What if Classic players surpasses s BfA live player base?

[Zorachus]

Serious question, will Classic subs surpass current BfA subs or active player base?

And if so, and it's not just a month then they all leave Classic, but if they stay and keep a strong player base, even more players than BfA, what does Blizzard do? Does that change plans for the future of WoW?

I think Blizzard thought Classic would be a fun side project, something of a thank you to fans, but then expecting it to fade off after a month or two after release, and then just have a small niche player base. But what if Classic is a huge successes and pulls in players in numbers we haven't see in years, and destroys the amount of players in Bfa? Does Blizzard reevaluate what they plan to do in the future for the MMO?

[bloodykiller86]

Serious question, will Classic subs surpass current BfA subs or active player base?

And if so, and it's not just a month then they all leave Classic, but if they stay and keep a strong player base, even more players than BfA, what does Blizzard do? Does that change plans for the future of WoW?

I think Blizzard thought Classic would be a fun side project, something of a thank you to fans, but then expecting it to fade off after a month or two after release, and then just have a small niche player base. But what if Classic is a huge successes and pulls in players in numbers we haven't see in years, and destroys the amount of players in Bfa? Does Blizzard reevaluate what they plan to do in the future for the MMO?

Aint going to happen so dont worry. the hype will die down and the numbers will plunge. relax

[skakruk]

Then they'll just stop making expansions, fire everybody but keep the sub payment model, of course.

[Trend]

They're two different games. What if Overwatch gets more successful?!? OMG will they change WoW?!?

It doesn't make sense bro. If I'm playing BfA and not Classic, there is probably a reason. Making retail more like Classic would just shed users.

Plus, it's been less than 24 hours. Settle down and wait for the inevitable Classic numbers loss before making what-if threads.

[Nokami]

Runescape have both versions co-exist without problems, why would you think it changes here something? And we will never know which version will have more players since blizzard simply will not tell us. All we will have in the upcoming months is the typical classic vs retail bullshit on every forum and that's it for the coming years. Although the chances that classic will have more players after the inital hype is extremely low.

[Zorachus]

Aint going to happen so dont worry. the hype will die down and the numbers will plunge. relax

Yeah that's expected I guess. But what if, 3 months in Classic is still rocking and BfA is a ghost town? Does Blizzard make some design decisions for the next expansion.

[Nokami]

Yeah that's expected I guess. But what if, 3 months in Classic is still rocking and BfA is a ghost town? Does Blizzard make some design decisions for the next expansion.

Well as retail right now has a ton of "high" and "medium" populated servers even with the classic hype the chances that BFA will become a ghost town is literally zero percent. The hype is done by a ton of the most popular streamers, most people are surely not even playing classic and/or just for a few days. Certainly the realm population on retail has not changed much at all.

[Justpassing]

Will be great. You do realise that classic will pay for retail's development, right?

[drastical]

Alternative universes.

[McNeil]

Should this happen, then I could see a guaranteed TBC and WotLK to be added or if enough interest going for a Classic+. As for retail they will probably continue with sameish expansions, which is kinda what BFA already is compared to Legion. Should retail become unprofitable at some point, we would either see the cash shop heavily expanded (which is also happening so far this year) or lower quality and quantity content.

[bloodykiller86]

Yeah that's expected I guess. But what if, 3 months in Classic is still rocking and BfA is a ghost town? Does Blizzard make some design decisions for the next expansion.

Blizzard isn't dumb theyre always collecting statistics on things people like and dislike. Main issue with BFA was really that they were testing things late into the expansions beta phase which weren't able to be changed at launch. 8.2 is even a test to see what type of content people enjoy more regarding mechagon and nazjatar. i personally like Nazjatar way more than mechagon though i love the jetpacks lol Even with classic there are things blizz knows people will like better like the hunters with their pets. Another thing theyve already realized are things like how their vertical integration philosophy that they started with BC has hurt them in the long run but devaluing non current expansion world. I believe that is one of the reasons the level squish question was in that survey. Blizz knows their screw ups more than people think.

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Should this happen, then I could see a guaranteed TBC and WotLK to be added or if enough interest going for a Classic+. As for retail they will probably continue with sameish expansions, which is kinda what BFA already is compared to Legion. Should retail become unprofitable at some point, we would either see the cash shop heavily expanded (which is also happening so far this year) or lower quality and quantity content.

the cash shop is fine, none of it matters in game and it is all cosmetic items that at the end of the day can all be purchased with gold. i never saw anything wrong with that model and is probably the best real life cash shop model out of most online games

[CrawlFromThePit]

Serious question, will Classic subs surpass current BfA subs or active player base?

And if so, and it's not just a month then they all leave Classic, but if they stay and keep a strong player base, even more players than BfA, what does Blizzard do? Does that change plans for the future of WoW?

I think Blizzard thought Classic would be a fun side project, something of a thank you to fans, but then expecting it to fade off after a month or two after release, and then just have a small niche player base. But what if Classic is a huge successes and pulls in players in numbers we haven't see in years, and destroys the amount of players in Bfa? Does Blizzard reevaluate what they plan to do in the future for the MMO?

I think it's just too soon to ask this question and I'm not saying this based on the "classic will lose a lot of players after a little while", I'm saying this because a big factor in this question is the next retail expansion which will be announced at Blizzcon. If there's something new in there that actually appeals to classic player there's a big chances Blizzard will be able to just bounce people around from Classic to retail and then release TBC or whatever else after that, in the same manner they did now.

If the next retail xpack fails and Classic keeps more players then they will probably influence retail with the good things classic does or just focus on classic and what follows.

I just think this question depends more on how retail comes back than how well classic does.

[Dracullus]

How the hell classic subs could surpass live (or other way around) if it's SAME sub?

As for population, it's likely that Classic has more players right now. But what do you think will happen when Classic will be 4-5 months old and BfA will have 8.3 and brand new raid? What will happen when people get used to 8.3 and Blizzard will release Blackwing Lair? And so on, and so on..

[Wyrt]

BfA is a bad expansion, so yeah, classic will probably have more players if for the nostalgia alone.

Classic isn't a good game either though, so I hope Blizzard doesn't drive the next expansion hard towards classic style gameplay.

[lolbubble]

Very very possible

[Nnyco]

Well WoD also had a massive launch, lets wait abit before we make such statements, esspecially since classic pretty much has even less endgame than WoD.

[Jastall]

Blizzard cries all the way to the bank, is what happens. I'm sure they will be happy that the most profitable version of WoW is the one that they barely have to work on anymore.

[ravenmoon]

Aint going to happen so dont worry. the hype will die down and the numbers will plunge. relax

Agreed

Clasic has nostalgia and better community for grouping and making friends, but that's about it. It would attract a lot of 20-40 year olds who played wow at the start when it first came out, and have currently quit. more than that.. is unlikely.

[Theoris]

Classic being a success can only benefit modern WoW, so I don't see an issue if it does.

[Vorkreist]

Classic release is the greatest thing to happen with wow since wotlk maybe.
It will have a lot of full stable servers for a long time even if the tourists return to Bfa. I don't think it will surpass Bfa in the long run, maybe a 50/50 like split in the best scenario. Retail expansions will continue as usual.