Classic has a clear shelf life

[dwarven]

Classic has a pretty clear shelf life. Since it seems most don't want Classic+(why? I have no idea), they'll just turn the service off after Wotlk Classic has been out for awhile. If you want to constantly relive the glory days, then I suggest you invent a time machine.

They've said they'd keep the servers on no matter how few people log on to classic. The business reality of it is that they will absolutely terminate the service if they are no longer getting a return. How long do people really want to spend in Wotlk? How many want classic to progress into the current game, going into Cata, Panda, Wod etc...? The subsequent expansions after Wrath are not universally loved like the first 3 installments of WoW are. It would soon become excruciatingly redundant to watch the game evolve (again) into the thing that made most people wish for Classic in the first place. No, since people think they don't want Classic+, it will end at Wrath and that will be that.

Personally, I think they will realize they'll have to do Classic+, but for everyone who thinks they don't want that, this thread is for you. Your character has 3-4 years of life left in it.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Classic has a pretty clear shelf life. Since it seems most don't want Classic+(why? I have no idea), they'll just turn the service off after Wotlk Classic has been out for awhile. If you want to constantly relive the glory days, then I suggest you invent a time machine.

They've said they'd keep the servers on no matter how few people log on to classic. The business reality of it is that they will absolutely terminate the service if they are no longer getting a return. How long do people really want to spend in Wotlk? How many want classic to progress into the current game, going into Cata, Panda, Wod etc...? The subsequent expansions after Wrath are not universally loved like the first 3 installments of WoW are. It would soon become excruciatingly redundant to watch the game evolve (again) into the thing that made most people wish for Classic in the first place. No, since people think they don't want Classic+, it will end at Wrath and that will be that.

Personally, I think they will do Classic+, but for everyone who thinks they don't want that, this thread is for you. Your character has 3-4 years of life left in it.

I'd like to borrow that crystal ball and insane level of insight into the inner workings at Blizzard, tyvm.

Considering the servers are kept up on the same sub as the Live game, your conclusions don't seem very well-thought through.

[Nemah]

I'd like to borrow that crystal ball and insane level of insight into the inner workings at Blizzard, tyvm.

Considering the servers are kept up on the same sub as the Live game, your conclusions don't seem very well-thought through.

This, basically. But without a crystal ball there's a level of business sense to it.

OT/OP
At this point they have the ability to convert or re-engineer a product that already exists. Outside of server maintenance costs, which I'm sure they can easily absorb, it's free money. Even if a handful of people are on one layer of a classic server it likely doesn't cost them anything significant at all to keep it running. This is the whole reason they were even willing to do it after years of basically saying nah, not interested.

Why do you think it would turn around? Because it's another revenue stream and everyone loves additional revenue streams. The tech improved to the point that it became a viable return on investment. The only time you will see it go away fully is if it's not populated at all or at some point the ratio of cost vs. benefit trends to cost.

What I would expect to see - just like classic, tbc, and likely wotlk at this point - is that if demand rises high enough for classic plus, or custom servers of some sort, as long as it doesn't deviate too far from what they view as the gold standard of their intellectual property, they'd probably do that too. They'd be foolish not to, but the numbers have to line up first.

[arkanon]

The subsequent expansions after Wrath are not universally loved like the first 3 installments of WoW are.

Gonna stop you right there - thats absolute rubbish. Many consider MoP and Legion to be vastly superior to anything that came before or after them. Im not at all suggesting they would do classic legion, but simply pointing out that the entire premise you have presented here is based purely on your personal opinions, and shows a severe lack of understanding of the business as a whole.

I know a HUGE amount of people who absolutely hated vanilla, tbc, and/or wrath, especially vanilla.

[dwarven]

I'd like to borrow that crystal ball and insane level of insight into the inner workings at Blizzard, tyvm.

Considering the servers are kept up on the same sub as the Live game, your conclusions don't seem very well-thought through.

Yes, and as soon as maintaining the Classic servers becomes more costly than the subs it is worth, it will be canceled 100%.

[Selah]

I think we're going to see Classic be another permanent feature of WoW and it'll persist up through Wrath at least. I wouldn't be surprised if they opened up servers for the rest of them but it's hard to say what will happen after Wrath.

I say this because Vanilla, TBC, and Wrath are all extremely iconic games in gaming history and Blizzard will likely be able to keep funds coming in to cover them. Keep in mind, less iconic MMOs on the market are still being kept alive, even if it's just maintenance mode. World of Warcraft? The original game to truly expand the MMO market? There's no way Blizzard doesn't rake in the cash for their own version of maintenance mode for WoW Classic. Keep in mind, once the games are launched that's all these servers are, maintaince mode servers for WoW for people to relive their glory days within the game. That's what Classic vanilla just became today.

[dwarven]

is that if demand rises high enough for classic plus

It definitely will. People think they don't want it, but they do. It will likely borrow some features from Retail, like achievements, transmog, mount collections etc..

[Queen of Hamsters]

Yes, and as soon as maintaining the Classic servers becomes more costly than the subs it is worth, it will be canceled 100%.

And what is the maintenance cost? How many players do they need on Classic for it to be profitable?

Ever heard of server mergers? Ever heard of cyclical players?

You have very weak support for your hypothesis to make such a confident conclusion, I have to say.

[ro9ue]

EverQuest TLPs = WoW Classic's future.

[Thage]

Counterpoint: EverQuest is still profitable enough that Sony keeps it running, and there is a certain private server for EverQuest that remains rather popular, doubly so considering EQ was unceremoniously dethroned as the king of MMOs by WoW.

I don't see "maintaining profitability" being an issue for a long time considering WoW was originally developed to be profitable at ~20k players, worldwide, which I have no doubts Classic can maintain between all three or more iterations.

[dwarven]

You have very weak support for your hypothesis to make such a confident conclusion, I have to say.

Huh? That's how a business works. Did you think Blizzard made Classic because they had some emotional need to fulfill people's desires to revisit the past?

[crusadernero]

Classic has a pretty clear shelf life. Since it seems most don't want Classic+(why? I have no idea), they'll just turn the service off after Wotlk Classic has been out for awhile. If you want to constantly relive the glory days, then I suggest you invent a time machine.

They've said they'd keep the servers on no matter how few people log on to classic. The business reality of it is that they will absolutely terminate the service if they are no longer getting a return. How long do people really want to spend in Wotlk? How many want classic to progress into the current game, going into Cata, Panda, Wod etc...? The subsequent expansions after Wrath are not universally loved like the first 3 installments of WoW are. It would soon become excruciatingly redundant to watch the game evolve (again) into the thing that made most people wish for Classic in the first place. No, since people think they don't want Classic+, it will end at Wrath and that will be that.

Personally, I think they will do Classic+, but for everyone who thinks they don't want that, this thread is for you. Your character has 3-4 years of life left in it.

It wont cost them alot to keep a few(or maybe just one) classic server up, same goes for BC & Wotlk down the road. It doesnt require lots of effort on them.

They can also do refreshed servers when the time comes for that. People WILL jump on that.

What you think about classic as it is doesnt really matter, just as my subjective opinion dont really matter. Personally, as long as I have a active wow sub, i'll log into the classic world (classic or BC). Its a fanservice for those who appreciate the old world of wow.

Why people dont trust them doing classic+ ? The people who made wow and launched wow back in the day are long gone. Those people are not around anymore. There are new people making the descisions now and I think enough people dont trust Blizzard of 2021 to manage it. They will probably scuff it one way or another.

What we love about classic would probably not be what classic+ would be.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Huh? That's how a business works. Did you think Blizzard made Classic because they had some emotional need to fulfill people's desires to revisit the past?

You have zero insight, that's where your hypothesis is flawed. You set 3-4 years as a shelf-life, yet you have nothing to back that up other than "business works this way lol!", despite the fact that you don't know their business strategy around Classic. At all. You don't know how much the servers cost to keep up, what the player engagement is... You know what, I already laid this out. My point remains firm, you have far too few facts backing up your conclusions to a point where you can set a timespan.

That's even before counting the emotional PR backlash they'd get if they shut down Classic/TBC/WOTLK... So yeah... Over and out.

[dwarven]

You have zero insight, that's where your hypothesis is flawed.

That's fine, but you'll still have to deal with an ever-dwindling playerbase, even if they decide to keep the servers on long after Wotlk has released. Just like how player pops plummeted after Classic had been out for awhile. And even then, most of those people stayed only because they knew BC classic was coming out. I hope you really like ICC.

[ryanmahaffe]

Hot take: Cata and MoP Classic would be HUGE, they will be WELL over a decade old by the time its their term.

[Uvania]

I'm sorry to break this for you but i find Shadowlands VERY GOOD gameplay wise even if i think it lacks in content right now, Castle Nathria is one of the best raids in a while with both easy and unique fights and the mythic dungeons also feels fresh and has some cool ideas to them

PvP was great in Shadowlands untill people had all their PvP loot and stopped caring about it, we need a new season badly.

Shadowlands is also the first time in years i've brought up all my alts to max level and there is even decent items to collect in form of the covenant set that ive upgraded to 197 on my toons while i've been learning that class.

Right now we need 9.1 with flying, new raid and new arena season

[Relapses]

Personally, I think they will do Classic+, but for everyone who thinks they don't want that, this thread is for you. Your character has 3-4 years of life left in it.

That's some weapons grade Copium there, sir.

The reason Blizzard isn't making Classic+ has more to do with the pitfalls of designing two competing MMOs (for the same audience) than it does your inability to understand the limited appeal of nostalgia.

[munkeyinorbit]

And what is the maintenance cost? How many players do they need on Classic for it to be profitable?

Ever heard of server mergers? Ever heard of cyclical players?

You have very weak support for your hypothesis to make such a confident conclusion, I have to say.

What are you talking about. This has nothing to do with what you quoted. What you quoted was that if server costs exceed revenue of these servers then they will be turned off. You started to talk about what those costs would be which is irrelevant to the argument. Stay on topic.

[arkanon]

Hes right you know - why even bother playing classic? We are all going to die one day, so this is all a waste of time.

Why even watch a tv series when no doubt it will end one day?

Why even enjoy a band? Eventually they will die or stop making music or break up?

[Kithelle]

Classic has a pretty clear shelf life. Since it seems most don't want Classic+(why? I have no idea), they'll just turn the service off after Wotlk Classic has been out for awhile. If you want to constantly relive the glory days, then I suggest you invent a time machine.

They've said they'd keep the servers on no matter how few people log on to classic. The business reality of it is that they will absolutely terminate the service if they are no longer getting a return. How long do people really want to spend in Wotlk? How many want classic to progress into the current game, going into Cata, Panda, Wod etc...? The subsequent expansions after Wrath are not universally loved like the first 3 installments of WoW are. It would soon become excruciatingly redundant to watch the game evolve (again) into the thing that made most people wish for Classic in the first place. No, since people think they don't want Classic+, it will end at Wrath and that will be that.

Personally, I think they will do Classic+, but for everyone who thinks they don't want that, this thread is for you. Your character has 3-4 years of life left in it.

Because live is classic+

They already have trouble working on and balancing one game, adding on and building a second WoW would just be a recipe for disaster...because if WoW expansions indeed do have a A team and a B team that means classic+ would be the C team

That plus the fans keep moving the goal posts...first it was the wanted classic...then they wanted classic with certain modifications...now it's classic+...and people are never gonna be happy. The easiest and most logical approach was classic with some tweaks