wow WoW Classic Content Plan: March 11th

[Stan 5,240]

At BlizzCon 2018, Blizzard unveiled the WoW Classic release content plan, which was supposed to have four stages. The Classic development team decided to change things around a bit based on feedback and as a result, WoW Classic will have six content stages.

Old Content Release Plan

Here's a snapshot of the content release plan from BlizzCon 2018 with four stages.

Here's the official post talking about WoW Classic having six stages. They've decided to hold off on Dire Maul, because it would have a bad impact on player progression. Zul'Gurub and Blackwing Lair won't unlock at the same time, and the Emerald Dragons will be available sooner than the opening of Ahn'Qiraj to give players the ability to farm nature resist gear. On March 1, the dev team talked about latest stages of Classic WoW development. The game is slated to release at some point this summer.

Blizzard (Source)

At BlizzCon 2018, we proposed a plan to give Classic four content phases. These were planned to be centered primarily on raid power progression.

Currently, based on both your feedback and our own deliberations, we’re now planning to increase it to six phases. Our focus is still primarily on player power-progression, but we’re also aiming to capture what it felt like to play in a realm community in original WoW. To do that, we’re planning to mirror the approach taken by original WoW, with patches paired together. We’ll launch Classic with content from original WoW through patch 1.2.x, then the second update will include content that was in original WoW 1.3 and 1.4, the third Classic update will have 1.5 and 1.6 content, and so on.

Our first phase primarily focuses on launching Classic with Onyxia and Molten Core, but we’ve decided to hold off on Dire Maul for a while. Maraudon is still in the first phase, because it was originally released on December 18, 2004, just two weeks after the first player hit level 60, but we recognize that Dire Maul is in a different category. Some of the loot that’s attainable from Dire Maul is so good that it would affect progression through those early raids. We’re also planning to hold off on releasing Kazzak and Azuregos at launch as well, for the same reasons.

The next change we’re targeting addresses two concerns. First, Zul’Gurub and Blackwing Lair unlocking at the same time would differ from how they originally came out, and it makes sense to not have gear and enchants from Zul’Gurub available during early progress into Blackwing Lair. Secondly, the Emerald Dragons should be available earlier than the opening of Ahn’Qiraj, as they give us a way to start preparing nature resist gear for some of the encounters in AQ.

Along the way, we’ve taken a close look at items that provide the biggest power gains, many of which were introduced in 1.10 as part of a sweeping dungeon itemization pass. That patch was when Tier 0.5 gear was introduced, and Relics were added to the drop tables of many bosses. It also adjusted drop rates and drop locations of a lot of gear (to make room for the Relics). We’ve gone back and reconstructed many of the most heavily affected drop tables as they existed prior to the 1.10 patch, and we’re planning to update the drop tables alongside the Ahn’Qiraj War Effort. Prior to the Ahn’Qiraj unlock, most of the drop rates and locations will look as they did in the patches prior to 1.10, with exceptions—there are lots of little changes made in earlier patches that don’t have a big effect on player power, and in those cases, we’re planning to use the 1.12 drop rates and locations.

One example of the many items we’re planning for is: Titanic Leggings, which is a world drop that first appeared in 1.10. We can confirm that it will be controlled by the same content unlock that restricts the other 1.10 loot changes.

Here’s what the release order currently looks like:

Phase 1 (Classic Launch)

• Molten Core
• Onyxia
• Maraudon

Phase 2

• Dire Maul
• Azuregos
• Kazzak

Phase 3

• Blackwing Lair
• Darkmoon Faire
• Darkmoon deck drops begin

Phase 4

• Zul’Gurub
• Green Dragons

Phase 5

• 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

• Naxxramas
• Scourge Invasion

We haven’t yet determined exactly when phases 2-6 will occur, and PvP content is notably missing from the list above. That’s because we’re still evaluating our options regarding PvP rewards, as they also changed over time (both in power and in terms of which PvP reward items were available).

While we can’t elaborate on every detail of every step we’re going to take (yet), we’re here reading all of your questions and we’re going to keep the answers coming.

Thank you!

[Sharknad0 67]

This is amazing! They are doing the right things. It is not perfect, but this is exactly what I was hoping to see announced. The fact that they are listening and making changes for the better is definitely encouraging. Way to go Blizz! I am seriously back to hype mode.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Sharknad0

[ThomasC 65]

Its really cool that Blizz is doing this and really smart business strategy, but given all the hype I am worried people are going to be let down by this. I dont think a lot of people are accurately remembering vanilla WoW or all of the quality of life enhancements that have been implemented in the last decade.

What i remember from is classic is literally taking 6 months to get a character to max level,  3 hours trying to just fill a 15 man UBRS group because LFG didnt exist yet, not being able to experience any raids after BWL because there werent any catch up mechanics, and a very difficult to piece together story. Half the specs werent viable, only tank was prot warrior. Prot pallies/Bears didnt become a thing until TBC. Dailies werent put into the game late TBC as well, so the only way to really make gold was from farming/crafting and playing the AH. 

Ive gotten used to the way the game plays now and vanilla isn't my cup of tea anymore, and I sincerely hope the people who play the game arent turned off by it.

 

 

[lolblizzard 38]

after all those layoff news no one even thought about classic anymore.. but yea maintance mode cash grab inc. people will still pay for this even if the actual xpac is garbage. smart blizz really smart

[PatrickHenry 293]

15 minutes ago, lolblizzard said:

...

3 posts to your name and all about how trash blizzard is with cash grabs or shitty gameplay.

Nice try troll, nice try.

Gotta be quicker next time.

[Sharknad0 67]

43 minutes ago, ThomasC said:

Its really cool that Blizz is doing this and really smart business strategy, but given all the hype I am worried people are going to be let down by this. I dont think a lot of people are accurately remembering vanilla WoW or all of the quality of life enhancements that have been implemented in the last decade.

What i remember from is classic is literally taking 6 months to get a character to max level,  3 hours trying to just fill a 15 man UBRS group because LFG didnt exist yet, not being able to experience any raids after BWL because there werent any catch up mechanics, and a very difficult to piece together story. Half the specs werent viable, only tank was prot warrior. Prot pallies/Bears didnt become a thing until TBC. Dailies werent put into the game late TBC as well, so the only way to really make gold was from farming/crafting and playing the AH. 

Ive gotten used to the way the game plays now and vanilla isn't my cup of tea anymore, and I sincerely hope the people who play the game arent turned off by it.

 

 

Nostalgia is what a lot of people are after, and many of those won't stick around for long. The people that will stick around are those like myself. They played for the social interaction and not for a mindless "let the game do everything for you so you don't ever have to speak to anyone". There are definitely things I enjoy about the current QOL aspects of the game, but I enjoyed Vanilla more. Leveling may have been long, but it was fun and challenging. Long periods of leveling suck now because they are mindless and tedious. Played private server for a few years and enjoyed every minute of that. People who started after Wrath will try it to see what they missed, and probably won't last, but there will be enough of those who enjoyed the social aspects of the game to keep it lively on at least a few servers. The way BFA is going though, I wouldn't be surprised to see a pretty good player base in vanilla for quite a while.

[Bwonramzi 7]

will molten core etc be 40 man raid? or less like its today?

[Calysia 229]

14 hours ago, Bwonramzi said:

will molten core etc be 40 man raid? or less like its today?

It will be what it was in Classic.

[jinsu2301 273]

17 hours ago, lolblizzard said:

maintance mode cash grab inc.

if they were transitioning to maintanance mode, they would be laying off developers, not customer support. stop talking out of your *filtered*.

[Badadada 184]

17 hours ago, Bwonramzi said:

will molten core etc be 40 man raid? or less like its today?

The numbers, the strategies, the gear remains the same. However - I don't think you can get people to still run around like headless chicken after playing the game for 15 years, and the aid of sophisticated addons is there too, so I believe only some select bosses will actually require a full raid group. In Molten Core there weren't many of those - a few weeks after launch a decent 30man pug  should be able to clear MC. BWL, AQ40 and Naxx will be the big obstacles.

[Seksi 208]

The current game is certainly way harder, and players have improved vastly since then.

Still, vanilla has its own perks and worthwhile grind to be had, its not like you just level to max and instantly clear Naxx the next day, looking forward to Classic WoW "release"!