For those who don't know, Blizzard released a Classic Content release plan a few moments ago.
Leave your thoughts about them here and let's get hyped together! I'm really excited to have a bit more breathing space to run MC and Ony with my guild than was originally speculated, as well as having enough time to prepare for the world bosses. Not really sure about those pre-1.10 items they're talking about, nor the alleged post-1.10 changes they'll be keeping.
I'm just fine with everything they've outlined here but then again, my bar is set pretty low. If they released everything as it was during 1.12 with everything open and available I would've been fine with it. Just gief classic dangit.
But since it's staggered so to speak atm I do hope they leave an enormous amount of time between phases instead of the 3 months or something it was back then. It's exactly the need-everything-done-before-next-patch stress that I'm looking forward to get rid of.
This is great news. Even if you were indifferent to how they would handle progressive itemization, the fact that Blizzard directly addressed a concern that was raised by the community shows that they are listening. I think that their community engagement has been lackluster thus far, but this was an unexpected treat and they deserve huge credit.
Splitting up the content into 6 phases instead of 4 is a great decision, and although I'm not intimately familiar with the patch 1.10 changes, I do think progressive itemization tied to the AQ effort is going to be a positive development for Classic. Trivializing content would have shortened the lifespan of the game.
Very interesting. This might work out quite well.
Need PVP info
Glad they decided to wait on Dire Maul.
This is great news. Even if you were indifferent to how they would handle progressive itemization, the fact that Blizzard directly addressed a concern that was raised by the community shows that they are listening.
I've always been on the side of "eh, it's more work and I don't think it's a huge issue", but I'm quite glad that they addressed it, even if they went the other way than I expected.
I'm going to guess that the delays are going to look like:
Phase 2: 2-4 months post-launch, enough time I think for the racers to hit max and start hitting up Ony and MC, but I could see it being 5 to 6 months if they find most people aren't leveling as fast as possible
Phase 3: 4 to 6 months after Phase 2, enough time for most people to clear Ony and MC
Phase 4: 3 months after Phase 3, enough time for guilds that started BWL on day 1 to make good progress if not clear it, and also not the biggest patch
Phase 5: 3 months after Phase 4, most guilds that started into BWL should have cleared or gotten close to clearing by now
Phase 6: 6 months after AQ actually opens
So even with my most rapid of estimates we're looking at 18 months of content updates. I think these will definitely vary though based on what they're seeing of global clear rates.
I'm a bit bummed on the Dire Maul release, not because keeping the loot back is a bad idea - it's a great idea - but because depending on its release time I might have to wait to get an epic mount.
However, seeing that Phase 2 is only Kazzak, Azuregos, and Dire Maul makes me believe Phase 2 will happen sooner rather than later, probably shortly after I mosy on up to level 60 after taking my time and enjoying myself. If it turns out that it's much later, well...I'm still not wasting all that extra gold to buy an epic mount and THEN do the quest.
However, for people who rush to 60 the timing and separation of Phase 2 is just what they need to keep it fresh. Probably a good thing that the 1st world boss kills won't just be whoever pulled together the most 60's anyhow.
I'm so happy about this. I didn't play WoW for too long back during vanilla, as I've said before; however, it was clear through numerous discussions and videos about the subject that 4 content phases was just not going to be enough.
6 (7 with PvP) seems to be perfect, and with progressive itemisation on top. What a fantastic update.
That's two important blue posts regarding Classic in what, a week? Are we gearing up for a beta?
...we’re also aiming to capture what it felt like to play in a realm community in original WoW.
Great to hear language like this being used. Thoroughly satisfied with the announcement made - not only does it take into account concerns that we have raised here and elsewhere but also it shows that they’re pretty far long development wise.
For them to have that kind of intimate knowledge of patch itemisation could indicate that a lot of the core mechanics and UI are done and that they could now be focusing on database and content stuff.
Very happy to hear this news. It genuinely sounds like they want to please the fans. Let's hope they reconsider loot trading - not removing it but at least make it harder to exploit. They already showed they are willing to change their stance.
I never really got into endgame back in Vanilla, but I did think it was odd that their early plan included content that invalidated each other. This way is much better, and it shows they continue to be giving people what they want!
This is great news boys!
Yeh, this is a well thought out and considered response to their initial 4 phase plan. A lot of popular Classic WoW streamers were pushing for this change, and it is good to see it has been noticed and implemented. Great news all round, hype train building momentum now.
This is awesome news to hear! I'm glad that there's more phases that we can look forward to, rather than having everything given to us quickly. I'm really interested to hear about how they'll set up PvP in Classic though.