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

[Cyanu]

First off i obviously realize classic getting popular is good for them monetary wise, im more wanting to know how the current WoW devs feel about classic and if their job is at risk.

Make no mistake about it classic will be the "real" game in the eyes of many, influencers from twitch and youtube and the split between WoW classic and retail will be stark, no one is going to be wanted to be known as the guy playing the second rate version of the game, as that is how retail will be viewed by these content creators.

People are starving for a good MMO to release, as witnessed yesterday by the delayed launch of atlas, some random pirate mmo that will have a tiny amount of people playing it compared to WoW classic (those "tiny" numbers still hit 200k viewers on twitch, wow classic will easily surpass a million...maybe 2).

The closer classic gets to launching the more popular do i think its going to be, how is blizzard going to deal with this internally and what does it mean for them in the future? I dont think they will stop doing expansions for retail anytime soon but i do wonder what the implications are in regards to how people are allocated internally to projects, WoW classic could actually become the cash cow of blizzard entertainment all over again. What does blizzard do if this happens, the game has already been made and the key to its success is keeping it that way.

imo the devs hate it, because they have worked for over a decade trying to make wow a better game and yet some people think that their work was not only useless but harmful to the game

now how big is it going to be? it will be like a firework, big burst at first and quickly fade to barely 1/5th of the active wow population

as for the future? nothing, ideas that it will move to bc or that it somehow indicates the death of wow are silly

[Fascinate]

imo the devs hate it, because they have worked for over a decade trying to make wow a better game and yet some people think that their work was not only useless but harmful to the game

now how big is it going to be? it will be like a firework, big burst at first and quickly fade to barely 1/5th of the active wow population

as for the future? nothing, ideas that it will move to bc or that it somehow indicates the death of wow are silly

Ya that's a good point, lets not funnel all the hate towards the devs concerning the current state of WoW. All of the bad things that have happened to the game over the years the players asked for, the problem is blizzard gave into the demands while KNOWING BETTER. The devs arent stupid people, but when millions of people are screaming at you its hard to not cave to the demands, no matter how misguided the demands are.

It really does boil down to:
How much money can we make
How good of a game can we make

Money won out, and this is why so many people are excited for WoW classic.

[Otimus]

I think it'll probably get a huge initial spike, then peter out at about half or less than live numbers. I think the actual amount of people only playing classic will probably be around 20% or less of total subs.

Just in general, I don't think people really realize how meh most of the world is on Warcraft, save for Asia. Classic, Retail, or otherwise.

It will fill a niche. So there's that. But people really, really, really have been drunk on the Blizzard Kool-Aid for way too long. They're not as popular as you think they are, unless, like, you're a South Korean.

[Vineri]

I think it'll probably get a huge initial spike, then peter out at about half or less than live numbers. I think the actual amount of people only playing classic will probably be around 20% or less of total subs.

So 80% will be playing BFA ... you almost had me, with the initial spike...

then 50% playing BFA .. then you say 80% BFA ... oh my. BFA is really that good eh?

There are many other games better than BFA, sadly.

[Fascinate]

I think it'll probably get a huge initial spike, then peter out at about half or less than live numbers. I think the actual amount of people only playing classic will probably be around 20% or less of total subs.

Just in general, I don't think people really realize how meh most of the world is on Warcraft, save for Asia. Classic, Retail, or otherwise.

It will fill a niche. So there's that. But people really, really, really have been drunk on the Blizzard Kool-Aid for way too long. They're not as popular as you think they are, unless, like, you're a South Korean.

Its just very curious to me how everyone assumes retail WoW will be more popular than classic a few months after it launches. I am not so quick to agree on this, can you really see asmongold/sodapoppin or any of the other big streamers going back to retail anytime soon after classic hits? People want to play what everyone else is playing (as we see with popular titles like fortnite), who are the "everyone else" that will be playing retail? Towelliee alone isnt going to carry retail WoW guys lol.

I think classic has more legs in it than people like to assume around here.

[alturic]

*IF* classic was somehow a runaway, sustained, success... no they aren't worried about their jobs? They would be shifted to work on that. Are some of the higher-ups worried about their jobs? I can't say anyone would get fired over it, outside of that dumbfuck who said "you think you do, but you don't". Any firings would be due to pressure from aboves askin why they didn't do it sooner.

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I think it'll probably get a huge initial spike, then peter out at about half or less than live numbers. I think the actual amount of people only playing classic will probably be around 20% or less of total subs.

Just in general, I don't think people really realize how meh most of the world is on Warcraft, save for Asia. Classic, Retail, or otherwise.

It will fill a niche. So there's that. But people really, really, really have been drunk on the Blizzard Kool-Aid for way too long. They're not as popular as you think they are, unless, like, you're a South Korean.

I'm curious (not being rude) what world you live in that you think classic will have anywhere NEAR even half as many players as retail, at ANY point?

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Its just very curious to me how everyone assumes retail WoW will be more popular than classic a few months after it launches. I am not so quick to agree on this, can you really see asmongold/sodapoppin or any of the other big streamers going back to retail anytime soon after classic hits? People want to play what everyone else is playing (as we see with popular titles like fortnite), who are the "everyone else" that will be playing retail? Towelliee alone isnt going to carry retail WoW guys lol.

I think classic has more legs in it than people like to assume around here.

This, ultimately, will be something that keeps people playing on classic. If streamers play on it, the sheep will follow. So in reality, it would be a horrible gague of truly how much people want to play retail.

So really, it would be a huge dump in players on classic during raid days, a spike outside of raid days/hours and rinse/repeat. At the same time, I'm unsure how much this will actually matter considering when I pop into random streamer's stream they are still talking about grinding out AP... can't grind AP if you're playing classic.

[Fascinate]

*IF* classic was somehow a runaway, sustained, success... no they aren't worried about their jobs? They would be shifted to work on that. Are some of the higher-ups worried about their jobs? I can't say anyone would get fired over it, outside of that dumbfuck who said "you think you do, but you don't". Any firings would be due to pressure from aboves askin why they didn't do it sooner.

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I'm curious (not being rude) what world you live in that you think classic will have anywhere NEAR even half as many players as retail, at ANY point?

You are living in in an alternate dimension if you dont believe classic is going to annihilate retail numbers when it launches, its going to be like retail WoW now vs star wars or something. That is how popular classic is going to be. 6 months down the line i honestly have no idea what its going to look like, but it will probably even out to a 50/50 split if i had to guess.

[alturic]

You are living in in an alternate dimension if you dont believe classic is going to annihilate retail numbers when it launches, its going to be like retail WoW now vs star wars or something. That is how popular classic is going to be. 6 months down the line i honestly have no idea what its going to look like, but it will probably even out to a 50/50 split if i had to guess.

Curious why you think this? I do agree, 100% that whatever numbers are ~30 days into classic, will be VERY different 2 months, 3 months and 6 months after the shine wears off. Hell, I think a ton of people will stop playing within 7 days.

[docterfreeze]

Anyone who has quit from the release of tbc til now for anything other than irl reasons will probly be coming back to at least try classic.

[Fascinate]

Curious why you think this? I do agree, 100% that whatever numbers are ~30 days into classic, will be VERY different 2 months, 3 months and 6 months after the shine wears off. Hell, I think a ton of people will stop playing within 7 days.

I think a more appropriate question would be, why do YOU think it wont lol.

Have you ever been around for a AAA MMO launch? The hype around these things is huge, people love to gather around with other like minded people in a massive game world. Star wars got nearly 3 million people at launch in a world where twitch was in its infancy, can you imagine what the re-release of the most popular mmo of all time will be in a world where twitch has popularity akin to some cable tv channels?

Sure people will fall off thats a given, but its not going to be some mass exodus like people readily assume around these forum boards, its going to stay popular for quite some time. Its going to be ups and downs based on the patch cycles of live and classic in the farther out, with a massive spike to classic when the inevitable TBC servers come up.

[RickJamesLich]

I personally think it will do well, as it stands now, BFA really isnt scratching the itch for MMO gamers. I got back into classic a few years back and haven't even considered going back to retail. The real battle for azeroth is at the nesingwary camp in STV lol. I've seen more world pvp in one hour there than I've seen in years on retail.

[Fascinate]

Anyone who has quit from the release of tbc til now for anything other than irl reasons will probly be coming back to at least try classic.

Exactly, people discount just how relevant those returning from days gone by will be for classic launch. Again this is why ive turned my head around for sharding, as we get closer and closer i realize how big this is going to be and if they didnt do sharding sitting in a queue for a week would be a possible outcome....and we obviously cant have that.

[Otimus]

*IF* classic was somehow a runaway, sustained, success... no they aren't worried about their jobs? They would be shifted to work on that. Are some of the higher-ups worried about their jobs? I can't say anyone would get fired over it, outside of that dumbfuck who said "you think you do, but you don't". Any firings would be due to pressure from aboves askin why they didn't do it sooner.

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I'm curious (not being rude) what world you live in that you think classic will have anywhere NEAR even half as many players as retail, at ANY point?

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This, ultimately, will be something that keeps people playing on classic. If streamers play on it, the sheep will follow. So in reality, it would be a horrible gague of truly how much people want to play retail.

So really, it would be a huge dump in players on classic during raid days, a spike outside of raid days/hours and rinse/repeat. At the same time, I'm unsure how much this will actually matter considering when I pop into random streamer's stream they are still talking about grinding out AP... can't grind AP if you're playing classic.

It will get a huge ass spike because it's free to anyone who is currently subbing and I imagine a ton of those are going to try it out. That's my reasoning.

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Its just very curious to me how everyone assumes retail WoW will be more popular than classic a few months after it launches. I am not so quick to agree on this, can you really see asmongold/sodapoppin or any of the other big streamers going back to retail anytime soon after classic hits? People want to play what everyone else is playing (as we see with popular titles like fortnite), who are the "everyone else" that will be playing retail? Towelliee alone isnt going to carry retail WoW guys lol.

I think classic has more legs in it than people like to assume around here.

I just don't think all that many people are interested in WoW one way or the other, and the few that are, are the kind that are mostly going to only be interested in live. I think people really over-estimate the reach Warcraft has. It's really only megapopular in Asia, and the asian market has never really struck me as really the one screaming about Classic anyways.

[Zafire]

Listen, nostalgia is a motherfucker.

For people like me who have been there in classic, it will never be as good as it was. Ever.

“It’s exactly what I want in a mmorpg! I’m totally ready!” That’s cute. You’ll stop sooner than you think.

For people who never played classic...

LOL. You really have no idea what you’re in for. It is such a simple and bland game compared to even BfA.

The only thing great about Classic is the community. Your reputation mattered. People generally behaved better. It was nice. Other than that, boring. There was a severe bloat of spells and abilities. During a raid, as a frost Mage for example, you basically just frostbolted the whole time with the occasional decurse. You had spells up the ass and barely used 2-3.

That’s so fun!! (Eye roll)

This kind of argument just isn't true in my experience. I still replay old games all the time. Probably more than I play new games, and it's not out of "nostalgia", it's because I legitimately find them fun. I've been playing Final Fantasy Tactics since I was 12 and I probably spend over a hundred hours a year playing it.

Most of the reason people like Vanilla is because of the immersion. Having to traverse the world is more fun to people than standing in Stormwind all day and waiting for queues to pop. There are way more RPG elements Vanilla had that retail just doesn't anymore, too.

Just because the rotations weren't as interesting doesn't mean the entire game is just more boring. Witcher 3 had the most bland battle system ever and it was one of the best RPGs I've ever played. Vampyr had the same battle system as Witcher 3 and it wasn't a very good RPG, especially for replayability. There is a certain beauty in simplicity, too. I find the old ATB/turn based battle system from Final Fantasy 7,8,9,10 more engaging and interesting than FF12/13/15. Telling me I'm "wrong" and it's "just nostalgia" simply isn't true at all.

[Fascinate]

It will get a huge ass spike because it's free to anyone who is currently subbing and I imagine a ton of those are going to try it out. That's my reasoning.

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I just don't think all that many people are interested in WoW one way or the other, and the few that are, are the kind that are mostly going to only be interested in live. I think people really over-estimate the reach Warcraft has. It's really only megapopular in Asia, and the asian market has never really struck me as really the one screaming about Classic anyways.

I dunno dude, were you playing WoW in its heyday when there was a comerrcial on TV every 5 minutes with Mr. T screaming at you "whats your game"? For me and millions of others, that was our game. These people are still out there, waiting to play that game again.

[Weeps]

This kind of argument just isn't true in my experience. I still replay old games all the time. Probably more than I play new games, and it's not out of "nostalgia", it's because I legitimately find them fun. I've been playing Final Fantasy Tactics since I was 12 and I probably spend over a hundred hours a year playing it.

Most of the reason people like Vanilla is because of the immersion. Having to traverse the world is more fun to people than standing in Stormwind all day and waiting for queues to pop. There are way more RPG elements Vanilla had that retail just doesn't anymore, too.

Just because the rotations weren't as interesting doesn't mean the entire game is just more boring. Witcher 3 had the most bland battle system ever and it was one of the best RPGs I've ever played. Vampyr had the same battle system as Witcher 3 and it wasn't a very good RPG, especially for replayability. There is a certain beauty in simplicity, too. I find the old ATB/turn based battle system from Final Fantasy 7,8,9,10 more engaging and interesting than FF12/13/15. Telling me I'm "wrong" and it's "just nostalgia" simply isn't true at all.

That’s cute. We’ll see who is right by this time next year.

[MoanaLisa]

Its just very curious to me how everyone assumes retail WoW will be more popular than classic a few months after it launches.

New content, even content that many dislike, will win out over something that has been in existence (legally or not) for over 10 years. This is why the retail game is swamped with people for the first couple of months and gradually thins out, occasionally resurfacing for patches. It's folly to think anything else. New things to see and new story is always going to win over static content. The longer the content stays static the more that new content will pull ahead.

[Fascinate]

New content, even content that many dislike, will win out over something that has been in existence (legally or not) for over 10 years. This is why the retail game is swamped with people for the first couple of months and gradually thins out, occasionally resurfacing for patches. It's folly to think anything else. New things to see and new story is always going to win over static content. The longer the content stays static the more that new content will pull ahead.

Two things:
1. You discount the power of twitch .tv
2. WoW classic is getting patches, as well.

Many people in classic mainly participated in PvP which is going to be a patch a few months after launch, i find it hard to believe some random raid from BFA would draw in more players than the battleground patch in classic, for example.

Its going to be ups and downs based on patch cycles, i am merely contentious about the mass exodus that people keep predicting on forums like this, that isnt happening anytime soon.

[arkanon]

Anyone who has quit from the release of tbc til now for anything other than irl reasons will probly be coming back to at least try classic.

OMFG thats the biggest leap i have EVER seen. What on earth gives you that idea? you have nothing at all to back that up, and there is absolutely no logic to support such a ridiculous claim. I quit playing Alex the kidd back in the early 90s. I just wasnt interested in that type of game anymore. If they re-released that game, EXACTLY as it was then, why the hell would i go and PAY to play it again?

Im sorry but this is just beyond fanboi at this stage, you have nothing to back this up at all. Can you not see that this just isnt reality? Take the rose tints off man. Lets look at some other reasons people might have quit during TBC....

- they realized they didnt like the game.
- they decided it was not worth paying for
- they started playing consoles more than pc
- they moved into different genres of gaming
- they started playing a different mmo
- they no longer game at all

I would argue that the majority of people who quit the game OVER A DECADE AGO dont follow its development in any way at all, and are completely unaware they are even making wow classic. Further, even if they were aware, i would argue they are so far removed from the game, they wouldn't be interested in playing it again - they quit once already.

[stomination]

They have at least 5 years of content in the vanilla>wrath trilogy, which i fully expect will happen.

Yea but this is a classic server...not a lets go to wotlk server while ppl complain shit changed in tbc and wrath.