In WoW Classic is intended to be played much like it was during Vanilla. This also means that some things are purposefully worse. Therefore, abilities are calculated more slowly. Fans appreciate this decision.
This is why the calculations are slower: In World of Warcraft, there is a system known as “Spell Batching.” This roughly means that spells and abilities do not occur in real-time. They are collected and processed simultaneously during intervals, in so-called “Batches.”
In the current live version of World of Warcraft, the interval length is 20 milliseconds. Therefore, it collects 50 times per second. All abilities that are cast within 0.02 seconds will occur simultaneously.
In Vanilla WoW, however, this time was ten times longer: 200 milliseconds. Therefore, it only collected and calculated 5 times per second. This allowed significantly more abilities to fit into a much smaller timeframe.
In a forum post, the developers have now confirmed that the Classic version of WoW coming this summer will utilize the old “Spell Batching” system.
What are the effects of “Spell Batching”? As a result of this “Spell Batching,” various abilities could occur simultaneously and both effects still have an impact. This could lead to situations where two mages transform each other or two warriors charge at one another.
Specifically, Blizzard mentions the example that a mage can be hit by a warrior’s “Charge” while he is transforming him. The warrior would then be transformed and the mage takes damage, but his spells are not interrupted. This can still happen today, but is less likely.
This is because at the start of the batch, both abilities are valid. The effect occurs simultaneously, not sequentially. Especially in PvP, this has a significant impact on the behavior of abilities and combat.
This is how fans see it: After fans were already excited about the level plan for content release, they are now also pleased with this decision from Blizzard.
On reddit, there is great praise for the Classic team for doing such a great job and considering what would truly be valuable. The user LeftBehind4Hate writes:
It is amazing to see what a team can achieve when they truly dedicate themselves to their project.
What do you think of the decision?
Do you remember how it was during Classic?
