I think 1 million is very reasonable and there is a great possibility of more. I played vanilla starting in 2004 and the truth is I have no real interest in playing classic. Yet, since it is free w/WoW sub and because of the nostalgia of it I will certainly be there at launch and play for a while.
However the test will be over the coming months. The original WoW was amazing as subscribers quickly grew from 1 million to 2 million and then to 4 million. However, I suspect that whatever the launch numbers are the numbers will fall this time as the nostalgia wears off.
There were a lot of player demands for the changes that came in later versions of WoW. I remember how much we all loved what was a unique experience back then but I also remember how totally frustrating much of WoW could be. There were far more changes I really liked post-vanilla then things I missed.
So players who really like the new WoW Classic would do well to make the game welcoming and enjoyable for players not so enthralled with vanilla.
But it will be fun to see an undivided Barrens and an unflooded Thousand Needles again.
8 servers for China. Since that is/was their largest population region it’s assumed NA and EU will get about the same. It also ignores the statement that they are ready to spin up more should those servers fill up.
I do think blizzard is underestimating the numbers classic will bring in. I don’t think they will be caught with their pants down though.
More like the rest of the expansion… I’m so sick of the ap grind on each character and the time gates that only let you play 20 minutes a day. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like this.
There going to have to try harder with the next expansion to drag me back, bring talents back, bring more weapon choices to specs back, adding player housing or guild halls would be a good start.
I don’t want to see another artifact system and another pathfinder in the next expansion again… if its just WoD reskinned again for the 4th time in a row with war tables yet again then I’m only going to play Classic WoW from now on.
I want more features and gameplay, not another reskinned expansion that’s just like the old expansion in a new continent. This is why Classic WoW is appealing to me, it has more depth with more spells and talents and micro managing and raid progression then any of the expansions had since Cataclysm started pruning everything and adding catchup mechanics.
There is no raid progression anymore, its always skip to the newest raid every patch now and that’s not fun… that’s what makes me quit after the first month of every expansion now.
That said, when most people use the 1 million number, they are referring to NA subs, so trying to argue against it with worldwide numbers seems disingenuous.
First month, six months, a year, five years. Whether they do eventual TBC and beyond servers, or some form of Classic+, I can’t see Current WoW ever competing with the Classic servers.
Blizzard is in for a big surprise, as are the naysayers.
I think classic will help them get income for future xpacs and Ion had a Q and A admitting to a lot of the changes they have done moving forward were wrong, i watched the Asmongold reaction video of it.
I truly think next xpac might have a chance of being decent.
Well blizzard no longer report sub numbers. That’s a very good indication that sub numbers are actually terribly low. If they were high, they’d still report them to shareholders.
I think its possible that classics population might peak above BFA a few times within the first few days of release, assuming blizz is able to handle everyone. But most of these people will quit within the first week.