World of Warcraft players have taken to social media to discuss whether the upcoming release of Season of Discovery follows a format too similar to the maligned retail version of the game.
The idea behind Season of Discovery is to apply new and exciting ideas to the original Vanilla version of the game. This has led many to deem it the highly requested Classic+ mode, with plenty of new gameplay opportunities rendered in the pre-Cataclysm version of Azeroth.
The community already knows what many of these changes will look like when Season of Discovery is released on November 30. Unfinished locations will finally be completed and ready to explore, new loot will be offered, and players can explore additional abilities and roles via the Rune Engraving system.
Those new powers have led to significant debate among the community, with some fearing it could turn the Classic experience into something much more akin to retail WoW.
WoW players lash out at Season of Discovery abilities
In a post on Reddit, one user wished to share their dismay at sections of the WoW community who are comparing Season of Discovery to modern, retail WoW.
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Others quickly agreed that the new additions to the Classic formula are not enough to turn the game into retail WoW. One said: “I feel like people saying that haven’t played retail recently. Retail is basically a different game. No amount of QoL additions or runes will make this game feel like retail.”
Some chose to take a middle ground, agreeing that retail criticisms were unwarranted while still sharing their concerns about the new abilities. One user added: “I think a fair criticism is that there are too many abilities, and it does seem a bit weird that Warlock, for example, can become a tank from one rune, whereas I’m assuming for other classes, they have to use most of their talent tree.”
There were also those who simply urged patience, saying: “If people genuinely hold this opinion in a game they haven’t even played yet just shows their narrow scope and deep-seated pessimism. Blizzard is giving us classic+ and the best they can come up with is “pfft it’s just like retail” Bro who hurt you?! … oh wait Blizzard that’s right.”
With Season of Discovery on the very immediate horizon, it won’t be long before the community gets to experience everything it has to offer. Whether they will be happy when it does is another thing entirely.