The realms of WoW: Classic are dying – what can help?

2 years after the release, WoW: Classic is not doing so well. There are many reasons – but above all the player base is divided.

When World of Warcraft: Classic was announced a few years ago, the fans were delighted. To finally be able to dive back into the “original” Azeroth was a long-cherished wish, which at least since the expansion “Cataclysm” was no longer possible or could only be fulfilled on illegal private servers.

But now, 2 years after the release of “WoW: Classic”, there is not much left of the joy. The original Classic realms have in most cases degenerated into ghost realms.

What is the problem? The WoW Classic subreddit has been talking about the state of WoW Classic and especially the realms of the “Classic Era” for a while. The players have largely disappeared. If you take a look at the realm utilization of the Classic-era realms, it becomes clear: Almost all of them have dropped to “low” (via worldofwarcraft.com). It is becoming increasingly rare to find other games. This puts a core of the MMORPG experience in jeopardy.

the Reddit user Darkfirex34 published two screenshots to show the discrepancy particularly clearly. It shows the realm “Benediction” – once for Christmas 2019 and once for Christmas 2021.

While two years ago the city of Orgrimmar was still full of players celebrating together, the capital of the Horde was almost completely empty in 2021.

Several games divide the player base: One of the biggest problems is likely to be that the World of Warcraft player base is becoming more and more fragmented. Not only do the players split between “Retail-WoW (Shadowlands)” and “Classic”. No, the Classic players are also divided into “Classic”, “Burning Crusade Classic” and “Season of the Championship”.

The end result is clear here: The “pure” WoW: Classic is the loser, because it could not hold its players, who instead embarked on other adventures.

What could help The community has been demanding for weeks and months: “Blizzard, merge the realms!” Many players are tired of wandering around in increasingly empty cities – which ultimately only reduces the fun of the game and drives the number of active players more and more into the basement . There are mainly two possible solutions:

• Merging the realms. Several realms and their active players should merge into a new realm.
• Free server transfers with which the remaining players can escape from “dead” realms.

Both might not be the perfect measures, but they would create enough time to be able to think about a longer-term solution.

Because the way WoW: Classic is currently set up in the Classic era, there is gaming fun with an active community only on a fraction of the realms – and this selection is getting smaller every week.

Do you still play WoW: Classic in the Classic era? Or are you in TBC: Classic or the season of the championship?