Private servers for World of Warcraft are thriving. Blizzard’s Classic announcement has even boosted their boom.
With the announcement of official Classic servers for World of Warcraft, Blizzard has finally fulfilled a long-standing wish of the fans. This also heralded the end for so-called “pirate servers” or private servers. Because if there were soon to be official Classic servers, then wouldn’t private servers soon lose their basis for existence?
Currently, the announcement seems to have the opposite effect. The server Light’s Hope (formerly Elysium or Nostalrius) recently announced that they want to open another server. The competitor Kronos is also planning to launch another realm by the end of the month.
The reason for this seems obvious: Thanks to Blizzard’s “official” statement at BlizzCon 2017, the topic of “Classic” has come back into the focus of many players. Since the developers have not given any timeline for when a Classic server might go live (not even the year has been confirmed), many players are very interested in revisiting classic World of Warcraft.
Now, private server providers are benefiting from this, whom Blizzard actually does not want. In the past, they have repeatedly tried to take legal action against the operators, which is why they often settle in countries where the legal situation is not so clear.
We should not overlook the fact that private servers were already a thing during the times of the “real” Classic – simply because it offered a way to play World of Warcraft at no cost. This is likely another reason for many players to play on a private server.
Are you playing on one of the private servers? Or would you rather patiently wait and play a Classic version approved by Blizzard?
In the “real” WoW, by the way, you can currently farm a lot of honor!
