Official Classic Server Forums Aflame in Class Balance Debate - World of Warcraft - MMORPG.com

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Official Classic Server Forums Aflame in Class Balance Debate - World of Warcraft - MMORPG.com

World of Warcraft News - The World of Warcraft classic server forums are on fire with several threads being closed due to toxicity. The flames erupted after one of the WoW community team members opened a discussion about the possibility that classes would perhaps undergo some type of balance tweaking for the upcoming classic version of the game. Community manager Ythisens stated his personal opinion that the discussion of class balance in WoW classic was a worthy discussion.

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KalebGrayson

I played in Classic. I was there when the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj opened (though I was disconnecting constantly since the entire server was there too). I have no plans to return to the Classic servers, but, in my opinion, it's not Classic if you make changes to it, right? If you make the changes then perhaps change the name to WoW Classic, Vanilla with a swirl of Strawberry?

Jakdstripper

Well its only fitting that Classic WoW forums be classic in every WoW way....and nothing is more classic W oW than class balance rage :-D

acidblood

If it's only minor power adjustments to certain skills I wouldn't be opposed to it (and honestly wouldn't know the difference), but functional changes are a big no. As for QoL, UI improvements would be welcome (WoW classic had a terrible UI, saved only by mod support), but the rest should be as it was; i.e. no such thing as Dungeon / Raid Finder, slow leveling speed, walking (and in some cases fighting) your way to instance entrances, etc.

rodingo

I guess I have been living under a rock lately. I had no idea Blizzard was actually going to start working on classic servers. Not that it will effect me. I only played "classic" WoW back in the day for the two faction open world pvp. Could care less about raiding progression if that's what the big draw for classic is.

Caffynated

Changing fundamental class design or skill function would ruin the classic feel, but tweaking numbers to make the game fair and enjoyable for everyone is still going to be important. Sticking to the exact balance that was there in Vanilla would be like putting a crash or exploit back in the game because it was there in 2004.

Rich84

If they make changes then its not classic/vanilla and therefore no point in making it at all.

Kyleran

KalebGrayson said:

I played in Classic. I was there when the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj opened (though I was disconnecting constantly since the entire server was there too). I have no plans to return to the Classic servers, but, in my opinion, it's not Classic if you make changes to it, right?

If you make the changes then perhaps change the name to WoW Classic, Vanilla with a swirl of Strawberry?

Not true, something can have a classic look and feel but not be an identical copy.

An analogy, recently on a vacation to Cuba i rode in a couple of their "classic" American auto taxis. While on the outside they appeared to be 57 Chevys and Fords, their internals had long since been replaced with European and Asian parts.

Two interesting points I think is a majority appears clearly in favor of leaving the balance as it originally was yet Blizzard feels its still worthy of discussion

More important, nothing is set in stone regarding classic so changes are possible.

Avarix

Changing the skills or removing them, no. Changing the numbers behind those skills, yes.

ConstantineMerus

Why Blizzard why warrior so power? I work hard in work then I come home work hard in game then warrior 2 hit I die? Why?

winghaven1

I say wait until post launch when people start making suggestions themselves

BruceYee

If it isn't almost an exact copy of vanilla I doubt many people will stick with it.

deniter

Lots of the balance issues and many bugs and glitches were recognized by Blizzard when vanilla was current content back in 2004-2006. However, according to an official statement from Blizzard's side they didn't have plans to fix most of them until the first expansion (TBC) went live.

This means they knew that something was broken or didn't work as intended, so we didn't get a gaming experience we should have had. If they want to fix that stuff now 12-13 years later for classic content i'm okay with it as long as the fixes are what they wanted to do back in retail vanilla.

Regarding class balance issues, we should remember that current playerbase are not familiar with the concept of having separate talent specs for different kind of content. Every spec should be viable for raiding, thanks to class homogenization and raid or die -philosophy Blizzard have adopted of lately. Nonetheless, i'm sure there was something they wanted to do about it but, again, decided to change it with the first expansion (TBC). Having them fixed now as they should have had back then would be okay for me.

TL;DR

I'll be quite happy if we'll end up having an exact copy of classic WoW with all its flaws and weaknesses, but i'd accept some tweaking here and there if it's something they considered to do back in retail vanilla.

Herase

Meh, I very much doubt allowing a few more classes to be viable at end-game will completely ruin it. That didn't make Vanilla, for me anyways. 

Rusque

If people are serious about wanting to play vanilla WoW, then that's exactly what they should get. They shouldn't get balance changes or quality of life improvements. They should get the classic experience.

If you play a pally you don't get to dps, tank, or heal. You buff and rebuff all day. That's it. Oh and you auto attack while leveling.

If you play a warlock you delete your character.

If you play a hunter you get all the weapons and aggro all the mobs.

If you play a shaman, you heal in pve and one-shot people with frostshock in pvp.

If you play a mage you make water, sheep, and spec fire. You also macro "OOM" to #1.

If you play a druid, you are resto and OOM within 10 seconds. Innervate is reserved for the priest.

If you play a priest you are holy. And a dwarf/undead.

If you play a warrior you are prot. Get 4 stacks of sunder asap. In pvp you are rooted the entire match while looking at your Mortal Strike button longingly, you just want to press it one time, just one. But you can't.

If you play a rogue everyone hates you, but you win cause you're a skilled ninja and they're all noobs.


If you want to raid you need to hire an administrative assistant to book everyone's calendars for the same night. Then you spend 4-6 hours waiting on people to use the bathroom, random conversations that don't stop, and DKP or loot councils that ensure you won't get loot for the next year, and when you do, it will be bracers.

If you want to pvp, you either join the pvp collusion ring that account shares and play a chosen character 24/7 in weekly rotations in order to hit GM, or you just play what you can and hit a wall. Unless you're capable of staying up all day every day for a month or so (and don't have a job).

Lawlmonster

Man, the Light's Hope private server is a mess of public debate regarding this topic in just about every populaced zone. Everyone thinks they have the answers, and it's certainly fun to speculate (at least for me), but I'm not sure it'll make much of a difference in regards to who will subscribe and who won't. It's obvious to me now that Blizzard won't kill private servers with an official without some form of due diligence, but I think it is seriously going to reduce their populations. And that's probably a good thing.

I'm chomping at the bit to see what sort of announcement they make in regards to what stays or what they change, but I'm pretty set on subscribing again regardless. I'm more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Kyleran

BruceYee said:

If it isn't almost an exact copy of vanilla I doubt many people will stick with it.

Even if it is, they won't stick with it. People eventually get bored if the content never changes.

I raided Molten Core and BWL until my eyes bled, not terribly interested in revisiting that experience. 

Elsabolts

Kyleran said:

KalebGrayson said:

I played in Classic. I was there when the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj opened (though I was disconnecting constantly since the entire server was there too). I have no plans to return to the Classic servers, but, in my opinion, it's not Classic if you make changes to it, right?

If you make the changes then perhaps change the name to WoW Classic, Vanilla with a swirl of Strawberry?

Not true, something can have a classic look and feel but not be an identical copy.

An analogy, recently on a vacation to Cuba i rode in a couple of their "classic" American auto taxis. While on the outside they appeared to be 57 Chevys and Fords, their internals had long since been replaced with European and Asian parts.

Two interesting points I think is a majority appears clearly in favor of leaving the balance as it originally was yet Blizzard feels its still worthy of discussion

More important, nothing is set in stone regarding classic so changes are possible.

No way am I gonna pass this up Kyleran, How's your hearing, lol 

Kyleran

Herase said:

Meh, I very much doubt allowing a few more classes to be viable at end-game will completely ruin it. That didn't make Vanilla, for me anyways. 

It's been quite a while,  but I don't recall any classes from being excluded from raiding, all were necessary. 

Now if you are speaking about the spec lines, I wouldn't mind seeing some flexibilty so more than one was viable,  but I don't see Blizz changing that much.

Galadourn

Well, I am positive to some tweaks here and there if that means the designated class role is better served. If, i.e. you tweak some numbers behind existing skills and talents you can achieve better balance, you don't have to introduce new skills or talents to do that. (which is quite disruptive in many ways)

Galadourn

DMKano said:

Funny to see purists who want 100% same vanilla experience with all the known problems and still wanting zero changes.

lol

Its not gonna happen. Blizzard will change it up, we dont know to what extent but there will be changes.

and, if i may add, there SHOULD be changes

Xarko

I realize changing talents in significant way might ruin "muh vanilla" for some, but mere number tweaks are not enough to fix the mess that were vanilla talents.

Blizzard has to make a very difficult choice, whether they fix things and piss off purists or keep them "broken" to make it more vanilla, but have half the specs raid non-viable.

Galadourn

I think we can all agree that whatever happens with balancing by Blizzard, the first iteration of Classic should be 1.12 with the content progressively rolled out over a 1.5-2 year period. Then we 'll see what happens.

TalulaRose

The people who would play on the Vanilla server already accepts the game as it was. The good and the bad.

If Blizzard makes changes then doesn't it stop being vanilla and become something in between vanilla and the current build?

Sounds like to me we are in this marketing world of redefining common ideas for $$.

"Hey, lets call it vanilla, but the game mechanics will be of the current version....minus some of the later content....and we get to charge for it.

Dreycraft

It's only Classic if everything is the same, and that includes the UI. Even if they change the "horrible" UI, then it's not classic imo. That's why i was turned off from Everquest Classic, once I had read that it wouldn't even have the original character models(which I loved, I miss my massively fat and blocky Ogre), I heard enough and I passed on it because it isn't the same. But I'm glad this is finally happening, then all these delusional players will finally realize that Vanilla WoW was in no way, shape, or form as amazing as they always claim. Besides the few incredibly hard-headed and stubborn players who refuse change, it will be good for not much else than some nostalgia. I'll check it out for nostalgia alone, I miss the original world, music and not being able to fly. But aside from that, I won't play it seriously because I remember Vanilla was not that spectacular, and I was there from launch. Also the fact is that it just won't play the same either, WoW players are a lot different than they were back then, and even if they keep the game identical to what it was, the players themselves will play it differently, and it just won't be the same.

Shinobe

Private Vanilla Servers have several 10.000 active account cus they are F2P, not cus its vanilla WoW. As said above many times, ppl will rush the server and lose interest very fast anyway ><