Classic World of Warcraft Discussion [Megathread]

[Volitar]

I think it was a stupid move. If you don't offer a service you can't be mad that people are using that service somewhere else. How many people do you think are going to return to live servers from Nostralius? Probably some but is it worth all the negative press and anguish from people who have essentially had there main deleted by Blizzard? That isn't how you grow loyalty and overall I think it looks petty by Blizzard.

[Kolvarg]

Yeah it sucks but oh well.

The 2008 recession really ruined games in a way.

Not saying Blizz is super evil now when it didn't use to be, but they certainly used to behave in a much more "indie" atittude than nowadays. Part of it is not their fault I'm sure, especially not the developers', but still.

I'm just hoping that today's best developers don't get caught in it too =P

CD Projekt for instance. As much as you might hate or love their games, their attitude towards game development, DRM and the players (and their feedback) is pretty much impeccable and an example to the industry.

[Deleted]

The amount of derision - bordering on what seems like hatred - for something that not too long ago was dismissed as 'meaningless' and only enjoyed by 'a tiny number' of players is astounding.

The legal case is quite clear; Blizzard is completely in the right. But the response from current subscribers is baffling. There really is no need to put down everything that isn't, and everyone who doesn't like, the current state of WoW. The people who are playing on private servers are by and large passionate fans of Warcraft - like you are.

[Torais]

I find it funny so many people are defending Blizzard on the grounds of them protected their intellectual property when Blizzard themselves are one of the biggest, most shameless IP plunderers around.

[Aehl]

Using the client is illegal. Setting up a server where a client can connect isn't.

Yes it is. Any use of their product or IP without their permission is piracy

I will say this again:

PRIVATE SERVERS ARE AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE ILLEGAL

Theft of copyright
Theft of IP
Theft of property

....and when these "martyrs to Vanilla": get into court, a judge wont give a toss about your outraged morals. The people who ran this place will not have a legal leg to stand on.

. On Thursday, the California Central District Court ruled in favor of the game maker and ordered Scapegaming to pay back “$3,053,339 of inappropriate profits, $63,600 of attorney’s fees, and $85,478,600 of statutory damages.”

The following rights are protected by European Union law:

right of reproduction for authors, performers, producers of phonograms and films and broadcasting organisations[4]
right of communication to the public for authors, performers, producers of phonograms and films and broadcasting organisations[5]
right of distribution for authors[6] and for performers, producers of phonograms and films and broadcasting organisations[7]
right of fixation for performers and broadcasting organisations[8]
right of rental and/or lending for authors, performers, producers of phonograms and films,[9][10] with an associated right of equitable remuneration for lending and/or rental for authors and performers[11]
right of broadcasting for performers, producers of phonograms and broadcasting organisations[12]
right of communication to the public by satellite for authors, performers, producers of phonograms and broadcasting organisations[13]
right of computer program reproduction, distribution and rental for authors[14]

Illegal in the US

Illegal in Europe

Software piracy is a crime for which you can be prosecuted, convicted and punished.

[OreoLover]

I think it was a stupid move. If you don't offer a service you can't be mad that people are using that service somewhere else. How many people do you think are going to return to live servers from Nostralius? Probably some but is it worth all the negative press and anguish from people who have essentially had there main deleted by Blizzard? That isn't how you grow loyalty and overall I think it looks petty by Blizzard.

Probably worth it to keep this up on big targets, to protect their IP and keep new players drawn to their pay version, rather than free versions.

[Tackhisis]

Using the client is illegal. Setting up a server where a client can connect isn't.

Setup the server without stolen Blizzard data and we'll see how it will fare.

[Deleted]

Using the client is illegal. Setting up a server where a client can connect isn't.

Actually its more the other way around the client is actually free and you could and still can obtain it for free from blizzard . When those were current patch the game was freely distributed . But that's nitpicking i mean , blizzard still have the right over the game and can sue every server . But the client is free .

[Nest]

Love how people think it ain't illegal.

Yet the server is still getting shut down by Blizzard, wonder why.

[rda]

Setup the server without stolen Blizzard data and we'll see how it will fare.

If the continents are named Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, that's Blizzard IP already. There's no real way to do a private server without stepping on Blizzard's feet, by the time you provide data for the new character screen, you are knee deep in violations.

[Toxigen]

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[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/jHuoRV0.png[/MG]

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[IMG]http://cdn.meme.am/instances/59004304.jpg[/IM]

[Niku]

People getting and enjoying what they want elsewhere when Blizzard stubbornly refuses to provide it for them? Can't have that, shut it down!

[Kolvarg]

Love how people think it ain't illegal.

Yet the server is still getting shut down by Blizzard, wonder why.

The server didn't get shut down by Blizzard. The server got legal threats by Blizzard, because of which they decided to shut down.

In the hypothetical situation that what they were doing wasn't illegal, they could have decided to shut down simply because for them it was a passion project done in their free time and they likely don't have the money to go on extensive legal battles agaisnt a company as big as Blizzard.

Things aren't so simple, plenty of small companies and individuals get "bullied" to shut down or stop competing because they have no means to fight the big companies legally, despite being in complete right to do whatever they do.

Not saying that's the case here, just saying it happens, "it got shutdown therefore it's illegal" is not a valid logic jump.

[Magruun]

Of course Blizzard isn't wrong to close private servers, its their product and private servers are pirating it.
However I would like Blizzard to learn something from this.

Nostalrius was huge, 150 thousand people made an account, obviously there are a lot of people out there who want to experience Vanilla WoW again.
These people have no other place to turn to than private servers because Blizzard simply does not provide this product anymore.
Why won't Blizzard swallow their pride for once and set up a legacy server?
They still have servers for Diablo 2, Starcraft 1 and Warcraft 3 up. games which very few people still play.

I would be prepared to pay a subscription for Legacy WoW servers and not expect anything other than just server maintenance and GMs which can easily be supported by the same people they have working on their other games right now.
Its not like we have been getting much more for our Subcription to WoD for the last year either.
I bet most of the people interested in Classic WoW are long time players who are now 25-40 years old, people who can afford 12 dollars a month but simply don't want to play WoD because its simply a completely different game.
Why would it matter if these people were playing a Legacy version of WoW instead of the latest expansion if they are all just paying their sub? I don't understand what Blizzard is so afraid of.

These people from the Nostalrius team clearly have the knowledge, software and tools to make classic WoW run and I don't see how Blizzard can have 'lost' all of this.
I would like Blizzard to just take this knowledge and set up their own legacy server so these private realms are not necessary any more.

[esmifra]

People in this thread seem to be discussing two different things...

A group is saying the server is illegal that it's blizz IP and game it's their right to state how the game exists. - This is true.

Another group is saying there is demand for legacy servers that these players were just having fun and that the servers were even non profit and the developers were just doing this for the love of the game and that Blizz could be getting those subscriptions if they accepted that not a small player base finds Vanilla more fun than the current game form. - This is also true.

Both are right, that's why most say are sad. Because they were having fun and were shut down. That's all. Blizz has all the right in their decision, but that doesn't mean you have to agree with the decision.

The way i see it, Blizz at the pace subs were dropping and considering we are in a content drought blizz is probably around 4M or less. I truly believe that if they listened to reason and created legacy servers their subscription numbers would be higher and they would be making money out of them. I'm one of those old players that grew up and stopped playing because the game followed a path that stopped being fun for me. I never played nostalrius, before this day I didn't knew it existed but I completely understand where these players are coming from. I and at least 5 friends of mine would subscribe again due to nostalgia alone. I bet there are few hundred thousand players that are in the same situation.

I feel sad because these players were having fun, fun that could be giving money to Blizz if they wanted but blizz has decided (as is their right) that's not the path they want for WoW.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Was this the largest private server or something? Because I could see them going after the biggest just to send a message to the community that Blizzard is laying claim and protecting its copy rights for whatever reason they might have found. But over all it feels the scene really isn't that affected. It sucks for people that were having a good time though. But I also kinda see where Blizzard is coming from in an overly lawyer ran society.

[McFuu]

The server didn't get shut down by Blizzard. The server got legal threats by Blizzard, because of which they decided to shut down.

In the hypothetical situation that what they were doing wasn't illegal, they could have decided to shut down simply because for them it was a passion project done in their free time and they likely don't have the money to go on extensive legal battles agaisnt a company as big as Blizzard.

Things aren't so simple, plenty of small companies and individuals get "bullied" to shut down or stop competing because they have no means to fight the big companies legally, despite being in complete right to do whatever they do.

Not saying that's the case here, just saying it happens, "it got shutdown therefore it's illegal" is not a valid logic jump.

What don't people understand. It's not being bullied to shutdown. Blizzard HAS to take action against them. They are the owner of the WoW copyright. And not protecting it leaves them liable to weakening their claim on that copyright. It has nothing to do with EULAs or TOS.

Anytime a company sues and sends cease and desist orders its because they have to protect their copyright. It doesn't matter if most of the WoW devs are fans of the server, if Blizz isn't going to officially endorse a server, they have to take it down. This is true for all Pservers, but there is a bit of plausible deniability built into smaller servers where Blizz could exists in a state of not knowing about them. But Nost was huge, they had to take action, the Nost admins knew it was only a matter of time.

[pateuvasiliu]

People getting and enjoying what they want elsewhere when Blizzard stubbornly refuses to provide it for them? Can't have that, shut it down!

Lol. Fuck Blizzard for closing an illegal server using their property, eh?

Bastards.

[Tackhisis]

I truly believe that if they listened to reason and created legacy servers their subscription numbers would be higher and they would be making money.

Even FREE vanilla server has less than 200k players. That's nothing. And it will be even less if there will be subscription.

[RobertMugabe]

Was this the largest private server or something? Because I could see them going after the biggest just to send a message to the community that Blizzard is laying claim and protecting its copy rights for whatever reason they might have found. But over all it feels the scene really isn't that affected. It sucks for people that were having a good time though. But I also kinda see where Blizzard is coming from in an overly lawyer ran society.

Nope, there are currently a couple of Servers which are much bigger and older than Nostalrius available.