Im on the side that HC is a fad, taht Blizzard only made it because they could and it has a lot of publicity. The two issues i see is its meant for a very specific audience - a minority of Classic players - and its community founded and ran. The former reason will make people feel left out when they die several times and unable to keep up because, well, they arent as good as other Classic Andy’s who have done the same song and dance before for the past 19 years. The ladder is probably the real issue - letting the community take the wheel is probably the most volitile decision Blizzard could make. Sure, some members of the community and nice people who just want something from WoW, but a majority is just toxcisity and endless banter about BS that wont really matter much in the end. Its really just a way for streamers to gain popularity for a short while, but even their passion for this is limited. Once the majority audience loses interests, they will just move on to other things.
What a lot of people probably want more than anything is fresh thats not HC. SoM or Classic+ is what a lot of people want right now.
1 Like
Dont forget those restedXP sales!
3 Likes
Season of Mastery isn’t enough of a change to warrant the time investment that starting over in vanilla WoW entails. It’s why it fizzled out quickly.
ICC and RDF in wrath is going to make that version of the game boom. Wrath will explode in popularity. After it’s over… they either take the chance of failing with Cata or make a good classic+ that isn’t a nothing burger like SoM.
1 Like
Oh, yeah. I forgot that was a thing.
Fad or not, I don’t know, but I do hope that it turns out to be something the people who have been playing HC on other types of servers enjoy. More than a little bit of that is wanting the server my classic toons are on to return to it’s assigned type so I can find groups for elites and make trades and give people stuff just to be nice sometimes.
Kind of concerned because it hasn’t even gone live and I’m seeing HCers unsatisfied with what’s been revealed so far. But myself, I am kind of excited to try it, which is saying a lot being that I’ve not been a fan of it up to this point.
2 Likes
I cannot tell if people are unsatisfied because of the ruleset, or that its just not the dopamine feeling they had expected.
In reality, its probably the former.
1 Like
People should know by now that Bliz always does it their own way, even when they implement a player suggested idea. Best off to give it an honest try, then give constructive feedback.
2 Likes
It dropped off because people stopped playing in anticipation of the new server. No reason to start new characters on BSB if you’re going to the new server in a week.
1 Like
HCers are unhappy because Blizzard is throwing out the rules. The only rule is: don’t die. I think the rules the community came up with are very anti-social with the whole no trading, only doing a dungeon once, limiting who you can run with etc. They could still do that gatekeeping with their addon, but Blizzard providing a server where the only characters that can exist are ones that haven’t died is really good.
1 Like
Im still waiting for them to come up with the next seasonal server.
I think it depends on what they do further to help the server maintain its health.
But, I think Hardcore is actually the top-end, graduating point of leveling through an RPG world a great deal of us know like the back of our hand and love. So I do expect the leveling experience to be special.
1 Like
For a niche type of player it is here to stay. I plan to keep some characters progressing through even if only on the side (if a SoM2 comes).
Most probably won’t stick with it long term and I think they know that going in. This is for the niche who was already into it and wants an official game mode.
This being WoW though, for it to survive long term and be something people are serious about some top guilds who are legit need to take an interest in it and their achievements need to become common knowledge. If some guild(s) become known for clearing 15/15 Naxx with no deaths that will become a bar that some will chase and help fan the flames.
Going off their track record for Era, nothing
Im starting to get the feeling that anything WoW related wont last long. 2 to 4 months max no matter what it is.
1 Like
That time is accurate if it’s just something small… like SoM. However, if we got something major like a real classic+ with substantial stuff to it, instead of just nothing-burger changes like in SoM, then it could have longevity.
I got the impression from the video that the RDF feature will be focused more on leveling dungeons. I’d be surprised if it includes heroics and heroic+ (or whatever you call them).
cope 
HC is amazing and will be super popular
LOL. it’ll see a slight bump for the new raids and then die, as usual
Do you spend any other moment of your life not here on the forums? Do you know you are a living meme? You have responded to literally every single post followed by the same emote - get a life.
Nah, ICC was the most popular and iconic raid. Naxx comes close but does not top ICC. People will come back for it and probably stay until the end of wrath classic.