One thing I do keep wondering is their intent for the future : is this server going to remain in a fixed state, which will make it boring, or are they intent on expanding it which would kind of ruin the entire point of the thing ?
It is a mystery.
If they follow Everquests model it'll be a progression server. That is, it'll follow the development line WoW took and reintroduce things every few months, which for EQ meant releasing a new expansion. After awhile most people drop off, usually around the end of the Classic Era, which is around 4 expacks in.
Daybreak rode a wave of demand of progression servers starting back in 2015 that was originally ad hoc. The first was so popular they made a second server, which depopulated the first, then released a third prog server with a more lengthy, set release schedule without player without a timer starting from the first completion of all previous expack content that was found to make the releases too quick. They then released a fourth server that would have the same schedule as the third, but would stop progression after the four expack released given that it was consider the last part of Classic and many wanted it to stay the same. Finally they released a fifth that was a relaunch of the third.
It's hard to tell what the peak of it all was, but the last server launch was markedly underwhelming given the greater and greater attraction each server got until the fourth. What makes it hard to tell is picking out the RMTers that make better money playing the prog servers through until platinum inflates after Classic, thought there are those who have gotten on board on the later servers that aren't RMTers for various reason.
My old guild got onboard at launch of the first, was fucked like everyone else by the release of the second server, then went to the third until guild drama forced a merger. I kept going with the merged guild alongside many until I quit while others backed away from the game until time and news of the fifth server drew enough attention for the guild to come back together again for the most part and go through Classic again.
It's been awhile since I quit, but both the first two servers are largely fucked. Oddly though, the first has a larger population as it back the more small time raiding server after the horde of players moved to, then left the second a dead skeleton. The third is now leading with a solid population of people who want to play the middling expansions of progression, the fourth reached its limit awhile back and is prolly dead by now left to anyone still set on living in the classic era without progression and the fifth is in the second or so expansion, so still bustling before the fourth expansion population crash arrives.
Daybreak worked themselves into corner releasing the servers like they did. I suspect a lot of their revenue comes from attracting all the RMTers, but since they're only really there for the early rush of expansions, they can only be pleased by releasing new servers, something they can no longer do now that the while progression server fad is now fading out around EQ. The only way I could see them save it all, would be to do a fresh relaunch of EQ from the beginning, but then release old Classic expansions with added content, then release completely new ones after the Classic Era that try to keep in the game what the post-Classic expacks eliminated.
Do keep in mind that the progression servers saved Daybreak Games from going under after SoE was cut off and they were left to rebrand themselves. It meant they were willing to not only take risks, but also to actually listen to the players and meet their demands for Classic servers to attract enough to save their asses. Blizzard has no incentives that way.
I don't know how they'd handle WoW and it's blend of patches and expacks though.
Lol dead after 6 months game
Depends on the release schedule and how fast content is completed.
Blizzard might as well do a Season like Diablo or PoE to keep interest high because after people steamroll the old content some guy have 200 pages step by step guide off, whats left?
If it's as beloved as Everquest, to do it all over again two to four times once WoWs Classic Era is over, which is completion of WotLK, right?
That is also my beef with where the game has gone over the years. I remember a time when doing UBRS in Vanilla, you would need to really coordinate your CC; poly, rogue spec with double sap; it was all important. Now its a literal sprint through the dungeons / AOE fest.
With regards to content, I had no problem knowing I would never see Naxx. Hell, our guild didn't make it past the first boss in AQ40 but we did clear BWL and it felt like an awesome achievement. Now you see it all for free. My only regret is playing all this time to finally defeat Sargeras and meet the Titans in person and it was largely a letdown.
There will be large appeal to complete content in the way old guilds did with guilds racing to be first.
It will be accompanied by arrogant boasts of how important the top guilds are for doing it first with any successive prog server releases being races by the biggest asshole guilds to get to be first on those servers, if EQ's prog servers are anything to judge by.
There's enough of a population kicking around on MMOs that seeking self-imagined prestige from doing this as if it's literally being the first clearing content 18 years ago.
One guild noted on EQ for playing a self-imposed progression regimen on the Test server was one of the dominant guilds on the prog servers, racing on the first server, then dropping it to do it again on the second, then third. Dunno what they did after that but I vaguely recalling them trying to split their guild so one group handled firsts on the first server and firsts on the second for a bit.
Such people are not a new development. This kinda of culture has existed since at least the middle part of the last decade on EQs emu servers with regard to PvP and claims of being the best on a given server. The PvP VZTZ server reached the largest emulator population before P99 attracting such types, which then went on to destroy two of the three iterations of it trying to be dominant guild before quitting once they drove off the rest of the population. They jumped onto P99 while biding their time for Red99, then did the same before leaving for the official progression servers.
Also have fun literally WALKING everywhere for the first 200 hours in game. Holy shit if you don't see your life melting away at that point IDK what can save you
If only that was the case. Besides running to unlock new winriders, what was there? I was the second in my guild to get to 60 and it took little over a week, almost two, by which time I'd accumulated enough cash and faction to afford my first mount.
One of WoWs problems isn't getting around, it's that getting around is too quick and too easy.
An equivalent like the Qeynos to Freeport run, and all the thrills, dangers and pain it brought with it doesn't exist in WoW.
Playing WoW at launch, it was unsettling to see the zeppelin right outside the Undercity that could take you straight to Ogrimmar in a matter of minutes compared to Everquest, where a relocation of leveling spot could take a large chunk out of one day depending on how well it went for you.
I'd be playing Orc warrior. Because i like hard mode and horde rules and ally is for faggots.
Pisses me off that WoW didn't have anything near like a Necromancer at release. I got sick of playing a caster with EQ and wanted a bit of melee, so went Shaman only to discover Blizz's love of fucking with them.
At least the Windstrike bug was fun while it lasted.
It did suck, but for the opposite reasons he describes.
The leveling part is hilarious. What he describes is still roughly a level a day... and that's bad?
It could take months to get a level 50+ in EQ with people with lives. It was annoying, but it was rewarding because the differences between each level could be huge - someone in the low 50s wasn't comparable to someone in the high 50s with 55 being the hell level separating them. Level 60s were unto themselves.
The guy has no concept of delayed gratification and sums up the problem with the MMO player culture that changed and early WoW made the standard. That is, the entire point of playing an MMO is only to "clear content", and if you can't get your content in the right amount of time people rage because it's the only thing they're playing the damn game for.
Adventuring, learning to find neat situations, explore a dungeon for the hell of it, maybe get some exp or loot, or maybe lose a ton of exp and just be happy to recover your body and not rop down a level.
It's weird, but the standard of MMOs only brings to mind one thing, they're built on a consumerist mentality instead of trying to present a MMO version of a tabletop game with your buddies that could go on for years.
