Will you remain in classic when TBC comes out?

[Piesor]

I will play BC and will try to finish my classic bis in Naxx once a week if that's possible.

[Mendzia]

They'll be able to cap the amount of gold you transfer, I'm not sure why you think they can't.

It can work but i can see how you can avoid that cap.
Imagine the cap is for example 10k and you've got 50k on Classic. You transfer your 10k and give rest to a few friends/guildies that are not that 'rich' and transfer it for you and we got exactly the same problem back. This is not fixing anything basically.

[kranur]

Classic will become Classic TBC (i do not see Blizzard has got any different choice here) so this question is pretty weird.

I really don't see them destroying classic after they finally gave in and created it.

Best case scenario we get TBC with the option to copy/move and leave the classic servers as they are

[Mister K]

Classic will become Classic TBC (i do not see Blizzard has got any different choice here) so this question is pretty weird.

No, no it will not. Why? Well I mean players will be asking for bloody Classic again in few years. I hope they make multiple different servers. Server where you can clone characters from classic and servers where you can't.

I am all for keep Classic Classic and let the little snowflakes cry it out and have TBC as a complete separate entity (which in reality it is). Bloody snowflakes, they want to feel special. T3/Legendaries will be game breaking for S1 and T4 (more so than before).

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It can work but i can see how you can avoid that cap.
Imagine the cap is for example 10k and you've got 50k on Classic. You transfer your 10k and give rest to a few friends/guildies that are not that 'rich' and transfer it for you and we got exactly the same problem back. This is not fixing anything basically.

That is indeed a loop hole. I think no gold should be transferable, no gear, just your plain character with possibly generated starting gear at most. Or just a token to create a premade 60, or infact, scratch that, people start from 1.

You all done it hundreds of times, and your tears will only last a few days...

[Nak88]

Exactly the same, goodbye to only 12 out of 27 specs being optimal/viable/functional (even barely functional) and hello to TBC which for lack of better words was ‘complete’ in its development. Vanilla was fun, and still is, for what it is... but it’s pretty damn garbage when it comes to development of classes and balancing.

Amen 10chars

[Aleksej89]

The classes in classic are too awful to be honest.
So many of the specs are just not working at all.

TBC improves on a lot of the classes so thats imho its greatest asset.

[deenman]

In my experience, the primary factor in arenas is, and has always been, class composition over skill.
But yea, there's still a component of skill left, and individual contribution is certainly more than in BGs.

However, it shifted away the focus of PVP from large(ish) group battles to fights on a tiny scale. Macro gameplay (strategy, team coordination) became micro gameplay (skill timing, small-scale positioining). Which is imho inherently less fun in any PVP oriented game. We're playing an MMO for a reason; if I wanted individual fights, I'd be playing a beat 'em up instead.

Toxicity levels also went through the rooftop. In most game activities - all of PVE, all other forms of PVP - you could lose without incurring any significant disadvantage, other than losing out on a bit of time. In arenas, obviously you lose ranking, so you're actively worse off after losing a game. A whole lot of people don't deal well with this. Arenas was the true precursor of the LoL community, if you ask me

To make things worse, it was also a huge catalyst for class homogenization, and removal of fun abilities (engineering, on-use items etc.) as Blizz now had to strive for micro balancing of classes and class compositions.

sure but it wasnt tbc that shifted the battles to a tiny scale....bg's did that in vanila,the only way to have fixed that was to add some real motivations for outdoor pvp like some other mmo's have,maybe siege battle stuff to control areas or whatever

[Vampyrr]

I don't agree to that at all. Don't get me wrong, TBC did a lot of things right, especially in terms of balancing and many gameplay mechanics. But it made three MAJOR mistakes that I will never be able to forgive:

1. Introduction of flying mounts
2. Introduction of arenas
3. Being visually designed by a group of teenagers on acid

For me, these 3 flaws are so huge that I overall prefer classic. I'll probably still alternate between both, but I don't intend to give up on classic.

I mean those 3 are just opinions and the vast majority disagree with you on all 3. I consider flying a huge boon to the game. I agree with you on Arenas but I have always been a BG guy but we are definitely in the minority here. I had no issues with any of the visuals of TBC.

[Will]

Why does arena get so much vitriol. Seriously, it's optional. Don't play it if you don't like it. It's not like vanilla PvP is much better with its ridiculous burst damage and meme levels of balance. I never played arena back in the day and I was still competitive with the honor-tier PvP set...

[TheUnrealDonald2]

Why does arena get so much vitriol. Seriously, it's optional. Don't play it if you don't like it. It's not like vanilla PvP is much better with its ridiculous burst damage and meme levels of balance. I never played arena back in the day and I was still competitive with the honor-tier PvP set...

I don't think that's a great argument, to be honest. That's similar to saying "no need to remove flying - just don't use your flying mount". "why dislike LFG, you can just avoid using it", "dungeon boosts don't affect you, just don't buy them", "if you think your class has too many abilities, just ignore some of them" etc.
Imagine Blizzard suddenly puts in a vendor that sells the best gear ingame for half a penny. Everyone is entirely free not to get gear from there, obviously. But in practice - don't you think it would severely impact whether, and how often, people raid?

Arenas have deep impact on gameplay and your game experience, even if you decide not to participate.

The sudden inability to get your hands on the best pvp gear will affect you.
Blizzard's focus on individual 2v2/3v3 class balance will impact you.
The removal of potentially unbalanced items and professions will impact you.
The frequency and style that the general server population will play random BGs afterwards will impact you.

Don't get me wrong, I can understand why many others like arenas, that's entirely fine.
It's just that I don't, and they do negatively impact me negatively, even if I decided to skip them.

[Tiev]

I definitely want to play TBC if they release it. Not sold on classic, though. I played it all already. TBC I missed some aspects of, so I'm definitely into it.

[Hinastorm]

It can work but i can see how you can avoid that cap.
Imagine the cap is for example 10k and you've got 50k on Classic. You transfer your 10k and give rest to a few friends/guildies that are not that 'rich' and transfer it for you and we got exactly the same problem back. This is not fixing anything basically.

True. If they wanted to cap gold badly enough they'd find away around that, but I suspect they won't make any attempt to cap gold. Mostly because they are lazy, but partly to not piss people off too.

[deenman]

Why does arena get so much vitriol. Seriously, it's optional. Don't play it if you don't like it. It's not like vanilla PvP is much better with its ridiculous burst damage and meme levels of balance. I never played arena back in the day and I was still competitive with the honor-tier PvP set...

firstly,you cant rly say just dont play it,the honor pvp gear is simply inferior to the arena one so you will always be behind

also people dislike it for various reasons,they either not good enough to do arenas and get a full set or they simply prefer large scale battles and wish they could be optimaly geared that way,well atleast today thats somewhat better with rated bg's

[Trend]

Why does arena get so much vitriol. Seriously, it's optional. Don't play it if you don't like it. It's not like vanilla PvP is much better with its ridiculous burst damage and meme levels of balance. I never played arena back in the day and I was still competitive with the honor-tier PvP set...

You can't just not do it if you're into PvP because the gear is considerably better for PvP. And people don't like it because:

A) Arenas are always more comp dependent than BG's / world PvP and it favors some classes over others.

B) You don't need to be good at PvP to be "successful" in BG's / world PvP but you'll get exposed in arenas.

[Smokeybones55]

Yeah, that is obvious solution but still i personally do not think that this will be enough especially knowing that Blizzard fucks up alot of things recently.

Right, connected servers + layering is a disaster waiting to happen. Still, the Classic community that sticks around after BC launches (which will probably include me, as I won't progress in BC past Kara) will probably see it as a necessary evil at some point.

... but there would be almost no point of playing Classic anymore for me since my main (and basically the only character that i care) is 'gone' transfered to TBC - that is the problem.

Also true. I guess I am weighing this part against the question: If you did get to keep your Classic character while making a copy of it on a BC server, how often would you still actually play Classic?

In my mind, most players will want to actively play Classic, or actively play TBC. But will not actively play both. I think if it comes to character copy and not one way transfer, BC players might log on to Classic every now and then, play a WSG or two, and log off again for a few weeks. Meaning its pretty irrelevant to most players if they have to choose between Classic or BC. All this, again, points to the one way transfer as the most logical solution to the gold-duping scenario (and it's also the most "Classic like", as you weren't allowed to keep a copy of your character at 60 when TBC was originally released).

After the one way transfers, I'm hoping connecting the servers will help offset the population loss to TBC.

Could be totally wrong on this, and I think it's more likely Blizz goes with the character copy, instead of transfer, route. So I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I think another scenario that hasn't been brought up much in this thread are fresh Classic servers. Connect all the Naxx-capped 'round 1' servers once TBC opens and open up 1 or 2 fresh Classic servers. Personally, I had a blast in P1-P3 of Classic, and I would definitely do it again a year or two from now on a new class. However, this will just further 'split' the playerbase that people are concerned about, and I don't see it as an immediate option (maybe 5 years or so down the road, if ever)

Anyway - you presented some good thoughts and arguments in your post. It is really rare on this forum.

And I appreciate the thoughtful response!

[BarosanuNr1]

Will definitely move to TBC as the "main" WoW version that I play. It's not that I don't enjoy Classic, but TBC feels like a very similar yet improved version:
- I play PvE realms, so flying mounts are a welcome addition and don't impact me all.
- Arenas would fix my main problems with Classic's PvP: extremely long BG ques*, high chance to end up playing as PuG vs premades*, unfeasible gear grind.
- My preferred content is 5mans, and TBC has: (a) lots of instances + (b) heroic modes.

(*)These problems are specific to Classic, I didn't experience them in Vanilla to this extent and they're ruining Classic's main attraction for me.

[clevin]

I guess I am weighing this part against the question: If you did get to keep your Classic character while making a copy of it on a BC server, how often would you still actually play Classic?

In my mind, most players will want to actively play Classic, or actively play TBC. But will not actively play both

I agree but I think they'll go the one time copy route so that people aren't faced with the choice. When they introduced Death Knights there was some talk of you converting an existing character to the DK so you'd lose a max level character. That got a lot of pushback because people didn't want to lose a character that they'd invested in. This is kind of the same. While I'd move without a second thought, some people might want to be able to go back and help friends clear Naxx here and there, etc. A copy lets people do this.

[secondratetech]

Does/did TBC have faster leveling 1-5x (don't need zoom zoom, just a bit more bearable time/reward)? Were all of the terrible quests, like shaman totems run across the world 5 times still in place? I skipped Classic as I don't have that in me in 2020.

[Restors]

Does/did TBC have faster leveling 1-5x (don't need zoom zoom, just a bit more bearable time/reward)? Were all of the terrible quests, like shaman totems run across the world 5 times still in place? I skipped Classic as I don't have that in me in 2020.

The questing didnt change much until cataclysm. And yes, all the class quests remains pretty much the same.

[Nachtelfficker]

How come I dont read anywhere about Classic +
imagine how cool would that be !?
new or old classic content on another scale you can clear with the naxx gear?
maybe even rated battlegrounds !?
its all on the table for sure !