Blizzard Announces Classic Vanilla Server Plans

In a shock announcement today during the Opening Ceremonies of Blizzcon, Blizzard revealed their plans for a Classic World of Warcraft server. Players have been clamoring for a classic, or "Vanilla" server for years now. Many got tired of waiting and took it upon themselves to party like its 2004 via private servers. Some of these fan servers attracted tens of thousands of concurrent players and new ones popped up every time Blizzard managed to take one down.

World of Warcraft finally joins other golden era MMORPGs like RuneScape and EverQuest with their decision to host classic servers in parallel with current content servers. No schedule for the classic server was revealed, only that Blizzard was working on it. There was even a bit of humor thrown in with the announcement. Blizzard auctioned off their original hardware server years ago, but made an appeal to the crowd that they would need those physical servers to help recreate the Vanilla experience.

Players tired of hearing about Vanilla weren't left out at Blizzcon, a brand new expansion titled Battle for Azeroth was also revealed. Adding two new continents, raising the level cap to 120, several new races, and a renewed emphasis on Alliance vs Horde conflict were all highlighted.

Further Reading: PCGamer Interview with Blizzard VP J. Allen Brack