My theory on the future of classic

I've been playing a bit of Classic lately, and with all the rumours flying around about the potential upcoming Death Knight class being added to the game, I thought I'd share a theory.

Back in one of his AMAs, Iksar was throwing a few theories around about what might become of classic, and he said this:

Quote From IksarHS

One that replaces classic. Rotates, but not super often. Think Classic –> MSOG, then 6 months or a year later it rotates to something else.

He only mentioned Gadgetzan as an example. What if the next expansion is Northrend-themed, and Classic mode rotates to what was then Wild (or Standard) mode when Knights of the Frozen Throne came out? Or, perhaps more likely, the Spreading Plague/Fiery War Axe nerf patch.

I would be pretty geeked about that as that was the time when I first started playing competitively, trying to rank up and collect cards.

I'd love it. But much like classic itself, there doesn't seem to be a lot of players that really cling on to the nostalgia, nor do they seem to care enough about playing something in the past, particularly since hearthstone back then is significantly slower and less powerful compared to what we can do now.

And then there's one last, and I think very significant, matter. Most players, in my opinion, tend to dust their wild cards to afford playing in standard, and newer players obviously wouldn't have any of these cards to begin with. To ask anyone to craft a legendary for a game mode with 5 or more minutes queue time seems like a hard sell.

Very likely team5 would just forget this mode ever existed, since there's little demand and no obvious way to milk it. But should they opt for it, I feel the most sensible thing to do is to scrap the MMR matchmaking for such a mode, and make wild cards cheaper to afford. A pipe dream worth dreaming about, however remote.

I actually love it for the nostalgia, but of course I have to admit the mode is extremely unpopular. It doesn't hold people's interest, especially since it has literally not had a patch since it was released a year and a half ago. One thing I'm using it for is as a refuge when you aren't crazy about what's going on in the standard and/or wild meta, so that's still there.

I wouldn't like to see them give up on it completely, though as you say that's a distinct possibility. It's hard to imagine they are profiting off of classic packs.

As far as people dusting all their wild cards, I know that's a thing, and I wonder how widespread it is? I think the Hearthstone Mathematics youtube channel had a poll about this, but I couldn't find it when I went looking.

But yeah, there wouldn't be any point in crafting cards for a mode like this, especially if it was clearly transient, e.g. next one could be the "Blackrock Mountain" event so you wouldn't be able to use that Frost Lich Jaina if you just crafted that for the Frozen Throne event.

Most people had their favourite meta, favourite deck, so it's hard to say what exact moment they should possibly choose, instead of pure Classic.

And crafting cards is indeed a problem.

My other idea is, instead of Classic ladder with MMR, maybe Blizzard could do Tavern Brawls with specific old meta.

- For example, Journey to Ungoro meta, you can use ALL cards in your collection (if you have them), OR...

- let players choose free pre-constructed decks - so even new players can play for free;

- let us buy Battle-ready decks - Blizzard already sold decks some time ago... (for 20$ i think);

It would mean specific meta would not exist for too long, which might not be bad in my opinion.

But if so - it would be nice if Blizzard could inform us well in advance, which metagame will appear, so that we can be ready :)

They might also consider some additional rewards (I don't know, maybe additional Wild Pack if you win or play some amount of games).

This way Blizzard can also additionally monetize Brawls.

I actually love the tavern brawl idea! If I remember correctly, the entire classic mode came out of the tavern brawl where you could play famous world championship matchups. If it shifted around to various metas every week, it would eventually land on whatever meta was your favourite. And pretty much never get stale.

Wow, after what I saw posted I think Whizbang should be legal in classic, even if he is from a future expansion. That would give players an affordable way to try classic and then invest in it is they like what they get.

Obviously is too late to implement now in what classic is today without a new meta, as people will not be crazy about entering a year and a half "dead" gamemode. But  after the changes, I see it as a nice possibility for population and future company earnings, as Whizbang decks were never perfect.

Edit: Also I have a strong feeling that Whizbang should be given to every player in the game, but I do not think that is going to happen.