Classic and the possible death of current

[jonatron]

So since classic requires a bigger time investement than current wow (for casuals atleast) and since you can only play one game at a time.

I was wondering if once classic is released and everyone and their mothers will be playing it.. won't it have a negative effect on current wow playerbase and ingame activity ?

Classic still requires a sub to current wow to be played so the blizzard numbers won't realistically show who is playing what but i think Blizz might actually accidentally schoot current wow in the foot by dividing the playerbase.

I'm not waiting for wow to die in any form nor do i think it will truly die anytime soon, but with all mmo's released since launch i believe that Wow classic has the biggest chance to do what has been repeated on these forums each time a compareable mmo releases.

Will blizzard be able to convince us to play the xpac after bfa instead of classic ? for now i don't think so.


Update: Given the answers, classic wow might be the thing current retail needs to fill in the content gaps between patches and expansions.
Both of them being on the same sub might even be a blessing instead of a curse.

Thanks for the answers and sorry if i triggered anyone with my now only 3 posts

[Aeula]

Classic has a definitive ending. The only way it’ll kill retail is if they start releasing expansions.

Though I reckon retail will kill itself by that point.

[Clozer]

Vanilla is limited and not expanding. You can play it through in a couple of months. People will then want to continue their journey on retail.

[Eleccybubb]

Retail is doing a damn fine job of running itself into the ground right now. Doesn't need any assistance.

[Wondercrab]

I think the ven diagram of people who want to actively play both classic and retail long-term would show relatively little overlap. They're very different experiences at this point. It's more likely that any potential split in the playerbase will be compensated for by a bunch of returning players and cross-pollination between the two games. Realistically I seriously doubt that it will make any noticeable difference beyond growing the WoW playerbase as a whole by drawing in people who're only interested in classic.

[Heph47]

Vanilla is limited and not expanding. You can play it through in a couple of months. People will then want to continue their journey on retail.

Play it through in a couple of months? Did you mean years? Only a fraction of the content will be available in the first two months, and you won't even be able to get through all of that in a 2 month time frame.

[Rapti]

No it will not, not long term. Classic is "too annoying" and "too hard" for current player base. Quite a few will try it, then say its crap and whatever other nonsense and will go back to retail.
Retail is helping itself lose player base in general.
I think majority of Classic server players will be ones coming back from inactivity and from private servers. Classic is mainly for that target and others who want to check how it was 15 years ago, thats it.
For Blizz itself it will be some extra stable subs gained and thats pretty much it.
Blizzard will not have to convince anyone as Retailers will mainly stick with retail, period.

[Maudib]

I think Blizzard knows very well that Classic will outshine BfA... especially since it will release in a winding down time for BfA.

What they will be caught off guard about is how many people would rather stay in Classic than play a new expansion. Although there will be enough people playing both to warrant keeping it up.

Blizzard doesn't care WHAT you play.. as long as you keep paying. I also suspect they will use Classic TBC as another placeholder after the next expansion is in wind down mode.

It'll be a teeter totter effect.

[Icechaosss]

Classic has a definitive ending. The only way it’ll kill retail is if they start releasing expansions.

Though I reckon retail will kill itself by that point.

Kinda agree with this honestly.

If they release TBC/WOTLK I can see realms populations in current just.. Dipping. Provided they don't do something seriously different going forward.

But really, who knows?

- - - Updated - - -

I think Blizzard knows very well that Classic will outshine BfA... especially since it will release in a winding down time for BfA.

What they will be caught off guard about is how many people would rather stay in Classic than play a new expansion. Although there will be enough people playing both to warrant keeping it up.

Blizzard doesn't care WHAT you play.. as long as you keep paying. I also suspect they will use Classic TBC as another placeholder after the next expansion is in wind down mode.

It'll be a teeter totter effect.

You always irritate me. But I agree with pretty much everything you said here as well.

[Tarien]

Vanilla is limited and not expanding. You can play it through in a couple of months.

There will be a staggered release of content over a period of almost 18months according to Blizzard.

And I would not be surprised to see TBC classic announced at Blizzcon 2020, if Vanilla is a success.

[Maudib]

Kinda agree with this honestly.

If they release TBC/WOTLK I can see realms populations in current just.. Dipping. Provided they don't do something seriously different going forward.

But really, who knows?

- - - Updated - - -



You always irritate me. But I agree with pretty much everything you said here as well.

/bow and /thanks

[jonatron]

Single post flamebait.

It was an honest question, i wonder what happened to my old account tho since i had to make a new one

- - - Updated - - -

Since classic has a release schedule it will give us something to look forward to, even if it's been done before.

I can't see myself maintaining 2 different mmo's (classic and current) and the way classic worked in the past is even if they are on phase 3 it doesn't change anything to the gameplay of the other phases while in current once a new patch hits the old stuff becomes obsolete.

In classic i'll still need to go trough MC and BWL before going into AQ even if the naxx phase is already going on while in current you skip right ahead to the last raid and be done with it.

[Zendhal The Black]

I might poke classic here and there when I have not much to do or just waiting on a content patch on real wow

but probably not because I'm not fond of autoattacking rotation class design in vanilla

[Castration]

Retail is doing a damn fine job of running itself into the ground right now. Doesn't need any assistance.

yes, games like Age of Conan are coming out soon and will also kill WoW.

[jonatron]

No, I don't think so.

With both games being available on the same sub, I actually think it will be a win for both games.

New players will check out and maybe even like Classic while vets will probably check out the current game. Definitely not everyone, but I think many will. Dungeons, raids, zones and music of BFA is really good as always, so you could raid log and play Classic when there's a content drought in BFA.

As a WoW fan you could get the best of both worlds. You don't have to do islands, warfronts or grind azerite. Those 3 expansions features are the worst of BFA.

That actually makes sense and could very well be the way i will be going at the game, play current untill you are "done" with what you want to do and then hop over and chill out in classic.

I'd prolly have to give it to blizz that they will make sure content releases won't overlap too much so we don't have to choose what "new" stuff to play.

[Fascinate]

Retail isnt world of warcraft anymore i would consider it more of a collectors game, the players enamored by it are very young kids who dont know better and are ok with microtransactions and in game carries for gold.

Luckily for blizzard people are still having kids, retail isnt going anywhere. For the rest of us, we get classic.

Before someone makes a reply about gold carries always being a thing, yes of course this is true but with the introduction of the WoW token its now part of the culture of the game, i see just as many carry posts in trade chat as i do people selling stuff......quite disgusting if you ask me.

[anon5123]

Vanilla is limited and not expanding. You can play it through in a couple of months.

...if you're a no-life NEET who can play 8 hours a day, yes.

Even so, with the content release cycle, you literally cannot complete all of the content in "2 months", because only MC/Ony are available in the first phase.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Who cares. However it rolls is how it will roll. Classic dies. Fine. Retail dies. Fine. Both live on. Great.

Although I will sit here and be entertained by people fighting it out over this.

[Redecle]

Doubt retail is gonna go anywhere. At least I plan to stick with it to the very (bitter?) end (have to have life goals right, that's what people keep saying, be the last person in WoW is one), and you can only choose your main once and that's on retail, changing that ain't possible.
It's always been a single player rpg for me, other people are just tagging along sometimes whether it was vanilla or now bfa and that's fine.

Plus since i wanted and requested transmog or a skin system to be in vanilla when it was retail back in the day(Yeah i'm that guy) and it took like 4 expansions to implement and it's never going to be in classic obviously, well.. since dress up has been the main reason since vanilla i want play this game, 1+1 usually is 2. Retail is the game for me and Classic is something to dabble on the side.

Regardless Classic ain't a bad thing, by no means. People who want it get it their way. Good for them.
And i do plan on going back Classic too since the sub is included.
Not at the start though, only reason to start at launch would be aiming for Scarab Lord, but since i'm not a streamer or a famous or a rich person or have a cult following of anyone, there's about zero change to grab one of those titles, so i'm fine waiting the couple years for the phases to push out, people get geared up and then hop on and go grind out ZG mounts and tier 3 sets until the rest of eternity, just for the sake of having them on some character somewhere. If i have the patience to wait 2-4 years to clear some mythic raids solo from last expansion now, better yet if i can spend 6 years and every lockout during to farm 2 warglaives and getting them when they are of zero use and could not even mog them at that point yet, just cause i wanted to have them in the inventory, i think i can wait a couple years for some people to max out their characters on classic then spend a year or two getting to max level and then tag along for easier rides, when everyone is geared to teeth in Classic. So i guess see you in 4 years or something.. Playing 12 hours of WoW a day now, so why not fit in some Classic while at it.

[Eapoe]

So since classic requires a bigger time investement than current wow (for casuals atleast) and since you can only play one game at a time.

I was wondering if once classic is released and everyone and their mothers will be playing it.. won't it have a negative effect on current wow playerbase and ingame activity ?

Classic still requires a sub to current wow to be played so the blizzard numbers won't realistically show who is playing what but i think Blizz might actually accidentally schoot current wow in the foot by dividing the playerbase.

I'm not waiting for wow to die in any form nor do i think it will truly die anytime soon, but with all mmo's released since launch i believe that Wow classic has the biggest chance to do what has been repeated on these forums each time a compareable mmo releases.

Will blizzard be able to convince us to play the xpac after bfa instead of classic ? for now i don't think so.


Update: Given the answers, classic wow might be the thing current retail needs to fill in the content gaps between patches and expansions.
Both of them being on the same sub might even be a blessing instead of a curse.

Thanks for the answers and sorry if i triggered anyone with my now only 3 posts

Except everyone and their mothers won’t be playing it. Wishful thinking to be honest. I will agree it will be big when it’s released, but I also feel like it will have a huge drop off before finding a steady playerbase, many of which won’t be from retail.