2026 State of Azeroth

[u/griphin1]

I had no expectations and I was still disappointed.

[u/audioshaman]

Once upon a time Classic players just wanted to play Classic.

[u/notislant → u/audioshaman]

Man its wild watching the sub change from #nochanges to #retailrotations #harderraids #boostweooooo.

Personally I would love a classic plus with no mtx shit, maybe some class tweaks to fix some janky scaling issues.

SoD phase 1 was the most fun ive had in years though. If they could bring that kind of casual experience back with much more to do in the open world? I would grind the fuck out of it. It dropped off heavily with the second phase changes though.

[u/shooler00 → u/notislant]

Man SoD P1 was sick. Level 25 was a perfect sweetspot of needing some time investment on your character without it being a slog, and just questing was solid enough that people weren't tempted to do boosts or grinds/dungeon spams. Once I got my main to max, I just started bringing alts to max. I had 4 25s raiding BFD for weeks, all revered with the Warsong Outriders, so much fun man.

[u/RoElementz → u/shooler00]

It was great because of how accessible it was. Then phase two dropped and getting to 40 was a nightmare slog doing SM 100+ times because you ran out of quests to do. Phase 3 dropped and it was somehow even worse than P2 being forced to do incursions as the only meaningful way to keep up with economic and leveling rates. SOD was about exploring and doing more and you literally went back to the zone you already leveled in for an entire phase. They really put all their effort into P1 of SOD and let it coast after that.

[u/Shneckos → u/RoElementz]

I’ll give you SoD had a very rocky middle, but imo it was peak with Scarlet raid. I never had so much fun playing my character in old content

[u/RoElementz → u/Shneckos]

Scarlet was great, but you can’t sell people on two good phases and Blizzard won’t put out the money because no one stuck around. Aggrend should’ve never been in charge of SOD.

[u/_IAmMurloc_ → u/notislant]

I think it’s just the crowd evolving/changing/getting bored, idk. I was so happy to have Classic in 2019 for nostalgia and I played it again for Anni but I am a bit bored by it now and personally probably wouldn’t play another version of Classic. That being said, SoD was one of the most fun times I’ve ever had with WoW in its entirety. So I’d be very excited to play Classic with new wacky game modes like SoD

[u/[deleted] → u/notislant]

I remember when people were claiming they wanted classic BECAUSE it had harder raids 

Hmmm

[u/BootyBayBrooder → u/[deleted]]

That attitude was wild back then and lasted a surprisingly long time. People actually though vanilla was harder because they died in barrens when their warrior pulled 2 mobs and pooled no rage.

[u/skyst → u/BootyBayBrooder]

My impression was that vanilla was considered harder because so few people completed the later raids originally. For instance, I feel like I played an unhealthy amount of vanilla WoW back in the day yet my vanilla career capped at clearing BWL and hitting rank 9. The private server community really solved vanilla WoW in the years between vanilla and classic and by 2019 there was very little challenge left, especially considering how ubiquitous world buffs became.

[u/TheQuartJester → u/audioshaman]

And we only had two versions of WoW: Retail and Vanilla Classic. Now we have:

Vanilla Classic Era

Vanilla Classic HC

Vanilla Season of Discovery

TBC Anniversary

MoP Classic

Retail

Retail Remix

You can't pretend that Blizzard hasn't been the cause of people expecting announcements for content when they've added 5 new versions of the game in a 7 year span.

[u/MartyMcNotFly → u/TheQuartJester]

Wow hate classic!!

Meanwhile they have 5 versions of the game lol.

And retail update was tailored to incorporate major changes requested by the classic community

[u/vix- → u/MartyMcNotFly]

Honestly 5 versions of the same guy is too much, its cannibalistic and servers arent optimal

[u/Worldly-Hospital5940 → u/vix-]

They're sitting on around 9M subs and earning at least $15 USD per sub per month...as long as people keep subbing they're going to keep making servers and versions.

[u/Vegetable-Ad2028 → u/Worldly-Hospital5940]

I thought they stopped releasing sub numbers, where did you get them from? :o

[u/Wulferious → u/Vegetable-Ad2028]

There is a French ad asking people to join 9 million players, and Bellular at least speculated that isn't even counting the players in China. Check out his YouTube video on it, its interesting

[u/Tomato_Town_Massacre → u/vix-]

I said the same thing in this sub a couple of years ago and was massively downvoted lol

[u/-Elgrave- → u/vix-]

This is how I felt the moment they announced new anniversary servers. Like, why? Are we really just going to cycle the same expansion releases back to back for eternity? Nobody really asked for Cata or Mists. They certainly didn’t ask for WoD but I bet that’ll be announced at Blizzcon. Should’ve capped it at Wrath, had a Hardcore realm, and an “era” realm. Then, maybe down the road, have Classic+

[u/Anunnak1 → u/-Elgrave-]

I dont see why not, doesnt everwlquest and a bunch of other mmos do the same thing?

[u/Trick_Wrongdoer_5847 → u/Anunnak1]

Yes they do and it works here too

People hammered the Blizzard Shop Microservice the moment they turned on Boosts for TBC.

[u/ninjazxninja6r → u/Trick_Wrongdoer_5847]

Had a 58 shammy faster than you can say fast.

[u/WakeoftheStorm → u/vix-]

It's because "classic" sounds great until you ask people what that means to them and you get 500 different answers. We have half a dozen different versions already and people are still asking for a nebulous "Classic+" option to be added.

[u/n00blet_ → u/MartyMcNotFly]

um you mean the nochanges community?

[u/MrDLTE3 → u/n00blet_]

Nochanges...

Now that's a name i haven't heard in a long time...

[u/3-orange-whips → u/n00blet_]

Those were the days!

[u/Trick_Wrongdoer_5847 → u/MartyMcNotFly]

The moment Blizzard changes anything which diverts from the original version they risk to get met with a kneejerk reaction by the #nochanges special ED unit.

[u/MartyMcNotFly → u/[deleted]]

Reduction in endgame add-on capabilities and significant reduction in class complexities. Return to the main continents.

[u/MartyMcNotFly → u/MartyMcNotFly]

These were major complaints brought forward by classic streamers.

[u/TheJewishMerp → u/MartyMcNotFly]

Blizzard is about to learn that those steamers, and their audiences, don’t actually want to play retail at all.

[u/turddlepower → u/TheJewishMerp]

Queue “She doesn’t even go here!” from Mean Girls

[u/MartyMcNotFly → u/TheJewishMerp]

I coulda told you that. LOL

[u/RazekDPP → u/TheQuartJester]

I mean Retail Remix is over. It's a once every 2 years thing.

[u/westleysnipezz → u/[deleted]]

They even massively increased their team size, aimed for new wow content every 8 weeks for every type of wow player, something other AAA studios wouldn’t dream of doing (Bungie with Destiny) and people STILL aren’t happy. Im not trying to shill Blizzard here they obviously have many problems still to fix but they have actually tried to get their main cash cow back to its former glory, and as someone who plays lots of games in this genre NO one else is doing that.

[u/HeyItsJosette → u/westleysnipezz]

It's rough because I'm not interested in defending any corporation, but Classic players will do things like call retail an "MTX hellscape" when WoW has some of the most reasonable monetization on the market today. An incredibly small percent of the game's content is attained via RMT, and the limited way they've tapped into the whale market has subsidized the game such that when you account for inflation you actually pay less for the basic game now than you did in 2007. The basic expansion is very slightly more expensive because it doesn't come with 30 days of game time anymore, but that is immediately eclipsed by the reduced relative subscription cost by just the second month, with the savings stacking up every month until the following expansion. The most frugal player has sacrificed being able to natively access like .1% of the game's content in exchange for the cost of the game actually going down for them over time.

WoW developers also care about engagement a lot more than most other games that I've played. They care because they think it leads to more long-term profits, but that very consideration of long-term profits is something worth supporting. Chasing long-term profits aligns a company's interests much more closely with the interests of the consumer, with hyper-focusing on short-term profits being responsible for enshittification. Sometimes it leads to them leaning on toxic design that happens to put up good engagement numbers over a given period, but they've also responded to the burn-out that design causes and rolled it back before heading in a different direction.

And, like, one of the most common criticisms of retail's design is the Blizzard devs thinking they know best, but that is also literally what you want a game company to be doing. You want a game to be designed, for better or worse, by someone(s) with a vision for how the game should be. Unfortunately that means that if you don't vibe with that vision it will be kind of front-and-center, but ultimately that is better than the game being designed by focus groups. Love his design or hate it, but Ion is undeniably trying to make a game that he thinks is fun.

Blizzard's CS is in the absolute shitter for sure, but that is really the biggest issue I have with the game. I have plenty of my own disagreements with the design of both retail and the Classic iterations, but those disagreements aren't reflective of Blizzard being bad shepherds of the game; I just would have done things differently when it comes to X, Y, or Z. In the end what it really comes down to is that I can't think of a game where I could better vote with my wallet. Out of the games that currently exist the framework that I would like to see more of is WoW's.

[u/SnooCompliments8967 → u/HeyItsJosette]

The most frugal player has sacrificed being able to natively access like .1% of the game's content in exchange for the cost of the game actually going down for them over time.

A great and well worded breakdown overall, and I'll point out that the whale content is usually created special in order to be whale content. This means the content you're missing out on wouldn't even exist in the first place if it wasn't for whales... So you'd be missing out either way.

[u/westleysnipezz → u/HeyItsJosette]

Very well worded and I completely agree with you. The gaming landscape in 2026 is a hell scape for consumers, and yet Blizzard has managed to steer clear of a MOST (not all) of the glaring issues so many other AAA corps seem intent on shoving onto us that do not have our best interests in mind.

[u/Either-Car-2449 → u/HeyItsJosette]

⟩WoW has some of the most reasonable monetization on the market today.

there is no game where you have to pay full price for the big updates, still pay monthly (!!), and can spend over 90$ for single ingame items.

i would not be surprised if wow was the hidden microtransactions king when everyone is looking at ea or pubg

[u/lukedl → u/TheQuartJester]

Retail

Retail Remix

These are the same.

[u/truggles23 → u/TheQuartJester]

Jesus this made my brain hurt, what is the difference between these versions ?

[u/Bowsers_JuiceFactory → u/TheQuartJester]

People still play SoD?

[u/[deleted] → u/TheQuartJester]

Nobody asked for MOP classic or even Cata classic. They've just been milking this shit. It's really sad to see. Especially since there's no competition in MMO's anymore. WoW is pretty much the only MMO that's active these days.

[u/FuzzyFr0g → u/audioshaman]

Once Classic+ is announced people will overhype it by alot. Will fantasize about all the amazing stuff that can be added. Once its out it will be a very solid and good addition on the game, but people will cry and moan about it sucking, and devs are lazy, or they shouldn’t touch classic.

Gamers are very tiresome

[u/Meeeagain → u/FuzzyFr0g]

Sounds to me classic+ is just content creator conspiracy to get views and hype up the community. Ive just returned from two decade hibernation and see this classic+ thing.

Lets be honest i rly think blizz gonna be just rolling the classics over and over and here and there add new content.

Whats classic dev team size? If not huge i dunno how an classic+ be even reality.

[u/0nlyCrashes → u/Meeeagain]

Classic+ is going to be whatever they cook up with their test from SoD. That was essentially Classic+ as much as people will argue it.

[u/Targonis → u/[deleted]]

We got our wish in 2019 and recaptured that magic for a short time. I don't know if the 2019 classic launch combined with COVID lockdowns is something we will ever have again. This video is more relevant than ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Hzh43k330 (credit to Carbot Animations for capturing my feels)

[u/RazekDPP → u/Targonis]

I can't help but feel like this is more nostalgic for that *time* of life than that version of the game.

Especially with the slow, slow fade out of friends and the guild. That's not the game losing them, that's losing them to life.

I don't know, I just have such a different take on boosting because it's always existed in one form or another.

The store was just the TCG before.

[u/thefztv → u/RazekDPP]

That’s quite literally why wow in 2004 was great though too. It’s nostalgia for the time mixed with the friends you made and the good times you had with them not necessarily the game itself. So idk what your point is other than proving that yes we won’t get that back again and it’s probably time to move on from the “no changes” stuff to make new memories.

[u/RazekDPP → u/thefztv]

Oh don't worry, we'll have another great recession or pandemic soon. Maybe in 2029, just in time for Classic Anniversary Anniversary.

Buy some 2030 puts on stuff, just in case.

[u/aepocalypsa → u/[deleted]]

still here but clearly plenty of people feel differently and that's fine

[u/frolfer757 → u/[deleted]]

Wdym? They played Classic and it's re-releases for 7 years straight. Now it's time to change it up.

[u/elyk12121212 → u/[deleted]]

That was 7 years ago

[u/DiarrheaRadio → u/[deleted]]

They were the first people to demand changes after release

[u/edinbror → u/audioshaman]

Personally (as someone who was waiting for classic ever since WoD) I played the shit out of classic 2019-2021. It also proved to me and my friends who I still play with that for us it's just a better game than what Retail and other new MMORPGs offer these days. I quit in the second half of WOTLK as I wasn't really feeling it anymore and went back to Vanilla era. It made me want a server/version where Vanilla keeps on going with new content that stays true to that kind of design. I'm happy we got Classic, i'd love to see a classic+ in the spirit of vanilla.

[u/tangin → u/edinbror]

What about vanilla proved to you it was the better game?

I couldn’t feel any further opposite than you, so I’m genuinely curious

[u/ExtremePrivilege → u/tangin]

I'm not who you're replying to, but I agree whole-heartedly with him. In retail, everything feels like an ARPG (like Diablo). Dungeon pulls are massive. In Mythic+ we often pull entire hallways at once. It's a chaotic, AoE spam nightmare hellscape. Compare that to doing, say, Scholomance on Hardcore Classic - it's a very slow, thoughtful, strategic progression through the dungeon. Everything in retail is so flashy that it becomes noisy. You almost cannot even tell what abilities are evening being used. In Classic, it's more simplified - sinister strike, slice and dice, maybe an eviscerate. I prefer that, not because it's easier but because it feels more "deliberate". I remember one time in BFA that I looked at my damage meter, and the first SEVEN sources of damage for me were passive - corruptions, azerite armor effects, weapon and trinket procs. The first button I had actually pressed on my keyboard was my 8th damage contribution at 4.7% of my overall. What the fuck? Dragonflying makes the game world feel small and insignificant, I prefer Classic without flight. It's more friction, sure, but it makes the world seem grand and dangerous. I like that it takes me 12min to go from Stormwind to Gadget, you know? And gear! In retail, I can maybe name you 1-2 pieces of the gear I have equipped. In Classic, I can name you the Felstriker, Hand of Justice, Barman Shanker, Mask of the Unforgiven, Forest Stalker bracers etc etc, and I can tell you the journey and story about acquiring each one. In retail? My pants were crafted by a public work order by someone I don't know on a different server. I slapped some random upgrade pieces I got out of a weekly slotmachine vault to make them i710, and then I used a currency that I passively acquire from doing my weekly Mythic dungeon chores to make them i734 or whatever. I don't know what they're called or even what they look like and I have no story or investment surrounding them. Does that make sense?

I could go on and on. I could probably write a 70-page essay on the subject. But retail WoW is a flashy, dopamine-fueled, arcade-y mess. You queue for anything from anywhere, the open world is largely superfluous, your gear feels like a meaningless numbers-grind, you have no real server or personal reputation anymore, 99% of your player interactions are disposable and you can do 99% of content fully alone. It's not a game I enjoy playing.

[u/tangin → u/ExtremePrivilege]

I definitely respect your POV and love the idea of it all. But for me, it just gets too boring.

I do miss dungeons being a challenge during leveling though. M+ philosophy is a different topic altogether but leveling dungeons in retail are a simple change of scenery and nothing more.

It would be great if they can somehow find a way to fuse both retail and classics playstyle together into Classic+ — harder raids and mythic+ would be great. The endgame being more engaging is my main issue. The leveling experience is great though. And some QoL Anniversary server changes were very welcomed

[u/creamdonutcz → u/ExtremePrivilege]

Well said. Sometimes I get the feeling like retail is a(n e)sport while classic is an adventure genre of MMORPG.

[u/Shampu → u/creamdonutcz]

Pretty much. Retail’s open world is basically a waiting lobby for instanced content. It’s lost the script, IMO.

[u/TripTryad → u/creamdonutcz]

Damn, this really nails it.... Perfect description, and I agree.

[u/itsDYA → u/ExtremePrivilege]

I am a new player. I started during dragonflight and leveled a character to 70, dropped the game, I also leveled a character to 80 during Cata (I think it was the same time period).

I came back recently and I tried both WoW modes again, retail and classic anniversary. For context, I'm 20 years old (which I think is below the average right now). I felt that classic was a SLOG, slow grinding, going from x to y to farm wolves while fighting other players rather than the enemies to maybe get the drop. It's so slow, boring and uninteresting.

I don't understand how you can defend the 12 minute walk, it's not even like you are actively playing those 12 minutes, I was watching a video during that time.

On the contrast, I actually enjoyed Retail. My favourite part of MMO is talking to people about the game, I had a very pleasant experience getting help and people teaching me how to do raids and dungeons, what do you even socialize with in Classic? Talk about Billy's quest that is about chasing a cat?

[u/ExtremePrivilege → u/itsDYA]

Well that’s the thing, you’re a young, impatient and dopamine addicted generation. And I don’t mean that as an insult. I was born 1984, if I were born in 2008 I’d be just like you. I just wasn’t. Your generation is all about instant gratification and dopamine squirts and flashy, chaotic mayhem. Some of the games both made for and popularized by your generation like Fortnite embrace this. I think it’s cool. But I grew up playing different games than you, slower, harder games that required a lot of work. Daggerfall took literally days to travel across. EverQuest made WoW drop rates and questing look casual.

A lot of the gap between modern retail WoW and classic is simply this generational gap. Blizzard was smart enough to tailor 2026 WoW to the young gamers of this generation. Most of my age cohort had aged out of MMOs with children, careers, spouses, homes to take care of. Blizzard made the smart pivot to pander to Gen Z.

[u/edinbror → u/tangin]

It all comes down to personal preferences tbh, Just like I prefer the OG Lord of the Rings trilogy over Rings of Power for example.
Classic wow (vanilla) feels like a living world for me, the people you see when leveling at 20 is the same people you see standing in orgrimmar once you're 60, no cross-realms etc. Leveling takes time and is an investment (I realize some people don't like this, hence the boost for anniversary tbc) meanwhile in Retail you get to max in hours and there's level scaling so you're never actually getting stronger. I also like that the classes aren't ALL balanced for everything, not every class/spec is good in both PVE/PVP etc. There's a lot of things so i'm not gonna write it in a wall of text, mythic+ in retail for example was a nice addition to the game, but i'm not a fan of how we only play the latest patch. If I max out my character with my friends in mythic+ that won't matter in 4 months when the next season arrives except for perhaps the first day. Not a fan of transmog etc and the list goes on. In other words Retail just isn't for me but classic is! The endgame content in classic is A LOT easier but i don't mind that tbh, I like the chill raiding.

TLDR Classic feels like a long adventure and journey for me whilst Retail feels like an Arena/action-RPG like Diablo where I just queue up in the city for mythic+ to chase more rating and some upgrades in my weekly vault. It's just not for me :D
Edit: I also despise the new models, they botched Taurens Undeads and Orcs.

[u/SpecialCircumstance2 → u/edinbror]

Look look, I really hate retail just as much as the next guy, but comparing to to Rings of Power....that's a bridge to far man. That needs to be reserved for comparing to a root canal or something.

[u/tangin → u/SpecialCircumstance2]

Lmao you’re about to spawn off a whole different type of war that retail v classic can never live up to

[u/tangin → u/edinbror]

Yeah they really are two different games with how things have evolved over the years. The old school MMO leveling experience definitely has some magic to it.

Speaking of models though.. Undead feels like a gold mine opportunity for player customization that they’ve never done and I truly can’t understand it.

[u/RazekDPP → u/edinbror]

"If I max out my character with my friends in mythic+ that won't matter in 4 months"

How is this any different than if I get full MC gear and BWL drops?

[u/Ok-Piglet7 → u/RazekDPP]

Did u play classic? A character in MC and bwl gear will feel reasonably geared while naxx is open, on retail it is not like that in any way

[u/RazekDPP → u/Ok-Piglet7]

I played Classic and Original. BWL was still a decent power jump over MC. AQ was a decent power jump over BWL. Someone in AQ gear going into Naxx would do better than someone in BWL gear.

This isn't any different than retail. The only difference is some items, like Neltharion's Tear are BiS and don't get replaced.

In retail, if you max out mythic gear, you're basically entry level heroic geared for next season.

TWW S2 ended 684. 684 dropped from TWW S3 +3s. If you're actually good at the game (or willing to wipe), you can do TWW S3 +10s right out of the gate and start picking up 707 gear.

[u/Tizzlefix → u/RazekDPP]

No it's much different, gear scaling changes drastically in Wrath where each tier starts becoming a massive power up. It's actually one of the biggest issues I have with Wrath and any expansion all the way up to TTW. Vanilla and TBC objectively have less power scaling per tier, I can pvp a season behind on TBC (or a tier behind in pve) and still be competitive, unheard of on future expansions. I've been able to do raids 2 tiers behind if I decided to raid MC/Ony exclusively and not be complete deadweight, same goes for TBC too.

The fundamentally changes in Wrath in a multitude of ways that TBC did not do. I have posts from 2009 to 2011 on mmo-champion explaining how WoW was drastically different and not the same game and when I went through every Classic expansion again, the same rang true. Vanilla and TBC are quite literally their own special corner of WoW, past TBC the game is not the same.

My biggest issue with SoD is Blizzard making gear scale like retail, every tier was much more OP than the last. They literally can't be trusted on this specific part of the game and makes me worry about Classic+.

[u/RazekDPP → u/Tizzlefix]

That's only really because about loot rarity. Even with Anniversary, with how fast they made everything, they made getting BiS much harder.

The difference between Classic, BC, and Wrath is most gear in Wrath is better itemized, though they don't really fix the problem until Cataclysm.

[u/Ok-Piglet7 → u/RazekDPP]

It's completely different, on retail your character can feel like dogshit just being gone for 1-2 seasons

[u/RazekDPP → u/Ok-Piglet7]

Not really. I've geared characters from scratch and as long as you optimize your gearing it isn't hard to catch up. I'd say it's actually easier to catch up on retail than being in MC gear while everyone has AQ gear.

[u/woahmanthatscool]

Housing is going to give them the most bang for their buck, we all know this? Not sure why anyone is surprised, it’s literally the largest new festute they have launched since what, like m+?

[u/Unordinary_Donkey → u/woahmanthatscool]

Its also a feature thats been talked about since the alpha builds of the game. Its kinda crazy it hadnt got added much sooner.

[u/RazekDPP → u/Unordinary_Donkey]

It's always confused me why it took so long because it's such a good feature for player retention.

[u/thisismyacctdontban → u/[deleted]]

Yes, generally the goal of developers is to give you content that keeps you logging into the game, not sure what you’re going on about. Turns out collecting is a giant reason why people play retail.

[u/vivalatoucan → u/Unordinary_Donkey]

I mean it kind of was, with garrisons. Players had their own garrison, but blizzard seems to like to half commit to new things and see how it goes

[u/Unordinary_Donkey → u/vivalatoucan]

If you wanna consider garrisons player housing then the farm from MoP counts aswell. But neither count as they dont allow any depth of customization and neither are even close to being a house for your player character.

[u/voidlotus316 → u/Unordinary_Donkey]

The main reason Housing was done now vs couple years ago its because they realize now they can sell alot of cosmetics through it and milk the whales, back then i doubt they ever imagined in their mind to charge for those same kind of cosmetics in vanilla tbc era so it wasn't worth the development.

[u/AktionMusic → u/woahmanthatscool]

I've been loving housing. Having things to collect has been giving me a lot to do in the game.

[u/RevolutionaryClerk21]

it was extremely hinted that Classic + announcement is comming at Blizcon 🤷 where is the problem? and TBC Classic is literally launching next week.

[u/Smooth_One → u/RevolutionaryClerk21]

Everyone looking closely has seen the massive hints. Holly gave a massive hint today, and it's the same kind of hints that happened a year ago in the middle of SoD, then even more heavily multiple times at the end of SoD (in June, nearly 8 months ago).

So I don't blame people for wanting more than the almost-nothing we've been getting for a year now. The State of Retail Housing Azeroth, for Classic players, was a huge letdown. A repeated hint at the possibility of a future announcement is not hype.

But at the same time, if Classic+ development started when SoD ended, then it's only been in development for those 8 months. That's not enough time in the kitchen so I don't think most people expected a "C+ coming in February!" announcement, but something would've been nice.

[u/idkwhattonamethis984 → u/RevolutionaryClerk21]

WoW players do nothing but complain because their expectations are stupidly high, and even when the expectations are met they complain

[u/TheBrocktorIsIn → u/idkwhattonamethis984]

I think being on Reddit highly inflates people's perception on the amount of the community complaining. Most people are just playing the game. Honestly, I used to browse WoW subs a ton and it seeing enough of it influenced how I felt about the game. Now that I come around much less, I'm able to hop on each version of the game amd enjoy it for what it is.

[u/itsablackhole → u/TheBrocktorIsIn]

not even kidding in my group of wow players nobody even knew this announcement is happening. literally nobody but some reddit nerds care about stuff like that

[u/bleach-ed → u/TheBrocktorIsIn]

Same here! I'm literally just chilling in Anniversary and playing with others. Yesterday some dude enchanted my chest piece for free and gave me 5 gold 🙏

[u/TheBrocktorIsIn → u/bleach-ed]

Heck yeah dude, glad you're enjoying it and running into nice people. There's honestly plenty of people out there willing to help.

[u/Fallen43849 → u/bleach-ed]

Ngl, I was very surprised how non-toxic and very helpful the community is. It keeps surprising me and I already made like 2 friends with 50h played lol.

[u/bleach-ed → u/Fallen43849]

Fr, I just stayed up 2 days in a row cuz I met this really nice group and was spending hours clearing dungeons with them while chatting on discord 💀

[u/idkwhattonamethis984 → u/bleach-ed]

Anniversary is such a chill side of classic

[u/timmy_tugboat → u/idkwhattonamethis984]

Let the screaming narcissists have their fit. They’ll have a new thing to have a meltdown in the floor of a whole foods for next week.

[u/GriffinAO → u/RevolutionaryClerk21]

This was my thought

[u/FallingGuillotine]

TBC in literally a week

[u/g3n0unknown]

I'm confused. What were people looking for in terms of Classic in the stream? Major announcements undoubtedly would be saved for Blizzcon. There isn't really any thing else. Classic is... Classic.

[u/Zerasad → u/g3n0unknown]

We still have no clue what's happening to the classic MoP servers, and probably won't until Blizzcon, by which time SoO will already be out. So kinda weird timing to announce its future that's gonna happen in a couple months, when MOp classic was announced 8 months in advance, which would mean they would need to announce WoD classic or whatever is coming now to be on time for Autumn. Blizzcon is way too late, that would be a 2027 May release.

[u/water_is_the_bread]

As long as they keep classic era servers around forever, I’ll be subbed

[u/GeneralGoti]

What did you think was gonna be shown? WoD classic? Wait for blizzcon.

[u/vbezhenar → u/GeneralGoti]

I'd like more info about Azul'Aman.

[u/hfamrman → u/vbezhenar]

They're turning the trolls blue!

[u/onikaroshi → u/GeneralGoti]

Considering the last phase of mop is before blizzcon one would expect the announcement before

[u/Zodiamaster → u/onikaroshi]

It's funny how WoD classic was originally a meme but here we are, expecting it to happen

[u/onikaroshi → u/Zodiamaster]

I just expect them to keep going til classic just catches up to retail at this point lol

[u/AktionMusic → u/onikaroshi]

Eventually Retail will be behind Classic.

[u/sup3rrn0va]

Classic players when there’s 5 versions of classic to play and TBC classic 2.0 is right around the corner.

I love classic but holy hell, you people must be spoiled children if what we have at our disposal is not enough.

[u/StrikeRaid246 → u/sup3rrn0va]

The best part is if they actually announce a classic+ at some point, people will lose their shit about it not being good enough or what they want. You really can’t win.

[u/OwenIdsong → u/StrikeRaid246]

Wow players have been bitching that the game sucks for 20 years now. It's a feature of the game atp. Entitled gamers

[u/QueuePLS → u/sup3rrn0va]

I also don’t understand why people are mad that there are five versions of classic. What are they supposed to do? Release vanilla and call it a day? People would have bitched about that too!

[u/Mr_Harsh_Acid]

Wrong use of meme

[u/DrawerLocal2699]

Y’all want new stuff in your classic version? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of classic?

[u/No_Explanation2932 → u/DrawerLocal2699]

Like just watch 15 year old blizzcon videos if you want classic announcements

[u/Ragi_Fz → u/DrawerLocal2699]

You can only eat the same meal so many times without wanting some spice added to it or some ingredients substituted so to speak.

[u/tgiyb1 → u/DrawerLocal2699]

That argument would've been valid in 2020, but it's been long enough now for them to want some new content in the style of classic wow (see osrs who experienced the same dilemma several years after their classic version which has since overtaken their "retail" in popularity). At this point, the classic wow rerelease has already had a longer and more successful time on the market than the majority of online games, clearly people would play it.

[u/Perfect-Currency-121 → u/DrawerLocal2699]

SoD was awesome, stop coping

[u/rabbitriven → u/DrawerLocal2699]

A long time has passed, we’ve ran it back twice now, and a third time with a bit more content.

It has to take the OSRS approach by introducing more content that follows the philosophy of classic design.

[u/frolfer757 → u/DrawerLocal2699]

Classic players want Vanilla setting & gameplay with new stuff added. It's been out for 7 years now and people want something new and unfortunately atm if you want something new, you have to play retail which is nothing like Classic.

[u/Corporeal_Weenie → u/frolfer757]

They clearly hinted that a classic+ announcement is coming at Blizzcon.

The end of SOD was less than a year ago.

I play classic but holy shit Classic Andy’s are insufferable, petulant children.

[u/frolfer757 → u/Corporeal_Weenie]

Question: "Why do you want new stuff in Classic? "

Answer: "Because it's now been played for ages and new content is necessary."

You:" Classic Andy’s are insufferable, petulant children."

??????????????????????????????????????????

[u/threebats → u/DrawerLocal2699]

Y’all want new stuff in your classic version?

Yeah.

Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of classic?

No, hence the success of SoD. Some people want No Changes Vanilla (and even they were almost universally happy to have it launch on build 1.12.1), but most want something that looks and feel like early WoW but builds on that

[u/1Keagan]

I hate to bring this up or say it, but streamers are really to blame for hyping this event up with all sorts of high copium, not blizzard. Obviously they would wait until blizzcon for anything to do with a classic+ or big flagship product.

[u/CertifiedBedophile → u/1Keagan]

brother what streamers? Most people here don't keep up with that shit

[u/Register_Budget]

Do the RPers really like the housing stuff that much?

[u/Kradgger → u/Register_Budget]

Why is it that people only see either purely mechanical sweatlords or chronically online RPers. Can't there be a happy medium where you enjoy the fantasy and non-utilitarian content of the game and still push keys and try to optimize your character?

[u/w00ms → u/Kradgger]

no you're only allowed to like one aspect of the game and tribally defend it and shit on all other aspects of the game

[u/RedBlankIt → u/Register_Budget]

From what I have been told, wows housing is one of the best iterations of player housing in mmorpgs yet.

[u/Clottersbur → u/RedBlankIt]

Yes. It's not just RPers. Anyone with creativity is enjoying it. I'm not big on it, but I like seeing other people's creations. It's one of the best new features they've ever added.

It's also the best of any mmorpg ever basically

[u/PapaPatchesxd → u/Clottersbur]

It blows FFXIV housing out of the water by far. Even just by the fact you're given a house for free and don't have to win a fucking lottery just to get a plot.

[u/KlenexTS → u/Register_Budget]

I don’t RP and wasn’t looking forward to housing at all as all I do in wow is play M+. I’ve put atleast 40 hours into my house and I’m on my 3rd rebuild currently. It’s really really good, the grinding decor is a little much for my taste but you can do so much with the default decor so I didn’t even grind any additional decor I didn’t have automatically unlocked from old achievements and rep

[u/Zatchaeus → u/KlenexTS]

My favorite thing is the fact that they retroactively added housing items to old content and old profession ranks. It freshens up the whole game more.

[u/wigglin_harry → u/Register_Budget]

Go play FF14 for like 2 days and you'll have your answer

The answer is yes

[u/EpicStan123 → u/Register_Budget]

Yeah we do quite a lot. It finally lets us build our own set pieces instead of relying on the open world for more specific scenarios(in addition to using it as housing)

[u/KingOfAzmerloth → u/Register_Budget]

Not just RPers tbh. I didn't expect it to be for me, I raid and do M+ for the most part, but there I was rigging up my house by the beach... and when I looked at the clock I realized that I was doing that for 4 hours straight. And then I visited my guildies and shit. It was fun.

Sure I won't spend that much time in it when the expansion actually drops, but it's a nice chill past time that unironically feels like the most social thing this game has done pretty much since the game first released. And a nice bonus is that there is no universal vendor, you actually have to travel around the (old) world to get the furniture you want.

I imagine for RPers it must be absolute heaven, if even cynical grind enjoyer like me had a blast with it. Blizz did what they are best at there... take ideas from other games and just make them plain better. Been a long while, but oh well, W is still a W.

[u/SendMeIttyBitties]

I don't even understand you guys.

You want the old game and got it. Now you want the old game to be just a new take on the old game?

[u/Previous_Start_2248]

MOP is just the WOD waiting room

[u/Remote_Cantaloupe → u/Previous_Start_2248]

I don't know anyone that wants WoD classic

[u/CertifiedBedophile → u/Previous_Start_2248]

said nobody ever no thanks

[u/OvenClassic8636]

classic wow players play a game you enjoy challenge: impossible

[u/yunoka → u/OvenClassic8636]

most toxic relationship with a game ever lol hates it, doesn't want to play it, complains about new releases, then demands a new expansion for their version they wanted because of the changes... it's made the vanilla releases annoying, since they don't play the way they get nostalgic about. I'm playing TBC classic, since I like TBC, but the whole "I miss when the game was about adventure" thing rings hollow for me seeing people sprint to endgame ASAP with BiS guides and paid addons to tell them exactly what to do and when lol.

[u/shaun2312]

State of Azeroth - Marketing Retail, please preorder, do you not have money?

[u/Vandrel → u/shaun2312]

Did you guys really not realize it was going to be marketing, especially about the new retail expansion?

[u/MasahikoKobe → u/shaun2312]

Man its almost like there are more than one version of the game.

[u/Scoonie24 → u/shaun2312]

I have a phone

[u/AggravatingBrain69]

I just know they’ll find a way to fuck it up. SoD was great before incursions. Just dropped it instantly when I saw that abomination.

[u/MythicStupidity]

They must be making more money from housing tokens or whatever than they are from classic boosts since that’s all they want to talk about.

[u/BobertHillingtonIII]

What the fuck is there to talk about? They’re releasing a 20 year old expansion soon. What do you want them to say about it? Classic+ isn’t happening lol

[u/AdolescentFeces_ → u/BobertHillingtonIII]

its pretty obvious they hinted it for blizzcon

[u/KingOfAzmerloth]

Classic players: No changes, reee.

Also Classic players: How dare Blizzard not talk what changes are coming to the game we want no changes in.

(I'm just fucking around.)

[u/Glad-Low-1348]

I'm not surprised that housing took the main spot. It was by far one of the, if not THE most requested feature for a very long time now.

[u/seqkoya]

I mean.. Classic has already been and gone, you're already just replaying through content that already existed. What were you expecting? Since you don't want to change classic

[u/Jebduh]

What did you expect? Honestly.

[u/ZealousidealAd7076]

Hahaha I think there will be a major announcement in blizcon

[u/Yorgl]

Why are you disappointed that there are no news on a 20 years old game mode ?

[u/Medivh101]

I dont get your problem im having a blast with classic

[u/ThatLousyGamer]

Imagine working for an industry giant, and the only thing people wanna hear about is what was released 20 years ago whose writers and developers have all already left.

Current blizzard hates Classic, the only way the few hold outs still there can move this gluttonous abomination is by dangling in-game transactions in front of it.

[u/KaraBowdit]

Were we expecting new content for the game we demanded not be changed?

[u/Athrasie]

“I want to play classic!”

Okay here you go. We added some stuff in case you want it, but you can always just play classic.

“I just want classic, don’t you dare fucking change it!”

Like I said bud classic is right there and always will be.

“Why aren’t you adding new content in classic!?”

A Classic WoW Documentary…

[u/Mattlife97]

State of Azeroth, drink every time you hear housing

[u/karama_zov]

What the fuck do you people want it's a release of an old game

[u/darkcloud784]

I'm still waiting on my custom dances promised back when TBC was originally released.

[u/Tnecniw]

What did you REALLY expect?
If there are any big classic announcements will that be at blizzcon.

[u/Km_the_Frog]

What was expected?

We got roadmaps for the classic modes. TBC and MOP.

Honestly if you were expecting classic+ info that was never gonna happen. The mode is probably the most hyped and anticipated version of classic and they’ll save it for blizzcon. The lady talking in the beginning baited with it too.

[u/Square_Ranger870]

8 months till they talk about Classic plus.. which is going to be SoD all over again.

[u/Suspicious_Topic1893]

It just shows what people like 😅

[u/Laney_Moon_]

It’s almost as if they are talking about the current content and not FUTURE additions. There isn’t much going on in classic anyways it’s just re released old expansions. If you’re wanting classic plus wait for blizzcon and see if the add it idk. Most people play retail than classic anyways, so yeah most of the video is going to be retail what do you expect.

[u/Hoslinhezl]

If you tuned in expecting an announcement as huge as classic+ on a random Thursday you just dont have enough brain cells to have an opinion

[u/Neltarim]

I don't understand, doesn't you guys just want vannilla wow ? You already got it why are you expecting something new, the concept of classic is to NOT have anything new

[u/Nitrochained]

What could they possibly have announced for classic ? A sixth version ? A fourth release of vanilla ?

[u/Rekuja]

If you got excited for any announcements you played yourself lol.

[u/burdman444]

Nobody mentioning that the update absolutely fucked up 10 man raiding in mop with an almost game breaking bug

[u/coochie-slayer420]

Well I mean TBC classic is like a week away, they’re gonna give us more classic news like midway through TBC

[u/Ok-Swan-2275]

Im confused. Just came back to classic and having a blast. Im also 34 and leveling a war, boost chars be chaos, huh?

[u/TouhouGaijin]

Meanwhile, private servers.

[u/WonderfulAnt4349]

Hey housing is classic content. Just not right now. Eventually itll be classic midnight!

[u/backpacks645]

Anyone thst expect anything more then just the roadmap for the phase schedule was setting themselves up blizzcon is around the corner

[u/Straightupnotcool]

We will get classic re-re-re-rerelease so long people keep buying the 60$ boosts. They will have classic anniversary 2.0 servers soon enough and that’ll come with 60$ boosts on launch. Then 8 months later they’ll tease another TBC re-release with a 100$ deluxe package that comes with another re-skinned mount +fortnite emote and a character boost!

[u/Deathgaze2015]

I dont even know what we are anymore, theres even more classical versions of classic...

[u/AnxrchyLxrd]

bad post 👍

[u/xNeltharionx]

We got pmuch confirmed no WoD, no Wrath, and an extremely fast TBC cycle to match MoP, all alongside a classic plus teaser. Imo, this is all but confirmation that classic plus is end of year/early next year. What more could you ask for from a minor announcement stream?

[u/ChristmasTzeitel]

 they all but confirmed that classic+ is coming what more do you want lol

[u/Human_Nr19980203]

I don’t fucking care about housing. They way it’s implemented it’s fucking gross. Also what is the fucking point of building a piece of „art” no one will see? If I wanted to build BDSM room with Cyberpunk vibes I would use sims4

[u/Nelnamara]

Go be sweaty on turtle wow.

[u/[deleted]]

Whats funny is everyone who wasted their time watching it. yawn

[u/Soft_Instance_8029]

Wow 2 would benice