If Classic actually evolves into other expansions, where will they stop?

[ali725]

I feel like if they want it to live they will have to release Burning Crusade after it.

I remember reading gamers absorb content faster then the developers can make and since people are used to classic i feel they will absorb the content fast and eventually be bored and i feel they should release BC if they can after...but imo stop at max Wotlk.

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[QUOTE=Senshenzu;51207752]

Let's say they actually go through with this approach, where will they stop?[/QUOTE

I think dedicated servers for each expansion, not progressing like after Classic

I thought that would work but i think it will split the player base too much and they would have to apply realm xfers for it but not to general realms but to expansio dedicated servers.

So for example if you get max level in classic you get a free dedicated realm xfer to BC realm(free for each max level char you get in classic but only to the next dedicated expansion realm). If you get max level in BC you get a free dedicated realm xfer to wotlk dedicated server.

[Irian]

The obvious answer is WotLK. That's where a lot of people seem to see the cutoff of the "old days" happens, and where the design philosophy started to shift towards reductive and simplistic design and class mechanics. It's where nostalgia usually cuts off, as while I've seen a couple I don't think there's a huge desire for Cataclysm servers.

I remember hearing from a friend that the two expansions that are most overwhelmingly popular on private servers are classic and wrath, with BC a bit behind.

[traevyn]

I feel like they would do it for them all, although MoP seems like the most likely end point if they dont

[cparle87]

Vanilla to Wotlk obviously.

Cata is where literally everything changed

Personally I consider MoP to be when it all changed. That was when CRZ and sharding were added.

[Dracullus]

I don't want them to stop. Even if WoW will have "last expansion" and game will be on life support, it would be cool to have access to every version of the game, even if it would be just 1 server per expac.

They should do something like this:
- release "Classic BC" in 2021
- give us option to copy our char from Vanilla servers
- merge Vanilla servers to keep healthy population

Every expansion has something cool to offer, even WoD had amazing raids. Also in modern expansion they could integrate "classic" with "live", so for example people could do challenge mode dungeons in MoP and get access to transmog in live game.

[ryjkur]

I think it's safe to consider Vanilla-Wrath to be the "Classic" era of WoW. Cata was the first expansion to be disliked and the game has been up and down since then.

If you played all expansions you would know every one of them were hated just like cata.

[Reginald Van Hooten]

Cata was hated because it was so bad compared to wotlk but its still much better than wod, legion, bfa...
Cata p-servers are the most crowded ones, so they might do Cata aswell.
I personally hope for a MoP remake, all classes just felt good to play and that damn Boomy playstyle, i miss it!

[Kallor]

I don't consider Wotlk to be in the "vanilla" era, that's when the game started drastically changing. Faceroll dungeons, dungeon finder, zoning, etc.

[Marston]

There are two scenarios:

1.) They only do classic and stop, simply because that is the content that is actually missing. While the balance is different, all non classic dungeons are still in the game (the sole exception being Zul'Aman, but the 5 player version has basically the exact same bosses as the 10 player version).
2.) They continue through all expansions and never stop (unless they hit the last). If they do this, the question becomes: Will older expansions get dedicated servers that stop at the final phase of that expansion or will we "lose" Classic (and beyond) again?

I think 2 with dedicated servers is more likely. Pretty much every expansion has something I would like to reexperience. Be it classic for the "feeling", TBC for PvE content (because I focused on PvP instead), Wrath for Ulduar (where I paused), Cata for launch heroics, MoP for overall theme and gameplay, WoD for Raids (which I also missed for the most part), Legion for overall gameplay and Mythic Dungeons, BFA... I paused for the most time and am not subbed, but I am sure in 15 years I would like to play parts again.

The main negative point of this of course: It would EXTREMELY scatter the playerbase. Which is not good. Not at all. And if it only continues, what happens to the player base when we have the live servers and 4 dedicated expansions servers (Classic to Cata) in maybe 7 years, assuming ~2 years per expansion? Would people even still play stagnant expansions which never get content updates? Do we do "seasonal" things where maybe everything is doubled? Double exp, double rewards and double release time for only a single year of lifespan? Something completely different?

[Craaazyyy]

in what way?
cata removed all rpg elements, changed the world, started pruning spells and talents, adding flying everywhere, added lfr, changed visuals and much more.

Wrath pruned RPG elements, added dungeon finder, added multiple difficulties of raid, ToC was the first raid that made previous content obsolete, wotlk also changed visuals, made dungeons too easy, added even more welfare epics, reused the entire raid and made it insanely easy and then admitted that it was done to make it easier for people to get into raiding

without counting the spell ranks(again i love spell ranks myself) Cata had more spells than Wrath, in reality pruning started in TBC if you look at it like that, cuz some spells were removed in TBC(tho of course they added more, just like in Cata)

so i can give you that they changed the World, but everything else is bullshit(oh, and talents i guess, but they added a better glyph system, so i guess it wasnt as bad) and i dont think adding flying everywhere changes anything cuz lets be real in Wrath/TBC people were spending almost the entire time in Northrend/Outland, so it barely mattered

[horbindr]

assuming there is demand i'd say they stop at current expansion -3 and just keep going.

but i doubt there will be enough demand past cata/mop. though at such a point they might swap classic from expansion based to raid based or adventure mode style, where you can just say "i want to raid Y", make a group, get premade or scaled characters, and youre good to go.

[Sparklelord]

I imagine that if they do further servers, they'll leave classic servers alone, create say a BC server and let you char copy over to continue leveling without losing your progress

[Poppincaps]

If you played all expansions you would know every one of them were hated just like cata.

That is absolutely not true. For TBC. There was some light hate towards Wrath for making the game a bit more casual, but the general consensus is that it is one of the best eras of WoW. From Cata on every expansion was either poorly received overall or started out poorly and then improved into something good (MoP/Legion).

[AceofH]

Vanilla to Wotlk obviously.

Cata is where literally everything changed

false. wrath was the beginning of the end, you just didn't notice the rot until cataclysm.
literally almost everything you don't like about modern design? started in wrath.

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That is absolutely not true. For TBC. There was some light hate towards Wrath for making the game a bit more casual, but the general consensus is that it is one of the best eras of WoW. From Cata on every expansion was either poorly received overall or started out poorly and then improved into something good (MoP/Legion).

wrath didn't make the game more casual.
wow was always casual.
wrath made the game idiot friendly.

[Thelyron]

The problem with wotlk servers is that if they release it on its last patch like they're doing with classic, it will already have the cataclysm skill system, which does not match the wotlk experience at all. So they would have to mix and match patch states a lot more.

[AceofH]

If anything, they should stop at WOTLK. Since Cataclysm the game has been shifting towards a different style completely and continuing after WOTLK would just mean making Classic resemble Retail more and more.

again, wrath was when the shift to a completely different style started. stop making it seem like cata was when that happened.
when did we start making the game more "accessible"
wrath
when did we make all specs equally competitive in dps?
wrath
when was LFD, Looms, and Story Driven begin?
Wrath
when did we dumb down dungeons to aoe tank and spank?
Wrath
when did we stop making classes unique and take away niches?
Wrath

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The problem with wotlk servers is that if they release it on its last patch like they're doing with classic, it will already have the cataclysm skill system, which does not match the wotlk experience at all. So they would have to mix and match patch states a lot more.

they wouldn't go with that. they would probably go with the patch that added Ruby Sanctum.
Blizzard didn't use the pre patch for bc with classic, why would do that with wrath?

[Low Hanging Fruit]

I would imagine WotLK. Up until then it was the old world. After that pretty much everything is availiable in the game. But as time goes on who knows.

[micwini]

Wrath. Cata was the turningpoint

[Erous]

I think wotlk is too iconic and they'd probably stop at BC. Wotlk was just too popular and widely advertised as a golden state for wow for them to threaten modern wow. And this is coming from someone who liked BC better, so I'm not trying to be biased.

[AceofH]

Wrath. Cata was the turningpoint

false. wrath was teh turning point.

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I think wotlk is too iconic and they'd probably stop at BC. Wotlk was just too popular and widely advertised as a golden state for wow for them to threaten modern wow. And this is coming from someone who liked BC better, so I'm not trying to be biased.

if wrath was the iconic expansion and golden state for wow, why didn't it see the growth vanilla and bc did?