Don’t think it would take much for me, some new quest chains in current zones, a few new additions to current leveling zones or new leveling zones, new areas of current dungeons and a maybe a few more dungeons. New appropriately powerful items and rewards. No level up raids. I think SoD swung the pendulum way too far in the wrong direction and is not what anyone had in mind.
Minor class tweaks to current trees to make weaker specs playable at end game, no runes, no crazy spell re works or additions.
For me it would need to sit on a TBC base (classes more fleshed out, talent tress better, and cross faction race/class options)
Then I would actually allow some of the other races/classes to exist that have come, so others who played/started in different WoW iterations/expansions might find a home through that identity. Thinking of
Tauren Paladins, Undead/Human Hunters, Troll Druids/Warlocks Dwarf Warlocks etc. (not of Tauren Rogues).
After that I would instead of adding all new quests, first I would make the quest chains more fun and rewarding. There are tons of Elite Quests, and even Long Chains (thinking of the many Goblin chains that have you running around everywhere) that the very last Quest turn in is an option of two really low value greens. They instead should be brought up to Blue quality and made relevant. Then they can start adding new quests after they have familiarized themselves with each zone and how they al;ready improved those quests because then they will know where players would be and what items they still need so they can make proper rewards.
QoL features like Dual Spec etc.
Finally don’t go crazy with tuning classes like they did in SoD (broke pvp) but actually small tweaks that slowly bring everything up to par with each other slightly. (we’re talking no tuning over a 5% margin on anything, so extremely light tuning)
Also the World should be updated and the expansions many zones can slowly be brought in like large patches (instead of expansions) with raids and new quests etc.
I like that, also would’nt mind larger patches in intervals like that of expansions that slowly introduce new class/race options to breathe life into it.
From my time spent is alternative locations, I’m a pretty big fan of what Turtle WoW has going on.
New zones, (nothing crazy just stuff that was intended originally but they never had time for), dual spec, instant mail among your own toons, some minor balancing while keeping the classic feel, professions that feel impactful but not forced. (What they tried is SoD was terrible, but Turtle WoW seems on the right track) Something to make engineering not the end-all-be-all profession.
New mounts, sharing Rep / PvP rank among all characters (would be great for alt’o’holics), new raids, new dungeons. All given to us in big patches and not expansions.
I want the old world to feel relevant, not completely done away with once the new zones drop.
Introduce a few new dungeons/raids/zones (timbermaw, hyjal, quel thalas)
Maintain the purposefulness of older raids, dungeons and zones (dailies, boss events, item sets)
Tweak hybrid classes, even potentially introduce death knights.
Finish the unfinished content that was either left unfinished or pushed back (emerald dream, karazhan, azshara)
I’m not a game designer, solely a consumer but I can imagine a vanilla+ as something that’s not going to replace the whole original game like the expansions, but something that increases the scope of vanilla, a more lateral extension, one that doesn’t supersede the original flavour, merely enhances it.
Add a few new zones, dungeons, and questlines for leveling (so that content isn’t top-heavy)
Seasonal, rotating activities to keep the game more than just raid logging and power leveling
Release a new zone/dungeon/raid/questline/profession schematics every now-and-then
With a hard-cap of 60, endgame progression should be given a horizontal progression rather than the vertical that WoW has historically pursued
Azeroth is a “main character” and if there is any attention-shift away from it, it should be relatively brief (as an example, instead of Outland being a whole “continent”, there could instead be a raid set in Outland)
Dual-spec
No new classes
No new races
Keep existing capitals relevant
Controversial suggestions(?) :
Instead of new classes, add new ways to play existing classes; something akin to SoD, but less extreme, like in Phase 1 (Tank Shaman, Mage Healer, etc.)
New race/class combos (Tauren Paladin and Dwarf Shaman are both reasonably lore-friendly and addresses constant complaints within the factions about them being unbalanced or unfair)
One idea for “seasonal, rotating activities” could be an incentive for leveling alts, like temporary EXP boosts or maybe little things like unique mounts for leveling all classes and/or races.
I like Most everything you suggest but the act of not adding new race/class options even within the currently existing ones even if you would’nt play them would really hurt in the long run to make it stand out as a true classic + for most people.
If you got literally every other thing on your list as you liked it, would you be willing to bypass Tauren Paladins or Dwarf Shamans etc? Other people like them and I think we should allow others to play what they want, while also adding replay ability.
Also Shamans already Tank pretty well (not touch enough for Raid progression granted)
LFG tool that works like retail’s M+ group finder tool (doesn’t auto-group you or teleport you, just shows class/role icon and name and lets you find ppl or group and what they need without having to spam LFG channel)
instant mail between alts & guildies
modern graphics
karazhan as both a mega dungeon and a raid
updated class balancing just a touch, just enough to make some specs a bit more viable/competitive/desirable.
Its really so far from it.
What they did to SoD classes was wild and like throwing ish to the wall to see what sticks.
Classic+ folks want a much milder form of SoD from everything I have read over the many years since before Classic launch.
Subtle tweaks to class balance like giving Oomkins and Elemental Shamans more ways to regen mana, but we didnt want them to have Flame Shock Procs on lava Burst that can two shot enemies etc. etc.
Give Shamans a Taunt, and tweak a single talent or two to add a bit more defense as well instead of making them the strongest tanks in the game.
Simply Give Paladins a Taunt as well… the class was basically great for tanking outside of that… they went insane with it.
There is so much we can agree that SoD screwed up, and ruined the vision of a real Classic +
In short SoD was like the most extreme version anyone who supports Classic+ could ever imagine, outside of the Dungeons being used as Raids which was a pretty decent take.
-Dual spec
-Guild banks
-Taunt of paladins / Mana issues
-Mana issues for boomkins/6% instead of 3, for moonkin aura.
-Paladins and Shamans no longer faction exclusive
-Help out warlocks with shard generation
(Hard take: Remove all racials from the game) ← obviously separated because im sure its not preferable.
Racials just adds unnecessary race funneling. imo
They didn’t combine any of the ideas posted so far on this thread which is very much like similar threads from the past.
tell me what’s the wildest suggestion you have seen so far and I bet you we agree its a bit extreme.
Classic+ is supposed to be at its core Minimal QoL changes and slight balance changes so that the Spirit of Classic remains, as well as possibility of Sideways (horizontal) progression and gearing options etc… not what we got with SoD at all and we can agree SoD was a nightmare on balancing and they did way too much and changed the game more than they needed to.
But its actually easy to grab these opinions and see which ones are asked for the most that actually changes the game the least and add them, then consider the more extreme ones at a later date. Even the world’s dumbest AI right now could scan this forum for Classic + suggestions and populate a list by how many times things were suggested, then a human with average intelligence could see how many times it was suggested each time and which ones would change the game the least and start very basic. That’s Classic Plus
I for one have never heard of a Classic + suggestion that involved Gear that was better than the current gear you could get at the same levels (vertical upgrades). In fact the most I ever saw in any Classic+ thread was some people saying to make the current items more exciting to obtain, like the ones with too much spirit and a really low primary stat like +8 Spirit +1 Agility.
Yet in SoD thats all it was - was Pre Raid BiS that was your only regular (normal vanilla content) items, then you got your raiding gear that was wayy better (vertical upgrades) than most things you’d have gotten from the original game. So it turned the game entirely away from a Classic + idea from every standpoint.
In fact if you ask ANY of the original Classic + new or old folks the vast majority of them will also agree SoD was notClassic + or the subtle changes they thought of when they thought of a Classic +originally… and that’s not to say because they didn’t use any of their ideas instead, but because they took very little of the main ideas for Classic + into SoD. For example more class/race options… an overwhelming majority ask for minimally Paladins on Horde/Shaman on Ally yet we saw no such thing for SoD.
So Ask a Classic + advocate if they thought SoD was Classic +. You get a resounding No, and all of them will tell you they went way too far and way too crazy with the tweaks and changes.