We are currently working on a TBC Classic version of the optimizer! It won’t be ready right at June 1, but it will be available much sooner after launch than the Classic optimizer was for Classic.
The exact timing also depends a lot on the Shadowlands 9.1 patch – that is a major patch that will take a couple of weeks and we aren’t sure exactly when it will be, so if we don’t finish before that, the TBC Optimizer will likely come out shortly after it.
The TBC Optimizer will be a separate product from the Classic Optimizer. As with Classic, there will be a one-time fee to add TBC on to your account.
We’re leaving the Classic Optimizer as-is for people who choose to stay on Classic Era servers. Please note that the current Classic-only server won’t work for TBC pre-patch characters either, it is truly a classic-only optimizer.
If you just recently purchased the Classic optimizer because you wanted to use it for TBC, you can contact us via email and we’ll give you a refund, then you can get the TBC optimizer when it is available.
Can you please elaborate a little more on the Premium status. I have a subscription for classic that is due to run until August.
Since I am not keeping any chars on classic era realms, should I cancel the auto-renewal for that and re-subscribe separately with a Premium acct once you are ready with TBC.
Also, will there be any other communication about this (email, etc). I only found this because I came looking and happened to find this post…
We generally use our forums as our main means of communication with our users.
If you want to delay your resubscription until the TBC optimizer is available, that’s no problem. You can cancel your sub and then reactivate it when TBC is ready.
I also pushed a notification on the main site about the TBC optimizer – it shows up in the top-right of the screen on all pages of the main website, and should pop open automatically the first time that you see it. We’ll push another notification when TBC is ready for use.
I don’t know how many others feel the same way, but I always felt like the implementation of AMR for classic kind of treats classic players like unwanted step-children. I can’t see paying another fee in addition to premium subscription if we can expect the same half-hearted treatment for TBC.
What did you feel was half-hearted about the classic optimizer? If you ever have a specific issue with an optimization, you should let us know. We look at all bug reports and feedback.
The classic (and the TBC) optimizer are full-featured optimizers with all of the same functionality of the optimizer for retail WoW. At first we weren’t going to include things like Worst in Bags or any customization options (like custom stat thresholds or custom healer rules), but we decided to go all the way with it, and are doing the same for TBC.
That’s a surprising reaction to me. When I look at the classic version of the optimizer, to me it has even better customization than the retail version. That is because we can use a mathematical model instead of a simulation model.
I think we added just about every extra feature that people asked for along the way. Let us know what you think is missing.
For one its pretty clear your priorities are prepping 9.1 amr vs actually hitting tbc release date.
You didnt even release the classic version until what… 5 or 6 months, after release?
And there was never a plan to hit the release date for TBC, with no confirmation you were even going to work on updating AMR for TBC until a week ago.
There were mentions of putting a poll up about gauging interest in tbc(never happened), but never committed to making it until a week or so ago.
So yea feels like we’re thought of as a secondary thought and then charged more for the classic version of the game vs the retail version of the game as well.
Also with your sub fee you get all premium benefits and expansions and patches in retail but in classic you have to pay the sub fee for all premium benefits, and then also pay a unlock fee for classic, and a unlock fee for tbc, and probably a unlock fee for WOTLK whenever that comes out too.
We’re working on it! I’ll have a better idea at the end of this week how much longer it will take to finish. We’re trying to get this one out much closer to TBC launch than Classic was. If we knew the timing on the 9.1 release I could give a more accurate time estimate… but nobody really knows.
@nizeth The subscription is the same for all users – for TBC there will be the 1-time fee to add it to your account like Classic, and the subscription will continue the same. The subscription more or less pays for the ongoing stuff, like server fees, feature updates, customer service, tech support, etc.
@eternal2u The one-time fee for Classic and TBC is to make them possible for us to develop at all. We just barely break even on Classic and TBC even with the fee because not that many people use it, and it takes a significant amount of development time and effort to create it. While we do put a priority on keeping retail up to date first and thus it may delay the release of the TBC version a bit, it does not impact the quality of the final product. That’s one reason it takes us a while to make it – we won’t release something that doesn’t work well.
