Why legality isn't the issue

[Muesli]

You've all heard the cry: “Well, what do you expect, that was criminal activity!” And you realize most people not “in” on private servers don't even get the issue at hand.

So, again: It is not about legalities. It is not about “stealing”.
It is about community, and an environment that fosters it.

But retail has all that!
No, no it hasn't. Let me demonstrate on a tiny, teeny aspect of WoW: Power Word: Fortitude.
In Vanilla WoW, this mechanic is a tool of social interaction: Mobs are rather powerful, especially when you start out. Fort gives you a real, tangible boost in survivability: You are now better able to take on your challenges. Casting this buff has cost the priest player only a little bit of mana that's regenerated in seconds. The benefit for you lasts for half an hour.
With the press of one button, social interaction has been achieved: Someone was nice to you. And niceness puts you in a mood to repay it. Maybe you run into a rogue half a mile down the road that's in need of help because a stray patrol aggro'd on him when he wasn't prepared. So you help him kill that pat. A quick /thank and /welcome are exchanged, and everyone feels like something good has happened: The priest, the rogue, and you.
This is the way of Vanilla. This is the environment that fosters cooperation.
On retail, few people even bother buffing you with Fort. What would be the use? You're an all-powerful god character while levelling anyhow. There's no benefit to it. So the priest runs by you. You don't even read his name. Chances are, he's from another realm anyhow. What would be the use befriending him? What would even be a reason to say hi to him? You'll likely never will see him anyhow. You also don't even encounter that rogue in danger, because no character in the open world is in danger anywhere. So the priest, the rogue and you, you all just walk around in a world, isolated and doing your thing. When you see a player that kills a mob you need, all you see him as is competition. Fuck other players, they're just slowing you down.
This is the way of Retail.

This is why Blizzard shutting down Nostalrius will bring no-one back to Retail. Because it's about community, mutual cooperation and help. Retail is not about any of that any more. It's an environment that's at best indifferent to player interaction, and at worst fosters envy and malice between players.

Humans are social beings. We all plant tiny seedlings of ourselves in people around us. If we are allowed and encouraged to foster those seedlings, we become a rich kaleidoscope of colours, making us shine brighter than we would be if we were isolated.
On retail, loot and achievement points have taken the place of the seeds of humanity in us. Where social seeds grow by themselves and form an intricate network between people, here, dull baubles substituted for the seeds in the human kaleidoscope, need constant replacement: New content for more loot, more points, more titles, more pets, more mounts. The designers of this unholy mess cannot work fast enough to satisfy the demand, so people become “content locusts” that the designers then try to get to stay subscribed by implanting content gates that are artificially tied into real time, which reveals the emptiness of it all to the player.

Blizzard does not seem to understand why it is better for an MMO community to self-sustain by social connections than to keep them hooked to an inert replacement cycle for an inferior substitute that needs constant resupply.

This is what this is about. This is the issue. This is why making Nostalrius shut down doesn't solve anything. This is not the end of anything. This is the beginning of the discussion.

[Crysthal]

Blizzard shutting us down upsets me tremendously!

I abominate them for crushing our dreams.
I'll never ever go back to them as a customer not even for Warcraft 4 or Diablo 4.

I can't put my feelings into words but something unforgivable is happening.

[Wifetap]

Agreed!!

[SikSan]

Cuz it is all about money. Blizz became it's own Diablo I character - the hero, who became a new incarnation of Evil.

You're right, they cannot shovel the content fast enough to the “content locusts”. But they're trying to do it as best as they can, cuz every shovel is another $$ in their Scrudge McDuck bank vault.

But the funniest thing with Nost is that Nost rly shows Blizzard how to restore their player base and fill their subs. VANILLA legasy servers they were denying all the time. They're closing it up, even they don't have the legal alternative. That is insanely stupid and rly evil. All hail Blizzardiablo.

[winfernal]

Very well written!! That is exactly the point.

I've been called everything from a pirate to a thief. They don't see the big picture, they only see black and white. Their good and kind blizzard against the evil pirates that are only here to steal their games. If ONLY the world was that black and white. It's sad that the majority of the world thinks about the world as that black and white, good vs evil. It's never that simple!!

I don't play vanilla wow on a private server because of it being free. I got money, that's not the issue. I play it because of the exact reasons you name in your post. The sense of community and working for achievements. You don't find that anymore in retail, it's impossible because the game goes after the lone wolf instead of rewarding group play. So thats why i want to play on a vanilla private server. And because blizzard is never going to open an official one.

Nostalrius gave me and my friends a place to play together, and i also made new friends. Because grouping up is rewarded here.

[Muesli]

> They don't see the big picture, they only see black and white.

Exactly, and they got their teeth so into the legality of it, they can't go beyond it. You did something against a law in some country, you must be a bad person. As if lawful was synonymous with morally right. I should send them to a chaotic good D&D character, seeing as they're apparently Lawful neutral...

[Beefstaek]

i am normally not a very vengefull person nor do i take pleasure from seeing other humans suffer, but should the universe ever be so random to let a situation arise where a simple handshake would save the live of Michael Morhaime i would rather chop of both of my hands and kick him in the balls untill he dies.

[earelith]

Blizzard shutting us down upsets me tremendously!

I abominate them for crushing our dreams.
I'll never ever go back to them as a customer not even for Warcraft 4 or Diablo 4.

I can't put my feelings into words but something unforgivable is happening.

My exact feelings also...