Pristine servers

[Soulwind]

While we could argue if a small vocal minority is "the community".. At the end, blizzard doesnt appease to the community, but to the same guys that want everything removed from the game, which are just toxic for everyone else.

It's the same with flying. Blizzard listened to toxic people who want to remove everything to get back the nostalgic first time.

And once again they want to "appease" to a small toxic group.

In a way, it appeases everyone, as we don't have to deal with them anymore.

[Deleted]

In a way, it appeases everyone, as we don't have to deal with them anymore.

No, it actually adresses a small destructive group of people.. who will not stop with a "conveniences turned off"-version. They will always want to make it more "classic'ish". Do you really think they will stop when they got the first step on their list of blind nostalgia?

No, they will

a) find a reason to continue to dislike blizzards design
b) ask to turn the legacy realm into what they want even more..

and if they find out that it doesnt work as they thought, they will give blizzard credit for not turning it into a classic realm completely.

It's the same with the insect plague that infests beta forums of new MMORPGs to ensure they become "like classic". They eat up all the good ideas to create broad audience content, and leave once the game cant adress their nostalgia anymore.

Blizzard needs to learn to ignore small toxic groups of criers. They made the mistake in WoD. They made the mistake in MoP. They always cater to those who cry loudest.

[Kolvarg]

Well, then we should ask blizzard to also add LFR only realms. Where there would be no organized raiding, and LFR would drop mythic gear.. with realm transfer disabled.

Also, there should be solo player realms where blizzard would allow players to play all content solo. Means dungeons and raids.

I believe those two groups are bigger than the "nostalgia-blinded classic #hardcore"-nerds.

The difference being that those players can already do those activities in the existing realms, and the single fact those activities by definition do not benefit at all from the concept of realms, let alone specific realms for those activities.

The solution to play all content solo isn't specialized realms by itself though, but additional features added (which could or not be added only in specific realms), be it the ability to "hire" NPCs (or use Garrison/Class hall followers) as companions in dungeons and raids, although that would be very controversial. A likely more viable alternative could be the addition of scenarios emulating the dungeons and/or raids after they've completed, so solo players could still see the raids.

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And as soon as you cave in towards one groups' demands, every other group will demand their own "specialized realm" Once it starts it never ends...

It isn't different than what happens already, with some people demanding no-flying while others demand flying. Same could be said for nearly every discussable idea or design choice the make.

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You misunderstand the word "I" for the word "people".

Its very common on these forums

You used neither of those words, though. Your words:

"This isnt what the game needs."

[Xandrigity]

Sorry folks they are not going to rewrite the game. They may be willing to disable some quality of life things but things like "make stuff harder" is not going to happen.
Legacy servers are a no. I think what they are suggesting is a really good compromise however. I agree perhaps disable flying and disable all matching systems for PVE instances. It could easily happen without having to rewrite whats live just a lot of disabling.

[Trollfat]

Flying mounts are pretty much needed in zones such as Storm Peaks, Icecrown, and Deepholm. But disabling Legion Pathfinder on these realms could be an option worth considering.

[cletis1234]

I would never play on a pristine server. The point of Legacy servers is to re-experience the original world, classes, and mechanics of Vanilla --> WoTLK. They either implement Legacy servers or nothing at all.

[Mafic]

I would never play on a pristine server. The point of Legacy servers is to re-experience the original world, classes, and mechanics of Vanilla --> WoTLK. They either implement Legacy servers or nothing at all.

Exactly.

It seems their ego is bruised with the sudden push of legacy servers. The truth is WoD was a turd and Legion is the repainted version of WoD.

[Orangetai420]

LFR would also need to be removed. Leveling would need to be harder - we would need class tuning at all levels. Bring back ammo and soul shards, etc.

In the end it becomes too much work. They are missing the point - you can't just disable looms and LFD and call it good.

[Trollfat]

Exactly.

It seems their ego is bruised with the sudden push of legacy servers. The truth is WoD was a turd and Legion is the repainted version of WoD.

So you've got to actually play Legion at release then? Guys, we've got ourselves a time traveller.

Also, did you even read Blizzard's statement? They would release legacy servers on Battle.net if they could, but it's not technically possible. Pristine servers are a fair compromise imo and I would reroll in a heart beat.

[Wondercrab]

The idea of pristine servers seems even more niche than Vanilla ones, catering to arguably the least enjoyable parts of that experience without any of the nostalgia. If the devs are interested in pursuing ideas like this then I think they'd be far better served trying to include them as optional alternatives in the live game (letting us turn off CRZs would be fantastic, for example) rather than attempting to create a half-measure that would be little more than a hard/inconvenient mode for current WoW.

That being said, I am glad the devs are at the very least thinking about these kinds of options, even if their current ideas seem pretty shortsighted.

[Deleted]

That would be Vanilla with WoD graphics, no one would want to play that shit. Anything outside of mythic raids should not be hard or tedious at all.

[threads]

sorry but pristine servers aren't the same.

the world is still not challenging. levelings still too quick. there's no training abilities or skill trees. there's no class quests.

streamers have already tried making level capped guilds and the content is still faceroll while wearing white items.

people want to relive old azeroth and 40 man naxx. not pass up all the old content and end up at level 100 or 110 being the savior of azeroth waving their ashbringer around.

[vanbrunt]

The idea of pristine servers seems even more niche than Vanilla ones, catering to arguably the least enjoyable parts of that experience without any of the nostalgia. If the devs are interested in pursuing ideas like this then I think they'd be far better served trying to include them as optional alternatives in the live game (letting us turn off CRZs would be fantastic, for example) rather than attempting to create a half-measure that would be little more than a hard/inconvenient mode for current WoW.

That being said, I am glad the devs are at the very least thinking about these kinds of options, even if their current ideas seem pretty shortsighted.

The inconveniences forced people to interact with each other, for people in raiding guilds this may not make a huge difference, but for everyone else it made having friends more valuable. People get more hostile when all you have to do to join a dungeon is to queue for it. Without group finders people have to cooperate and befriend others who are cooperative, and without cross realm people are stuck with each other promoting the same culture.

If turning these things off was optional and up to the individual, you would have to put yourself at a disadvantage relative to the others on your realm. The point of having separate realms where these things are disabled is so that everyone playing on them agrees to these sacrifices and play by the same rules, because they all agree that it is more fun.

[M1r4g3]

What a lot of people don't seem to realise is how little wow has changed content-wise, you could recreate the vanilla/tbc/wotlk experiance just by tuning everything a bit, and just removing some accessability/catchup crap including everything cross realm.

[Sierra85]

What a lot of people don't seem to realise is how little wow has changed content-wise, you could recreate the vanilla/tbc/wotlk experiance just by tuning everything a bit, and just removing some accessability/catchup crap including everything cross realm.

it wouldn't be the same, especially with the cataclysm changing the world.

[Collected]

The idea of "pristine servers" is clearly a compromise idea because they've ruled out being able to fire up vanilla servers and release the vanilla client. And I don't blame them for that. As a software developer the very idea of going back to 10 year old code and having to run it and support it is the stuff of nightmares. So they've thought "Can we offer something similar using the current client and servers" and clearly the answer isn't as favourable as a pure vanilla solution for obvious reasons.

I think the post if anything was just designed to let the players know that Blizzard DO talk about the subject. Perhaps the demand being expressed will cause someone at Blizzard to say "screw it.. let's do it" and release the resources required to make it happen. But I doubt it will happen. Blizzard are far too protective about the quality of the end user experience. They wouldn't be able to guarantee that quality with a 10 year old server and client solution. People put up with it on private servers because it's what it is. They wouldn't put up with it if they were official Blizzard servers. And the demand for the servers would be hugely bigger than what the demand is for the current private servers out there.

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What a lot of people don't seem to realise is how little wow has changed content-wise, you could recreate the vanilla/tbc/wotlk experiance just by tuning everything a bit, and just removing some accessability/catchup crap including everything cross realm.

Disagree. They'd need to retune everything if they were going to revert back to vanilla spells, talents and abilities. It would be a nightmare and would require a lot of development time and testing.

[Wondercrab]

If turning these things off was optional and up to the individual, you would have to put yourself at a disadvantage relative to the others on your realm. The point of having separate realms where these things are disabled is so that everyone playing on them agrees to these sacrifices and play by the same rules, because they all agree that it is more fun.

What I meant by optional alternatives was that they should work on ways to make these things more appealing in the current game, such as incentivising premade groups and giving people more ways to connect with others on their own realm, offering appealing rewards for leveling without any heirlooms or boosts, and introducing systems that reward positive social interaction. Positive reinforcement works better than negative reinforcement, and there are many ways they could achieve similar results in the live game without designing a whole new server type that enforces hard restrictions on the same content.

Again, I'm sure there would be a subset of people that would still enjoy that kind of server, but it seems too far removed from the Vanilla experience to cater to the crowd who want classic realms, while also being a misguided attempt to resolve some of the issues that exist on live. Simply put, there are better ways to address these things.

[M1r4g3]

it wouldn't be the same, especially with the cataclysm changing the world.

Yeah but we have never experienced post-cata leveling with the core gameplay of vanilla, so we cant say if it would be worse/better.

Disagree. They'd need to retune everything if they were going to revert back to vanilla spells, talents and abilities. It would be a nightmare and would require a lot of development time and testing.

Tbh i think old talents were better but people are overating their imporatance, also we don't know how scaling mobs would affect the newer spells/talents

[beanman12345]

So it seems like pristine will be just Legion minus every single quality of life addition made to the game over the past decade. Eh, whatever floats your boat, I still don't see this getting past the idea stage though.

[vanbrunt]

What I meant by optional alternatives was that they should work on ways to make these things more appealing in the current game, such as incentivising premade groups and giving people more ways to connect with others on their own realm, offering appealing rewards for leveling without any heirlooms or boosts, and introducing systems that reward positive social interaction. Positive reinforcement works better than negative reinforcement, and there are many ways they could achieve similar results in the live game without designing a whole new server type that enforces hard restrictions on the same content.

Again, I'm sure there would be a subset of people that would still enjoy that kind of server, but it seems too far removed from the Vanilla experience to cater to the crowd who want classic realms, while also being a misguided attempt to resolve some of the issues that exist on live. Simply put, there are better ways to address these things.

Yes I agree with this, being an mmorpg the standard servers should IMO reward and promote social interaction and bonding. I'd personally rather have the pristine servers than the standard realms as they stand today though, and if they can't find a formula that fits all then maybe it is a sensible addition to the list of realm types. But I don't think they address the desire for classic servers.