In the final stretch, Blizzard manages to alienate the German fans of World of Warcraft Classic. All they want is what they have always had.
The mood that has built up among the fans of World of Warcraft Classic in recent months couldn’t be better. No matter which stream you watch or which veteran you ask: The beta of WoW Classic is exactly what the long-time fans of “Vanilla” have wished for. With the release almost within reach, it was hardly possible to ruin the positive mood.
And yet, Blizzard has now managed, with a simple, very simple announcement, to frighten a large part of the potential German player base: WoW Classic will not have server division by languages. So there will be no German servers.
Fans of WoW Classic are a bit like the dog in the back seat during a car ride. The eager panting is getting louder and the tail wags faster because they are driving the long-missed route to the beautiful city park. But at the last moment, the Blizzard driver looks over his shoulder and winks wickedly to take the exit towards the vet.
That’s about how the fans of WoW Classic currently feel. At the finish line, Blizzard somehow managed to reverse much of the anticipation and positive mood.
German players have been spoiled, and now it’s backfiring
Why realms where your own language is predominantly spoken are so important for players, only a few understand (considering the total number of players). Germany and France have always been exceptions here, as they were the only players to get realms in their native languages.
However, this very peculiarity has led to German and French players considering this to be the “standard”. Anyone who has played on a German realm for the last 15 years and found 99% only German-speaking players there can hardly detach themselves from that comfort. And it is more than just comfort. It has become an integral part of the gaming experience, the wonderful feeling of being able to understand every other player and share a form of communication.
Being able to crack a silly joke in the general chat, writing a question in German in the trade chat, and getting many German responses, or just following a bit of the “trashtalk” in the trade channel in one’s mother tongue. All of this was an essential part of Classic, a fundamental part of the gaming experience.
Why is Blizzard doing this at all?
So in the end, the question remains why Blizzard even comes to the conclusion that there should be no German (but also no French) servers when they have existed in “Retail” WoW for almost 15 years. Here one can only speculate.
It might be possible that Blizzard assumes there aren’t enough “pure German-speaking” players to populate a PvE, PvP, and RP server in the long term. After all, it should be clear that after the initial hype, interest in Classic will wane for many players who just wanted to have a quick look.
To prevent as many “dead” servers as possible, only “mixed” realms are being brought in, which will ultimately probably mean “English”, after all, it is the most widely spoken language.
Fact is, the spoken language on a server is a big draw for many Classic players and has contributed to the nostalgic memories.
Being part of a solid server community meant, for German-speaking players, that everyone could talk to each other. That was not the case on other servers, where it was normal for English or a “mishmash” of languages to dominate. However, this directly harms German players.
Overall, 2 out of 3 players actually don’t want to play WoW: Classic if there are no German servers.
A server in the mother tongue helped to connect
When I started with WoW Classic, I came from “Silkroad Online”. I was already happy if I even knew how to create the letters on the keyboard that some players there used. In other words: I barely understood a word. My English was still far from good, and there were about as many German players as popular shadow priests in WoW: Classic – virtually none.
When I switched to WoW, I was not only convinced by the game but also by the fact that I could suddenly communicate with everyone and clearly understand. Already in the Abbey of Northshire, I was messaged and made my first friendship; during the quests around Goldshire, I found my guild for the coming years. This surely wouldn’t have happened if everyone had spoken in mixed languages.
Sure – today English would only present a serious barrier to me in roleplaying. Yet, it just doesn’t feel “the same” when WoW suddenly offers no German servers anymore. Because that experience is too deeply anchored in my memories and thus also in my expectations – completely independent of whether Blizzard made this decision with sensible arguments.
It is astonishing and also sad to see that Blizzard is making such a crash landing on the home stretch to WoW Classic, which unfortunately affects two relatively small player groups: the Germans and the French. Because we have gotten used to the “special treatment” of a native language server, we do not want to miss that anymore.
Or how do you see the whole thing?
Ihr wollt mehr zum Spiel? Tolle Specials, heiße News und interessante Infos zu World of Warcraft findet ihr auch auf unserer WoW-Seite auf Facebook.
Being part of a solid server community meant, for German-speaking players, that everyone could talk to each other. That was not the case on other servers, where it was normal for English or a “mishmash” of languages to dominate. However, this directly harms German players.
Overall, 2 out of 3 players actually don’t want to play WoW: Classic if there are no German servers.
A server in the mother tongue helped to connect
When I started with WoW Classic, I came from “Silkroad Online”. I was already happy if I even knew how to create the letters on the keyboard that some players there used. In other words: I barely understood a word. My English was still far from good, and there were about as many German players as popular shadow priests in WoW: Classic – virtually none.
When I switched to WoW, I was not only convinced by the game but also by the fact that I could suddenly communicate with everyone and clearly understand. Already in the Abbey of Northshire, I was messaged and made my first friendship; during the quests around Goldshire, I found my guild for the coming years. This surely wouldn’t have happened if everyone had spoken in mixed languages.
Sure – today English would only present a serious barrier to me in roleplaying. Yet, it just doesn’t feel “the same” when WoW suddenly offers no German servers anymore. Because that experience is too deeply anchored in my memories and thus also in my expectations – completely independent of whether Blizzard made this decision with sensible arguments.
It is astonishing and also sad to see that Blizzard is making such a crash landing on the home stretch to WoW Classic, which unfortunately affects two relatively small player groups: the Germans and the French. Because we have gotten used to the “special treatment” of a native language server, we do not want to miss that anymore.
Or how do you see the whole thing?
Ihr wollt mehr zum Spiel? Tolle Specials, heiße News und interessante Infos zu World of Warcraft findet ihr auch auf unserer WoW-Seite auf Facebook.
