In August Blizzard will deliver on a promise they made at Blizzcon. Live servers of WoW Classic will go online. So many players are eager to get back to basics; and I don’t understand WHY! The only answer I have is nostalgia, but I think even the nostalgic vanilla vets will be quickly reminded how awful questing is. The other group that may be drawn to Classic are all those that began playing WoW during one of the expansions. These people will be among the first to bail and they will come running back to the current game faster than Barry Allen. Ultimately, I think WoW Classic is a classic blunder; I give it 6 months and the numbers will dwindle.
Honestly, I think this is a money grab. I think Blizzard is trying to rekindle their old subscription numbers by luring back old players. They might succeed. Players who cancelled their subscription several years ago will come back to play classic, and perhaps check out the current state of the game. Perhaps some of those players will keep playing the current game.
Its a “classic” business ploy – see what I did there (•_•) ( •_•)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■)
Oh The Grind, Grind, Grind, Grinding
The first thing everyone will be reminded of quickly is the utter lack of quality-of-life. For example, looting quest items while in a group. For every mob that you kill, the loot belongs to one person, and one person only, including quest items. Therefore the total number of mobs you have to kill, assuming a guaranteed drop, is equal to the number of mobs needed times the number of players in your group. It could literally take an hour to get 10 items for everyone in your group.
Also, to make that grind feel extra special tedious, you will have to RUN …. EVERYWHERE, for 40 levels. You will not be able to use a mount until you reach level 40, and that is assuming you can afford it (which means grinding for cash on top of everything else). So grab a book, bind the auto-run key and … get a few chapters in while you quest in Desolace.
This is just the tip of the ice burg of the missing quality-of-life mechanics in Classic. Here are some additional low quality-of-life items:
- No group/raid finder (have to use the old LFG channel)
- REALLY SMALL BAGS
- HUGE talent trees
- You have to buy ALL of your spells again
- You will be broke, all the time
- Hunters will be destitute because they will have to stock ammo and pet food, again
- If you’re not in a raiding guild, then you’re not raiding
- No world quests which means no end game
- There are no Heroic dungeons/raids
- Limited Class Selection (no monks, death knights, demon hunters, alliance shaman, horde paladins)
- NO FLYING
- Raid sizes are 40 man only (no 10, 25 or Flex)
Lack of End Game Content (for Non-Raiders)
When you reach level 60 you will have nothing to do, especially if you are not raiding. You could traipse around the world and complete every quest you can possibly find. ◉_◉
You could use the LFG channel and grind through dungeons. ̿’̿’\̵͇̿̿\з=( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)=ε/̵͇̿̿/’̿̿ ̿ ̿ ̿ ̿ ̿
Or you could start an alt and do it all over again. (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
Ultimately, your level 60 character will simply collect dust because the only end game content WoW Classic offers is raiding. Oh, and if you thought grinding levels was grueling, raiding in Classic is a whole new level of grinding.
WoW Classic Raiding Will Be A Blunder
If you want to raid in classic you will be forced to join a raiding guild, unless you are lucky and find a frequent raiding group on the LFG channel. Raids in WoW Classic are 40 man only. Raiding will be a daily occurrence if you want to progress. I remember in vanilla there were raid teams meeting 4 hours every night to complete Molten Core. Remember, in Vanilla there are no lock out extensions. You must complete the raid before it resets.
You will need to grind, a lot, to have the consumables and gear. You will need sufficient bag space to hold extra gear because you will need to farm fire resistance armor for Molten Core. For example, if you’re a hunter you will need bag space for ammo, pet food, consumables and fire resistance gear.
Expansion Stop-Gap And Boredom
I think Blizzard is standing up these WoW Classic servers as a stop gap for current players. They don’t want to lose subs because of another lackluster expansion so they are giving players, who are caught up on current content, something to do. I think they are also doing this as a stop gap because the next expansion is probably over a year away and 8.3 will be the final patch for Battle for Azeroth.
Also, for the record, I am a “Vanilla Vet”. I created my first character, a Night Elf Hunter, in vanilla, but I leveled my paladin before they launched Burning Crusade. I am not feeling so nostalgic that I want to grind through it all over again. I did try the open beta and after 2 hours of grueling quests, I uninstalled the game. I might try it again, when I’m really bored, but it won’t be when it launches. In fact it will probably be several months after it launches before I subject myself to that kind of torture.
It Will Never Change
The most baffling thing I’ve heard is that some players are, allegedly, abandoning the current game to exclusively play WoW Classic. I understand if some people think that the current content (while a little weak in story) does feel like a daily grind. However, why would you trade one grind for an even larger grindfest?!? At least in the current game there is some choice and the choices change daily. WoW Classic will never change.
In one year, when we are on the next expansion, WoW Classic will still be exactly the same. When we are two expansions into the future, WoW Classic will still be exactly the same! They can’t change it, or update it, otherwise it can no longer be called “classic WoW”.
If all of that sounds exhilarating to you, then power to ya. I’m quite content with my spoiled quality-of-life World of Warcraft.
/end soapbox
If zombies attack the world, everyone will run and hide. Except for us gamers, of course. We’ve been waiting for this all our lives!
How about a gaming update! We are waiting for Rise of Azshara, the 8.2 patch for the Battle for Azeroth expansion. We know this patch is on the PTR, and Blizzard is teasing us with a plethora of details (some containing spoilers). While I am avoiding the spoilers, I do read about some of the new content including the new zones, encounters and, of course, the new mounts! However, this isn’t about those details. What is there to do while we wait??!
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
The concepts in this post will be fairly esoteric if you are not familiar with many of the game features in World of Warcraft. Also, this will likely be a bit of a soapbox as I’ve grown weary of the emphasis put on Mythic+ dungeons. Sorry Blizzard, I just don’t care for the Mythic+ system, in fact I think Mythic+ dungeons are obnoxious.
For example, my gear score on my raid toon is 360. If I want ilevel 360 gear to drop I have to get a keystone for a Mythic+7 or higher. Which means I have to do at least 2 or 3 dungeons before I even get the appropriate keystone, then I have to complete that dungeon. You also only have a week to do this (as all Mythic+ dungeons and keystones reset every Tuesday). Of course what gear you get is completely random so there is a chance, that after enduring all of that, you could get a piece that you can’t even use. As your gear score increases, so do the number of Mythic+ dungeons you have to complete within a week.
We are about six weeks into the eighth World of Warcraft expansion. The Battle for Azeroth has begun; the Horde and Alliance are engaged in fierce warfare to control the Azerite. The first raid, Uldir, is available and Blizzard has already announced the first content patch, 
As much as I do like that Queen Azshara is mentioned a lot, I’m still not as into the story as I was in Legion. Granted, I don’t think it’s as weak as the story for Warlords of Draenor but the whole “Horde vs Alliance” feels a bit cliche. Perhaps the reason I’m not as into the story is that I actually like Sylvanas and the fact that she’s lost her mind is fantastic. Unfortunately, 98% of the community disagrees and they all hope she dies (btw, I even play Alliance). I’m sure I will be labeled a traitor when I say, I really hope we don’t kill her; in fact I think she’s under the influence of Queen Azshara. While I don’t think she makes a good war chief, I would rather over throw her than kill her (thus killing another Horde leader).
The two new world mechanics in Battle for Azeroth are Island Expeditions and War Fronts. These are essentially the evolution of scenarios. Island Expeditions is a race to farm Azerite; that’s it. They developed an algorithm so each time you enter an Island Expedition it’s different, however its only different in terms of terrain and mobs. The objective is still ALWAYS the same. Island Expeditions feel so lackluster that I’ve been renaming them to “Island Adventures”. There is good news. I believe Blizzard has plans to make some changes so they are not so terribly bland.