Classic without Progressive Server, would you still play?

[Enrif]

Hello Gang,

so i watched and listened to some Vanilla/Classic "Experts" over the past months and a opinion i heared again and again is the idea of classic servers being progressive. So starting with only the first tier raid, then a few months later the next tier and so on. Some even go by the Patch Cycle.

But i don't see a reason for Blizzard to do this actually. This progress would be a one time thing and then all servers would end at the final tier/patch of progression. And then what? Some people actually suggested to roll out new servers to experience this progression again and again. But this would lead to many dead servers just for the people who want a fresh progression over and over again.

Now, if Blizzard realeases Classic at its final patch with all content unlocked would you still play it or not?

[quite an expert in wow]

It seems not the case since they said the servers would be released with the 1.12 patch. Which has all of the raids already.

I personally would still play it and don't see much of a need to gate it.

[Contego]

It seems not the case since they said the servers would be released with the 1.12 patch. Which has all of the raids already.

I personally would still play it and don't see much of a need to gate it.

1.12 patch doesn't mean it's hardcoded to have the raids available. They can still stagger opening (just like new raids in live are staggered by sections). The patch number could just mean where they stand in terms of balance, classes and so forth.

[quite an expert in wow]

1.12 patch doesn't mean it's hardcoded to have the raids available. They can still stagger opening (just like new raids in live are staggered by sections). The patch number could just mean where they stand in terms of balance, classes and so forth.

It just seems unlikely to me they will gate content that's been available in the original patch. But, we will see. Quote me when vanilla is available and tell me if I am wrong or not.

[Atherions]

In my opinion the private server progressive release schedule is really bad. Pretty much everyone on the entire server that hits 60, and actually raids, has 75% raid gear of the current content before the release of new raids. This means that everyone overgears the newly released raid, which trivializes the raid, and this is one of the major reasons raids get cleared within 2 hours of opening on private servers. Mostly everyone having full current content raid gear is nothing like what the situation was back in actual vanilla, and is a private server abomination.

Personally i think classic should release with both MC and BWL open. After this they can do a progressive release schedule based upon how fast those two raids were cleared by the majority of the hardcore/semi-hardcore guilds.

[Deleted]

It just seems unlikely to me they will gate content that's been available in the original patch. But, we will see. Quote me when vanilla is available and tell me if I am wrong or not.

No need to wait so long, you are wrong and they are gonna do that.

[Gavll]

No, because 50% of the content is obsolete at 1.12 and completely defeats the point of the journey.

They should and almost certainly will, release content as per the patch schedule, like all good PServers do

[Yesyesyesyes]

Literally no reason at all to play if it's not progressive

I also won't be playing if it's post-itemization, might as well stick to pservers

[valky94]

No, because 50% of the content is obsolete at 1.12 and completely defeats the point of the journey.

They should and almost certainly will, release content as per the patch schedule, like all good PServers do

didnt they say in an interview that classic will run 1.12

[Yesyesyesyes]

didnt they say in an interview that classic will run 1.12

Yes, all private servers do as well.

They gate the content though

Edit: They have a lot of decisions to make, pre or post itemization, 8 or 16 debuff slots, content release schedule, etc. Class balance will be as it was at 1.12 though

[Deleted]

I'd definitely still play. Sure it might become stale after "maxing out" a couple of characters but that's plenty of playtime. Then I can just switch to other games for a while.

[anon5123]

It just seems unlikely to me they will gate content that's been available in the original patch.

Why wouldn't they? If every raid was available at launch, nobody would do MC, they'd just get preraid gear and then go right into BWL/ZG/AQ20.

Just about every vanilla server in the past 3-4 years has been progressive release. It's what the playerbase wants and what makes sense. Having naxx available at launch is dumb and will only make the server fizzle out in under a year.

[Worgoblin]

Yes, but that would be really stupid to not have progressive content.

[Pieterman]

I'd play it regardless, but I'd prefer a slowed down release of the raids. I've seen no-one want it all in one go. The 5-mans and world bosses I'm generally fine with. Dire Maul is arguable.

[Akka]

A Vanilla server being progressive or not isn't important, because progression in Vanilla is inherently linear with little to no shortcut. It would be extremely problematic with the "each patch is a reset" shitty design from later, but that's precisely one of the strongest argument in Vanilla, that the content is there but you need to do the journey to reach it regardless.

And yes, I know that there was gear from some patch that outclassed early raid gear, but it was still usually comparable effort to get it, and there was never the ridiculous amount of power increase we can see in post-TBC WoW anyway.

[Lochton]

There won't be progression in classic, there's going to be reruns.

[Enrif]

Why wouldn't they? If every raid was available at launch, nobody would do MC, they'd just get preraid gear and then go right into BWL/ZG/AQ20.

Just about every vanilla server in the past 3-4 years has been progressive release. It's what the playerbase wants and what makes sense. Having naxx available at launch is dumb and will only make the server fizzle out in under a year.

the problem i see with doing progressive servers. How often? only once? Then only for the first one to two years players will "enjoy" the progressions, after that it would be at the final tier/patch anyway.

Releasing 15 new progression servers every year? a Server bloat with dozens of dead servers?

resetting Servers? removing the characters and progress of players?

All of this seems to me it would be madness to go for progressions servers.

BUT, what i could see is a type of Season Servers. 2 Years of Progresseion, after that it get wiped and starts a new for those who can't live without progression.

[anon5123]

the problem i see with doing progressive servers. How often? only once? Then only for the first one to two years players will "enjoy" the progressions, after that it would be at the final tier/patch anyway.

Which is why you launch a new server when the first one has been on Naxx for 6+ months. y'know, exactly what private servers have been doing.

Exactly the way Seasons work in Diablo 2/3.

When a new season/server starts, all the characters from the previous one get dumped onto a server that stays on Naxx patch, so nothing is lost.

[Enrif]

Which is why you launch a new server when the first one has been on Naxx for 6+ months. y'know, exactly what private servers have been doing.

Exactly the way Seasons work in Diablo 2/3.

When a new season/server starts, all the characters from the previous one get dumped onto a server that stays on Naxx patch, so nothing is lost.

so every year a few new servers(Blizz Classic will without doubt have a bigger playerbase then pirated servers)

Why would blizz do this? creating more and more dead servers no one will play on

pirated servers do this for money reasons, selling more EXP boosts and gold to players, a thing blizz doesnt need to do

[anon5123]

Why would blizz do this? creating more and more dead servers no one will play on

So you'd prefer just one server progressing to naxx and then staying there forever?

pirated servers do this for money reasons, selling more EXP boosts and gold to players

...this shows you've never ever played on a private server.

No, they don't launch new servers to "sell gold and exp boosts", they launch new servers because existing servers inevitably die out, the closer they get to naxx. It has happened with every major pserver in the past 4 years or so.