WoW Classic will be a big part of BlizzCon 2018 (Image: BLIZZARD)
A massive new announcement has been made regarding the release of World of Warcraft Classic.
Announced last year at Blizzcon, the new Classic WoW experience is set to offer long-term fans the chance at playing the Vanilla experience again.
It’s a popular idea with the fanbase, with 1000 commenting about it on a single Reddit page just hours after the official announcement.
Fans know that WoW Classic servers are currently being worked on, and also know they will be an intensely difficult project to pull off.
So today’s news of a new World of Warcraft Classic demo being released will be a great sign that things are still on track.
A WoW Classic playable will be made available to all fans who buy a Blizzcon 2018 Virtual Ticket.
This will go live after the event finishes in Anaheim, California, and will provide players with their first taste of what is being developed.
As it’s a demo, the amount of gameplay available will be limited, and will only be available until early November.
Here’s more from Blizzard, who confirm: “Every BlizzCon, we look for opportunities to bring new aspects of the experience to our community around the world.
BlizzCon 2018 will offer a free playable WoW Classic demo (Image: BLIZZARD)
“This year, we’re excited to announce that for the first time ever, BlizzCon Virtual Ticket holders will join BlizzCon attendees as the first people to play the World of Warcraft Classic demo we’re creating for BlizzCon at home.
“Shortly after the BlizzCon opening ceremony on November 2 (at or around 20:00 GMT), players will be able to download the same in-development BlizzCon WoW Classic Demo that will be playable on the show floor.
“Players will have a chance to explore and enjoy a limited questing experience through a pair of classic early-level zones—one Horde and one Alliance—and experience firsthand our recreation of the original Azeroth. Once the demo is live, it will be available to play until approximately 17:00 GMT on November 8.
“We’re thrilled to be able to bring this piece of the BlizzCon experience to more people than ever before—and together with other interactive Virtual Ticket features that let online viewers vote and help shape the show, this BlizzCon is shaping up to be the biggest coming-together of our community yet.”
In addition to these WoW items, BlizzCon attendees and Virtual Ticket holders will also receive commemorative in-game items for every major Blizzard franchise.
World of Warcraft continues to receive massive expansions (Image: BLIZZARD)
A legendary skin for Overwatch’s Sombra and the Nexus Razorgrin mount and other items for Heroes of the Storm are available now; the BlizzCon items for Diablo III, Hearthstone, and StarCraft II will be revealed throughout October as the BlizzCon season continues.
A Classic server option is now in development, with Blizzard quick to point out that they do not know when it will be ready.
All the original equipment to run such a project is gone and a lot of work will be needed to get the balance right on new tech.
But it’s clear that whenever it is ready to go live, there will be plenty of people ready to test it out.
There had been some chatter about recent projects, such as that of Old School RuneScape revival, having helped Blizzard move along with their own ideas.
However, when we spoke to the Blizzard team on the subject of WoW Classic, they confirmed that similar ideas, such as 2007 Runescape, had not been the direct inspiration.
Battle for Azeroth is out now (Image: BLIZZARD)
They’ve been keeping tabs on such an idea for a few years but have been careful not to talk about it, in fears that something could make it non-viable.
It’s hard to guess just how many Warcraft players would stick around to enjoy the vanilla experience following a few weeks, although that is something Blizzard is aware of.
Speaking on the nostalgia value of the new release, J. Allen Brack explained: “Nintendo is a company that comes to mind who have had a lot of success with the NES Classic and Super NES.
“And I can’t think of the number of times I’ve bought old Link games, so there’s definitely a lot of nostalgia involved in that.
“I also think there will be a percentage of people where that (WoW Classic) will be the best game for them, that’s the community they want to have.
“And that’s okay, but it’s really impossible to predict the number of people in those brackets, and that’s not what’s important.
“What’s important is that we know those brackets exist and this is what they want.”