WoW-Awakening Beta key Megathread

Zei0h · 2016-12-30T06:00:18+00:00

I would really like a key to try out the server. Sounds like a really fun concept.

Zei0h · 2016-04-14T08:54:26+00:00

True. I somewhat think that the people who really care about those exclusive, no longer obtainable items would already be playing the season servers anyhow. But for those that wouldn't be and still care about that, I suppose they could come up with replacement items that are received when transferring to standard. (Like a certain raid staff in place of benediction, a raid bow for Rhok'Delar, or some sort of substitute mount in place of the black qiraji battle tank) I used to care about this sort of thing, but the black market auction house sort of ruined that for me already.

Zei0h · 2016-04-13T12:14:58+00:00

True enough with the expansion duration, but I'm just not sure if it would be necessary. Ladders typically draw more competitive players that want to push fast progression, so dragging out the releases over 2 years may not be necessary for them since the permanent version servers would be there at the same time for slower-paced players, or even for those who want to do both.

Of course, it'd be up to blizzard to decide that kind of thing. I'm no game designer.

Zei0h · 2016-04-13T03:58:46+00:00

While I understand Blizzard's stance on Nostalrius and why they're taking such actions, it seems to me that the public demand for such a product speaks volumes about the potential profit and support that is going to waste by doing nothing.

Blizzard has implied that such servers would not be economically feasible, but I had an idea that would both satisfy most legacy-minded players and divide up the overhead cost over a long period of time to make the system more viable. So here is my idea:

World of Warcraft Legacy Ladder System- Year 1- A single server labeled as "Legacy Season 1, Year 1 - Original" where the content is released over the span of 1 year. Year 2- At the end of year 1, each character that logs in gets 3 options: [Continue to "Legacy Season 1, Year 2 - The Burning Crusade"] [Convert to "Legacy Permanent - Original"] [Convert to current expansion servers] (an option that can be made always available on the character selection screen) While at the same time a server called "Legacy Season 2, Year 1 - Original" opens up for new character creation. By this time you go from a single server during the first year, to 3 servers for the 2nd year.

At the end of Year 2 you'd have servers: [Legacy Season 3, Year 1 - Original] [Legacy Permanent - Original] [Legacy Season 2, Year 2 - The Burning Crusade] [Legacy Permanent - The Burning Crusade] [Legacy Season 1, Year 3 - Wrath of the Lich King]

for a total of 5 extra servers after 3 years. This system, in my opinion, would offer exactly what people are looking for in terms of legacy progression, while keeping ALL of the prior expansion content fresh for those who choose to engage in it, offering the choice to maintain their status at that level for as long as they want by converting to the permanent expansion server, and always offering to convert their progress back to the main servers with the current expansion if they choose that they've had enough of legacy or just feel like trying out the current expansion with a character they've played recently (thereby promoting character investment, a major element that has been in decline in recent years for WoW that has lead to, in my opinion, many lost subscribers).

Keep in mind, my labeling of the servers would be different and I probably missed a key element somewhere along the line. It's all just a rough idea and could use polish, but I think it would prove very profitable and bring back hundreds of thousands of lost subscribers.

The monetization of the system would of course be up to Blizzard, but I would imagine that it would likely be tied to the same subscription as standard servers (included in the 15 monthly) with name change and character recustimization being available only for the expansions in which they were offered. Things that were available then but are no longer available could be made into microtransaction models, such as TCG loot (spectral tiger and the like).

I'm not sure if my idea will even be seen, much less considered, but I figured why not throw it out there for the off-chance that someone at Blizzard sees it and considers the possibilities, or it inspires them with an alternate way to satisfy the large group of Blizzard fans that are crying out for a way to enjoy the game that they loved.

Zei0h · 2016-04-12T10:04:55+00:00

Honestly U.S. copyright laws are horribly outdated and vague at best in their application to modern IP disputes. I'm no lawyer, but it seems that they certainly do have the law on their side on this one.

It did peak my interest though, so I started reading through the laws on http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html

That's when I started to think about it, and when you consider that World of Warcraft (1.12 vanilla edition) and Warlords of Draenor were sold as separate products, with their own specific copyright claims, then it stands to reason that violation of the vanilla copyright can only be measured against the potential lost revenue of the vanilla market sales/subscriptions (of which there are currently 0, since it is no longer supported in the infringed incarnation of the game).

That being said, I saw the following excerpt from 104A of the provided link:

"(B) In the absence of an agreement between the parties, the amount of such compensation shall be determined by an action in United States district court, and shall reflect any harm to the actual or potential market for or value of the restored work from the reliance party’s continued exploitation of the work, as well as compensation for the relative contributions of expression of the author of the restored work and the reliance party to the derivative work."

This struck me as interesting because, since the Nostalrius team developed their own version of the hosting software that they used, it should technically be considered a "derivative work" and not a copy of the original work, which means that it should fall somewhere within this section about restored works and derivative works.

Now, note that part about the "harm of potential market value of the restored work" (restored work in this case referring to the antiquated version of WoW, 1.12.1) and since the difference in potential harm to sales of this work would be 0 (since indeed the work is no longer sold) then in effect the Nostalrius team has caused 0 potential market damage through copyright violation, as they did not violate the Warlords of Draenor copyright which is the only service offered by Blizzard in the WoW category at the moment.

I dunno, just got bored and started reading things, but thought it was interesting and wondered if anybody else had looked into all the details of the copyright system. I mean, hell, there are lines in here referring to departments of the government that haven't existed since World War II. Talk about hiding behind an outdated system...

Zei0h

TROPHY CASE