Blizzard has taken a hit at the sacredness of WoW Classic fans. They are now angry and are even starting a petition against it.
When World of Warcraft Classic launched a few years ago, there were already several outcries that Blizzard had changed numerous details from the original version of the MMORPG. The “#NoChanges” group was quite vocal and resisted any adjustments that were made – but eventually settled with most changes (also due to lack of alternatives).
Now Blizzard has changed the Vanilla-era realms again and released a new patch which sparked a petition.
What has Blizzard done? A small patch changed the Classic-era and Hardcore realms of World of Warcraft on July 9. A total of 4 changes were made, which can be summarized very briefly as follows:
- The guild interface has been modernized.
- Alliance players can now receive the buff “Might of Stormwind”, a direct counterpart to “Blessing of the Warchief”. There is a new quest for this.
- Songflower Serenade and the buffs from Darkshore can no longer be dispelled by enemy players.
- Druids can now learn to use polearms.
These changes, except for the guild interface, are all wishes that have been heard in the Classic community for years and many had hoped for at the launch of the Classic realms. However, there are also many who reject any adjustments and for whom a red line has now been crossed.
What is this petition about? A petition has been launched on Change.org, demanding Blizzard to retract the latest changes and restore the Classic realms to their previous state. The petition states:
Vanilla WoW is undoubtedly one of the best games ever made. Hundreds of thousands of players have played it, both on official and private servers over the last 20 years. The Vanilla WoW formula has been long tested and it has been proven beyond a doubt that people enjoy it and have the desire to play it unchanged.
As of now, the petition has 2,980 signatures (as of July 15, 2024, 11:00 AM) – which is relatively low.
The “Top Supporter Voices” with their video clips are unlikely to contribute much to taking the issue seriously. Because the videos seem to confirm pretty much all the prejudices that many have against gamers – especially the indirect threats are likely to be counterproductive to the cause.
This is how the community discusses it: The changes are also hotly debated in the official WoW forum, and most voices are negative. From the commentators’ perspective, these are changes that no one asked for – or that simply come so late that they are now unwanted.
- “It’s actually impressive how ‘Out of Touch’ this is. April 1 was 3 months ago.” – Defector
- “I can’t believe you’re really taking away what we’ve fought for so long!” – Zerik
- “Fire anyone who was responsible for this decision.” – Moonxz
This could be behind the patch: One theory in the community is that Blizzard made the changes to the Vanilla servers just by mistake. Because the adjustments are largely the same as those that were made in the “Season of Discovery”. The fact that these have now also been introduced on the Vanilla realms leads to the assumption that it was actually an oversight that was never planned. However, this has not been confirmed.
What do you think of these changes and the petition? Something good that you can agree with? Or should Blizzard revert the patch under all circumstances and restore the previous state? Others are currently doing “WoW Classic in modern graphics”.
