Summary
World of Warcraftis gearing up to launch its Classic Hardcore servers this month which will challenge players to adventure through Azeroth with the highest possible stakes: dying at any time will be the end of that character’s time on the server. This style of gameplay has exploded in popularity recently thanks to a variety of add-ons that help the Hardcore community regulate and track progress, and theWorld of Warcraftteam has been paying attention to this burgeoning community.
The Hardcore challenge community also optionally imposes a few extra rules on gameplay, most notably challenges like “solo self-found” where players can only use loot that they themselves have acquired, restricting access to trading or the auction house. In a group interview, Game Rant asked Senior Technical Designer Tim Jones and Game Producer Linny Cooke Severline about the team’s approach to self-found gameplay and the community’s feedback, and they revealed some future plans for Hardcore servers.
RELATED:WoW Dragonflight Patch Brings Massive Shaman, Paladin Buffs
World of Warcraft Hardcore Plans to Implement Opt-In Self-Found Mode
There are several variations of self-found gameplay for Hardcore players, including self-found groups where players can designate partners with which trade is acceptable. This makes playing with friends on Hardcore more cooperative, as they can craft for one another or share items and loot. Jones said thatWorld of Warcraft’s Hardcore serverswill be keeping this in mind when they implement self-found rules in the future, and players will hopefully be able to enjoy a familiar experience without the use of additional add-ons.
We do recognize that there is a desire to play a self-found mode, and we don’t necessarily want to have it be completely solo. There are lots of nuances with whether someone’s doing solo, duos, or trios, and we don’t want to restrict that type of gameplay. But at a later date, we do plan on adding the ability for people to opt into a self-found mode. We love to listen to what the community wants. Classic was born of community hype and excitement, and we want to continue to listen and deliver on what the community is excited about.
Self-found gameplay will still differ slightly due to some changes with timers forWorld of WarcraftClassic’s dungeonson Hardcore servers. Since dungeons under level 60 will operate on a 24-hour timer, farming dungeons for loot or gold won’t be a feasible approach to gearing. Players will have to rely more heavily on crafting and hunting down specific quest gear to increase their chances of survival, and most experience will need to be earned in the overworld rather than through grinding dungeons.
World of Warcraft is Making Changes Based On Player Feedback
Jones noted that official Hardcore servers did not originally plan to include any rules besides simply “don’t die,” but after a powerful response from the community, the team has decided to work on implementing these additional opt-in features. In fact, the entire Hardcore mode as well as theClassic era serversbeforehand were born from the community’s strong desire for such features, as third-party Classic servers had long been incredibly popular and Hardcore add-ons have surged in popularity in recent years.
As more information came out about Hardcore, we found that a lot of people were passionate about self-found. It’s not something that we initially planned on incorporating into Hardcore, but there was enough clamoring from the community, players making YouTube videos, tweeting, and posting on Reddit, and we have an amazing community team that combs through all that information and brings it to us. We see it, too. I’m addicted, I watch WoW Classic YouTube videos on my commute. We’re in tune with what people say and this is just one example of hearing what the community wants, and we’re going to put in the time and effort to deliver that option to players.
Hopefully, this will be good news for the vocalWorld of Warcraftfanswho have been bringing attention to the demand for more variety in Hardcore playstyles.World of Warcraft’s developers seem to be increasingly interested in implementing player-requested features, and it’ll be interesting to see how the community inspires future development.
World of Warcraftis available on PC and Classic Hardcore servers go live on August 24.
MORE:World of Warcraft’s Story Needs to Revisit Older Zones More Often
