Alternative suggestions for meeting with Blizz

[Sethik]

Here are some alternative friendly suggestions for consideration when meeting with Blizz. These are some counter arguments that I haven't seen a lot elsewhere.


Blizzard have run the data, the business case doesn't stack up

Blizzard had capacity and scaling predictions for Vanilla in 05/06 - how did these work out? Did they plan for opening new servers month by month to accommodate off-the-scale demand? Did they predict they would end up with MILLIONS of subscribers in the first year?

Vanilla WoW is beguiling gaming MAGIC, never created before or since. Blizzard underestimated the power of Vanilla then, is it possible they underestimate it again now?


It won't be popular

It has been a decade since Vanilla launched, and over those years I have encouraged new players to try WoW of various ages and maturity. Players I introduced in Vanilla/BC played for years, but players I introduced in Cata barely played for weeks.

The market for Vanilla... yes there are veterans who would come back but there is an entire new generation of players who have never had the chance to enjoy Vanilla WoW, to be hooked by its addictive magic. What will happen when these first timers play Vanilla...? The whole journey starts again! Imagine seeing population figures growing in the first year on a classic realm... Do you think new graphics, garrisons or AOE looting makes a difference compared to addictive magic formula of original WoW, the world, the community, the environments, the ADVENTURE?!


People won't pay

Some argue that players only played private servers because they were free. I say lots of people don't play private servers because they are free. Most people want to pay fair value, they don't want to participate in unauthorised, unsanctioned ventures because it may be against Blizzard TOS, it may even be technically illegal. Aside from ethical questions, or user agreements, it also is off-putting to invest time in a character that could disappear at any moment.

How many people would be enticed by an authorised official service but won't play on private realms. Is it possible the number of people who be willing to pay to try a legitimate Vanilla WoW server actually outweighs the number of people willing to try a private server?


Keep the game moving forward

Imagine that Blizz launches a vanilla realm to test out demand. It turns out to be popular, more popular than expected, a new generation of WoW begins, hundreds of thousands (or millions?) of players start from the beginning, and we have a few years of fun, levelling up, gearing up, clearing raids, experiencing Blackwing Lair and Ahn'Qiraj and the great war effort. Many players experiencing legendary WoW events they missed first time around, they will LOVE it!

But once we have cleared everything it makes sense there would need to be some progression - so do we move to TBC? then to WOTLK?

What about... a new expansion? An alternative path of WoW...? You could keep concepts that made expansions great, but avoid the mistakes of the past! Now there is an interesting idea, no? A new expansion bringing the excitement back like The Burning Crusade, but with new zones, new bosses, never seen before, but without all the big mistakes of the past.

This could be how Blizzard can "keep the game moving forward"...


Conclusion

Well these are my main points, thank you for reading

Ok maybe this last suggestion is slightly off the wall, but when you start to imagine the possibilities its pretty exciting.

If you want more, I have added my own thoughts on why old WoW was so good below. Most of these points I have seen elsewhere though, I just wanted to post them somewhere. But I put them in a separate post because it is more repetition than above.

For the Alliance!
For the Horde!
For Vanilla WoW!

[Sethik]

What made Vanilla great

Its true that Vanilla had weaknesses, but the strengths outweigh the weaknesses and they cannot be re-created in retail now because you can't put the genie back in the bottle.

The realm: a community, a world where everyone builds their own reputation, like a person in the real world only this is the World of Warcraft! Maybe you will be known as a great tank, as a craftsman with rare recipes, as a great PVPer, or as a disreputable ninja, you decide. But your actions determine your reputation, and your reputation determines how you will be received, you are someone and you are part of a society.

Heroes: I used to see "famous" people around and I loved it - they were heroes on our realm. I used to have long term battleground rivalries. One time in Warsong Gulch a great adversary shadow priest and I suddenly faced each other down a corridor, no reinforcements to be seen on either side. She caught my eye and my hand went to my sword, I prepared to charge. But this time, for a second, we paused and looked at each other. She saluted me, her rival, and then sat down to drink, I saluted back and then slowly turned around and walked away - we will fight again, but not today my friend! I never minded that I was not as epically equipped, or as high a PVP rank - I looked at these characters and it gave me something to aim for, a journey to take!

The heart of the game (difficulty and pacing): mobs are dangerous, achieving difficult quest objectives was a GAME and it was FUN. You journeyed to the quest location, you fought your way through an enemy encampment, now to get to the objective you either had to pick apart tough groups of mobs with patrols, pulling them carefully to avoid getting too many in one go, or maybe a fellow adventurer appears on the scene and you team up. Now the stranger may turn out to be a loose cannon, pulling carelessly and you both die, OR the companion turns out to be skilled, buffing you, pulling carefully and quickly, you achieve your goal together and they go on your friends list! Maybe you will team up again tomorrow.

Dungeon crawling: adventuring through the corridors of challenging enemy strongholds, BRD, UBRS, Stratholme - this used to be SO MUCH FUN Blizz! Forming a good group of chilled out careful players, people you know have a great attitude because you met them in the world, chatted and added them to your friends list. Adventuring comrades you know will come prepared with food and elixirs, move carefully and quickly, backing you up with CC, sharing pots or scrolls, chatting as we pick our way through a long and scary dungeon. And all with the hope of boss rewards that mean something. Remember the feeling of clearing the Brazier room? Or of completing Jailbreak? Of getting your first rare item from Drakkisath?! (Draconian Deflector gief!). Something has to be hard to achieve to feel rewarding, the harder is it achieve the more rewarding and vice versa. One big reason why retail is so dull.

World is alive: The world is big, and alive with people, danger, rewards and companionship. Running across the barrens while levelling may take a while, but when you get somewhere it means something! You herb or mine and explore along the way, you might encounter an overwhelming enemy force, you might call on your guild, or your friends or just the zone for assistance! World PVP, distant horizons, rare mobs, long journeys through treacherous lands, feeling the change in power after a long needed trip to the city to visit the AH, tweak your gear, learn new skills, then set out again into the world. I miss this sense of world and adventure.


How did Blizz kill it?

In my opinion this is simple.

Looking For Group tool: this removed a key driver to building connections with people. As I moved through the world I met people who I knew would do well in dungeons and I added them to my friends list. I made friends with great tanks, healers, DPS and just plain nice people, and through this I found people to invite to the guild, or built alliances between guilds, and I made lasting friendships. LFG added convenience, but in so doing it destroyed an enormous "sticky" aspect of the game - the feeling of achievement of building a good group and completing a dungeon together. Technically of course you can still do this in game, but because people don't have to, it tends not to happen.

Flying: this made the world seem small and travelling a pointless chore instead of an adventure (however large or small the journey you had to take). It also removed the threat of encountering enemy in the world, either people or dangerous groups of mobs in your path (because you can fly past). It was fun for about a month, but the damage it did lasts forever and it seems impossible to take back now.

Connected realms: another nail in the coffin. Now realm community is nearly eliminated. I see none of the same people in battlegrounds, none in dungeons, no friends or great adversaries, just random people who don't talk, or worse. No reputation following you, no motivation to behave well, no lasting connections.

Reduced difficulty: so after LFD and connected realms, now the game must be made easy enough so it can be completed by strangers who don't communicate. Difficulty of dungeons is greatly reduced, now there is no reason for people to work together or get to know each other. Someone leaves the dungeon mid way through without saying a word? There is no consequence, another person just appears! No immersion, no pleasure from finding a new player, no great value in having the warlock that can summon, no commitment for a player upon entering the dungeon, no lasting reputation after it is done. Its so easy that you just blitz through dungeons with minimal thought or coordination, and this effectively makes the REWARDS MEANINGLESS!

Meaningless epics: I used to see awesome characters around the world, one of my favourite healers was a priest from a top guild who had Benediction, and I used to long to get into a particular guild. I never minded not having epics, NOT A BIT. On the contrary it gave me something to look up to, something to look forward to, something to WORK TOWARDS. Just to get one epic was so exciting. Now it is nothing. So sad.



Who am I?

Nobody special, just a normal WoW fan I played WoW since 2006 and was a full time subscriber until half way through Cata. I am in my thirties now, I have a job and money, I want to play old school WoW but I have no wish to do so illegally or illegitimately. I am a rational, normal, ethical person and I recently found out I love Vanilla WoW. I want to play and pay for it!

After the press coverage of Nost being shut down I saw videos of Nost and it looked like the magical World of Warcraft I remembered. I decided to give it a shot on a different private server just to see what it was like - it turns out I LOVE vanilla, and the magic is still there, its not nostalgia, its actually just a better game!

[Jeniwyn]

This is a very good summary. I agree with this.

[Odisee09]

I also agree However I think that it should be kept the way it was without mass looting

[Tebeda]

Good read, I also shared some of the same experiences with rivals and just overall good players and personalities. Made a ton of friends, joined an awesome guild, randomly got the guild together to do some world PvP which lasted an hour or 2 and saw posts on the forums about it. Everything was so epic.

As the expansions went forward, I started to see the "less likely to raid" or "Chat trolls" players get into easy raids and get easy gear and their attitude started to turn into little pricks saying things like F vanilla, F TBC, etc. etc. because their reputation started to be forgotten from being terribad. It seemed like the expansions were to cater to those type of players, taking away attuments etc.

We need a fresh start, to be able to go back with what we know now.

[Undertanker]

Good post. Don't like the other guy who had a similar post.

To help ease your guilt of wanting / playing on a private server...

Early colonist that lived in the settlements lived the life style they wanted, govern themselves, and do by what they thought is best for themselves. They didn't want to pay taxes to be governed and forced into a lifestyle they were not pleased with.

These are the pioneers of what the United States is built upon. Eventually known as patriots.

Prohibition, while drinking was illegal, it didn't make it any less fun. You just had to do things a little different and keep a low-profile.

There are countless examples, but personally for me, the easier justification is.... I have a box on a shelf that was for the game I played here and do so else where now. That company doesn't want to support the game I purchased from them, I will continue to enjoy my purchase with the assistance of a team that will let me do so.

[kiraito75]

What about... a new expansion? An alternative path of WoW...? You could keep concepts that made expansions great, but avoid the mistakes of the past! Now there is an interesting idea, no? A new expansion bringing the excitement back like The Burning Crusade, but with new zones, new bosses, never seen before, but without all the big mistakes of the past.

This could be how Blizzard can "keep the game moving forward"...

I never thought about that. But indeed, if Vanilla WoW is so successful, and Legion so bad, Blizzard could think about a new expansion for Vanilla. Okay, its nothing but a hypothesis, a foolish dream, and its far from now. Still, the warcraft history has so much possibilities. The emerald dream? Fight the legion on Argus (Draenei's planet. You could add them as a new race)? The world of K'aresh (Ethereal people)? South seas (Pirates, Nagas, Gobelins, Ogres)? We know a lot of people love TBC and WOTLK. But what about Cataclysm, or pandaria?... We could add one of my news expansions instead of that. Or not. This is pure fiction, but interresting as a WoW fan.

By the way, you can include theses expansions, without changing the global regular story of Warcraft (BC, wotlk, cataclysm pandaria and WoD) like a Spin-off.

Also, I like the entire post. Well said

[Askental]

Good post.

On a related note: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzvHvc41qpk

This also greatly explains (in french) how frustration is a source of fun in games. Vanilla wow is frustrating in many ways and it works indeed. This is an important point to know before talking to blizz0rd. Their game designers have learned this and will understand what you are saying. Frustration comes from difficult pve (yay I finally beat that boss), somewhat unfair pvp (yay I beat people with better class/gear), industrial farming (yay rewarding crafts/pvp ranks), shitty groups (yay my guildies are the best this pug sux), long grind to 60 (yay I'm powerful now), long travels (yay finally landed in fucking silithus) and so on... There is many aspects to it.

The sense of community is also of major importance. Ground travel, idling in main cities, etc. The "heroes" bit in OP is also very important. Yeah it sucks from a dev point of view that only 1% or so will make it to naxx but the desire to make their way there is what kept (most of) everyone else motivated. Not to be underestimated!