The rumors that Classic: World Of Warcraft will be progressing to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion have been confirmed. It will not be the same as days of yore, however, with fans hyper-sensitive about an "authentic" Classic experience and Blizzard still as greedy and ruthless about profits as always.
Where is the middle ground between the fans and the profit margins in this massive-multiplayer online role-playing game? One possible answer could be the "Fresh Start" servers that Blizzard is preparing to launch as part of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Here are a few important facts that players know so far.
6 Coming In With The Pre-Patch
The Fresh Start realms are intended to let players level in preparation from Northrend, which is for players level 70 and up. This means that the new continent will still be locked when these realms open, and will remain so until the expansion is officially released.
Blizzard's intention seems to be that players will level characters in Old Azeroth and Outland before taking them out to Northrend. How much time players will be given to complete this process remains to be seen. The game is intended for casual users, after all, but the hardcore, sweaty types that speed-level in a matter of hours should also get some love, and the idea of Fresh Start servers would be a true test of player mettle.
5 Everyone Starts At Level One
That means everybody. This is a server without any boosts, except for the ones that players can arrange with their higher-level friends or guild like it was 15 years ago. There won't be anything available in the WoW store to get around this process, either, or at least that's what the company says.
Every single character on every Fresh Start realm was rolled there and leveled there. Blizzard intends that the mix of old and new players will give each server a high enough population that leveling in a more conventional way, such as running dungeons or stalking elite enemies, won't be so difficult.
4 No Incoming Character Transfers For 90 Days
Players who think they can get around these rules by transferring a higher-level character to a Fresh Start server will have to do more thinking. It's possible to transfer a character from a Fresh Start server to another, but bringing any other 'toon in is impossible, no matter the level.
Related to this is another rule change regarding all of the servers and not just those designated as Fresh Start. Previously, character transfers were restricted to realms of the same type. PvP realms didn't accept characters from PvE realms, and vice-versa. After the initial 90 days, this restriction will be lifted from all of the servers including the Fresh Start ones.
3 No Character Boosts For 90 Days
Considering the revenue gold mine that character boosts have provided to Blizzard's bottom line, it seems hard to believe that this company would deliberately create a server that wouldn't allow any character level boosts. However, that seems to be one of the core rules of the new servers, and the powers-that-be are sticking to it.
Of course, this doesn't include the Death Knight. This class was introduced with the expansion and has a notorious history. Unlike other classes, this one has an advanced start at level 55, but won't be playable until the expansion drops. However, there are other hoops players on Fresh Start servers have to burn through before they can experience that exciting new class.
2 At Least One Toon Of Level 55 Needed To Roll A Death Knight
Before they can enjoy the expansion to its fullest, players on Fresh Start servers have to do some work to earn their Death Knight. The Fresh Start servers are supposed to be for leveling a character anyway, so by the time the expansion drops, players who rolled new 'toons on these servers should have characters nearing level 60.
That seems to be the plan, anyway. What remains to be seen is how much time Blizzard will decide is appropriate to level a character to at least 55 without boosting or transfers. This is another tightrope to walk between the casual fanbase and more dedicated raiders and endgame enthusiasts.
1 Waiting For A Release Date
The biggest question of all, naturally, is when the release date is supposed to be. Fans were excited with the initial announcement of the most popular expansion in MMORPG history earlier this year, but the clock is ticking and the length of the delay, the less promising it looks. A rushed game is bad forever, and players would prefer to wait instead of Blizzard releasing something unfinished just to cash in while the game is trending.
The signs seem to point towards about three months from the time of the pre-patch to the actual release date of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. This is the number of times players will have to wait until they can transfer characters or roll Death Knights on Fresh Start servers, and at least three months makes sense to level a character to at least level 55. That means if the expansion is going to be released this year, this pre-patch has to drop soon.
World of Warcraft is currently available on PC.