Whether they are interested in it or not, the two games are competing products.
They just simply need a better gauge on how enthusiastic the average retail player is, vs the more diehard classic/pserver fans in order to better plan their moves as a business… Classic is LIKELY going to end up as a fairly niche product, surviving in the shadow of retail… That said, you better believe that if Classic looks like it’s going to be pulling 33%+ of bfa’s players off bfa, then it’s going to impact how Blizzard plans for launch (and potentially even start impacting long term resource investment away from BfA)
I can say anecdotally, that I have seen close to ZERO hype for 8.2 thus far, but I’m admittedly well within the “classic bubble” so to speak… Streamers as well, are nearly universally on Classic, not bfa/8.2 content. This stress test might simply be trying to understand how hyped everyone ELSE is for classic, and/or help anticipate what kind of launch population we can all expect.
lol…I’ve heard that so many times over the years…
“people are all at work”
“People are all at school”
“It’s summer…people are out doing things”.
and on and on and on.
I am still excited. Games will always lose Hype until release. I think the Hype dip is largely due to the game still be far off. It will return. Keep in mind it is a re-release. Not exactly going to pull as much as a new MMO.
When the top wow stream was the classic beta people tried to use it as proof that classic would kill retail.
Where are those people now that the top wow stream is retail?
In my own personal experience, the stress test is too early in the day. Starting it around 8-9 EST would be perfect for me, as my kids are in bed and I typically have my other household tasks completed.
That doesn’t make it not true. A ton of people were still at work when the test server went live. If you can’t see the logic in that then I don’t know what to tell you.