I read a very interesting article today, and much of what the writer said rings true for me, and I thought I’d share the piece with those who might not have seen it.
There are many points made that had me thinking. For example:
Because WoW: Classic evolved into the out-of-touch dud that is retail WoW, it has lost its identity as a stand-alone game that is radically different than any other MMORPG on the market. It makes sense for people to wonder whether or not WoW: Classic will find an audience, but this line of thinking forgets a very important reality.
The audience for WoW: Classic hasn’t gone anywhere. They have always persisted, WoW: Classic is the thing that disappeared. The existence of WoW: Classic audience is felt every time a surge of players return during a new expansion and quit after 2 months of playing.
And:
In my opinion, these criticisms miss the point entirely and forget (or perhaps never experienced) why WoW: Classic was popular in the first place. The entire appeal of WoW: Classic lies within the intoxicating balance between investment and reward. Because things are hard to accomplish, it feels better to accomplish them.
This particular comment rings very true for me. It reminds me of Christmas: when I was young, my family wasn’t very well off and with one working parent and 4 children the list of gifts was fairly small and we would get, at most, one significant gift and stocking fillers. But boy, did we love that one significant gift. But today I see parents loading their kids up with huge piles of gifts that generate little enthusiasm. WoW has hit that same point - what we get isn’t valued because we get so much of it for so little work.
And out in the real world, achievement generates that endorphine-like rush of pleasure when we spent a lot of time and effort getting something that gives us that Sense of Wonder, of achievement. And its no different whether it be a real thing or a gaming achievement. And I cannot remember when I last had that sense in WoW.
I’m hoping Classic will bring at least some of that back.
Well, since the purpose of Classic is because the physical game is needed to properly protect their IP, it’s 100% true that it only has to exist to be a success.
Now, to have a healthy population on every server is a way different story.
Great article. I agree with the writer. Wow Classic is a treasure and it needs to exist. He gets it. The actual feeling f achievement when you accomplish something in game. Not like current wow, you just log in and get stuff.
Layering is only phase 1. I literally never even noticed layering existed while leveling from 1-40 on beta. It’s a total non-issue. Maybe it was a issue when you could abuse it for resources but that seems to be fixed on beta with some sort of cool down.
I think you classic wow doubters are the one for a disappointment.
Not one person expects what your saying, that is garbage assumption
Have a brain, we all know the game has been figured out and isn’t a mystery anymore.
We are coming back BECAUSE WE LOVE THE GAME.
Your reasoning is stupid and makes no sense, if Super Mario 64 is my favorite game ever I will still enjoy it every time I play it regardless of whether its my 1st or 500th play through.
I enjoy wow classic because it is an amazing game that I love and enjoy very much, and just from playing private servers I can tell you from person experience what you said has no effect, the magic of the world is still just as overwhelming and intoxicating as ever, there are so many mysteries about it
“Everything is known”
Tell me exactly how much you remember from classic?
Because from personal experience after not playing the game for 15 years it almost is a brand new game, most people will be in the same boat, classic will be a journey of rediscovery and remembrance.
Also don’t tell me how to enjoy what I like, very annoying of you to assume the state of minds of other players, I’ve wanted classic for 15 years, I know dam well this isn’t 2004 and the players have changed.
Guess what, I don’t care, I just wanted the game back, couldn’t care less about recreating an exact social experience of 2004 to expect that is just stupid i just want the damn game back.
Part of it will be that the game has a shelf-life. Just because we’ll be rediscovering a lot of it, does not mean it will last forever.
It’s important because it changed the way we view MMORPGs forever, and it’s important to access that original, Hall of Fame version.
But it is not something that will last forever. We know a lot, and we’ll remember and rediscover a lot.
I didn’t play much Horde in Vanilla. But it’s not the whole journey, and it won’t last forever. And I may not have the patience or love of going through it more than a couple times.
More assumptions based off personal feelings and preference.
Shelf life of 2 years minimum since it has the content to support two years.
Five years for all the casuals to finish.
Infinite replay ability when it comes to alts/pvp/pve.
I think you also underestimate how many die hard vanilla fans there are.
We’ve wanted the game for the last 15 years, blizzard couldn’t kill us no matter how hard they tried to silence us and shut us up, we know exactly what we are getting into and what we want.
All this talk of “will the game survive? Will it be a success?”
My answer, WHO THE HELL CARES, I JUST WANT TO PLAY CLASSIC YOU MORONS.
I don’t care if it’s a success or a flop, I don’t care if it breaks new sub records or if there are only enough for a handful of servers, I just want what I’ve always wanted, a damn server where I can play wow classic.
Classic WILL live forever, because it will always have players willing to play it.
I keep being told this, that I’m underestimating how many people want Classic. But that is quite literally based on assumptions and preferences and personal feelings.
You’ve been waiting 15 years. Other people have been on private servers for 15 years. Still others have never played Vanilla (and make some hilarious claims about Vanilla).
There’s a lot of people looking forward to Classic.
You tell this crowd that they’re getting Legacy servers? It’s not a matter if it’s a success, it only matters how MUCH of a success it is. The bar for financial is… entertainingly low.
I have zero illusion that there won’t be people who will keep playing for years. I’m one of the people who will still be playing both Retail and Classic, long after all the people who care about gameplay are gone.
But I recognize that I’m the minority, among the minority of players. All you have to do is look around, and see how many people are already looking to TBC servers, or asking about how often there will be “fresh” servers to reroll over and over and over again. Or asking for “Classic+”.
This is why Blizzard doesn’t care how many people play Classic. It’s more money for them, no matter what. They aren’t spending a lot on Classic, and they’re gonna get a huge return on that meager investment.
Shame people need to adopt the attitude of a child to get what they want. I guess stamping your proverbial feet and screaming does work, but the behavioral attitude that goes with it is sickening.
Exactly. I’m curious what pops will be like a year after launch.
After hearing about the lameness of 1.12 AV, my plan at this point is to create a few toons for the purpose of saving names and randomly pop on to play them, only if the classic community turns out to be awesome, which I’m not sure will happen.
