Over the last few weeks, we have discussed internally how to support various classic versions of WoW. Specifically the upcoming MoP and potentially future releases as well.
TLDR: We do not plan to support MoP classic. If Blizzard keeps releasing classic versions of the game, we will pick it back up in some form when they get to Legion.
It would take an enormous amount of work to create a version of the website that functions as well as retail for MoP. At that point, the game is complicated enough that the time to make the scoring functions starts to be on par with retail. We are only two people, so our development time is limited, as we are always committed to keeping the retail version of the site 100% up to date.
As we looked at the numbers of people who played Cata classic, it became apparent that our choice to not support cata classic was a sound financial decision. We would have lost money developing that version of the website. We anticipate a similar situation for MoP, even though it might be a bit more popular than Cata. Wotlk was really the peak of classic WoW, and we more or less broke even on developing that version of the site.
If classic keeps going all the way to Legion, we have some good opportunities to support that version of the game. We still have our simulator available to us for Legion, BfA, and Shadowlands. That will provide us a good starting point to make some sort of version of the site for those releases of the game. We will assess demand if that time comes. I canāt promise you will see every feature that retail has, but at least the simulator and some cool features attached to it are going to be available.
Iām sorry for those of you who were looking forward to a classic MoP version of the site. The numbers just donāt work out for us to be able to make it
We are going to remain focused on the retail version of the site and continue to improve it. The vast majority of our users play retail WoW, so that has to be our focus.
Hello, I think it really sucks that there will be no AMR in MoP although it was promised at the beginning of Cata. My guild and many friends are also disappointed about it. And I donāt understand the players at all. On Eu-Venoxis alone there are about 10 GDKP communities and they make 2 runs a day and there are certainly 100 registrations per run. Blizzard recently said that there are certainly 150k active players in Cataclysm and they expect an increase of more than 3x in MoP.
If most people who raid in classic used our website, this would be a totally different story. Weād hire someone and make sure it gets supported. In reality, only a small fraction of people who play WoW use our website.
I think we were careful in saying that we hoped to support MoP and would look into it as it approached, but we didnāt promise it. If we made it sound like a promise, I apologize. We learned a long time ago that everything takes twice as long as we want it to, so over-promising is not a good idea.
I donāt think people would be interested in paying for a version of the site for MoP that doesnāt work as well as the retail site. Back when we had the site up in MoP, it was a lot different. It was an ad-supported reforge optimizer. Updating it to what our modern site does is a total re-write.
With anniversary re-release assuming they are planning on doing the whole lap of expansions again every few years would it make sense to work on the missing expansions for their inevitable re-release. (even if it meant waiting till they loop back around and not get it the first time like this mop release)
I think we had TBC support right im assuming that will come back when it re-launches and wotlk of course is already there
We can re-enable the TBC version of the site at any time if Blizzard puts a server up again. We have learned to make sure we can put up expansion-specific versions of the site at any time going forward.
As far as developing a cata, MoP, and WoD version of the site for a potential second release of themā¦ I donāt know if thatās ever going to happen. I guess anything is possible - we are constantly experimenting with techniques to improve the site and develop it more efficiently.
I am sad that mop classic wonāt be supported, but I understand why.
I personally do not like trying to use wow sims since its always a convoluted mess to me. I always much preferred how ask mr robot did it and would list items that were an upgrade.
Hi, I have been a user of AMR since the tail end of Bfa. And I have loved itās use. I am a retail and a classic player. I was sad when Cata was not going to be supported and continue to be sad now with this announcement.
You mention that the main reasons are feature parity with Retail, cost and effort (these not being distinct because of mentioned hiring). I pay what I would consider an extremely small amount of money to support this platform and its development. I personally would be fine with a increase in this or some sort of goal based donation link etc to support these expansions to be included. As I agree with other people in this thread where they mention that Blizz is likely to be re-releasing the expansion in cycles.
I guess what I am saying is what is the $$ value and can we help support this feature. I work in a business where it is not uncommon for additional features and their development to be paid for by customers who want them.
I understand, but I also would like to say I think youāre wildly underestimating how much people hated Cata, and how much people loved MoP. Iāve played nearly every reset of classic from Vanilla to now, and I almost never encountered anyone who had good things to say about Cataclysm, and nearly unanimous consent that Mists of Pandaria was the best expansion.
Donāt get me wrong, a lot of people like WOTLK, but Mists of Pandaria brought a significant portion of World of Warcraftās now raiding population into the fold. Prior to Mists, raiding was much more niche.
I just wanted to share some thoughts.
I find it unfortunate that the Classic versions are no longer being continued. I do understand the reasoning behind it, but I still think itās a shame.
That said, I donāt really understand the pricing policy. A subscription at $12 per year or $2 per month is incredibly fair ā honestly, no one could complain about that. Personally, I would continue to subscribe even if it cost $30 to $60 per year. That still comes out to less than ā¬5 per month for a game I play at least 3 hours a day. That works out to about $0.06 per hour, which is excellent value for my time.
Looking at what Blizzard is doing with their Classic servers, I believe thereās a good chance that expansions like Cataclysm or Classic will eventually return. Iād have no problem paying $50 per expansion if that helps make it possible.
Even just 10 people buying it would bring in $500. I donāt know the actual numbers for WotLK purchases, but I imagine at least 50 people bought access. Even at $25 per person, that could help cover 1ā2 weeks of salary for a developer.
So I honestly donāt understand the decision to stop supporting older server versions. I still hope there might be an announcement that Mists of Pandaria support will return ā perhaps through a pre-sale model. If enough people show interest and buy in, it could move forward ā and if not, the money could simply be refunded.
For now, though, Iāll be cancelling my subscription, as I donāt play Retail and have no interest in it.
I have been playing more and more on the Classic Servers over the last 18months and hoped youād have a change of heart when seeing the Classic MOP numbers sadly as this hasnāt been the case. After I think 10+ years of using yourselves, I today cancelled my annual membership sad times, but like yourselves time to move on
I would even donate something if a MoP version were released. Iāve been using AMR for over 10 years now and would also pay for WoD, Legion, etc., even if the price went upā¦
Thanks for posting your thoughts. We have considered some of these ideas, like doing a kickstarter-type model for classic to reduce the financial risk. Right now we are buried in 11.2, but we will always listen to the feedback of our users and do our best to accommodate.
A little context for you to consider: āAMRā is two people: myself and yellowfive. Doing a classic release takes roughly 30 work days from each of us, depending on if we get caught up on anything that is unexpectedly difficult (which seems to always happen). We are experienced developers and designers, so doing a classic release involves potentially turning down another job, as we do take on other work in between retail releases/patches. The math working out financially might be a little different than some of you expect, considering where we are at. Iāve got kids, soā¦ many of you know how costly that is. I donāt have the flexibility to pursue passion projects that I once did, unfortunately.
We originally didnāt think we would do any classic support, but we ended up making the first classic version a few months after release due to popular demand. Iāll keep MoP in mind as we get past 11.2 and I look at my work load/opportunities in the coming 2-3 months.
Iāve been wanting to put time into polishing up some parts of the retail site and working on attracting new users. Getting more people using the retail version of the site could free me up to work on something like MoP, as it would take some of the financial pressure off.
I used to subscribe to Mr Robot when I played retail, and I did for for a long period. It was a good thing to have and helped me a LOT, whilst it wasnāt always perfect, I wouldnāt have been able to live without it and I am finding that option now. I donāt mind paying a premium. It is also worth noting that in lfg chat, it has often been asked if there is an addon to help optimise gear and find upgrades, and yes, ask mr robot was offered as a solution only for the original person to report back that it only works up to wotlk, so people DO talk about it and I think if MOP was supported, you would gain some more subscribers, and I will definitely refer you to people I meet in guild and in dungeons etc.
Itās quite sad to read this as AMR was the best way for reforging gear for Rune of Re-origination - it could consider enchants, gems and some special buffs in 2013-2014. And Throne of Thunder is going to be released early next yearā¦
I remember! MoP was the first real version of our site, back when it was simply a reforge calculator that used stat weights. Oh, times were simpler back then.
We are still considering if there could be a clever way to make a good product for MoP, just have to get past 11.2 and some other work first.
