In less than 24 hours, those attending BlizzCon 2018 via the Virtual Ticket will have access to the World of Warcraft Classic demo. As previously reported, there is a catch with this demo: you will be extremely limited with how long you can play. This is to ensure as they have previously said that everyone gets a chance to try it out. It’ll also help prevent players from overloading the servers. Today we finally got word from Blizzard of just how much time players will have: one hour per session.
According to Community Manager Ythisens on the Battle.Net forums, there are a few things people wanting to play the demo should be mindful of.
When the demo goes live, we’ll use a playtime time limit and a cooldown (that starts when you first log in) to help as many people as possible play the Classic demo as much as possible. We’ll start with a playtime limit of a cumulative 60 minutes and a cooldown of 90 minutes.
Key Details
Essentially, 90 minutes after you log in, your time will reset; within that 90 minutes, you’ll have 60 minutes of free access to play to demo. The announcement came with several examples of how this might play out:
- Players who play for 30 minutes, log off, and come back after an hour will have a fresh hour to play again, as the timer resets.
- If you do play for the full hour, you will automatically be disconnected and forced to wait about half an hour before you can jump back in again.
- If you play for 20 minutes, log off for another 20, then come back and play for 40 more minutes, you will also be logged off. But, in this scenario, you would only have to wait ten minutes to come back and play. This seems like a better option, but players will need to time themselves.
Ythisens says they hope to remove these restrictions as fast as possible after the World of Warcraft Classic demo goes live. However, if demand is off the charts, the restrictions will sadly have to come back into place.
Reaction From Players
After the news went public, it was unsurprisingly met with mixed reactions. No one wants to have restrictions. But remember, this is a demo, not the full version. It’s also an extra from Blizzard to people who are at BlizzCon or who purchased a Virtual Ticket.
Hopefully, servers won’t crash due to the demand; then only those people on the show floor could play it. Provided that doesn’t happen, however, many gamers are sure to enjoy the World of Warcraft Classic demo. BlizzCon and the demo take place this weekend, so get ready.
