After all these years of wow-killers, the thing that is most likely to kill wow is - itself.

Hopefully it happens

I'm quite confident Classic WoW will out shine retail for at least the next 2 years.

I doubt that will happen but it has been very encouraging how much support WoW Classic has been getting from the community. I was worried it would be too niche but Classic seems to still be going pretty strong on Twitch.

I still remember when people were convinced Conan and Aion were going to kill WoW. Gave me a good laugh at the time having come from a background playing DAOC, Shadowbane, Risk your life, and about 5 or 6 other mmos. The difference in the quality of net code and polish from the other mmos I had played vs WoW was insane. And to this day MMOs still pale in comparison for those reasons, among many others.

DoomC wrote: ↑

5 years ago

I still remember when people were convinced Conan and Aion were going to kill WoW. Gave me a good laugh at the time.

Yeah, I remember that, especially with Conan.

Swtor was the best chance of killing wow so much they could have done but the sold out , What a waste that was

Anyone care to speculate on what Classic making a splash would really do?

I'd guess even if initial turnout is tremendous developers will wait a few months to see if it's just a fad. Then three months later if player counts are still high and J. Allen Brack finally eats his words the production pipeline can finally begin to form. The current classic team isn't equipped for new content, nor is there much agreement on what new content would look like or if it should even be made. But we can trust Activision to milk a cow if they think they've found one.

Even in the most optimistic case Blizzard would not roll out new content in interference with the scheduled phases for which I've heard estimates of a 1.5 year span. More realistic might be 3 years for an expansion, or 5 years for a completely new game from Blizzard. A bandwagoning competitor might show up a bit quicker.

I'm excited for Classic but Vanilla 2.0 is what I really wanted. 2024 is a long time from now.

Lendryn wrote: ↑

5 years ago

Anyone care to speculate on what Classic making a splash would really do?

I think if Classic succeeds and outshines "retail WoW"; we will see a resurgence in the MMO market. I sincerely think that if Classic proves to be a shaker in the industry, we will see a comeback of MMOs that promise a more cohesive social experience. One that encourages teamwork and interaction with people.

There's a huge market of players who played Everquest, Asheron's Call, Ultima Online and other MMOs that encouraged social interaction that have had no where to go for several years.

WoW Classic might change that.

Blizzard isn’t going to want Classic to compete with Retail. Classic is such a win win win for Blizzard that I’m surprised they didn't release it sooner.

• It doesn’t affect Retail babies that are already subscribed.

• It’s a show of good faith to players who hate Retail but are still subscribed.

• It’s bringing back players who were fed up with WoW who are not playing and not subscribed.

• It’s bringing back players from private servers who are playing but not subscribed.

Raven wrote: ↑

5 years ago

After all these years of wow-killers, the thing that is most likely to kill wow is - itself.

Hopefully it happens

Is this what they call a “self fulfilling prophecy”?

Brandon wrote: ↑

5 years ago

Blizzard isn’t going to want Classic to compete with Retail. Classic is such a win win win for Blizzard that I’m surprised they didn't release it sooner.

• It doesn’t affect Retail babies that are already subscribed.

• It’s a show of good faith to players who hate Retail but are still subscribed.

• It’s bringing back players who were fed up with WoW who are not playing and not subscribed.

• It’s bringing back players from private servers who are playing but not subscribed.

Don’t forget people who might never got into wow, but will now thanks to the classic hype

ya know, this makes me really curious. im sure blizz will never make these numbers public, but BOY oh boy, would i love to see how many people are playing classic VS how many are on retail. like, could classic actually outpace retail? would it outpace something like FF XIV?

Classic will never over take retail in terms of numbers. Achievements and progress is what keeps the mass majority of people interested in any game. See the mobile market, this game will have great numbers. But not to the levels of what retail currently has. But classic will be good news for the mmo market as a whole. Hell Everquest right now is only staying alive because of the paid progression servers.

Threkuul wrote: ↑

5 years ago

ya know, this makes me really curious. im sure blizz will never make these numbers public, but BOY oh boy, would i love to see how many people are playing classic VS how many are on retail. like, could classic actually outpace retail? would it outpace something like FF XIV?

I think we will be able to see player base numbers, like how you can see the current player difference between OSRS and RS3.

I think it's definitely going to have an affect on retail wow. I guarantee it will.

I'm not sure how long Classic WoW has many players. Of course the game is totally hyped right now, but I would say that more than 50% of the players don't know what they're getting into. If not much more.
And in the end only those who love Classic WoW stay, the young players of today need fast paced shit.

aeh wrote: ↑

5 years ago

I'm not sure how long Classic WoW has many players. Of course the game is totally hyped right now, but I would say that more than 50% of the players don't know what they're getting into. If not much more.
And in the end only those who love Classic WoW stay, the young players of today need fast paced shit.

I disagree. The amount of private servers and their populations clearly show a market for Classic. I do think the numbers will fall after the initial first few months but that is normal for a lot of MMOs.

aeh wrote: ↑

5 years ago

And in the end only those who love Classic WoW stay, the young players of today need fast paced shit.

It’s funny. I look at my brother who is 13 years old and a Fortnite fiend. And I think there is no way he could ever enjoy classic.

But in 2004 when I was 11 and playing games like Halo, Unreal Tournament, Tony Hawk, this little nose-picker found a way to fall in love with WoW and stuck with it.

There is definitely a massive amount of kids today that probably won’t get into Classic WoW. But with a lot of returning players (like myself, stopped playing before Cata) their siblings, sons, younger family members I think will get into it and stick with it.

Its hard for a new player to get into a game seven expansions deep. Like how it would be hard to convince anyone to watch Game of Thrones when it’s seven seasons in.

I think Classic keeps it simple and is a lot more inviting for new players, even younger ones that have never touched anything like an MMO.

Brandon wrote: ↑

5 years ago

Its hard for a new player to get into a game seven expansions deep. Like how it would be hard to convince anyone to watch Game of Thrones when it’s seven seasons in.

I think Classic keeps it simple and is a lot more inviting for new players, even younger ones that have never touched anything like an MMO.

Never seen it discussed this way but I think you're onto something really important here - to echo your point, I know that Mad Men is a good TV show, and I know that GoT is great too. But seven seasons in? To me I find just the huge quantity of it all repellant - that feeling of being so far behind that it's not worth beginning.

Classic WoW is taking it back to one great game which will be far more desirable for people new to the IP or people who wanted to play but felt that they were too late. I'm sure it will reach surprising demographics and not just old fogies

Aethowyn wrote: ↑

5 years ago

aeh wrote: ↑

5 years ago

I'm not sure how long Classic WoW has many players. Of course the game is totally hyped right now, but I would say that more than 50% of the players don't know what they're getting into. If not much more.
And in the end only those who love Classic WoW stay, the young players of today need fast paced shit.

I disagree. The amount of private servers and their populations clearly show a market for Classic. I do think the numbers will fall after the initial first few months but that is normal for a lot of MMOs.

Ye and what is the different between Classic Retail and Private Servers?
You got it Mate, on private Servers playing mostly Classic Lovers, on Retail we will have like 60% or more what we call "classic tourists" and ye, I dont think that 100% of the tourists will stay ;)

Classic is as close to the Oasis as it gets. It only gets boring for the unimaginative. Private servers were built by the community to replicate Vanilla servers which is similar to how Vanilla servers were molded by the communities that inhabited them.
Classic will only die when folks stop coming up with their own things to do, something that retail forces on current players. I feel more like a slave in retail versus feeling free to do as I please whenever I please in classic. Classic players don't need blizzard to host in-game mega events because the players do that all on their own. Just look at this past weekend's PvP tournament. I could go on for a dozen more reasons why Classic will last but all of them have been beaten into the ground across forums and the only real way to know what it's like if you haven't been in the game is to play.

Aethowyn wrote: ↑

5 years ago

I disagree. The amount of private servers and their populations clearly show a market for Classic. I do think the numbers will fall after the initial first few months but that is normal for a lot of MMOs.

To play devil's advocate here, private servers don't require a monthly subscription, and there are probably plenty of people playing the pservers simply because it's free. It's probably more than offset by the number of people who want to play Classic but don't want to go through the kinda-shady process of finding/getting on a pserver.

This knowledge that it won't be a 1:1 transfer of the pserver community is what gives me hope that Classic won't turn into the troll playground that pservers can be.

teebling wrote: ↑

5 years ago

Never seen it discussed this way but I think you're onto something really important here - to echo your point, I know that Mad Men is a good TV show, and I know that GoT is great too. But seven seasons in? To me I find just the huge quantity of it all repellant - that feeling of being so far behind that it's not worth beginning.

I stopped playing before Cata and I have real life friends who play retail still to this day. Buying a max level character couldn’t even bring me close to catching up. I would feel so lost being multiple expansions late to the party. That’s why I don’t play with them, its a huge turn off.

teebling wrote: ↑

5 years ago

Classic WoW is taking it back to one great game which will be far more desirable for people new to the IP or people who wanted to play but felt that they were too late. I'm sure it will reach surprising demographics and not just old fogies

Love this. I think a lot of people are underestimating how much of a younger audience is going to be playing this game.

I could be wrong. But if I was Blizzard I would be directly targeting them (probably like they already have with a smaller closed beta of mostly streams towards the top of the Twitch charts).

Anyone who grew up with this game (like myself) or even played in adulthood. They already have us. They don’t need to market towards us, we know what this is.

I can’t wait to see what the numbers are looking like when Classic drops.

aeh wrote: ↑

5 years ago

Ye and what is the different between Classic Retail and Private Servers?
You got it Mate, on private Servers playing mostly Classic Lovers

Only Classic lovers will go as far as to find a private server, make an account, download a client, change a realmlist.

You’re right.

But towards the top of the Twitch charts for the Classic Beta. I see it as theres potentially thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe a million kids out there that are sick of the games they have been playing and has checked a Classic WoW stream during the beta.

I think theres a good chance Blizzard has a lot of interest from people that have never tasted Vanilla.

Maybe I’m being optimistic!

Ye, but what happen with overhyped games? Take a look @ Apex Legends or other Games....we will have a good player base, but many people also quit mid30 :D.