Thinking of Classic as a static game

WoW Classic WoW Classic General Discussion
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Disclaimer: Not coming at this from a negative angle or anything, just ramblings in my head.

I know the positives and negatives of nostalgia and its effects have been discussed ad nauseam but I’ve always wondered how long it will keep everyone’s attention? I’m sure a certain percentage will happily play the rest of their lives. Wonder how long until it becomes hard to field raiding teams requiring 40 people.

Hopefully if this becomes popular and gives them enough subs eventually they can do BC servers that are separate that start you at 60, Wrath at 70, etc.

What expansions do you guys think would have the most replay ability as a static game? I’m thinking Legion servers with Artifacts/Mage Tower challenges for every spec would be hard to beat replay wise.

It’s still weird for me to think about how Classic will be to play after all these years. I’m excited on one hand and strangely cautious on the other. Something about a static MMO is freaking me out, I guess. What say you?

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I’d rather them copy the character database over on launch of TBC and then everything past that is traditional start at level 1. Starting at 60 would thoroughly ruin TBC.

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See I feel the opposite, when TBC launched I was level 60… I went to Outland.

Edit… misread your comment my bad… obviously if you are starting TBC fresh you should start at level 1

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Actually them copying the entire database over at once and not allowing any further transfers would be a good way to let people use their 60s like it was a TBC launch while avoiding potential abuse of a regular copy/transfer system that people talk about.

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Lets get the game and play for two years before we declare its doom.

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Are you three above me really gonna level in classic or stack up 30k posts?

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I’m looking forward to a static game, that more or less means no matter how long it takes me, I can do anything while it’s still relevant. I won’t have the luxury of skipping any content, and other than PvP rank decay I’ll always keep what I earn and it’ll always be pre bis, for example, if thats all the farther I get. They won’t start up the treadmill and make my gear worthless every six months. This for me is one of the game’s biggest draws.

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When Classic is released this will become ghost town. We’re just a) bored and b) trying to make sure Classic is as good as it can be.

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There is very little consensus on this.

I am one of those people who would prefer Classic+ to BC.

The game needs a good 18 months to breathe before this is even a thing we should be concerned about. I have my suspicions that a lot of people won’t be ready to move on 2-2.5 years in as they will finally be on bosses in Naxxramas.

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Good question!

…And I have no answer. Hasn’t been done before really afaik, regarding a static MMORPG this size.

The very first MMORPG ever, Meridian 59 back in 1996, is still being played today. But the emphasis of that game is hardcore pvp and politics. I started on day 1 back then in the game, and it shut down in year 2000, and nobody knew what to make of it. fate would have it, it re-released in 2002, and lots of players returned, and lots of the returned players vanished as well, including me. But it is still running.

I guess, what I am trying to say is. If the game is good enough, there will be players playing.

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That’s what I’m thinking it can take literal years to see all the content, or it can for many people. But they’ll always be able to pick up where they left off instead of finding out they need a whole new gearset or 10 more levels and new everything. I don’t usually stay subbed more than a few months at a time, I take breaks then I no-life for awhile, like that, so taking my time at something that isn’t going anywhere should be a meaningful experience.

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Why not just have static servers and progression servers? Static for those that never plan to go beyond Vanilla and progression servers for those that want to replay the progression through expansions?

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Sorry not trying to be negative. Just trying to think of it as a static entity versus a forever design.

You know, this is a great point. Thinking back to when I took my first break (August 2006), I remember being frustrated over raid times and raiding was all there was for me to do. Of course, that is not true at all but the feeling was there because of how alt-unfriendly Vanilla was. or rather, felt to me then. Being in a guild that raided Naxx the thought of an alt was almost alien. The time /played, DKP used, etc etc was daunting. Nowadays, getting an alt 90% of the way there is a matter of a couple weeks, tops. The alt game here will take a long time, and isn’t a bad thing.

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I like the idea of taking 2-3 years to get through the content if I want to. I imagine as population drops over time some servers will need mergers or sharding to maintain viable populations.

I don’t think any expansion offers the replay-ability of vanilla (just in terms of sheer content), although I agree legion has a lot of class-specific content that makes alts interesting.

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I was such an altoholic when I started in BC (usually took until the 30’s to decide whether I liked a class) that I didn’t even cap a character until just before wrath. Friends switching factions and servers only compounded the issue. I remember meeting a friend of a friend who had played since vanilla and he was taken aback that I had at least 6+ level 20-30 something characters but no capped one. :laughing:

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For me, specifically, TBC has the most replayability. Just about every class has multiple builds in the 41-point trees can be fun. All the original quests and dungeons are still pretty challenging so leveling 1-60 isn’t nerfed to the point of feeling pointless. Professions are all still pretty much good every step of the way and the new profession adds more options.

Wrath is a mixed bag for me, and wouldn’t really be interesting or feel replayable. (Anything later and Azeroth stopped being worth leveling in, dungeons got chopped into bite-size pieces I didn’t like, professions went through the wringer, talents got shredded.)

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I would play on a TBC server. I’d still play on a classic server too, but I started in TBC and actually didn’t buy the expansion right away as I had no capped character to level in outland. The game was still pretty close to vanilla with some interesting additions like gem slots.

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Yeah like Progression servers. Burning Crusade and Wrath of the lich king would be awesome - LISTEN BLIZZARD

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Lifeblood of any MMO is regular infusions of new content.

If Classic is static and never receives updates, all but the most die hard players will get bored and quit.

After you’ve gotten your character(s) to 60, gotten as far as you can in raids and gotten as far as you can PVP what else is there to look forward to?

You’ve either “won” the game, or gotten as far as you’ll ever get. After that you’re just spinning your wheels.

It’s the regular infusions of new content that keep things interesting.

That said, I expect that if Classic goes well, I wouldn’t be surprised if Blizzard releases a Classic: TBC, which should keep things fresh.

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I’ve said my piece in a number of other threads related to this topic, and my position remains constant:

“Static” realms cannot and should not exist, for the health of the game long term (and also for general authenticity).

I do not believe this should in ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, be an option or player choice. Players will invariably and overwhelmingly choose the path that benefits them, even at the expense of the overall game/ game play, and simply cannot be trusted to make this decision.

At the end of two years, I’d only have 2 potential options:

  1. Permanently xfer to the linked “TBC Classic” realm for their server (if TBC classic exists at all)

  2. Wait for the vanilla server to end of cycle, and relaunch as a “Fresh” realm. I would however, as a small compromise, be in favor of players being able to maintain basic character customizations (your character creation choices), names, and guilds together through the process… I would not allow any gear, gold, talents, levels, mounts, etc to follow the character(s), however. It is starting entirely over again for the next season/cycle at level 1.

It’s only in this way that the game can be truly authentic towards OG vanilla design, and function as the “museum piece” they want it to be, while also acknowledging that the gear/progression system is the engine that drives the entire game, and what keeps people playing longer term.

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