Do you think classic will last forever like elysium/nostalrius?

[Vampiregenesis]

I wonder, what drives people to keep playing classic? Naxrammas is completed, what exactly they do at this point? it's not like there are many things to farm such as transmogs, mounts, reputation or w/e. Elysium/nostalrius were also very popular for years. I can't really explain this. Is it the pvp element that sustains the population or something else?

[valax]

IMO classic era servers won't least long in a healthy state , can't see people retain dedication to raiding P6 ad infinitum. The only way to keep classic vanilla relevant is to have fresh servers , otherwise people will be asking for another round of classic 10 years from now

[RainBoi]

Once you have BIS in every slot, what is really the motivation for raiding? Sure it is fun to interact with 40 people, but there comes a time when there is zero reward to be had and your motivation will drop.

I would like to see different versions of classic down the line with #somechanges. Like one fresh release with no world buffs available. Another with rebalancing of the classes so raids ultimately wont be 80% warriors/rogues/mages.

[tikcol]

I wonder, what drives people to keep playing classic? Naxrammas is completed, what exactly they do at this point? it's not like there are many things to farm such as transmogs, mounts, reputation or w/e. Elysium/nostalrius were also very popular for years. I can't really explain this. Is it the pvp element that sustains the population or something else?

Private servers endured so long because they brought fresh progressive servers a few months after naxx. The moment one of those released, naxx servers would die and people would start all over again.

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Hasn't Nostalrius shut down? How long is Elysium up to count as "forever"? And isn't Classic on private servers just...well...Classic (maybe with a few "perks" and changes). So in the end, it is Classic that has the appeal, be it on Blizzard servers or a private server.

That said: What it needs is ppl who actually played on these private servers to tell us what kept them there (and what is the difference to a Blizzard server)

Beyond that, you will see the answers that we have always seen here: Some will claim Classic is dead, will be dead, always was dead and a bad idea and others will tell you retail has zero players and Classic millions..whatever the agenda of these ppl is.

People that didn't play pservers have a misconception about it. Nobody kept playing on old naxx servers.

The teams responsible for those servers would release new fresh progressive servers after naxx and people would play there. The naxx servers had 100 population, the new servers would immediately sour to 20k population.

The fresh mania was so strong that a team would release a new server and people would flock there, rank to 14 during phase 1, a new team released a new server and people would start all over again.

[Mysterymask]

People that didn't play pservers have a misconception about it. Nobody kept playing on old naxx servers.

The teams responsible for those servers would release new fresh progressive servers after naxx and people would play there. The naxx servers had 100 population, the new servers would immediately sour to 20k population.

The fresh mania was so strong that a team would release a new server and people would flock there, rank to 14 during phase 1, a new team released a new server and people would start all over again.

So people just want that new MMO smell even though its basically New Game+
even then how long does that like...last I mean that has a couple of cycles AT MOST. assuming of course wow doesn't get shut down by then.

[Viikkis]

Nostalrius was on its way towards TBC before they were shutdown. In the private server scene servers rarely even get to Naxx because either they are shutdown or another F R E S H server hype takes all the players away so even there we don't really know what happens in the longterm apart from some old dinosaur vanilla servers that have been there forever and have a base of 50-500 players "active"

So no. Players who are willing to play 1.12.1 content forever are an extremely small minority. Most classic players want to either A. Progress to TBC or B. Start fresh in classic vanilla.

I bet we will see fresh classic servers at somepoint. Right now I think they don't want to have fresh vanilla to compete with TBC so I'd expect to see fresh classic sometime after TBC has settled in.

[Vampiregenesis]

Private servers endured so long because they brought fresh progressive servers a few months after naxx. The moment one of those released, naxx servers would die and people would start all over again.

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People that didn't play pservers have a misconception about it. Nobody kept playing on old naxx servers.

The teams responsible for those servers would release new fresh progressive servers after naxx and people would play there. The naxx servers had 100 population, the new servers would immediately sour to 20k population.

The fresh mania was so strong that a team would release a new server and people would flock there, rank to 14 during phase 1, a new team released a new server and people would start all over again.

Interesting

[VinceVega]

Problem is that private servers can just restart and be done with it. A corporation like Blizz would have to put new out new servers without deleteing the old ones.

I would say the should keep the current servers as is while being progressed into every new expansion.
Also they should implement seasonal servers. Which constantly cycle through any given expansion on a 2,5 year basis. Or 2 year. This would be the only way to keep it going. Imho.

[Sughs]

My server seems pretty empty already compared to a few months ago. I guess they will merge servers in a year or two and begin fresh ones. Not sure I would do it tho. It was fun to play it again after 15 years but I don't think it would be fun for me to play it again after just 3-5 years.

[tikcol]

Problem is that private servers can just restart and be done with it. A corporation like Blizz would have to put new out new servers without deleteing the old ones.

I would say the should keep the current servers as is while being progressed into every new expansion.
Also they should implement seasonal servers. Which constantly cycle through any given expansion on a 2,5 year basis. Or 2 year. This would be the only way to keep it going. Imho.

Eventually a 3rd fresh server would open and they merged the 2 old ones. Effectively keeping 1 naxx server and one fresh server at all times.

I don't see that happening with Blizzard but that was how pservers kept huge amounts of players invested at all times throughout multiple years

[Echocho]

Yeah Nostalrius lasted about a year. Is that what it takes to be classified as "forever" now? xD

[VinceVega]

Eventually a 3rd fresh server would open and they merged the 2 old ones. Effectively keeping 1 naxx server and one fresh server at all times.

I don't see that happening with Blizzard but that was how pservers kept huge amounts of players invested at all times throughout multiple years

There you get the naming problem. It would be the eeeeeeennnnnd the eeeeeeeend i tell you if you have to change your characters name.^^

We all know wow players or gamers in general. Every inconvinience is the end of the world. Blizz cannot do this on a large scale.

[RainBoi]

Nostalrius was on its way towards TBC before they were shutdown. In the private server scene servers rarely even get to Naxx because either they are shutdown or another F R E S H server hype takes all the players away so even there we don't really know what happens in the longterm apart from some old dinosaur vanilla servers that have been there forever and have a base of 50-500 players "active"

So no. Players who are willing to play 1.12.1 content forever are an extremely small minority. Most classic players want to either A. Progress to TBC or B. Start fresh in classic vanilla.

I bet we will see fresh classic servers at somepoint. Right now I think they don't want to have fresh vanilla to compete with TBC so I'd expect to see fresh classic sometime after TBC has settled in.

I doubt they will release a fresh classic server after TBC, since they will likely do classic Wrath tbh. Wrath private servers are really big. On the flip side this would mean that a classic server would last 6 years before a potentiel reset? I dont see how they can create a fresh classic server without it draining the "current" classic expansion.

[Akka]

So people just want that new MMO smell even though its basically New Game+

Why do you think people include New Game+ in most games to begin with ?

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Problem is that private servers can just restart and be done with it. A corporation like Blizz would have to put new out new servers without deleteing the old ones.

Blizzard can easily merge servers when they're underpopulated. They just are, for some unfathomable reason, extremely loath to do it (and it has caused a ton of damage to the community, as people flock to overpopulated servers because they know Blizzard won't do a thing to the underpopulated ones ; so we end up in a situation where we could have 10 healthy servers, but we have 5 ghost towns and 5 crowded places bursting at the seams).

Blizzard just needs to get their fingers out of their ass when it comes to merging.

[Kithelle]

Will never get how people can do it lol....it's like watching a old show you enjoyed, slowly month after month and after it's over next day you just hit the play button and watch it all over again

[Viikkis]

I doubt they will release a fresh classic server after TBC, since they will likely do classic Wrath tbh. Wrath private servers are really big. On the flip side this would mean that a classic server would last 6 years before a potentiel reset? I dont see how they can create a fresh classic server without it draining the "current" classic expansion.

I'm thinking they will most certainly do Wrath but at the same time have classic restart the progress kind of like Everquest progress servers are doing and they did hire Holly Longdale from Everquest progression server team to produce classic WoW.

So you would have vanilla, tbc and wrath going in cycles so no matter which versions players enjoy they can hop on and play it.

[OokOok]

I don't play private servers, but i've read about specific ones and watched videos/streams about them and based on what i've read/seen imo they have a better chance at surviving than Classic does. The reason classic era servers won't surive is because of the no changes movement. Private servers will often make changes to keep it interesting, like some servers give a boost to alliance to make more ppl want to play alliance to even out the population. Nothing game breaking, just....xp boosts and what not. Something that doesn't give alliance an edge in raiding/pvp, but encourages people who want to level an alt or a new player to take the easier road in getting to 60, and those who still level horde do it the normal way and get their OP racials. From what i've seen it works out nice, a couple high populated servers have some pretty even numbers.

They'll also increase boss HP/dmg to keep things interesting. Blizzard should of did this, we all knew content was going to be easy. Only the MOP and WOD babies screamed no changes cause they wanted to experience what they never got the chance and want the "Authentic experience" or the "I played vanilla and it was SUPER HARD" player base...usually they never even played vanilla and started in MOP like the others. But you'll never get that, ever. SO you might aswell give Rag another 1-2 million HP so players atleast have to go through the actual phases. It's not fun when you just blow up a boss in 20 seconds in the first 2 weeks and then it's over. Atleast when Limit kills an end tier boss in the first 2 weeks they do so after 500 wipes, not 1 pull.

Could you imagine playing classic for raiding and doing it again and again in the state it's in? 1 shotting every boss as soon as it releases. That's the other thing, private servers often do resets/wipes to start new. Blizzard said they have no plans to make fresh servers and are focusing on TBC at the moment, after that? Probably wotlk. We won't see fresh servers til they're done making new classic versions of expansions. Which means classic vanilla will die out, everyone will return to private ones and they'll thrive like they always have.

[erifwodahs]

Problem is that private servers can just restart and be done with it. A corporation like Blizz would have to put new out new servers without deleteing the old ones.

I would say the should keep the current servers as is while being progressed into every new expansion.
Also they should implement seasonal servers. Which constantly cycle through any given expansion on a 2,5 year basis. Or 2 year. This would be the only way to keep it going. Imho.

I would pay a second sub if they let us to have "classic" realms who cycle every two years, maybe a bit faster than original launch cycle. Even if there were like 3 realms of every expansion in each region, I would think that MoP, Legion, WotLK, Cata could sustain healthy realm population and even shine in a new light with tighter communities and long ques of LFR could make raiding more prestigious again.
I think we shall see in next 3-5 years.

[procne]

Problem is that private servers can just restart and be done with it. A corporation like Blizz would have to put new out new servers without deleteing the old ones.

I would say the should keep the current servers as is while being progressed into every new expansion.
Also they should implement seasonal servers. Which constantly cycle through any given expansion on a 2,5 year basis. Or 2 year. This would be the only way to keep it going. Imho.

They could just create a new type of realm with this special rule - after X time this realm is reset and starts from scratch, and all existing characters are merged into some "main" regular realm. Like leagues in Path of Exile

[Djuntas]

I remember selling a lot of leftover items like 2 months ago or so in classic...You know selling left over BOE's that Im flipping. Anyway now I dont move them much at all, so I think the naxx boost is already dying out...Hope my high pop is not all dead lol.