Monday, May 27, 2019

Classic Thoughts From The Weekend

More observations and thoughts on WoW Classic, from the Beta:
  • I am really unsure how successful Classic will be. Sometimes I think it will do well, but then I see three groups going "LF Tank for DM" in Westfall chat, and I become more sceptical.
  • One group even offered to pay the tank 15 silver. It's been years since I've seen that. Also, it is amusing how 15 silver is a valuable reward in Classic.
  • I made a whole bunch of alts and tried the various classes up to level 7 or so. Paladin is the most boring, all the other classes are reasonable.
  • Rogue is the one class which feels the most similar to modern classes, and you can see how many classes have become more like the Rogue over time.
  • I think the best way to play Classic is to be super-aggressive about grouping. Someone is in the same area as you doing the same quest? Send them an invite, do the quest, and then say good bye.
  • This is especially important for paladins. Add a single group member and game-play smooths out and efficiency spikes.
  • In some ways, I think Classic levelling is a better game than Live when in a group, but a significantly worse game when solo. When you're in a group in Classic, even at very low levels, there is a noticeable feeling of the group being stronger than the sum of its parts.
  • The question then becomes how easy is it to get a group while levelling.

9 comments:

  1. I think you're meant to play with friends and/or a guild and if you do it is far, far easier to get groups (and tanks) as needed. Being a beta I suspect people are more hesitant to create or join guilds and their friends are less likely to be in the beta so perhaps that leads the beta to not really look the way classic will when it is live.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know. I remember getting and making groups as "difficult" way back when. But I'm mostly a solo player, and I don't go out of my to make a network of players I can tap for groups.

      Delete
  2. I don't think you see the same thing in Classic as I do. And considering that you still play BfA you probably expect something different from WoW then I do.

    BfA and Classic are completely different games. The difference between Vanilla and BfA is as big as the difference between Warcraft 3 and Vanilla.

    > I am really unsure how successful Classic will be. Sometimes I think it will do well, but then I see three groups going "LF Tank for DM" in Westfall chat, and I become more sceptical.

    If you try to play Classic as a game I don't think you'll enjoy it. Classic is not about efficiency. It's a world to play in, not a game to play.

    Will it be a lot more successful then people expect it? It sure will.

    Will it be successful between current BfA players? I don't think so. If you like the current WoW, why should you play something vastly different?

    > Rogue is the one class which feels the most similar to modern classes, and you can see how many classes have become more like the Rogue over time.

    There are people who don't like that. The way my warlock played in Vanilla was a huge part why I loved it. I don't want my classes to play like a rogue. I don't need a rotation. I don't need builder and spender. I want a multitude of spells to react to unexpected situations.

    > I think the best way to play Classic is to be super-aggressive about grouping. Someone is in the same area as you doing the same quest? Send them an invite, do the quest, and then say good bye.

    Not at all, no. The best way is to group up, and play together for a few hours, if you want. Classic is not about efficiency. BfA is the better game if you want to efficiently play. Classic is for spending time in a magic world, not to get tasks done.

    > The question then becomes how easy is it to get a group while levelling.

    Don't try to find a group for leveling. Treat leveling as a way to find a group...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Eh, so far, no one else I've grouped with is interested in grouping for many quests. The group always breaks up when we're done with an area.

      I did get invited to a guild from one of the group members, so there's that.

      Delete
  3. Watching this, I am ultra curious how the mod community will factor into Classic success. Pure Vanilla is a heck of a throwback from mod-central BfA.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a feeling the mod community is going to push the game closer to BfA. The people who miss some "convenience" from BfA will make a mod to replicate that convenience. Then everyone will feel forced to use it because it is so efficient.

      In some ways, it might actually be better for Classic to disable mods. Except that specific mods were an important part of the Classic experience. (Decursive!)

      Delete
    2. Vanilla had lots of mods. I might even have been running some in beta though I can't quite remember now. I definitely ran a huge number of mods very early in release though it is very hard to figure out dates for when mods first appeared. 15 years is a long time in internet search results!

      Mods weren't as ubiquitous back then and I suppose lots of people think of unmodded WoW as being a classic experience but the true classic experience includes large numbers of mods for those in the know. I know I'd find the game needlessly aggravating with the default UI.

      Delete
    3. Keep in mind that the API will not be the same as shipped with WoW anno 1.12.1. Blizzard specifically said they want to prevent things like automation of things that would trivialize the game, and also prevent people from building an LFG-tool. Undoubtedly some things will be made easier due to mods, but we'll see.

      Delete
    4. Well, we'll see. Many of the modern conveniences in WoW (for example, quest markers, etc) started out as mods, and were later incorporated into the standard UI. That's why I think that modern mod-makers will be able to replicate them.

      Delete