Author: Spyells

 

Would WoW Classic plus be a good idea? Blizzard released its recent earnings report on November 7th. World of Warcraft Classic created the biggest rise in subscription plans in franchise history. The month of October also saw strong engagement, and it’s looking good for the next quarter. With all this positive Warcraft news it’s only natural to ask what’s coming next. This post will contain my opinion.

We may see The Burning Crusade or Wrath of the Lich King return. During BlizzCon, Executive Producer of World of Warcraft John Hight said that Blizzard wasn’t opposed to the idea of creating a Burning Crusade server. Fans have expressed varied opinions on the topic. #NoChanges is a huge deal to many Classic fans.

The World of Warcraft fandom can’t agree on when WoW ‘died’. If you’ve played WoW since Vanilla then you’ve heard about WoW’s death and resurrection numerous times. So this is the reason why many fans don’t see eye to eye on how WoW Classic should continue.

So let’s examine the pros and cons of each option. What would happen if Blizzard decided to give us a Classic plus? Would we have an alternate timeline now? Or what if Blizzard gave us The Burning Crusade with no flight? We may need to discuss what caused the World of Warcraft to ‘die’ first. As a warning, this post will contain my opinion.

How would you like WoW Classic to continue? Would you like to see a World of Warcraft Classic Plus? Do you want Classic to have #NoChanges? Or would you like to see the game move on to include BC and Wrath? Please leave a comment below with your thoughts.

Would A WoW Classic Plus Be a Good Idea?

Well…Let’s Look At How World of Warcraft ‘Died’ First

Most World of Warcraft fans will agree that the first three expansions were WoW’s best. So the glory days of WoW lasted roughly six years. They included Vanilla, The Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King. Now not every fan is in unison with quality of life improvements that popped up in BC and Wrath. But, a whopping 12 million subscribers during Wrath paint a different picture.

Today, fans argue about flight, dungeon finder/looking for raid, welfare epics, time-gating, a lack of player vs. player interaction and more. One important thing to remember is that not all World of Warcraft players is the same. Not everyone revels in player vs. player combat, and not all players participate in raids. We also don’t all adore questing, and not everyone likes to explore Azeroth the same. Some players prefer discovering on the ground. They feel it’s immersive and they like PvP combat. Other players prefer flight. Staying on the ground can feel like being caged. Either way, the game is supposed to provide us with epic fantasy.

Sometimes the fandom doesn’t listen to each other. There are millions of us worldwide. It’s incredibly easy to forget that no play style is better than the other. So this makes it hugely difficult to pinpoint exactly what ‘killed’ the game. We can point fingers at flying, but the game was doing fine during BC and Wrath. The developers used flight as a gameplay mechanic. So Azeroth already felt massive, and they made it bigger by requiring us to use flight to access new areas.

How WoW ‘Died’ Continued

Flight isn’t the only issue fans sound off about. Another hot button topic is the Dungeon Finder and Looking for Raid tool. Now Blizzard implemented dungeon finder in Wrath to make finding groups faster. In the beginning, Dungeon Finder was more confined to your server. Now it’s connected to the whole game. There was still more accountability for players to be kinder to each other. So the early versions of the Looking for Group tools are different than what we’re dealing with today.

Back in the day, most of the fanbase wasn’t participating in end game content. Blizzard introduced looking for raid to fix that problem. Hardcore raiders don’t like this because they’d rather we all joined a raid team. Honestly, if someone doesn’t want to raid you don’t want them on your team. They won’t be dedicated and you’ll be frustrated. Not all players have personal time for a raid team, and many players can’t participate due to health concerns and other problems. I did raid a few expansions ago with an old guild, but I don’t raid now. So at the moment, I use LFR to experience end game content. LFR is both a blessing and a curse.

During Wrath, the game still had a friendly community. At the time I was a new player. Not only were my friends welcoming, but I remember making new friends often. The game world was thriving. A lot of Wrath is like Classic. WoW Classic players don’t want to hear that, but Wrath and Classic gameplay are similar, and the fandom was friendly and helpful in both.

World of Warcraft didn’t feel different until Cataclysm. When the old world was revamped the magic of Warcraft was lost. Cataclysm isn’t the only thing that ‘killed’ WoW, but it’s a major factor. The game never felt the same after that. Now, during Cata and Mists of Pandaria, we didn’t have time-gated stuff yet. So the game still had a little bit of that old school feeling. In general, the World of Warcraft felt freeing.

Is WoW ‘Dead’?

Besides just Cataclysm overhauling the old world, the game developers are taking away more Warcraft magic. For example, when Death Knights were first introduced in Wrath everyone had one. The excitement for a Death Knight was off the charts. They were a knight, and their lore was epic.

Playing a hero class meant you started at a higher level. It had nothing to do with having an unfair advantage over your peers. We can all make a Death Knight. The excitement of playing a Death Knight is because of the fantasy surrounding them. The same can be said for Demon Hunters.

Many fans have expressed delight about hero classes starting at low levels in Shadowlands. We’re forgetting that World of Warcraft is a fantasy. So playing a hero class is a part of that. All of our characters are considered heroes, but they had to earn that title. What makes hero classes unique is they’re already special due to the storyline. So this is another reminder of how everyone in the fandom doesn’t play the game the same.

Some WoW fans play for the lore. A hero class may be exactly what they’re looking for when advancing through the storyline. Other players don’t care about the plot and it doesn’t matter one way or the other what level Death Knights nor Demon Hunters start for them. But, it should matter for the players who want to engage in that heroic class fantasy.

So…How Exactly Did WoW ‘Die’ Again?

World of Warcraft died because Blizzard changed focus from what made the game fun. For the average player fun can mean different things. Most players want the game to work. We also want to play in an immersive world. The gameplay needs to be exciting and rewarding, and this includes PvP, raiding, questing, etc. WoW is an MMO so players want to make friends. We want the plotline to be epic and make sense, and we want to play the game our way.

We already know WoW is a huge moneymaker. Blizzard wants us playing the game, but they don’t want to spend money to make it happen. It’s not that we have less content, but we do get a lot of reused content. Like Mechagon looked like Kul Tiras and it wasn’t anything special in appearance, but the island was fun to play on.

We’re also getting short-changed. So instead of the developers coming up with innovative ways to use flight, or create new player vs. player experiences, we keep getting the same rehashed content. Allied races have replaced new races and classes. A new race would make a new expansion so exciting back in the day. Remember, we’re still spending $60 for the game, and an additional $15 a month for less content.

How Exactly WoW Died Continued

There’s nothing wrong with earning things worth having in a video game. The problem is that Blizzard is making us earn stuff (allied races) that we should have from buying the game. Flying didn’t become a major issue until Blizzard tried to remove it in Warlords of Draenor. There have always been fans who didn’t like flight, but the fandom wasn’t this divided until now. Fans who don’t like flight are not being fair about Pathfinder. To some players who enjoy flight, Pathfinder does feel like a punishment. It’s a huge slap in the face compared to how the game was once played. The player base wasn’t lazy in Wrath because they purchased flight. Old school WoW is harder and requires a larger time investment than modern WoW.

Blizzard should be using flight as a gameplay mechanic. We should have to use flight to access hidden areas on the map. There should be enemies who shoot us out of the air. We should have flying mounts that allow us to attack other players with missiles. World of Warcraft is a war game. Why can’t we pilot a fighter jet or a fighter gryphon? Sometimes I feel like Blizzard is thinking too narrow with the flight issue. Instead of spreading their wings and embracing the possibilities, Blizzard has turned flight into their number one enemy.

Now That We Know How WoW Died…Would A WoW Classic Plus Be A Good Idea?

There are definitely more factors that contributed to World of Warcraft’s decline that wasn’t mentioned in this post. The post touched on a couple of big ones everyone keeps talking about. A WoW Classic Plus would be like a reset. Basically it’s like a gigantic what if. How would World of Warcraft be different if the game had gone in another direction?

Do you really want the current World of Warcraft development team to touch Classic? The best modern expansion so far was Legion, but it’s nothing like Vanilla, and some fans didn’t like Legion. A WoW Classic Plus has endless potential, but it can go horribly wrong. At some point, Blizzard would need to add new zones and new races. How much overlap with the current game and Classic is okay? Do WoW Classic players want Draenei and Pandaren running around?

Honestly, Blizzard should leave Classic alone. The #NoChanges camp is probably right on this one. Players who missed the early days of WoW won’t be able to revisit again. Once you begin making changes then it’ll never be the same.

But…What About The Burning Crusade And Wrath Of the Lich King?

As a Wrath veteran, I’d love to relive the Wrath of the Lich King. If Blizzard can create separate servers for BC and Wrath then that might work better then upgrading the Classic servers. They can give us the option of transferring our Classic characters over. The biggest concern would be if the fandom can survive the strain. We already have a divide between WoW Classic and the current World of Warcraft fans.

Some fans do play both games, but there are others who are loyal to one. Adding a BC or Wrath server could cause more problems if the fandom breaks more. The risk could be worth it for Blizzard though. More fans are nostalgic for the glory days of WoW. When we get bored with the current content we can take a trip back to the past.

Should The Burning Crusade And Wrath Of The Lich King Be Added Without Quality Of Life Enhancements?

The WoW Classic approach should be used for future additions. WoW Classic fans wouldn’t have accepted any version of Vanilla that wasn’t authentic. The same holds true for WoW fans who love The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King or any other expansion in the game. It’s fair.

All WoW fans want to relive their favorite expansion. We all have things we don’t like about each expansion too. It’s not fair to let our dislike for an expansion ruin another player’s fun. So any new servers added in the future should have their quality of life enhancements. Not all current World of Warcraft fans feel the game has declined. I may not like Allied Races, but many fans don’t have an issue with them. So if Blizzard decides to roll out BC or Wrath then they should be in their original state.

Would WoW Classic Plus Be A Good Idea?

Would WoW Classic Plus be a good idea? Probably not. Fans wanted WoW Classic so we could relive the old days. If it changes too much then we won’t have that, but what do you think? Do you feel we should have a WoW Classic Plus? What about adding The Burning Crusade or Wrath of the Lich King? Please leave a comment below.

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Thank you for hanging out at my Hearth.

Happy Hunting,

Spyells