And timed play sessions, at first
[Update: Blizzard has confirmed that the demo will have a “60 minute cooldown timer.” It’s a tad confusing, but basically “If you play for 30 minutes and then log off for 60 minutes, when you come back you’ll have a fresh 60 minutes. If you play for 60 minutes, you’ll be disconnected and then have to wait 30 minutes before you can play again.” Blizzard will lift the sanctions “as feasibly as [they] can” after the demo drops.]
Just recently Blizzard announced that BlizzCon virtual ticket holders would be able to access the World of Warcraft Classic demo at home right alongside actual BlizzCon attendees. But as announced this week, it’ll also retain the same restrictions and essentially function as the exact same experience.
First up: Blizzard says that since they “typically limit the time attendees play a demo,” so too is the at-home demo limited — you’ll be logged off after playing a “certain amount of time. But, because they “to give everyone who wants to play a great experience,” they might relax that limitation eventually.
As for the actual content, it’ll entail the perilous Barrens [chat] for Horde and Westfall for the Alliance. That’s it, no other zones. You’ll also start at level 15 (Blizzard says this is to smartly ensure that you have some interesting skills and don’t immediately get bored auto-attacking) and can only level to 19. There will be no world PVP (just dueling) and no dungeons in the BlizzCon demo, just leveling content.
With the negatives out of the way, Blizzard has detailed some of the more welcome modern features coming to this classic Vanilla build. It’ll retain all of the same updated Blizzard Launcher features, including cheat protection, accessibility options like a colorblind toggle, updated player reporting, and cutting-edge resolution options.
It’ll be interesting to witness the reaction as a Vanilla player who listened to many complaints about how the game back then: and has heard players pining for “the old days.”
Dev Watercooler: Inside the World of Warcraft Classic BlizzCon Demo [Blizzard]
