What is private servers I see ppl so often mention in these forums ?
Private The Burning Crusade servers and etc.
They are what made classic happen in the first place.
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Private servers are a free way to enjoy the game, but they are against TOS. They existed since the game launched, as they gave a free option for these who wonât want to pay their subscription.
During the decade and half World of Warcraft existed, however, private servers began to serve another purpose. Many of them are set to a specific expansion or patch. And so, people started revering them if they were upset with the latest expansion. The tipping point was Cataclysm, when Blizzard changed the whole questing experience and revamped the starting zones. This is what invoked Nostalgia most. People wanted to play the old quests, to experience the old zones.
Blizzard used to ignore these private servers set to Vanilla or specific expansions. But in 2016 they closed Nostalrius, the biggest Vanilla server, and it caused a huge outcry. From a legal point of view, Blizzard was right to close the server, because it was breaching their intellectual property. However, even if it was illegal, it was cruel to close the server because of all these veterans who enjoyed the old version of the game with misty eyes. So yes, the outcry was huge.
Blizzard was forced to respond. GMs came and discussed many options. Was LFR/RDF the problem? The randomized gameplay? No⌠people didnât want dumbed down retail. They wanted Vanilla.
And now we have Classic.
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theyâre pretty similar to the current game they just donât lag when 100 people are in the same area
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Its illegal use of copyrighted material.
No, its what made Blizzard see a possibility to get some paying customers back. Its Blizzard that âmade it happenâ by investing a few millions of dollars, not a bunch of freeloading moral preaching sofware pirates.
In the meanwhile its pirate server mentality that is slowly killing off Vanilla. Maybe Blizzard will see that too at some point and restore the realms to proper Vanilla values.
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out of interest, what mentality do you refer to? could you give me a few examples
Squatting on servers with 10-15 k and refusing to move while at the same time demanding Blizzard to adjust the environment settings to accomodate the pirate server population numbers.
And then claiming its not proper Vanilla if they donât.
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I dont think you should assume that everyone who ever played on a private server is a freeloader. In fact most private servers make money via their custom shop sites etc so people who play there spend money. As a player you are less in a moral grey spot and its the owners of the server who are in moral terrritory.
You cant blame people for wanting to play a certain version of the game, most people play on private servers because it offers them the game they enjoy playing, its mostly pre cata options but i think cata and mop have had some success. Classic has shown that if a legitimate server offering the game version people want is made available then people will play there. I fully expect BC and Wrath to follow and be just as popular as many folks want that version of the game, its what they enjoyed in the past and what they want to enjoy again.
Now im not saying its ok to play on them but IT IS because of them that classic was worked on. If private servers didnt happen then neither would classic. You dont have to like that BUT it is how we now have classic.
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Yet those private servers were more stable, could support more active players without crashing from world pvp. Say what you want, they were a better experience as these bad servers and cashgrabbing porkers at blizzard. Official servers are a joke when it comes to stability. All hail pirates.
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I think if a private server hosted a 1.13 client it would be as laggy as it is live right now. No wonder the one they host(ed) instead which is from 2004 is more stable in todayâs hardware.
I think it safe to say that freeloading is exactly what attracted most people to pirate servers in the first place. That it resembled WoW Vanilla probably also helped.
So people are off the hook because they give money to pirates (probably for p2w items)? Okay⌠
You are making use of- and thus enabling an illegal service. Iâll leave it up to peoples conscience whether that is morally grey. Personally i think it is on the same level as stealing since youâd have to pay for acces if you went through proper channels. But thats just me.
I disgaree.
I spent many years on the forums advocating for Legacy servers along with a mass of other people.
Yes, they were part of the movement but so were non-pirates still playing at Blizzards.
Its not about liking, its about realising that no pirate ever spent millions on rebuilding a game.
That pirate servers were popular is beyond doubt and revealed the interest. But that is it.
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From what i gathered they were laggy as hell and crashed frequently.
Current populations on Classic PvP servers ARE pirate server values. They should crash and burn because they arenât the real thing.
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Well, the materials were saturated during vanila when realm population was much lower. Itâs understandable with a massive capacity of people on each realm, there would be discussion to accommodate faster respawn timers etc⌠If thatâs what you meant. Furthermore, a lot of people did move servers. The most popular private server guilds like Apes etc all moved.
Not exactly sure how youâre surprised this happening after having 2x more people each realm.
Which would be normal.
Yes, that is what i meant. Demands of pirate server players who prefer pirate server setting over authentic Vanilla.
Yeah, i know that. What of it?
Im not surprised about it. Just annoyed that after 14 years of begging we get legalised pirate servers with a Vanilla theme instead of authentic Vanilla servers.
But hereâs to them bleeding themselves out and die. I can wait.
I just hope that Blizzard will actually be pro-active on restoring Vanilla rather than pandering to pirates.
Yes, the materials would be normal⌠people want normal population per realm. Private server players had nothing to do with great cap per realmâŚ
Yes, most players demanded resources were adjusted to meet higher capped realms. This was bound to happenâŚ
You said private server players wonât move⌠most players who did move were private server playersâŚ
I and many others wanted everything full vanila, 0 changes. Youâll see from my posts.
Iâm not sure private server players are to blame for what you mentioned. Most of them actually agree with you.
I disagree.
They basically squatted and occupied the servers as (too) many still do. And i donât care about their reasons, they just did and still do it.
At this point i would actually support Blizzard splitting those servers up into 3 realm Battlegroups with unlimited free transfer to eachother for a period of time. After which normal realms may grow again.
âBound to happenâ doesnât mean they should give into it. If they do iâd see that as an official statement that Vanilla is truly dead and legalised private server-likes are a thing.
Your point?
Those who stay and keep on unstabilising the situation are mostly still pirate server people.
No, i suppose in the end its Blizzard to blame for giving in to pirate server settings because that is what most (pirate)players will accept and it gets them off the hook after the removal of layering.
Weâll know what direction this will take the moment respawn timers are adjusted in favor of higher populations.
Lets hope there are a few devs among them.
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The realm cap was annouced higher before it released⌠Nobody would of batted an eye if realm cap stayed the same, the majority of people wanted it that way. Private server players cannot be blamed for a decision only by Blizzard to make realm caps higher, come on man haha
The QQ about resources was bound to happen - I donât think it should be adjusted at all, but the QQ was going to happen. They shouldnât cave - youâre right.
Well, you say private server players sqautting are the problem when the majority of them were the first people to move. It doesnât add up.
Which nobody saw as a problem because of layering. At that point it was about accomodating the launchperiod.
No, but they can be blamed for not moving and still overpopulating because âmuh dead realmâ.
Blizzard sticking to their un-layering promise played right into their hands⌠hahaha. 
Okay, so we agree on that. 
Canât have been the majority or else there would be no overpopulation problem left.
Pirate server players staying in high pop versus people that prefer Vanilla levels of playing leaving and resettling.
Adds up just fine imo. Thereâs just not enough of them moving beyond the few you mentioned apparently. 
No its not. The players use their own client and the server have created their own database. Its not illegal (depending on country). Its breaking ToS though.
Private servers were generally a much more enjoyable experience than what Blizzard has offered.