I am not really a big Classic enjoyer because I am not a fan of the end-game being a set-in-stone progression towards raids as the end-all-be-all. That being said I thought I’d provide some ideas for things that could be done for PvP and Dungeons to add some content diversity should Blizzard commit to developing a Classic+ version of WoW.
Dungeons - Continue to add new dungeon sets for special dungeon encounters (mirroring the Dungeon 2 set). This can be done in tandem with new dungeons should they be made.
Competitive / Solo PvP - Have greater utilization of the world arenas to create rated and casual dueling spaces, new reputations, and gear (self isolated competitive arenas that you need to physically go to for matches). This would also allow for matches to be spectated as well as perhaps bet on.
Battlegrounds - Occasionally add new maps for variety as well as development of world PvP objectives tied to PvE activity throughout the world; think Wintergrasp to unlock VoA in WotLK or Tol Barad to access Baradin Hold and bonus dailies.
World PvP (World Objectives) - (Tacking on to what was said above) A good example I think of this would be to allow for several vanilla towns to be “captured” (similar to Halaa, Nagrand in TBC) in a world event type thing (similar to SoD’s WPvP events). From a PvP perspective it gives more content variety and could progress a reputation for a mount or WPvP gear, not to mention granting access to a captured flight path temporarily.
PvE Impact of WPvP Captured Towns - It could cause dungeons in the area to be empowered to be a max level version that has max level versions of unique dungeon loot (allowing for a wider range of loot diversity at max level). And for dungeons that are previously in your faction’s control (think Stockades or RFC) maybe allow empowered versions to become accessible to the defending faction if they succeed in defending or re-capturing the base.
Consideration of Impact to Level - To avoid too much disruption from a low level experience (referring to loss of quest hubs during such events) the best solution is to allow towns and villages to be controlled for up-to 1 hour once every 2 to 3 hours. Consideration of Faction Balance - Looking at the anniversary servers restricting faction pop to maintain faction balance, there should not be a circumstance where one faction absolutely dominates the other. But even if this were to be the case, layering can be utilized as a way of circumventing one faction being too dominant.
That’s a shame but ultimately fine because different strokes yaknow?
It’s appearing that their idea of plus is seasonal.
SoD has been fairly jazzed in some of the ways you’ve discussed. Interesting options for the next season for sure.
I’ve always thought it would be nice to have a Classic+ that focuses more on horizontal progression instead of the more traditional one. This design would really help out with new Dungeons, per your suggestions, because they would be relevant for new 60’s but not immediately trivialized by anybody in raid gear.
I think there’s a lesson in retail here… and in a lot of other games too (ie, PUBG). Too many maps can be fracturing for the player experience. If given the option, they’ll only play the popular/meta one, and if you force them to play the others they will just AFK out on a bad RNG selection.
I’m not against new maps at all, but I think care would have to be taken along these lines.
I love this, but experience has taught us that you need a meaningful carrot to promote engagement. There’s a reason why any and all attempts to entice players into World PvP have failed and the most popular World PvP engagements have been entirely player-driven.
I think Blizzard needs to focus on giving players a reason to get out in the world first and then find a way to put an objective around it as a secondary objective. Note, daily quests are not the answer lol.
I enjoy Classic more as a side game or backup because I prefer Retail for PvP (also because Retail evolves whereas Classic stays the same), but agreed overall. I do not wish to diminish one side over another, but ideally having the big 3 would be my pref - Retail, C+, and Era.
This was the reason I did not get very involved with SoD (though I have followed its developments), a seasonal model that deletes progress does not lend itself to being a MMORPG to get invested in because the game is temporary from the start. I understand Blizzard’s desire to have a bit of testing ground with seasonal classic servers, but the more they keep creating seasonal restarts the less and less players will be interested in giving the rendition an honest shake. I think Blizzard’s Classic team needs to develop a Classic+ server with the “community guided approach” mirrored by Runescape’s OSRS during MoP’s engagement bell curve as that would show the most “good faith” in a time period where the hype and demand is there (backed by how Aggrend concluded SoD). If they do another seasonal server it will likely leave a bad taste in the community’s mouth.
Personally I’m content playing retail, and can find alternatives for Classic+ should I really want to (TWoW being a good example). But for the good of the community, I think they should honestly and seriously consider giving the players what they want.
As for BG’s and stuff like that, Invisible MMR so that games are more balanced for better competition this way you can Q with whoever you want solo Q or group Q and the whole cumulative team MMR can be used to match make. If you get high in rating sure the Q’s will slow down for you but that’s not hard to fix for solo Q because you will be weighted by lower tier players to keep the balance. Only on group Q will things slow down.
World PVP objectives are a neat idea that have a small life cycle unfortunately because the rewards run out and then people stop doing that stuff. I think the way to get more world PVP is to put world PVE objectives in areas where world PVP can take place effectively giving unique advantage to each class in its own way.
Arena would be cool, again so long as the MMR is invisible otherwise it will attract a lot of cheating that is very common in versions with visible ladders.
As for PVE stuff, I think nerfing Naxx and AQ gear levels down to the Molten Core power factor being the offensive and defensive stat loads that are not including resistance values… Stats like Stam, Int, Agi, Str, Spell damage and healing, Spell healing, spell pen, and so on. Doing this will flatten the gear curve big time and improve the game play for every class at every level of play. More PVE content would also be good at both the Dungeon level and Raid level with a cap on power factor being BWL power level at max.
The reason for nerfing Naxx and AQ loot is because its basically TBC Heroic Dungeon loot, and the characters are just not balanced around that power factor.
These are only ideas, and no way a complete game or picture of how to go beyond WoW vanilla.
Because that would fill in the gaps during a content lull? In retail?
I see.
I’ll go be disappointed elsewhere.
I thought for a moment there might be a genuine interest in Classic and not simply a means to deal with boredom but remain in the Warcraft setting.
Indeed it will provide a wider variety to pre-raid BiS farming, as well as (assuming you add more raids and new dungeons) provides more variations to gear composition at the higher end. Regarding verticle vs horizontal progression, I’ve seen on youtube that private servers attempting a Classic+ type model, such as TWoW, are adding more dungeon content at mid-level ranges to diversify content and replay ability of leveling new characters. I think that if you take the concept of Heroic dungeons scaling mid-level dungeons to max level, it does a boon of populating the world with players revisiting content they haven’t done in 20-40 levels for meaningful loot. And with Classic WoW’s gear design, it’s not necessarily true that raid loot will always be best and adding the entire roster of all dungeon loot to the max level gearing options, you open the door for experimentation with different builds and gear sets that COULD be better than the established status quo.
I agree you should not go overboard with adding an abundance of maps, as the overstaturation would cause issues filling all map types. I think that incentivizing WPvP “battlegrounds” serves the value of what new instanced battlegrounds would provide (new setting and objective), but to not extinguish those who enjoy instanced PvP there should still be SOME level of development on this front.
I agree on the daily quests 100%. I think the idea of what SoD attempted with the WPvP events serves as a good carrot, and kept such events active. However the mistake that they made was making isolated gear for the event, which drove players to grind the content to completion and not engage with it again. This is why I like the idea of tying access to empowered dungeons to the WPvP, because the PvE will maintain its relevance for PvErs and PvPers will go for thrill (especially if WPvP gear provides some degree of adv to smerf on people without it - not my cup of tea design wise, but it’s a thought).
I always just thought that for a franchise named Warcraft that focuses on the “War” aspects thematically, tends to shy away from ways of making the game feel like a war. I’m not advocating for another Phase 2 launch where ganking and gy farming is advised, I would just like to see PvP with some world consequence which will drive players to be engaged in it (even if you are a PvEr, because you want the advantages provided from winning the fights / battles).