Classic 'World of Warcraft' returns with a fan-made version

Fans of "World of Warcraft" are set to launch a server that lets people play the game as it was 10 years ago. People can already sign up for an account and start playing on the Elysium server on Dec. 17.

The rumours started to surface about a month ago when Nostalrius, a "World of Warcraft" server, allows players to experience the game in its original 2004 state. Blizzard, the developer, forced the closure of the Nostalrius server earlier this year. It filed a a cease-and-desist order that sparked a petition signed by over 90,000 players.

According to Shacknews, the team in charge of maintaining the original Nostalrius server has handed its project over to another fan-run group, Project Elysium, which will be opening the proverbial doors on Dec. 17. It will allow players to carry over their original characters to the new server. What remains unchanged is the game’s state, set at the last patch before the first major expansion to the game, allowing veterans to enjoy the game in pristine condition.

World of Warcraft is an online multi-player game. Players of the said game explore the vast landscape of Azeroth, complete quests and interact with other gamers.

In April 2017, Blizzard threatened a legal action against Nostalrius. It claimed that letting the server run would undermine its claim to the intellectual property used in the official game. Despite this incident, Blizzard met the developers for Nostalrius and signalled it was willing to talk about ways to preserve earlier versions of the game. After which, Nostalrius's developers halted plans to release the code for their legacy server. Blizzard, on the other hand, worked on its own system.

"We all share a single bond that unites us; a love for vanilla World of Warcraft," wrote the Elysium project on its web page.