Thursday evening, I had the opportunity to chat for half an hour with two developers from Blizzard, Holly Longdale (Lead Producer on WoW Classic) and Patrick Dawson (Production Director on World of Warcraft).
The last two years since the launch of WoW Classic have been amazing, so I asked first if they could revisit this epic. Patrick starts the debate, as Holly only joined the team about a year ago. It was amazing to see so many players joining the Classic servers, a unique and original World of Warcraft experience. The team was impressed. And the commitment is still just as important (many players have recently landed during the pre-patch). Initially, it was the community that asked for a Classic version and the community asked for "more", always more. Blizzard felt that demand for BC, and that's why here we are today, days away from the reopening of the Dark Gates.
It was complicated for the development team, because solutions had to be found to separate the Classic servers into two distinct branches: Classic and Burning Crusade Classic (TBC), and in particular from a hardware point of view. It is for this reason that Holly joined the team at the beginning of 2020, work on TBC had already started when she arrived. It was therefore necessary to continue updating Classic, while working on adapting TBC to the modern game engine (an additional challenge that did not exist during the development of Classic). Many digs into the 2007 data were necessary, leading the team to relaunch a version of the game from that era to perform comparisons and ports. In addition, the team discusses daily to reflect on the changes requested by the community because the way the game evolved in 2007 was not necessarily going in the direction of what was planned, certain things should have been done, or done differently. But now the team is sort of omniscient, they know how the game is going to evolve and how the players are going to react. It is for this reason that some concessions to the original have been made to improve the quality of life for players, the result of many heated discussions. All developers are also players who feel directly involved. Besides, if like me you are wondering, well know that Holly plays a warlock whereas she started out as a hunter (and she tries to convert her parents to it!), while Patrick plays a mage and priest, but he also chose to test the warlock for TBC.
But rest assured, TBC is as faithful to the original as possible. A very simple example of changes: the number of players hosted on a server. Likewise, a player can now find themselves in the company of many more players than before, thanks to newer hardware, but also performance improvements. And even if, in the background, things are more modern, the game should be similar for the players and offer an authentic experience. So, I asked them if they had ever had the temptation to engage World of Warcraft on an alternative path. Patrick responds with a small smile that it's an "interesting" idea. He repeats a bit the same speech as before: Blizzard will do what the community asks. If this is something you want, you know what you have to do: write a petition, start a discussion on the forums, mention the Twitter account, spam the Facebook page... Make your voice heard!
It is quite incredible to think that TBC was not planned at all at the launch of Classic. Everyone wanted Classic, so Blizzard responded to that request, but didn't think players would want to see beyond that. From a technical point of view, Classic was adapted from the code of Battle for Azeroth, two divergent versions were created according to the specific needs of Classic, because the team only felt they had to support Classic for a limited time. And then she realized as the patches went along that maintaining the code became complicated, while the community remained very loyal to the game. So, for Burning Crusade, they took a different approach, consisting of creating the separate code, in a modern way, allowing then to apply the code to Classic and TBC without having to duplicate everything. The team is certainly totally absorbed by the work on TBC but if the community asks for it, of course, the journey will continue, why not to WoTK and beyond!
If you're wondering which version was the hardest to develop, both presented different challenges. As I already mentioned above, TBC needs to be developed alongside Classic. But Classic was breaking new ground: it was the first time Blizzard teams took an old game and adapted it to modern platforms, while still delivering the same feel as it did in 2004. Of course, the lessons learned from Classic helped. to develop TBC. So, in the end, the challenges balance each other out, different, but equally difficult to solve.
I then wondered if the community was not too dispersed between Shadowlands, Classic, and now Burning Crusade Classic. Patrick thinks that each version has its advantages and will correspond to a particular type of player. And it's great for them to see players coming back because they find suitable content. But Shadowlands is not deserted, there are still a large number of players who prefer the shorter and more controlled game sessions offered by Retail. Classic is not abandoned either, the version will receive regular patches such as the next one, due in June, with the addition of arena teams (and Blizzard is aware of other ideas that are in the works, such as a fresh start zero, the addition of new content, seasons, etc.). These are, on each version, different player profiles, communities nevertheless gathered under a single subscription. It is possible to go from one to the other, without limit. On the other hand, are Classic and TBC suitable for new players discovering World of Warcraft in 2021? Holly is not objective, she can't help answering "yes" when her parents have joined her. There are also former players who come back with their children to introduce them to the game.
And if you don't want to get into TBC because you already know this era, maybe you should still try going back in time, going through the Dark Door is a unique experience. It will probably not be quite the same, the same friends will no longer be there, but the memories will be there, with other players who will also want to share them.
The Dark Portal Pass is an opportunity for new players to join their friends quickly. Of course, they are aware of the feedback from the community, which is not 100% convinced by the interest of this pass. Patrick is aware that this is a difficult situation. Much of Classic's content involves building your character, and Blizzard was keen to respect that fact. But despite all this time invested, it is still important to be able to share your games with your friends and that is the objective of this pass. Note that it is still very limited: only one pass per account, a character level 58 (and not 60), a limited amount of money (25 gold coins), and very perfectible green equipment (well unsuitable to be able to raid for example). Just enough to be ready for Burning Crusade and pass the door of Darkness!
As you may know, there has been a recent big wave of bans against various cheaters. Blizzard has an internal team called the "Risk Operations Team" that constantly monitors and assesses all security-related issues. Fighting against these problems requires daily efforts, in particular to succeed in keeping up with the pace. The development team is available at all times to help in this fight. On the player side, those of 2021 are more creative than those of 2004. Today, they manage to find very unique ways to unbalance the game with techniques or skills. Yet various techniques already existed at the time, but they were not used. We must also add to this that the tools for reporting bad behavior are better integrated.
Regarding the phases of Burning Crusade, things have not yet been decided, everything will depend on the speed at which the players will go. The next phase will integrate the Serpentshrine Cavern and the Tempest Keep. Then it will be Arena Season 2 (Season 1 will start mid-June). Next will come Hyjal and the Black Temple, as well as Arena Season 3. Finally Zul'Aman will follow, before the final phase of the Sunwell Plateau.
In conclusion, Patrick thinks it's a very exciting experience and he hopes many players will join him in Outland. It's the same for Holly, she's been a long time World of Warcraft player and it's a dream for her to have the opportunity to work with this incredible team. It's her first outing as a Blizzard employee and she's really looking forward to release day.
