They are not going to do a fresh level. This game has been since forever built on character progression. They are not going to now make you start a fresh level 1 and level all of classic again to get to TBC. We do not need character copies, just a transfer so you pick if you want to keep playing classic or TBC. It’s silly to have the same character in both versions of the game and creates all kinds of loop holes with possible manipulation of gold and items. Just pick where you want to play.
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It won’t be.
First, let’s just look at the gold required for mounts:
Assuming 10% discount, and excluding classes that get mounts w/o outright buying:
Lvl 40: 90g
Lvl 60: 900g
Lvl 70: Normal and Epic Flying ~ 5000g (if memory serves)
Second, let’s consider the time commitment. Most players did not reach 60 all that fast. It really took 1-2 months for most of the serious casuals to hit 60 and start end-game content. I suspect this would get stretched in TBC.
Finally, a small group will get to 70 stupid-fast. This will lead to their boredom, which may result in:
- Excessive farming which could tilt the economy (we saw this in classic)
- Excessive camping on PvP servers which could lead servers with a slight imbalance to a significant imbalance (yep… That happened in Classic, too!)
Ultimately, expansions were designed to be played sequentially. Not from the beginning. Restarting will not make things easier, and will likely result in the loss of most of the player base.
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MOAR SERVERS!
MOAR SERVERS!
So many servers that most servers start off nearly dead since there will be servers for everything and everyone!
I don’t see why this has to be a binary option.
Open some new fresh BC servers. Open some with copy options from classic vanilla servers.
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Honestly it would make sense to do this, open just a few before TBC comes out that are fresh only so some who want to level can and wont be far behind servers with transfers.
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I think fresh servers for TBC is a great opportunity for people to reroll without the guilt of leaving anything behind. So if you chose wrong server type in classic, or you didn’t like your class, or faction, you can fix that on fresh TBC realm. I know I would. Not mentioning the feeling of a fresh server once again.
Then again, I wouldn’t mind being able to copy my classic character, because I’ve put time in it. But I’d like these copied characters not to be allowed on fresh only realms.
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Would like the option of having a single fresh 58 at the start of a tbc server (as I would like to jump right into tbc content rather then spend weeks leveling through 1-57) , after that you go through the normal leveling process 1-70 for any alts you want.
This is my best case scenario imo
If they’re not going to do the transfer/copy thing, I would rather have a level 58 to start with. It would be silly to have to redo Classic content for a TBC experience.
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This always makes me laugh because I started in BC. I had no character at level 58 to immediately play in Outlands with. And, Outlands is not all of what makes BC well BC. Part of the BC experience is the privilege to making Blood Elves and/or Draenei. And, both Alliance and Horde having access to the Shaman/Paladin Classes. They’re no longer Faction exclusive. Let’s not forget about Guild Banks. All of these things do not require anyone to be level 58 and being in Outlands, in order to access.
I can only imagine how long it will take folks to log into TBC given that classic alone servers was way to long, TBC would be insane.
Best move? Progress the servers to TBC, and offer free transfers to some ‘stasis’ servers that never go past 60 for those who get apoplectic at the idea of ever going beyond their precious vanilla.
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The best option in terms of how to transition to TBC from classic would be a character copy system that deletes all gold and non soulbound items from the character copied over.
To not do so introduces a load of issues that will damage the economy of the game.
I believe in addition to this there should be an option to create a level 58 character for non draenei/blood elf characters.
There would of course be an option to start out at level 1 and draenei/blood elves have to start out at level 1
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I myself absolutely do not want to start over from Level 1 when TBC Classic is a thing. I’m still working on getting my (11) Level 29s.
However, it would be cool if there were some O M G F R E S H TBC servers for those masochists who would want that experience.
Its really important to think about how to approach TBC servers.
I think we all realise that the current faction imbalance of population is kinda crazy, some servers are 90% Horde or 90% Alliance dominate, which is simply not okay.
So lets address the most common ways people would like to see Classic Vanilla transition to Classic TBC.
Transfer servers
Transfer servers allow the player to move their exsisting Classic Vanilla characters to new Classic TBC servers.
- Advantages
People who have made a connection to their characters will continue to play them, it also means people will not have to progress their level, professions, reputation or their stash.
- Disadvantages
If there are no limits to the transfer process (especially regarding gold) it will allow those who are SUPER-RICH (beyond 10,000g) to have an unfair advantage going into TBC, admittantly this mostly affects the top end of raiders, it may allow more casual players to make decent money selling crafts and goods to those who will be willing to pay a premium, also admittantly I am sitting quite close to 10,000g myself though i would not object to blizzard putting a reasonably cap on gold transfers, though this could be circumvented with multiple characters or investing in goods that still hold value after TBC release.
- Closing thoughts
I feel as if transfer servers are the best outcome going forward in a one size fits all situation, it would also allow blizzard to apply a strong hand to curate and balance the servers between Alliance and the Horde.
Progress servers
These servers would be the closest to ‘Blizzlike’ or ‘No changes’ and would simply apply the TBC expansion onto the Classic servers. I dont completely subscribe to the Blizzlike or Nochanges crowd, there is nothing wrong with improving the experience if the content is unchanged.
- Advantages
There are almost no advantages for this system over the the Transfer servers except perhaps a ‘simplicity’ arguement, but lets be real, there is nothing complex for the user to transfer from A to B, it would simply be less work for Blizzard.
- Disadvantages
There are many disadvantages for progress servers, including those die-hard Vanilla purists who will no longer be able to experience Vanilla as it currently stands (though I believe Vanilla purists are shooting themselves in the foot by discounting TBC)
- Closing thoughts
While i have no intrest in a Vanilla experience after TBC classic arrives, there are many people who would still choose to play Vanilla and forcing them into these servers would be a mistake on blizzards behalf. Progress servers have no advantage over Transfer servers, its just a matter of how much work blizzard is willing to put in. Its entirely plausible that Blizzard may provide Sandbox Vanilla servers where the game continues to exist in a 1.12 phase 6 capacity ad-infinitum for people to transfer their existing characters away from the progress servers.
Fresh servers
Its a pretty straight forward idea, everyone starts from level 1 and people can roll the classes they wish to play for the new game, allowing a full race from the start.
- Advantages
Its a fresh start, some people might be unhappy with their current guilds/servers.
It also means that people who want to reroll wont be compelled to maximise their new characters potential (gear, professions) prior to TBC releasing.
It also means that people who were extremely successful in Vanilla dont have such a large advantage in terms of raw gold and materials.
- Disadvantages
This really hurts the slowest levelers Priests, Paladins, Warriors and ofcourse casuals. While I dont interact with many casuals as far as raid content is considered, i would be completely foolish to believe that a healthy server can operate without them, they are an essential part of WoW, they are the people that farm materials, do 5 man instances and they’re always out in the world.
Fresh servers also allow hunters and mages to reach maximum level far sooner than others, allowing them to control key resources far earlier than others players.
It also means that there would be a constant disconnect between Fresh and Transfer servers that will never be overcome, meaning transfers would never be allowed.
- Closing thoughts
I dont feel as if Fresh servers are the best solution for a one size fits all, i do however, ABSOLUTELY endorse the existance of fresh servers that people can choose to pursue their desires of a true blank slate for TBC.
Boosted-Fresh
Boosted fresh servers would allow players to start from a high level (50-58) in preparation for TBC. This kind of server puts everyone on an equal footing, ability to skip over Vanilla content yet still recreate a fresh enviroment.
- Advantages
Creates an enviroment which fosters ‘the race’ of an expansion launch where everyone is on equal fotting. Does not allow people to bring their wealth and gear from Vanilla. People can be free to choose new servers and new characters if they feel like re-rolling.
- Disadvantages
Gives a free leg up to people who did not participate in Vanilla classic and completely invalidates all the character progress people have made. Incentivises people to quit Vanilla sooner rather than later.
- Closing thoughts
I really dont approve of this kind of server, its reminicent of level boosts from retail, completely undermines Vanilla progression and will lead to chaotic and imbalanced realms.
My opinion? Its transfer servers all the way.
I want the option to stick with my characters that ive come to know.
Giving people the option to find new homes, away from the overcrowded mess that is servers such as Whitemane, Incendius, Herod, etc.
It is my opinion that a TBC server becomes far too unhealthy once it starts reaching above 4000 concurrent players.
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That’ll just split the playerbase even more, especially if they leave Classic alone for people who want just Vanilla. By and large we should be all in this together, whether we want to be or not and if you only want Vanilla and not TBC then maybe you’re done. I can’t imagine having to relevel all my toons again, it’d be very disheartening and I don’t know if I’d do it especially since I’m leveling multiple characters. Plus you’re talking about players losing all those rare recipes they had, crusader, lionheart, etc and releveling professions again? On every character? Gross.
The only thing I’m concerned about is that players are already min/maxing Classic and have thousands more gold than what was normal back in the day. Lots of people are going to go into TBC with thousands of gold and will further inflate the economy, but I don’t really know what the answer is. Even if you did something like force people to only start with 500g or something it’d probably happen again anyways.
I noticed on the survey there was no mirror option. Basically how it was worded was forced move to TBC with option to move back to classic or vice versa, plus the level 58/1 options.
A few thoughts: you need a mirror option. Keep the 60 classic character on a server with a mirror to TBC server. Basically how the PTR works.
Starting fresh sounds great but I all of that progress and items you put in during classic are worthless… bags, gold, few items that translate well to TBC. Sorry if you hate your class, you picked it! I have zero desire to start from level 1 again, 58 maybe… but in reality I want to keep my characters.
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Nope. I am not looking to level 1-70, I would only do that for a Dranei shaman/paladin, or a blood elf (
) paladin/mage/priest/lock.
I can confirm my guild of 65 raiders doesn’t want to start at level 1 again on their MAIN characters of choice they put the most time into.
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I never understood this argument. The playerbase will always be split. It’s literally a thing, in this game. The whole Horde vs Alliance thing. We’re even split, within our own faction. We’ve got those deeply concerned about Min/Maxing. Those that only care about PvP. Those that only care about Raiding. Those that only care about RPing. Those that only care to Solo. Many different players play this game. The only thing we have in common is playing WoW. How we’re playing it, is a completely different story.
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If you level 1-70 with tact, you can have 500g by the time you hit 60 and then you can have another 1500+ from 60 to 70. People would min/max their gold from 1-70. Starting at 60 or not starting at 60 doesn’t change anything by a large margin.