There's one thing I keep having an issue with when it comes to Classic, which is the lack of any sort of permanence. The only option where I can keep my characters is on Classic Era realms and I have a ton of alts on there and still make new ones to play regularly. I end up not playing any of the other options because it'll just go to TBC, then Wrath, then Cata, etc.

Blizz hasn't made Era realms for TBC or WotLK in large part I think because the population on Era realms isn't as high as they want it to be but I think there's a good middle ground that would help with realm population but also for a lot of players who want permanence and agency in what they play without the constant progression and also make Blizz some money as well.

• Era realms for Classic, TBC, & WotLK
• Add the paid Character Cloning service
• Players can clone any character from a previous expansion to a later one
  • Classic characters can be copied to TBC or WotLK
  • TBC characters can be copied to WotLK

This would allow players to make a character on Classic, level to 60, raid or do as much as they want. Then do a character copy to TBC so you can still play your toon on Classic but now you can also play the toon on TBC, level to 70, do some runs, etc. So people could do a full character progression run from Classic through Wrath or any other way they want to progress their character without losing it as it is on the previous expansion.

I was surprised they didn't do TBC or Wrath Era realms the first time around. I'm sure they're concerned about fragmenting the population even further, but those versions both have very active private server populations, which is players who could be subscribed but aren't.

I get no splitting the player base, but with how Cata and MoP change the game, you'd think they leave at least one dedicated TBC/Wrath server per region.

Char Cloning is probably the best way to go about it, yeah. Money for Blizzard for the service, and the ability to choose your expansion.

I'm more and more liking the idea of having a permanent home for my characters where I can come and go and not feel like I'm constantly falling behind the latest phase or expansion. Especially with how they've been speed-running the phases lately.

I'm not sure how they can manage that in a linear progression MMO. For something like Albion Online, you can have a lasting impact on the zones, and even basic gear can let you outplay players with expensive stuff. But in WoW it's all about the treadmill.

Housing, I guess, is a step in that direction. But it's still instanced and not quite that. Maybe if you could see all your characters walk around and do stuff in there that could be fun?