Although extremely popular, an unfortunate feature of TBC Anniversary is how accelerated the game will be. In this article, we break down why TBC doesn't work at the accelerated pace it's going for in its Anniversary edition, and what features could be added to TBC Anniversary to accommodate its shortened lifespan.
Increased Honor Points in Battlegrounds
Currently, an average battleground awards players around 200-300 honor points. An average battleground, outside of a rushed Alterac Valley, is usually around 20-30 minutes. Honor pieces currently go around 9,000 - 14,000 per piece. Now, we don't need to tell you how long a grind that is just to get one piece, but we can tell you how frustrating it is to earn a minuscule amount of honor points for the time spent in a battleground. Now, there are some better options, such as the daily world "PvP" quests in the Outland. Each quest, such as the Spirits of Auchindoun quest in Terokkar Forest, awards 943 honor points for completing it.
Earn Thousands of Honor Every Day
Now, this is a great source of honor, but there isn't really any PvP involved. In fact, it's quite the opposite, as players of opposing factions work together to get these objectives done! It turns out the solution for peace between the Alliance and Horde wasn't joining forces against a common enemy; it was finding the easiest route to loot!
For Spirits of Auchindoun, players have decided which towers belong to the Horde and Alliance, to allow a quick capture of the tower to get the daily done. For Hellfire Fortifications, Alliance and Horde take turns exchanging the Overlook, Stadium, and Broken Hill throughout the day, to get everyone their quests completed asap. Ironically, the most efficient way to earn Honor Points is through cooperation with the opposing faction.
Not only should Honor Points be doubled in Battlegrounds, but also, there should be a significant increase in Honor Points for winning a Battleground. Blizzard could make an incentive for actually completing the objectives. Outside of Arena, this is the only true area of PvP. This should be the main source of Honor Points, especially with how little time we have to play this iteration of TBC, and would be a great adjustment for TBC Anniversary.
Faster Leveling From 58-70
As a natural part of progressing to TBC, the time it takes to level from 1-60 has already been reduced. If players wish to skip this process, they can simply purchase a 58 boost from Blizzard's shop. However, leveling in Outland is still a grind. Although Outland zones and dungeons are iconic, due to TBC Anniversary's significantly accelerated pace, it feels odd that the leveling pace is not also increased.
The Joyous Journey buff has been something players have seen since Wrath of the Lich King Classic, increasing experience gained by 50%. This might not be necessary, but a 20-30% experience gain increase would be significant enough to get people leveling more alts. There are a lot of factors discouraging players from wanting to level alts, but the primary factors include:
Their Main still has a lot they need to accomplish on their TBC checklist
Alts take too long to level
Due to Fear of Missing Out, players don't want to take time away from their Main to level an alt. In a game with a lifespan of less than a year, there really is no reason not to allow players to level alts faster.
Loot Adjustments in Raids
Although players who played in Vanilla Anniversary probably feel like loot is much easier to obtain in TBC, there are still widespread requests for some loot adjustments for TBC Anniversary. Primarily, a strong request is that all raid bosses just drop one more piece of loot. This one additional piece would be a significant bonus for raids and raid teams, allowing players to feel like they are not falling behind as we begin to prepare for Phase 2. The coveted Dragonspine Trophy seems not to exist for a large portion of guilds and raids, so adding 1 more item drop for a chance to get this would be very much welcomed!
Should Raid Items be Added to the Badge Vendor?
Another common request players suggest is adding Badge of Justice to Karazhan bosses. This would be a huge benefit to players who do not have enough time in the day to grind Heroics. This would also benefit players who aren't invited to these Heroics due to not playing a "meta" spec. It's also a huge benefit for alts, who might not do as many heroics as their mains!
A final adjustment, and probably the most controversial, would be adding a feature that Wrath of the Lich King Classic received in 2023, where vendors were added in the game that allowed players to purchase previous Phase raid gear for a currency. The currency we could use in TBC could obviously be the Badge of Justice, or maybe something extra added. Now, the argument against this would be that it makes older raids irrelevant, but given that those raids are mostly just 1-2 bosses (being Magtheridon/Gruul's Lair), or also give Badges of Justice, should Blizzard add that to Karazhan bosses, then people would still run these raids, along with getting an additional option to get that loot.
Why These Changes Would Improve TBC Anniversary
If this were a normal-paced TBC, or even something like Classic+, we would not be recommending these changes. Classic WoW players tend to enjoy a more slowly paced game. We enjoy upgrading our player power over time and taking the time to accomplish meaningful upgrades, such as acquiring Epic Flying, getting your ultimate phase BiS, or maxing out professions.
However, when a game that was designed to last around 18 months is now reduced to nearly half of that, accommodations should be made to make up for the lost time. As many players know, TBC is incredibly front-loaded. The checklist for our character is huge, and sometimes overwhelming. With how little time we have compared to normal, FOMO is arguably at its peak.
Do you think The Burning Crusade's shortened timeline justifies accommodations to loot acquisition, leveling cadence, or anything else? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!
