If it takes this long.....

[Koward]

I bet they will release Classic Servers in the first half of 2018. I just don't believe they are remaking Classic wow engine from scratch. If they are, why were there all those talks about running old clients on modern hardware?

The problem is the many client-side exploits on the old client. I don't know to what extent and how easily they could apply the changes from the modern client. 2004 computer engineering is very different than 2017.
I guess they will take the most automatable solution. The one with the less work by hand, but which one is it ?
To know which road they took is the first question I would ask to Blizzard if I could.

[Linri]

a year and a half to re-release a patch that existed 13 years ago

seems to me like someone aka blizzard overwrote their save file

[Warrax]

No tears here, just wishing and hoping(pretty much assured though) for failure. Vanilla servers and their playerbase are cancerous for WoW.

Haters like you are worst tho, you guys pretty much exist "en masse" since the announcement. BTW Blizzard will still put and keep the server up whatever the amount of players. You hater hates so much that you can't see past your nose.

[AuthurDent]

They have a cobbled together version that is running. That doesn't mean it's anywhere close to being usable for actual play.

Doesn't help that they didn't even have a team set up to start working on the actual Classic version of the game. There hasn't been any actual work done on that project so far.

The real problem with a soonish release isn't people's guesses, it's the stuff we know for certain.

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It's not that hard to get things running, but that's not the standard to which they need to adapt it. They haven't even nailed down what they're going to go for yet. They haven't even recruited the people who are going to nail that down yet.

I'm pretty sure you haven't had to deal with a QA team for your little vanilla server, either.

And if a couple people can cobble together something that works... imagine what a real team can do, and how quickly. Should be pretty quick I think.

[etforde]

But just think about it... I am really hyped right now. I would play in a heartbeat right... But will I be able to play this in 2 years? In 2 years I will probably have a kid with my wife. My life could be changed so much I will never ever play Classic.

I'd love to have Classic launched when my kid was about a year old. 3 months at home taking care of the kid, and gaming when it sleeps
EDIT: Yeah, Norway is nice that way.

[Deleted]

Yeah i am thinking it will take a year and half or so. They might like it to launch around the same time as BfA but I think they are unsure if that is possible. They would love a " buy BfA and get two months on classic free" if they don't roll classic in with the normal sub. Once they get the game to run on their modern set up and do some touching up so it runs fine on modern PC's well ect it will be quick to launch. You would think it would take less time since the game itself is in place already but, I i foresee issues creeping in and dragging of their feet making key design choices that make this take a year and a half. If it takes over that blizzard just doesn't care to put the resources into the game to put it out and will likely slowly drop work on it. Lucky for us i think they know the shitstorm that would bring so low chance there.

You seriously think this? They will launch it in a expansion downfall, how can you suggest otherwise?
Let's pretend you're right and they potentially launch the and classic together, what will happen to subs on retail in your opinion?
Classic is a perfect gabcloser in a dead space between patches.

And you clame it's in place already proves us how uninformed you freaking are, you do realise that's complete bullshit right?

[alba007]

It will not take years.

They are not going to be developing a new game or even a new expansion to a game. The Vanilla WoW already exists, and handfuls of fans are able to run it live in their spare times (private servers). All they may need to do are some bug fixing, improve performance here and there, etc. I expect it to be released by the end of 2018 at the latest, possibly earlier. It can actually become the filler for the content drought that will happen before the release of BfA.

[Deleted]

I'd love to have Classic launched when my kid was about a year old. 3 months at home taking care of the kid, and gaming when it sleeps
EDIT: Yeah, Norway is nice that way.

"When it sleeps No raiding for you my friend.

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It will not take years.

They are not going to be developing a new game or even a new expansion to a game. The Vanilla WoW already exists, and handfuls of fans are able to run it live in their spare times (private servers). All they may need to do are some bug fixing, improve performance here and there, etc. I expect it to be released by the end of 2018 at the latest, possibly earlier. It can actually become the filler for the content drought that will happen before the release of BfA.

If you honestly believe they will launch it as private servers do now then you're in for one big fucking surprise.

[Kolbjorn]

Under normal guestimates... Classic won't be live until 1-2 years right? Atleast that is the general consensus on these boards (without any information from Blizzard to either make us thing it will be quicker or longer)...

But just think about it... I am really hyped right now. I would play in a heartbeat right... But will I be able to play this in 2 years? In 2 years I will probably have a kid with my wife. My life could be changed so much I will never ever play Classic.

And that prospect (not the kid, I want a kid haha) makes me very sad. Now I am not saying that Blizzard should hurry up.... I am just wondering if anyone else is in the same boat... that in 2 years we might not have time even though we are desperate for "a fix" now!

Practically, it will likely release with or not too long after a major live patch.

I'd predict that 8.1 will bring the back of the house features to the server/client to support multiple game versions, similar to phasing, but with different rulesets per phase. They may even have some minigames (Chromie type stuff) in some live phases where character stats/abilities change to test it at scale.

Then once those are working and have been tested live, they'll open up a classic PTR.

[Evaddon]

I have no interest in Vanilla, might give it a month of my time. Just because I think hunters had a cooler feel to them back then, only class that ever managed to feel like a part of the World instead of an outside force. SO I'm not in the same boat at this point in time

[Hashtronaut]

help with chores in the day as much as possible so that when your son sleeps and your wife rests, you still have plenty of time to keep yourself happy and if that is playing casually on a vanilla server - you will have plenty of time, your life is not over....

Well this is awkward.

I meant abandon your wife and child and play wow 24/7. Become strongest character on your server. L2life is for people bad at wow.

[Orbusg]

I think that Classic WoW will come much, much faster than the average MMO Champ naysayer expects.

I agree.
Two years is like making a new game from scratch territory.
They're not making a new game, the graphics, music, mechanics, gear, quests, etc are already there.
The data is already there, their job is to rig it into working order with the additional bnet functionality.
They've even got the nost people helping out fer christ sake.

I would honestly be surprised if it isn't out by summer 2018.

[Deleted]

Would love to see it before BfA but lets be honest. It's probably gonna be in the middle of BfA after a raid tier so there is no overlapping in content.

[Deleted]

I just became a father myself, and im still looking forward to Classic. I know i won't be able to raid for hours on end, and i may end up being more of an altoholic, perhaps having a raid night every once in a while if i have the time. But solo play is alot better for when you have a baby or toddler that may interrupt you at any moment. I'm currently playing abit on lights hope, and i'm enjoying myself, even tho it's slow. So don't worry imo, you can still play

Also, i believe classic will be released either a month before BfA, or a while after when BfA sees a content draught

[Koward]

I agree.
Two years is like making a new game from scratch territory.
They're not making a new game, the graphics, music, mechanics, gear, quests, etc are already there.
The data is already there, their job is to rig it into working order with the additional bnet functionality.
They've even got the nost people helping out fer christ sake.

I would honestly be surprised if it isn't out by summer 2018.

Their team is smaller and recruitment is still open. Beside added bnet functionality, they must fix exploits and make design choices (ex: Which version of Alterac Valley to implement ? Unarmored or armored 100% mounts ?)
And Nost people are not linked to the project, it was asked in one of the interviews. They presented their work and their choices at Blizzard HQ back when they visited but that's about it.

So if the WoW team was doing WoW Classic then maybe you would be completely right, but as it's a new small team I think it will be a slow release.

[Torrasque]

Two years is a very generous thought, but possibly attainable with massive funding a resources on Blizzard's part. However, you have to remember, they have just started hiring for a project that they haven't even started yet. One that has to build an entire MMO from scratch to the exact likeness of WoW back in 2007, at the very least. My best estimated, logical deduction, assuming that they have some sort of massive time-crunching mechanic in note of what was mentioned at its announcement, it either being released or a release date announcement will occur during WoW's 15th anniversary, which will be about a year into BfA's launch, which would be a perfect time for such a launch to benefit both games.

[kamuimac]

It will not take years.

They are not going to be developing a new game or even a new expansion to a game. The Vanilla WoW already exists, and handfuls of fans are able to run it live in their spare times (private servers). All they may need to do are some bug fixing, improve performance here and there, etc. I expect it to be released by the end of 2018 at the latest, possibly earlier. It can actually become the filler for the content drought that will happen before the release of BfA.

oh the sweet naivety

vanila is years away from being launched - if recent events aka launch of starcraft remastered tought us anything they are rebuilding grpahics from scratch to deliver versian that wont be completly ignored in 2019 when it launches due to shit graphic from 2004.

[Deleted]

Congratulations! Dont worrie, you'll only loose like 90% of your free time

Thanks man! I am very excited, and will take the loss of play time over my first child any time

[Deleted]

If i was them i'd release it about 3-4 months before BfA...

That's the time it will take most of the returning users to get to max level and be disillusioned enough to start quiting... thus making them easier prey for buying the new expansion and trying it out.

[klaps_05]

While they will hire and build up an entirely separate team for Classic, they will need to release it at a time which works for retail. They announced they like the 77 days cycle between patches, but with current tuning levels you barely get 500 or just over guilds clearing it within that time, which means there is very little downtime.

Realistically, the last tier of each raid (Legion/BFA) will last 12-14 months in order to give players time to clear Mythic and also wrap up everything they want from the expansion. The 2 possible release dates for Classic will either be at the end of Legion when the draought hits or at the end of BFA. Given they dont even have a team and need to rebuild the entire engine to modern structure, I would put my money on either last content patch in BFA or 6-10 months after it.