I think they said they’ll look at Classic’s response… Lore didn’t seem to like Classic that much during the Q&A.
Is this the March 21st Q&A?
Here you go:
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Thanks for the timestamp.
Retail is too bloated and old for it to go back. And it would be such a culture shock to the players that like BfA that they would lose more than they gain.
The game is just too bloated so that it is nearly oppressing when you look at it.
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They might take some things from Classic to Retail, but I think a more likely option is that they continue to develop Classic.
IF Classic is highly successful and IF there is sustained engagement (big if’s) then Blizz has a chance to extend the game either by releasing more expacs or developing more of Classic.
Yes, I know Blizz has said that they don’t want 2 games, but if the demand is there I doubt they will turn down the $$$. Classic could potentially become WoW 2, a more RPG focused MMO instead of the esport focus that is Retail.
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They are already trying to do this. Retail is having none of it. Removal of portals, harder leveling, also the level squish they talked about is a couple things I can think of.
The issue with adding back in these elements is that there is two ways to do it, gradual or all at once. If you do it gradually people will take it as a complete negative as you are adding a classic element into a game where it’s all about QoL and single player mindset.
IMO, they have to make some DRASTIC changes, and they have to do it all at once so they are overwhelmed with the changes to where it actually feels good.
For example, if they just remove LFR in the next expansion and that’s all they do, people will FREAK. But, if they just go all out and take out LFR, turn off LFD, remove time sinks like azerite world quest trash, make leveling actually tough, make pulls a calculated thing to do, make group content actual group content and not a speed run, bring back meaningful professions ignoring balance (like old eng), and just do changes like this all at once I think people would accept this as a new play style.
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If it falls on its face and very little interest: Failed experiment and they move on.
If it keeps a small and viable amount of players to cover the costs of the support and classic realm: Kept around as an option/museum piece
Moderately successful - bring in far more subscriptions ($$$) than the costs. Kept around and they can ponder alternative options as they will have the funding (like yearly/quarterly events that might have come later on, etc).
Vastly more successful than Retail in the Long Term: Dynamic change and continental shift. They would see their efforts and $$ going to retail as throwing money down a hole whereas far more money and interest in what was proven to have worked before. Many, many ways the designers and bean counters could take things.
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I think modern WoW is too far gone. It should remain as it is, some people seem to enjoy it still. Most of them liked Legion, so maybe go back to similar systems.
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Blizzard’s best bet is to run an alternate universe WoW running parallel to the first. It could be a great irony where everything has gone to hell in this universe but everyone there has it hard and protects the babies of retail who have no idea they’re being protected from the hard game.
Think it’s a bad idea to run two MMO’s? Well Final Fantasy does it.
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That would be silly putting all this work into fixing a now broken game.
Their best bet would be finally stop sucking so much and release Star-Craft Universe mmo exactly like vanilla.
MAKE A NEW GAME ALREADY BLIZZARD JEEZ
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Ion in tht clip “The modern game is much more accessible in a ton of ways, and we don’t want to go back to a place where you require other people in order to have fun or in order to participate in activities… but we’d like to recapture more of the ability to have the game be a place where you can meet new people and make new friendships.”
Wasn’t a huge part of Vanilla that you needed other people to experience the majority of the game? The groups, the guilds, the server community.
Isn’t the current game actually focused on M+ and Mythic raiding where you “require other people”?
Ah well. It’s pretty clear Ion has no intentions of looking at Clsssic for inspiration or even as a primer for how to make a great MMORPG.
Thanks for the link.
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I think it is going to be really interesting to see. There is a clear divide between players who enjoy the old game and those who like the new game.
What’s funny is how much more hardcore older MMO players are. Many came from games that are way more punishing and require a lot more time, particularly the top end raiding.
The Rank 14 grind not that bad if you look at what it took to get the very best weapons in the game in Everquest apparently which were needed for some horrifically overtuned boss immune to melee damage. That was apparently a catalyst for a lot of raiders to move to WoW as soon as it was playable.
Here is a quote from Jeff Kaplan (former lead developer of WoW and one of the top raiders in Everquest).
Here is a link to what was once the most popular MMO fan site on the internet. Alex Afrasiabi’s (Furor) guild, Fires of Heaven.
https://web.archive.org/web/20031128012602/http://www.fohguild.org/https://web.archive.org/web/20021023222706/http://www.fohguild.org/html/archive.php?page=8No. The current player base of WoW has asked for what it’s got. Look at the reaction to the waterstrider mount.
Retail WoW players want nothing like what Classic WoW is.
If classic is a real success? I’d put money on them eventually releasing a BC Classic and WOTLK Classic
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They could make a hardcore server see how it goes.
Level squish to lvl 60, all raids level 60, adjust loot, everyone starts at level one, adjust raids to certain difficulty, bring back Vanilla like talents, professions as like vanilla, no flying mounts, adjust dungeons, reconfigure loot slightly, adjust land scape, and much more.
If they do something like that I will play.
It would take a very long time to clear everything.
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I think they could get by with it if they took baby steps and maybe targeted WotLK era-like game mechanics as their goal.
No…if I had any hope left for it I would still be playing it lol. I spent many years hoping WoW would return to its original formula until I realized that’s impossible at this point because they’re too deep in the direction they took. Its a completely different game with a new playerbase. Its kinda dumb for me to hope Classic will have any influence on modern when I don’t need modern anymore, it’d void the point of legacy.
If anything I would sooner want a new MMORPG that revolutionizes the genre again. At one point I thought for sure that would be Blizzard, but after spending many years playing modern and seeing their attitude shift towards game development I don’t think its gonna come from them. Legacy long term is just a bandaid fix for an underlining problem with MMORPGs.
I wouldn’t count on it, because a lot of retail complaints are even worse in Classic.
An example being how pruned and simplified classes feel in BfA, and Classic classes are at their most basic.
I’m not saying that’s a bad thing though.
If anything needs to be fixed in retail, it’s the leveling experience.
Wrath was when modern retail design started.
Multiple difficulties, easy mode tank and spank dungeons, homogenized classes, each tier comes with catchup mechanics that invalidate the last…
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