Should Classic be Free to Play?

[Swalload]

I've always said that people who played on private servers were freeloaders first and foremost.

Well yeah, obviously. But a very small amount of them play for the right reasons, these guys are important too.

On topic: It should be the same sub but don't make people buy vanilla a second time.

Edit: Maybe make a new release of Classic only for like 10-15$ for the people who don't have WoW at all so they aren't forced to buy the entire retail thing if they don't want to? I dunno.

[MoanaLisa]

Buy to play at around $20 with a cheap renewable subscription to cover support maintenance; something like $15-$20 a year.

Not free and please, please don't call it F2P as that makes people automatically think things like stores, boosts, etc.

[Toby451]

Seems like it should just be a part of the normal sub + require the user to own the base game to play. Anything more or less is asking for too much from either side imo.

[kamuimac]

Buy to play at around $20 with a cheap renewable subscription to cover support maintenance; something like $15-$20 a year.

Not free and please, please don't call it F2P as that makes people automatically think things like stores, boosts, etc.

why not ? if you didnt notice new generations of players love microtransactions and throwing $$$ and companies

its the old dinosaurs who started playing 20 years ago who complain

modern gamers spend bilions of $ daily on shittiest microtransactions aviable on cell phone games

time to move on and join new era of gaming instead trying to pretend its not here already .

[Airlick]

I'm thinking it would be a good move from Blizzard if they included it in the base sub, but also give us a Classic-only, cheaper option. Some veteran players that have 0 interest in retail might have a problem coming up with 15 dollars a month for a 15 years old game. Then again, including Classic in the base sub would be a good (not for the veterans, but for Blizzard) marketing strategy, it could be an incentive to buy BfA and try modern WoW.

If Classic comes before BfA, they could also do a marketing push like requiring a one-time sub for retail (that would come with a free week for the current x-pac, otherwise just the previous x-pac) in order to be able to access Classic, and then allowing a cheaper sub for those not interested. This could be too complicated, though.

[MoanaLisa]

time to move on and join new era of gaming instead trying to pretend its not here already .

The irony of writing that in a discussion about a return to vanilla World of Warcraft is enormous.

[Thimagryn]

Being part of the retail sub makes the most sense, especially if Blizzard isn't interested in giving out sub numbers for investors. It's a huge incentive to sub to WoW, whether you want retail, classic or both.

Those who feel like they're 'paying' for something they don't want would only be fooling themselves since the price doesn't change and they're getting more value out of their buck.

[Jastall]

No, Blizzard should pay you to play it.

[Deleted]

Definitely not free. IMO it should be included in the €13 a month payment model we have now.

[Phuongvi]

I suppose They are going to sell you the game with no montly fee, something like Diablo and Starcraft

[wholol]

What kind of logic is this ? blizzard isn't releasing classic as a form of charity , they only operate based on $$$.

Thinking otherwise is simply folly.

[Eon Drache]

I voted to include it with the retail game subscription. Blizzards goal is getting more people to play WoW. And generally they wouldn't want their own games competing with one another. Plus, most of the youtubers that were begging for official classic servers stated they'd be willing to pay the monthly sub fee for a blizzard quality classic server. Of course, the private servers also said they would shut down if Blizzard would release an official classic server and I believe only 1 is actually going to shut down once the official servers come up.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Pleasantly surprised by the fact that most people seem to be A-OK with the thought of having 1 sub.

[arkanon]

So much dreaming in this thread, and most others. What on earth makes some of you guys think they have even STARTED work on Classic? The ones thinking it will be released any time soon are absolutely dreaming. WoW : Classic is 2-3 years away.

I will state my prediction again, and again, but patch 9.0 is the most likely release window at this stage.

They will force you to own wow up to the current expansion, possibly the previous one, and have an active sub to that, and classic will be included "free". they will then be doing everything they can to encourage players to purchase the NEXT expansion, and why not try it? thy will get a free boost with the purchase of the "new" expansion, a bunch of high ilvl epics, and can jump straight into things.

The traditional content drought between the pre patch (3.0 - 4.0 - 8.0 etc) and the actual launch of the next expansion. Thats the best time to launch a time consuming, fan favorite. For those who ONLY want the vanilla experience, great, they can continue playing classic through the lifespan of the expansion after BfA. For those who fall away and become bored and frustrated during the final few months of an expansion, they have a reason to stay subbed, stay active, and keep the hype train going from 9.0 and onwards.

tl;dr wow classic is not coming during the main lifespan of BfA, and will be used to boost subs right before the launch of the NEXT expansion. To think it is months away rather than years is delusional and in every way unrealistic. They have not started work on classic yet.

[jackofwind]

so much dreaming in this thread, and most others. What on earth makes some of you guys think they have even started work on classic? The ones thinking it will be released any time soon are absolutely dreaming. Wow : Classic is 2-3 years away.

I will state my prediction again, and again, but patch 9.0 is the most likely release window at this stage.

They will force you to own wow up to the current expansion, possibly the previous one, and have an active sub to that, and classic will be included "free". They will then be doing everything they can to encourage players to purchase the next expansion, and why not try it? Thy will get a free boost with the purchase of the "new" expansion, a bunch of high ilvl epics, and can jump straight into things.

The traditional content drought between the pre patch (3.0 - 4.0 - 8.0 etc) and the actual launch of the next expansion. Thats the best time to launch a time consuming, fan favorite. For those who only want the vanilla experience, great, they can continue playing classic through the lifespan of the expansion after bfa. For those who fall away and become bored and frustrated during the final few months of an expansion, they have a reason to stay subbed, stay active, and keep the hype train going from 9.0 and onwards.

Tl;dr wow classic is not coming during the main lifespan of bfa, and will be used to boost subs right before the launch of the next expansion. To think it is months away rather than years is delusional and in every way unrealistic. They have not started work on classic yet.

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

[Frumpy Frumpy Frak]

Unless you can speak Chinese and/or Russian not having a paywall is really bad idea.

I like the way you put it, I'm paying to keep the Chinese and Russians OUT of my game.

[Jehct]

No classic should not be free. It would not be "classic" or Vanilla if it was free.

[CogsNCocks]

I like the way you put it, I'm paying to keep the Chinese and Russians OUT of my game.

These days it's not really that far-fetched. Anyone who has played Ark or PUBG can attest to that, in fact any popular game with public servers is an absoulute sh*t show in these times. I like to think of my WoW subscription as renting a private server with like minded folk, the content updates are just a bonus.

[Lolsteak]

Definitely not free. IMO it should be included in the €13 a month payment model we have now.

It's funny you say that because including it in the current sub is basically free.

[CogsNCocks]

It's funny you say that because including it in the current sub is basically free.

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