In what ways will Blizzard ruin classic?

[plantation]

We all know Blizzard won't just give us classic wow. They'll put their own delusional spin on it, and the final product won't even be close to the original 1.12 game. I can see them adding in a ton of QOL changes, achievements, and maybe going so far as to implement dungeon finder.

[Deleted]

The worst I see them do is change the honor system to be less punishing, as blizzard has been removing stuff like realm first leveling achievements and such because it promoted unhealthy behaviour.

Mounts will still be 1k, take 3 seconds to cast.
Achievements wont be in.
Automatic dungeon finder wont be a thing.
Cash shop wont be a thing.

Calm down with the doomsaying lol, the sky wont be falling until we see the demo riddled with changes. Which we wont.

[Bodonius]

If they dont just copy a classic private server, they will have done wrong. Even minor things will make people pissed off (If my favorite grind spot for essence of air is differante, then its not classic)

[Hitei]

The worst I see them do is change the honor system to be less punishing, as blizzard has been removing stuff like realm first leveling achievements and such because it promoted unhealthy behaviour.

Mounts will still be 1k, take 3 seconds to cast.
Achievements wont be in.
Automatic dungeon finder wont be a thing.
Cash shop wont be a thing.

Calm down with the doomsaying lol, the sky wont be falling until we see the demo riddled with changes. Which we wont.

Achievements are possible, despite the whining, they are exceedingly minor. There's not going to be any LFR or the like. There won't be any changes to spell operation like mount cast time. Cash shop is unlikely although I'm curious what they'll do about the couple TCG rewards that were available in Vanilla (I think it was just the tabard and something else?).

Honor system will probably stay roughly the same, though I'm guessing they will alter the way the very top end works so that it doesn't highly promote account sharing the way it does in the default form. The decay and time dedication is a key feature of Vanilla's honor system after all, so it won't change too much, but that's fairly different from something that promotes cheating.

I could see them adding in the modern group finding tool (Not LFR/LFD, but the window that lets you list a group for an activity or apply to join a group) but with zero cross-realm functionality. Automatic group finding existed in Vanilla for individual zones via meeting stones and then later as group-finding.

Unlimited debuff slots is possible. It's significantly less increased damage than most people initially think (like <10%) and was a technical constraint, not a design intention. It doesn't really add anything of value to gameplay or strategy, since it's basically just "You don't ever use that class ability because someone else has to put up their more important ability."

[iamthedevil]

Most likely it's the playerbase that will destroy it with toxicity.

[huth]

If they dont just copy a classic private server, they will have done wrong. Even minor things will make people pissed off (If my favorite grind spot for essence of air is differante, then its not classic)

There is no way for them to do it "right". The real question should be "what will people complain about the most".

"Just copying" a private server is probably the dumbest thing they could do when they sit on all of the original data, though.

[chrisnumbers]

We all know Blizzard won't just give us classic wow.

No we don't.

[Deleted]

the worst, aboslute worst possible thing they could do would be to add sharding.

[Bodonius]

There is no way for them to do it "right". The real question should be "what will people complain about the most".

So true. They can only do wrong.

[The Stormbringer]

They will add flying mounts! /s

[huth]

They will add flying mounts! /s

That nobody can use since the flying skill isn't available till BC.

[Thunderball]

Well, I hope they realize that if they dont deliver an authentic experience the playerbase they are creating this for will stick to private servers. So it's in their best interest to change as little as possible. It's pretty clear that they cant support the original client so we'll have to see how they will manage to transfer the gameplay to the modern client.

[McNeil]

The one thing I fear the most is them implementing the in-game shop from BFA. That would completely ruin the game as the whole focus is to reach max level and collect your own mounts, with the shop you can just bypass it all. Blizzard might get this mind set that they think that only the end game matters, even for vanilla which it obviously is not.

[Deleted]

Achievements are possible, despite the whining, they are exceedingly minor. There's not going to be any LFR or the like. There won't be any changes to spell operation like mount cast time. Cash shop is unlikely although I'm curious what they'll do about the couple TCG rewards that were available in Vanilla (I think it was just the tabard and something else?).

Honor system will probably stay roughly the same, though I'm guessing they will alter the way the very top end works so that it doesn't highly promote account sharing the way it does in the default form. The decay and time dedication is a key feature of Vanilla's honor system after all, so it won't change too much, but that's fairly different from something that promotes cheating.

I could see them adding in the modern group finding tool (Not LFR/LFD, but the window that lets you list a group for an activity or apply to join a group) but with zero cross-realm functionality. Automatic group finding existed in Vanilla for individual zones via meeting stones and then later as group-finding.

Unlimited debuff slots is possible. It's significantly less increased damage than most people initially think (like <10%) and was a technical constraint, not a design intention. It doesn't really add anything of value to gameplay or strategy, since it's basically just "You don't ever use that class ability because someone else has to put up their more important ability."

-Achievements are among the reason for the decline of modern gaming, the carrot on the stick, one of the key features that keep giving you tiny dopamine releases. It's one of the reasons modern wow is an entirely different beast than it used to be, and is absolutely NOT a minor thing.

-The decay is exactly what might change because its one of the things that really inspired bad/unhealthy behaviour from the playerbase.

-A modern group finding tool would change the experience drastically from one where you need to socialize, to a more anonymous like today's where a group basically doesn't talk until the final boss is dead and the members maybe say "glhf" before dropping and hearthing out.

-Unlimited debuff slots is a much larger dps increase than 10%, raid dps skyrocketed from 8 to 16 slots on the progressive privates for organized groups, and unlimited will do the same. In the larger scheme it won't change much so long as raid bosses are tuned around it from the beginning. This is one of the things that wouldn't make or break it for me, as long as it's done properly.

[ken oath]

For me, having a completely "purist" server will ruin it for me.

Been there, done that. If I want that experience, I'll just play on a private server.

All I really want is the old school mechanics with a fresh new take. New graphics, new content but the same challenge and mechanics that vanilla provided.

I enjoy OSRS for the same reason - some QoL changes, some new content but the game is the same as I remember from a decade ago.

[Raven]

And this is why they should never release a vanilla server, if its 100% vanilla people will bitch and cry becouse its not modern graphics and alot of stuff like that, and if they add modern graphics and changes like that the people that wanted 100% vanilla server will bitch and cry.

So like always what ever Blizzard do, they are damned if they do damned if they don't.

[ken oath]

And this is why they should never release a vanilla server, if its 100% vanilla people will bitch and cry becouse its not modern graphics and alot of stuff like that, and if they add modern graphics and changes like that the people that wanted 100% vanilla server will bitch and cry.

So like always what ever Blizzard do, they are damned if they do damned if they don't.

Welcome to any business, ever

We can only base our assumptions on historical information. The only other MMO to have a reboot was RS3 to OSRS.

Now, when OSRS first came back - it was a "purist" carbon copy. This was great initially, but the player count sharply fell after a few months when people realised they were killing the same unchallenging bosses over and over again.

I predict this will happen with WoW. Everyone will flock, and the carbon copy will look great for a few months, until everyone gets bored because, well, they've been there done that.

OSRS remedied this by changing their direction - they decided to keep the old school mechanics but create new content and QoL features. However, the big difference was that it remained true to OSRS. It's essentially what RS3 should've been.

I'm hoping WoW does the same thing. Releasing a carbon copy and going through the expansions will get old and boring fast. There will be a small contingent of purists happy with this, but I don't think it will be sustainable. I think they need to use Classic as a way to reboot the game, and go in the direction that it should've been going for almost a decade now.

[Deleted]

Welcome to any business, ever

We can only base our assumptions on historical information. The only other MMO to have a reboot was RS3 to OSRS.

Now, when OSRS first came back - it was a "purist" carbon copy. This was great initially, but the player count sharply fell after a few months when people realised they were killing the same unchallenging bosses over and over again.

I predict this will happen with WoW. Everyone will flock, and the carbon copy will look great for a few months, until everyone gets bored because, well, they've been there done that.

OSRS remedied this by changing their direction - they decided to keep the old school mechanics but create new content and QoL features. However, the big difference was that it remained true to OSRS. It's essentially what RS3 should've been.

I'm hoping WoW does the same thing. Releasing a carbon copy and going through the expansions will get old and boring fast. There will be a small contingent of purists happy with this, but I don't think it will be sustainable. I think they need to use Classic as a way to reboot the game, and go in the direction that it should've been going for almost a decade now.

If they would really want to do this, then I would like to know in advance. I have been playing Classic long enough, I had 2 max level characters, one of these has been raiding easier tiers (ZG, AQ20, MC). I don't feel the need to replay Classic all over again - but if they would really plan to create new content, and Classic would be part of my sub, then I would probably invest time in a character. Though this is just speculation. I will probably don't have time at all.

Classic would probably have the same fate as Diablo for me - I was a huge fan of D1 and D2, but only played D3 for a couple of weeks and did not want to come back.

[Aphrel]

They will likely do something stupid like retuning every single class and spec to be balanced.

Then they will introduce sharding, and *forget* how this will interact with worldbosses (there was no weekly loot lockout in vanilla, only respawntimers).

[Skulkesyk]

Cash shop / tokens