I think a much larger % of the population will see AQ40/Naxx this time around - so the 2nd year of release isn't so dry for the bulk of the community that it was in Vanilla. I think you will see more people min-maxing their alts and also creating a lot of community driven events and competitions to add to the content being released in the 2nd year (or phases 4-6).

I don't see it being a huge issue, people know what expect from the 6 phases, and are very excited to see it through to the end. Blizzard want this to be a permanent server, so what they do after 2-3 years is unknown at this point. F R E S H? Classic+? Time will reveal all.

I think a much larger % of the population will see AQ40/Naxx this time around - so the 2nd year of release isn't so dry for the bulk of the community that it was in Vanilla. I think you will see more people min-maxing their alts and also creating a lot of community driven events and competitions to add to the content being released in the 2nd year (or phases 4-6).

I don't see it being a huge issue, people know what expect from the 6 phases, and are very excited to see it through to the end. Blizzard want this to be a permanent server, so what they do after 2-3 years is unknown at this point. F R E S H? Classic+? Time will reveal all.

I am convinced they are going to release a new expansion that attempts to mimic Classic WoW, in order to lure Classic WoW players to retail. Just a conspiracy theory.

Just a conspiracy theory.

Something like this will happen probably....

Seems like if the server will sit without changes for a long period of time then more people will get to progress through the raids. I hear a lot of chatter about people skipping naxx because they were only knocking on its door as TBC was around the corner, so they didn't bother.

I'm not gonna worry about it for now. I don't even know what I'd want to happen 2 years into the game. Classic+? TBC? D3 style seasons where they spin up a bunch of fresh blank servers that reset every year? I don't think I want TBC, that was the beginning of the end for me. Not sure what Classic+ would end up being. I think of the three options, eventual release of seasonal servers that are fresh and reset once a year seems like the best. They could work like the D3 seasonal servers, where the characters and loot aren't deleted at the end of the season - they just get transferred back out onto non-seasonal servers.

I don't know. It's a valid concern, but I'm gonna focus my energy on prepping for launch and enjoying the next year or two worth of classic and see where it goes from there.

I am convinced they are going to release a new expansion that attempts to mimic Classic WoW, in order to lure Classic WoW players to retail. Just a conspiracy theory.

You mean a new retail expansion on the BfA side to replace BfA with a more classic-like experience over there? I'd be down. If it's good enough, I'd play it. And this could let classic just sit and be classic and remain classic.

sorry to chain post, I keep coming up with more after I post...

It took me about a year to reach level 60 the first time back in the original game. I didn't speed run. I don't think I'll speed run this time either. I got a relaxed playstyle and try to play with my buddies. Even with spending a lot of time in game every day, I'm going to be fishing and cooking and keeping my professions up to date as I go. It's not efficient, but I like doing it. I like the RPG part of this game as much as anything else. So I can see taking a year to hit 60 this time again, and from there probably another year to get started on raids and level alts and stuff. I think I could be fine with classic as it is for like 3-4 years without needing any new content. So I have no concerns for myself.

But this game needs other players in it playing for it to be the game that it is. It's not the same if I'm the only dude logged in. So I hope there's a lot of other players who play like I do who will be sticking around for years to come.

I don't know how many other people are going to play like that. There's a lot of speed runners on this forum, and I don't know how long they're going to run the same raids on separate characters. Maybe they need more new content sooner to stay interested. I also don't know how large of the classic population they're going to end up being.

So much of this is like worrying about how sore you might feel after the rave, or worrying about if the water is cold before you jump off the boat, just be present in the moment and enjoy it. Its fun to speculate about the future of the Classic project. If we're being real and stop being silly for a bit, TBC is the obvious choice. It has a larger market than the niche audience that would be interested in a modified version of Classic. Do I want 1.13... Classic+... TBC? Most of us have been on this very forum for months discussing a 15 year old game that isnt release yet, we're all in too deep. We're going to eat up whatever they go with and we are going to love it.

So my answer is that I would play any version of the game. Hell, I'd even load up a version with RedridgeGnoll's god-awful ideas for kicks. It would crash and burn in a few weeks, but everyone loves a bit of a spectacle (which is why we click on his posts).

In Gnoll's next post we will discuss how we are all aging and will inevitably die! The horror! The inevitable demise! WHAT TO DO!?! Tune in next time...

I'm just gonna keep rolling alts to 40 when I get bored with the endgame by that time, and enjoy fishing, cooking and explore. Farming pets!

I'm not worried. I'm happy I get to play the game. What happens two years from now is the least of my concern. Once I clear all the raid content, I imagine I'll find new ways to have fun in game, and if I don't, that's fine too. Plenty of things to do in life that aren't playing vidya games.

Can I just say that I wish people would stop calling it 1.13 for new "Classic" content?

1.13 is the patch number Blizzard has designated for Classic's launch. 1.14 should be the patch number that the community is using when they're talking about new "Classic" content.

<Classic+ advocacy snip>

Ah yes, the age old concern about not having enough content.

You do realise that 14 years have elapsed since 2005 and people are still playing vanilla wow on private servers and are not bored of it, right?

You keep referring to the ‘second year’ of Classic - we don’t know what the interval between each phase of Classic is going to be. How can you base your opinion on this?
1.10 A revamp on tier .5 gear that many players had already acquired. Weather effects added.

No - people had acquired some T0. I don’t think you fully appreciate how long T0.5 takes to acquire.

It is true though that AQ patch is somewhat a breaking point where many people consider leaving the game. I have seen it many times.

That doesn't bother me though. I wanna clear all the content and that's what I'm gonna do.

It is true though that AQ patch is somewhat a breaking point where many people consider leaving the game. I have seen it many times.

I think in the private server scene that is more related to players knowing that a F R E S H server is around the corner, and maybe this time they'll be ahead of the curve and not a tier behind the leaders and feeling underpowered! (Spoiler they never do). I don't see it being such a big issue in Classic, as people this time around know that it is here for the long haul and they should commit, there isn't a F R E S H lurking around the corner baiting players into thinking they'll be better next time around!

Selexin It is not only the Fresh servers, which actually might be a thing with Classic as well btw.

@Selexin It is not only the Fresh servers, which actually might be a thing with Classic as well btw.

We literally have no other example of the problem you raised but from private servers, and blizzard have made no announcement about fresh classic servers being a reality.

My goals for Classic are clearing all the content and min-maxing everything that I can with only one character, then play on the 19 and 29 bracket with full geared twinks.

However, I wouldn't mind having TBC content added to the world after Naxx release, like 1.14.0, like Hyjal or Karazhan, maybe add 1 or 2 spells to focus on the balance. I'd love to see how they can improve Vanilla the way they wanted to back in the day now that they have the knowledge and resources to do so.
But once again, you'll never know with ActiBlizzard.

When players reminisce on Classic WoW, they usually mention content from the first year of Classic. There seems to be a shortage of new content during the 2nd year of Classic. I am concerned that players who begin at launch, reach level 60, and progress through the early content will be disappointed post-Zul'Gurub. It seems like the content they did add was for hardcore raiders, which was such a small % of the population.

False. AQ20 was a thing. Casual raiders benefitted too.

1.8 Silithus quests and rep farming related to AQ. That was farming for one of the most boring raids in WoW.

So you thought AQ20 was one of the most boring raids? I'm sorry you felt that way. Some of us rather enjoyed it.

1.9 A severwide event that lasted a few hours. The idea behind it was good however.

It lasted a bit longer, but it should be more enjoyable as they said they will probably turn on layering for this event to help prevent server crashes.

1.10 A revamp on tier .5 gear that many players had already acquired. Weather effects added.

A chance for players to revisit some of the 5 mans and do timed challenges for armor upgrades? Sounds amazing.

1.11 A scourge invasion event and a quests in EPL. Yeah, it was farming for Naxxramas mostly.

What about all the new bosses that showed up in 5 man content? Also, some people really like new quests and storylines. Sure, they weren't all able to venture into Naxx themselves, but it was still better than nothing.

1.12 World PvP Objectives. Nobody really did these. They were a failure even Blizzard admitted to.

I did them! In fact, my guild and a few other alliance guilds coordinated with a few horde guilds to basically have a pvp night once or twice a week to do these. That being said, it would have been nice had we not had to cooridnate to make it happen, but that's the beautiful thing about vanilla, no? You make your own fun.

Then Naxxramas came out which released gear that was totally overpowered and ruined itemization in the game.

Just like how AQ40 gear ruined the game before that, and BWL gear the time before that. Got it.

I am convinced they are going to release a new expansion that attempts to mimic Classic WoW, in order to lure Classic WoW players to retail. Just a conspiracy theory.

You mean a new retail expansion on the BfA side to replace BfA with a more classic-like experience over there? I'd be down. If it's good enough, I'd play it. And this could let classic just sit and be classic and remain classic.

I have an entire library of Post-Classic ideas I have written. I would be happy to share them.

<Classic+ advocacy snip>

Ah yes, the age old concern about not having enough content.

You do realise that 14 years have elapsed since 2005 and people are still playing vanilla wow on private servers and are not bored of it, right?

You keep referring to the ‘second year’ of Classic - we don’t know what the interval between each phase of Classic is going to be. How can you base your opinion on this?
1.10 A revamp on tier .5 gear that many players had already acquired. Weather effects added.

No - people had acquired some T0. I don’t think you fully appreciate how long T0.5 takes to acquire.

Private servers tend to die once AQ is released. The reason why the private server scene stays healthy, is because there are constantly fresh servers for players to start over on. With Classic we will be stuck with AQ/Naxx for a year. I felt the second year of Vanilla was way more boring than the first. There was no way to progress your character outside of raiding.