What I would expect from Classic Hardcore Servers

This is the things that I think would make great a Classic Hardcore “official” server setup.

:bangbang: Based on:

Base set of rules and features

  • Perma-death or 1-life characters, if you die, you can’t revive. This includes:
    • No resurrection skills. Quests that gives those skills to players, can now reward with money or any item.
    • No resurrection spirits. Or maybe they can be there, but won’t resurrect at all.
    • No resurrection items crafted from professions, world drops or quest rewards. Just remove the skill, patterns or schemes that allow players to craft those items.
  • Imposible to:
    • Use HS whenever you are under any “immunity” condition like Paladin’s bubbles or Light of Elune.
    • To use “auto unstuck” service to be teleported to major cytites.

Prompts

  • You receive a prompt message whenever someone dead.
  • Whenever you reach key levels (10, 20, 30, etc.) your progress is shared with everyone.

A new set of options in the interface configuration menu will allow the players to set the following:

  • When those prompts are enabled or disabled (always, only outdoors, never in dungeons/raids, etc.)
  • To or from who those prompts are received (cross factions, one faction, only guild-mates, etc.)
  • Whether your “last words” are shared or not, or fix a message.

Hardcore path mode

:exclamation: This is a life-character decision that can’t be undone.

I would make game client to make player to choose their hardcore path, having different levels of difficulty:

  • Normal mode:
    • Base set of rules plus …
    • Limited trade:
      • You are able to mail, trade or use auction houses, but only with characters level 55+.
    • You can’t turn into PvP mode.
  • Inmortal mode:
    • Normal mode plus …
    • You are not able to trade, which includes:
      • No email boxes until level 60.
      • No auction houses.
      • No trade until level 60.
    • You are able to group whenever you want.
    • You are able to turn on PvP mode.
  • Mortal mode:
    • Inmortal mode plus …
    • You are only able to group for dungeons and raids.
  • Ironman mode:
    • Mortal mode plus …
    • No groups at all.
    • No buffs at all except from those of your class.
      Including world buffs, scrolls, food buffs, alchemy elixirs, flask and potions, etc.
    • No talents.
    • No gear better than white.
    • No professions except First Aid and gathering (mining, skinning, herb, fishing).

When you play in duos, trios or 5-man groups, all players must have selected the same game mode. The client will ask who are you playing with or if you go solo.

Clarification on non-trading

As AzAMOuS’s thoughs, I also think that the no-trading thing is to avoid hyper-boosted low level hardcore characters, which won’t be fair for those who can’t invest too much time in the game, or who (shameful) can’t bought gold for IRL money.

Also to prevent farming bots in this servers.

@ 60

Based on your hardcore path decision (see above), you receive an special title, for example:

  • Wolfchamane, the inmortal.
  • Mortal Wolfchamane.
  • Ironman Wolfchamane.

Dungeons

:exclamation: This applies to all characters, no matter their hardcore path.

Levelling dungeons (levels 54 and bellow).

  • You are able to enter the dungeon as many times as you want, but you will only be able to kill the bosses or get any quest item once.

For example, you group and enter WC at level 20.
Your group manage to clear the dungeon including all bosses and end all quests.
You are able to get into the dungeon days layer, but you won’t see any elite mob, neither the bosses. You’re zoned in a “clear” dungeon server where all mobs are non-elite and can’t neither drop quest items.

End-game dungeons (levels 55+)

:exclamation: This is a life-character decision that can’t be undone.

The very first time you enter this dungeons you are prompted to choose between “one-run” or “multiple-run” modes for that dungeon.

  • One-run option mode: in this mode the dungeon behaves as the levelling ones, you can only defeat bosses once and quest items only drops the very first time.
  • Multiple-run mode: this will allow you to get back to the dungeon in order to farm your pre-BiS gear.

Battlegrounds

Battlegrounds are there … and you can enter at your own risk, because if you die, you die forever.

But in order to make them somehow runnable, battlegrounds queues now works as a FIFO queue, so players listed themself to enter into a BG will enter as soon as there’s a group to join the battle or, if the battle has already started, as soon as there’s one slot free.

Let’s place an example, i.e. with Warsong Gulch:

  1. The vey first 10 players from both factions enters into the BG.
  2. A player from any of the faction dies.
  3. Another player, queued to the BG enters into the game, with an special aura that makes him/her inmune for some time.

Titles & Rewards

  • Whenever a player is able to achieve a really feat of strength, reward him with a character bonus title or reward.
  • Whenever a player reaches a key level (10, 20, 30, etc.) reward him with a bag item (6, 8, 12, etc.).
  • Levelling until 60 without dying is a really hard archievement, so what about a really good fancy bonus for living so far? I’m talking about a tabard, a mount, some gear, some weapons, etc.

Optionals

The following server/client features are optional …

Ladderboards

  • List players and their HC achievements that have survived up to level 60.

Achievements

Bring Achievements interface to engine, but only list or track those specific for Hardcore game or which the Hardcore community has officialy made-up.

This could also include the achivements for killing Ragnaros, Onyxia, etc.

Note: If this can be reflected into the Armory web site or into retail engine, that will be great.

Corpse Loot

This is a feature, I think, was in Diablo 2 HC servers.

Whenever you die, all your inventory can be loot by any other player (only outdoors).

That other player will receive random amount of you money, all trade stuff you were carrying at that moment (potions, cloths, skins, ores, etc.) and random items from your the gear you were holding or carrying at that moment.

Obviously, character binded items, will became unbind so the user that loots them is able to use them. But all gear enhancements (enchants, etc.) will be lost.

Corpse tumbs

Whenever a player dies outdoors, a tumb stone is generated, and if a user clicks on it, will tell the date when the players dead, what kill him and which were his last words.

If multiple players dies at the same spot, the tumb stone will present a page per character.

Ghost appearances

As your character dies, you’ve only two options, either you delete it or you stay as ghost forever.

I think it will be nice to have, in the ghost “realm”, the following features:

  • See other players, those who still are alive and dead ones.
  • Able to talk, through chat, only with other ghosts.
  • And … a kind of feature or skill that can make me visible to others while I’m a ghost character.

So, if log into my ghost character I will have a new skill called Booh that brings me visibility to life characters for a limited time of 5 minutes. This skill will have a CD of 3 days. While in “alive ghost mode” all NPCs (no matter the faction) will run in fear as I get next to them. Players may be able to target me and practice their skills, but I will no suffer any damage and I will not be affected by CC mechanisms.

"Alive ghost" characters will be able to talk with other players, but all what will be prompt in the chat will be “boooh boooh boooh”.

"Alive ghost" characters will be restricted by the game physics, meaning that they won’t be able to pass through doors, walls, etc.

To make it a bit funny, if multiple “ghosts” appears in the same area, players may be affected by the fear mechanism too.

And if a “ghost” character appears in zone much higher than its level, no effect will happen at all.


And that’s all.
wdyt?

5 Likes

I think that’s too hardcore for most hardcore players.

And any achievements at all? No way.

I didn’t say achievements “at all”.
Only those related with the HC experience.

I mean … wiil be worth to have other achievements in a HC server?

I know what you said and I am 100% against any achievements whether they are Hardcore or not. Titles are fine.

Achievements should never be in Classic Era in any shape or form.

3 Likes

I’m not quite fan of achievements too.
I think that this feature only serves to make people unhappy in long term scenarios.

But to be honest, is a way of bringing more people to the servers and the game.

Already done Hardcore challenge in SoM and i am currently doing it in ERA. I hope it will end up becoming a supported addition and game mode by blizzard.

I’m fine with this except the achievements. Achievements should NEVER be in Classic era.

A character should simply be deleted or permanently logged out as a ghost upon death, with no way to access it again.

Currently the Hardcore AddOn has a kind of “achievements” interface.
I’m not fan of achievements, they way they are now …

Can you explain me in detail why AddOn’s achievements interface is right and taking it by default into the game’s engine is not?

Only talking about Hardcore challenge achievements. No other ones.

I don’t use HC add-on, nor did I know that it had achievements. Nor does it matter. It’s an add-on that’s optional for players to use. Achievements in the actual game aren’t optional, nor are they in the spirit of Classic Era. You can’t disable achievements in the game, while you can ignore a player-made add-on.

I think the only feature a hardcore realm needs is that characters cannot be resurrected in any way. That’s hardcore mode, playing with permadeath. Additional rules like no trading, no mail, achievements, and everything else can be implemented through addons. All we need is a PVE server with real hardcore characters. Though a PVP one where everyone has only one life, could be very interesting.

1 Like

Yeah, the permadeath feature is the base for HC levelling.
But the community has made all this years a set of rules (no trading, no mail, etc.) that should be also part of the “default” hardcore experience without having to install any thing else.

I would like to see WoW Classic Era HC servers with one rule “If someone dies, he dies forever”, one restriction - you can group only with people within 5 lvl range and one change - the time of logging out is decreased from 20 sec to maybe 9 or 12 sec. It would protect people from Disconnect death fighting NPCs

Well, the logout delay maybe is not sth such as easy to achieve.
In general terms, when a player logouts the whole WoW’s underneath system must be aware that the player is no longer online.

Log out at an inn or safe area, zero delay.

Does that include PvP deaths? That’s the only reason you would need a quicker logout time.

Fast logging out is a preservation against Disconnect. If you are warrior, you won’t certanly die if you fight with one npc, you will just kill it with auto attacks. Buy if you are a priest and you got disconnect, npc would beat you for 20 sec and your character has a high chance to die

I would like to see Hardcore & Hardcore Max. Hardcore is simply no death allowed but everything else is enabled. Trading, AH, Mailbox etc…

Hardcore Max is for the big boys. PVP enabled, No addons allowed, no deaths. But other than that everything else enabled.


Eviette

I would like to see Hardcore & Hardcore Max. Hardcore is simply no death allowed but everything else is enabled. Trading, AH, Mailbox etc…

Hardcore Max is for the big boys. PVP enabled, No addons allowed, no deaths. But other > than that everything else enabled.

Hardcore “mode” community rules are this ones: https://classichc.net/rules/

You can choose your own hardcore mode as there’s no strict official support.
But if you try to get verified w/out following those rules, you won’t be able.

The thing in here is that the time lapse between the client (the game in your computer) sends the “logout” signal and it is properly registered within the service (Blizzard’s servers) can’t be reduced as you comment.

Imagine the following scenario:

You’re playing and suddenly there’s a blackout, you lost your internet connection and you must re-start everything ASAP.

WoW’s services do not ping your client (as far as I know) in order to know If you’re up or not. They react to your client’s signals.

What happens is that when you login back again, the client sends the “LOGIN_SIGNAL”, the n service will first evaluate if you’re connecting from a “historical” location and if it’s fine then will close previous session and create a new one, or will update the session expiration time, don’t really know

Then other backend services are noticed, such as chat service, friends connection service, etc. So each of them properly updates their DB or any other resource.

The “LOGOUT_SIGNAL” is only send when you deliberate logout from the client, and it has a 20" delay in non-safe zones in order to properly send the signals to every single backend service.

I like all these ideas, the ghost part especially sounds fun. I thought id miss the ah and no trading, but i think it adds more to the immersion of hardcore. Hopefully something similar is considered by blizz

1 Like