World of Warcraft Classic+ has a unique opportunity: it doesn’t need to copy Retail, or stick rigidly to Classic Era, or even follow Season of Discovery’s formula. It should instead carve out its own identity — one built on immersion, adventure, and the feeling of stepping into a living RPG world.
Imagine Classic+ launching with immersion at its core:
- Embedded tools for roleplay and atmosphere — Blizzard could integrate something like the Immersive Dialogue addon directly, along with optional nostalgia filters (vintage UI styles, sepia tones, “CRT effects”), or even modern graphics toggles for players who prefer them.
- Weather and environment that matters — not in a punishing way, but in a flavorful one. Swamps that slow mounts slightly, frozen tundras giving humorous debuffs like “slippery sword hilt” (maybe you miss your first attack), or icy roads making you stumble. Nothing game-breaking, just touches that make Azeroth feel alive.
But immersion doesn’t stop with aesthetics. It should extend to quests, campaigns, and world progression:
- Zone campaigns — Players could pool resources for a week to prepare for a large campaign (say, Stormwind sending forces against gnolls or orcs). These could unfold over real time: a week of buildup, then a week-long war effort questline, with multiple outcomes depending on player participation.
- Faction-driven world events — Capital cities could post decrees that open temporary quest hubs or footholds for a month. If the campaign succeeds, new dungeon hooks or questlines unlock; if it fails, the world shifts in another direction.
- Living questlines and rotating stories — Instead of one “correct” path, have multi-choice outcomes. The options wouldn’t be “better gear vs worse gear,” but thematic choices shaping how a zone evolves. Every zone — Westfall, Barrens, Ashenvale — could host ongoing conflicts, rotating over time so the world always feels fresh.
On top of this:
- Faction pride and representation — Bring back the feeling that mounts, armor, and customization reflect allegiances. A Horde caravan through the Barrens could be a server-wide escort event, complete with campfire rests, shared meals for XP bonuses, and ambushes from beasts (or Alliance players). These aren’t just “escort quests,” but living events with atmosphere.
- Expanded character customization and RP tools — more toys, more cosmetic faction rewards, more immersion items.
- Raids that tie into the world — special bosses or encounters appearing temporarily if players succeed in campaign quests.
The goal here is to shift focus away from the “rush to BiS, clear and quit” cycle. Classic+ shouldn’t just be about endgame progression — it should be about the adventure itself. Every level, every zone, every faction conflict should feel like part of a larger, evolving story.
Classic+ has the chance to give us what made Warcraft famous in the first place: not just raids and loot, but the living world, the early lore, and the sense of stepping into an RPG where the story is happening all around you.
That’s the vision I’d love to see Blizzard lean into for Classic+. A game that feels like it breathes, where Azeroth itself is the endgame.
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Electric chair for any involvement in rmt is only feature we need
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A perma ban for 1st time gold buying. Yes, people will be pissed the first few times, but then they will learn.
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Yeah, they will learn not to play. Half the population will be out immediately, their decades old accounts perma banned. The other half will find themselves unable to make money since no boosts will sell, no raid consumes either and nobody will pay for expensive items on AH. I unironically think it will be the end of classic (except for very niche audience of perpetual levellers).
I used to be very vocal about banning gold buyers, but then I realized why Blizzard doesn’t do it. Sure it is part laziness and lack of resources, but also they realize most of their audience couldn’t function in game without gold buying. Hence why it is present legally in all versions of the game other than Classic and tacitly ignored in Classic. Their core audience is gamer dads who make good money but don’t have time. Imagine if all their accounts back from teenage years got perma-banned. Same accounts they play retail with and buy cosmetics and what not. It dawned on me couple of months back that gold buying is an inseparable part of Classic, present in some form or another since 2004, and it’s not going away, not ever. Not while raidlogging and parsing exists, and that is what core audience of this game does.
It’s a little bit like vegans arguing against factory farming. Yeah morally they are correct, but people will just buy meat in supermarket for their family every week and really not give a second thought to vegans justified screeching.
Modern WoW is like a sugary drink that has short term appeal and a short energy increase but then fades away quickly.
We need something with meat and nutrition. Immersion, grounding, real consequences, no skips or convenience. Make the game fun enough for people to enjoy the journey, not just the dopamine hit at the end.
Physicalise everything and remove as much magical “bag of holding” stuff as possible. Minimal menus and maximum physical interactions.
Make quests real. Travel with a party by physically crossing landscapes, camping, foraging, killing, having access to only the items you brought in preparation for the journey. Arrive at the “dungeon” to clear it with your party. If it goes wrong, your dead companions won’t just stand back up and rejoin you. They are back in the capital city instead. Real stakes, real consequences, real rewards.
Don’t put loot on end bosses, spread them out throughout the “dungeon” or area you are raiding. If you want the good stuff you have to look in hidden or hard to reach places. The dragon’s hoard will be behind the dragon.
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The dragon’s hoard is inside the dragon’s butt hole .
Sometimes you have to wander , what did Nefarian have do , to have Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood stuck in there .
Yeah, sounds like a good multiplayer RPG concept, except, you know, it has nothing in common with Classic World of Warcraft.
Imo if they do Classic+, it should still resemble the original game. What made WoW stand out among previous MMORPG generation is how consequence free and easy it was. Grinding was (reasonably well for the time) hidden behind story quests, death was almost painless, no loss of stats, levels, XP or gear, just a short run and a handful of silver in repair cost.
WoW became the hit it was precisely because it was NOTHING like what you describe.
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I would have no problem with that, if that meant the people staying back was the one wanting the classic game - not some retail disguised in a rushed vanilla clone.
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how about mixing Sims with vanilla WoW? 
It’s already coming to retail. (player housing)
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