Do you think Classic will Overtake Retail?

[ShimmerSwirl]

Nope. Classic is memories. Classic is nostalgia. The first couple of times people have to wait for quests to finish typing, or hunt down mobs, or wait longer for mobs to respawn, or save up for epic mounts, they'll think "oh, this is cool - I remember how this was." After a while, though? No way is this instant gratification society going to want to keep playing that. How many retail players are going to want to farm dungeons for resist gear, or farm Felwood for whatever that plant was that gave you a buff, or find somebody with the UBRS key, or any of those other things we used to have to do to be able to raid and keep up? It was fun then because it was so much better than anything else out there at the time. But that's the key - at the time. Retail players are going to run headfirst into the old WoW grind and say "forget this".

I think what you any many others can't understand is that there are a lot of players out there who actually like the RPG aspect of the game. They like the slow feeling of building a character through every boar they slaughter. They like having to manage their bag space and budget their gold. They like the long process of working towards an atunement. I realize the majority of retail players dismiss such things as "archaic" and "preventing you from playing the fun parts". For many people though, the RPG is the fun part. It has little to do with nostalgia and a lot to do with simply enjoying the RPG-centric game design.

IMO what made Vanilla such a success was its ability to sell players on the authenticity of Azeroth. It was an immersive world that your toon could get lost in. The "game systems" were very much out of sight, Azeroth itself was at the forefront and I think that hooked a lot of people.

[rda]

I'll just note that while I think classic will not overtake retail - at least not long-term - in the month that this thread has been going, retail lost another ~20% player activity. It has been scrambling its lowest records for quite some time. 8.2 will perhaps make things go up a little, but probably not for long either.

Frankly, it's more than a little scary as to just how dead the retail becomes. (And no, it's not just abstract graphs. When I am mucking around in old zones I am now taking 100% people-free zones for granted. Despite the cross-realm bla bla.)

[Extremities]

No. I don’t think it will. It will be popular for a month or two and than die down quick. A lot of people complain about lack of content in current WoW or bitch about something yet people are excited for Classic which has a content cap. Makes no sense. I say it dies down after a month or two tops once people hit the content wall and realize there ain’t much to do.

[rrayy]

Anyone who thinks retail will have more players is legit crazy. Modern WoW is a straight up bad game. It just is. Its not fun. Classic is fun. The reward structure keeps you playing. Sometimes I think people overthink these things.

YOu cannot in any way claim this ass fact right now. Basically what your post is doing is saying "I think the live game is bad and classic is fun Therefore classic will have more players and anyone who disagrees with me is crazy". I think your fanboyism of classic is heavily seeping into your post.

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No. I don’t think it will. It will be popular for a month or two and than die down quick. A lot of people complain about lack of content in current WoW or bitch about something yet people are excited for Classic which has a content cap. Makes no sense. I say it dies down after a month or two tops once people hit the content wall and realize there ain’t much to do.

Also, nostalgia is a powerful thing. Once that wears off and people remember how it actually was, that will cause many players to quit. Everything right now is completely inflated by nostalgia. Wait until after at least 6 months post release. Then see where everything is at.

[subsidalos]

YOu cannot in any way claim this ass fact right now. Basically what your post is doing is saying "I think the live game is bad and classic is fun Therefore classic will have more players and anyone who disagrees with me is crazy". I think your fanboyism of classic is heavily seeping into your post.

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Also, nostalgia is a powerful thing. Once that wears off and people remember how it actually was, that will cause many players to quit. Everything right now is completely inflated by nostalgia. Wait until after at least 6 months post release. Then see where everything is at.

While I agree with you, at the same time it isn't just nostalgia. I've been playing the beta I'd say almost three times as much as I've been playing live and I've been having three times as much fun if not more.

[rrayy]

While I agree with you, at the same time it isn't just nostalgia. I've been playing the beta I'd say almost three times as much as I've been playing live and I've been having three times as much fun if not more.

Again, nostalgia. Beta has only been out a couple of weeks. BFA has been out almost a year. YOu are absolutely being fueled by nostalgia right now. See where you are after 6 months or a year, not just a couple of weeks.

[Snackpack]

In my opinion, I think the players who will stay subbed to Classic for more than a few months are the ones who quit playing in Vanilla/BC and never played recent WoW, or at least enough to be accustomed to all the QoL changes. I'm certainly excited to play Classic, but not sure i'll have the time or patience these days to run by foot across the planet or wait hours for groups to form. I hope I'm wrong, but I think I've been too spoiled by the modern day tourist mode WoW with instant-gratification, which is a shame.

[Hitei]

IMO what made Vanilla such a success was its ability to sell players on the authenticity of Azeroth. It was an immersive world that your toon could get lost in. The "game systems" were very much out of sight, Azeroth itself was at the forefront and I think that hooked a lot of people.

Which is exactly why it won't surpass retail.

Vanilla success came from presenting a brand new, vast world to get lost in and discover, a world that was also getting brand new never seen before dungeons, raids, quests, systems, etc. every few months. Classic is not that. Even remotely.

When I spawned into Shadowglen on my first character, I didn't realize there was a map. I looked off between the trees and assumed I was in a vast forest and that if I hiked off in the right direction I'd eventually get to where humans were, or end up in far off lands. I continued to think that all the way through Teldrassil until near the very end when I finally encountered one of its edges, and then left for Darkshore.

That is never going to happen again. No amount of """""RPG Aspects!!!!""""" or slow combat, or eating and drinking, or talent points, or """"good""" community is going to make me somehow get lost in and mystified by Teldrassil. I know exactly what it is. I know exactly what is on it, where things are, how big it is, without even making my "first" character in Classic I know the entirety of the world like the back of my hand, and a large portion of the quests and storylines from vanilla are still decently in tact in my head.

There's no figuring out how to manage gold or my inventory. A decade and a half of playing the game has given me a good foundation for that. I will know with a casual glance at a trainer what spells I can just ignore, until max, what to toss if I need space for better loot, when a quest is going to be more trouble than it's worth, etc. The only thing to get lost in is nostalgia hits. Which is fine, but let's not pretend that Classic is going to bulldoze Live because Vanilla was a game about getting lost exploring a world. It isn't Vanilla. That world is thoroughly explored.

[Kuruption]

For me, absolutely since I'm beyond bored with retail in this expansion.

For the masses? I guess it depends how many people feel the same way and if Blizzard decides to make changes for the next xpac.

[subsidalos]

Again, nostalgia. Beta has only been out a couple of weeks. BFA has been out almost a year. YOu are absolutely being fueled by nostalgia right now. See where you are after 6 months or a year, not just a couple of weeks.

I stopped mythic progression in Uldir what three months into the expansion? Took a break until BoD because the Uldir raid was absolutely terrible. At the end of the day, you're either having fun while you're playing a game or you aren't.

[Pennem]

get lost in and mystified by Teldrassil. I know exactly what it is. I know exactly what is on it, where things are, how big it is, without even making my "first" character in Classic I know the entirety of the world like the back of my hand, and a large portion of the quests and storylines from vanilla are still decently in tact in my head.

There's no figuring out how to manage gold or my inventory. A decade and a half of playing the game has given me a good foundation for that. I will know with a casual glance at a trainer what spells I can just ignore, until max, what to toss if I need space for better loot, when a quest is going to be more trouble than it's worth, etc. The only thing to get lost in is nostalgia hits. Which is fine, but let's not pretend that Classic is going to bulldoze Live because Vanilla was a game about getting lost exploring a world. It isn't Vanilla. That world is thoroughly explored.

Yeah, people who think Vanilla is some kind of second coming of Jesus for WoW aren't grounded in reality.

That said! because I never got a chance to experience Vanilla I will indeed end up doing all these sorts of things you're mentioning here. So I appreciate Classic for that, being able to give players like me that never tried it before that sort of experience.

[Demontjuh]

hmm i wonder if DKP will make a comeback...

[Extremities]

YOu cannot in any way claim this ass fact right now. Basically what your post is doing is saying "I think the live game is bad and classic is fun Therefore classic will have more players and anyone who disagrees with me is crazy". I think your fanboyism of classic is heavily seeping into your post.

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Also, nostalgia is a powerful thing. Once that wears off and people remember how it actually was, that will cause many players to quit. Everything right now is completely inflated by nostalgia. Wait until after at least 6 months post release. Then see where everything is at.

You're right, it is a powerful thing but I think people complain about content these days more than ever and with the Classic realms being capped on what content it's getting, players will quickly run out of it. Next thing I suspect players will ask for will be progression based servers. Expansions unlock every x amount of weeks or months and eventually catching up to current.

[Arakakao]

Retail is already dead, when people found out they didnt like classic. they wont come back to retail, they'll just quit wow altogether.

Basically, this.

[Sencha]

Retail is already dead, when people found out they didnt like classic. they wont come back to retail, they'll just quit wow altogether.

My thoughts exactly. Retail is constantly bleeding subs and classic will just be the nail on the coffin. Now I don't know how long classic will survive.