With the announcement of Classic WoW (World of Warcraft) last November, the classic community has been more active than ever. Classic WoW wouldn’t have happened the way it did if it wasn’t for projects like Nostalrius and people promoting the classic version of the game (a.k.a. Vanilla/Legacy WoW). One of these people is a youtuber by the name of Orcbit, a person who’s content I personally enjoy very much. I am curious how he is experiencing this “classic” process and hope to learn a thing or two about him as a person and as a Youtuber.
Greetings Orcbit, thanks for doing this interview with us. First of all, how are you doing?
Thanks for having me. I’m doing fine!
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and when you got started?
I go by the name OrcBit for 2 simple reasons. I like Orcs and I like old 8-bit/16-bit games and soundtracks. I started doing YouTube as a result of the shutdown of Nostalrius. The shutdown was the first thing that truly pissed me off in a manner that made me create a channel to voice myself. Before the shutdown I didn’t really get involved with anything related to youtube, reddit, twitter etc.
Besides OrcBit the only other videos I have ever uploaded to Youtube were some old boss fights and some old band videos. So I would say I’m still fairly new and still learning, this april will mark my second year on Youtube.
Kinda late to the party with this question but did you expect the Classic server announcement during Blizzcon?
No. Not at all. The hope was always there, but over the years it just sort of faded into the background. The night of the announcement I was just hanging out with Hamsterwheel on skype and while we were preparing to participate in a charity stream, I heard the news and I went nuts!
My hopes were so low that I didn’t even watch the live stream of BlizzCon until people started spamming me about it. I decided to turn on my own stream, just to talk to people. I was in shock and then I watched the BlizzCon trailer, I couldn’t believe it and to this day I still can’t believe it.
What was your reaction on Blizzard’s idea of Pristine Realms in response to the whole Nostalrius situation back in April 2016?
Terrible idea! The Pristine realms did not offer to change the gameplay or anything, only make leveling slower. My initial thoughts were; If you just want a slower leveling experience go unplug your mouse and roll you head over the keyboard. Again, terrible idea.
– Though I’m thankful for Blizzard at least starting a dialog, inviting the Nostalrius team over and not just ignoring the whole thing.
As you said in the description of your first video, you were inspired by Nostalrius & the legacy server movement. Because of that you decided to set up your own Youtube channel and help the cause. How did you and the legacy community experience the time between the closure of Nostalrius and the announcement of Classic servers?
The thing is, there was no legacy movement before the shutdown of Nostalrius. The shutdown was very sad indeed, but now I think it’s safe to say that we wouldn’t be where we are today without Nostalrius being shut down. It was a necessary sacrifice to spark the legacy movement and to wake up Blizzard.
What followed after the shutdown of Nostalrius was a wave of anger, hate and despair, a lot of people just lost their virtual home and community. And that is no small thing in such a heavy socialised game like Vanilla/Classic WoW.
But it wasn’t all bad the shutdown also sparked, hope, community and the will to work together!
Although we lost our home the community banded together and the best visual presentation of this has to be the 250.000+ signatures Mark Kern handed to Blizzard HQ and the Nostalrius T-shirts sold for charity.
I could go on and on but let’s just say it has been a very bumpy ride and we are not even home yet. But hopefully we will be soon!
“To this day I still can’t believe it”
Let’s delve a bit deeper into Classic Servers. It seems people are divided on how “true” classic servers should stick to its original form. What are your thoughts on the matter? (a.k.a. changes or no changes)
I talked about this in a video called Classic vs Classic+ (plus). Which is exactly what I think it is. We were promised Vanilla. Vanilla means vanilla.
We have been fighting for vanilla WoW all these years. That means the classic experience, not Classic+ [insert changes]. If people wish for a Classic WoW experience with non-classic additions – Fine, but it doesn’t belong in Classic WoW. It might seems harsh but in my opinion it’s not really up for discussion.We were told we would get Vanilla ice cream, thank you!
If you want Vanilla ice cream with sprinkles then you are in the wrong line!
All these non-classic additions already exist in retail, why on earth would you force them onto a community which clearly doesn’t want them?
Should classic launch with all content unlocked from the start or do you prefer seeing the game being patched overtime?
It should be progressive! Maybe not every single patch, but all content patches! Having all content(t1-t3) from the start is just silly. One of WoW’s strong points is feeling your character and the world around you progress!
When it comes to the playerbase of Classic, what do you think the nostalgia/gameplay ratio will be? As in, people who just want to try it out due to nostalgia and people playing it pure for the gameplay
A lot of people are just gonna “try it out”, sure. I think most of the the current WoW player base is post-wrath/Cata (and i don’t mean this in a negative way). A lot of these people might try it out but not everyone is gonna like it, and that’s completely fine! However, I think we will have a lot of returning players.
The amount of returning players is gonna be higher than the amount of retail players who will end up playing Classic. For one simple reason, the game has changed. It has changed so much over the years that most classic players don’t play the game anymore.
Nostalgia is surely a factor but speaking from own experiences and thousands of others, the gameplay is solid. Otherwise you wouldn’t have servers like Nostalrius. Classic WoW is timeless due to its design and not due to the good times you had when you were a kid. These good times were and still are a product of the game design
What’s your plan for the release of Classic? (both personal and video content wise)
I’m actually not sure yet. First of all I need to know what we are getting exactly before I make any big decisions.
One thing I can say for certain is that the amount of content is only gonna go up on my channel.
At this point I’m already thinking about making more time for Youtube, as of now I only have 2-3 weekends a month to work on videos and stream. Weekdays are totally off limits atm due to work, studies etc. I would love to produce more content, videos and stream more! So who knows what’s going to happen when Classic WoW releases.
In one of your recent videos you mentioned something about a “possible leak” regarding the beta of Classic Wow. Any updates on this?
I talked a bit about this on stream. People did expect another video about it but what I can say is maybe worth 10 seconds and I’m not gonna make a 10 second long video. So i chose to talk about it on stream instead. But here is the update:
The guy who ‘’leaked’’ the info about Classic WoW Beta being way closer than we think, was right about all the other stuff he predicted. So naturally you would think we he is right. Then you see an interview with J.A.B which then totally indicates the opposite. At this point I want updates from the actual Classic WoW team, but I want to stay optimistic and believe the beta is closer than we think.
Also Blizzard did post a tweet in regards to WoW hitting 13 years in the EU, with ‘’potential’’ Alpha footage of Classic WoW. So who knows?
“We were promised Vanilla. Vanilla means vanilla“
While we are on the subject of your videos, your channel has been growing along very nicely (almost 10k subs as we speak). What are you currently working on?
I’m currently working on a druid guide and a very special elemental shaman video. Also got a lot of other videos lined up, but time is the only issue for me. I will get there!
Anything “special” planned for when you hit 10k subscribers?
Been talking a bit about this on stream, I do have some old stuff which could be fun to show people. Like my very first vanilla wow pvp video from 2005-6(ish) very cringe.
I will have something awesome ready!
Did you expect to achieve this number of subscribers when you started out?
No not at all and I’m really grateful for the support! It makes me happy that people enjoy what I create!
Do you have a schedule you go by when creating content?
Right now it’s pretty much whenever I got the time to do it. Mostly weekends.
All streams are during raid night every saturday at 6.30pm gmt (ish). If there is time during the week i do sometimes stream some pvp, pugs etc.
I try to make at least 1 video per week, but that doesn’t always end up being the case. Sometimes more sometimes less.
I also noticed you stream some of your gameplay. What are your views on live streaming compared to video content and does it affect your Video creation process?
It’s a fine balance! I like doing both.
Live streaming gives you the ability to interact with the viewer, which is awesome. Video creation gives you the option to be really detailed in your work. They go hand in hand and complement each other very well in my opinion.
Like all of our interviews we like to end with some tips for our readers. Since you are the first “Youtuber” I interviewed, are there any tips and pointers you want to give to starting content creators out there?
Just get started already! What do you got to lose? It’s a journey that never ends, you constantly develop as a content creator and the sooner you begin this journey the better you will be!
Always try to be better, learn new skills and programs etc! And most importantly make the content you love even if that content is about a 13 year old game!
You can find Orcbit at: