The Nostalrius Team is Planning to Release its Legacy WoW Server Source Code

[ffronw]

The Nostalrius Team is Planning to Release its Legacy WoW Server Source Code

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1360/1360454.jpgThe team behind the popular legacy WoW server Nostalrius isn't happy with the lack of official legacy server news at Blizzcon.

Blizzcon 2016 was held over the weekend, and we saw news about a a new Hearthstone expansion [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/168768-Diablo-3-Necromancer-Class-Pack]. But there was one thing that wasn't mentioned: legacy servers for World of Warcraft.

If you were paying attention earlier this year, you probably saw that wanted legacy servers [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167113-Blizzard-Sends-Cease-and-Desist-to-Nostalrius-Vanilla-WoW-Private-Server] to happen.

Fast forward to Blizzcon. There was no info at all concerning legacy servers at the show (just as Blizzard had said previously [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/168691-Blizzard-Says-No-Legacy-Server-Information-This-Year]), and it appears that the Nostalrius team isn't pleased with that. At all.

In an open letter posted to the project's forums [http://forum.nostalrius.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=44550], the team voices its disappointment, highlighting the fact that they "decided to take the risk of challenging Blizzard regarding Legacy servers and lighting the flame of hope for one final burst."

The letter also gives an idea of how unlikely the Nostalrius team feels the legacy server announcement might be. "Until they disclose a schedule (if they do), the Legacy community will have to assume there will not be an official Blizzard release of Legacy WoW - possibly for very long time."

Furthermore, the team announces in the letter that due to the lack of an announcement, they plan to release the source code and tools for the Nostalrius server to another legacy project named Elysium, which the letter says "shares the volunteer spirit and passion for the game we had."

Once that's done, the team plans to release the source code and documentation to the public. Of course, it's likely that Blizzard will take steps to prevent this from happening. It's also likely that this decision will be a setback for any momentum that's been gained for the idea of official legacy servers. After all, World of Warcraft game director Ion Hazzikostas spoke to IGN [http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/11/06/blizzard-on-world-of-warcraft-legacy-servers-its-something-were-taking-seriously] about legacy servers, saying, "There's no question it's something we want to do." Why hasn't it happened yet? "Basically, it's complicated and we're still discussing internally, but it's something we're taking seriously."

We'll have to wait and see what happens, but you can pretty much bet that this story is far from over.

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[Li Mu]

8 out of 13 'latest stories' are Blizz related. I start to wonder if there are any other games companies out there, or whether escapist has so few staff now that they only have enough time to check out blizzard.com for article news.
Steven Bogos and Ron Whitaker appear to be the only writers left. As lovely as they are, this is rather sad.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Kronos server is better anyway

 

[chozo_hybrid]

They were told to stop and not sued for it, but this could end up pushing their luck and get them in to trouble.

 

[Ticklefist]

I think the idea of classic servers is the wrong idea. The original WoW should be brought back as its own autonomous classic game. Receiving compatibility updates but little more. Just like WC2 B.net Edition and WC3 get.

Oh, and these private server guys that want to steal someone else's work should probably stop.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

...Well, way to fuck it up for everyone then, really. Yeah, sure, passionate about the game, whatever, but when you're response to 'We're still having internal discussions' is to shout 'FUCK IT' and (illegally) release the source code in some really dumbass plan, you've officially burned any bridge that would've actually made legitimate legacy servers possible and spoiled any relationship with Blizzard in working together for it.

Like, seriously, it's so stupid - given everything Blizzard has been going on about with Legion (patches! Content! more frequent updates! Look at what's coming next!) it makes sense that they'd use Blizzcon to talk up about the thing they're actually focusing on (largely to make up for the disaster that was Warlords of Draenor) rather than the thing they might be doing (since despite the push for legacy servers by some, it's still a rather niche thing that wouldn't make up the lost numbers). If Blizzard was going to do legacy servers, my money says they wouldn't have even announced if they were doing it until sometime mid next year, let alone before the first-fucking Raid Tier is even out for their latest expansion pack. Christ alive.