In November, 2018, Blizzard sent ripples across the gaming world, announcing something the community has long been clamoring for – the estimated date of the WoW Classic release – a fresh start for the oldest fans of the game.
Six months after that announcement, Blizzard released a new piece of information regarding post-launch content drops.
Blizzard’s World of Warcraft Classic Is Returning with Multiple Content Drops
Call it an attempt to monetize on a dormant and eager crowd of gamers or corporate greed – the facts remain unchanged.
Blizzard is planning to return back to the origin of World of Warcraft by releasing multiple Vanilla realms in the summer of 2019.
Some speculate that the new classic servers will easily outpace the latest expansions in terms of popularity.
This is quite possible, with millions of users still playing on private servers. While this remains a speculation, and the release date is kept under tight wraps sure, Blizzard have dropped a new piece of evidence that they are determined to push ahead with the plan.
The company has revealed the planned content drop post launch, outlining the pace of progression:
Phase – Back to Classics
- Molten Core
- Onyxia
- Maraudon
Phase 2 – Gearing Up
- Dire Maul
- Azuregos
- Kazzak
Phase 3 – A True Challenge Begins
- Blackwing Lair
- Darkmoon Faire
- Darkmoon deck drops begin
Phase 4 – Time for Alternative Builds
- Zul’Gurub
- Green Dragons
Phase – In Anticipation of Naxxramas
- Ahn’Qiraj War Effort begins
- Ahn’Qiraj raids open when the war effort dictates
- Dungeon loot reconfiguration: Tier 0.5 Dungeon gear, Relics, drop rates and location changes
Phase 6 – The Ultimate Trial
- Naxxramas
- Scourge Invasion
With this content plan now in the open, two things have become very clear. Blizzard will look to re-create the authenticity of the original game. John Hight, WoW Classic Production Director, has said that the company would seek to create the game that millions of people worldwide fell in love with while focusing on eliminating some of the pesky bugs that persisted back in the day.
A True Classic Experience – Will It Feel the Same?
Blizzard have long been hesitant about returning to the roots of the game. They doubted it both from a business standpoint as well as from the perspective of a studio that has seen how consumer habits have evolved over the past decade.
Westfall was one of the busiest places in the early-leveling experience.
However, the recent spate of private projects running a fairly buggy version of the traditional game, such as the now defunct Nostalrius, have proven the company that it’s quite possible to amass millions in fresh user base and possibly appeal to the majority of the customers who have long become disenchanted with WoW in its present form.
Blizzard hope that they can appeal to both a younger generation of gamers by continuing to develop their original game while allocating the resources to bring back many of the players who have left since the introduction of the latest additions to the franchise.
The company has also stepped up its efforts to introduce competitive element to the game, sponsoring both Player versus Player (PvP) and Player versus Environment (PvE) events.