Very Interesting post at MMORPG.com

[MadAxeThrower]

Nostalgia has got nothing to do with it, otherwise I would be pre-ordering Legion, since Illidan is coming back etc.. wouldn't that be playing because of Nostalgia?

I like Vanilla because it is a better game than the current product, simple.

I want an MMORPG to be challenging and to have a sense of agency and a sense of achievement, oh and yes, I almost forgot, a sense of community (you know, because you're playing it online with other ppl in the same world/place) otherwise I would be playing a single-player game XD

Vanilla HAS THIS, the current product DOES NOT.

This is what I found on Nostalrius. This is why I want to play Vanilla over the current product.

If the current product was like Vanilla, then most ppl would be playing it, despite the fact that Blizzard went ape shit with the story line in Cata/MoP and WoD, people would still be playing the current product if it was like Vanilla.

[Mopar]

Some other problems, just to mention them:

There is actually very little case law to state that a private server is illegal. Blizzard can of course at any point submit a DMCA take down notice (if you are in the U.S.) or a lawsuit filed by lawyers retained in France (as in this case). What do you do? No one wants to destroy their life over a game. You cave, no trial takes place, and no case law is written. So it remains undecided whether creating an emulator for a game that is no longer offered is actually a breach of law. Blizzard is free to use that tactic again and again, despite the fact that the server code contains no actual Blizzard IP, and players who payed for their client are breaking no law.

The other issue here is that they could just license the IP. At best, Blizzard's claim is like a patent - the idea of WoW is the IP, not any code that Nost used. Patents are very often licensed out to other parties in the tech world. Free money for Blizzard from the license, the other party sets up a business that uses the patent. Think about it - all that money they are paying to lawyers to take down private servers. Some part of that could be redirected to drawing up IP license agreements that would earn Blizzard money from the licensees. The private servers could then actually charge for access legitimately, and Blizzard would reap the benefits of their IP again, without having to front the cost of the servers or teams to run them.

The problem is arrogance and pride, not any kind of business or legal issue.