Do any other game fanbases have a similar 'Legacy server' want?

[The Flavour Cat]

As in, are they asking developers for some sort of "Give us a way to relive the good ol' times" mentality, or is this more related to Blizzard and WoW? I'm really curious.

[Thrif]

In 99% of all cases, you can actually relive the old days, since the games doesn't disappear. It's just MMOs that needs servers that this can be an issue with. And most other game developers are actually capable of making their games better with each passing expansion.

So it's just a Blizzard/WoW thing.

[Radaney]

Pretty sure most casual FPS players wouldn't mind the Golden Age of CoD:MW, WaW, MW2, Halo 2 back.

[Deleted]

So it's just a Blizzard/WoW thing.

You haven't played games if that's what you think. The same asinine bullshit has been repeated over and over in FPS games, RTS games, Diablo 2 and clones... "Give us patch X servers because patch Y ruined the game, give us vanilla servers because expansion Z ruined the game!"

Mew mew mew. It's the same everywhere.

[Jester Joe]

Pretty sure most casual FPS players wouldn't mind the Golden Age of CoD:MW, WaW, MW2, Halo 2 back.

Well, CoD is getting that at least technically

[Yamato]

the international version of Ragnarok Online has a classic server.

[Remilia]

EQ1 has done it, forgot if EQ2 did.

[judgementofantonidas]

As in, are they asking developers for some sort of "Give us a way to relive the good ol' times" mentality, or is this more related to Blizzard and WoW? I'm really curious.

It isn't the majority here either. So don't color it that way.

[Varaben]

SWG is one example of course that has a huge following for it's "legacy" servers that are available. The game itself doesn't exist anymore, but even when it did, the desire was there.

As another poster said, non-MMO games all have the legacy option, since you can just go back and play those games anytime you want. I go back and play old Pokemon games or Final Fantasy Tactics or Ultima Online to relive the good old days. It's just 100x more complicated with a game like WoW.

[Thrif]

You haven't played games if that's what you think. The same asinine bullshit has been repeated over and over in FPS games, RTS games, Diablo 2 and clones... "Give us patch X servers because patch Y ruined the game, give us vanilla servers because expansion Z ruined the game!"

Mew mew mew. It's the same everywhere.

Imho there's a difference between vocal people disliking patch updates and having whole movements with famous streamers who makes huge petitions and has it being a process for months. Of cource not everyone will always be appreciative of new updates, but I've never before heard anyone demanding legacy versions of a game, and contrary to your belief I've played quite a lot of games.

[unholytestament]

SWG is one example of course that has a huge following for it's "legacy" servers that are available. The game itself doesn't exist anymore, but even when it did, the desire was there.

SWG is the best example. I don't know why people seem to paint this issue as a new one or WoW exclusive in any way when the near universal hate for the NGE/combat upgrade is legendary.

- - - Updated - - -

but I've never before heard anyone demanding legacy versions of a game

Then you haven't been listening.

[Deleted]

Imho there's a difference between vocal people disliking patch updates and having whole movements with famous streamers who makes huge petitions and has it being a process for months

There were no "streamers" or online petitions back when crying for vanilla was already a thing.

[unholytestament]

There were no "streamers" or online petitions back when crying for vanilla was already a thing.

Well there were online petitions, it's just that they were as equally useless as they are today and people treated them as such.

[The Flavour Cat]

It isn't the majority here either. So don't color it that way.

I only read said it like that because I play so few games.

[Auxora]

3 reasons it's much different than calls for it in any other game.

#1 Wow has been the biggest game in the last 20 years by a mile in terms of popularity and players.

#2 Most games do not have anywhere near the lifespan with a substantial playerbase as wow has. Most games are down to a trickle of players after a month or two of release. Do people still play COD: AW for example, sure...but not in any sort of signficant numbers where even thinking about a game dev going back and putting a lot of work into an old game would be a discussion to possibly be considered. Maybe as a remaster with updated textures sure, but actually revising and revamping gameplay - no. So for pretty much any other game the suggestion is moot. Name another 10+ year old game with 4M+ players and major expansions still being released. Eve is maybe the only other one that would qualify in duration, and it's playerbase is less than 1 single wow realm, so it's not close. A handful of people here and there might ask for "legacy" in another game, but not realistically.

#3 Along with the above, no other game that's been around as long as wow has changed as significantly as it has after wotlk. Today's wow is a very different game than wotlk/bc/vanilla for reasons explained at length in 100+ other similar threads. So there are valid reasons to request Legacy servers.

So it's a far different situation than everybody does it in every game, as some in this thread have suggested.

[Deleted]

remasters of old games come out all the time. and people buy em even if they are rushed jobs. (even blizz is remastering war3/d2 i hear)
there are lots of successful kick starters to make old style games with modern tech too. pillars of eternity for example.
And you see old games get ported to mobile devices these days.


While none of those is exactly the same as legacy servers, it does show there is a significant demand for older games.

[Cæli]

Replaying a game is part of the game anyway. Just like you want to re watch a movie, or re play a book. Ignoring this is just not something to do. In the case of wow, removing a very different old world is just not something to do. For this kind of games, the rule always add, never delete/replace should be seriously applied.

SWG is one example of course that has a huge following for it's "legacy" servers that are available. The game itself doesn't exist anymore, but even when it did, the desire was there.

As another poster said, non-MMO games all have the legacy option, since you can just go back and play those games anytime you want. I go back and play old Pokemon games or Final Fantasy Tactics or Ultima Online to relive the good old days. It's just 100x more complicated with a game like WoW.

By the way, what does happen to all those SWG players that likely had a real collection/progress (or maybe there were no such thing in the game, I don't know yet) ? Could they, at least, claim their character to continue playing even on their own local server ? Did they allowed players to host servers themselves like Minecraft does ? Or did they just delete everyone progression with no care ?

[Skayaq]

As other's have said, for non-mmos people can always go back and play a game in their "golden days", and the mmos I have played other than wow there was actually a lot less changes to the original game in expansion packs, they focused more on added new content.

[Halicia]

In games with gamechanging DLC/Expansions, you will often see complaints to the similar effect of wanting a return to 'the good old days'.

Sometimes the complaints have merit... but often people were just used to the game/exploits/whatnot, and are upset that something was altered... even if they are unaware of *why* they are upset with the game.

And some people just like to complain.

[Deleted]

Tibia players wanted a retro server for a long, long time. They eventually made those servers and they are the most popular servers in that game.