It's been nearly 20 days since Blizzard shut down the popular Nostralrius private fan server. Today, Blizzard finally broke their silence about shutting the server down. Blizzard wanted to give the public reasons for the shut down of the server that was running version 1.12, which was the last version before their expansion The Burning Crusade. The server boasted 150,000 active players before shut down. So why the shut down? Blizzard cited it couldn't protect its intellectual property which in their defense is a perfectly good reason, but there is more than meets the eye here. Blizzards indecision and excuses on making a "classic server" are bogus.
J. Allen Brack stated that "classic" servers couldn't be implemented without great difficulty. Servers are not that difficult to run, in comparision to Utah's 100,000 square foot NSA Data center with 2500 server racks is run by 200 employees. Blizzard in 2009 had 68 people running the servers alone across the world. This isn't about servers, its about the quality of product they're pushing out there. Not saying everything they send to market will apease everyone, but subs to World of Warcraft have to say something about the direction it is headed in. Yes, Warlords of Draenor in its intial stages were as high as 15 million, but plumeted after launch. So what does this have to do with a private server based on original content? If Blizzard wanted a server dedicated to original content it would be available right now.
New content will always win over older content (no matter how much better it is) and that is the facts. Had they actually been listening they would have realized that people are bored of the game because it is way to easy, kinda cheesy and the lore is subpar. Once people realized how awful Mists of Pandaria was they've left and been sceptical ever since. Those are the people that Blizzard needs to win back. After every expansion release more and more people wish for the "good 'ol days" where the content played more like Warcraft; an axe vs sword grinding game supplemented by magic. Now there is more mech than ever, everyone can dps/heal/tank. Obviously not all classes can do it all, but it feels that way. So what does it being easy, cheesy and having subpar lore have to do with a classic server? It brings those whose wish to play certain content back to the game. Personally they'd have money from this guy's bank account tomorrow! Chosing what content you want would be an epic addition to the game. It would make everyone happy. Either way they'd get their $15 bucks a month and people would dabble in the new content as well.
There should be something for everyone in the game. Personally every time I see a panda I want to punch it in the face. That is how much I hated Mists of Pandaria. I've talked to people who liked it (even though its a very small amount of people) and they've had their moments where they've loved and hated WoW. Is consistancy to much to ask for in a game that makes you pay around $160+ dollars on subscription fees and new expansions. If a classic server isn't something that apeals to everyone why is it asked time and time again by fans of the game? Will this editorial change anything? Probably not, but the more you know the better off you are to make a change. Blizzard's full comments can be read below
We wanted to let you know that we’ve been closely following the Nostalrius discussion and we appreciate your constructive thoughts and suggestions.
Our silence on this subject definitely doesn’t reflect our level of engagement and passion around this topic. We hear you. Many of us across Blizzard and the WoW Dev team have been passionate players ever since classic WoW. In fact, I personally work at Blizzard because of my love for classic WoW.
We have been discussing classic servers for years - it’s a topic every BlizzCon - and especially over the past few weeks. From active internal team discussions to after-hours meetings with leadership, this subject has been highly debated. Some of our current thoughts:
Why not just let Nostalrius continue the way it was? The honest answer is, failure to protect against intellectual property infringement would damage Blizzard’s rights. This applies to anything that uses WoW’s IP, including unofficial servers. And while we’ve looked into the possibility – there is not a clear legal path to protect Blizzard’s IP and grant an operating license to a pirate server.
We explored options for developing classic servers and none could be executed without great difficulty. If we could push a button and all of this would be created, we would. However, there are tremendous operational challenges to integrating classic servers, not to mention the ongoing support of multiple live versions for every aspect of WoW.
So what can we do to capture that nostalgia of when WoW first launched? Over the years we have talked about a “pristine realm”. In essence that would turn off all leveling acceleration including character transfers, heirloom gear, character boosts, Recruit-A-Friend bonuses, WoW Token, and access to cross realm zones, as well as group finder. We aren’t sure whether this version of a clean slate is something that would appeal to the community and it’s still an open topic of discussion.
One other note - we’ve recently been in contact with some of the folks who operated Nostalrius. They obviously care deeply about the game, and we look forward to more conversations with them in the coming weeks.
You, the Blizzard community, are the most dedicated, passionate players out there. We thank you for your constructive thoughts and suggestions. We are listening.
J. Allen Brack