A huge post has appeared on World Of Warcraft‘s official forums written by the game’s executive producer J. Allen Brack, that addresses the apparent fan demand for some form of legacy server as well as the recent closure of Nostalrius – an unofficial server not run or owned by Blizzard.
It was reported earlier this month that the owners of the private server were handed a cease and desist order from Blizzard’s legal representatives that forced it to close, displacing a reported 800,000 players who had registered an account since it opened.
Brack says in the forum post that Blizzard pursued the closure of Nostalrius in an effort to protect the company’s intellectual property, rather than a direct attempt to block players from enjoying an alternative version of the official game.
[F]ailure to protect against intellectual property infringement would damage Blizzard’s rights. This applies to anything that uses WoW’s IP, including unofficial servers. And while we’ve looked into the possibility — there is not a clear legal path to protect Blizzard’s IP and grant an operating license to a pirate server.
After all is said and done, Brack says he’s acutely aware of the desire for some form of official legacy server for World Of Warcraft, and while the development team has toyed with the idea in the past, pursuing such a venture would present huge “operational challenges.” But that doesn’t mean it’ll never happen:
So what can we do to capture that nostalgia of when WoW first launched? Over the years we have talked about a ‘pristine realm’. In essence that would turn off all leveling acceleration including character transfers, heirloom gear, character boosts, Recruit-A-Friend bonuses, WoW Token, and access to cross realm zones, as well as group finder. We aren’t sure whether this version of a clean slate is something that would appeal to the community and it’s still an open topic of discussion.
Are you an advocate for a World Of Warcraft server that goes back to basics and does away with all of the new features and expansions released over the years? Let us know where you sit in regards to the long-running debate in the comments below.
Blizzard may be against the existence of private servers, but at last with Nostalrius’ closure, the issue has gained renewed interest.
