I think you are dreaming in regards to class/spec balance. If they do anything of this nature, i predict it would only be part of post naxx 40 man level 60 content...My dream; I don't predict this happening, and in that same vein I don't predict any massive game play changes like class/spec balancing.

If they do plan on making any changes at all, It would probably be post-naxx. Class balancing and changes would make a LOT of people mad. I know it might be for the better but the game was balanced that way for a reason and any buffs to "weak" classes could incredibly break them beyond recognition. Now, If there are abusable bugs/glitches those are definitely getting fixed and it genuinely wouldn't surprise me if there was a broken spawn somewhere that someone kept secret until a GM found out. Little things like that.

I don't think we will have to worry about big changes.

Do you think there is a possibility of them deciding to add a Phase 7 some time after Naxx, in which they add content originally intended for Vanilla, but that ended up being introduced in TBC because of time constraints? Namely Kharazan.

Definitely not, and they will likely stick with no-changes. The reason for that is simple: the people who signed up to play this game can always fuck off back to private servers if they do decide to change it, and those servers will probably be a bit better after Blizzard releases Classic and we can data mine some real values.

So because they don't want us to play on private servers, and we don't want to play on private servers, they're probably not going to do it. The only thing they might realistically add would be TBC.

The real question is, how far are they willing to take changes?

I'm hoping not too far. Considering private servers are so popular I'd be shocked if they did make any real changes to the game. The playerbase could leave anytime to go back to private servers and get exactly what they want.

Do you think there is a possibility of them deciding to add a Phase 7 some time after Naxx, in which they add content originally intended for Vanilla, but that ended up being introduced in TBC because of time constraints? Namely Kharazan.

I think that if the playerbase will be large enough they might. I'd love to see classic Hyjal prior to cataclysm. Maybe as a big WPvP zone or something. One may dream right?

I think a lot of the main changes that we will see is them integrating the Battle.net client into the game. I'm curious to see how the chat and voice channels get enforced. Especially if the player on the opposite faction happens to be on your friends list, or on a different server. I think it gets overlooked but the Battle.net integration could cause all sorts of problems. I mainly hope they enforce some sort of chat blocking for direct contact with enemies of the opposite faction on your own server. Otherwise it's going to get REAL toxic REAL quick lol.

I think a lot of the main changes that we will see is them integrating the Battle.net client into the game. I'm curious to see how the chat and voice channels get enforced. Especially if the player on the opposite faction happens to be on your friends list, or on a different server. I think it gets overlooked but the Battle.net integration could cause all sorts of problems. I mainly hope they enforce some sort of chat blocking for direct contact with enemies of the opposite faction on your own server. Otherwise it's going to get REAL toxic REAL quick lol.

I agree that it gets overlooked and is not mentioned often, though I am confident they have a plan in place

I could see some vanilla-like changes, such as nerfing Dire Maul gold farming. There's precedent: Blizzard always nerfed lucrative solo instance farming methods during vanilla. Dire Maul gold farming just didn't happen often enough during the vanilla era to get the nerf bat. To leave it alone for the sake of "no changes" would be intentionally ignoring a glaring problem, and arguably "no changes" here would be a change from vanilla. Even private servers realized it was a problem and nerfed them, and players still farm the instance for gold anyway.

People might argue that real vanilla Dire Maul won't be as lucrative than on private servers due to one reason or another. Perhaps... but are we willing to take that risk, and do nothing if the gold starts raining? I'd rather the vanilla economy stay healthy.

Do you think there is a possibility of them deciding to add a Phase 7 some time after Naxx, in which they add content originally intended for Vanilla, but that ended up being introduced in TBC because of time constraints? Namely Kharazan.

I would definitely be open to this. I remember all the private servers back then using original Hyjal for funserver leveling.
They may end up just moving to BC content though...which I hope they don't.

#unrelated to ALL of the above posts.
Truly a personal thought.

I think Blizzard will give us the 80% solution to Vanilla. They will use it for a test bed for some features. (I was on Mal'Ganis when Ion was just a shaman guild leader we competed with)

Hes taking the "all subs are world contenders" stance a bit hard in release and it shows.

However, with that being said. . (Yes I NEGOTIATED WITH YOU ION) for an Azurgoes kill... world first kills meant something. The sheer competition for a world kill set your guild on the path for recognition... we have lost sight of that fact. Competition is a wonderful thing. It leads humans to great heights. (How ever also extreme lows.)

This mentality that everyone is a world first raider has ruined the game we all fell in love with. There is a hierarchy. That hierarchy is based off of time and dedication. (And it bleeds into pvp) the main hierarchy is a lie. 8 hours a week will not net you fucking world first. But it should net you a raid slot.

Let's play along line nothings wrong, baby I love you, but the moon is blue...

I think you are dreaming in regards to class/spec balance. If they do anything of this nature, i predict it would only be part of post naxx 40 man level 60 content...My dream; I don't predict this happening, and in that same vein I don't predict any massive game play changes like class/spec balancing.

Pretty much this. I anticpate some quality of life stuff like more mailboxes, guild banks, reduced respec costs, and maybe some reduced crafting times, like making Mooncloth takes an entire minute and a lot of higher level crafting is like 20+ seconds per items. Also something I'm most sure about is that they'll add in an extra layer to the talent system where you can confirm changes before the talents are locked in to avoid misclicks, etc. That just seems like a change that is bulletproof from purist complaints.

I think the only way they'd dare tinker with class balance/talents/etc. is if there's post Naxx, vanilla style content. At that point, they probably have enough elbow room for some slight tinkering, because the content of original vanilla ended, thus the necessity to maintain that same class balance, it could be argued, is also ended. I'm not confident that is what happens. And if we're just going to have Burning Crusade right after Naxx, I expect zero changes to classes.

You guys ready for world boss Hogger post Naxx? lol

Lets convert this topic to, what content would you like to see Post Naxx? Any cool ideas?

You guys ready for world boss Hogger post Naxx? lol

Lets convert this topic to, what content would you like to see Post Naxx? Any cool ideas?

I think there's a lot there. Grim Batol, Tol Barad, Uldum, and Karazhan were all originally considered for raids in vanilla. The version of Karazhan that is used in TBC is actually the 3rd version of Kara ever made. The other 2 were scrapped and originally intended for vanilla. Grim Batol is an easy one for sure. Elite red dragons sat outside, lore importance from WC2 and the novels. Uldum has the gate sat in south Tanaris, and was originally going to be an outdoor raid. Tol Barad I think didn't have any plans to be PvP hub and was more intended as a potential raid place. There's also always the original conception of the Tomb of Sargeras. There's also the Azshara Crater battleground that they scrapped. I believe most of their ideas they had for it were similar to Eye of the Storm and I think they wanted to do the whole Mine Cart gimmick in that one BG but couldn't get the coding to work back then.

A lot of this is an obvious retconn of the trajectory the game goes later. The question is how recent to Vanilla do they want to go? Because if they really wanted to, they could open the Dark Portal to the early version of Hellfire Peninsula and Hellfire Citadel could be a raid. Additionally, Outlands was where we were supposed to find Deathwing. It gets messy when you have to worry about Illidan/Kael'thas, etc. To the point where pretty much most of this paragraph I do not endorse.

What I would love to see would be at least one more, if not two more 20 man raids. I think it'd be cool if there was an entire progression path just for a 20 man raiding guild. Sure, the 40 man guilds would love to dabble in those as well for supplemental gear, but additional ways to play is always good. Maybe by the time you were in the end 20 man raid, the gear was maybe on a par with the better stuff in BWL. 40 mans would still be the path to the strongest gear, but you would want to make sure that the 20 man gear wouldn't make the 40 mans too easy with the gear they drop, so you'd want them to at least advance the second half of AQ40 and Naxx and beyond only using 40 man gear.

I don't think they will change anything that isn't needed. For example, vanilla's UI was pretty trash and the settings and etc. needs a rework, they are implementing the new one. The old one didn't add anything of value to the game and no one wants a shitty ass UI in 2019, so they'll change it. If it doesn't affect the sllightest bit to the play experience they might change it for QoL's sake but if it affects playing (i.e. going to the trainer to learn your spell) they won't change it, even if it's a QoL change in theory.

Personally, I think once enough of the newer-to-vanilla complain about certain class/spec balance, I think they will cave and attempt a class balance patch.

god i hope not. considering blizzard has said that if they were to balance classes in classic wow we would get retail design and balance? heck no.

I think if they add something it will be events.

I really do not recall exactly how many of the events like Nobel Garden where in it but I think that is possibly they could add without passing people off.

NO CONTENT CHANGES! No game data changes! Back-end changes are fine, account-level changes (collection linking) are fine, cosmetic and UI improvements (colorblind support, "clean up bags" button, low-level quest tracking, etc.) are fine, but I draw the line at stuff that affects the game world.