WoW Classic: Lessons learned after 4+ months - this is what Blizzard did wrong

I am not a WoW Classic hater. On the contrary, I continue to log into the vanilla remake every day, enjoy the shared raids and dungeons with the guild, and look forward like a little kid to the opening of the pitchwing hoard. And many other players feel the same way. My server Razorfen, for example, is still very full after more than four months; everywhere people are leveling, farming, trading and looking for comrades for the next adventure. Yes, Blizzard has done a lot right with the Classic implementation so far

but I also believe that Classic could be even better. And that some players have already hung Classic on the nail, although they had or could have a lot of fun with the actual game. Again and again, Blizzard has made mistakes in recent months, which can have a noticeable negative impact on the gaming experience. In view of the future of Classic and possible upcoming projects like TBC or even WotLK servers, Blizzard should definitely learn from these mistakes and do it better.

Mistake 1: The whole server policy

The developers made the first mistake well before the release of WoW Classic: They announced that they wanted to provide general EU servers for Europe. Language servers like in Vanilla back then were only planned for the Russian region. The first Classic shitstorm swept through the official forum. Blizzard gave in and promised language servers for other countries, including Germany. For the start of the name reservation phase, the devs then named the planned realm offer: The list consisted of only twelve servers, only Everlook and Lucifron were marked with a DE. A far too low number, considering that Blizzard wanted to reach almost vanilla population sizes on the realms in the medium term.The

community raged again, the rush to the name reservation phase was enormous, as was the player rush at the actual launch

.

But even in the following period, the developers expanded the server offer only in homeopathic doses. It would take until the end of October (i.e. two months after release) before DE server number 10 and DE RP server number 1 were put online with Celebras. All this nicely shows that Blizzard wanted to implement the Classic project with as few servers as possible - very likely because they themselves did not believe in the long-term success of the vanilla remake.
Thanks to the cautious server policy and the late release of the BGs, the first weeks of Phase 2 of WoW Classic were hell on Azeroth for some players. Source: Blizzard However, we players have suffered from the far too cautious server policy in recent months. Especially the inhabitants of the heavily populated realms can tell you a thing or two about how great it is to farm, quest and do open PvP on a server with twice or even three times as many players as on the well-attended vanilla servers. The slow server provisioning and the many character transfer options and necessities have also torn apart entire guilds and communities. And yes, the disastrous open PvP conditions on many PvP servers can ultimately be traced back to the fact that Blizzard did not provide enough servers for Classic to actually reach vanilla population sizes.

Mistake #2: No reaction where reaction was/is needed

The full servers were the starting point for what went wrong with the introduction of the honor system in the open world of the various PvP servers. However, Blizzard made two mistakes at once that fueled the problem. Mistake #1: There was a free character transfer option for the heavily populated servers at the time - for both factions. It's clear that this was mainly used by supporters of the undercount faction. The faction relationship got totally out of hand due to the numerous fugitives. Meanwhile, on Lucifron, the ratio is said to be 90 (Horde) to 10 (Alliance) percent. This disproportion can never be fixed. Mistake #2: Blizzard should have reacted quickly to the blatant conditions: by stopping the character transfer option for the outnumbered faction as well as by immediately opening the first battlegrounds.

Surely some supporters of the #nochanges faction are shaking their heads now, but honestly: Classic is not vanilla. This isn't 2005/2006 anymore, players have a completely different mentality, server populations are much larger. If Blizzard continues to stick to the policy of just downplaying the content plan on the whole and letting everything run without outside action, Classic will lose even more players in the coming months - I'm sure of it. They have shown that they are quite flexible with the early release of Bleak Quarry and the first battlegrounds (albeit a bit too late).
Even with a strong core group, you'll probably only reach the honor points that can currently be earned in Alterac Valley in exceptional cases in Warsong Gulch in WoW Classic. Source: Blizzard There is already a current construction site. In view of the current PvP meta, Blizzard really has to either a) noticeably weaken the earnable honor in the Alterac Valley or b) put an older (and thus more elaborate) version of the Alterac Valley on the servers. In any case, it can't be that the small battlegrounds play such a minor role in the honor system. Some PvP enthusiasts (including various big streamers) have already said goodbye to ranking in particular or even Classic in general because of this, until Blizzard makes adjustments here.

Mistake #3: Patch 1.12 is not always the right answer

Blizzard itself admitted that WoW's Patch 1.12 state was the oldest the developers could restore. Accordingly, there was probably no other viable option for WoW Classic (other than to adjust the content to one's liking at great expense and risk to get close to pre-patch 1.12 levels). However, looking at possible servers for The Burning Crusade as well as Wrath of the Lich King, developers should take away that the latest patch level of an expansion should not necessarily be the one that every facet of the re-release is then based on

problem of Patch-1.12-Alteractal has already been brought up, but the combination of Patch 1.12 talents/class balancing/itemization and the first two raid challenges Molten Core and Onyxia's Hoard was also not exactly what many vanilla fans expected when they asked for vanilla servers. If a new TBC edition also turns out to be so simple at the beginning, the developers can prepare themselves for the next shitstorm right away.
Thanks to Patch 1.12 talent/class balancing/itemization, Molten Core was already on farm status for many guilds in WoW Classic from the first ID. Source: buffed

Mistake #4: You're not talking to us!

When Blizzard announced WoW Classic, there was talk of a token of love for the community. And indeed, the strongly community-focused Classic would have been a great opportunity for the developers to specifically seek the proximity of the community and to demonstrate that this is also a project of the heart for them. In the run-up to the launch, there was also a lively exchange: countless bugs were identified together, and so were features that were not bugs. At least we were in good spirits here and had the feeling that the developers want to implement Classic properly.

But since the launch? At BlizzCon 2019, Classic was not really a topic. In the forums, the blues make themselves scarce - especially after the departure of Toschayju. Many of the excitements of the last weeks and months were simply sat out without comment, umpteen reported bots continue to make their rounds day after day. It is clear that all this was and is not conducive to the mood in the forum. The developers of the legacy servers of Runescape show how it can be done much better. They regularly publish blogposts and streams for the community or get in touch with streamers in Twitch chat (via Tips Out). It would also be good for WoW Classic and World of Warcraft in general (buy now 14,99 € ) if the developers as well as CMs would show more presence and have a more active exchange.

How do you see the whole issue? How much fun are you currently having with WoW Classic? What bothers you, what mistakes have the developers made in your opinion? What should they do completely differently when implementing TBC or WotLK servers? Tell us in the comments!

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