WoW Classic: Huge Data Collection for Next Expansion?

[Ryph]

Forgive me; Long time lurker, very few posts...

At the risk of putting my tinfoil hat on, has anyone besides me given thought to some of the new underlying tech that has been implemented into WoW Classic? With the dynamic instantiations of whole worlds (layering) and the improved data structure, I geek out pretty hard when I hear their engineers talk about it.

One thing I have not heard (no idea if they mentioned this) is that they have several data collection systems in place for WoW Classic. I will go out on a limb to say that this classic "experiment" is going to be a gold mine of data for them to determine how to make the next expansion of WoW or possibly give them justification to finally do WoW 2.0.

Although I would imagine most of the next expansion is already set in stone, the lessons they will learn from Classic could be Blizzard's way of having actionable data to bring forth WoW 2.0 to investors. Data that shows that there exists a large number of people willing to go back to square one and start over because of the inherent gameplay and systems of vanilla. The big data point for them would be how many current active players left retail and went to Classic. If that number proves to be significant, it will calm the fears of WoW taking a huge loss on their subscribers because people did not want to lose their "progress" if ever a WoW 2.0 was released.

At that point, current "retail" wow would be packaged into the subscription as they are doing now with Classic and everyone would still have the option of the old WoW and then the new WoW 2.0. Just a thought... Sorry if this was posted else where - if so, I can remove the post. Thank you all!

[Stingray0011]

at the risk of being "that guy":
15 years of experience and data collecting still can't even amount to a working NAME RESERVATION launch, let alone an expansion or entire new game.
With how horrendous the 12th was - with how long this has been anticipated no less, I would hold caution to giving them 'that much credit' when it comes to their foresight.

Based on that, the more realistic thought would be: They are going to gauge the response of Classic during the "Although I would imagine most of the next expansion is already set in stone" next expansion, and develop from there.

Also look how long this took and how hesitant they were to do a re-release, which is a hot thing these days as it is! Doubt this will make them jump at an entire franchise altering WoW2 based off Classic data.

[Kolvarg]

In theory yes, in reality it's past half way to the next expansion. They will need a few months of Classic to get some relevant data, particularly regarding engagement, and by then the next expansion and it's major features will already have been announced and be well under development.

With that said, the "success" of the Classic beta and the disccusion it generated might have already impacted the next expansions focus/design philosophy. And it will almost surely impact the expansion after the next one regardless (depending on how well Classic does, and what it's future is, either TBC and WotLK, Classic+, or nothing, it will most certainly change whether they want to make current WoW either more or less like Classic.

[Helsreach]

I think the more interesting number will be how many accounts will remain with primarily Classic activity once the next xpac launcher. BfA sales for Classic access is a one time investment, how many will choose to keep an up to date retail game if Classic remains vibrant will tell them a lot. Jumping to Classic in itself doesn't lose your main account and progress the way WoW 2.0 would, but cutting your retail investment will give an indication on what your priorities are.

[Sensa1]

As others have said the data will come too late for the next expansion but Classic is definitely an experiment where lessons may or may not be learned

I do believe the data will be more geared to determining whether to do Classic + or TBC/Woltk Classic versions, or a very remote possibility of introducing WoW 2.0, than changing the design focus of Retail for the sole reason that they can't put the genie back in the bottle in Retail without losing a huge number of subscribers.That's been proven repeatedly.

I can't stand Retail and the direction that the game has taken but the vast majority of remaining Retail players feel the same way about the "broken" 15 year old game that Classic represents to them.

Bringing Classic design theories to the Retail version would likely backfire on Blizz because more Retail players would leave then Classic players would return. As an example they could do a level squish and bring back talents trees but if they kept AP type systems, mission tables etc it wouldn't be enough to get me to play Retail again. And if you add back other systems from Vanilla (attunements etc) Retail players would erupt and leave on mass.

In fact you could make the argument that Blizz trying to expand the appeal of WoW, over the years, by trying to accommodate every play style was one of the main factors behind it's decline.

[glowpipe]

they can't implement shit from classic into retail wow without losing too many people, more then they gain. Retail wow is what it is now cause players wanted it and blizzard listened to feedback, not because blizzard just said one day, i know something that might be fun, Lets add a dungeon finder tool

[ShimmerSwirl]

Retailers would hate Vanilla design elements being brought back into the game. The people who appreciate RPG and immersion have long sense left WoW, the people who are left are the pet hunter/toy collector/costume collector types. Those people don't want to running all around the world to do a quest to earn a spell.

What I think will happen is Classic will become the more populated version, and Blizzard will essentially put modern into maintenance mode where they release "treasure hunter" patches occasionally to let modern players go out and collect more stuff.

[Sensa1]

they can't implement shit from classic into retail wow without losing too many people, more then they gain. Retail wow is what it is now cause players wanted it and blizzard listened to feedback, not because blizzard just said one day, i know something that might be fun, Lets add a dungeon finder tool

I agree with your conclusion but not your premise. To paraphrase J. Allen "you think you want ,<insert QoL / design change> but you don't". A lot of the changes to WoW over the years were, by themselves, not inherently bad. However, what both Blizzard and the players demanding these changes failed to take into account, imho, is the cumulative effect of all these changes and how they ultimately interacted with each. The end result is a game I, as a Vanilla player, don't recognize. That's not to say that it doesn't have an audience (and you and many others obviously find it better) but that audience as it turns out is continuing to decline so at the end of the day the path taken may not have been as good for the long term health of the game as it was once thought it would be.

[Soeroah]

I certainly hope not. I still think Blizzard took the wrong data from Timeless Isle - they saw how many players were doing it and assumed it was very popular content most players found enjoyable, rather than simply being the newest content with a catch-up mechanic. The quality didn't matter so much as it was new, but I think they took some design aspects from it because they mistook it as being fun.

I'm worried about the same thing. Classic is great for players who enjoy Classic; Retail is better for players who enjoy most things about Retail, though the current expansion is certainly lacking. But trying to make Retail 'better' by basing it on how many people play Classic in its first few months of release rather than actually looking at what people are finding FUN about it sounds like a bad idea.

[Hittion]

I think it is far more likely they will treat them as two different communities.

[Sensa1]

I certainly hope not. I still think Blizzard took the wrong data from Timeless Isle - they saw how many players were doing it and assumed it was very popular content most players found enjoyable, rather than simply being the newest content with a catch-up mechanic. The quality didn't matter so much as it was new, but I think they took some design aspects from it because they mistook it as being fun.

I'm worried about the same thing. Classic is great for players who enjoy Classic; Retail is better for players who enjoy most things about Retail, though the current expansion is certainly lacking. But trying to make Retail 'better' by basing it on how many people play Classic in its first few months of release rather than actually looking at what people are finding FUN about it sounds like a bad idea.

You're right that Blizzard misinterprets than own data constantly. They seem to forget that they created and incentivized "X" content in such a way that not doing it is basically negligent as a player, whether the player actually enjoys it or not, and then point to all the players doing the heavily incentivized content as proof that's what players actually want to do and enjoy.

[MoanaLisa]

It won't be the next expansion as you indicated. The one after? Yeah, maybe.

If Classic does well, as I hope it will, they may take some lessons from that into 10.0. If it doesn't then they won't.

Will there be a WoW 2.0? It's doubtful when they can open an expansion with a new continent and a class reset. There's also no reason whatsoever to think that if you dislike WoW now you can expect the developers to do something totally different for another version of WoW. I don't even know why people think a fresh start will give them the game they want.

The business case is to keep the two games as separate as possible and appealing to different audiences.

[Thetruth1400]

In theory yes, in reality it's past half way to the next expansion. They will need a few months of Classic to get some relevant data, particularly regarding engagement, and by then the next expansion and it's major features will already have been announced and be well under development.

With that said, the "success" of the Classic beta and the disccusion it generated might have already impacted the next expansions focus/design philosophy. And it will almost surely impact the expansion after the next one regardless (depending on how well Classic does, and what it's future is, either TBC and WotLK, Classic+, or nothing, it will most certainly change whether they want to make current WoW either more or less like Classic.

Agreed. I don't think they'll make Classic+ but I can see them doing TBC and WotLK if it's popular.

I also agree that if Classic is massively popular, it will change the retail game going forward. I agree it's too late for 9.0, but it might start showing itself in 9.2 if it's popular enough. What that means for retail? No idea. I'd hope it would mean a return to the older ways of this game, but I doubt people will give up the overwhelming hand holding easily.

[MrExcelion]

I think the more interesting number will be how many accounts will remain with primarily Classic activity once the next xpac launches.

Personally wondering if they can make classic last for more than 2 years, or if this is gonna be a 1-2 year thing for a lot of people. Phases will extend it out at least, but still I wonder if the game would be boring when everyone has no gear left to farm when they're in Naxx gear and have several atieshes

[Theoris]

Retailers would hate Vanilla design elements being brought back into the game. The people who appreciate RPG and immersion have long sense left WoW, the people who are left are the pet hunter/toy collector/costume collector types. Those people don't want to running all around the world to do a quest to earn a spell.

What I think will happen is Classic will become the more populated version, and Blizzard will essentially put modern into maintenance mode where they release "treasure hunter" patches occasionally to let modern players go out and collect more stuff.

Stop trying to make this into a "Classic vs modern WoW" thread.

[MoanaLisa]

Stop trying to make this into a "Classic vs modern WoW" thread.

Mod voice: Excellent idea. The best result for everyone is for both versions of the game to do well. Everyone please take note. No one needs to be either insulting or condescending about it.

[Theoris]

Probably very minor stuff for 9.0 (like Eyes of the Beast possibly being reimplemented like Ion stated in the video about Dev Insights), but nothing major.

If they are collecting such data from Classic (which isn't that of a crazy notion), 10.0 is probably where it will start being noticeable. I'd be all for it personally. I would love to have some sort of class quest chains in WoW again.

[Ryph]

I'm worried about the same thing. Classic is great for players who enjoy Classic; Retail is better for players who enjoy most things about Retail, though the current expansion is certainly lacking. But trying to make Retail 'better' by basing it on how many people play Classic in its first few months of release rather than actually looking at what people are finding FUN about it sounds like a bad idea.

I may have been not very clear in my OP, but I believe that is exactly what they are going to look at - the fun factor systems the players find engaging. And also, I do not think making retail "just like" Classic would be a good choice. As others in this thread have pointed out, there has been many system changes that have changed over the course of WoW's lifetime.

Very few of Vanilla WoW's system carried over into the next 2 expansions. 40man raids were gone, PvP improved on and better utilization of class specs were just some of the changes TBC introduced. Almost all of base systems in Vanilla are now gone in retail.

But there are some things in WoW Classic that I think need to be present in whatever retail is now - I could go on about my opinions but the OP is more wondering at what tech they have, if there is any, to show them that data.

I do not know what they could have in place that tells them I, as a player, love the fact that utility in PVE/PVP will be a cornerstone of gameplay again. How I will be able to immediately tell a good hunter from a bad one, or any other class.

[Sensa1]

Stop trying to make this into a "Classic vs modern WoW" thread.

the premise of the thread is whether or not Blizz will use data from Classic to change Retail...ShimmerSwirl's 1st sentence was that Retailers would hate Vanilla design elements...I don't think many would argue with that...the next 2 sentences may be a bit of an over-generalization but not that far from the truth. Neither statement is inconsistent with the OP's question or turning it into Classic vs Modern thread imho.

I do disagree with his conclusion that Classic will overtake Retail to the point Blizz puts retail into maintenance mode but hey, he's entitled to belief that.

[Absintheminded]

All I know is that I will predominantly be a classic player andight play retail for new patches and then go back to classic. I'm hoping that Blizzard sees the players that do this and uses that information for retail, in some way. I don't care if that means a Wow2 or if they just revert some long-standing changes.