New Classic Patch Found on Encrypted Server
The Burning Crusade
The Burning Crusade expansion brought us so much. And generally, the Classic Community as a whole has a positive disposition towards this expansion. There is wide agreement that TBC and Wrath can be included comfortably under the Classic umbrella (Cataclysm and Beyond not so much).
New Races & Zones
Could Classic+ include Blood Elves and Draenei? And with their retrospective starting areas? In Season of Discovery, it was hinted that it could be possible for Horde to become Paladins and Alliance Shamans. However, this was never introduced.
Silvermoon City
Blood Elf Starting Area
The Exodar
Dranei Starting Area
New Raids?
Karazhan could be the ideal Raid addition to Classic+, and it almost was in Season of Discovery with Karazhan Crypts arriving in Phase 7.
While Mount Hyjal is already a zone in WoW Classic, it was left empty until becoming a raid in TBC, before receiving a drastic makeover in Cataclysm. You can read more about Mount Hyjal in WoW Classic in our news article here.
Karazhan
Dead Wind Pass
Hyjal Summit Raid
Mount Hyjal
Badges of Justice
The idea of earning currency in PvE Content, such as raids and dungeons, which you can then use to purchase power items, including catch-up gear, is already firmly embedded across Classic. Still, it's easy to forget that it is, in fact, The Burning Crusade, where this really started in its current form.
The Classic progression realms already have a currency system that was introduced in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. You can take on a harder dungeon challenge to receive the previous tiers' raid loot. This is currently Celestial Dungeons in Mists of Pandaria Classic. It is a popular system that has been through three expansions now.
Season of Discovery also introduced Tarnished Undermine Reals. These were earnable in high-level dungeons and eventually raids. You could use these to purchase gear, trinkets, toys, and much more...
G'eras
Badge of Justice Vendor - Shattrath
Booty Bay
Home of the Tarnished Undermine Real Vendor
Wrath of the Lich King
Wrath of the Lich King was an extremely popular expansion. Bringing with it many quality of life changes as well as another whole new continent, and World of Warcraft's first Hero class, the Death Knight.
Dual Specialization for one, already slotted fairly seamlessly into WoW Classic Anniversary Servers and Season of Discovery. It would be surprising if Dual Specialization didn't make the Classic+ cut.
The Plaguelands: Scarlet Enclave
If the Scarlet Enclave brings back memories, there is a great reason for that. The Scarlet Enclave Zone already made an appearance in Season of Discovery Phase 8.
Scarlet Enclave in Wotlk
Death Knight Starting Area
Scarlet Enclave in SoD
25-Player Raid
Raid Wide Buffs
Fresh out of TBC, where every group needs a shaman, one massive change that came with Wrath of the Lich King was that the majority of buffs became raid-wide instead of party-wide. This meant you no longer needed to structure your raid so rigidly and could begin to play with what you had.
Wrath of the Lich King really started the "Bring the Player, Not the Class" Philosophy
Cataclysm
Cataclysm is a sore point for the Classic community. You can see from the raid numbers that many players do enjoy Cataclysm, and were happy to revisit it. However, the community sentiment in general did seem to veer towards the negative. That being said, it wasn't all bad and definitely introduced some features that could sit nicely in Classic+.
Rare Bosses
Okay, you get rares in other versions of the game, including Classic itself, but when was the last time you found yourself actually wanting to hunt one down? Rare Bosses done right add something to fight over, cool rewards, and a bit of adventure without needing to spoil anyone's immersion.
Aeonaxx
Deepholm
Madexx
Uldum
Mists of Pandaria
The World of Warcraft Classic Progression realms are currently on Mists of Pandaria, so this is an expansion that is fresh in everyone's memory today.
AoE Looting
Surely, there is no real argument to be had against this one. Loot one, loot them all. AoE looting saves you loads of time and makes AoE grinding that much less tedious.
Warlords of Draenor
This expansion is generally remembered quite poorly; however, it isn't all bad. Garrisons were popular for many, and the raids within Warlords of Draenor were high-quality and well-received. Warlords of Draenor was released around the same time as many other big games, and had more competition than most of its predecessors.
Free Gold
Warlords of Draenor notoriously introduced the Order Tables, where players could send NPCs on missions that offered a gold reward. This was extremely lucrative for many players and was often referred to as the expansion that killed the economy.
We shouldn't do that.
But the principle of ruining the economy isn't necessarily a bad one when the alternative is a server flooded with bots and swipers. Classic+ deserves better, and if that means acting drastically to devalue gold, then that is a price we should be willing to pay.
Garrison
Warlords of Draenor
Legion
Currently, when you say Legion, Remix is the first thing popping into most people's heads. The Class Order Halls are holding up as well the second time around as they did the first.
Class Order Halls
WoW Classic is really focused on the Class Design. Just not in the same way as the retail "Early Alpha Class Tuning Makes me want to quit the game" players, but instead more around the Class fantasy. Let Paladins be Paladins. The Class Order Halls really feed into that; they provide an additional layer of content that would be forever expandable and give players a base from which to really explore the lore.
Paladin Class Hall
Druid Class Hall
Battle for Azeroth
BFA was extremely well-received when announced; however, many of these expansion features just missed the mark.
Gathering Professions
Professions were peak in Battle for Azeroth. But one tweak that really stood out was that gathering professions had ranks. As you rank up, you will increase your yield or receive bonus materials. While it's unlikely the BFA system would fit Classic+, imagine our own system. Where you rank up either your own or your alts gathering professions using Bind-on-Account skill books found by playing the game. While this could be seen as an inconvenience, it could also give real players a way to compete with the bots.
World PvP
Battle for Azeroth put the War into World of Warcraft. Kind of. For sure, it had players gripped by the sentiment, but not all of the systems quite hit the mark. The ideas behind them were brilliant, though, and timed events in key zones really worked to encourage world PvP.
We saw this work in Season of Discovery as well. While the Battle for Ashenvale had its problems in Phase 1, the Blood Moon Event in Stranglethorn Vale was universally popular and lasted through many phases. This type of repeatable content with varied rewards could work nicely.
BFA also brought with it Warmode. With Warmode, you can toggle PvP on and off. If used, this system could potentially mean that players could all be on one server. However, while players like to discuss it, it's hard to know how it would really land in reality.
Bloodmoon - STV
Season of Discovery
Battle For Azeroth
Bringing the War to Warcraft
Shadowlands
Shadowlands had meme levels of disdain, but it wasn't all bad.
Solo Queue Arena
Who thought we would be able to pick something from Shadowlands? Solo Shuffle was introduced in Shadowlands patch 9.2.5, though it started as a brawl before that.
In discussions around having this in Classic, players tend to take it as "Solo Arena" instead, though. As in, duel tournaments. Hardcore hints towards this with Mak'gora Duels.
Whether in the form of a 'dual tournament' or Solo Queue, like Retail, Classic+ could potentially use a form of competitive PvP
The War Within
The War Within is the current retail World of Warcraft expansion. And it brought sweeping overhauls of many systems. Obviously, not every change would be a fit for Classic+, but there are a few that could be amazing.
Warband Banks
Managing your inventory is a skill, and that is, of course, how it should be. But, would it be so wrong just to have a single linked bank? Doesn't have to be massive. Maybe just a standard bag size (you could buy the Warbound slot, then put your own bag in it so that it grows with your character's power).
World Tiers
More Diablo than The War Within, really, but The War Within borrows Heroic World Tier from Diablo to use in Legion Remix. And maybe Classic+ should do the same.
By choosing the World Tier Difficulty to suit you, players can control the game environment to well... suit them.
Imagine you are leveling your character, you are a Level 13 mage in Westfall. But you aren't just any Mage, you are the great and powerful Frostadamus. You don't want to look for Mechanical Reavers; Mechanical Reavers should be looking for you. So, you pop yourself onto World Tier 3 and fight the hordes of reavers. Additional health, Additional powers, Additional Danger around every corner. This is wide awake meta play time, and it rewards you with additional experience and loot.
Dave, on the other hand, just finished work and put his children to bed. Dave just wants to zone out and kill things. Dave isn't in a hurry, and that's fine. He is still rewarded for his play style in the way he chooses.
World Tiers can also give bots a disadvantage. By giving the option of high stakes, challenging play even in the most chilled of places, real players can actually compete with bots, even though they may not want to play for such a long time.
Diablo World Tiers
Midnight
Midnight is Retail World of Warcraft's upcoming expansion, and is currently in Alpha at the time of writing. We don't know everything about Midnight yet, but we can still speculate what systems or features could be adapted for Classic+.
Prey
We don't know much about the Prey system yet, which in its own way makes this easier, as you can just speculate what you want it to be. But it seems to be a case where you will receive a quest to hunt down a monster. While you are on the hunt, more powerful enemies will spawn. This system could offer you additional rewards and a reason to keep out in the Open World, which, in Classic, is where you should be.
Classic+ means something different to all players, often something wildly different, too. Today, as we look through the World of Warcraft expansions, wondering what Classic+ could be, what have you been thinking about that isn't mentioned here? Obviously, Player Housing is a big focus in the Retail space at the moment, which could be an article all of its own...
Which features from other expansions would you like to see in a future version of Classic? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!
