You’re paying real money for a sub vs. someone not paying real money for a sub. You’re able to play the game, and they are not. So right away your example is meaningless. Give players the capacity to both support a game they love, and at the same time naturally diffuse the population.
By the way, I have no idea what you mean by saying you get early access only to have that character wiped. That’s not early access. That’s just a beta.
The population will spread naturally depending on individual play time and play style.
If there is a swarm, it won’t be THAT big of a deal for long at all.
I think the developers are worried about server stability more than population chokes (which will eventually happen when enough people ding 60 anyway).
People keep saying this, and you need to watch Ion’s answer in the Q&A. That’s not what they’re worried about. They’re worried about a big influx of tourists who then leave the game, and there’s dead servers as a result.
That happens with every game. They already have several systems to deal with population fluctuation.
Why are you telling me? Ion is the one that said it. Yeah, he didn’t use that word…but that’s precisely whom he was talking about. And the system you’re talking about is sharding. Which is precisely what many of us would like to avoid.
In any event, I think it’s a really good idea to offer early access. Maybe even in a few different tiers. Pay x amount for 3 day headstart, pay a little more for 5 days, little more for a full week (perhaps include that in a CE). Choices are good. At launch people will also most likely be playing alongside players with similar values in regards to how intensely they feel about Classic. The more they’re willing to pay is a pretty good indication how seriously they’re taking Classic.
Because high concentrations of players in quest areas caused massive problems in vanilla.
They are speaking from experience, not for a Q&A which are used more for marketing hype than disseminating crucial information. We all already know what Vanilla is like.
You heard it here first.
Several of the anti-shard brigade are FOR pay2win!
I’ve seen so many posts about how launch in Vanilla was massive queues, huge server populations, impossible to quest. Alongside posts (many by the VERY same people) that Vanilla launch didn’t have the problem that Classic will have because it was a slow trickle of population, whereas Classic will have a ton of people all at once.
So again I see the complete hypocrisy that comes from people arguing for something out of sheer self interest. There’s no consistency when you set truth and fact aside to suit your narrative.
And you saying Ion was just using marketing hype…I mean, come on. It’s not up to you saying Ion doesn’t mean what he says. He made it clear what their intent with sharding is. There’s better solutions, and early access options is one of them.
i think having a CE for like the pets and of course no cash shop afterwards is a perfect option. 3 days early access included with it for like 20 bucks would be right. i still dont believe it would be p2w but whatever.
I’d rather have sharding into the late 20s than this.
I’d price it a little more than that. At least, if there’s a CE with pets as well. As a standalone early access fee though it’s not bad.
Which brings up another point. Should this be able to be paid for by…‘Blizzard credits’ or whatever they call it? Players can just use gold from BfA to buy this stuff?
hmmm thats a good point. i dont know the answer to that one.
One of the best ideas I have seen would be for Blizzard to release Classic on the same day that a major content patch is released in BFA. That would go a long way toward easing the initial rush and congestion, IMO.
Those that have no desire to play BFA would be playing CLassic and those that play BFA could choose where to spend their time–in Classic or in BFA.
Would that mean that those players who play BFA might have to actually make a choice as to whether to play the new BFA content and possibly “fall behind” in Classic or play Classic and possibly “fall behind” in BFA? Yes, but there is nothing wrong with that, IMO. People have to make choices all the time.
What happens when those high concentrations of players in quest areas are in areas well beyond the initial starting areas, say in STV trying to complete the Nesingwary quests, WPL trying to quest in Anderhal or even in Silithus during the AQ event? Should Blizzard shard those areas also?
Good idea for the players but not for the shareholders. ActiBlizzard would want the stock bump from each release individually, not combined, since it’s all tied to the same subscription thus they would never allow it.
Agreed.
And for the health of the game overall (as World of Warcraft, not “Classic” or “Retail”), it is best that they release things in a staggered fashion to give retail players more reason to remain subscribed and paying during content lulls. Even if “purists” don’t want them in “their game”.
to quote an entire post hit the reply button next to the post then click the thing that looks like a chat bubble in the top left of the window that pops up.
how would charging 20ish bucks for a collectors edition on top of the 15 for the sub be bad for the shareholders?
Whether there would be a “stock bump” for each release if they were released separately would depend upon how many people plan to play each game.
Hypothetically (using round numbers for clarity and ease of explaining, not accuracy):
Group A
There are 200,000 people that consistently maintain their subscription. 100,000 of these people plan to play both Classic and BFA.
Group B
There are 200,000 “content locusts” that unsubscribe during “content droughts” but will resubscribe with each major content patch. 100,000 of these plan to play both classic and BFA.
Group C
There are 100,000 people that are not subscribed and plan to play only Classic.
Situation A:
They release a major BFA content patch followed by the release of Classic when the “content locusts” have completed the new BFA content and would unsubscribe for the "content drought:
When the major BFA content patch is released, they will see no increase in subs from group A and a 200,000 increase in subs from group B. When Classic is released, Blizzard will see no gain or loss from group A, a 100,000 loss in subs from group B since that 100,000 will not be playing Classic and a 100,000 increase in subs from those that will sub for Classic. There is no “stock bump” in this situation as group C only offsets the loss in subs from group B.
Situation B:
They release the major content patch for BFA and Classic at the same time.
They will see no gain from group A, a 200,000 increase in subs from group B and a 100,000 increase in subs from group C. When the “content locusts” finish the new BFA content and unsubscribe, there will still be 200,00 subs left from groups B and C.
Both situations would have 200,000 subs left after the content locusts leave, but situation A only see a single “stock bump” of 200,000 subscribers. Situation B, however, sees a “stock bump” of 300,000 when the two releases occur, with a loss of 100,00 later.
Now, these numbers are only hypothetical. The point, though, is that while there will be an increase in the sub numbers for both the release of Classic and a major content patch for BFA, no one knows how large the increase would be for either one. Blizzard may be able to take a guess, but they do not know how many of those that have unsubscribed since BFA was released will come back for a major content patch and how many have left for the entire expansion, if not for good.
Likewise, no one can say for sure how many of those that return for a major content patch will stick around for Classic when it is released and how may will unsubscribe again until the next major content patch. How many of those that stick around and try Classic will ultimately decide that the lack of conveniences is Classic is not for them and leave Classic is another unknown.
No one knows how many will resubscribe for Classic only when it is released, either. Again, Blizzard can make a guess, based upon the numbers of private server players, but that is only a guess and they cannot even guess at the number of players who do not play on private servers who are eagerly awaiting Classic.
IMO, if the goal is to alleviate the initial rush, there are far better ways to do so than using an artificial means of segmenting the populations that they admit is totally and completely antithetical to vanilla. One of those ways is to release Classic and a major BFA content patch at the same time.
If Classic and a major BFA content patch were released at the same time, those who choose to prioritize the new BFA content over Classic would still have reason to remain subscribed during those “content lulls” since Classic is not going anywhere.
What that would mean, though, is that if Johnny chooses to prioritize BFA content over Classic, he would likely not be part of the leading edge levelers or raiders in Classic, although he would not likely be “left in the dust” and unable to be find groups. If, on the other hand, he chose to prioritize Classic over BFA, then he would not be part of the leading edge in BFA.
There is nothing wrong with Johnny having to choose where he wants to prioritize his time.
What I am seeing from some retail players, though, is the attitude that they should not have to choose where to prioritize their time and that Blizzard should cater to them by allowing them to have their cake and eat it, too.
You think you want non-sharded buggy laggy servers with hours long queue times. But you really don’t.