Speculation: Vanilla WoW to be released with next expansion 2018 .. /tap /tap

[parcus]

It'll be a looong time before Classic is finished. There is also no way in hell that Blizzard would release Classic at the same time of an expansion. That would drop a lot of the hype for the release of the new expansion. They'd also never sell them in a package deal because that's cutting profits.

Actually smarter than you think, especially if they are going to tie vanilla wow to their subscription main game. Vanilla wow attracts a very different crowd than retail, it would be perfect for them to announce: We sold X (people who play retail) + Y millions (people interested in vanilla) copies of the latest expansion! With how unpopular a cash shop will be, I think they will opt for the subscription model, then it will make more sense to just make a retail + classic bundle.

[Barnabas]

They could have it up tomorrow if they find this guy.

[parcus]

Reading a Eurogamer interview on it, all they have done right now is some basic infrastructure set up and that's it. At best, I expect this to happen when BfA enters it's content lull at the very end.

Starcraft remastered: announced on May 2016 (not even at Blizzcon!). Launched on August 2017. They would probably not build up the hype if it is not something they have been working on for a while (my guess at least since the nostalrius meeting).

In fact, I think there hasn't been an expansion that was announced 2 Blizzcons before launch, so why would this happen to Vanilla. Yes yes, there is some work involved, but they are not building it from scratch. They just need to pick a plan and do it, not very hard in terms of testing either.

[Arbs]

I don't expect to see Classic Servers until 2019/2020, We have no clue how far along they are.

I don't believe they will launch Classic servers during Battle for Azeroth I expect to see it released during the down time before 9.0.

[Vineri]

I think Classic is their test case for it. If it's even remotely successful, I can see them basically re-releasing their xpacs over and over again. Now how they handle it, that's a different story. Do they make divide the classic servers so half of them roll over to TBC and the others stay Classic or do they just make new TBC ones? Then on to WotLK, and so on and so on.

When they will release it, hopefully with the next expansion, but I can see them holding off on it until the next expansion starts to hit a lull. Hopefully it will be before 2019, but who knows.




I agree. I hope they don't try to charge extra for it considering people have already paid for the classic servers, some people up to 13 years ago.

They have said that their current model is pretty much come and go players not constant ones, so if they end up able to retain more people due to classic being more time consuming, it would even give people who are "out of things to do" on the main servers a place to go in the mean time.

Their current model is come and go, but what Blizzard neglects to mention is that they want people to keep paying as they come, and go. Past xpacs serve the purpose to fill the gaps, as neither Vanilla nor TBC are to ever be considered not hard. They are only easy by those who played them in retail and think their heirlooms are a good equivalent to early gear/resists.

It will be amusing to see people vocally dissing Vanilla/TBC, suddenly disappear without a word.

[Vexali]

Actually smarter than you think, especially if they are going to tie vanilla wow to their subscription main game. Vanilla wow attracts a very different crowd than retail, it would be perfect for them to announce: We sold X (people who play retail) + Y millions (people interested in vanilla) copies of the latest expansion! With how unpopular a cash shop will be, I think they will opt for the subscription model, then it will make more sense to just make a retail + classic bundle.

Highly disagree, but it's alright to have differing opinions. It would be much smarter to drop while WoW is in a content drought. Classic does certainly attract a very (small in comparison to retail) different group of people. That being said, the majority of people who play WoW actively now never experienced Classic. It's going to be something that Blizzard wants to give its own hype to, so that it's not only targeting old players, but also the ones who were not around for Classic. For that reason, pairing them would be a horrible idea. You have to remember that the MMO-Champ community is a VERY small chunk of the WoW community. Most players do not surf these forums and keep up-to-date on the topics that go around on MMO-Champ.

[randomnamegenerator16]

I don't think they'll release it anytime sooner than, let's say, Blizzcon 2018.

But it would be cool to get it in like 3-4 months.

[Vineri]

Starcraft remastered: announced on May 2016 (not even at Blizzcon!). Launched on August 2017. They would probably not build up the hype if it is not something they have been working on for a while (my guess at least since the nostalrius meeting).

In fact, I think there hasn't been an expansion that was announced 2 Blizzcons before launch, so why would this happen to Vanilla. Yes yes, there is some work involved, but they are not building it from scratch. They just need to pick a plan and do it, not very hard in terms of testing either.

I never heard of a remastered Starcraft. If it existed, why rebuild something already terrific? They probably were inspired by Ghostbusters! :P

[parcus]

You should read the interview. He stresses as much as possible how big a project it is and how little they even know in terms of what they're doing with it. Vanilla is a whole different beast than just a remaster. The 2 are not comparable.

In the same interview he mentions that the team has already made major breakthroughs regarding the most challenging aspects of recreating vanilla wow.

[Barnabas]

I never heard of a remastered Starcraft. If it existed, why rebuild something already terrific? They probably were inspired by Ghostbusters! :P

So people can play it on the new bnet?

[Aeula]

To help speed up your internal timeline: If Vanilla servers are delayed so will be the timeframe of TBC and WotLK servers ... just sayin'. Think about it.

One comes before the other.

Yeah but I’m in no rush. I’d rather wait and have all the extra features and polish rather than rush in horns down and impatient.

[Vineri]

Literally just some infrastructure in place. Not sure where you got "major breakthroughs" from, unless I just missed where he said it.

It's not as simple as it sounds and nothing at all like your remaster comparison.


Seriously, he couldn't stress more how large an undertaking it was if he tried.

They are hiring a new team of Vanilla enthusiasts, those looking to make the project succeed. Where will they possibly find such people? Private servers?

Would such people who already know the in's and out's of the code / scripts be necessary? I mentioned it earlier, it would not behoove Blizzard to hire a "green" team. unfamiliar with the product. Their pool of resources is known to vanilla fans. I think they will cannibalize those already greatly familiar with the source material.

I mean greatly familiar. As in people who have been dealing with this content for years.

[Fascinate]

They are hiring a new team of Vanilla fans, those looking to make the project succeed. Where will the possibly find such people? Private servers?

I dont see how people involved with private servers will be of any help with the sorts of things that need to be implemented for this to be a proper classic server.

[Lolsteak]

They are hiring a new team of Vanilla enthusiasts, those looking to make the project succeed. Where will the possibly find such people? Private servers?

Would such people already know the in's and out's of the code / scripts necessary? I mentioned it earlier, it would not behoove Blizzard to hire a "green" team. Their pool of resources is known to vanilla fans.

The Nostalrius group are clearly capable and enthusiastic and had a productive meeting with the WoW Devs, Whether or not they have the right skills to fit into the exact implementation Blizzard are creating or even if they wish to move and work for them is another thing though

[Queen of Hamsters]

Reading a Eurogamer interview on it, all they have done right now is some basic infrastructure set up and that's it. At best, I expect this to happen when BfA enters it's content lull at the very end.

I'd be inclined to agree with that sentiment, but for the sake of the players hankering badly for it, I hope they'll release it sooner than that. ^^

[wych]

I think they will purposely not release it around the same time as a current WoW expansion.

Releasing Vanilla will cause huge hype (and server strain), which would take away marketing and attention from the main game. The best time to release it is during a mid expansion lul when subs are dropping and everybody is getting bored of the current content.

[Queen of Hamsters]

The Nostalrius group are clearly capable and enthusiastic and had a productive meeting with the WoW Devs, Whether or not they have the right skills to fit into the exact implementation Blizzard are creating or even if they wish to move and work for them is another thing though

Would they hire and pay the people that essentially pirated their product though?

[Lolsteak]

Would they hire and pay the people that essentially pirated their product though?

They invited them and had a meeting with Devs and the CEO at Blizzard HQ, I doubt they dislike them in any way it's just that they need to protect their IP by shutting private servers down

I'm not going to link to the website because i'm not entirely sure the Mods would approve of that, This is who they met with however

3. The meeting

A few Blizzard & World of Warcraft executives were present, as well as people responsible for the WoW community:

Mike Morhaime - CEO
J. Allen Brack - Executive Producer for WoW
Tom Chilton - Game Director for WoW
Ion Hazzikostas - Assistant Game Director for WoW
Marco Koegler - Technical Director for WoW
Saralyn Smith - Global Director of Community Development
Kester Robison - Manager of WoW Community Development
Vanessa Vanasin - PR Manager for WoW
Randy Jordan - Blizzard Community Manager

[wych]

Would they hire and pay the people that essentially pirated their product though?

Sure, governments have hired hackers in the past to help improve their systems and security. Nost developers didn't do it to make a profit or scam Blizzard, they just wanted to play a game they loved but couldn't do legally anymore

[Vineri]

I dont see how people involved with private servers will be of any help with the sorts of things that need to be implemented for this to be a proper classic server.

Blizzard claims to have lost the front-end scripts (PC and NPC involvement).

The dev's for private servers recreated the scripts based on feedback and documented videos, which show how the game operated. Everything from NPC's to flight path's. What made Nostalrius and successor's popular is how well done the front-end scripts were made to simulate a Blizz-like experience. This includes 10 thousand NPC's, everything they say, how they say it, along with how every single NPC reacts. Combat too. It's complex.

Earlier this year, Blizzard stated that Legacy would not be possible because their master files for Vanilla were lost. The CD install files were never lost, just the server side stuff. If they are lost, only quality private servers would have an idea of how the game used to operate. Blizzard could research on their own, but that is expensive. With a new team, I don't see Blizzard paying folks to research what is already known. They will likely hire the people who know Vanilla inside and out, imo. Those working on private Vanilla server projects.