What do YOU want the future of Classic WoW to be?

[SinR]

Simple question: What do you want the future of Classic WoW to be?

Start it all over again at Vanilla, then BC, then WOTLK, as everything is right now

Start over in Vanilla > BC > WOTLK with some major systems changes, all back of house though and not majorly affecting gameplay

Start over in Vanilla > BC > WOTLK with major rebalancing of specs similar to going from Vanilla to TBC and TBC to WOTLK. Maybe give Dwarves Shaman and Tauren Paladins in Vanilla.

Move on to Cataclysm, with no changes

Move to Cata with some adjustments (LFR, Talent System, Easier/Harder Heroics, etc)

Forever WOTLK

Personally, I think that it should start over with system changes. Classic Era and SoM get sent off to WOTLK servers. WOTLK Servers remain, but give people that don't want to play WOTLK forever the paid option to go to Retail at a slightly higher rate than a normal transfer. System changes could be updating the AH to retail standards, achievements, tweaking the LFG system a little bit, etc. Of course I'm not opposed to Dwarf Shaman and Tauren Paladins either.

[ExtremelyCrusty]

Not Cataclysm classic.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

For Blizzard to do a "Classic" for every expansion.


Yes, that even includes Shadowlands when the times get up to that point.


It's completely fine for somebody to like a certain classic version but not another. Trying to prevent Blizzard from creating the obvious next step in the classic line, though, is where a problem arises. Arguments like "nobody wants this" or "nobody asked for this" is absolutely asinine to read.


At the end of the day, playing an expansion through it's entirety (from launch to final patch) goes into why people have been wanting to play classic versions of WoW to begin with: to play the game as it was back then, as it's no longer available to them.


I'm sure when we get to MoP, WoD, and Legion (big want for Legion Classic from me personally) the "classic effect" will probably lose its luster to a majority of people... but not everybody.



EDIT: My wishful thinking, which most likely will never happen: for Blizzard to maintain 1 or 2 servers per expansion, and cycle through them much like "Season of Mastery" where you start fresh from the beginning of that expansion and play it through to the end all over again. Like, in 10 years time, we have each previous expansion in classic-mode maintained and you can freely jump into each one at your leisure.

[Bigbazz]

Cataclysm was a pile of wank, there is some potential there but Blizzard can't do anything with it based on what they are planning with WOTLK. I think we're in for a massive pile of wank going forward, to be honest.

[Nitros14]

Go through every expansion in order. Keep at least one server of each expansion running in loop.

[Mendzia]

I do not see WotLK+ to pick.
If this won't happen i will quit the game with +95% chance.

[Mysterymask]

Classic seasons....unpopular opinion but not like season of mastery but like wild crazy changes for every expansion


Like
Vanilla with Dwarf Shaman and Tauren Paladin
BC with playable Demon Hunters!
A progressive server that each expansion launches with a number of clears like EverQuest
Find a way to make a classic version of DH, Monks, and even evokers just to shake stuff up
Make a version that just has reforging for no reason
Vanilla with Mythic plus dungeons

Just throw shit out there see how it sticks

[Squigglyo]

Classic has run its course.
Everyone who wanted it, played it.
SOM was an attempt at something different but overall, nothing special.

The only way you can have another go starting fresh would be to do something drastic.
Changing numbers or a few tiny things wouldnt be enough to garner enough interest anymore.


You would effectively need to do a Classic 2.0 for there to be enough to come back for.
Shamans/Paladins on Alliance/Horde isnt special enough, neither is buffing bosses, changing some items, etc.


What would get me into the game is a retelling of classic. Classic 2.0 would be jam packed with QOL, but the main things would be retelling the story from scratch.
Classic could stay mostly untouched (although to sell the idea of Classic 2.0 you might start with original 1.0 and from 1.1 onwards be more original). The raids could take a different direction, with lets say a Classic Kara as the end raid, and no Nax.
Just something to make it a 'new' game, but still classic.
But BC would be where things take a sharp turn. Could even simply not be BC. 2.0 onwards would be the new story path. Completly different expansion.



If done right, Blizzard could have 2 versions of Warcraft, as 2 different games each making them a different stream of membership/money (money would equate to further development). Original Timeline and Alternative Timeline.
I wouldnt ever play a different MMO, and classic versions destined to die arent appealing to me... but i would play the shit out of an 'alternative' warcraft that is effectively a different game.

[McNeil]

Classic+, TBC+, WotLK+

Add all content that was scrapped and maybe some additional stuff
Massive class changes to make then all viable

[Nilinor]

You could very easily have infinite progression through raids if they implemented a style like what they are doing for 5 mans for wotlk. Could have Heroic + style hardmodes, can only go to the next level if you clear the raid as a guild. Characters could be flagged as clearing a raid so they are eligible to go to the next level of that raid (maybe a new mechanic or something here and there) so can only group with people that have that same level to go into it. It would also make raids days more enjoyable, since you can pick whatever raid you want to do, not just do the "next one" in line.

So taking ICC Heroic (which ill call ICC +1) for Naxx to be equivalent, it would be Naxx + 6. Ilvls on gear can go up depending on the difficulty of the raid you are in, and infinite progression gives you something to strive for too.

[Hotmail]

Screw it, just go all out with Classic+ for Vanilla, TBC and Wrath.

-Rebalanced talent trees
-New & retuned loot
-New currencies for Dungeons, Raids and PvP
-New mechanics for the raids

Blizzard is sitting on a goldmine of cheap content that people would do over and over. This would be WAY more popular than proceeding until we hit Classic Shadowlands, or whatever the stopping point is.

[deniter]

What i want the future of Classic WoW to be?

Fresh Classic Vanilla, then fresh Classic Vanilla, then fresh Classic Vanilla, then fresh Classic Vanilla...

[Grinning Serpent]

I'd like for them to consider something along the lines of OSRS, since that has proven successful to at least some extent and Classic has proven that you can draw some portion of players back in for another dive into nostalgia town. Additionally, I don't think that it's likely that any developer will seriously consider trying to make an "old school MMO" at any point in the future, so that offers a potential niche that Blizzard could attempt to fill. What would this mean in concrete examples of things I'd want to see? It would mostly be the "back end changes, not too many front end changes" side of things on the poll up there.

Things like:

- Let us have the option to use the modern, high-definition models and textures just as we have the option to have ray tracing and modern tech in the game or we can go all the way back to potato land. The art has always been one of Warcraft's greatest strengths and I just don't see a rational reason to not allow players to have the option to make use of it, unless it would be a ton of work to put it into the game.

- Do not bring modern raid finder/dungeon finder tools into the game, or otherwise remove the need to enter dungeons by physically entering them, but do implement a more sophisticated group finder tool - honestly, just clone FFXIV's Party Finder tool as a starting place and go from there. I think the automation of the modern group finder tool removes a lot of the necessary social elements of the more manual system, as does just directly teleporting into the dungeon. I started on Maladath for WotLK and so far, almost all of my dungeon groups have been sociable and friendly, and I think the time the party necessarily must spend together while people fly out to the stone to summon the others plays a big part of that.

- Some form of "renewable" content for the game, that doesn't necessarily require the creation of wholly new content. Concepts like M+ dungeons, PvE "seasons" like Diablo 3's seasons, new PvP seasons with PvP-specific balance tweaks, and so on. The idea is to take existing content and reuse it in a new or refreshed way, to limit the amount of work-hours it takes to sustain Classic, because I don't ever see Blizzard (even under Microsoft's direction) devoting full work-hours to what's effectively a side project. This would likely entail adding Heroic/Mythic versions of old dungeons, not just endlessly reusing WotLK dungeons and raids. Diablo 3's seasons would not make a perfect bridge, but the concept of "seasonal characters exist in their own subsection of the game and cannot interact with non-seasonal characters until they are converted to standard characters at the end of the season" is a concept that could be made to work. A hardcore/permadeath system would be the most obvious first season - you cannot trade, party with, or otherwise interact (beyond simple socializing) with non-hardcore characters or use the AH at all, and dying forces the character to become a "standard" character.

- Selective adjustments and alterations to game systems. This would mostly come in the form of occasional balance tweaks and passes and the like, as well as loot table adjustments. For example, silk cloth is far too common (or perhaps wool cloth is too uncommon), so loot tables might need a minor adjustment. It's pretty clear that mining and herbalism node spawns are insufficient to handle larger numbers of players actively farming them, either, as even on Maladath (a comparatively small server), you can run an entire circuit through a zone and not even see more than one or two nodes of a given type. I personally would like an FFXIV-style "personal loot" system where you're never competing with other players for nodes, but this would have enormous impacts on game economy and might cross the line of what is and isn't acceptable to maintain the "classic" feel. But some kind of system that makes it possible for 10+ players to be farming ore at the same time and still managing to get a moderate amount per sweep would be ideal, as the current system is simply insufficient.

I'll echo the opinions of others and state that WotLK was likely the last part of the "classic" phase - that is, it was the last expansion to be mostly comprised of "old school" design sensibilities, and Cata is generally seen as the beginning of what would become "retail" design. Not that "classic" is necessarily better than "retail" or vice-versa. I think Blizzard is likely to try and push Cata Classic anyway, because why stop riding the gravy train? But I think the "smarter" thing would be to try and spin the existing vanilla-TBC-WotLK build into something akin to OSRS. Since they aren't charging separate fees or box prices to access it, it will just function as some extra content that people will occasionally return for or play (which keeps their subscription active) in between retail content pushes.

I have friends that return to play Diablo 3 for a few weeks every single season - they spend the entire weekend playing the new season and leveling their characters and then play those characters frequently until they eventually hit Diablo 3's stalling point, where you aren't seeing substantial power increases every few runs and you're just rolling for incremental stat increases on gear (this usually means shelving that class, the process repeats until there aren't any more classes they want to play and tinker with that season.) Assuming they could port the seasonal concept to Classic and run a new season every 3 months or so, that would likely guarantee Blizzard sees an uptick in active subscriptions about once a quarter, which would certainly appeal to the accountants I'd think.

[kranur]

The only thing classic that I would do after LK ends (should I even make it that far) would be a Classic+ that will include at least the following:
- Redesigned stats on gear, even gemming. Having to basically always be under hit cap was dogshit in vanilla.
- Karazhan and/or Karazhan Crypts after Naxx
- Azhsara BG
- Redesigned Honor system that's not playing bg's for months, maybe solo & team rated bg's
- Classes re-tuned
- Firm actions taken against bots and exploits

TBC & LK were pretty good as they were, although too easy by how sophisticated players are now.
Also we're already getting LK+ and not LK classic with all the changes they're spewing.
Cataclysm and beyond ... whatever, may as well play retail.

[Relapses]

The only thing classic that I would do after LK ends (should I even make it that far) would be a Classic+ that will include at least the following:
- Redesigned stats on gear, even gemming. Having to basically always be under hit cap was dogshit in vanilla.
- Karazhan and/or Karazhan Crypts after Naxx
- Azhsara BG
- Redesigned Honor system, maybe solo & team rated bg's
- Classes re-tuned
- Firm actions taken against bots and exploits

I think we have a better chance of asking Mr. Blizzard to send every WoW Classic player a check for $1,000.

But yeah. Personally I'd just like to see a no-holds-barred everything-and-the-kitchen sink approach to Cata Classic. Throw shit on the wall and see what sticks.

[Zardas]

Classic + with new content, with said content also added to retail as legacy content

[Nerovar]

Where is the "Skip to WoD" option?

[Cæli]

I don't really care about anything after wotlk but I think they'll eventually make a classic version of every expansion, with a classic era realm for each, and a season of mastery every year on the expansion they select. I would probably play either vanilla era or wotlk era if there were enough players on each.

[Grinning Serpent]

Where is the "Skip to WoD" option?

That's an interesting one. WoD would be interesting if they actually developed more content for it, since it was scrapped ahead of schedule last time around.

MoP is generally regarded as the most popular expansion after WotLK (people looking back on it and going "actually it was pretty decent wasn't it?", though it did poorly at the time), so it's strange seeing someone wanting to skip it.

Gladiator Stance was friggin awesome, though... I'll give you that.

[MoanaLisa]

It's pretty clear that the future for Classic (if there is to be one) will look something like seasons in Diablo III. Repeat the content ad infinitum with different conditions applying. The practical alternative is to leave it alone as a museum piece. The current team does not seem like that's anything they're interested in. They may take a stab at providing some new content but I'm going to guess the ROI on that won't be enough to justify doing it more than once.