What after WotLK classic

[Relapses]

I mean I truly don’t care if they released it. I don’t care if blizzard makes another bad expansion for retail either. That doesn’t mean I’m going to not call it bad?

You seem very connected to cata, and I’m very sorry that you probably aren’t going to see it live again. My condolences.

I'm not connected to Cata, I just have a strong distaste for terrible argumentation from Classic purists who think there's a universe where Blizzard just skips over the next logical step in progression servers simply because the court of public opinion has determined it to be, in your words, a "bad expansion."

- - - Updated - - -

Is there any statement from Blizzard on this? How big is the overlap between long term Classic/retail players these days? They seem to be very different groups that aren't interested in the other game version.

On topic: Cata seems like the logical route from Blizzard's POV but I don't really see the point. The only people who have a lot of Cata nostalgia are high end PvPers and the whole "Classic" thing kinda dies with the world revamp. Cata also started to trim down on a lot of the RPG elements that make Classic so appealing to begin with.
If I recall correctly Blizzard have said that they will look at player feedback to determine how they will proceed after WotLK. Something like Classic+ would be great but I can't really see the current team pull it off in a way that upholds the spirit of Classic WoW.

Do I need to quote Blizzard to simply state out loud that many Classic players are actively hostile towards retail? Classic has definitely segmented the playerbase and even if the two audiences largely keep to themselves these days that definitely was not the case when it first came out.

[Synapse12]

I'm not connected to Cata, I just have a strong distaste for terrible argumentation from Classic purists who think there's a universe where Blizzard just skips over the next logical step in progression servers simply because the court of public opinion has determined it to be, in your words, a "bad expansion."

I’m by no means a classic purist so I’m really not sure where this is coming from. I advocated for things like dual spec in tbc because it’s just an amazing system.

We would have to be fairly disingenuous here to even humor the idea that cata will even be as remotely as hyped or wanted as the previous 3 versions of wow for classic.

Imagine for a second we are in classic vanilla era and tbc is about to release, and someone made a thread “what happens after tbc”. Everyone and their dog would obviously say wotlk is next. It’s not even a question. Wotlk is super hyped and blizzard will 100% capitalize on this. Tbc and wotlk needed almost no reworks in terms of porting the world into the new client because they are literally untouched on live. Cata is different. Not only does the hype around this expansion lack tremendously, but it’s going to require a TON of work on the side of world building. Do you remember how much time it took them to make the classic vanilla world and bring it back? Forever.

Now this is just a recipe for disaster IMO. That’s way way too much work for something that we have already seen on private servers for example to be an absolute flop.

We can argue all day about this if you want, but if you’re going to sit here and even attempt to act like cata has enough hype behind it to make blizzard as much money as wotlk is going to then we aren’t even starting off on an honest footing.

[Relapses]

I’m by no means a classic purist so I’m really not sure where this is coming from. I advocated for things like dual spec in tbc because it’s just an amazing system.

We would have to be fairly disingenuous here to even humor the idea that cata will even be as remotely as hyped or wanted as the previous 3 versions of wow for classic.

Imagine for a second we are in classic vanilla era and tbc is about to release, and someone made a thread “what happens after tbc”. Everyone and their dog would obviously say wotlk is next. It’s not even a question. Wotlk is super hyped and blizzard will 100% capitalize on this. Tbc and wotlk needed almost no reworks in terms of porting the world into the new client because they are literally untouched on live. Cata is different. Not only does the hype around this expansion lack tremendously, but it’s going to require a TON of work on the side of world building. Do you remember how much time it took them to make the classic vanilla world and bring it back? Forever.

Now this is just a recipe for disaster IMO. That’s way way too much work for something that we have already seen on private servers for example to be an absolute flop.

We can argue all day about this if you want, but if you’re going to sit here and even attempt to act like cata has enough hype behind it to make blizzard as much money as wotlk is going to then we aren’t even starting off on an honest footing.

Your evidence that Cataclysm private servers have failed is not relevant because it operates on the flawed supposition that Classic only exists for the types of people who played on private servers. Classic was not made for private server players, it was made for WoW players. You do not get to hand waive an entire expansion out of existence because you think people won't be "hype" for it. Personally, I think most Classic players will be excited to see their characters move into Cata because the alternative of killing Arthas ad infinitum frankly sounds boring as fuck.

[Synapse12]

Your evidence that Cataclysm private servers have failed is not relevant because it operates on the flawed supposition that Classic only exists for the types of people who played on private servers. Classic was not made for private server players, it was made for WoW players. You do not get to hand waive an entire expansion out of existence because you think people won't be "hype" for it. Personally, I think most Classic players will be excited to see their characters move into Cata because the alternative of killing Arthas ad infinitum frankly sounds boring as fuck.

It was just one example, feel free to stick onto that one example and ignore the elephant in the room that people just don’t want it. I’m not even going to defend the private server statement even though it holds a great purpose to what I’m saying.

Look at this thread alone. The question was what’s after wotlk. And what, 3 people have said cata? Like I said if this was a thread about what’s after tbc 100% of the people would be saying wotlk without even a question.

Feel free to think cata is coming, I truly don’t care. But at some point you have got to stop fooling yourself.

[Echocho]

We should all quit every version of WoW, they all fucking suck and you'd have to be a special kind of moron to keep playing.

Go play ESO or FFXIV or something if you want a non shitty MMO. Playing WoW is cringe as fuck.

[Relapses]

It was just one example, feel free to stick onto that one example and ignore the elephant in the room that people just don’t want it. I’m not even going to defend the private server statement even though it holds a great purpose to what I’m saying.

Look at this thread alone. The question was what’s after wotlk. And what, 3 people have said cata? Like I said if this was a thread about what’s after tbc 100% of the people would be saying wotlk without even a question.

Feel free to think cata is coming, I truly don’t care. But at some point you have got to stop fooling yourself.

You'll have to forgive me but I don't take much stock in the opinions from the eternally cynical ex-WoW players who let this game live rent free in their minds 24/7.

[Lplatehealer]

There won't be anymore classic launches after Wrath. TBC classic servers fell after the initial wave of interest. Wrath will have even less interest in it. Interest in Cata classic? Laughable.

Wrath has the most interest of all the three. The fuck you talking about?

[Synapse12]

You'll have to forgive me but I don't take much stock in the opinions from the eternally cynical ex-WoW players who let this game live rent free in their minds 24/7.

So far in this conversation you’ve called me a classic purist, an eternally cynical ex wow player, and accused me of needing a wotlk “daycare” center.

You clearly have got way more skin in this game than I do so I would steer clear of now saying the game lives “rent free” in my head. I’m just telling you what it is. That and you need to seriously chill out my guy, it’s literally just a game we are talking about quit taking it to heart.

[Relapses]

So far in this conversation you’ve called me a classic purist, an eternally cynical ex wow player, and accused me of needing a wotlk “daycare” center.

You clearly have got way more skin in this game than I do so I would steer clear of now saying the game lives “rent free” in my head. I’m just telling you what it is. That and you need to seriously chill out my guy, it’s literally just a game we are talking about quit taking it to heart.

In each of the examples you just used I was referring to players generally, not you. The fact that you keep taking general statements as personal attacks leads me to believe the only person who is maybe taking this a bit too seriously is... well... you.

Have a nice day, friend.

[PenguinChan]

Feel free to think cata is coming, I truly don’t care. But at some point you have got to stop fooling yourself.

Maybe if you were talking about 2008 Blizzard, but this is 2022 Blizzard.

You'd be fooling yourself if they won't go after easy money. Initial subs, deluxe resales, and instant boosts are absolutely worth it all on itself. Doesn't matter if Cataclysm playerbase loses traction, that initial buzz of revenue is well worth it. Plus: TBC never succeeded in the private server scene, and continues to fail. Classic servers outside of custom ones are failing or no longer relevant too because of Blizzard's servers.

You're silly for thinking Blizzard doesn't want nostalgia money in any form.

[Synapse12]

Maybe if you were talking about 2008 Blizzard, but this is 2022 Blizzard.

You'd be fooling yourself if they won't go after easy money. Initial subs, deluxe resales, and instant boosts are absolutely worth it all on itself. Doesn't matter if Cataclysm playerbase loses traction, that initial buzz of revenue is well worth it. Plus: TBC never succeeded in the private server scene, and continues to fail. Classic servers outside of custom ones are failing or no longer relevant too because of Blizzard's servers.

You're silly for thinking Blizzard doesn't want nostalgia money in any form.

That’s my entire point though. If cata was a tbc or wotlk in terms of work then I’d agree. But with cata they have to go back to square one, they have to do the same process they did in the original classic with completely redoing the world and porting it to the retail client. With tbc and wotlk they didn’t have to do this because those areas have been untouched.

- - - Updated - - -

In each of the examples you just used I was referring to players generally, not you. The fact that you keep taking general statements as personal attacks leads me to believe the only person who is maybe taking this a bit too seriously is... well... you.

Have a nice day, friend.

Don’t play dumb and act like you weren’t talking to me. You’re insulting your own intelligence by even acting like anyone is buying that

[Relapses]

Don’t play dumb and act like you weren’t talking to me. You’re insulting your own intelligence by even acting like anyone is buying that

That's okay, I'm not asking anybody else to interpret my posts. Ciao! ^_^

[Feanoro]

Don’t play dumb and act like you weren’t talking to me. You’re insulting your own intelligence by even acting like anyone is buying that

I love his pearl clutching about dividing the playerbase and how Classic players are "hostile to retail" when his post history proves he's one of the single most vitriolic retail advocates on these forums.

[Synapse12]

I love his pearl clutching about dividing the playerbase and how Classic players are "hostile to retail" when his post history proves he's one of the single most vitriolic retail advocates on these forums.

Wow he said that? Every time I’ve seen his avatar I know I’m about to read a toxic post

[Nzx]

Cata was fucking fantastic and the dungeons were fun as hell. It's legitimately embarrassing that so many people who spend more time playing WoW than "hardcore" players but who are atrociously bad at it made Blizzard start designing Second Life: Orcs instead of a game. It took the better part of a decade for them to fix that by bringing in M+. I hope they bring it back exactly as it was at launch - then they can go all in on making retail for people who want to do asmr panda waifu mount collecting BS instead.

[ablib]

If I’m thinking about what you’re talking about he didn’t even mention cata. There was one question about what will happen after cata and he said “we are open to ideas we will listen to the community to see what direction they want to take classic wow”. I don’t think he even suggested cata.

This is what I was referring to:

https://youtu.be/sMmsFb9mf6M?t=1622

[Cæli]

wow 2
and cata classic most likely also

[Nerovar]

Do I need to quote Blizzard to simply state out loud that many Classic players are actively hostile towards retail? Classic has definitely segmented the playerbase and even if the two audiences largely keep to themselves these days that definitely was not the case when it first came out.

Well, they're hostile because they feel like retail no longer caters to "players like them". But you can't really say it's "segmenting the playerbase" when those are two different groups to begin with (apart from the initial overlap due to large interest in Classic's launch). If Classic WoW wasn't around a lot of these "segmented" Classic players simply wouldn't have been players at all so why does it matter how they feel about retail?

OT: I found the quote on what's next for Classic.

“We’re trying to find a balance that will keep the spirit of Classic alive while giving people something new. Because obviously, if you’re going to go through this [Wrath of the Lich King Classic] adventure again, it’s going to end sooner or later. And then you say: “I want more.” Well, what else do we have? We will try to find something that will satisfy people, give them more opportunities to practice, and also be similar to the original Classic. Whether it will be Cataclysm or something else in the future, we have not yet decided. For starters, we definitely want to hear from the community.”

[Thes]

There won't be anymore classic launches after Wrath. TBC classic servers fell after the initial wave of interest. Wrath will have even less interest in it. Interest in Cata classic? Laughable.

Idk Wrath interests me way more than TBC ever did. The game is just better even if early content is completely brain dead.

Wouldn't really care about Cata and would probably not play it. It was fun at the start with the tougher heroics but after nerfs it wasn't that fun anymore.

[Iain]

Cataclysm Classic on a fresh realm sounds perfect to me. Ideally at reduced xp gains and with heirloom items removed (or at least not accessible on fresh realms) because Retail Cataclysm levelled players too fast through its new content.


----
You know what would be really baller? If Blizzard came up with an extra raid tier for this expansion. Nobody cares about Cataclysm's 'authentic' experience so they might as well pull some content from the cutting floor and refurbish it. Think about it, that's content that can then serve as evergreen retail time-walking as well.

It would get people to resubscribe just for therapeutic reasons. It's a win-win-win.