With Blizzard entering the fourth phase of WoW Classic, one has to wonder if Blizzard plans to launch a Classic Burning Crusade server. Recently, a survey sent to players hinted at just that.

However, do WoW Classic players really want Blizzard to launch Classic Burning Crusade, then Classic Wrath of the Lich King? Or stay stuck with Burning Crusade and stop there?

When does Classic stops being Classic anymore?

Wrath of the Lich King, for example added a lot of classes and systems changes, and brand-new mechanics to the game.

Does the Classic WoW community really want this to happen?

On the other hand, what if Blizzard went a different path instead?

THEORYCRAFTING

For example, what if Blizzard stuck to the way the original WoW game was supposed to happen without the influence of bad decisions taken, or without the setbacks that plagued them back in the day in terms of limitations of the infrastructure, etc.?

Back in the day, Chris Metzen said at BlizzCon 2005 that their plan was to open the portals of Outland. Don’t take my word for it… watch the video at 4:46.

As Illidan was hanging the curtains and making himself at home, he discovered that the gates that Ner’zhul had opened up years before were still standing; and they were still open to these other worlds in the universe.

Given his paranoia and his need to not be found by the Burning Legion, Illidan set out to close all those portals. Essentially, that is the way Outland exists right now. Outland is kinda a closed pocket dimension. It has its own struggles and conflicts, but you have these gateways to other worlds that are now closed, and Illidan is pretty much The Don. He is in charge. He is the man, and his Naga and Blood Elf enforcers — and he’s got other agents to bear — pretty much control current present-day Outland.

But these gateways that Illidan does not want open, they are our conduit to fighting the Legion. The trick is we’re going to go to Outland, and we are going to re-open those damned gates; and through those gates, we’re going to take the fight to the Legion’s doorstep.

Because beyond Azeroth, the Burning Legion is attacking all of those planets.


Imagine if Blizzard scrapped Classic Wrath of the Lich King to go the route Chris Metzen had originally envisioned that World of Warcraft would go story-wise.

After Classic Burning Crusade, we would open one of the portals of Outland and travel to another world.

Then for the next expansion… we would go to Outland and open the next portal.

And for the next expansion… we would go to Outland once again and open the next portal.

And so on, but all keeping Classic WoW… “Classic.” Pristine. With minor changes.

It would be an alternate timeline, of course. But… we have already played that drum anyways. We have Warlords of Draenor as a separate timeline where Grom Hellscream did not drink up Mannoroth’s blood.

So no one can tell me… nope, we can’t do an alternate timeline post-Classic Burning Crusade, opening the portals of Outland as Chris Metzen originally envisioned it.

That’s how Blizzard should, in my opinion, go with future plans for Classic WoW.

None of that Classic Cataclysm stuff. None of Classic Warlords of Draenor. Let’s go back to the basics, how it was planned out in early development pre-2005. Who wants to step on that wagon?

But for us to even go the original route, something needs to happen first.

We got into World of Warcraft (2004) because Blizzard Entertainment laid all the blueprints: the new races, the new lands, the new lore in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.

None of this existed before Warcraft III:

  • Night Elves
  • Dragon Aspects
  • Titans
  • Burning Legion
  • Tauren
  • Draenei
  • Well of Eternity
  • Kalimdor

For that matter, if Blizzard went the original route of opening the portals of Outland for Classic WoW, the best way to accomplish this is to once more grease up the gears of the Classic Team, once they complete Diablo II: Remastered, to create new lore, and new content for… the next Warcraft III: Reforged expansion after The Frozen Throne.

Once players experience that opening of the portal of Outland in the next Warcraft III: Reforged expansion, then launch the Classic World of Warcraft expansion leading players through that portal.

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BlizzCon 2019 Panel Transcripts