [ANSWERED: NO]
- Server caps? Names before release?
![:stuck_out_tongue:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/stuck_out_tongue.png?v=6" ":stuck_out_tongue:")