Blizzard has just announced that World of Warcraft Classic, which was originally launched with a “#NoChanges” philosophy, will be, in fact, getting some changes for Wrath of the Lich King Classic.
The team has learned from releasing the classic material and older expansions. And it is from these lessons and community feedback, they are coming with this update.
“We find the design pillar #NoChanges isn’t sufficient anymore. With World of Warcraft’s expansions came design changes to the game, and some of those changes were not consistent with the way Classic World of Warcraft felt,” the announcement reads, in part. However, they’re also mindful to note that many in the community play Classic WoW because they want the old experience and not have that be lost. So here comes the philosophy of “#SomeChanges”.
In the announcement, the team has divided their philosophy going forward with Classic into several categories. The first is the preservation of “Social Proximity”, which is effectively being able to have fun with people over a period of time, build friendships, and participate in activities together that make you feel happy and have fun. They’ll look to both protect and enhance this.
The next category is to keep things “approachable and familiar” and still provide a sense of being at home in the game, while still leaving the door open for some changes to increase approachability for additional players.
Finally, they maintain that “The World is the Main Character”, which means that they aim to avoid major changes to the world.
Ending with specific examples, the team goes into how itemization changes for Wrath of the Lich King Classic will apply all of these philosophies:
Foster a vibrant player ecosystem engaging in all WotLK instanced content.
Serves: Nurture and Protect Social Experiences
Maintain a healthy density of players enjoying Heroic dungeons throughout the entire expansion.
Serves: Nurture and Protect Social Experiences and Approachable and Familiar
Preserve nostalgic itemization elements.
Serves: Approachable and Familiar and The World is the Main Character
Provide a consistent itemization scheme across all expansion phases.
Serves: Approachable and Familiar
The itemization changes proposed in the blog in detail are still part of in-progress design work, but they incorporate lessons and feedback learned from the start of Classic through the present.
You can read the full devblog on WoTLK change philosophy over at World of Warcraft.
