Realistically

[Norjak]

Blizzard will not license or sponsor any Vanilla servers until it makes financial sense for them to do so.
If they ever do set up their own Vanilla server, it will be some bastardized version of the game with plenty of ways for people to spend money. Blizzard will want to hype it & give themselves a big pat on the back - the ultimate goal being to make more money off it in whatever way they can. Not saying this is a bad thing, that's just the most realistic scenario.
If there is a significant demand Today, people are going to have to go the "pirate server" route unless Blizzard has some kind of epiphany or change of heart, and since they are in the business of making money I think we all know what the odds of THAT would look like (not very good.)

People have mentioned Iceland, Russia (bad latency) & there are some servers elsewhere in Europe (your mileage may vary.) I think Rebirth tried hosting in a cloud solution to keep latency down but Blizz went after their Canadian service provider, not sure whether this would be a viable option again if the ISP is somewhere they can't be easily harrassed (but they would probably go after the guys who provide cloud services to the service providers eventually, if those are Western companies.)

[melak]

Tbh, it already does make financial sense

[Vaulken]

I reckon that it has more to do with ego than finances and the more we put them on the defensive, the more they dig their heels in. They probably do want that pat on the back if the former is true and the only way to do that is convince them this was their idea all along.

[Arucado]

They will release them, im sure of that

[Rarilmar]

Tbh, it already does make financial sense

And you know that how? cuz 100k signed the petition? 100k is a small number for them to put vanilla back in development. And from that 100k let's be real... many are dupes and many won't pay 15$/month so you end up with 50k potential vanilla lovers and pronbably 500k new players from modern wow that will join to check it out and most of them will cry about class imbalance and for the hard vanilla life.
I had a friend that joined nost from retail and he quit at lvl 40 when he failed to tank in Uldaman cuz tanking takes a bit of skill here and he went back to retail where you can't loose aggro and he can watch a movie too while tanking in raid. The new wow retail population don't like the old versions much!

[Crossbreed]

Tbh, it already does make financial sense

And you know that how? cuz 100k signed the petition? 100k is a small number for them to put vanilla back in development. And from that 100k let's be real... many are dupes and many won't pay 15$/month so you end up with 50k potential vanilla lovers and pronbably 500k new players from modern wow that will join to check it out and most of them will cry about class imbalance and for the hard vanilla life.
I had a friend that joined nost from retail and he quit at lvl 40 when he failed to tank in Uldaman cuz tanking takes a bit of skill here and he went back to retail where you can't loose aggro and he can watch a movie too while tanking in raid. The new wow retail population don't like the old versions much!

Well, the cost side is very much in their control. If they wanted to, they could simply let Nost run their server, conditional on everyone subbing for 5$ a month or whatever. Zero cost, some profit.
Or they could choose to re-develop the entire server architecture themselves, potentially costing a seven digit number. The expenses are higher - but of course, so is the potential profit.

Bottom line, if they opt for the cheapest option, it is virtually impossible for them to not generate a profit.
If they choose some more expensive option, its a regular business decision; taking more risk for potentially higher profits.

Having said that, it's not just about direct profit. Why do they still keep patching Diablo 2, does developing that patch really generate enough unit sales to offset the costs?
Some things are beneficial on a broader scale. Even if you assume a classic server won't make them rich, it sure as hell is great publicity and pleases their fan base, which in turn means they'll get a much, much better word of mouth and dedicated fans. Which is an absolutely invaluable asset to any company. Good companies have gone bankrupt because of shitstorms of disappointed communities, and bad companies have survived because of the support of dedicated fans.

[melak]

Tbh, it already does make financial sense

And you know that how? cuz 100k signed the petition? 100k is a small number for them to put vanilla back in development. And from that 100k let's be real... many are dupes and many won't pay 15$/month so you end up with 50k potential vanilla lovers and pronbably 500k new players from modern wow that will join to check it out and most of them will cry about class imbalance and for the hard vanilla life.
I had a friend that joined nost from retail and he quit at lvl 40 when he failed to tank in Uldaman cuz tanking takes a bit of skill here and he went back to retail where you can't loose aggro and he can watch a movie too while tanking in raid. The new wow retail population don't like the old versions much!

Common sense, if you do some reasearch you will find out there is a lot of players playing on other private servers, and atleast from all the people and voices iv seen/heard, there has only been one guy who said he would not pay for it, and if your being realistic, who do you think the people are who play this old version of the game? Cheap people or more oldschool/loyal fans? Il let you think about that one Besides, looking at the hardware costs of whats needed for it today vs how it used to be is a lot cheaper, and employee costs wont make much of a difference either vs the income of sub fees it would generate. Like previous posters have already said, this is more to do with pride (doing legacy servers is: accepting they failed with their own game).

[Norjak]

Having said that, it's not just about direct profit.

There is also the perceived "damage" to their existing franchise...this always seems to come up in the argument when people defend Blizz's actions toward private servers.
I agree the goodwill they would receive if they condone legacy servers is nice, but does it outweigh the perceived negative damage to the franchise? How do you quantify goodwill, anyway?

[ceoddyn]

Why do they still keep patching Diablo 2, does developing that patch really generate enough unit sales to offset the costs?

Diablo 2 doesn't directly make wod/legion look like shit. Well, it does, but their wow fans don't know that. They can make the comparison better with an older version of wow.

What makes people think in this way rather than the opposite? You aren't convincing Blizzard of something right here. Just understand why they haven't acted yet already, that puts you in a better position to respond to them.

[Hydra9268]

Having said that, it's not just about direct profit.

There is also the perceived "damage" to their existing franchise...this always seems to come up in the argument when people defend Blizz's actions toward private servers.
I agree the goodwill they would receive if they condone legacy servers is nice, but does it outweigh the perceived negative damage to the franchise? How do you quantify goodwill, anyway?

Coca-Cola is one of the largest soft drink companies in the world. People know the brand, even those who may never consumer their products. So why would they spend $6 million on a 30 second Super Bowl ad? They do it to associate imagery of good feelings and friendship with their brand. It's called brand building. This kind of marketing is way more important than getting people to buy your product because it keeps your product in a positive light in the mind of millions; or billions in Coca-Cola's case. What Blizzard did was perfectly legal, but they also destroyed their brand in the eyes of many. Even those who may have never played vanilla. I would argue the hidden cost of what they did is greater than had they just embraced Nostalrius or launched legacy servers themselves.