[Speculation] Why did Blizzard change its mind?

[Deleted]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Pretty much this.

[MardestyGSOG]

I'd guess that they finally figured a way to code the vanilla client into the new infrastructure in a way that wasn't totally cumbersome, the shareholders were livid about private servers stealing blizzards IP and demand something be done and with strange copyright laws in Russia etc. they didn't wanna take that on without seeing a return(i.e. Vanilla players leaving private servers and returning to blizzard), and they were sick of the demands and after being forced to look into it due to outside pressure, they finally found a breakthrough that allowed them to do it more easily than originally thought, so here we are.

Given how adamantly against vanilla servers they were, I can't see one single factor causing it, someone forced their hand and I doubt it was the private server community. The fact that this is even coming also basically confirms that the client will be run through battlenet because otherwise they would need a whole new infrastructure and have to basically build vanilla from the ground up, so there HAD to have been a breakthrough somewhere showing that they can run an "emulation" of sorts and fine tune it to blizzard quality under new infrastructure.

[oldfolk]

I guess they've seen the numbers

Seriously, how many views the BFA trailer got compared to the Vanilla anouncement trailer ?
They are business men, they saw that they could get back some money with this.

[Nomads]

People like you have been saying that for 10 years... (Since WoTLK)

That's pretty stupid because WoW was at it's peak in WotLK. WoW is currently at the lowest numbers it's seen since it started. Back in Wrath it wasn't a stretch to imagine being able level up to level 100 eventually. Now we are at an arbitrary level 120. You could even see they were at 1 point planning to stop at level 100 by the fact that Cata and Pandaria only increased level caps by 5 instead of 10. Levels don't mean anything anymore. You run through a mishmash of stories as you level up with the timings not making sense anymore.

Even the most stubborn WoW fanboi can see a big reset is needed and will likely happen SOON.

[God Save The King]

In the last couple years they've softened their stance from "No!" to "We'd like to, but it's challenging". This was before the Nost fiasco as well. I think they saw the value, desire, and income it could provide, and sent some resources to trying to figure out how to do it. As they said at this last Blizzcon, there was a large technical barrier that a developer figured out how to get around. I imagine that had something to do with modern hardware, along with Bnet integration.

The core as to why? Because the community requested it, and they found a way to do it without wasting resources, and making the bosses upstairs happy.

[Sentynel]

Probably because the end of normal WoW development is in sight and they wanted a way to keep WoW alive.

So a franchise that makes ~$1 billion/year will just suddenly end? Yea, keep dreaming.

[Nomads]

So a franchise that makes ~$1 billion/year will just suddenly end? Yea, keep dreaming.

That's not what he said. WoW will end and WoW 2 will launch. Eventually an MMO just gets too big to attract new players. WoW has been at that point for awhile now. I doubt they can even a few NEW subs each year. Most of their players are from their existing pool of subs from the past 13 years. Tell a new player they have to come in, level 120 levels, skip basically 12 years of raid and story content, experience story-lines they can't finish as they level, see people running around with no longer obtainable, awesome looking collections, and they will likely just check out.

A big reset with WoW 2 might lose some current players, but would have the potential of drawing in huge numbers of a new generation of gamers.

[Sentynel]

That's not what he said. WoW will end and WoW 2 will launch. Eventually an MMO just gets too big to attract new players. WoW has been at that point for awhile now. I doubt they can even a few NEW subs each year. Most of their players are from their existing pool of subs from the past 13 years. Tell a new player they have to come in, level 120 levels, skip basically 12 years of raid and story content, experience story-lines they can't finish as they level, see people running around with no longer obtainable, awesome looking collections, and they will likely just check out.

A big reset with WoW 2 might lose some current players, but would have the potential of drawing in huge numbers of a new generation of gamers.

And why are you so sure WoW 2 will generate the same (or even bigger) profit as WoW 1?

[Torrasque]

It was because they needed to defend their IP. If people were going to rip off their content, they would have to display some form of action placed on the fact that they are, in a matter of fact, doing something about their IP in reference to private server arguments stating that past interations of the game shouldn't be validated under the umbrella of live/retail servers. Think about it, is it better to establish your own brand modified to acquiesce to this semi-legitimate case and attempt to risk a loss-of-investment when incurring debt having to build and finance legacy realms, or instead fight a legal battle and possibly lose the "Legacy" concept of their massive IP to other companies/industries, allowing other companies that could either ruin or simply steal their users with open-availability to their WoW IP so long as it is past iterations of the game?

It's because Blizzard is anticipating the tide of the internet. They've stated many times that it isn't feasible from a market-economy perspective, but are doing it now that the topic is catching on and the "legality" of disallowing previous instances of current live content is coming into question. In other words, it's risk management. The risk of losing investment so long as they are the ones doing it is greater than the risk of going against their own clientele then ultimately losing a legal battle and losing rights to protect their IP so long as it is a past version of the game that is released by completely different companies with different motives and different levels of business models to use against Blizzard's own IP.

In that retrospect, taking the hit to your investors is greater than taking a hit to your fanbase/clientele.

[Nomads]

And why are you so sure WoW 2 will generate the same (or even bigger) profit as WoW 1?

For the reasons I stated in my post you just quoted. The massive draw a reset would garner from new and players who quit several years ago.

[darkfire979]

They probably found a way to do it without costing too much so it's economically feasible now.
And secondly, someone in Blizzard probably found ways to make use of the classic wow to bolster their numbers for retail WoW. Can you imagine once BFA is release and during their drought period, they announce something similar to the WoW-Diablo 3 promotion. Like anyone that has a 3 months subscription to WoW during BFA gets a free opt in to 'Classic Wow Beta', I bet for the first time, they would have a WoW expansion where subscribers increased during it's drought

[Nomads]

It was because they needed to defend their IP. If people were going to rip off their content, they would have to display some form of action placed on the fact that they are, in a matter of fact, doing something about their IP in reference to private server arguments stating that past interations of the game shouldn't be validated under the umbrella of live/retail servers. Think about it, is it better to establish your own brand modified to acquiesce to this semi-legitimate case and attempt to risk a loss-of-investment when incurring debt having to build and finance legacy realms, or instead fight a legal battle and possibly lose the "Legacy" concept of their massive IP to other companies/industries, allowing other companies that could either ruin or simply steal their users with open-availability to their WoW IP so long as it is past iterations of the game?

It's because Blizzard is anticipating the tide of the internet. They've stated many times that it isn't feasible from a market-economy perspective, but are doing it now that the topic is catching on and the "legality" of disallowing previous instances of current live content is coming into question. In other words, it's risk management. The risk of losing investment so long as they are the ones doing it is greater than the risk of going against their own clientele then ultimately losing a legal battle and losing rights to protect their IP so long as it is a past version of the game that is released by completely different companies with different motives and different levels of business models to use against Blizzard's own IP.

In that retrospect, taking the hit to your investors is greater than taking a hit to your fanbase/clientele.

Pure speculation on your part. And in my opinion, baseless speculation.

[Dug]

They see money to be made and businesses like money. Doesn't get more complex than that.

[RobertMugabe]

They see money to be made and businesses like money. Doesn't get more complex than that.

Exactly this.

...mods can now close this thread (srsly).

[Chaelexi]

Yep... I've been saying it since both Classic and BfA were announced. I think WoW 2 is not far in the future. BfA COULD even be the last expansion.

Personally, I would love a complete reset with WoW 2... new accounts, new characters, new heroes. No achievements or collections to carry over. We could even have new factions... personally, I'd love a 3 factions WoW... or a more fluid faction system, similar to how Pandarens were done, where you start neutral but choose a faction to join at a certain point. Having a betrayal system where you could change factions (with some negative consequences) would be interesting as well.

Kinda rambling there, but the announcement of WoW 2 in the next few years would not be a surprise to me.

On the last leaked Dev chart there are at least 2 more expansions and as long as there is a million + subscribers there is no reason to not keep pumping out content, it is like printing money.

- - - Updated - - -

Pure speculation on your part. And in my opinion, baseless speculation.

It is actually not very baseless, if there is a vanilla server available from the IP owner they can then target the F2P illegal copyright infringing servers that are offering a similar product and force them to shut down.

[In Ogres We Trust]

It's cheaper to host a Vanilla server than it is to bill out lawyers on an hourly basis to defend their IP from "pirates."

[garfeeld]

That's pretty stupid because WoW was at it's peak in WotLK. WoW is currently at the lowest numbers it's seen since it started. Back in Wrath it wasn't a stretch to imagine being able level up to level 100 eventually. Now we are at an arbitrary level 120. You could even see they were at 1 point planning to stop at level 100 by the fact that Cata and Pandaria only increased level caps by 5 instead of 10. Levels don't mean anything anymore. You run through a mishmash of stories as you level up with the timings not making sense anymore.

Even the most stubborn WoW fanboi can see a big reset is needed and will likely happen SOON.

Peak in subs sure, but thats it, the rest of what you describe is all personal preference and opinion. As for what they once said about levels, meh, plans change. But no, no reset is needed.

[Soon-TM]

It's cheaper to host a Vanilla server than it is to bill out lawyers on an hourly basis to defend their IP from "pirates."

I think this is a bigger reason than what many believe, if not the biggest.

[RoKPaNda]

Heh, WoW isn't going anywhere, no end of expansions being released anytime soon. They just saw that the demand wasn't going away and saw an opportunity to double dip and make money.

Look at every other time they've ever said no, they've always caved. No PvE > PvP transfers, no race changes, no faction swaps, etc. Just Blizz doing Blizz.

[Trend]

As much as I love conspiracy theories, the reason for doing it now was alluded to in the announcement. There have been technical changes that will now accommodate the project with much less work than what would have been required before. And don't worry, if you're not involved in software development you won't understand the concept at all and you can just stick with your favorite conspiracy theory. Pretending things is much more exciting than dealing with reality anyway.