What we know so far about Classic WoW

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• Classic Will launch in Summer of 2019
• The client will not run on 32bit systems.
• Accessibility options such as colorblind will be present
• Right click-Report a player will be enabled
• Battle.net chat will be integrated into Classic.
• Loot trading will be enabled (You can trade BoP items within 2 hours after someone got the loot)
• Latest Macros and Addon interface will be used in Classic
• Classic Will require an active subscription (15usd)-We'll be able to pay with WoW token but we got no more info about it
• Private servers devs are not evolved on in development of Classic WoW
• Pve Content will be released in 4 Stages

Stage 1: Molten Core, Onyxia, Diremaul, Azuregos and Kazzak.
Stage 2: Blackwing Lair, Battlegrounds and PVP Rewards, and Zul'Gurub.
Stage 3: Ahn'Qiraj, Silithus content, Green Dragons, and Tier 0.5 gear.
Stage 4: Naxxramas and the Scourge Invasion event.
(( Molten Core and Onyxia will be there at launch along with Dire Maul, and the World bosses Kazzak and Azuregos. ))
(( The formal PvP rewards system will not be there at launch because they overshadow early raid gear. ))

FROM BLIZZCON 2018 Q&A :

Q: Will the items found in WoW Classic be moggable on Live? Items?
A: No, they will not be. Those ecosystems will be separate.

Q: With CRZ and Phasing off the table for classic wow, how will you deal with population concerns?
A: Currently there is sharding on Classic WoW Demo, this is a special case. We understand sharding it antithetical to the feel of Classic WoW. But we may use sharding in the first couple weeks but we understand that doesn't work well with World Firsts, etc.

Q: Classic - are we staying on this patch forever or will it get an expansion?
A: Right now we're trying to restore 2006. Once the game is out there next summer we'll listen to the players and do what's right for the game but we'll have to see.



LINKS
Blizzcon 2018 Restoring History Panel
Blizzcon 2018 WoW Classic Interview
Patch 1.13?!
Dev Watercooler: World of Warcraft Classic

---INTERVIEWS---

Forbes Interview with Allen Brack (Executive producer)
GamePlanet Interview with Jeremy Feasel (Senior Game Designer) and Ray Cobo (Lead Game Producer)
PC Gamer Interview with Allen Brack
EuroGamer interview with Allen Brack
MMOChampion invterview with Steve Burke (Senior Designer)
GameSpot Interview with John Hight

 

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Classic Update (1/3/2019)
BLUE POST BY KAIVAX (Community Manager)

Hello Classic enthusiasts! We’ve been following the discussions about Classic closely here on the forums (and elsewhere) throughout the winter, and wanted to give you an update on a few things that the Classic development team has worked through since BlizzCon and the Classic demo.
The feedback we got from the demo was fantastic. Thank you to everyone who gave us so much feedback to work with, especially the community members who compiled lists of issues that people found with the demo. We’ve looked at everything that was reported, and want to share a few anecdotes with you so you can see how we’re tackling these issues.
One thing many players noticed was the incorrect health regeneration and the spell critical hit multiplier. Good catch! Going into the demo, we thought we’d fixed that and were surprised to see the issue crop up. Before BlizzCon, we specifically checked health and mana regeneration, and fixed the critical hit cases. We also did combat and regeneration tests to make sure we had those accurate.
It turns out that there was a discrepancy between how Classic was configured on our environment at the office (correct!) and the environment serving the demo to you (not correct…). Tracking that down taught us how to best check our environment configuration as we prepare it for launch.
Another issue players reported was that Warlock demon summoning was broken – lots of players said that you shouldn’t lose your current demon until the new one appears. We double-checked and in the original 1.12 WoW, and there, as soon as you started summoning a new demon, your existing demon disappeared. So the demo actually matched how the game played originally. There were a few other reports – such as “rare mobs do way less damage” and “Kobolds at Jangolode Mine run faster than walking speed when running away” – where we were able to confirm that the gameplay was the same in the demo as in the original 1.12 WoW.
It’s important to point out that there are some bugs we’re going to fix before launch, and there are some bugs that we don’t intend to address. As we mentioned in our BlizzCon presentation, some differences aren’t worth fixing, like differences in how the mail works. Nonetheless, we’ve fixed some fairly high-priority issues:

• Critical Strike rating: Each item now “Improves your chance to get a critical strike by X%.”
• Rogue Energy didn’t work right: it was both benefiting from melee haste and re-calculating more often than it was supposed to. Both issues were fixed.
• Slow Fall no longer applies to your jumps.
• You again get pushback when hit by ranged attacks and wands.
• Dodge, Parry, and Miss were all not happening often enough.

That’s not all we’ve done, of course, but we want to give you an idea of what we’re prioritizing: core game systems, combat, and content. We’ve spent time on other things such as user interface and making sure graphics “feel” like they used to, but our primary focus is on gameplay.
Again, we’re following all of your discussions and loving your enthusiasm – and we’re going to get more information for you posted here soon (not soon™).
Thank you, and get ready for a Classic Summer!

 

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Classic Content Plan Update (11/3/2019)
BLUE POST BY KAIVAX (Community Manager)
Original Post Here

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!

 

[LabyrinthINC]

Wow looking forward to it. thank you very much for sharing

 

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First PvP Update (19/3/19)
Alterac Valley in Classic WoW by Kaivax (Community Manager)
ORIGINAL POST HERE

This is a subject that has been asked about several times recently and we want to clarify some of the details surrounding it. Like many aspects of the game, Alterac Valley was tuned and adjusted in different ways from patch to patch in 2005-2006.
First and foremost, we’re planning to use the 1.12 version of Alterac Valley. For many parts of the game like this, we’re picking an original WoW patch that gives us the most clarity for WoW: Classic, and 1.12 is that patch.
In Alterac Valley, that puts us before the introduction of reinforcements. It puts us before the removal of all of the Commanders and Lieutenants. The only win conditions are the killing of Drek’thar in Frostwolf Keep or Vanndar Stormpike in Dun Baldar.
It gives us several early improvements to the BG that we’re glad to have in place. Early on in AV, there were too many NPCs and they were too hard to kill. By 1.12, many had been removed and NPC health was brought down to a reasonable level. Turning in armor scraps is an encouraged, supportive activity by this point. Many capture points (mostly graveyards) had been moved away from their initial placements to gain better balance across the map. Korak the Bloodrager was removed, and killing opposing players no longer drops items like Dwarf Spines, Orc Teeth, or Human Bone Chips. Gross.
In our content plan update 780, we mentioned that we’re still working out exactly how and when PvP elements of Classic will roll out. We’ll update you on that here very soon.

 

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Loot trading in Classic WoW (22/3/19)
Blue post by Kaivax (Community Manager)
ORIGINAL POST HERE


At BlizzCon 2018, we talked about how we plan to keep loot trading in World of Warcraft Classic. We added loot trading in Wrath of the Lich King to solve a common problem: a player could accidentally loot an item meant for another player or give it to the wrong person using Master Loot. They would then have to contact Blizzard to get the item moved to the intended recipient, which might take days. We wanted to keep loot trading in WoW Classic because the end result is the same – the correct person gets the item – and it’ll save everyone time.
But we heard your concerns about the potential for abuse of the loot trading system in parties of five. It’s possible that abusive play could take the form of a group of four players colluding to deny loot to a stranger who joined their party as a pick-up. Raid groups, being much larger, come with more understanding on the part of solo players that loot distribution can depend on the whims of the many players and raid leaders who know each other.
Taking that into consideration, we’ve decided that the two-hour loot trading system in WoW Classic will only apply to soulbound gear that drops in raids. Soulbound loot that drops in five-person content will not be tradeable at any time. What we hope to do is to strike a balance between saving players time and minimizing the potential for abuse of the system. We think this approach better addresses the concerns we’ve heard from players on the subject.


WHAT ABOUT UBRS? (23/3/19)
Kaivax (Community Manager):

The answer to the UBRS question is: loot trading will be available in content that has a raid lock. UBRS will not have a raid lock.
A big part of loot trading (in a 2-hour window) as a solution to a concern is that raid locks require you to wait a week (or 3 days) before you can try again for the loot that was accidentally given to the wrong person.

 

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Spell Batching in Classic WOW! (28/3/19)
Blue post by Kaivax (Community Manager)
ORIGINAL POST HERE

Since we first announced World of Warcraft Classic, we’ve seen questions about spell batching. While we never really eliminated spell batching in WoW, we did change how (and how often) we process batches of actions coming from players, so you’re less likely to notice that processing in today’s game. We’ve been working to ensure that in WoW Classic, the gameplay of activating spells and effects will not differ from the experience of playing original WoW.


It was relatively common in the original game to see a warrior Pummel a mage who simultaneously and successfully Polymorphed the warrior. The mage suffered Pummel damage but no spell-school lock, because the mage didn’t get interrupted. This could seem paradoxical, but it could happen because the Pummel and Polymorph were both in the same batch, and were both valid actions at the start of the batch. For the most part, things like that don’t happen in modern WoW, but they still can. We’ve made improvements to batch frequency, and the game is much more responsive than it used to be. Still, if you manage to get both a Pummel and a Polymorph into a tiny processing window in modern WoW, you’ll experience the same behavior as in original WoW.


As with many other areas of WoW Classic, authenticity is our primary concern. It used to be the norm that combat flow and PvP balance were defined and tuned in a game where spell messages were resolved less frequently. There was a single game loop that processed all messages sent and received every server tick. Nowadays, the game processes multiple loops for messages of differing priorities. Spell casts are high priority, and have been for a long time.


For WoW Classic, we’re moving spell casts to a low-priority loop that will cause them to be processed at the frequency that best fits how the game actually played in version 1.12. Two mages will be able to Polymorph each other somewhat reliably, resulting in two sheep nervously pacing around at range. Two warriors will be able to Charge one another, and the end result will be both warriors standing stunned in each other’s original location.


We think it’ll be fun to see those sorts of things happening again

 

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No blue post this week...

 

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Classic PvP Content Plan (9/4/19)
Blue post by Bornakk (Community Manager)
ORIGINAL POST HERE



Since we broke down the six phases of content that we’ll be rolling out for Classic, we’ve heard the increase in requests for PvP details so we wanted to get you up to speed on our plans there.
As was the case when World of Warcraft originally launched in 2004, there won’t be a formal PvP system in WoW Classic at the outset. You’ll still be able to PvP, of course, and there will be no Dishonorable Kills, so you’ll be free to repeatedly hunt down every player and NPC in, say, Stranglethorn Vale to your stealthy heart’s content.
That’ll change once phase 2 rolls around and we add the Honor System, which will introduce Honorable Kills, Dishonorable Kills, and PvP Rank Rewards. The items you earn from the PvP Rank Rewards will be the versions from patch 1.12. Keep in mind though, just as it did originally, it will require a substantial time investment to rank up through the Honor System. For those interested in the Rank Rewards, earning epic gear will require consistent dedication over a long period of time as a top contributor on your realm. We don’t expect to see many people running around with these items early on, but we’re certain Hillsbrad Foothills will still see its fair share of action!
In the third phase, we’ll introduce the first Battlegrounds: Alterac Valley (version 1.12 1.3k) and Warsong Gulch, alongside with their associated vendors. One thing to note is that there were a couple of updates to these vendors over the course of the original patch releases, so some items won’t be available right away. For example, the Spell Penetration trinkets available from the Warsong Gulch vendor weren’t introduced until Patch 1.9, so we’re currently thinking that we’ll add these in phase 5.
The Arathi Basin Battleground will follow in phase 4, along with its specific vendor. It’ll be interesting to see how many people stay behind to guard the flag.
Finally, in phase 6, we’ll have the world PvP objectives in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands, which will come out at the same time as Naxxramas.
Here’s what the PvP content looks like mapped to the phases we recently posted about:
Phase 1 (WoW Classic Launch)

• You can PvP one another in the world, but there is no tracking, and no formal rewards for doing so.

Phase 2

• Honor System (including Dishonorable Kills)
• PvP Rank Rewards

Phase 3

• Alterac Valley (version 1.12 1.3k)
• Warsong Gulch

Phase 4

• Arathi Basin

Phase 6

• World PvP objectives in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands

As we mentioned before, we haven’t yet determined exactly when each of the content phases will occur but we’ll keep you updated as they draw closer.
We’re here reading what you have to say, so we wanted to thank all of you for your feedback and discussions about Classic. Keep it going!

 

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PvP+PvE CONTENT PLAN

Original Post by Reddit User "Knugles"

 

[SaltnVinegar]

Thank you for these update posts! I personally cannot wait for classic!

 

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Thank you for these update posts! I personally cannot wait for classic!

SAME HERE
there are some rumours that classic will be released on 16th of July ( You can find more info HERE ) Its not official tho..
But personally i believe blizz will release it on August (15th-25th)

 

[SaltnVinegar]

I'm going to go ham on release. My plan is to out level the rogue population as fast as possible to avoid been ganked later on

 

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I'm going to go ham on release. My plan is to out level the rogue population as fast as possible to avoid been ganked later on

I think it wont be that bad untill phase 2..but ye ..****ing rogs dude..stVietnam ..bad memories

 

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Also you can find you old vanilla friends -> https://www.vanillafriends.com
You can add your character name/contract info ,so your old guildies can find ya ^^

 

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There are some rumors that the next "blue post" will be the release date of classic wow! HYPEEEEE

 

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Photo of me on Classic Launch

 

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Loot trading in Classic WoW update
By Bornakk (Community Manager)
Original Post


Hey all, just wanted to make everybody aware that we made an update to the original post with the following information:
We saw some confusion about a specific part of this post so we want to be clear that Customer Service will NOT be transferring items in WoW Classic and the system that we outlined will be in the players’ hands. If we were to go down the road of developing a policy on item trading, we believe it would end up allowing the exact same kind of abuse that we are trying to minimize with the 2-hour trade window system which we outlined in the original post.
Ninja looting does have consequences in the community and those who do it will have trouble getting invited to group. In other words: your reputation will matter. Remember to play nice, play fair folks!

 

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Itemization in WoW Classic
By Kaivax (Community Manager)
ORIGINAL POST


It’s been a lot of fun over the last couple of months to dive into the development of WoW Classic with the team, while trying to answer some of the many questions that have been posed here and elsewhere. Looking at the plans for a phased content release, unlocking dungeons and raids, and unlocking other systems, it’s clear that the aim is to create a progression experience that resembles the original arc from when WoW first launched. In thinking about what belongs in each of those phases, the team’s focus has always been on rewards.
Developers have scoured through vendor lists and treasure tables for items that were added in patches, and then attached them to the staged content unlock plan. This means that if a new item was originally added to a dungeon boss’s loot table with Ahn’Qiraj, you shouldn’t expect it to appear in WoW Classic until Phase 5, which is the phase that contains Ahn’Qiraj content.
Along the way, we’ve seen many questions asking if we’re also retracing the steps of incremental changes to individual items and their stats that may have occurred throughout original WoW. Such a plan could be called “progressive itemization.”
Here’s an example of progressive itemization. The Tier 2 warrior Helm of Wrath originally had Spirit and Agility on it, as well as critical strike chance. In Patch 1.5.0, the helm’s stat budget was changed to Stamina, Strength, and Defense, along with elemental resistances. Then in Patch 1.7.0, the amount of Defense on the helm was reduced. In Patch 1.8.0, the 5-piece set bonus that included the helm was fixed to work with Whirlwind, and in 1.9.0, it got a better look with an art update.
WoW Classic will only include that last version of the item, as it existed in our reference version: 1.12.
Of course, this raises the question “why?”. Why differentiate between adding new items along the way and making modifications to existing items?
When new items are added to loot tables, you’re generally seeing a deliberate effort to provide catch-up gear and/or to provide new goals for players who had exhausted an existing reward structure. For example, in original WoW, items were added to give players a way to quickly prepare for Ahn’Qiraj without having to spend months in Molten Core and Blackwing Lair.
The changing of existing items in patches often illustrated the original design team responding to how players played the game. Their primary goal at the time was to make rewards more relevant and exciting. Developers realizing that Spirit probably wasn’t an ideal stat for a warrior raid set helm* was an example of this sort of change.
Many class abilities and talents evolved similarly. For example, going into Patch 1.8.0, the game designers determined that Moonkin Form would be a more compelling 31-point Balance druid talent than the original selection of Hurricane.
It’s important to remember that there’s more to WoW Classic than a long series of changes. Even if each item change could be made, and even if every class change could be progressively recreated, that would still only constitute a piece of the overall landscape of original WoW. We remember how early raid progression was punctuated by unexpected roadblocks and workarounds:

• As far as we know, every one of the first Ragnaros kills was only possible due to a bug that made Lava Burst temporarily stop firing after a wipe.
• Chromaggus was practically unbeatable due to Ignite Flesh unavoidably and lethally stacking on tanks, until it was discovered that Flamegor’s ramp in the laboratory allowed the entire raid to damage Chromaggus without being exposed to his breath attacks.
• C’Thun was infamously seen as unkillable until a hotfix in April 2006 prevented additional tentacles from spawning while he was vulnerable.

Recreating, and then re-fixing every major progression-affecting bug wouldn’t account for what we think matters much more: the people playing the game. There were many unknowns in original WoW. The first guilds to reach Nefarian spent their initial pulls testing different ideas they had and trying to figure out what condition would get them past the first part of the fight (defeating 40 drakonids). That experience can’t be recreated, because the knowledge can’t be unlearned. For a long time after Patch 1.4.0 came out, many players simply had no idea how good Obsidian Edged Blade or Aged Core Leather Gloves were. The power of weapon skill will be no surprise in WoW Classic.
So rather than try to recreate a specific experience from 2005 that can never fully be recaptured, our aim has been to accurately and fully restore the original game’s mechanics and stats to their final and most polished state from before The Burning Crusade. That mission has been a pillar of WoW Classic’s design from its inception.
This means that while content will be unlocked progressively to allow for each raid tier to shine, systems such as class design, battleground mechanics, and stats on existing items will all be set to their final 1.12 conditions. That should take the pressure off players to be constantly figuring out what we might do next to remain exactly in line with how the game once played out, and we can all focus a little more on community building and enjoying the experience together.