World of Warcraft Classic players aren't waiting for Blizzard to define Classic+ – they're doing it themselves.
A new community-led initiative called The Classic Plus Project is rallying thousands of players to articulate what they want from a potential Classic+ release and to make sure Blizzard can't ignore how big that demand has become.
The community project, directed by streamer Jordi and creator of the hardcore WoW All-Stars tournament OnlyBlackSmoke, aims to narrow down what World of Warcraft players want from a Classic+ release. The project received input from over 22,000 players in three days.
“Everyone always talks about Classic Plus, how we want to experience what happened in 2004 – the secret has been preserved,” Jordi told Gamerant. “We want that [mystery] back, and we want Classic Plus to infuse that energy into it.”
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What is Classic+?
Back to the original release
Classic+ is a dream held by many classic World of Warcraft players. The idea is to return to Azeroth players, but with additional content that retains the original feel of the game's 2004 release.
Whether it's new dungeons and raids still full of lore, or new specializations like tank mitigation or healing grains. Simply put, Classic+ is a new take on the original version of the game.
What is Classic+ Project?
The Classic+ project aims to answer the question: what to do you Want from Classic+? This is a chance for the community to sit down and specifically point out what they would like to see if Blizzard were to announce an official version of the game.
“Games like this, that's a fixed thing, [developers] In my opinion, the community needs to be consulted, because the community is usually more expert in the game than the developers are at this point,” said Joardi.
At the forefront, The Classic+ Project is a series of surveys asking questions on core pillars of the game, including PvP, PvE, balance, itemization, and more.
Among other things, it asks players to:
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What category changes, if any, would you like to see?
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Will you be interested in new areas, or iterations in existing areas?
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A new dungeon? Raid?
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Improving the quality of life taken from retail?
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Changes to PvP?
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Should certain specs be reworked, or should new specs be added?
To participate, you first need to link your Discord account. This is a way for the team to verify that the survey results are valid. The team is also taking steps to protect data, including using third-party services with strong security checks.
But this project isn't just a survey – it's a community hub where people who love the classics can interact with each other, and maybe even see their visions of Azeroth come to life.
On the site, players can pitch their own stories within Azeroth for the community to vote on. The story with the most votes will be animated by Joardi and his team, just like they did with their Kazzak short in the video below.
Joardi is also creating an episodic YouTube series chronicling the project, with a second episode likely to arrive next month.
“Somehow, I managed to gather voting Avengers from the classic WW community,” Joardi joked after responding to a call to the community to help with the project by a web designer, data analyst, security and data engineer and others.
What is the goal?
Hello Hello Hello … Snow, are you out there?
Joardee doesn't expect Blizzard to reach an official capacity to support the project. But he hopes developers have seen or heard of it, and can use the data they collect in some way.
“I hope maybe someone [will reach out] Like, 'Hey, we saw this and thought it's really cool that you guys did this,'” Jordi said. “I think it's going to be really fun for the community.”
Jordi said he and the team want to release the data on the road once they figure out how they want to present it.
“We still have to figure out how we're going to do it, but I promise everyone will have all the data we have, and it will be sooner rather than later,” he said.
If nothing else, Joardee Blizzard wants to take away that there is a community here that wants its voice heard.
“I want to [Blizzard] To see that the community is hungry for interaction and the ability to give input,” he said. “I don't think they need to make any design decisions from this thing. If they do, and it's useful, and it makes a good game, fantastic. But ultimately, the most important thing is to recognize that there are ways for them to do this that are not negative. “
Blizzard has a habit of only responding to community feedback when it's overwhelmingly negative, Zorardi said.
For example, World of Warcraft: The War Within recently saw the release of the Midnight expansion pre-patch, which brought major changes to its transmog system and put its new housing feature in the hands of all players.
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Blizzard made both changes following player feedback. The developers first raised the cost of Transmog, then halved it after feedback.
The housing system originally featured low experience caps for Housing Endeavors – a timed, community event where players from a neighborhood complete tasks to earn shared experience.
After negative feedback, Blizzard increased the experience cap and reduced experience returns for some activities.
“When you're creating a community, or you're a game developer, you teach your community how to treat you. And I believe that [Blizzard has] Taught us, however accidentally, that outrage is the only way we're going to change something. Because that's usually the only way they react,” said Jordi.
And it doesn't have to be that way.
“I really think it's important to be proactive and be out there and talk to your players, and I'm not saying we need to have creative input,” he added. “I'm not saying we need to eliminate your agency as a game developer, but I think we're your customers and we need to at least feel heard.”
While Blizzard didn't make any major announcements about Classic+ at their State of Azeroth presentation today, they did say they plan to send polls out to the community for their game. Until those official surveys come out, the Classic Plus Community Project offers a way to amplify players' voices.
“It's a fun community project that hopefully, at least, Blizzard will look at the data, and maybe get some useful information. But if they don't, at least we can say we tried,” Joardee said.
