Inevitable changes for Classic

[Centaurus87]

people that think WoW Classic won't have updated graphics and old graphics intergrated are fucking hilarious. "Oh no, we want old graphics because that's classic!"
Don't worry, you'll get it. And WE get to play with new graphics in the mean time.
Some how you purists have gotten it in your heads that CLASSIC WoW means old school graphics. One of the first and only things that said is that they want to make it a Blizzard worthy product. So that means polished, up to date graphics. But considering the whining you purists manage to put out about it, there's no doubt they'll take care of you as well.

[ydraw]

Authenticator will happen seeing as the game will be integrated with the battle.net client.

I’m hoping there’s an option to switch on new player models at least. I can’t stand the old ones. If they won’t allow the option then I’ll find other ways to get them in game.

WoW Tokens won’t happen, being poor as shit was part of Vanilla’s gameplay and the backlash would be unimaginably huge.

Whether or not tokens happen depends really on how popular classic becomes. If it becomes very popular they will be forced to institute tokens because people *will* farm and sell gold if there is a market for it.

[stomination]

I'm not sure why everyone is so deadset on changing things. What's wrong with leaving it alone and as close to consistent with the original as humanly possible?

The Original wasn't consistent. It had many a patch with changes.

[bearlolzx]

All classic needs is barbershop and mop graphics (last time graphics were good before cartoon legion)

[Keltas]

The only things they've confirmed are inevitable are out of necessity with integrating them into Blizz's current network--Battle.net integration including friends list and cross-game chat, the new auto-report features you can find on right-clicking a name in chat, and authenticators. Other than that, they seem more inclined toward limiting changes to bug fixes and seeing how the community feedback goes from there.

Ideally, if there's a population to support it, we'll get one of each server type (Normal, PvP, possibly RP if there's a community for it) that's just a straight-up Classic server with only the 'necessary-evil' (from a purist standpoint) changes, and one server pool where, a year or so down the road, Blizzard gathers up feedback on class balancing, QOL features, and potential post-Naxx content ideas and does what they can to address them while adhering to the Vanilla design philosophies, leaving one pure server pool and one 'Classic+' server pool that gets further development.

Personally, I'd be down for a choice between new and old models either way, but make it opt-in on the UI menu rather than opt-out like on live, but if it comes down to even that, put it on the 'Classic+' pool and leave it off the purist pool.

Well all the new server capacity increases will be there for it too. Vanilla servers had a way lower max player count and there's no way they bring that back. So that's one other thing. But otherwise yeah all of this.

[Baconeggcheese]

I think its weird people think the wow token couldn't work in classic. Blizzard sets the price on the wow tokens, so it could easily be adjusted to whatever keeps it consistent there.

Gold farmers were extremely prevalent back then, and obviously that meant people were buying gold from said farmers. All the wow token would do is what it does today, make gold buying a legitimate thing instead of purely through sketchy deals with farmers.

I guess dealing with the gold farmers was part of the vanilla experience too?

[Byleth]

Lets just be honest with one another...

... I'm making threads to bait Vanilla purists into having a meltdown.

*sigh*

[taliey]

The vanilla wow debate really shines a light on what the vanilla advocates want.

[Sammonoske]

1 will obviously happen. It's just added security and doesn't alter gameplay in any way. If you can't get over the authentication prompt you probably need to get over yourself.
2 probably wont happen. There are a group of people that would go off the deep end if just a bush was moved. "That's not vanilla! WAAHH"
3 would be tricky. We don't know how they will handle Classic servers yet, so it's probably for the best to leave the tokens on retail.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Lets just be honest with one another. There will be changes done to Classic. But lets be realistic with one another on what these changes could be. Obliviously there is a large group of the community who says "No" to any changes big or small, game breaking or not. Obviously there is an equally large group of the community who are for changes no matter how much it may veer from the Vanilla experience. The vast majority of the changes I feel the community wants are QoL or Class Balancing.

We aren't here to discuss those changes.

I would like to discuss potential changes that we as a community can agree will be implemented based off reasonable compromise of implementing a 13 year old game in a much more modern gaming society. What I mean by this is. It's been said a million times before the game is old. Anyone who thinks there wont be some changes to the game. And thinks they would release the same 04/05/06 version of WoW I feel is not looking at this whole situation rationally. So below are three changes I truly believe we will see in classic and my reasoning behind each one.

1) Authenticators - Given the increase is cyber security over the past 13 years. I believe blizzard would be foolish to not integrate the classic servers into there battle net client. Thus meaning authenticators will be a thing. Given the amount of characters / items we have accumulated over these years I feel it could be an almost unanimous decisions everyone would want this feature. I personally am for this change and would love to hear some opinions of those who might be against it. Also is there actually anyone out there who does not use an authenticator? I know I have used one since 2008 when they implemented it. And it's already saved my account numerous times.

2) Updated Graphics / Models - This one I feel I might get some heat on. However please hear me out before passing judgement. Given the recent remastering of StarCraft. It's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that Blizzard is going through a phase of reinvestment of their product line. Meaning they just remastered one IP (Starcraft). And they just announced the desire to release a classic server. What makes people think that they would not remaster Classic and instead implement a highly outdated graphics model? I feel the game would benefit tremendously being able to explore the old zones once more. However augmented but not changed from the original version. I feel this is a pro and not a con. However I can understand the purist mentality of "No changes". That they want to experience Vanilla how it once was. However lets be rational here. It would be unrealistic for a billion dollar company to invest millions into an old IP. In an attempt to bring back the old Vanilla wow without some form of augmentation. As I personally stand I would love to experience vanilla again but through a new light. I feel experiencing vanilla wow with updated graphics would be beneficial and cannot see the negative beyond the obvious nostalgia. However I'm sure others differ from my opinion. So how would an updated graphics / models change the game play in a negative aspect?

3) WoW Tokens - Do I personally want them? Absolutely not. Do I feel WoW tokens are a good thing for WoW? As a whole yes. I believe WoW tokens benefit the community more then they take away from. I have been against and have not wanted WoW tokens since the first time they were announced. However you know what I hate more? gold farmers. And in Vanilla they were prominent. Do I think the vanilla community could benefit from having WoW tokens. Yes!. However I personally feel it takes away from the vanilla experience where it was much more difficult to attain gold. What would I like to see as an alternative to WoW tokens? No WoW tokens and blizzard would create better systems in place to better identify gold farmers and ban them for being the leaches they are. However I know this is a very unrealistic alternative. And given the success of WoW tokens in retail I feel Blizzard would be pushing in this direction. Given the pros and cons IMHO I hope blizzard stands strong and they do not implement WoW tokens and we somehow think of a more creative way to combat gold farmers.

TL;DR Lets be realistic. There will be inevitable changes to Vanilla WoW. But lets be rational in what those changes will be. Blizzard has stated they want to make sure to make no QoL or class balance changes. So lets think of potential changes that would make sense as whole and benefit the vanilla community and potentially augment a 13 year old game in a very subtle way.

1) Authenticators don't really count as they don't actually do anything to change vanilla. That's a battle.net thing.

2) Updated Graphics/Models are not guaranteed...but again, as far as I am concerned, wouldn't actually "change" vanilla at all. It'd still be the same game with a slightly upgraded look to it.

3) WoW Tokens. Since we don't actually know what kind of sub model classic will have...it's hard to know what the plan there is. My bet is that Classic's sub will be baked in with BFA's...so people on Live will be able to pay for their sub with WoW tokens. I don't see them allowing WoW tokens on Classic Servers though. Too much potential damage to the economies of both Classic and Live.

[Mage in Pajamas]

Blizzard said they're listening to the community, which implies that everything is open for discussion. I think there is a spectrum between the absolute sacred cows (talent tree system, pre-Cata geography) to the things that people might welcome (bug fixes.)

I think it would be helpful to establish where certain changes fall on the spectrum.

For example, there were a lot of QoLs that were added because players were simply adding mods anyway. Why not allow players to totoggle on/off something like quest assistance. I personally wouldn't use it, but I don't see it as being ruinous. Whereas, adding extra XP to quests would fundamentally weaken the immersion.

TLDR. If the Devs aren't promising pure vanilla help them prioritize the absolute essentials of the vanilla experience.

[Alex86el]

all i need is transmog. you can have everything else as "vanilla" as you like. bugs and everything. just give me transmog and barber and i'm sold.

[munkeyinorbit]

I'm not sure why everyone is so deadset on changing things. What's wrong with leaving it alone and as close to consistent with the original as humanly possible?

You're talking about people who want to ruin classic for us. They are very upset that classic is being made and think that if they can convince blizzard to add things then they will wreck it and then blizzard will abandon classic. What they don't realise is that blizzard has no intention to change anything that may impact gameplay. No dual spec, no wow token, no balancing. Nothing.

[Dazu]

You're talking about people who want to ruin classic for us. They are very upset that classic is being made and think that if they can convince blizzard to add things then they will wreck it and then blizzard will abandon classic. What they don't realise is that blizzard has no intention to change anything that may impact gameplay. No dual spec, no wow token, no balancing. Nothing.

Some is just people who played vanilla and know how some things were in the original wow, not the private servers some of which had slight tweaks to them. I want it to be as close to original as possible, but I wont be upset if the minor convenience things added (Models, Guild banks, better in game chats/combat logging, raid icons menu etc). But it all depends on what patch they implement. If they implement a later patch, then it trivialises early end game (debuff limit increase =, character buffs and fixes etc will be in which it wasnt to begin with), but if they implement a very early patch but with all the content open than things like Naxx will be impossible due to the tuning being on the later patch. My preferred would be to launch it as day 1, and repatch through the cycle of vanilla upto the last patch before TBC prepatch came out with only designated exploits and bugs fixed from day one.

[bottled]

Pretty sure authenticator was in Vanilla.

[Spartin]

You're talking about people who want to ruin classic for us. They are very upset that classic is being made and think that if they can convince blizzard to add things then they will wreck it and then blizzard will abandon classic. What they don't realise is that blizzard has no intention to change anything that may impact gameplay. No dual spec, no wow token, no balancing. Nothing.

Do not conflate personal beliefs with the future actions or intentions, stated or otherwise, of another entity. It's not simply foolish, it's idiotic.

[solinari6]

all i need is transmog. you can have everything else as "vanilla" as you like. bugs and everything. just give me transmog and barber and i'm sold.

Transmog is an interesting one ... I could see them adding, it, with some small variations. Obviously, you shouldn't be able to use any transmog gear you unlocked on other characters/servers. But as long as you are only able to transmog to gear that you earned on the classic server, I don't see the problem.

[Kyr]

I think it would awesome if they did add the tokens to classic.....

and have them share the same price as live so no one can afford them anyway

[Dahij]

I totally agree. What I don't see is tokens being available on the classic servers themselves.

If tokens are not available, that would allow chinese farmers to roam free and sell gold. So I would think blizzard wants to counter that by having tokens available.

[chrisnumbers]

TL;DR Lets be realistic.

Sure thing:
No changes.