Confirmation, Classic wow has "MILLIONS" of players.

[BenBos]

I wasn't subbed but redubbed to play classic for what it's worth. A lot of my friends did this as well.

Me, my son, my brother, my nephew and my boardgames shop keeper and his wife and ALL came back and are still playing.

But ... it is logical the retail fans try to defend their retail version of WoW.

They forget however that ONCE you stopped playing for several years there was NO CHANCE IN HELL you would come back and level through 120+ levels of nerfed content in yaahwn mode ... to arrive at an end game where a returning (let alone a brand new) player could make head or tails of it.


So tldr:

1. WoW is THE recruiting tool for old and brand new players.
2. It will be there for a LOOOOOOONG time, so no rat race anymore.

After 3 months I am still lvl 26 with my Paladin as highest character but LOVING it 2 times a week playing with my son.

3. I look forward to creating endless twinks already at 19...

[anon5123]

The vast majority of Classic players never touched a private server.

Got some data to back this up?

[BenBos]

Yeah "had" millions.
Implementing battlegrounds would help get back some of those that left. But the damage is done and mostly due to poor server management upfront from Blizzard and tryhards following streamers that dictate how to play the game in the most efficient way. Pushing away i good chunk of the more casual playerbase who came back with Classic.

All the people that came back I know still play WoW after many months now.

I see it as a far more fun casual MMO, that will be here forever.

My son and I for example play 2 times a week for 3 hours or so and it is just like the old days: F U N.

[BenBos]

Got some data to back this up?

The people I know never touched these “illegal” servers. It is as good as your theoretical thoughts. It is also quite logical, since those private servers never had millions of log ins either compared to the >100.000.000 unique log in accounts that Blizzard talked about a decade ago already ...

[Denymeplz]

People already said it but Ion mentioned that millions went back to azeroth pre cata, as in millions "tried" classic, not that classic brought millions of players without a sub, you love to change arguments to fit your narrative dont you? also you forgot to mention classic+, isnt that part of your agenda OP? oh right, Ion also forgot to mention classic+, maybe he forgot? LUL.

[BenBos]

it's pretty clear at this point that blizzard does not give a fuck about retail at this point, just look at shadowlands lul.

Not true actually.

With Classic they saw that for returning players to the 120+ levels and constant changes were NEVER going to recruit back anyone.

So the decision to go back to 60 levels was a DIRECT influence by the recruiting success of WoW Classic.

I am sure there are many more Retail decisions made that were influenced by Classic.

[lockybalboa]

Retail fanboys don't like the fact that Classic is doing well because it just goes to show that the current state of game is so shite that people would rather prefer 15 yr old content than what we have now

[lollerlaban]

Imagine thinking that classic has 3.5m subs. That's fucking hilarious

[iosdeveloper]

they took "less is more" lesson from Classic to the next level with Shadowlands

p.s. casual pvp people might go to Classic in Battlegrounds patch, since there will be no shitty BGs

[BenBos]

People already said it but Ion mentioned that millions went back to azeroth pre cata, as in millions "tried" classic, not that classic brought millions of players without a sub, you love to change arguments to fit your narrative dont you? also you forgot to mention classic+, isnt that part of your agenda OP? oh right, Ion also forgot to mention classic+, maybe he forgot? LUL.

You are wrong when I look at my personal experience and friends list.

I did not have a fixed subscription in the last 5 years at all. Only bought a time card for a month or so after each new expansion and never leveled more than a few bars. Too many changes, too much to watch...

But in WoW Classic I am subbed again for the next 6 months. I logged in twice into retail but other than looking around for 5 minutes I logged back out to play ... Classic again.

So I am quitte sure we (friends & family I know) are no exception on this at all...

[Denymeplz]

You are wrong when I look at my personal experience and friends list.

I did not have a fixed subscription in the last 5 years at all. Only bought a time card for a month or so after each new expansion and never leveled more than a few bars. Too many changes, too much to watch...

But in WoW Classic I am subbed again for the next 6 months. I logged in twice into retail but other than looking around for 5 minutes I logged back out to play ... Classic again.

So I am quitte sure we (friends & family I know) are no exception on this at all...

Cool story, you and your friend list must be a really big sample size, certainly bigger than all the people with an already existing sub on retail who tried classic for the hype, yep, you got me there.

[iosdeveloper]

You are wrong when I look at my personal experience and friends list.

I did not have a fixed subscription in the last 5 years at all. Only bought a time card for a month or so after each new expansion and never leveled more than a few bars. Too many changes, too much to watch...

But in WoW Classic I am subbed again for the next 6 months. I logged in twice into retail but other than looking around for 5 minutes I logged back out to play ... Classic again.

So I am quitte sure we (friends & family I know) are no exception on this at all...

pretty same for me, my guys and i can't play retail for more than 10 minutes, it's just not WoW

[hulkgor]

There should be a maximum number of threads one can create on the same topic, cause this guy is relentless about Classic. holy hell.

[Denymeplz]

There should be a maximum number of threads one can create on the same topic, cause this guy is relentless about Classic. holy hell.

Hey, he didnt mention classic+ in this thread tho, its an improvement, maybe out of embarassment cause it wasnt mentioned on blizzcon LOL.

[Redroniksre]

Cool story, you and your friend list must be a really big sample size, certainly bigger than all the people with an already existing sub on retail who tried classic for the hype, yep, you got me there.

Right? On the opposite end of the spectrum on my friends list everyone who was dying to play it has all quit by now. Only one friend of mine actually plays it anymore.

[BenBos]

Also, Classic was not casual friendly anyway. I played for two hours and remembered why I loved all the improvements that came after so much. It’s a 15 year old game. It was always going to live solely on nostalgia and idle curiosity from the younger crowd. Neither of those lead to a long shelf life.

In my experience, Classic shows WHY it was such a huge success and WHY I love it more than returning to come back to retail with a ... stuck lvl 90 character somewhere innthe middle of ... nowhere.

You know Classic gives me a GRIP on things like... NO rat race, having time to digest it all and come back to the things I really loved in Classic...

Get this: ONCE you left for a year or so in Retail WoW there was no chance at all to go back leveling 100+ shades of easyness...

Classic is and simply will stay the ideal recruiting basics.

[Tiwack]

It's not a competition and the sub works for both versions. It's a relic of the past and a museum piece, just enjoy it.

[BenBos]

Cool story, you and your friend list must be a really big sample size, certainly bigger than all the people with an already existing sub on retail who tried classic for the hype, yep, you got me there.

It is quite logical that those who already play WoW retail just tried WoW Classic for the hype and then went back.

If I were into this retail version still I would do the exact same.

But Classic simply has better tools to recruit back old AND even brand new.

It is not even a competition as Blizzard gets both ends


PS’ Classic is not a relic or old museum piece at all. It has an active proper community that will stay endless young, ... far More than any new expansion you will burn through in less than 20 months ...

Tldr: new people are born by the millions on this earth, you are NOT unique

[Denymeplz]

It is quite logical that those who already play WoW retail just tried WoW Classic for the hype and then went back.

If I were into this retail version still I would do the exact same.

Which is why people refuted OP twisting what Ion said to fit his narrative (putting the fact that hes a diehard classic fanboi aside), classic brought millions of subs BACK to wow? no, millions tried classic, among them a mix of current and returning subs? yes.

[BenBos]

Which is why people refuted OP twisting what Ion said to fit his narrative (putting the fact that hes a diehard classic fanboi aside), classic brought millions of subs BACK to wow? no, millions tried classic, among them a mix of current and returning subs? yes.

Of course, BUT the advantage WoW Classic WILL have is that it will stay forever there to recruit, both new as old returning players who want to go back to things they have a grip on.

I don’t think active players really have a good idea how FAR OFF present retail WoW went from players who stopped playing from 2012-2017...

There is absolutely NO denying that WoW Classic will just make the total pie bigger, not smaller.

So why attacking Classic even ... or for the same matter Retail ?

They both can reinforce each other towards more WoW players in the end.