If they announce legacy servers at Blizzcon, would you play them?

[Eleccybubb]

Well, its's pretty clear that a lot of players want legacy servers now, 2-3 years ago the poll would have been almost unanimously a no vote. it's clearly something alot of players want now, and like i said the hype around the game in general is gone, wow is no longer a game that takes all the headlines, a new expansion can only generate so much hype but after 6 expansions it starts to become old news. games like pubg ect are taking over that spot, a legacy server announced would simply be the biggest peice of news wow has ever done since the annoucnment of its first expasnion.

Comparing an MMORPG to a Battle Royale game..... And PUBG doesn't have much hype at all. It just got popular through word of mouth and streaming. As well as it's basic gameplay of being able to pop in and out at will.

PUBG and WoW have one thing in common. Accessibility. Both games are easily accessible today, not complex and allow you to play on your own time.

And you are being completely dishonest saying that there is no hype for new expansions. But well considering your stance on the matter that's not exactly surprising.

[Sabever]

A lot of people (those who never actually played Vanilla) think the game was bad and that badness is a noun and factual.

The fact of the matter is that things that retail players like or dislike take on pros and cons. Sure, I can get behind that Vanilla has inferior graphics. But I like the Vanilla casting animations better. So lets take a look at some things.

Class Dynamics: Classes were much different in Vanilla. Retail players will call it unbalanced and it sure was. That said, each class had a defined role. For people to say that class X or Class Y was unviable is untrue. But they were not necessarily the best performers at some things. The same people think that 40 man raids carried 10 people. Both can't be true. Either the 40 man raids didn't carry people or there was room for every class and spec. Not to mention the talent trees were much more dynamic than pick X every 15 levels. Each level felt like you were expanding your character. Sure mid maxing made certain specs better, but no spec was unvialble.

No flying: For some this is hard for people to get past. Not only that but you didn't even get a mount until 40. But it made the world seem a lot bigger and you actually had to interact with it instead of just flying from point A to point B.

No outside of dungeon queue: I realize actually having to go to the dungeon is a burden, but you are part of an MMO and part of a world. It sure would be easy if gas would come fill up your car too. Sure it took time and made the game more tedious, but the adventures you had on the way when you saw a rare mob or the other faction were legendary.

Questing: Questing was all over the place and you usually had to read the quest text just to find what to do (imagine that). You also didn't have a big X on your map telling you where you needed to be. You actually had to go out in the world and do it. Questing was time consuming but rewarding. At the same time it was tedious but in a good way imo.

Attunement: God forbid you would have to prove your skill to join a raid. Not only that but prove your devotion to the cause. Many people disliked attunement but you usually got some good gear along the way.

40 man raids: Lower frame rates, more people to make mistakes etc. but felt more like an epic event than 25 mans or 10 mans do.

Phasing: Just took people out of the world but at the same time allowed you to change the world as your quests evolved. IMO this is one of the worst things wow implemented but I can see how people like it.

Cross Realm: You actually needed to have a good reputation on your server instead of just being some guy who wants to be carried and insta queue.

Bag space: Ever put stuff in a backpack? Bag space was a problem in Vanilla. You actually needed to manage your inventory. You know, instead of putting 28 different slots in bags. I can't remember the last time one of my bags was full.

Reagents: This was immersive. Lots of complaints, but it is an RPG.

Raid requirements: People farmed mats like crazy. While I agree the farming required was excessive, the actual need to perform was worth it.

Leveling process: Vanilla and retail or 2 extremes. I am not sure why Retail even has leveling. What is the point in hitting max level in 8 hours. Yes leveling was slow. Killing mobs was slow. But it actually felt like you accomplished something.

[HuxNeva]

Those are private servers. Not official blizzard servers. They are doing this for the exact reason why private servers won't work.

What makes you think private servers don't work. They are actually working quite well, with hundreds of thousands of people playing them

People will finish the content and there will be nothing new so people will quit playing.

Again you are assuming a legacy server wouldn't progress. Many do, and there would be nothing stopping an 'official' server to follow that path

If you think blizzard is going to make legacy servers of the expansions and add content to them as well...I don't know what to tell you without sounding like an ass.

I don't think they will do it. The investment versus the marginal return story wouldn't make sense, as I believe for them it would be >90% cannibalizing their own gameraudience (not many players would 'return' or start 'new' for this), and in doing so moving from an in-game purchase friendly model (modern wow) to an in-game monetization hostile environment (community would be hostile to it as it doesn't mesh with the draw).

[Deleted]

Comparing an MMORPG to a Battle Royale game..... And PUBG doesn't have much hype at all. It just got popular through word of mouth and streaming. As well as it's basic gameplay of being able to pop in and out at will.

PUBG and WoW have one thing in common. Accessibility. Both games are easily accessible today, not complex and allow you to play on your own time.

And you are being completely dishonest saying that there is no hype for new expansions. But well considering your stance on the matter that's not exactly surprising.

exacly the same thing would happen if they released legacy servers, it would explode in pupularity, streamers like sodapopping summit1g swifty shroud would all stream it, it would be massive.

I just get the feeling its not going to happen and were gunna get another expansion announcment and nobody will care, apart from the players who currently play.

it's a huge chance for them to revive the game, they just have to take the fall and allow us something that they said there was never enough demand for, and simply accept that vanilla wow, was simply the best wow.

im currenly running around outside of orgrimmar on my trial account and wow the game really sickens me, all these flashy mounts and pets, its just so pathetic and laughable. its also dead. i see more people on a private vanilla server than what i do on supposedly the most poopular wow server eu.

[Eleccybubb]

exacly the same thing would happen if they released legacy servers, it would explode in pupularity, streamers like sodapopping summit1g swifty shroud would all stream it, it would be massive.

I just get the feeling its not going to happen and were gunna get another expansion announcment and nobody will care, apart from the players who currently play.

it's a huge chance for them to revive the game, they just have to take the fall and allow us something that they said there was never enough demand for, and simply accept that vanilla wow, was simply the best wow.

Oh please. Streamers mostly got behind that for attention. Especially people like Sodapoppin, Kungen, Asmongold and Summit. Funny how most of them never even mention Legacy these days other than for Youtube views.

And yes we are. Because Blizzard focus on the current game that is making them a lot of money. Not a risk like Legacy. Maybe they will surprise us at Blizzcon but I doubt it right now.

And whatever you think is the best is subjective. Not a fact. Learn to accept it. WoW is still hyped, it still sells well on day 1 and further and so on.

[Deleted]

Oh please. Streamers mostly got behind that for attention. Especially people like Sodapoppin, Kungen, Asmongold and Summit. Funny how most of them never even mention Legacy these days other than for Youtube views.

And yes we are. Because Blizzard focus on the current game that is making them a lot of money. Not a risk like Legacy. Maybe they will surprise us at Blizzcon but I doubt it right now.

And whatever you think is the best is subjective. Not a fact. Learn to accept it.

and so or your views subjective, you seem to have a reply for everything i say and just cant agree with anything i say, ive told you before and ill tell you again, i dont like you and i dont care about your opinions.

i want to see this game be successful again, how on earth is this a bad thing?

[JustRob]

God the world felt so much more immersive when you actually had to travel to dungeons. Yes, it took long, but because of that people were more committed and didn't leave as easily as now. If you left a group, you'd have wasted your own time travelling there. I love the convenience of the dungeon finder every now and then, but the world felt so much bigger then.

I played only Alliance during vanilla, and you wanted to do Scarlet Monastery because not only was there a quest with awesome rewards, the dungeon itself had incredible loot, best loot possible for that level. But Scarlet Monastery was all the way in Tirisfal Glades, and playing Alliance meant you were looking at quite some travel time... Especially if you didn't have the flight path to Southshore. It was at times like this where I was glad I picked a druid, because travel form and aquatic form sped that journey up quite a bit.

[Taus]

This isn't going to happen. Those who aren't emotionally blinded by their desire for vanilla servers can read clearly in Blizz's communication about this that any ambiguity in them is just to keep those folks appeased. It's obvious to everyone else that they don't want to do it, and they're not going to do it.

[Eleccybubb]

and so or your views subjective, you seem to have a reply for everything i say and just cant agree with anything i say, ive told you before and ill tell you again, i dont like you and i dont care about your opinions.

You clearly do if you are willing to debate them with me.

I never said some of my views weren't subjective nor was I debating that. But WoW still selling well on day 1 is a fact since Legion sold 3.3 million copies by launch which is the same as Cata. It still generates a lot of hype among the playerbase otherwise servers wouldn't be packed during launch and onwards.

If I say Vanilla is better than Legion or vice versa that is my subjective opinion of the game because it's one not shared by the entire community. Same with most of your opinions on Vanilla.

I don't agree with people who try to present an opinion as a fact. Such as you going around spamming "vanilla is better than current because I say so" or that Blizzard should admit one version of the game is factually better which is down to subjectivity and preference of people.

I'm not here to get you to like/dislike me either. That's solely up to you. So why you brought that up is beyond me.

i want to see this game be successful again, how on earth is this a bad thing?

It still is successful. It sells well, has a large playerbase and makes a boatload of money a year. That seems like a success in my book. Financially, the game itself and in other aspects.

I don't think I once said wanting Legacy is a bad thing. Going all out to bash the game and present a subjective opinion as fact about the matter though is.

[Jaylock]

I mean it's probably never gonna happen, but just imagine if they first blow us away with their new expansion announcement, then at the end they say "Oh by the way starting in 2018 we will open up legacy servers for vanilla WoW". It would be the best Blizzcon they have ever had. Everyone would lose their shit.

This just in: JustRob's wet dream of Legacy servers is never going to happen.

More news at 11.


Why do you people keep doing this to yourselves. Blizzard has never and will never introduce legacy realms. Its a waste of resources for them to do so. Lets stop trying to go back in the past and move forward into the future. The game is MUCH better now than it ever was. For all the quality of life features alone.

If this were to ever happen, you would get maybe a few thousand playing on these realms and then after they find out how bad the game was from a quality of life perspective, they will quit and go back to live realms.

[Deleted]

You clearly do if you are willing to debate them with me.

I never said some of my views weren't subjective nor was I debating that. But WoW still selling well on day 1 is a fact since Legion sold 3.3 million copies by launch which is the same as Cata. It still generates a lot of hype among the playerbase otherwise servers wouldn't be packed during launch and onwards.

If I say Vanilla is better than Legion or vice versa that is my subjective opinion of the game because it's one not shared by the entire community. Same with most of your opinions on Vanilla.

I don't agree with people who try to present an opinion as a fact. Such as you going around spamming "vanilla is better than current because I say so" or that Blizzard should admit one version of the game is factually better which is down to subjectivity and preference of people.

I'm not here to get you to like/dislike me either. That's solely up to you. So why you brought that up is beyond me.



It still is successful. It sells well, has a large playerbase and makes a boatload of money a year. That seems like a success in my book. Financially, the game itself and in other aspects.

I don't think I once said wanting Legacy is a bad thing. Going all out to bash the game and present a subjective opinion as fact about the matter though is.

Because the game is trash compared to what it used to be, and as ive said it many times before you already know this, im obviously going to be baised towards vanilla since i started playing in vanilla, you have already told me that you never even played vanilla so how is your opinion relevant? you might of played on a private server but u didnt play it when it was in its prime, i literally logged onto retail wow for the first time since 1 month after legions launch to check the state of the game and i just can't stand it. its like some pathetic shadow of wow, people bouncing about with there stupid looking new character models, people sitting around on there flashy flying mounts and pets clogging up the place, i literally cannot stand retail wow and wouldnt even play it if it was free. it is a completley different game to what it used to be.


the only way i and many others will ever return to this game is if they release legacy servers so we can play the game when it wasnt a casual mess of a game, and an actual game that made it so popular.

[Eleccybubb]

Because the game is trash compared to what it used to be, and as ive said it many times before you already know this, im obviously going to be baised towards vanilla since i started playing in vanilla, you have already told me that you never even played vanilla so how is your opinion relevant? you might of played on a private server but u didnt play it when it was in its prime, i literally logged onto retail wow for the first time since 1 month after legions launch to check the state of the game and i just can't stand it. its like some pathetic shadow of wow, people bouncing about with there stupid looking new character models, people sitting around on there flashy flying mounts and pets clogging up the place, i literally cannot stand retail wow and wouldnt even play it if it was free. it is a completley different game to what it used to be.


the only way i and many others will ever return to this game is if they release legacy servers so we can play the game when it wasnt a casual mess of a game, and an actual game that made it so popular.

And there we go. You trying to present a subjective opinion as fact yet again. And maybe you did play Vanilla. You still saying it's better is down to an opinion. That is how it works.

I already admit anything I post about Vanilla is opinion. And it always will be. I don't have any bias here.

I'm all for Legacy but it's Blizzards decision. Not mine or yours. I mean if they don't then I can happily keep playing retail.

[JustRob]

This just in: JustRob's wet dream of Legacy servers is never going to happen.

More news at 11.


Why do you people keep doing this to yourselves. Blizzard has never and will never introduce legacy realms. Its a waste of resources for them to do so. Lets stop trying to go back in the past and move forward into the future. The game is MUCH better now than it ever was. For all the quality of life features alone.

If this were to ever happen, you would get maybe a few thousand playing on these realms and then after they find out how bad the game was from a quality of life perspective, they will quit and go back to live realms.

I'm so tired of that bullshit argument. It has been proven that a legacy server done well can bring more than a few thousand people together. Not because they thought the game was cool back then from their memory, but because they WANT that experience. They KNOW what it's like. That there's no handy quest tracker or free epics for everything you do in the game. Sure, there would be plenty of people who would try it out of curiosity and then very quickly leave again. But those are NOT the people asking for legacy servers.

[Deleted]

And there we go. You trying to present a subjective opinion as fact yet again.

BECAUSE IT IS A FACT! Retail wow is simply not as good as what vanilla was! how can you not agree or see reason in this?!!

[Eleccybubb]

BECAUSE IT IS A FACT! Retal wow is simply not as good as what vanilla was how can you not agree or see reason in this?!!

But it's not.

It's your opinion of two games. You playing them both doesn't suddenly make your opinion a fact. It's still a comparison between two games that is not shared by the entire community if we go by this thread alone and countless other forums/threads out there.

This is a fact.

Vanilla had 40 man raiding.

This is an opinion.

Vanilla was better than Legion.

[Siffredi]

the only way i and many others will ever return to this game is if they release legacy servers so we can play the game when it wasnt a casual mess of a game, and an actual game that made it so popular.

I return to game every new expansion; but the last two expansions only for a month. Last Exp which I really enjoyed was WotLK. But when official Legacy comes, I'll play that for sure. For several months. And I'd be so happy when Blizz releases Legacy Server (without modifications).

[Swalload]

OP

I would make a toon, then realize how outdated, ugly, retarded vanilla WoW is. Just like when I made a toon on a private server, thinking I would find the glory of old days back. Nope, it's literally full of shit, camera bugs, insanely long respawn time and barely playable.

WoW literally survived because there was nothing else remotely decent back then. It was a very terrible game compared to what it has become.

[Jaylock]

And there we go. You trying to present a subjective opinion as fact yet again. And maybe you did play Vanilla. You still saying it's better is down to an opinion. That is how it works.

I already admit anything I post about Vanilla is opinion. And it always will be. I don't have any bias here.

I'm all for Legacy but it's Blizzards decision. Not mine or yours. I mean if they don't then I can happily keep playing retail.

I admit, if there was a way for blizzard to keep 1 realm for legacy content, they would have to make it a mega realm to ensure community made a return.

Community was the key to WoW's early success. Realm reputation was huge and if people had a bad reputation on the server it naturally weeded out the trolls and toxic players because no guilds wanted to take them. With a game that doesn't have LFD, or LFR people will have to build their community in order to get things done together.

Also, I welcome the return of weapon skill, and i'll be wacking on target dummies until my weapons are all level 400 skill!

[Deleted]

Yes YES YES YES I would play them till I drop dead. Hope they will give us some info during Blizzcon. I would love to play TBC again even if I have to pay 20 $ or Euros a month. Pls Blizz bring it...

[Julaes]

Could you please link the Blizzard source that says we aren't getting them?

The Wall of No revised as of July 21st, 2014

Summary of Blizzard’s public stance:

1: Blizzard does not believe there are enough people interested in utilizing this idea long term to justify the costs necessary to bring it about.
2: Blizzard feels this idea is counter to the nature of MMO’s; non-progression equates to stagnation and eventual boredom.
3: The original game code does not exist in that form anymore. All the old data has been replaced with newer data and not archived for later reuse. “There is no switch to flip on the realms to roll back years of patches and changes…”

(read as, “years of patches and changes cannot be rolled back” – thus, there is no “old data” to use). They never intended for there to be. In keeping with the sentiment in #2, above, it’s gone – never to return. Even if it were “recoverable” by other means (i.e., see “private” servers” below) it would still require lengthy and expensive rewrite, a task Blizzard denies interest in.

4: They have no plans or desire to recreate the original version(s). They refer to the notion as “a logistical nightmare,”… and in keeping with #1 above the time, money and resources required are prohibitive and unjustified.

TLDR: “Too much cost, too little interest and it’s not what the game is about… we’re not doing it.”

Proponents of “Classic” (or any other variant thereof) servers rarely put thought into the idea. This would be similar to requests for the film industry to make silent films again, or the auto industry to mass-produce Model-T cars again. There’s not enough market for it so they’re not doing it; neither is Blizzard.

Proponents are asking to segregate themselves from everyone else. WoW is an MMO; designed around the concept of player interaction. The segregated play these servers would cause is counter to that concept. Proponents are asking Blizzard to reverse the direction of the thinking and action that made WoW the largest, most popular and most profitable product of its type in the world.

Proponents seem to believe that, despite the age of the game and the number of people who play:

1: They are the first person to have come up with this idea.
2: They seem to believe that Blizzard is:
Incompetent -- in that Blizzard failed to do the research on this idea to determine if it is marketable;
-OR-
Stupid -- in that Blizzard did do the research and failed to interpret the data from such research correctly.

Take some time and read all the info below and actually think about what’s being said.

Blizzard specific references on the issue:

We were at one time internally discussing the possibility fairly seriously, but the long term interest in continued play on them couldn't justify the extremely large amount of development and support resources it would take to implement and maintain them. We'd effectively be developing and supporting two different games.
Drysc (CM), Feb 21, 2008
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/6...lassic-servers

We occasionally see requests for us to open pre-TBC realms, or classic realms if you prefer. Lately there have also been requests for pre-WotLK realms, and I am sure that once the next expansion pack is released there will be requests for pre-Cataclysm realms as well. We have answered these requests quite a few times now saying that we have no plans to open such realms, and this is still the case today.

We have no plans to open classic realms or limited expansion content realms, and you should not expect to see the opening of such realms with the launch of Cataclysm either.

We realize that some of you feel that the classic game was more fun than the current game, and as a result would like to revel in nostalgia; the developers however prefer to keep the game moving forward as they want the game to continuously evolve and progress.
Vaneras (CM), Nov 28, 2009
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/1...igional-realms

We have no plans of making pre-TBC realms. This goes against the very nature of an MMO and would be a logistical nightmare. There's no switch to flip on the realms to roll back years of patches and changes, and we don't intend to invent one so that a very small minority of players can play what we feel would be an inferior cousin of the World of Warcraft of today.
Zarhym (CM), April 27, 2010
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/1...the-wow-killer

Question: The whole topic of classic servers has been popping up on the forums, always on yours - I assume with the release of Cataclysm there's this huge wave of nostalgia here because you can't play in the old world anymore. Is this something you might consider doing after the Cataclysm launch?

Chilton: Currently, my answer would be probably not. The reason I say that is because any massively multiplayer game that has pretty much ever existed and has ever done any expansions has always gotten the nostalgia of, "Oh God, wouldn't it be great if we could have classic servers!" and more than anything else that generally proves to be nostalgia. In most cases - in almost all cases – the way it ends up playing out is that the game wasn't as good back then as people remember it being and then when those servers become available, they go play there for a little bit and quickly remember that it wasn’t quite as good as what they remembered in their minds and they don’t play there anymore and you set up all these servers and you dedicated all this hardware to it and it really doesn't get much use. So, for me, the historical lesson is that it's not a very good idea to do *laughs* - it's a great idea to talk about.
Tom Chilton (lead game designer), Aug 20, 2010
http://www.wowhead.com/news=166540/e...tails-and-more

Never say never, but developing for and supporting multiple codebases (while possible) would very unlikely be worth it. It's really not as simple as people make it out to be. Those playing on a 'classic' server would still require support, and absolutely still request bug fixes, changes, additions, content, etc.

The notion that the game frozen in time with no patches, no new content, no changes, would be fun to play forever, is in my opinion a very clouded vision of how it would actually play out.
Bashiok (CM), April 21, 2011
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2416153275#6

Q: More and more people are heading to private vanilla servers, why not just make an official one?
GC: We don't want to maintain two versions of the game (and we don't believe that the vanilla crowd would be happy with no support).
Q: I don't see there being much maintenance required for it. You guys would get a ton of old players back for sure.
GC: It would be a ridiculous amount of maintenance. Nearly every patch fix would have to be made twice.
Q: I don't see how every patch would have to be made twice. Most class changed wouldn't apply. Stagnant final van build
GC: Class changes are the minority of bug fixes we make.
Q: Could we just lay that vanilla server talk to rest? There will never be other servers than the newest expansion.
GC: Been trying that for years. It doesn't work.
https://twitter.com/ghostcrawler/sta...81503165054976
Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street, Dec 31, 2012

The question was actually asked at Blizzcon 2013 during the WoW Q&A:
Player: Have you ever thought about adding servers for previous expansions as they were then?
Brack: (Firmly) No....and by the way you don't want to do that either. You think you do but you don't. Remember when you had to spam cities and say "Need a tank. Need a tank. Need a tank" during the Burning Crusade days? You don't remember that because now you just push a button that says "go to the dungeon." You don't want to do that. Remember that one bug that really pissed you off that we fixed two years ago? It's still there in the past.
J. Allen Brack (Production Director, WoW), Nov 9, 2013
http://youtu.be/FsGrcdOyyRQ?t=30m7s

Read this post that might remind you of some of what you “miss” about Vanilla WoW:
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...1718715?page=1

WowInsider has a similar negative view:
May 2, 2012
http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/02/5-...one/#continued

And –
I work for a software company with corporate customers. Each of them has rather more invested in equipment than a PC gamer, and they like paying for upgrades even less. Our products have been advancing technologically over time in a gradual fashion, so as not to lose the customers with the oldest equipment. However, things like operating system support and hardware version support are outside our control--which means we have to keep slowly advancing the requirements, and adjust existing code to match. Over time that means stuff eventually falls off the list of what we can support, because our code, gradually upgraded as it is, starts to require OS or hardware features the oldest equipment can't support.

We couldn't turn the clock back ten years, or probably even five, if we wanted to.

Blizz is no doubt in the same pickle. They've changed their database structure, upgraded the graphics, and likely done a lot of more subtle stuff over the last 10 years that makes it fundamentally impossible to support Vanilla code, even assuming that code still exists in pristine form somewhere.

Also as of MoP the game requires at least a duo core CPU. That's another significant difference that can't be rolled back.

Therefore: what the Vanilla crowd is actually asking for is the development of new code to duplicate old code. That's not easy or cheap, and is going to compete directly for resources with development of current content. There would have to be a monumental ground surge of interest to make it feasible, an order of magnitude greater than what has ever been exhibited on the forums.

TLDR: That's not how software works.
[Note: The thread where this post originated, athttp://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/6080659727?page=2 , has been subsequently deleted by Blizzard – reason(s) unknown]
From the EU forums, Feb 23, 2011
But no, Blizzard have already said no to it. – They want the game to keep moving forward and so on.

This is correct.

Since the old forums are no longer available, I will re-post one of the comments we posted on this topic in the past:

We are aware of the fact that some people prefer the old pre-expansion content over the newer content that has been added to the game with the last two expansions, but despite this we still have no plans for opening any classic realms at this point in time.

We also understand that some people would like to revel in nostalgia; however the developers are planning to keep the game moving forward as they want the game to continue to progress and evolve.

We regularly see requests for us to open classic pre-TBC realms, or vanilla realms if you prefer, and lately we have seen requests for pre-WotLK realms and even pre-Cataclysm realms. We have answered requests like these before saying we have no plans to open such realms, and this is very much still the case today.

We realize that some of you feel that World of Warcraft was more fun in the past than it is today, and we also know that some of you would like nothing more than to go back and play the game as it was back then. The developers however prefer to see the game continuously evolve and progress, and as such we have no plans to open classic realms or limited expansion content realms.
Vaneras (CM), Feb 23, 2011
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1751857331#15

MMOChampion poll about whether fans think Blizz should have such servers:
(June 19, 2012)
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...a-or-BC-server
It's a line Blizzard has drawn from way back when, yet suggestions or requests for classic realms continue to pop up on the forums. Let me tell you here and now... don't bother. Blizzard will eventually just lock your thread or delete it entirely simply because it's not in their best interests to provide such a service.
March 13, 2009
http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/03/13/no...realms-really/

The following is a list of 22 threads posted on the issue from 2/10/13 through 3/12/13 (just over 30 days). That means it was posted, on average, once a day every working day during that period.

One Server to Rule Them All: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8197650388
Thoughts on a Pre-BC Server Only:http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...6600825?page=1
Possibility of restarting old expansion:http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8198640337
A realistic look at classic servers: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...7910153?page=1
Bring back vanilla WoW servers!: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8196600603
Would You Be Willing To…: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...8048102?page=1
New servers please: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8155915912
Hardcore WoW Server Ideas: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8088209358
Retro Realms: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8087999204
Give Us: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...0249478?page=1
Vanilla Servers: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/7980168520
Well well well…: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...9928536?page=1
Vanilla WoW <3: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...9988230?page=1
Bring Back Vanilla Servers: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/7979938240
Old Expansion Servers, Maybe?: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/7923034653
Would pay for cata/wrath server: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...3723991?page=1
Dedicated BC Server?: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/7924374057
Throwback/Classic Servers?: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/7924334037
New Servers: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/7924333940
Why does Blizz not do Past Era server?:http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/7924143833
I know this is beating a dead horse but…:http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/7923723634
I’ll pay extra for Vanilla!: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...5168495?page=1

In relation to “private” (better termed ‘pirate’) servers:
http://jack-server.com/blog/?p=498
August 13, 2004

Statement from Blizzard Entertainment to the GotWoW? Community:
As many of you already know, Blizzard has taken steps recently to stop the development of unauthorized emulator servers for the World of Warcraft beta.

While we appreciate the devotion and enthusiasm the GotWoW? community has shown for World of Warcraft, the development of emulator servers directly contributes to the illegal copying of the beta game client and creates the opportunity for people to continue to play on unauthorized servers after the completion of the World of Warcraft beta test.

Some individuals may have helped develop emulator servers under the belief that Blizzard was not opposed to the existence of illegal copies of the World of Warcraft beta game client. However, this belief was incorrect. Blizzard places a high value on its intellectual property and does not condone illegal copies of the beta game client or software that facilitates or encourages the use of illegal copies of the beta game client.

Leaders from various emulator-server development teams, including StormCraft, Vibe, and Khaos, have turned over their code and stopped development of emulator servers. We are asking that those of you who are continuing to operate unauthorized emulator servers for the World of Warcraft beta take this opportunity to voluntarily stop these efforts and turn over your code to Blizzard as well. For a short period of time, Blizzard will grant amnesty to those who comply with this request. Please contact us at *email removed* for more information.

Thank you for your understanding and for helping us to ensure the integrity of the beta-testing process. We look forward to seeing you in game when World of Warcraft is released! Be aware that participating in such servers puts one in a position of defying Blizzard and can put one in a bad position should Blizzard decide to pursue action against the pirates you’re playing with, and by extension you. Suggestions that Blizzard either license such people to run this “old version” for them, or retrieve that emulated code from them and tinker it back into working shape are literally suggesting that Blizzard consort with thieves to achieve something they’ve already said they don’t want to do.

The code at these “private” sites is not original (just emulated substitutes) and cannot be simply copy/pasted to provide a Classic Server environment. Functionality is flawed (broken quest chains, items, achievements, mounts, etc., not obtainable); they are generally buggy and unreliable. Blizzard would have to fix such code to make it useable – an undertaking which would likely take as long and cost as much as simply rewriting it from scratch both of which they’ve described as a “logistical nightmare” and have said they’re not going to do.

Such pirate operations cannot legally charge for access – that would get them hammered, as was the case with --

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2010/08/...rivate-servers
August 18, 2010

...where Blizzard pursued and won an $88-million judgment. Blizzard is serious about stopping this sort thing from happening. Why should they risk any appearance of “legitimizing” these people by doing anything that could be construed as “sanctioning” them?

For those who contend that Blizzard can do something like this quickly and easily, or cheaply:

http://digitalbattle.com/2006/06/15/...st-63-million/
June 15, 2006

Cost is perhaps the most central issue to Blizzard’s resistance. It took 4.5 years and over $63-million US dollars to make. Even if recreating older versions cost only half that much [each] (rather generous estimate, I believe, considering the effects of inflation over time), even were they to begin working on it today, it would be over two years before the first could go live and would cost them a very conservative $30+ million to do. Time and cost would be commensurate with each succeeding version (do it again for BC, Wrath, etc.). Blizzard has already expressed a lack of faith that enough people would stick with one of them long enough to make that happen, let alone enough would stick with more of them. They see a massive “white elephant” and don’t want any part of it. And “a very small minority” of proponents are asking Blizzard to take all that financial risk (without guarantee of positive results) merely for the sake of nostalgia.

Such servers violate Blizz’s aversion to “…developing and supporting two different games.” Such servers “would still require support”, which means hiring more people (a separate and specially trained team for each version), which would have to be paid for, adding further to costs beyond just initial creation… unless one expects Blizzard to accomplish all this work with its current staff – and still not interfere with or delay any current support and future development. Each version would be a “different game", meaning that Vanilla Servers make two games they would be “developing and supporting”; adding BC would make it three, and so on. If they’ve publicly stated their aversion to doing two, how can anyone believe they would accept more?

TLDR: Not cost effective, not happening, stop asking.