How big is WoW classic going to be? Are the retail devs worried about their jobs?

[Battlebeard]

I think it will explode in the beginning, especially since we can expect huge marketing campaigns etc. Lots of people will leave though when they realize how slow leveling is etc. But the dedicated will stay and keep the servers going. Overall, even with the leavers, it will be a big thing and could be bigger than retail.

[Fascinate]

I think it will explode in the beginning, especially since we can expect huge marketing campaigns etc. Lots of people will leave though when they realize how slow leveling is etc. But the dedicated will stay and keep the servers going. Overall, even with the leavers, it will be a big thing and could be bigger than retail.

That's really the big question, how much money is blizzard gonna spend to market this thing. There are a ton of people out there who played classic who have no idea its even being made yet, they just arent on the internet. If blizz does ad campaigns for television my 4 million estimate is probably low lol.

[Twdft]

That's really the big question, how much money is blizzard gonna spend to market this thing. There are a ton of people out there who played classic who have no idea its even being made yet, they just arent on the internet. If blizz does ad campaigns for television my 4 million estimate is probably low lol.

So you expect people who are not on the internet anymore to play classic. Thanks for the chuckle.

[Checkt]

Vanilla servers have been running for the past 10 years, and yet there's still demand for them, so much demand that Classic is launching.

Stay mad, BFA fanboy

a small community keeping things alive isn't a demand, lest of all in the eyes of WoW. (for example, EverQuest still has players today, there definitely is not an EverQuest 'demand')


Classic will probably have around 50-60k players who stick with it by this time next year, after an initial 'curious phase'. Is that success in a game that has held 3+ million subs since it's launch basically? idk, maybe.

[Fascinate]

So you expect people who are not on the internet anymore to play classic. Thanks for the chuckle.

Chuckle all you want broseph, tons of people dont use twitter or arent on youtube or twitch and if that is the case they likely havent heard about WoW classic yet, blizzard probably knows this but the question is how many and is it worth advertising on cable for.

People just dont understand how many people have played and since quit WoW in the past 15 years, i couldn't even guesstimate that number tbh.

[DisposableHero]

It won’t surpass retail.

WoW Classic is a side benefit to having a WoW sub. It’ll bring more money in and help retain subs. It’ll be pretty sizeable but it won’t overtake WoW at all.

It has a chance to surpass retail I think, but only because retail is pretty much the worst its ever been, and if it does, it will be much more an indictment of the state of the retail game than a statement to the quality of classic. I don't expect it to be long lived. I hope it does well enough that there is a non-trivial possibility of expansion environments being officially supported. I would love to play in a wrath or mists environment again, but I doubt those will ever happen.

[Fascinate]

Anyone that has/had an interest in WoW will most likely have heard what they're doing.


We know that by the end of WotLK, 100m people had tried the game. It could only hold on to about 12m of those at any given time. Do you really think any significant chunk of those people would come back to the very same game they left because it just wasn't of any real interest for them?

Who says those very same people wouldn't want to try that game in its original incarnation?

The real question is why do people keep trying to underhype classic launch on these forums? To me its clear its going to be massive, and i do believe the way blizzard markets it could have a big effect in launch numbers.

- - - Updated - - -

It has a chance to surpass retail I think, but only because retail is pretty much the worst its ever been, and if it does, it will be much more an indictment of the state of the retail game than a statement to the quality of classic. I don't expect it to be long lived. I hope it does well enough that there is a non-trivial possibility of expansion environments being officially supported. I would love to play in a wrath or mists environment again, but I doubt those will ever happen.

My hope is they stop at wrath for the classic experience but if enough people ask for mists, you would probably get mists.

[Chaelexi]

I don't think Blizzard will public that statistics. But it is still easy to know how many active players on Classic.

More players = higher server numbers and pop, less players = lower servers number and pop.

By comparing servers numbers and population status of classics and retail, one can get a pretty good idea how big Classic is.

That is even tough because there is no known definition to what a high, medium or full server is on live and what it will be for classic. Are the server sizes going to be 2500 login cap from vanilla(which I doubt as it brings in a host of other issues) or will they be 5000, 10000 or more.

[Fascinate]

That is even tough because there is no known definition to what a high, medium or full server is on live and what it will be for classic. Are the server sizes going to be 2500 login cap from vanilla(which I doubt as it brings in a host of other issues) or will they be 5000, 10000 or more.

They addressed this at blizzcon, its scale able.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAKvIx6eQpA&t=#t=13m40s

[RoKPaNda]

Classic isn't going to kill retail. Retail being what it is with BFA and having a toxic community on top of that is going to kill retail. I'm not expecting much from classic. A few months of hype and enjoyment at most tbh.

It's success depends on how Vanilla the game will end up being.

This right here is the problem and this is what you should prepare yourself for. If the game is unsuccessful for any reason the convenient excuse is going to be "Well Blizzard didn't deliver as good of a classic experience as private servers" or "it wasn't as pure as I remembered." and years from now we'll be hearing "Well it would have been HUGELY SUCCESSFUL if Blizzard was true to my memories of Vanilla."

[Chaelexi]

Who says those very same people wouldn't want to try that game in its original incarnation?

The real question is why do people keep trying to underhype classic launch on these forums? To me its clear its going to be massive, and i do believe the way blizzard markets it could have a big effect in launch numbers.

- - - Updated - - -



My hope is they stop at wrath for the classic experience but if enough people ask for mists, you would probably get mists.

I honestly think you are going to get classic and only classic. and it is not people trying to underhype classic but many people who are being realistic on what will happen, many of whom have played vanilla at the highest level and can compare it to the current game. I do not doubt that it will launch with a good population but as anything in today's game market it has a fast peak and then dies off. Prime example is the launch of the last 3 xpacs, or any other major game that came out in the last 2 years. Games are now part of mainstream consumer habits for much of the population, they are consumed for a couple of weeks until the next hype is released. After that people move on. So you will see a large influx of players and then the ones who want to stick around stick around and a large portion of the rest disappear in the first 3-6 months of the game.......

Vanilla was a product of the time, it was the first MMO that broke the mainstream barrier for gamers as most MMO's pre wow were not something that the average game player looked at. Many even looked down at Ultima/FF or EQ players as different. WoW broke this stigma. So it has a mix of the oldschool MMO players and the blizzard fanboys at the time. This lead to a diverse community, this community spread will not exist in the current game as it will be like the current game where everyone is just a player of different skill. In the end what most of the old players miss about Vanilla will still be missing, the old community as it again was a product of the time and not a product of the game.......

[Fascinate]

For a start, many of them already have, that's the point. They tried it, didn't like it, went elsewhere.


It's only underhyping because you're grossly overhyping.

I dont think saying 4 million people show up for the re-release of the most popular mmo of all time is an overhype at all, heck classic is going to get 2mil alone from bfa subs if you figure at least half try it (bfa probably has around 4 mil subs right now in my estimation). 2mil more from twitch and past players is completely reasonable, especially if it gets advertised on cable.

[MoanaLisa]

That is even tough because there is no known definition to what a high, medium or full server is on live and what it will be for classic. Are the server sizes going to be 2500 login cap from vanilla(which I doubt as it brings in a host of other issues) or will they be 5000, 10000 or more.

They can adjust server size to fit whatever parameters they're interested in. And they can do it overnight. One of the more hilarious series of threads ever posted here was when they sized up the servers prior to Legion so that most of the realms went to low- or mid- pop over one of their Tuesday maintenances. Many threads soon thereafter about how millions of players had left the game in 24 hours. It was so stupid.

[Shaderas]

I certainly won't be playing it. I played in the timeframe, and while I have fond memories of it, it's not the type of game I'd want to play anymore. I want to play something new, not something I already played. Why would I spend more time on something I've already spent hundreds of hours on?

But if you guys really want to do so, then more power to you

[arkanon]

yeaaaa....no

FANTASTIC argument. Maybe provide a counter opinion and some reasons?

[docterfreeze]

I was talking to a friend of a friend as well. He played during Vanilla and BC. He says he knows you in real life, and that you often make up stories that cannot be confirmed, that always seem to perfectly support your argument. Interesting.

The most unbelievable part of this story is that you have a friend

[Fascinate]

I certainly won't be playing it. I played in the timeframe, and while I have fond memories of it, it's not the type of game I'd want to play anymore. I want to play something new, not something I already played. Why would I spend more time on something I've already spent hundreds of hours on?

But if you guys really want to do so, then more power to you

Its weird for me, i love fallout 3 and want to replay it but i find i get bored with single player games nowadays. Its why im so excited for classic tbh, its a game i remember fondly from my past that i also get to experience with other people all over again.

People forget how addictive WoW was back in the day, the formula the devs came up with in vanilla was a perfect storm type of deal and i dont think that has faded with time. People are GOING to get hooked on classic, there is just something about the way the game flows that you just want to keep playing well past your bedtime lol.

[s_bushido]

I dont think saying 4 million people show up for the re-release of the most popular mmo of all time is an overhype at all, heck classic is going to get 2mil alone from bfa subs if you figure at least half try it (bfa probably has around 4 mil subs right now in my estimation). 2mil more from twitch and past players is completely reasonable, especially if it gets advertised on cable.

How many of the 10 million people who bought Starcraft over its lifespan came back for Starcraft remastered?

[Shaderas]

Its weird for me, i love fallout 3 and want to replay it but i find i get bored with single player games nowadays. Its why im so excited for classic tbh, its a game i remember fondly from my past that i also get to experience with other people all over again.

People forget how addictive WoW was back in the day, the formula the devs came up with in vanilla was a perfect storm type of deal and i dont think that has faded with time. People are GOING to get hooked on classic, there is just something about the way the game flows that you just want to keep playing well past your bedtime lol.

I think some will get hooked, but there will be quite a few that will realize that the game wasn't all the great in some ways.

I was way more addicted to EverQuest and Ultima Online than WoW personally. Doesn't mean I want to go back and play those games though. (EverQuest being in first person, at least initially, was way more immersive than WoW... kind of miss that)

[Deleted]

FANTASTIC argument. Maybe provide a counter opinion and some reasons?

beucase classic is leaaaaaaaaagues better than retail wow