Own a Piece of World of Warcraft History and Help Support Pencils of Promise

[Stoy]

Patch 8.2.5 PTR - War Campaign Conclusion, Show Final Destination, Worgen Portraits

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Own a Piece of World of Warcraft History and Help Support Pencils of Promise

It’s been a truly epic 15 years of World of Warcraft—and what better way to commemorate this momentous event than to purchase a piece of WoW history, all while benefitting a great cause.

We’ve preserved a number of retired HP server blades that once hosted World of Warcraft realms, and you can purchase one Friday, September 13 at 19:00 CEST and Wednesday, September 18 at 02:00 CEST on the Blizzard Gear Store to support Pencils of Promise, a global education organization creating schools, programs, and global communities around the common goal of education for all. For a limited time, a small numberof these special anniversary server blades will be available for purchase and 100% of the sale price of each blade less shipping and handling will be donated to Pencils of Promise. *

FAQ

Q: Who is Pencils of Promise?
A: In their own words: Pencils of Promise (PoP) is a for-purpose organization founded in 2008 with the goal of increasing access to quality education for children around the world. PoP works with communities to build schools and create programs that provide educational opportunities for students, no matter where they are born or what resources they have. To date, PoP has built more than 500 schools and currently serves more than 100,000 students throughout Ghana, Guatemala and Laos, establishing itself as a leader amongst the innovative global nonprofits working toward sustainable social change. Learn more at www.pencilsofpromise.org.

Q: How much of my money goes to Pencils of Promise?
A: Pencils of Promise will receive 100% of the sale price, less any manufacturing and freight to warehouse costs, chargebacks, refunds, and Value Added Taxes (VAT).

Q: What is a server blade?
A: World of Warcraft realms are hosted on HP BladeSystem, which combines server, storage, network, power, and management capabilities into an integrated system. These blades were part of the hardware that provided the processing power to run the game from 2010-2016.

Q. Will I be able to purchase a specific server blade?
A. Due to advancements in the technology behind World of Warcraft and the ability to host many realms on one blade, there’s no way to guarantee purchasers will receive a server blade that previously hosted a specific realm they were interested in.

Q: What does the server blade come with?
A:Each blade server comes with a decorated plexi-glass cover and a World of Warcraft 15th Anniversary plaque.

Q: Is the server blade functional?
A:The server blade is not functional and contains no data. This retired HP server blade is intended only to be a unique collector’s item and not a piece of functioning hardware.

Q: Do I have to pay for shipping?
A: Yes, purchasers will have to pay for shipping. All shipments will be made from the United States.

Q: When will I receive my World of Warcraft server blade if I purchase one?
A: Barring unanticipated circumstances, the expected delivery time for items is 12–15 weeks after the final payment is received and acknowledged.

Q: How will my World of Warcraft server blade be shipped?
A:Your World of Warcraft server blade will ship in custom 15th anniversary packaging and a brown box with foam padding to help protect it during shipping.

Q: What should I do if I have any issues with my order?
A:If you encounter any issues with your World of Warcraft server blade order, contact customer service for assistance.

*Donation excludes manufacturing and freight to warehouse costs, chargebacks, refunds, and value added tax; purchaser shall pay shipping costs. Sale ends September 24, 2019, or while supplies last.

[Tyrathius]

At long last! I've always desired to own a broken piece of server software.

[Kyphael]

...damn, you guys couldn't make a new battle pet? I always buy those to support a good cause. What do I do with this?

[Auxora]

Another similar old blade from a different company would be worth next to nothing. But, since it's going to a non-profit good cause, I'm all for it. And them being kept as collector's items to preserve or display rather than being disposed of is more green.

[javierdsv]

At long last! I've always desired to own a broken piece of server software.

Hardware* -

[Biomega]

I'm a little confused, there's supposed to be a little cage and wheel in there somewhere.

[Master Guns]

Says nothing of the price

[ablib]

I remember when they did this upgrade in NA in 2010. It was in the months before Cataclysm (I'm thinking July 2010), and the NA realms were down for an insane amount of time. Like 24 hours. Bored, I created a warrior on one of the Oceanic realms to level. I got her to level 10! To this day, she's still in the same spot in Undercity.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Doesn't come with a hamster??

Then to heck with it, I was promised an old, dusty hamster!

[Sinyc]

I wonder what these will go for?

I remember the auctions they had for their previous generation blade servers, and those were outrageous.

[Kuja]

And why is it not functional? Did they break it on purpose? Is there a way to fix it? No data, sure. But there would be uses for it.

I also wonder how Blizzard benefits from giving the item for free basically. It's a company, and companies are there to make money. It doesn't even mention that it's a charity project.

[Kyphael]

And why is it not functional? Did they break it on purpose? Is there a way to fix it? No data, sure. But there would be uses for it.

I also wonder how Blizzard benefits from giving the item for free basically. It's a company, and companies are there to make money. It doesn't even mention that it's a charity project.

Tax write offs and good publicity = great advertising.

[GreenJesus]

And why is it not functional? Did they break it on purpose? Is there a way to fix it? No data, sure. But there would be uses for it.

I also wonder how Blizzard benefits from giving the item for free basically. It's a company, and companies are there to make money. It doesn't even mention that it's a charity project.

Because they are probably outdated and there is no business needing the actual hardware. Might as well give them away and look good while doing it "for dem kids"

[Explosivo]

At long last! I've always desired to own a broken piece of server software.

companies do this shit all the time, usually minus the charity part. you guys could bitch about anything

[monkaW]

Where would you put this broken hardware if you buy it anyway, in the warehouse? its a waste of space.

[Armakus]

Where would you put this broken hardware if you buy it anyway, in the warehouse? its a waste of space.

I mean, look at it - it's nicely framed and everything. Not that I'd pay for it, but if I came across this I'd definitely put it up somewhere in my game room. It's neat.

[rhorle]

Where would you put this broken hardware if you buy it anyway, in the warehouse? its a waste of space.

The same place you put anything you buy? Its like you've never bought something you like before just because you liked it.

[FelPlague]

Where would you put this broken hardware if you buy it anyway, in the warehouse? its a waste of space.

its a collectors item the yogscast boguht their servers drive and put it up on their office wall with all their play buttons as its were the yogscast began and they all met.

[horbindr]

Says nothing of the price

yeah i'm a bit confused, the wording seems to imply fixed price, but the lack of a price seems to imply auction?

i think they sold some server blades a couple years ago too though, so probably similar to that.

edit: yeah, seems last time they did this was 2012, where it was an auction starting at $100.
https://kotaku.com/blizzard-selling-...-for-a-5879808

fun detail: in 2012 you could buy server specific blades, e.g. the one you played on. nothing like that on this list cause i guess it all went into sharding/crossrealm since then :P

[FelPlague]

And why is it not functional? Did they break it on purpose? Is there a way to fix it? No data, sure. But there would be uses for it.

I also wonder how Blizzard benefits from giving the item for free basically. It's a company, and companies are there to make money. It doesn't even mention that it's a charity project.

1. non funcitonal because its wiped, everything is factory reset, im sure you could get it working if you knew how, but blizzard has likely wiped every single bit of data on this thing, bassicly bricking it, you could liekly get it to work by opening it up and setting everything up, but it would work nothing like what blizzard had it running as, they do this liekly so people cant replicate their programs or steal customization settings they use for some objects