Summary
SomeWorld of Warcraftplayers are signing a petition asking Blizzard to revert changes made to theClassicEra and Hardcore servers on July 9. These fans believe it goes against the spirit ofClassic, and thatWorld of Warcraftwent back on its promise of “No Changes” in doing so.
Recently,World of Warcraft Classicfinished an eight-hour maintenance period in preparation for Phase 4 of Season of Discovery. After the servers came back up, fans noticed severalbugs inWorld of Warcraft ClassicEra and Hardcorethat seemed to have bled over from Season of Discovery, including a new Paladin quest that unlocked the Divine Steed ability and Might of Stormwind, an Alliance version of the Warchief’s Blessing buff given when turning in the quest for defeating Rend Blackhand.
However, it seems at least one of these changes was intentional. Shortly after,World of Warcraftrevealed the patch notes for the update, which indicated that the Might of Stormwind buff, along with changes to the guild UI and the ability for Druids to use polearms, were permanent additions to the retro servers. Needless to say,World of Warcraft Classicplayers were not happy, and have since demanded Blizzard revert these changes.
WoWcontent creator andClassicenjoyer Kargoz was the fan responsible for kicking off thisWorld of Warcraftpetition on Change.org. “The VanillaWoWformula is time tested and it has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that people enjoy it and have the desire to play it as it was with no changes,” he said. “We like playing on servers with an authentic Vanilla meta with no changes and when Activision Blizzard launchedClassicEra, it was promised to serve as a time capsule to help preserve the game as it was.” He is not alone in his belief that “lackadaisically” changingClassicEra goes against Blizzard’s “No Changes” promise, as the petition already gathered about 2,000 signatures and counting in less than two days since it began.
At face value, these changes toWorld of Warcraftseem like they would be a good thing. Adding a world buff for faction parity, improving the clunkyWoW Classicguild UI, and giving Druids access to a weapon type they didn’t get untilWrath of the Lich Kingare all net positive adjustments, especially since polearms often have excellent stats for the Feral specialization. That said, fans ofClassicEra don’t play the game for convenience orquality of life like inWoW ClassicSeason of Discoveryor the progression servers – they want to play the exact sameWorld of Warcraftthat existed 20 years ago.
“The Vanilla WoW formula is time tested and it has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that people enjoy it and have the desire to play it as it was with no changes… We like playing on servers with an authentic Vanilla meta with no changes and when Activision Blizzard launched Classic Era, it was promised to serve as a time capsule to help preserve the game as it was.”
It remains to be seen if Blizzard will revert these changes in response to player feedback, butWorld of Warcraftdid so with things like the confusing Molten Core lockout timerin Season of Discovery Phase 4 previously. If players don’t like these recent changes, they should be sure to sign this petition, and make their voices heard on the officialWorld of Warcraftforums as well.
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World of Warcraft is an incredibly successful MMORPG that has been going strong for almost two decades. It’s one of the highest-grossing franchises in history and is widely considered the most popular MMORPG ever made.
