Changing the client will break the tools which will require new tools to be developed, new policies to be developed around those tools, new (or really, old but forgotten) types of solutions for game issues that have been obsoleted.
Honestly, I have no idea if what RuneScape did was the right move, but it's a really interesting case study.Īnd the customer service concerns are an interesting consideration as well - Game Masters use ever evolving tools (which evolve with the game client) to be able to more effectively help players. If you actually want the experience on the old-style server to be at all stable or compelling, you'll have to put some time and energy into them-it's more than just running the server. Apart from possibly cannibalizing your main product, it also requires two teams to support and run the two games. There seems to be some business risk to doing this. This number might (likely?) be higher than if they had stuck to providing a single game, but I'm not sure. Now they have two games to support and promote, with about the same number of users. I don't know exactly how well it's working out for them. Some people heavily prefer one or the other, and by now the communities feel very distinct. I'm a sample size of one, though, and that's certainly not enough to make any time investment worthwhile on Blizzard's behalf.Īs an interesting illustration of this idea, RuneScape (a popular freemium MMORPG) has done just this: they split up into the modern game and "Old School" (OSRS) which is based on the game in 2007. It doesn't have the same charm, but I do appreciate a few of the improvements (the "spell crunch" is miserable, however). Nevertheless, I recently re-subscribed to retail this February, and I enjoy it, but it feels like it's missing something. In the times I've toyed around with Trinit圜ore, I find I'd play it at least 2-3 times a week if I had friends who weren't absolutely terrified of the potential for permanent bans-the old content was that enjoyable to me.
You may be right about the nostalgic effects, although it is a pretty powerful effect and certainly got one particular company's side venture off to a good start.
(Although, that could be mitigated somewhat in the same manner their cross-realm stuff currently works.) As much as I'd enjoy it if they offered new players/characters the option of playing revised post-Cataclysm content for leveling or "classic" content instead, it might pull away enough of the existing population to make early group quests painful. This way, you could see what friends are playing, which expansion level, and opt to join them.
I think the first concern could be countered somewhat by 1) the nature of 's integration with WoW and 2) either doing it via their phasing mechanics or having a means to copy a character over at the expansion's level cap.
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