14 DAY TRIAL // World of Warcraft continues to be the most popular subscription-based MMO in the world of gaming, and it seems that Blizzard is looking for ways to offer a classic experience for long-term fans of the franchise even if it is unwilling to allow a private server to operate for the time being.
J. Allen Brack, an executive producer working on the game, explains on the official forums that his team has been looking at the fan reactions after the announcement that the company delivered a cease and desist letter to the members of the community that were operating the Nostalrius server.
He explains that "Our silence on this subject definitely doesn’t reflect our level of engagement and passion around this topic. We hear you. Many of us across Blizzard and the WoW Dev team have been passionate players ever since classic WoW. In fact, I personally work at Blizzard because of my love for classic WoW."
Apparently, classic servers for World of Warcraft have been under discussion for a while now, but it seems that there are significant difficulties on the technical side, with the studio currently focusing on its resources for delivering new content for the MMO rather than on reviving its past look and mechanics.
Blizzard is also unwilling to let its intellectual property undefended by allowing Nostalrius to continue to run under the supervision of members of the player community.
A pristine realm might be coming to World of Warcraft
J. Allen Brack explains that a new special version of the MMO might be offered in the future, turning off all leveling acceleration, eliminating character transfer, character boosts, bonuses for friend recruitment, token mechanics, and the group finder.
Blizzard is apparently still discussing whether such a feature would attract fans who are nostalgic about the past of World of Warcraft, but it seems that the studio is interested in talking about the concept with some of those who have been running Nostalrius.
The company is at the moment working on the sixth Legion expansion for the MMO, which will be launched starting August 30 and is designed to introduce some new features.
Gamers will be able to use the new Demon Hunter class, and there are also new areas in the Broken Isles that fans will be able to explore while they boost their characters to the new 110 level cap, with two new raids and more five man dungeons also featured.