Confessions of a private server player

[Deleted]

Before you read: Notice i am not the person who wrote this but i thought it was damn well said and to keep share it from the forums to MMO.

Original Thread can be found here:
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/17610923829

"Oh boy, not another thread about bringing vanilla back" you might think this is about. This is however just a personal reflection of the recent event (and you know what I mean by "recent event"). This is more a summary of different topics on this forum, you might say.

First off, let me explain where I stand on Blizzard as a company. I love the company and their games. I played Warcraft III: RoC and TFT, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. I think all of those games are great. And then there is World of Warcraft - the game that is probably more famous than the company who made it. I played in Vanilla, TBC, WotLK, Cataclysm and MoP. And it's the game I have played the most - by far!

Disclaimer: I do not own a copy of WoD, but I have seen the game live a lot because my friends play the game, and I often visit them. I have also listened to different youtubers and their take on the current game.

And, sadly, the current game does not interest me. The current game is so far from the version of the game WoW used to be in it's early days. However, this thread is not a discussion about "this version of WoW vs that version of WoW." I just explain that I used to be a subscriber because the game was worth my money, and now it's not.

Soooo, here I go. I played on the private server that is about to be closed because of a Blizzard lawsuit. And I don't regret it because I had so many positive experiences with the server community. The positive feelings I had for this 10 year old game came back! I could relive my cherished memories. It felt great!

And here I see people on the forums that don't understand the appeal of the private server. I, for one, did not play on the private server because it was free. I played because it was a service that Blizzard doesn't provide anymore. The classic version of the game is gone. There are no official legacy servers. If Blizzard offered the same version released 10 years ago, I would resubscribe immediately. And I got to know a lot of other players who agrees with me on this, so these opinions are not mine alone.

I, as a (hypothetical) customer, went to the market and couldn't see a product that suited my needs. Soooo, I went to the black market. There are so many here on this forum that believe that the only reason why we play private servers, is that they are free to play. Nonsense! Sure, I'm not saying there aren't people who can't afford a subscription, and that they get their WoW-fix on private servers for free. But the private servers are the only ones that offer the classic version of the game. Blizzard doesn't want to.

And the server was shut down. World of Warcraft in any shape or form is Blizzard's intellectual property, and it is their right to protect their property. I don't see anyone disagree with this. And I accept this 100%. However, I question their wisdom. And please, I don't say they are stupid for doing this. I am just saying that this might cause reactions that are not in Blizzard's best interests.

Does shutting down a private server with over 150k active players make their profits go up? Does this stop the subscription bleeding? I honestly don't know. However, I do know that I will not subscribe to WoW after the private server is gone for good, unless Blizzard gives me a very good reason.

Why? Am I being a sore loser? Am I asking for a Blizzard boycott? Of course not! It's just the fact that in my situation (and opinion), that retail WoW and vanilla WoW are so different, they are not even competitors. As an example to demonstrate what I mean: I love fruit. I go to the market to buy some fruit. For some, vanilla WoW is an apple and retail WoW is an orange. To me, vanilla wow is an apple, and retail WoW is a sofa. Banning apples doesn't push me into the urge of buying a sofa... This should be an easy concept to grasp.

The fact is that Blizzard, by shutting down the server, alienates a lot of players like me. We love the company and we are fans of the game. We are just sad because we disagree with the path retail WoW has gone, and that we can't play the old version of the game. And behold, there are people who have cancelled their subscription to retail WoW and cancelled their pre-purchase of Legion over this matter. And I don't make this up to validate my points. I have been reading this forum every day now since Thursday. Subscriptions are dropping, and it's not a good thing for the game.

And then there is the discussion if Blizzard were to make these legacy servers... Would all of the 150k players subscribe to WoW if Blizzard gave us the option to play previous expansions? Of course not. I know the server had a lot of gold sellers and surely there would be people who can't afford a subscription. But that means that less than 150k are interested in legacy servers? I am 99,9% sure that's wrong as well.

See, not everyone are here on the forums and shouting their opinions. Of (I don't know the exact number) about 5 million subscribers, there might be 10% who would play old versions of the game. Not to forget that WoW has bled since WotLK. A lot of those players would resubscribe for legacy servers because they disagreed with the course WoW was sailing, and they abandoned ship. My guess (because guessing is all I can do), is that WoW would have at least half a million active players playing on legacy servers, and a rise in subscriptions of at least 30-50% of that number. And maintaining those servers and a very small staff (remember, the versions are already developed) would definitely be worth the cost. They would probably hire the required staff so the legacy servers wouldn't affect the development of the current version of the game.

And please, don't give me the "if legacy servers were profitable, then Blizzard would already be on this" fallacy. Seriously? Do you think that every single company in the world has a 100% clue of what is profitable or not? All Blizzard can do is estimate and do some serious guesses based on their estimates. If Blizzard was so omnipotent as many on this forum suggest, then why was MoP such a disaster subscription-wise? Why the sudden plunge a couple of months after WoD release? They thought they had a good release. Guess what? They were wrong! It is not my intention to gloat (because I sympathize with Blizzard). My intention is to make it clear for everyone the possibility that Blizzard underestimate the importance of legacy servers.

A last point I want to make. Someone here on the forum stated that my voice and the voice of others who play private servers shouldn't matter (as much), as the voice of those who has subscribed to the game since the break of dawn. To that I say, NO. Your logic is the one that is dubious at best.

Why? Because Blizzard is a company. Companies exist almost exclusively for bringing in the dough. Since human beings are so different from one another, every change to the game will be both praised and hated. The reality is that if we want Blizzard's attention, the only thing we can do is to voice with our wallets. Because ranting on forums doesn't speak as loud as money does. When you are loyal and keep your subscription, you effectively tell Blizzard you like the game as it is. When players unsubscribe, it is their way to say "Hey, Blizzard! You better shape up, or you lose me as a paying customer for good".

In economics, loyalty to a company is the death of creativity, new thinking and competition. A lot of people from my country (Norway) are very loyal to their banks. What do banks have to do in order to keep us as customers? Nothing. Even though other banks give better offers or services, a lot of us wont change banks. How absurd it may sound, me being a "disloyal" customer, actually does Blizzard a favor.

If you want a naughty child to behave better, what would be more effective: Telling the child there wont be any dinner if he/she doesn't stop being a brat, or just stop feeding the child until he/she behaves. My bet is on the second option, though I might get a visit from the child protection agency for saying this, haha.

Sorry for this rant, but I just had to get this off my chest. I cross my fingers that this wall of text may give readers a bit to reflect upon. I hope you will forgive me for any misspelling and typos. Thanks!

[MoanaLisa]

Closing this as we close any other thread about private servers in normal times. If you wish to repost in the Nost thread that would be fine. It doesn't need a separate thread of its own.