I think the discussion around Cataclysm Classic boils down to that question.
If the status quo is maintained, you will just end up back in retail in a few years time.
Blizzard needs to determine where they and the community(emphasis on the community), draws the line at which xpac classic WoW ends and Retail WoW begins.
I say it’s Cataclysm that Classic ends. Leave Classic at WotLK and don’t re release anything past it. The population will die off and it will have been a wasted effort.
You knew at the start the classic players wouldn’t continue through every expansion, it’s classic for a reason. I along with many others will not play past WotLK and if Cataclysm is split from it, neither population will provide a playable community.
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I honestly don’t think blizzard ever intended to launch TBC and WOTLK…
I think when classic vanilla launched, their data showed how many thousands of people were logging in solely to play classic vanilla and not retail, and that simply resulted in thousands of subs they didn’t want to lose.
I agree that going into a “classic cataclysm” would start to seem like blizzard has no direction of where they want to take or how they want to handle the classic community of the “big three games” being vanilla, tbc and wotlk. As you could tell with vanilla classic, I don’t think they were prepared for practically the entire community of “classic vanilla” to jump ship into tbc and leave everything behind… that’s why we have so many of these debates about RDF and heirlooms because you have a minority of no changes vanilla classic players wanting to implement their changes to wotlk.
I think the best direction once wotlk is “done” is to consolidate the original vanilla servers, and relaunch a classic vanilla plus experience. I can’t see them just abandoning the classic community with no more raids and releases. You can only raid the same raid for so long without eventually taking a break until nostalgia finally kicks back in and you go back, but the return will be a lot quicker of a rinse and repeat than before.
I think blizzard wants to do some sort of hard reset, but is having trouble finding a solution to not deleting everyone’s hard work and say we are starting over. That’s why I think consolidating servers and announcing a classic + would be the best direction as it allows blizzard to say players can keep their previous progress, while we all know everyone will rush to play classic plus. History shows us as much as we have seen the classic vanilla no changes crowd follow the masses into tbc and now wotlk. Hopefully blizzard learns from this simple fact that people want to see a live world and people to play with.
It began with Vanilla and ended in Vanilla.
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Retail would be Shadowlands! Anything else can be classic.
The real transition though is not Wrath, Cata or even MoP. It’s WoD that’s were everything gets distorted into oblivion.
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Blizz seems willing to make changes to do away with a lot of the “retail” aspecs of cata, and onward if it comes to it. The problem is the community is so splintered on every topic, what ever blizz does is gonna piss off half the player base. Rdf for an example. People quitting over not getting it and others are gonna quit if we do get it. Its just stupid. I would like to have it, but its not gonna make or break wrath for me one way or another and thats just one issue. It seems like every aspect of any new expac is a hill to die on, for a lot of the communtiy.
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Classic Was original and something totally different than retail. But we are creeping closer and closer to a retail version of classic. So far the changes have been logical and I support them. However this isn’t the same game now that we had in 2008.
In 2008 DK were a god tier and many classes were laggin. Now they are balanced… that’s new.
I can agree here. I was deep into WoW all through Cata and MoP even though I hated Cata. WoD was the nail in the coffin for me. The removal of pvp gear may have been what did it for me. I’m not completely sure all I know is I got to level cap and didn’t sub again until the next expansion.
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I dont think its so cut and dry as full expansion to expansion. Its more systems like, CRZ, LFR, df, and even further like mission table.
WoD was a mess for a bunch of reasons, and most them boil down to world of systemcraft making things a nightmare. Which is kind of a shame because WoD unironcally could be have been amazing if Blizz didnt cut so many corners. That twitter/ selfie patch still makes me rage.
Or it could just be as simple as when blizzard announces they are releasing something, release it as it was. When you start adding changes and things you think the community does or doesn’t want, that’s when silly debates start to arise on whether or not RDF should be in the game. Was it in the expansion and the patch you are having everyone play on? Great, implement it. It wasn’t? Great leave it out.
Only people that are complaining about RDF being in the game are the no changes classic vanilla players that decided to follow the masses into tbc and wotlk.
Funny how the #no changes crowd demanded no changes but now want to change our wotlk experience? Hmm……
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I never played cataclsym tbh, but i take the word of the majority.
I would play it as long as there aren’t major changes to game play. I’ve heard the talent system changes, combat moves and abilities etc. If things like that change, I won’t play.
It’s like every combat upgrade ever that has ruined a great game, if you change the mechanics of the game, i’m out.
I could care less about QoL changes or cross realm group finding or whatever, just give us the same world, the same mechanics and raiding and pvp with new content, and i’ll play happily.
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Oh cata for sure made tons of changes… like it was overwhelming at the time. TONS of guilds dissolved
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IMO i think they will keep it going until it it no longer profitable regardless of how many Naysayers there are as long as there are private servers with different expansions they will prob keep pushing Classic content till it ceases to make them money or Hold Subs from players who aren’t subbing to retail
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i would love a MoP Classic
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Yes, no doubt they will keep it going until it’s no longer profitable. They want to milk. The classic community for as much as they can. Personally for me, my classic experience is done after wotlk. I did classic vanilla all the way through because tbc wasn’t officially announced until later. When tbc dropped it was a foregone conclusion wotlk was next and because of that I didn’t feel the need to waste time in tbc when my true experience would be in wotlk…
That being said I think it is going to boil down to how they milk the classic community. I think doing a reset in the version of classic plus would be there best option for longevity and sustainability, but that will probably be harder than saying here’s the next ice cream flavor, it’s called cataclysm. So maybe they drop cata and watch sub numbers and if they drop terribly, maybe then a classic plus comes out… but I would be surprised if they go pass wotlk.
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Classic ends at the last expansion to release. Retail begins at the current expansion released
“Classic” does not, in my mind, refer to an “era”, rather it simply refers to a rerelease of a past expansion for people to experience again
Instead, I would refer to the “eras” as different titles. As such:
Warcraft 3.5: Vanilla reintroduces the players to the world (of Warcraft), TBC and Wrath of the Lich King tie up loose ends from Warcraft 3
New world, new adventures: Cataclysm reshapes the entire world for a brand new experience, Pandaria opens up a whole new continent and with it the mystery of exploration
Legion’s Fall: Warlords of Draenor opens Azeroth back up for the Burning Legion’s return, and Legion finally deals with the threat once and for all
The Cycle of Life and Death: Battle for Azeroth puts the casualties of pointless war front and center, and Shadowlands shows us the consequences of that war even in the afterlife
The way I see it, trying to divide the game into just two categories (Classic and Retail) just puts a negative spin on one or the other, with the line often being referred to as “this is when the game stopped being good”, when every expansion (yes even Shadowlands) has something worth enjoying, and saying the people who did enjoy those things aren’t allowed to experience it again in the future, especially after the years and years of denying Classic servers in the first place, is just unfair to those people, just because you don’t want it
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idk i feel like saying classic community is just coping. like the games we played in 2004/2007 and 2008 were completely different experiences compared to what we got in the classic re releases of the games. the community completely changed the way the game was played first week/month of Classic Vanilla felt more like Retail to me than actual vanilla
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End it after wrath and let us merge our toons into our retail.
If I wanted to play Cataclysm content I would go talk to Chromie.
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“Classic” clearly ends with Wrath. That doesnt mean there isnt merit (and $$$) in continuing to recreate old xpacs tho
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That will never ever ever happen
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