Kirun
Buzzfeed Editor
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Welcome to Holly Longdong being in charge. She did the same thing when she was in charge of EQ TLPs. DBG didn't start really mixing things up until after she left.
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World of Warcraft: Current Year
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TJT
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Okay I watched a few of those speculation videos now.
So fundamentally, for me, if the game is demanding a box price for "Classic+" it has to be more than a more polished version of Season of Discovery. Those WoW nerds are absolutely right that there is a demand for the progression gameplay loop visible in games like Palword and Valheim. Both were commercially very successful and lack the massively multiplayer aspect that has fallen out of game design for a long while now. Ignore the sandbox elements of those games. This is compounded by the success of Turtle WoW and Ascension which drew profitable player bases.
Now, all of that said they really can't just slap a new coat of paint on this and do something lazy like rebalance some talent trees. It has to break the Classic meta. As in the now hyperoptimized Classic gameplay we all know and love is just no longer a thing. No aggressive warrior stacking and so on. If they do not do that and still demand you pay a box price for the privilege then fuck them. If they just slap on a few extra zones, factions, etc and call it good fuck them.
Hoping for the best here but it might be a tall order for them to accomplish that. A true Classic+ would want to attract new players and not just the Classic Andys.
The basic bones for WOW are so good even now that you can absolutely build upon it.
So fundamentally, for me, if the game is demanding a box price for "Classic+" it has to be more than a more polished version of Season of Discovery. Those WoW nerds are absolutely right that there is a demand for the progression gameplay loop visible in games like Palword and Valheim. Both were commercially very successful and lack the massively multiplayer aspect that has fallen out of game design for a long while now. Ignore the sandbox elements of those games. This is compounded by the success of Turtle WoW and Ascension which drew profitable player bases.
Now, all of that said they really can't just slap a new coat of paint on this and do something lazy like rebalance some talent trees. It has to break the Classic meta. As in the now hyperoptimized Classic gameplay we all know and love is just no longer a thing. No aggressive warrior stacking and so on. If they do not do that and still demand you pay a box price for the privilege then fuck them. If they just slap on a few extra zones, factions, etc and call it good fuck them.
Hoping for the best here but it might be a tall order for them to accomplish that. A true Classic+ would want to attract new players and not just the Classic Andys.
The basic bones for WOW are so good even now that you can absolutely build upon it.
TJT
Mr. Poopybutthole
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All I mean is that with so many games to play out there I'd love for a reason to return to some chill WoW play. But if they want me to pay a box price I expect something a little more substantial than what we have seen from private servers and Season of Discovery.
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Why would they put in the effort when the point is to sell you something and then having you fuck off, because you actually playing the game is costing them server and bandwidth costs.
I have this theory that this is the reason why Blizzard is pushing for less and less content each expansion, and them going to the influencer whores to paint it all as "the game is respecting your time."
Here's an interesting tidbit: Microsoft wanted its games division studios to have a 30% profit margin (which even Nintendo couldn't do when the Switch in their prime basically printed money for them). And Blizzard is rumoured to now be the most profitable game studio under Microsoft.
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Kaines
Potato Supreme
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Blizzcon full schedule released.
www.wowhead.com
BlizzCon 2026 Schedule, Map, and In-Game Rewards Revealed
Blizzard has revealed the BlizzCon 2026 event schedule and the rewards that you can earn in-game for watching the streams!
www.wowhead.com
Wombat
Blackwing Lair Raider
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Seems too early for Last Titan material. While Blizzcon has occurred before the final patch launched - I'm virtually positive Shadowlands was announced before the N'Zoth raid for Battle For Azeroth was actually released - that we haven't even heard about 12.1.5 or 12.1.7 material, much less 12.2, makes me think the big push will be Alt-Classic (or whatever its called).
It'll be interesting, between Last Titan and beyond, and Alt-Classic, which Blizzard markets as 'The Usual', and which as 'The Radical Departure'. There's already a lot of chatter that if The Last Titan wraps up the Titan storyline, 14.0 and beyond would be a radical reinvention of what the WoW world is - but isn't that the ad campaign for Alt-Classic?
It'll be interesting, between Last Titan and beyond, and Alt-Classic, which Blizzard markets as 'The Usual', and which as 'The Radical Departure'. There's already a lot of chatter that if The Last Titan wraps up the Titan storyline, 14.0 and beyond would be a radical reinvention of what the WoW world is - but isn't that the ad campaign for Alt-Classic?
jayrebb
Ssraeszha Raider
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That puts Classic+ relaunch well over 2 years away. Current leaks say there is intention for an Alt-Classic beta (based on Blizzard network surveillance, they split the Camelot build off to a vendor server which indicates public testing. They also added a .1 to an internal Camelot build, so work has begun on first content patch) but that's only maybe 6 months traditionally, they could maybe stretch it for a full year.
The timeline doesn't match up unless the intent is Alt-Classic is 3 years out.
TJT
Mr. Poopybutthole
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If you base it on what they were playtesting in China it might become more clear. As retail has long focused on the endgame the leveling and non-raid progression has become vestigial. So what if you just cut all of that out and let the endgame progression be the game? Seems that got a strong reception and China and splitting out your IP to better cater to your various audiences might genuinely be a good call.
At the same time a game that captures the massively multiplayer aspect of gaming is being slowly eroded by Discord and this long parade of highly successful 2-8 player coop games. There is room for both and the IP can certainly support, that is if Blizz can wise up and capitalize on it.
At the same time a game that captures the massively multiplayer aspect of gaming is being slowly eroded by Discord and this long parade of highly successful 2-8 player coop games. There is room for both and the IP can certainly support, that is if Blizz can wise up and capitalize on it.
Kaines
Potato Supreme
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Thinking Blizzard is going to announce Classic+ at Blizzcon and then wait for a year plus to release it is just insane thinking. Classic+ will release in 2026. Last Titan will release Spring/Summer of 2027. And Anniversary WotLK will likely be Summer / Fall 2027.
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Wombat
Blackwing Lair Raider
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Err, to clarify, I don't think 14.0 is Alt-Classic - 14.0 will be the state of the world however Last Titan wraps up, whereas Alt-Classic will be out looong before then, possibly even before The Last Titan launches.
My question is, if Blizz has two ongoing branches of the WoW timeline, which of the two (release or Alt-Classic) are they considering the 'continuation' vs the radical departure?
My question is, if Blizz has two ongoing branches of the WoW timeline, which of the two (release or Alt-Classic) are they considering the 'continuation' vs the radical departure?
Kaines
Potato Supreme
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The "continuation" will be whatever happens after Last Titan. It will continue the world as we know it today. The "radical departure" will come from Classic+ where the Dark Portal never opens. THAT would invalidate every single expansion WoW ever put out and would be the very definition of a radical departure of the current story.
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TJT
Mr. Poopybutthole
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I think it would genuinely be for the best of they trim down WoW 14+ into a never-ending parade of raid encounters and mythic+ stuff. There was an indie game that came out recently that was essentially Mythic Plus Keys if they were a standalone game. It was quite successful.
TJT
Mr. Poopybutthole
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This would also be dope as fuck and I would be onboard so hard.
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Holy fuck they remembered Heroes of the Storm exists?Blizzcon full schedule released.
BlizzCon 2026 Schedule, Map, and In-Game Rewards Revealed
Blizzard has revealed the BlizzCon 2026 event schedule and the rewards that you can earn in-game for watching the streams!
I'm looking forward to anything hopefully classic+ it's like a morbid curiosity though.
It's Blizzard, classic+ is something no one can agree with "what it is" but there are tons that can agree what it isn't.
Classic+ is being made by current Blizzard these are the same individuals that in DragonFlight every zone had something LGBT+ related.
Like not even fucking memeing THEY TURNED THE FREAKING FROGS GAY! yes this actually fucking happened.
Every male character in Retail is either fucking dead or has been made irrelevant. Khadgar has a gay pink wheelchair.
Every female character is a Mary Sue with no flaws and no accountability for their actions Sylvanas legit just steps out of the maw which no one except the Mawwalker can do... just portals out shoots Xalatath's little shoulder bubble and the peaces out.
Classic+ could have good class design, if the devs don't have their heads up their ass completely they'll look at Turtle and Ascension and see things that worked and do them instead of listen to the howling faggots.
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