Beginning May 15, select WoW players will be invited to participate in a small-scale, focused closed beta test. Players will also get a chance to help put our servers and technology through their paces in a series of stress tests running from May through July—you can opt in now through Account Management and select the WoW Classic beta. Subsequent stress tests will extend the opportunity to even more players. Level caps will also be in place to ensure we’re emphasizing the “stress” in “stress test”
—we want to push our tech to the limit, and that means a critical mass of players in close proximity.
STRESS TEST SCHEDULE*
- Stress Test 1: Wed May 22–Thurs May 23
- Stress Test 2: Wed Jun 19– Thurs Jun 20
- Stress Test 3: Thurs Jul 18– Fri July 19
*Dates of each stress test are subject to change.
To fill our pool of beta and stress test participants, we’ll be choosing dedicated players who meet select criteria from both the WoW Classic beta opt-in and the standard Warcraft beta opt-in. Participants will also need to have an active subscription or active game time on their Battle.net Account. While opting-in to the beta is the primary way to make sure you’re in the running to join the test it doesn’t guarantee an invitation to the closed beta test. We may also consider additional factors such as how long a player has been subscribed to the game so that we have the right mix of players to ensure great feedback toward making WoW Classic the very best experience for the community.
Jonjonz wrote on May 15, 2019, 07:07:If it works with EverQuest, it will work very well with WoW.
I fully expect this to crash and burn, just like every other 'classic' server out there. there is always a vocal minority who say they want these, but if you have played any MMO's classic progression games, you know what the drill is:
* day one, every hardcore hammerhead with an interest shows up, guilds up and it is a race to cap, and firsts
* Any other players are left in the dust to flounder
* Game becomes the private play ground of a handful of hardcores
* Other players quickly realize they are better off going back to the current version of the game
At some point Blizzard/Activision will have to show their hand on this regarding how they plan to monetize the added cost of the development, maintenance and server infrastructure for this. I can't believe they are going to do all this for free, and I seriously doubt it will bring in substantial new subscriptions.
fujiJuice wrote on May 14, 2019, 21:28:Yeah, but I got my fix on private servers now. Will be another 5+ years before I want to try again.
Me, like a lot of people, have been asking for this for years. They initially didn't want to do it.
Verno wrote on May 15, 2019, 11:22:Yep. One of, if not the, best gaming experiences of my life. I'd gladly pay to have that experience again, but I can't without a brain wipe...
If other people want to relive this sort of pain then fair enoughI had enough of that silliness to last a lifetime. Fond memories of my guildmates but there is no recapturing that time for me.
Verno wrote on May 15, 2019, 11:22:
If other people want to relive this sort of pain then fair enoughI had enough of that silliness to last a lifetime. Fond memories of my guildmates but there is no recapturing that time for me.
fujiJuice wrote on May 14, 2019, 21:28:
Me, like a lot of people, have been asking for this for years. They initially didn't want to do it.
Jonjonz wrote on May 15, 2019, 07:07:
I fully expect this to crash and burn, just like every other 'classic' server out there.
Kxmode wrote on May 15, 2019, 06:36:
Also looking forward to the original Alterac Valley and the opening of the Ahn Qiraj gate world event. Those remain my absolute favorite moments in WOW.
Mr. Tact wrote on May 14, 2019, 22:51:
I'm sure it will be a success to start with. The question is, will it have staying power? Or will people come to the realization their nostalgia for Classic WoW doesn't live up to the reality.
VaranDragon wrote on May 15, 2019, 05:14:
I think Blizzard kind of dropped the ball with this. From what I've seen graphically the game is exactly the same as the original WoW. There have been absolutely no updates to the textures, models or meshes of the original game.
I understand why they did it, they wanted to give the gameplay experience of playing vanilla WoW back to the fans, but why not update it to modern standards from a graphical standpoint? Considering the development time they spent doing this "port" they could have done all of that and made it look like a modern game.
Steele Johnson wrote on May 14, 2019, 20:08:
When you can’t think of any games to make, just go grab a previously successful game off the shelf, blow the dust off, and sell it again.
Bill Borre wrote on May 15, 2019, 00:49:
I wonder if they might make classic WOW F2P and keep the sub for regular version.