Will Casuals find any reason to Stay in Classic?

[Vampyr78]

Sorry, this is my last thread but i would love to hear your opinion on this.

Do you think Classic will make any casuals stay longterm?
This environment is too hardcore and hard for them...
Could you please give a list of reasons why you think Classic will make Casuals stay. (i cant think of any reason atm)

Reasons for Casuals to Quit Classic WoW
-Slow leveling
-No Quest Helper (the casual needs to at least know how to download an addon)
-No LFD
-No LFR
-No LFG
-No epic quality gear unless he/she finds a Guild
-No PvP scaling (will get owned by overgeared players)
-No mount until lvl 40
-Lack of Gold (requires time and effort)
-Quests that ask you to travel around entire Azeroth (time consuming)
-50 gold to respec talents
-No Transmog

Reasons for Casuals to Stay in Classic WoW
-Farm Tier 0 and later Tier 0.5
- (...)

-------

I thank God we wont have any of this in Classic.
Im just asking if you think Classic will have any casuals and if you think there will be some consequences about this.

People forget that during it's time Vanilla was the most casual friendly mmo on the market.

Some casual players might not like slow leveling but I think it might also affect the hardcore ones. Hardcore raiders were the reason Blizzard speed up leveling in the first place so it's easier for them to have multiple classes ready for raiding. I enjoy leveling, and I take my time with it on retails so I take my time with it on Classic.

LFD, LFR and LFG this might anger some people but dungeons in vanilla were completely different thing and were aimed at more hardcore players, the same goes for raids.

Gear quality well, players that remember the olden days of gaming won't be mad but the more entitled casuals from today will be furious they can'g get their purples.

More problematic for a casual player would the fact that there aren't that many flashy mounts to farm. You pretty much gonna have to use your racial or class mounts.

Respec cost also is something that will affect more hardcore players than casual ones. Casual player doesn't change their build 10 times a day usualy while more hardcore one would want to have the best build for the situation and role.

No transmog but you can just dress up with cool looking gear to show of if you get some.

Casuals could just farm some sets, or do professions. If you don't have a lot of time to play you will have leveling to do so that can keep a casual busy.

Also there's no flying and we all know how people complain about no flying nowadays.

[MoanaLisa]

No I won't give any list.

Players will either like it and stay or dislike it and leave. That can happen for any number of reasons. It's not something that you can really predict or analyse with some list. There are 100's of elements to the game any of which could make a player stay or leave.

It doesn't matter if they are casual or otherwise.

It won't be the same as it was when it was new because it's now not new. It's just a different version of the same thing. It has faults. It has good things. Whether people stay or not will be up to them. Those that do will likely stay for a long time. Those that don't will be out after a month or two.

If one is a patient player then it's more likely they'll stay. That's the reasoning behind most of my predictions that it will have a significant falloff. Today's games, 15 years later, do not reward patient play and therefore patient players are few and far between.

Witness the GCD change in BfA. It's a small enough change but many, many people are not patient enough to embrace it and slow their game down. Consider the ongoing freakout about portals being removed. Now, magnify that to where you have to walk everywhere for most of the game. Lastly consider the loud and ongoing discussion of Blizzard gating everything, removing flying, etc. so that people will have to have stay for another month. Greedy Blizzard. Does anyone imagine that jumped-up crowd is going to enjoy the leisurely and mostly less convenient meta that is Classic? I certainly don't.

Most everyone I know is in a hurry. Convenience accelerates the game. Lack of convenience inevitably slows it down greatly. Everything takes longer. Classic WoW isn't going to appeal to them at all over the long term unless it somehow gets them to reset their perception of how games in general should be paced.

Classic WoW is not all the difficult. It does require patience and for people to enjoy things like drinking all the time to restore their mana. It's S-L-O-W in comparison to the game we've gotten used to. Personally, I don't think that's going to wear well even with those that are most gung-ho to do this. Classic will have its audience. And Blizzard is on record saying that they are going to do this and keep it up regardless of the size of that audience. That's enough. If people are willing to slow down, relax and truly enjoy the slower pace of the game they will find a lot to keep them around. I'm very skeptical that there are that many people willing to do that.

These casual/hardcore threads are eternally dumb. Ask 100 people and you'll get 100 different definitions of what the words mean.

[draynay]

The allure of classic is playing the game. Actual leveling progression instead of constant scaling and gutted skills and talents means you're always improving, not just needing purples to feel like your character has gotten stronger. The big key will be the social aspect, finding like-minded players wasn't too difficult back then, but now it might be harder. Finding people to play with means not worrying about dungeon finder or any of that nonsense.

[Seranthor]

I think, by "no other option", the poster meant that WoW was the "only option" for those who wanted to be casual.

World of Warcraft was the most casual you could get back in 2004. To the point people would be made fun of by being called "dirty casuals" (or whatever the 2004 version of the name was back then) for playing WoW, in games like Everquest, for example.

It is true, we used to mock the shit out of Wow players for wanting their 'easy button' and being 'dirty casuals' we were going to spend our next 36 hours raiding Cazic or Inny. (Whichever one Triton wasn't killing at the time).

- - - Updated - - -

But.... CLASSIC WAS FOR THE CASUALS.

Everquest players did exactly what happens on this forum, call current WoW players casuals like it means something. WoW was originally for casual players.....

You aren't wrong.

- - - Updated - - -

I literally quit playing EQ (talk about a hardcore game) because you could just log into wow, do something for 10-30 min and log off and get something done.
It was the casual nature of the game that got me playing it ;P

You aren't wrong either.

[Ragnarohk]

As a casual I'll probably play classic just to level a character and get to lvl 60. As somebody said before, it's all about the journey and not the destination.

So I want to take my time. Read all the quest texts, not use addons, explore, learn about lore, immerse myself in the world

However, once I reach 60 I'll probably quit. Vanilla endgame sounds like trash compared to retail

[Toppy]

As a casual I'll probably play classic just to level a character and get to lvl 60. As somebody said before, it's all about the journey and not the destination.

So I want to take my time. Read all the quest texts, not use addons, explore, learn about lore, immerse myself in the world

However, once I reach 60 I'll probably quit. Vanilla endgame sounds like trash compared to retail

This is how vanilla was kinda played by most. Not many people raided, and the end game was indeed pretty trash. Awful class balance (even by then days MMO standards), ENTIRELY gear based, or more specifically, resistance based (private servers never get resistance right, making raiding seem better than it was), and very light on mechanics. The irony is that the devs wanted WoW to be a hardcore raiding game, but did a poor job at deisgning end game in many ways. For instance their dumb insistence of hybrid tax. Gotta remember, they had Tigole, the whiningest, most elitist EQ raider ever, and it showed with so many bad raiding decisions.

[Ashana Darkmoon]

However, once I reach 60 I'll probably quit. Vanilla endgame sounds like trash compared to retail

The leveling is also trash, fwiw. No voice overs, disjointed quests, no mounts, uneven zone progression, especially the higher level you get...

[oldgeezer]

shit ain't going to be "slow leveling" on vanilla servers. It was only "Slow leveling" back in the day when nobody knew jack-spit what was out there or where to go for leveling.

Now, you're going to enter the game not-fresh... you and everybody else will know Elwynn Forrest through Feralas like the back of their hand the moment you start your character.

Sure, but a) xp is meagre and b) not everyone wants to rush. But if you want to rush ahead, relatively speaking, nothing is stopping you.

[Cempa]

Classic will be a big pill to swallow, any one who plays modern WoW will have a tough time getting to 60. Vanilla was harder than P servers, and will require hundreds of hours and probably will end many guilds.

Vanilla was dominated by a handful of guilds PvE/PvP and the rest simply logged in to do a bit of farming, chatting and a run or two. Most lost hope of ever seeing end game content let alone gearing up in BiS.

If Blizz does not close the parallel economy between live/vanilla then we can see raids boosting in Vanilla for tokens on live. We will see a more active Vanilla.

[Rapti]

As a former hardcore (since vanilla) player, now gone casual. I very very very much prefer playing Classic to BFA.

Exactly the same feeling.

@Togabito: Where the hell did you take out that "No PvP scaling (will get owned b y overgeared players" - if they are bad you will eat them (especially when you play a counter).
50 gold per respec - if you respec all the time, sure.
There is a difference between a casual and a entitled scrub. Scrubs will leave instantly. Casuals if they will like the game will take their time and play it, make short leaves and get back.
Gold is not of an issue if you try a little bit.
There have been over time PUGs that did MC and ZG (even AQ20).
No quest - anyone with half a brain will ask about an addon in general (even if while crying), and most people who already play the game know very well about addons and will simply get one.

[kamuimac]

Sorry, this is my last thread but i would love to hear your opinion on this.

Do you think Classic will make any casuals stay longterm?
This environment is too hardcore and hard for them...
Could you please give a list of reasons why you think Classic will make Casuals stay. (i cant think of any reason atm)

Reasons for Casuals to Quit Classic WoW
-Slow leveling
-No Quest Helper (the casual needs to at least know how to download an addon)
-No LFD
-No LFR
-No LFG
-No epic quality gear unless he/she finds a Guild
-No PvP scaling (will get owned by overgeared players)
-No mount until lvl 40
-Lack of Gold (requires time and effort)
-Quests that ask you to travel around entire Azeroth (time consuming)
-50 gold to respec talents
-No Transmog

Reasons for Casuals to Stay in Classic WoW
-Farm Tier 0 and later Tier 0.5
- (...)

-------

I thank God we wont have any of this in Classic.
Im just asking if you think Classic will have any casuals and if you think there will be some consequences about this.

casuals wont make it past level 5 due to how horrible early gameplay in vanilla was.

i think that some people expect that they will get experience like darksouls from all the stories they heared about vanilla for year - how hard and entrtaining it is supposed to be - but what they will get is slow boring unfun expeirence - and thats just level 1-10 and then its geting worse and worse.

literaly cannot wait for shitshow that will be on forums once classic release with main topics "is that want it was supposed to be ? "

[kamuimac]

Classic will be a big pill to swallow, any one who plays modern WoW will have a tough time getting to 60. Vanilla was harder than P servers, and will require hundreds of hours and probably will end many guilds.

Vanilla was dominated by a handful of guilds PvE/PvP and the rest simply logged in to do a bit of farming, chatting and a run or two. Most lost hope of ever seeing end game content let alone gearing up in BiS.

If Blizz does not close the parallel economy between live/vanilla then we can see raids boosting in Vanilla for tokens on live. We will see a more active Vanilla.

the irony is raiding will be the easiest part of the game -_-

the hardest will be dealing with how shitty and boring and extremly slow leveling will be.

what is supposed to end guild ? bosses that have literaly 1-2 mechanics ? like be real - in retail lfr is more demanding them raiding was in vanilla - cannot wait for guilds doing speed runs on week one raids will open.

i feel genuinly sorry for people rushing to max level and then asking where is this chalenge that people talked about.

[SinR]

OP, since this was your last thread, Bye.

That said, No. I bet 75% of Casuals won't even make it to 60 before quitting and going back to retail or quitting altogether.

[Dartz1979]

Knowing the powers that be they will add a in game cash shop with limited purchases meaning one of certain things per month or soto classic because it is just too much of a thing to pass on money wise

[Nnyco]

Theyll gonna quit, like many more once they realise how boring classic actually is.

[Orby]

I will be a casual this time in WoW Classic. Back in vanilla I was 100% a hardcore player. Although I wouldn't really hit my stride until TBC vanilla was my stepping stone to becoming hardcore.

But back then I had more time to myself and would spend most days 24/7 on WoW. Now days I just don;t have the time.

But I will be playing WoW classic for as long as I can. I cannot really tell how long that would last, but I am super nostalgic for WoW Classic so maybe until the nostalgia wears off. WoW classic will be great during down times of the current game

[MoanaLisa]

A casual player will log on once a month perhaps, mooch about, and 4 years from creation will still find things to achieve or play, and a group their level at the same content.

I think this is right. It's a good example of what I've been calling "invisible players". There are many, many of them in the current game and I think a lot of them will find a home in Classic. That's not inconsistent with a large drop-off after a few months. People will report that because they aren't seeing anyone but some will be around.

On the flip side of that it will be relatively easy for them to leave if the current game doesn't hold their interest. "Retail" WoW, for better or worse, is what will bind players like this to the Classic game.

[Barkloud]

Theyll gonna quit, like many more once they realise how boring classic actually is.

I think it will have a good solid audience. Blizzard is not creating Classic because they want to, they were largely forced to. Free Classic servers have had a very stable playerbase with a good community in my opinion. I have played the free servers and enjoy them more than live. I am extremely casual and never ran out of things to do. It was a much more difficult game back then.

I had comepletely forgotten the pain of trying to level a warrior solo. Very frustrating, but also very fun.

[Akasha64]

I feel like TBC catered to casuals slightly better. Kara was a raid that a lot of casuals did, and it had a low entry requirement. ZG was vanilla's "Kara", but due to the 20 man entry requirement, it was still beyond a lot of people and not as easy to organize.

[clevin]

If by casual we just mean people who can't or won't devote a lot of time to the game then I think classic is actually a better fit than retail.

Think about it... say you can play 5-10 hours a week. Leveling will take some time, running instances repeatedly might be valuable (ZF for example had some very nice blue stuff for level) and getting good leveling gear helped since you didn't blow through levels like retail does.

At max level there's a lot of good 58-60 instances that can provide a raid-like experience for people who don't have time or inclination to raid (Scholo, Strat, etc).

The big unknowable is that unlike vanilla, most of the people who come back to play classic can't get the "this world is huge!" experience. We've see the world and know it pretty well. One of the things that was amazing to me when I first played was the sheer size of the world, an impression exacerbated by the fact that you can't ride until 40 and even after that, you can't fly at all on your own. I simply cannot get back that sense of scale... the game isn't new to me anymore.