Something I've heard is that Warmane is planning to create and release a WOD server. My advice is to not do this until Blizzard has released a new expansion.
The reason I'm saying this is that currently all our servers here are past patches which protects users and Warmane from legal issues due to the software being legally classified as ABANDONWARE because Bliz has never supported previous patches on live realms. Therefore if Blizzard was to ever sue players or Warmane they currently would have a huge chance of losing the lawsuit because the service offered by Warmane falls within the scope of FAIR USE.
Strangely enough it was because of this ABANDONWARE safeguard that I knew Hermes was lying when he said he received a DCMA takedown that he was obliging -- that's very unlikely with this current ABANDONWARE safeguard in place.
The moment we step out of this protection though we're open to a lot of problems even if we feel the server is hosted in a place that is not going to just roll-over to an American company.
Bottom line is that if Warmane was to offer a WOD realm at the same time Bliz is offering the WOD experience -- then it is very likely that Blizzard would have probable cause to sue Warmane and win, shutting everything down.
This is not FUD -- it's just a hazard that potentially affects all of our ability to enjoy the current servers we're on.
I suspect someone has told the development team and staff of Warmane about this possible problem and that steps will be taken to ensure the safety of Warmane servers. I just hope we can continue to play here safely for a really long time! :)
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Member
WOD is dangerous to Warmane
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Member
LOL no.
Anyway I don't want to see a WoD realm, but just because the others (especially MoP) are still in pretty rough shape and I don't want to see resources pulled away from them to work on a WoD server that won't be decently playable until like 2020 anyway.
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Member
We are all protected for using the servers here because Warmane is offering us ABANDONWARE; Bliz no longer supports Wotlk, Cata or MOP on any of their live retail servers. This falls under DCMA fair use.
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Member
Agreed. But but can't blizzard only take a swing at warmane unless it is in the US? Malaco and the others said something about server move a while back, so it's nowhere near Blizzard's reach, no disrespect to them tho :P
Don;t mind Hermes either, the lesser we speak of the corrupt punk, the better. I feel sorry for the 2 that sided with him tho.
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Member
Hey you are back from your forum vacation :D
on topic: I think there is no problem at all. There is another server running WoD already... guess what? They were faster than blizzard, they released even before blizzard went out of beta. No lawsuit against them.
I think there is no problem and that there is some reason why blizzard wont go after warmane (nor any other Pserver). Be it money or be it psychological.... I think blizzard does see some benefit to just leave Pservers for what they are.
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Forum Veteran
Without WoD we probably get less attention from Blizzard but I don't think there is any difference legally. Someone said the DMCA notice was real but it was received and ignoed by Molten a few years ago. Blizzard would not try to sue players. If they try to sue something it would be the server. Someone has been requesting ISPs to send warnings for downloading the game but it doesn't go further than that and they still do even if it's earlier expansion.
Around 7-8 years ago all largest private servers got closed by Blizzard at the same time but I don't think they want to try that again. Private servers are free advertisement for them and by closing them they might lose players that play on both private servers and retail, which they most likely don't want.
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Member
They won't sue every player if it comes to that, if they do, that is a cold move from Blizz itself, there was another place I know who tho, the players were not hit, just the owners, that is because the person in question had their servers in the US aka helping in Blizzard Shark infested waters. As for Warmane and AT, Blizz will not do anything, but they can change up tactics in a heart-beat. This was also the debate on WoW Blizzard forums against private servers, and there are several interesting ones at that.
Long story short, nothing to worry about.
Think about it, if others can pull a WoD out of their hat, why can't Warmane? So, plus a friend of mine, Suity, an ex-AT player from 1 yr ago got his hands on WoD at some point and made his own world in his own image, so if he has it, Blizz should go for him to right? Mind you he has is stuff stationed in Germany, not an active server, just a chill out one. So anyone with WoD should be safe, even Warmane, same with the lot of us before the team up with molten.
Yes lol, however some stuff I say I'll let the lot deal with it on YT, hence, I tend to go on a whole other level with what I know or found. I wasn't away entirely, was on realms shooting down hackers and finding bugs, mainly solving the worgen issue and such on MoP realms.
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Member
You make some great points however
Warmane is still prone to C&D since
E. host, provide or develop matchmaking services for the Game or the Service, or intercept, emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by Blizzard in any way, for any purpose, including without limitation unauthorized play over the internet, network play, or as part of content aggregation networks;F. facilitate, create or maintain any unauthorized connection to the Game or the Service, including without limitation (a) any connection to any unauthorized server that emulates, or attempts to emulate, the Service; and (b) any connection using programs or tools not expressly approved by Blizzard;
Considering that they are only protected from the terms I copied above because of the location.
If they feel they are powerful enough and have the man power to create a server that would possibly bring new players and possibly new donations that would help the other servers with hiring more staff they should.
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Forum Veteran
If Blizzard actually decides to do something then servers with higher population will get most attention. And only at that point having or not having latest expansion might change something.
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Member
TBH the Americans are getting more and more aggressive with their legal and copyright infringement enforcement. Having a layer of the DCMA that naturally protects us really lowers the overall hazard level. At the end of the day, it's all about managing risk.
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Member
I tend to agree with OP. It's not worth the risk, quite apart from the fact that WoD being so awful is the reason I'm here in the first place.
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Member
Lol. No.
/tenchars
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Member
We'd be 1patch behind, wouldn't that still fall under as Abandonware ?
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Member
No because the DCMA content is being offered currently by Bliz, whereas previous expansions are I feel different enough to offer shelter under the abandonware clause of DCMA. IANAL but I still think that Bliz isn't offering Wotlk so I have to go somewhere to get that max-level wotlk experience. Even if Bliz decided to offer previous expansion servers, it's too late because they abandoned those expansions long enough that the need for someone to offer us that existed.
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Member
Screw DMCA.. DMCA is american legislation.. it does NOT apply over seas...
Wow Xpacks is not abondonware.. legally abandonware does not exists... There will always be copyrights.. if the copyright holder doesn't pursue user/servers it's simply because they don't want to.. but they own the rights...
Legally private servers are illegal.. no doubt about it.. and it doesn't matter what xpack you are running.. Yeah Blizz might be more inclined to do something about it if you run the same xpack as them but on the otherhand i think all the bugs and errors more likely makes ppl wanna play on retail servers IF they want to play latest xpack.. ;)
