Admins of WoW Legacy Server "Nostalrius" to Meet With Blizzard

[Steven Bogos]

Admins of WoW Legacy Server "Nostalrius" to Meet With Blizzard

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Could this be the beginnings of an "official" World of Warcraft legacy server?

Earlier in the year, Blizzard suddenly backlash [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167113-Blizzard-Sends-Cease-and-Desist-to-Nostalrius-Vanilla-WoW-Private-Server], but it didn't seem like Blizzard was going to budge on the issue. However, the admins of the shuttered server have just announced that they will be meeting with Blizzard to discuss potential "official" legacy severs.

"The last few weeks have been full of exciting events that we did not anticipate. We saw the first official answer from J. Allen Brack on the topic of legacy servers, the petition reached 250.000 signatures, and we are currently scheduling a meeting at Blizzard campus," wrote Nostalrius admin Daemon [http://forum.nostalrius.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=44031].

He continued to state that "We are very excited to be able to help Blizzard understand the part of their community asking for legacy servers," and the meetings will be conducted "in the hope that they will eventually make it possible to legally play previous game expansions," which certainly makes it sound like official servers are something that could very really happen. Blizzard itself said in its official response to the controversy that classic servers are something it had been thinking about for years [http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/17611300963].

Furthermore, Daemon confirmed that Nostalrius source code and database won't ever be released to the public, partly due to the hope that should official legacy servers come to be, there would no longer be a need for people to emulate the game on private servers.

It's very exciting stuff for all of us World of Warcraft veterans who want to re-live the glory days of the game, such as endlessly farming soul shards to summon 39 other people to the raid, being constantly ganked by a level 60 rogue in Stranglethorn Valley, and of course, saving up gold for months in order to be able to afford one of the ludicrously overpriced epic mounts.

Source: Nostalrius [http://forum.nostalrius.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=44031]

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[Eric the Orange]

Heeeeey, Stivie! Looks like ya still have a job afterall.

 

[American Fox]

Merrydown is excited if there is a RPPvP server.

 

[Fappy]

I would seriously consider raiding again if it were on a legacy server. I missed vanilla and 40-man's sound like they were a lot of fun. A TBC server would be pretty awesome too.

 

[Karadalis]

I would seriously consider raiding again if it were on a legacy server. I missed vanilla and 40-man's sound like they were a lot of fun. A TBC server would be pretty awesome too.

While having a certain "epic" feeling to it... dont just buy into all the nostalgia, it wasnt all fun n games back in the day

They where an organisation managment horror, drama attracting clusterfuck most of the time...

Fun as hell if it worked, frustrating as well when your feral druid suddenly demands to tank even if he sucks at it. Or if your Raidleader decides that as a 2-hand warrior suddenly need 100% fire resist gear in molten core... AFTER you have the raid on cleared status and wants you to tank in blackwing lair even thought you have tanks galore... just because you know?

Expect ALOT of egotistical powerhungry douchebags XD And hope that they have matured in the meanwhile.. after all it has been allmost 10 years.

On the other hand, Vanilla and BC had a level of community through neccesarity that was lost by the start of cataclysm. Ever since cata i never felt the need of missing anything by not joining a guild while as before having a guild was something that actually enriched your gameplay and made things possible you couldnt just do on your own before.

I think its this missing feeling of community that turns away so many people from the new WoW... even in the newest expansion they still keep splitting players up.. this time by class... and give a single player the oportunity to do EVERYTHING by staying solo... dunno about anyone else but for me an MMO should be about the multyplayer aspect atleast a little bit.

As for OT:

I see blizzard hasnt stopped their usual modus operanti by simply absorbing anything that currently goes on on the market and making it their own. In this case however they will get a pass... never wrong bringing new talent onto the team, especially if its because of customer demands. Ofcourse that is if they actually want to hire the guys... and not club them over the head and send them to the slave driven blizzardium mines deep under french soil...

 

[Neverhoodian]

Well whaddaya know. Speaking as a former "casual" WOW player (pretty much solo PvE, never got to level cap), I'd be willing to check this out if it went through. Not sure if I'd stick around though, particularly if it requires a subscription fee.

Still, it would be neat if Blizzard actually went through with this. It would be even better if it started a trend for other long-running online games that have had major changes over the years. I know I'd pay good money to play an official "classic" version of Team Fortress 2 circa 2007.

 

[Strawb]

...being constantly ganked by a level 60 rogue in Stranglethorn Valley...

Stranglethorn Valley, Steven? Come on, man.

 

[Zacharious-khan]

Well someone had better pick up that phone...

 

[dochmbi]

Yeah go right ahead, it's not like there will be police with handcuffs waiting for you at that meeting.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Ahh, yes. Back in the days when gaming was more of a job than your job. (Though I wonder how many of these players really just want the old Tarren Mill/Southshore fights back.)

 

[Thatguyky]

As a huge "legacy", "vanilla", "old school" WoW fan or whatever you want to call it, I am beyond excited to hear this! I'd come back to WoW in a heartbeat if something came of this. That being said, Blizzard please go through with what this seems to imply! On a side note, I'm actually surprised it took Blizzard this long to get the guy in for a meeting.

 

[Neonsilver]

I would seriously consider raiding again if it were on a legacy server. I missed vanilla and 40-man's sound like they were a lot of fun. A TBC server would be pretty awesome too.

Well, that depends a lot on the people you are raiding with. In vanilla I was part of a relatively nice group, but with 40 people it's quite likely that the group will have it's share of people that annoy you. And I heard a few stories and experienced some raids where I wouldn't have enjoyed it.

 

[GothmogII]

Yeah go right ahead, it's not like there will be police with handcuffs waiting for you at that meeting.

I know it's against the terms of Blizzard's TOS, but it's only technically illegal in the sense that they broke a user agreement, I don't think many courts would even bother nor would Blizzard go to the trouble of calling the police. It would depend on the severity of the accusation, do Blizzard think that the amount of money the guys were making from their (Blizzard's) IP is worth prosecuting them over? From what I've read, most of the money came from donations, and even then was barely enough to cover the cost of running the servers.

Even if Blizzard did take them to court: 1: They aren't going to get any money back and may lose money. 2: Nostralius likely won't have the money to cover their legal bills and especially against a massive company like Acti-Blizz. 3: More of a personal thing, but this type of 'crime' is not the type I think people should face jail for, maybe community service or garnishing their income to a reasonable degree. They shouldn't have their lives destroyed over it.

Having a sit down with them is the best option, even if nothing comes from it it makes Blizzard look like decent guys and gets them some positive publicity (which can equal $$$ don't forget). As opposed to adding to the many, many, many complaints people have about the company already, justified or not.

 

[ccggenius12]

...being constantly ganked by a level 60 rogue in Stranglethorn Valley...

Stranglethorn Valley, Steven? Come on, man.

You gotta participate in the fishing tournament to win it, brah.

 

[ecoho]

wouldn't mind playing in a wrath locked server, to me that was the best raiding experience they ever had. also I miss arm pen and when hunters had mana.

 

[geizr]

I haven't played WoW in years, but being able to relive the glory days of vanilla and Burning Crusade, I would very much be willing to return to playing WoW. Yes, it was a grind; yes, there were a number of bugs and other issues. However, there was a certain charm and sense of adventure that just doesn't seem to be manifest today. I think a lot of the charm of the old days was in the community that existed back then. WoW players back in the day were just a completely different caliber and breed compared to MMO players I run into these days. People had fun, but there was a certain seriousness and focus on getting the job done that just doesn't seem to exist with the kids these days.

 

[geizr]

Ahh, yes. Back in the days when gaming was more of a job than your job. (Though I wonder how many of these players really just want the old Tarren Mill/Southshore fights back.)

*Raises hand 5 miles into the sky*

I wouldn't be surprised that most want the old Tauren Mill/South Shore fights back. Those were some of the most awesome world PvP moments in WoW. As far as I know, nothing has compared to it since.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

...I'll be entirely honest, the only thing I'd ever do in a Legacy Server is go to Orgrimmar, mind-control Saurfang and cleave the world in two.

Never got the chance to do that when I first played, so why not. Though dumping people off the cliff of Blackrock mountain was also fun... nobody ever knew how to revive in that place.

 

[irish286]

The only thing I would ask they do is make raiding a season thing. Like, don't open the raids all at once. Gradually release them over the year and have it reset the next.

 

[Zulnam]

what the guy that wrote the article fails to grasp is that vanilla wow, while a flawed but functional gem, had enough struggle in it to create character and intrigue among the server guilds. Back when a server's guilds actually had to organize and communicate among themselves since the LFG tool wasn't there yet to suck out all human interaction.