Blizzard about vanilla server (may 2015)

[Flaat]

EQ has just launched another Progression server. It's full to the rafters and is an easy source of cash.

I can only wish Blizzard have a spark of common sense.

Look, if EQ can make this and make money with it why in the world wouldn't WOW be able to do it. Even with the added costs of fixing a progression timeline and bugfixes.

No i think that what they once said about not having backed up the server settings for older expansions might actually be true. If that was the case the costs would be very high. If that wasn't the case they really would only need to fix a timeline for progression and fix things the way nostalrius has done. Addons they really wouldn't have to bother about i think, you let the community deal with that.

The real question right now would be: Would you roll on a Blizzard Vanilla server over Nostalrius?

[Keldan]

Of course a lot would roll on a Blizzard Vanilla server.. Everyone except those who can't afford it, actually.

We are all members of the private servers WoW community. We don't have fidelity. If we had, we would still be on retail. We jump on the best option available for us. We always did, and we'll always do.

And Blizzard, by their army of devs with 30y+ experience would produce a less bugged version and their marketing team would grab the biggest population. That's not Nostalrius fault. Nostalrius is just not a billion profit company and they don't have access to Blizzard internal resources.

Now, Blizzard don't fill the need we have, so we chose Nostalrius as the best server to play.

[Holmes]

blizzard is just too ignorant to realise that many old players are disappointed about the modern game and that they have done many mistakes that scared them away. if they hosted vanilla servers they would admit that.

[Acillius]

EQ has just launched another Progression server. It's full to the rafters and is an easy source of cash.

I can only wish Blizzard have a spark of common sense.

Look, if EQ can make this and make money with it why in the world wouldn't WOW be able to do it. Even with the added costs of fixing a progression timeline and bugfixes.

No i think that what they once said about not having backed up the server settings for older expansions might actually be true. If that was the case the costs would be very high. If that wasn't the case they really would only need to fix a timeline for progression and fix things the way nostalrius has done. Addons they really wouldn't have to bother about i think, you let the community deal with that.

The real question right now would be: Would you roll on a Blizzard Vanilla server over Nostalrius?

I believe that the only reason blizzard will not open any vanilla or BC servers for the old time feel is mainly the are scared to see how many people would actually go to these servers and play over the crap they currently have. I can list easily about 50 people I know and played with on a daily basis that would play vanilaa or BC in a heart beat over the current retail wow which is honestly a sad fact but its true. Currently I have fully quit the retail version of wow and will NEVER play again unless they did offer an " Official " true authentic Vanilla & Burning Crusade server (both seperate of course) I would play on both of these full time over current. Mind you I would still by new expansions for collectors and to give it a try level to the max to say I did blah blah balh but as soon as that happened back to BC or Vanilla. I could easily divide my time between the two and have no issue what so ever even if the population was low (which I would highly doubt).

you asked would I play a Blizzard Vanilla server over Nostalrius? the answer is sad but even though Nos is amazing in every single aspect and everything I ever wanted come true the only problem is [I cannot protect my account as much like a real Blizz Account, Blizzard could maintain their server much easier than Nos, and probably the most important thing Bugs would be fixed possibly at a faster pace than on Nos(this I am not sure about but you never know) ]. So yes I would play on an actual blizzard server and pay the $15 dollars a month for that above and also when ever I wanted I could also go on to a live server and mess around if I so wished (highly doubtful) but the option is there.

[Jackyy]

I would be happy if blizzard would atleast view legacy-private server as some kind of modding-community (atleast the non-profit ones, as Nostralius) instead of saying that they are illegal - no matter what.

[ohgr]

EQ has just launched another Progression server. It's full to the rafters and is an easy source of cash.

I can only wish Blizzard have a spark of common sense.

Look, if EQ can make this and make money with it why in the world wouldn't WOW be able to do it. Even with the added costs of fixing a progression timeline and bugfixes.

No i think that what they once said about not having backed up the server settings for older expansions might actually be true. If that was the case the costs would be very high. If that wasn't the case they really would only need to fix a timeline for progression and fix things the way nostalrius has done. Addons they really wouldn't have to bother about i think, you let the community deal with that.

The real question right now would be: Would you roll on a Blizzard Vanilla server over Nostalrius?

I believe that the only reason blizzard will not open any vanilla or BC servers for the old time feel is mainly the are scared to see how many people would actually go to these servers and play over the crap they currently have. I can list easily about 50 people I know and played with on a daily basis that would play vanilaa or BC in a heart beat over the current retail wow which is honestly a sad fact but its true. Currently I have fully quit the retail version of wow and will NEVER play again unless they did offer an " Official " true authentic Vanilla & Burning Crusade server (both seperate of course) I would play on both of these full time over current. Mind you I would still by new expansions for collectors and to give it a try level to the max to say I did blah blah balh but as soon as that happened back to BC or Vanilla. I could easily divide my time between the two and have no issue what so ever even if the population was low (which I would highly doubt).

you asked would I play a Blizzard Vanilla server over Nostalrius? the answer is sad but even though Nos is amazing in every single aspect and everything I ever wanted come true the only problem is [I cannot protect my account as much like a real Blizz Account, Blizzard could maintain their server much easier than Nos, and probably the most important thing Bugs would be fixed possibly at a faster pace than on Nos(this I am not sure about but you never know) ]. So yes I would play on an actual blizzard server and pay the $15 dollars a month for that above and also when ever I wanted I could also go on to a live server and mess around if I so wished (highly doubtful) but the option is there.

I doubt you'd see the amount of people you think you would. Maybe on launch and the first month but it would probably dwindle rapidly. It is not as though private servers is a strange phenomenon that you have to find using freenet and be added to some obscure private list. I don't think the stable population would be over 20k people for vanilla on a blizzard hosted server.

[Mdmadam]

I would come back to wow in a heartbeat if blizz made vanilla servers. I would love to experience it all again. By the way I don't mean this as a knock to current WOW, it's just something I would find incredibly fun.
I think the biggest challenges for an idea like this are a) would it be interesting enough to keep playing, and b) would there be enough sustained interest from other players to make the world feel alive. I could easily see the outcome being people logging in, going "wow the game is so much better now," and logging out. (CM_Lore)
IMO seeing how popular uh "theoretical" vanilla servers seem to be, I would say there is at least some demand.
Sure, there's definitely interest, even internally. We just don't think there's enough to offset the costs. (CM_Lore)
Personally, I'd 100% expect it to be something almost everyone just pokes at for a week or two and then drops. (CM_Lore)
Not really an effective use of time for devs who could be working on any number of features for the live game. (CM_Lore)
Speaking for myself, I'd love to go back and poke at classic. I just don't think I'd play it for long. (CM_Lore)
Or, the devs could just 'go back to the core roots', as it were. Yep, especially the class designs, every class used to be fun, but in WoD.
If that's the case, I think we'd rather focus on fixing the modern game. (CM_Lore)

SO much wrong with what that person said on MMO Champ:
-It should be a knock at current WoW, current WoW is atrocious.
-"I could easily see the outcome being people logging in, going "wow the game is so much better now," and logging out." LOLOLOLOL??? Sounds like something a Blizzard lap dog would say. I think anyone with half a brain knows theres nothing true about that statement.
-"Sure, there's definitely interest, even internally. We just don't think there's enough to offset the costs." Uhhh I think the problem is they don't THINK period thats why they're hemorrhaging subscribers
-No ones gonna just poke at it for a week, I can't believe someone would publish such a retarded statement.
-And an effective use of your time? Clearly you haven't been using your time effectively for the past 8 years! I'm still waiting for those amazing live features because everything you've given us is total crap.
-"Speaking for myself, I'd love to go back and poke at classic. I just don't think I'd play it for long." Good you're probably bad anyways. Do us a favor and don't try to fix any more games you're making them worse!

And I think they should also have to OPENLY admit to themselves AND the public that their previous stance was wrong. They should get on their hands and knees and beg consumers for forgiveness for how much they fucked up because a previous version is considered better.

[Norjak]

I could easily see the outcome being people logging in, going "wow the game is so much better now," and logging out. (CM_Lore)

I can easily see people logging in, going "wow I like this a lot more than WoD" and not wanting to go back...

- Sure, there's definitely interest, even internally. We just don't think there's enough to offset the costs.
- Not really an effective use of time for devs who could be working on any number of features for the live game.

These are valid points why Blizzard might not want to make a legacy server. Unless there's a demonstrated market large enough to serve, they will likely lose money on this. 8k players online every day doesn't necessarily mean a significant market for a company like Blizzard. How many Nost players would leave if they had to pay a monthly sub fee? I would not, but some might.

[dstar]

The bottom line is will it make money. Blizzard wont even entertain the thought without it. Honestly though, this would of effort and resources. The way Blizzard seems to be now is making a quick buck with minimal effort (hallow patches, store mounts ect). Personally, I don't even want them to do it because I would then be supporting a company I have lost all respect for. When you have a near perfect server with a solid population here, why do we need them?

However, I am curious on the pofitabilty of such a project by Blizzard though. How much do they stand to profit and what is the longevity of it. Would be pretty awesome if someone did a thorough analysis and report.

[Krusher]

in monetary point of view it is easy for Blizzard,
they can setup a new company under the blizzard franchise that leases the rights for running wow vanilla.
together with their own team of devs, gm's, server and admins they can see if it is profitable or not.

Blizzard is a company and they focus on making money.
if they attract 10k players from EU and charge 10 euro a month then they can run 2-3 servers ( about 5-6? physical servers) with an income of about 100k.
that seems like a lot, except when you look at the expenses for the whole team, office, power consumption, hardware lease, and rights expenses for funning wow.

like most company's they lease the hardware and include a full service contract to make sure it is repaired in several hours.
if needed have backup hardware in place to prevent downtime.