He expects that Shadowlands' world will be"super immersive" and considers the expansion's more aerodynamic, faction-based narrative--a change back onto the straight and narrow following recent classic gold wow expansions' experiments by allowing players work their way through zones at any order--will result in a world that feels like a"cohesive whole."

Request longtime WoW players, however, and they'll tell you pre-expansion Azeroth feels more. You'll encounter an enemy that has got a couple too many levels or a different participant will sneak up behind you and cut your days brief.

"There are some men and women who desire something a little more approachable and individuals who are super hardcore," said Cash. "A great example of this influence and in which we are taking it's your Maw, particularly the outdoor area. It's an unforgiving place where there are a great deal of mobs with combinations and very nasty skills of mechanics. There is no safe harbor. There is not a heartbeat. You're not binding your Hearthstone there. There's not flight points. It is a place where you're gonna dip in and determine just how long you can survive."

As ever, the contemporary WoW team has a tall order on its hands. Hight, Cash, and company have to address what people liked and didn't like about the Battle For Azeroth growth, cater to quite different and hardcore crowds, and figure out where WoW Classic influences fit into all this. All this while WoW players are still figuring out exactly what it means to suddenly be in a position to time warp back to the mid-2000s whenever they want to.

"We can see that we've got a substantial number of players that are actually playing both games," said Hight. "But there are wow classic gold for sale definitely some different areas of the community that are playing Classic or only playing WoW. It is still too early to tell with Classic if we're stabilizing or when this is only a novelty." So while there is bound to be a influence on modern WoW from WoW Classic, the broader plan right now is to ensure that both matches retain their identities.