Classic World of Warcraft Discussion [Megathread]

[Camthur]

Why do people keep trumpeting "but they didn't make any MONEY!"? The last time I checked, crimes don't require the criminal to make a profit to be punished.

While I personally have no want for a Vanilla server, I might have eventually got behind the idea as long as it didn't interfere with the development of the main game. Now, there's no way I'll EVER support the cause of a bunch of rule breakers. NEVER EVER

Unfortunately, this hurts those other folks who did nothing wrong and I feel bad for them. As for the rule breakers, I hope Blizzard dedicates a whole branch of their legal team to hunting you people down and stomping out every illegal server in existence. (even if it's just some dude and 3 people in some basement) Funny, I didn't even feel this way until a whole bunch of people came on here acting all entitled, flaunting the fact they there were breaking the rules and how little they cared that they were doing so.

PS, some advice to you vanilla seekers: Telling Blizzard how much you think their current game that they lovingly make sucks is not earning you any brownie points with them.

[Darkeon]

And, for as long they say "No.", there will be people saying "C'mon... please do it.". That's how life works, on the Internet and outside of it.

- - - Updated - - -

Why do people keep trumpeting "but they didn't make any MONEY!"? The last time I checked, crimes don't require the criminal to make a profit to be punished.

Because the people arguing that variable are arguing the morality of the issue and not whether or not it makes it a crime, because that's pretty much a known fact (Well, the majority of the people, that is, I'm sure we can find a couple people in this thread claiming it's not a crime).

[Viikkis]

Nostalrius maybe did not profit (we can never be sure) but the company hosting the server sure did make profit.

[Veggie50]

Wouldn't it be interesting if someone would actually sue Blizzard for not providing the opportunity to play the game they purchased?

I mean... I am well aware the ToS states changes can be made, but these changes have to fall "within reason" and the original product must still be recognizable.

Also, while I agree private servers are illegal and best not dealt with, something being illegal does not make it wrong. Simply being homosexual was illegal for a long, long time.

[wych]

Why do people keep trumpeting "but they didn't make any MONEY!"? The last time I checked, crimes don't require the criminal to make a profit to be punished.

While I personally have no want for a Vanilla server, I might have eventually got behind the idea as long as it didn't interfere with the development of the main game. Now, there's no way I'll EVER support the cause of a bunch of rule breakers. NEVER EVER

Unfortunately, this hurts those other folks who did nothing wrong and I feel bad for them. As for the rule breakers, I hope Blizzard dedicates a whole branch of their legal team to hunting you people down and stomping out every illegal server in existence. (even if it's just some dude and 3 people in some basement) Funny, I didn't even feel this way until a whole bunch of people came on here acting all entitled, flaunting the fact they there were breaking the rules and how little they cared that they were doing so.

PS, some advice to you vanilla seekers: Telling Blizzard how much you think their current game that they lovingly make sucks is not earning you any brownie points with them.

"current game that they lovingly make".

Haha dude, they're a company putting out a product to make the maximum amount of money they can. There's nothing wrong with that, but don't pretend there's any love involved in the cynical version of modern day WoW

[wych]

No, I haven't. And it can be easily proven. The top torrent shit only has millions of downloads. That means billions of people don't torrent. All you're doing right now is making yourself look foolish when you assume this shit.

There's also billions of people without real access to the internet.

Most people have downloaded or streamed a song or film over their years on the internet, all the way from the days of Napster and Limewire. Now please stop responding with this dull moral crap.

[Darkeon]

Wouldn't it be interesting if someone would actually sue Blizzard for not providing the opportunity to play the game they purchased?

Going to be that someone, who has the money to even pondering going into a court-battle with a Company of the magnitude of Activision-Blizzard, is chilling in a hot-tub with 5 blond hotties, looking down on people from a penthouse suite in a skyscraper.

[Surfd]

Wouldn't it be interesting if someone would actually sue Blizzard for not providing the opportunity to play the game they purchased?

I mean... I am well aware the ToS states changes can be made, but these changes have to fall "within reason" and the original product must still be recognizable.

Also, while I agree private servers are illegal and best not dealt with, something being illegal does not make it wrong. Simply being homosexual was illegal for a long, long time.

It would be amusing to see someone try, thats for sure. Would be a riot watching how quickly their case would get thrown out on it's ass (that's assuming any lawyer would ever be stupid enough to take the case in the first place).

The main part being that nobody has ever purchased "vanilla WoW". You have paid blizzard for the right to connect to their servers. Nothing more. You have never, at any point, paid blizzard for exclusive rights to a specific version of WoW.

[Tuesdays]

There's also billions of people without real access to the internet.

Most people have downloaded or streamed a song or film over their years on the internet, all the way from the days of Napster and Limewire. Now please stop responding with this dull moral crap.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

[Tyrealius]

I'm honestly surprised to see that this has actually made it as far as it has.

I mean yes, legacy servers are certainly enticing since many of our fondest memories were formed during past expansions and these days our experiences are tainted because they'll never live up to those idolised memories.

However the fact remains, regardless of personal interest or desire, Nostralius was an unsanctioned product that had no right to exist and its life was cut short. Should it return I can fully expect it to be purged again along with any of its misbegotten offspring.

Blizzard are the creators, owners and developers of Warcraft, the universe and anything else in relation to it. It is their prerogative to decide what to do with their product not the consumers of said product. They'll give us Legacy servers if they decide to do so, but for now we have live and that is all.

You may as well say I can cut your legs off and use them for something else because while they're still part of you I don't like how you're using the rest of your body and neglecting your legs so I'm going to take them away. For all the sense people supporting this Server are making.

[NO7OR1OUS]

I sure would hate to have created something, have said thing be illegally emulated, then users of emulated thing hating me for having never given it to them for free in the first place, then immensely criticized for taking action to return deserved profits on my end by destroying emulation of my thing.

You have to understand that there is no "deserved profits" to be returned. People play on Vanilla/BC servers because the game was actually good, unlike retail. None of these private server players want to play WoD. Nobody is returning to retail now that Nost is gone, they will find another Vanilla/BC realm. If Blizzard provided one then they would get profits from it.

[Surfd]

You have to understand that there is no "deserved profits" to be returned. People play on Vanilla/BC servers because the game was actually good, unlike retail. None of these private server players want to play WoD. Nobody is returning to retail now that Nost is gone, they will find another Vanilla/BC realm. If Blizzard provided one then they would get profits from it.

Yes. And they have done the math, and determined that the profits they would recieve for providing said services would not be enough to offset both the development time / resources needed to actually impliment them, and the potential damage it could do to the brand by deviding the product into two seperate enteties, not to mention the headache of the slippery slope problem that if they ever did provide a Legacy Vanilla server, they would pretty much be required to provide one for every other "popular / wanted" Expantion as well.

Blizzard literally cant provide JUST one Legacy server. They would have to provide DOZENS, of at least 4 flavours, since the TBC crowd will want one, the Wrath crowd will want one, the Cata crowd will want one, and every region will require a set. And Every single one of those will require seperate databases / maintenance teams, patches, bugfixes, codebases and the like.

Blizzard has enough problems (accordin to people here) maintaining ONE branch of the game. Imagine how much fun they will have maintaining 4 to 8 branches simultaneously.......the idea is ludicrous.

All that to basicly earn back a fraction of what it would cost to set up and maintain.

[Barathe0n]

I don't see why anybody who is enjoying retail would be against a couple of legacy servers being added in to the mix. Maybe 3 vanilla, 3 BC and 4 LK servers on EU and US. It's not like you have to play it. The vast majority of people who play those servers for a decent length of time would likely be returning players and people enjoying WoD can continue to do so. Nostalrius, while not legal, definitely displayed a large demand for legacy servers and the number of people who enjoyed it shows that some people really do prefer the old version and they're not looking at it through rose-tinted glasses.
Nostalrius offered to give them their code, and could even do so for the Burning Crusade server which they were setting up. The server costs are being made a bigger deal than they really are as only a small number of servers would be needed and Nostalrius reported they could host their previous servers and their website at 1000 euro a month.

I understand players being against Nostalrius as it could be classed as theft but why go against adding a few legacy servers that have no connection to the version of the game you're enjoying?

[Gaman]

I'm no marketing guru, but it would appear to a lot of people that current WoW and Vanilla WoW were aimed at different parts of the gaming market overall. Or at least, what appeals to the legacy crowd is often touted as not existing any more in retail. Would it not be possible to seperate them in terms of advertising; maybe releasing legacy stuff under the name "Age of Warcraft" or sometihng (yah, you can tell I'm no marketing guru).

So you have World of Warcraft for the more immediate ARPG experience, and Age of Warcraft for the slower paced RPG style. Could even allow them to persue the "casualisation" of retail (sorry couldn't think of a shorter way to describe the direction since TBC, yes it isn't ideal, but I hope you get what I mean); while having an alternative to offer the more "grindy" crowd

Now, im no marketing guru either, but I get what you mean, and I quite like the idea. And I agree that the games, atleast if we take Vanilla and WoD, is so completely different that they could go under the catagory of both different games and different (ehh classifications(?)) MMORPG/ARPG. I mean, the last 6 or so (standalone) COD games are more similar to eachother than every WoW expansion has ever been IMO.

Tho I just do not imagine Blizz doing legacy while they still make new expansions... Dunno why i imagine that, guess I would feel (if I made WoW) that it would undermine the new stuff im working on or something, thus not wanting to release old stuff while still working on expanding the new stuff.

But hey, it would be awsome if they did! Might get me back as a support member of the blizzard sub-fee (Paying and hardly/not playing) which I was for the past 3months until 2 days ago

[Tuesdays]

I don't see why anybody who is enjoying retail would be against a couple of legacy servers being added in to the mix. Maybe 3 vanilla, 3 BC and 4 LK servers on EU and US. It's not like you have to play it. The vast majority of people who play those servers for a decent length of time would likely be returning players and people enjoying WoD can continue to do so. Nostalrius, while not legal, definitely displayed a large demand for legacy servers and the number of people who enjoyed it shows that some people really do prefer the old version and they're not looking at it through rose-tinted glasses.
Nostalrius offered to give them their code, and could even do so for the Burning Crusade server which they were setting up. The server costs are being made a bigger deal than they really are as only a small number of servers would be needed and Nostalrius reported they could host their previous servers and their website at 1000 euro a month.

I understand players being against Nostalrius as it could be classed as theft but why go against adding a few legacy servers that have no connection to the version of the game you're enjoying?

Blizzard is saving that strategy for when the game completely dies out.

[AeneasBK]

But hey, it would be awsome if they did! Might get me back as a support member of the blizzard sub-fee (Paying and hardly/not playing) which I was for the past 3months until 2 days ago

Hehe, Amen, except I was paying in 6mo installments and hadn't really logged in over a year

[Surfd]

Nostalrius offered to give them their code, and could even do so for the Burning Crusade server which they were setting up.

Everybody keeps parroting this, as if it acctually means something. Please try to understand.
The nostralus code is quite literally USESLESS to Blizzard. It wont run on their servers. It wont interface with any of the stuff they use. It is literally junk.

Its the equivlient of going "hey, I built this really cool engine out of spare parts in my garage, using duccttape, chewing gum and popsicle sticks. I want you to take that engine, and just drop it into your performance racecar. None of the connecctions to anything are the same, but it still turns a crank shaft, so it should totally work".

[Deleted]

Everybody keeps parroting this, as if it acctually means something. Please try to understand.
The nostralus code is quite literally USESLESS to Blizzard. It wont run on their servers. It wont interface with any of the stuff they use. It is literally junk.

Its the equivlient of going "hey, I built this really cool engine out of spare parts in my garage, using duccttape, chewing gum and popsicle sticks. I want you to take that engine, and just drop it into your performance racecar. None of the connecctions to anything are the same, but it still turns a crank shaft, so it should totally work".

Why wouldn't it run on their servers? Like honstely, I could understand if they wouldn't want to use the code, as it might not fulfill their quality standarts or aren't sure what's covered with it. But I don't unterstand why the code shouldn't work on their 'servers'?

[Lolsteak]

Hosting provider did, that's why it got the letter from Blizzard lawyers.

The person I quoted was implying Nost's team was making a profit, That is untrue.

[azazal]

Ofc it will run on their servers but im assuming it needs a seperate client in the battle net app it honestly wouldn't take much work to implement once legion is complete, i mean just look at the small team that ran nostalrius you cant seriously tell me a multi million company cannot make it happen.