What Players Want From TBC Anniversary
But that was a year ago now, content begins to feel stale for some, and we haven't had any information about the TBC pre-patch release. Speculation season is now in full swing, and players are starting to make plans for TBC Hardcore.
Will Hardcore Servers Progress to TBC?
It seems unlikely, at least at launch, since Blizzard already ruled them out. But there is a chance that maybe in late Phase 1 or in Phase 2, once the overall TBC hype winds down, players remember the game correctly, and the community tests the water with the Hardcore addon, that Blizzard could open up the Dark Portal for Hardcore servers officially.
The Burning Crusade Hardcore Addon
This is the more likely way we will see Hardcore at launch. Mocktail, who previously created a Hardcore addon for <Frontier>, and a Guild Voice Proximity addon for <OnlyFangs>, is currently working with the Hardcore WoW Community on a TBC specific hardcore addon.
While the addon comes with its own problems, it offers the nice option of additional challenges and achievements, making the content infinitely replayable. Wowhead was fortunate enough to catch up with Mocktail to find out a bit more:
Mocktail: The addon I'm working on is based on the addon I made for Frontier last year (Ahmpy's guild that cleared Naxx with no world buffs). Since Blizzard has said they won't move the Hardcore Anniversary servers to TBC, we will use the addon on Anniversary PvE servers (in North America, that means Dreamscythe).
Wowhead: Can you tell us about the expected ruleset?
Mocktail: The ruleset is still a little fluid and will likely remain fluid through pre-patch. Directionally, I'm aiming for an experience as close as possible to the official hardcore servers. High-level summary:
Anyone can play. Anyone is able to use the addon to start a guild and play hardcore TBC. While many will be concentrated in a few guilds due to the guild-found ruleset (see below), the addon doesn't do any gatekeeping.
You must use the addon at all times, starting from level 1 (similar to the original classic HC addon).
Guild found ruleset enforced. Trading / economy is a fun part of the game, but since we will be playing on a PvE server, we have to co-exist with non-hardcore characters. Allowing full use of the auction house or trading with those non-HC characters would trivialize parts of the challenge (you could simply farm with a non-HC character to twink your HC character). Guild found is a nice compromise that doesn't completely eliminate the economy or make certain professions non-viable.
Addon-enforced 24-hour lockout on instances. This mirrors official hardcore servers and prevents people from simply spamming dungeons or getting boosts to avoid the dangers of leveling.
Grief detection / prevention. Blizzard made many changes to official hardcore servers to minimize griefing (e.g., how PvP flagging works), and on a PvE server, we'll be playing without the benefit of those changes. While we don't want an onerous and corruptible appeal system, we do need ways to disincentivize griefing. That means an emphasis on automated grief detection that doesn't rely on moderator review (to a reasonable extent).
Those are the basics. The addon will do some other things like achievements, leaderboards, tools to help with guild-found, etc.
Wowhead: What do you imagine will be the most challenging aspect of playing TBC Hardcore?
Mocktail: I think the hardest thing about TBC is just how little we know. Hardcore wow is a knowledge check. After years of mastering vanilla HC, we're about to learn a ton about what is and isn't dangerous in Outland. I know a lot of people are anticipating dungeons to be extremely punishing, but we don't really know yet (and that's the fun part).
The Next Chapter For <OnlyFangs>
<OnlyFangs> Guild Leader, Sodapoppin, recently stated that while he wanted to do OnlyFangs again, he didn't want to do Classic again. Either Hardcore TBC or Classic+ would be the next OnlyFangs guild event.
Without a dedicated Hardcore TBC server, this would mean using the Hardcore addon, which has some positives (arena, battlegrounds), but also negatives (members potentially asking for Death exceptions).
The Challenges of TBC Hardcore
TBC Hardcore will have many fairly unique challenges:
Attunements - The attunement process in TBC is brutal, imagine having to keep re-doing it after every wipe
Should Hardcore TBC start at 1, or 58? While the experience required for 1-60 is drastically reduced in TBC, it is still quite the stretch. But how would starting Hardcore from 58 even work?
Hardcore World of Warcraft is mostly about the journey, not the ending, making for a much more community-focused experience. Whether or not The Burning Crusade Classic could fit into this concept remains to be seen, but one thing we do know, the Fel Reaver will be eating well when the Dark Portal opens.
If you are excited about TBC Hardcore, then check out the TBC Hardcore Discord Community where you can start making your plans today!
