Should Classic be Free to Play?

[Lolsteak]

If you play retail WoW then you already own vanilla WoW, why would you need to pay anything extra?

You don't "own" anything, You're paying for access to the servers.

Classic is going to take some money, Not a huge amount but more all the same and and by asking for it to be covered by the current subscription you're basically asking for it free.

[Zafire]

The way that makes the most sense to me

$15 for retail and $5 for Vanilla if you bundle them. $10 for Vanilla if you buy it as a standalone.

OR

Make it come with the standard sub, or charge $10 for the standalone.

[CogsNCocks]

You don't "own" anything, You're paying for access to the servers.

Classic is going to take some money, Not a huge amount but more all the same and and by asking for it to be covered by the current subscription you're basically asking for it free.

Please don't be so pedantic, I was talking about software licenses and you know it. Now, if you own the software license to the current expansion or any level below then you already own the license for vanilla WoW.

[Lolsteak]

Please don't be so pedantic, I was talking about software licenses and you know it. Now, if you own the software license to the current expansion or any level below then you already own the license for vanilla WoW.

It doesn't matter, However you want to spin it wanting it included in the current sub = free.

[CogsNCocks]

It doesn't matter, However you want to spin it wanting it included in the current sub = free.

It has nothing to do with spin and everything to do with objective reality. Something you have clearly lost touch with.

If you're paying for something it's not free! If you stop paying for your subscription and you lose access to the Classic servers then it's not free, because you have to start paying again to restore access! It matters not if Blizzard make/break/lose revenue or add or remove things from the overall package whether its rolled back versions such as Classic Wow or new content updates, that's completely irrelevent.

[Lolsteak]

It has nothing to do with spin and everything to do with objective reality. Something you have clearly lost touch with.

If you're paying for something it's not free! If you stop paying for your subscription and you lose access to the Classic servers then it's not free, because you have to start paying again to restore access! It matters not if Blizzard make/break/lose revenue, that's completely irrelevent.

You're paying for the current WoW and want access to Classic tacked on the side, You want it for free, Simple.

[CogsNCocks]

You're paying for the current WoW and want access to Classic tacked on the side, You want it for free, Simple.

Simple... yes you are.

[Deleted]

It should be included in the standard WoW subscription, and if you have game time you've paid for via tokens that should also apply to vanilla WoW.

[arkanon]

Your personal speculation is no more valid than anyone else's

Well actually it is. Mine is based on logic and a very basic understanding that they are only just now asking for opinions on what the playerbase want from classic. The idea that they only need to flick a switch and away we go is based purely on what some players WANT. it is based in emotion and i want it NOW!.

i say it again, classic is 2-3 years away. Based on previous announcement Vs release, 2 years is typical, sometimes longer, and i think once ever it was shorter. Even the shortest announcement - release from blizzard was over a year.

[Deleted]

It's not gonna be free, blizzard doesn't invest into free stuff. So you'll be paying either way.

[ZazuuPriest]

100% would pay up to the same amount as live sub to play it

[Gravity2015]

100% would pay up to the same amount as live sub to play it

on top of live sub?
Id resub next expansion for a full year probbaly to have access to live + vanilla

[edspans]

It doesn't matter, However you want to spin it wanting it included in the current sub = free.

And for the people who have not and would not want to sub into retail for a number of years? Does that mean it's "free" for them too?

[ONCHEhap]

not free
if Blizzard makes money out of it,they'll provide a better support
Also their goal remains to make money after all,they won't give us free shit that easily

A sub filters a fair amount of spammers,hackers and scam bots

[Deathquoi]

Considering Hearthstone, Overwatch, and even HotS are doing better than WoW now as F2P/B2P...
Well, actually, Starcraft and Diablo aren't doing so hot under the same umbrella.

So: could kill it, could save it. Either way, Classic would be a good testing ground for BFA to see if it works or not.

Regardless, Private Servers are F2P. So if they want to compete with those, it'll have to be.

They don’t have to compete with private servers, because most private servers will simply shut down as there will be no point in running free fucking servers when they can pay blizzard to play on the official classic servers. Even if there were private servers that they had to “compete with”, they would just shut them down because Blizzard owns the IP and the private server operators don’t.

[Lollis]

Retail wow is f2p so.

No it isn't.

Can you login, at absolutely any time and have full access to all of your characters without having to pay anything at all? No you cannot.

You either pay with cash or you pay with gold. The gold option requires that someone pays the cash fee for starters, and to get the gold you have to put in time.
The EU servers current token cost is 280k. Unless you have a decent auction house share going, you would likely be spending quite a lot longer to get the gold than it would take to earn the money to pay for it with real cash.



The goblins have been saying it for years.

[BraveNewWorld]

I hope it will be free as long as you have an active subscription to retail.

However, I would not mind paying if the game is 100% vanilla. Any modification and I'm back to private servers. This includes: addons api, new graphics, updated models, class changes, spell changes, adding convenience (dual specs, stones, etc), fixing bugs that were part of the game back then (wall climbing was my favorite). I want the original vanilla experience, the one I am getting freely from private servers right now.

[Razion]

They don’t have to compete with private servers, because most private servers will simply shut down as there will be no point in running free fucking servers when they can pay blizzard to play on the official classic servers. Even if there were private servers that they had to “compete with”, they would just shut them down because Blizzard owns the IP and the private server operators don’t.

Some may well shut down with the introduction of official Classic, but I think it would foolish to expect most or even all of them to.
Private servers don't -just- exist only to experience old expansions -- some exist to play the game (in whatever flavor) free.
As long as a better, freer way to play isn't provided officially, people will want and supply a freer alternative.
Blizzard can try to shut down what remains after their Classic launches, and heck, they could even get all of them... but more are just going to pop up.

[Deathquoi]

Some may well shut down with the introduction of official Classic, but I think it would foolish to expect most or even all of them to.
Private servers don't -just- exist only to experience old expansions -- some exist to play the game (in whatever flavor) free.
As long as a better, freer way to play isn't provided officially, people will want and supply a freer alternative.
Blizzard can try to shut down what remains after their Classic launches, and heck, they could even get all of them... but more are just going to pop up.

And Blizzard will keep shutting them down because all it takes is a letter. There will be no competition, because actual competition is impossible when only one party owns their own product.

[huth]

Gonna have to ask for a source. In January, Nostalrius asked Elysium and the community to stop using their core. They also shut down transfers.

This 99.99% means Nostalrius was made aware by Blizz that Classic Servers were coming, as they were pro private servers till then. That means Blizz has been sitting on the WoW Classic news since at least January. I highly doubt they did nothing between January and Blizzcon.

BlizzCon. They outright said they don't even have a team set up yet. They didn't do any work on it because they don't have anybody to do it.