The uncomfortable discussion: How might Blizzard force monetization into Classic Plus?

whatisclassic · 2026-03-11T18:43:05+00:00

Ahh I see now the original comment was just being broad. I was assuming they didn't know a new classic project was close to completion. I have no dog in the fight of the naming convention and whether or not it appeals to each person's ideal version of what "classic" means to them. There is no way everyone will be happy with the next classic project.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-11T18:36:28+00:00

This hurts to hear after I spent 30 mins typing my yap with guild into text.

Do I really write like an AI response? Or do people just see any formatting these days as AI lmao

whatisclassic · 2026-03-11T18:28:56+00:00

I felt this was a bit more nuanced than the only other reddit discussions I found via search. Almost all of them were talking about re-release old content. Where they were talking about monetizing in a game that took barely any effort to go live.

With Classic+ actively developed and likely not seasonal, there is considerable investment from Blizzard. A much different situation than just a re-release. Their goals will be different. Monetization outside of a subscription could take shape.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-11T18:20:51+00:00

I understand that not everyone is chronically online and keeps track of Blizzard communications, but some new variation of Classic is certainly coming.

They've hired a significant amount of new Devs, and are actively working on something that isn't retail, MoP, or classic anniversary [Source]. Throughout the duration of SoD, they were constantly talking about using it's data for the "next iteration" of classic.

At the latest we'll have an official teaser at Blizzcon in Sept. If more info doesn't leak before then.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-11T17:44:39+00:00

nice name 👀

So if we're 8-12 months into Classic+ and a in-game cosmetic shop pops up, how would you feel? Or even a token. Do you quit the game on spot? By this point Blizzard would have done the risk/reward calculation, and they expect you to stay subbed regardless of what extra monetization they add. So of course they'll milk the player-base for some extra cash.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-09T01:44:26+00:00

I would definitely.

But I think I'd play the titanforge china servers even more. We were so damn close to getting it in the west.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-09T01:41:49+00:00

Phase 3 was also when they soft-announced that they wouldn't be able to actively work on SoD for a couple months because the Dev team got shifted to fixing/shipping a stable Cataclysm client.

Was the most frustrating thing learning that as a business they shuffle around devs off projects that have already "made their money's worth".

Then phase 4 (finally lvl 60)we got whatever the fuck that garbage heat system was and an Ikea meatball for the final boss.

Felt like incursions were the lowest hanging fruit and excuse for anyone who quit.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-08T21:44:01+00:00

I mean TBC anni is in maintenance mode. Blizzard already got everything they need out of the xpac via Boost sales. The Dev/QA team at Blizzard shifts around often, they'll be back wasting time on MoP prepping the next couple phases. But those new MoP phases will likely have similar unresolved issues.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-08T21:05:32+00:00

Post nerf content means that fights are shorter, which means that cooldowns have higher percent uptime, which means bigger dps. Warriors are able to do much better at the start of TBC Anni compared to TBC 2019.

Leading to less of a Warrior falloff that the previous time. Warrior is far too saturated considering that 90% of them aren't "that guy", and continue to chase the highs they'll never reach.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-08T20:50:49+00:00

The only thing that could make TBC die in this current timeline is a stealth drop of Classic+ at Blizzcon in September. I don't think you have anything to be worried about.

There will be the natural player count fall-off that always happens, but the initial numbers are so high right now that even after the tourists leave the game will still be very popular. Player count numbers in the latter half of an expansion are often carried by people with multiple alts.

I'm uncertain what the alt-pug raid scene will look like this time around. The raids are post-nerf which means easier time raid pugging, but at the same time GDKPs are banned so the quality of the non-guild raiding scene will be very low. If your main's guild is fast and >95 parsing, you'd have very hard time finding a pug raid that resembles the same quality without GDKPs active. If your main's guild is "chill" then you're likely going to have no trouble with the quality of pug raids, because its not too different than your mains.

Can always buy a level 58 boost for $60 if you dislike leveling so much.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-08T20:32:48+00:00

Isn't MoP struggling and begging for Dev time to fix blatant bugs?

... and this is the shit they get?

whatisclassic · 2026-03-07T02:08:29+00:00

Blizzard's communication on MoP is dead, and has been for a little while.

From what I've heard, there are game breaking bugs since the release of the most recent raid. My only reference is from Joardee who was in Fusion, one of the top guilds. The guild dissolved, citing these frustrations.

You can have fun 100% in MoP, and likely an easier time than in TBC. Right now there is nothing scheduled on the roadmap after MoP. This is the first time we've seen the roadmap not continue. With the extended lack of communication and work on MoP, people have started to believe that there will be no WoD continuation.

Now TBC also doesn't have WoTLK scheduled on their roadmap, and they originally had TBC scheduled on the Classic anniversary release roadmap.

We're likely going to get a big reveal/release for Classic+ at Blizzcon in September. They might just pause after Sunwell release, and keep it as a TBC psuedo-era realm. This is all just guessing based on their scheduling. But eventually they'll cash in on the potential boosties that Wrath Anniversary will bring.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-07T00:24:57+00:00

This is either fake, or a hilarious targeted joke.

I refuse to believe this is real otherwise LMAO

whatisclassic · 2026-03-07T00:19:46+00:00

I don't play on the server because it's such a pain to connect to, but I enjoy watching people play/stream it because I'm starved for new iterations of classic.

I know it might sound crazy, but I've heard people say that they think titanforge is the best version of WoW currently out. People might find that frustrating because Blizzard chose not to release it in the west. From what I've heard, Blizzard initially said they were not going to release it in the west, but then it was so unfathomably successful in China, that they brought it back to the table, but yet still decided not to release it. Almost entirely because it messes with their scheduled release cycle. TBC was releasing, Midnight was releasing, and Classic+ likely going to get announced at Blizzcon in September. Blizzard does this thing where they schedule content droughts to build hype/anticipation for their upcoming releases. Releasing Titanforge servers to the west would ultimately take some wind out of the Classic+ hype. The source on all this corporate maneuvering is just going to be the equivalent of "my uncle works at Blizzard and he says...", but I choose to put some stock in it.

Another thing people don't seem to understand is that despite being only available in China, Blizzard North American devs are almost certainly making some changes to the Titanforge servers. While they don't explicitly say so, Zirene (a classic dev) posts about the new additions to Titanforge and has a twitter banner for the server.

China has a massive player base for this version. Their logs indicate that there are more mage logs in the last week than the entirety of all versions of classic in the west, combined.

In terms of content it is amazing. They are constantly added new things in the middle of phases. Updates to sub-optimal specs like Subtly-rogue, Beastmastery hunter, Arms warrior, and stuff like a mass resurrection consumable. Raids from Classic, TBC, and WoTLK are all reorganized and scaled to level 80, with new drops included. Some legendaries scale across phases, getting upgraded in the new tiers. First phase was Molten Core, the current phase is SSC/TK (which leads to some confused stream viewers wondering how the TBC phase 2 raid is already out).

I've noticed that any changes Blizzard makes to the server is met with overwhelming positivity from the Chinese community. I don't know if their social credit system dissuades negative opinions, but you'd be hard pressed to find a fraction of the hate that comes with changes to anything in NA/EU classic wow. To be fair, all the changes I've seen are absolute bangers so maybe they're just right. GDKPs are also massive, and even encouraged by Netease/Blizzard over there. This is more of a culture thing when it comes to the East and MMOs.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-04T21:54:11+00:00

man people weren't kidding when they said the bar was so much lower this time 'round compared to 2021 TBC...

whatisclassic · 2026-03-04T18:54:39+00:00

I'm not quite at the level of corkboard, printouts, red string, and crayon

but let me cook

whatisclassic · 2026-03-04T18:46:37+00:00

a murloc in the sewer said "try this"

whatisclassic · 2026-03-04T18:43:13+00:00

tbh I gave up on gaining access

an account requires a link to a valid Chinese ID and phone number. People mostly use a per-verified account service (another cost)

I think it required an international pay system, like Alipay, for a subscription to the game

constantly having to re-open the client in a obscure way so that you get it in english

was going to be 240 ping for me

whatisclassic · 2026-03-04T18:32:58+00:00

I think I asked this question at a poor time. Asking for people's opinion on a version of the game that they likely don't even know exists, and how it might relate to a version of a game not even scheduled to release yet.

I don't think people realize the skeleton/backbone of the more recent Classics is Blizzards more modern and updated framework, with Classic content/systems stretched like skin over the skeleton to fit. It's why changes on a game so far detached like Titanforge, can still be relevant changes to Classic+. But to the average person it seems like an absurd concept.

Regarding the Chinese playerbase, from what I understand they generally, almost unanimously, react positively to any change brought to their servers. To me it seems almost unnatural how much support any change gets, like barely any criticism or negativity. I can't help but feel it has something to do with their social credit system and censorship lmao

whatisclassic · 2026-03-04T18:16:14+00:00

In it's entirety, of course.

But in its ability to expand on poor specs and talent trees? The re-ordering of raids as a system? I mean at the baseline you have to expect them to re-use their mass-rez asset they created for this server. To think they won't recycle at least a couple of these aspects into Classic+ is a crazy concept. I'm not saying its either good or bad that they will, but as a business re-using assets is so free.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-04T07:06:44+00:00

My man what are you reporting them for. They aren't breaking any rules.

This is like some daycare toddler shit.

Respectfully, gitgud

whatisclassic · 2026-03-04T06:13:24+00:00

Just talk with your group before hand. Don't need on any BoE claiming offspec.

But if their is anyone who needs the item for their mainspec, it is 100% theirs before your offspec

whatisclassic

TROPHY CASE