Petition Asks Blizzard to Revert World of Warcraft Classic Changes

Some World of Warcraft players are signing a petition asking Blizzard to revert changes made to the Classic Era and Hardcore servers on July 9. These fans believe it goes against the spirit of Classic, and that World of Warcraft went back on its promise of “No Changes” in doing so.

Recently, World of Warcraft Classic finished an eight-hour maintenance period in preparation for Phase 4 of Season of Discovery. After the servers came back up, fans noticed several bugs in World of Warcraft Classic Era and Hardcore that seemed to have bled over from Season of Discovery, including a new Paladin quest that unlocked the Divine Steed ability and Might of Stormwind, an Alliance version of the Warchief’s Blessing buff given when turning in the quest for defeating Rend Blackhand.

However, it seems at least one of these changes was intentional. Shortly after, World of Warcraft revealed the patch notes for the update, which indicated that the Might of Stormwind buff, along with changes to the guild UI and the ability for Druids to use polearms, were permanent additions to the retro servers. Needless to say, World of Warcraft Classic players were not happy, and have since demanded Blizzard revert these changes.

WoW content creator and Classic enjoyer Kargoz was the fan responsible for kicking off this World of Warcraft petition on Change.org. “The Vanilla WoW formula is time tested and it has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that people enjoy it and have the desire to play it as it was with no changes,” he said. “We like playing on servers with an authentic Vanilla meta with no changes and when Activision Blizzard launched Classic Era, it was promised to serve as a time capsule to help preserve the game as it was.” He is not alone in his belief that “lackadaisically” changing Classic Era goes against Blizzard’s “No Changes” promise, as the petition already gathered about 2,000 signatures and counting in less than two days since it began.

At face value, these changes to World of Warcraft seem like they would be a good thing. Adding a world buff for faction parity, improving the clunky WoW Classic guild UI, and giving Druids access to a weapon type they didn’t get until Wrath of the Lich King are all net positive adjustments, especially since polearms often have excellent stats for the Feral specialization. That said, fans ofClassic Era don’t play the game for convenience or quality of life like in WoW Classic Season of Discovery or the progression servers – they want to play the exact same World of Warcraft that existed 20 years ago.

It remains to be seen if Blizzard will revert these changes in response to player feedback, but World of Warcraft did so with things like the confusing Molten Core lockout timer in Season of Discovery Phase 4 previously. If players don’t like these recent changes, they should be sure to sign this petition, and make their voices heard on the official World of Warcraft forums as well.

WoW Classic Era and Hardcore Patch Notes July 9, 2024

• The Guilds user interface has been updated to provide more ease of Guild management.
• Alliance players now have access to the Might of Stormwind, a version of the Warchiefs Blessing world buff effect. This new buff is gained for turning in a new quest End of the Dark Horde in Stormwind and is mutually exclusive with Warchiefs Blessing.
• The Songflower Serenade and Dire Maul Tribute buffs can no longer be dispelled by enemy players.
• Druids can now train and use polearms.