In 2004, Blizzard's World of Warcraft was in full swing as a massively multiplayer online RPG game with millions of people logged in its servers. Due to overloading updates, a team of developers called "Nostalrius" had introduced servers that allowed WoW players to re-set their game and play the classic MMO as it was during its release -- much to the disappointment of Blizzard as the team also breached contract. Now, Blizzard's "The Elysium Project" is aiming for the same thing as its servers open on December 17.
According to IGN.com, Blizzard shut down the "Nostalrius" servers just this year because it breached several terms of service -- meaning a tampering of the game and exposing it to the public invalidates the tampered game as per intellectual property right ownership. The "Elysium Project" will focus on the same thing the "Nostalrius" team wanted to do and it is likely that Blizzard has opted to partner with the team behind it.
According to MMORPG.com, Ion Hazzikostas -- the original game director for WoW -- fell in love with the original 2004 "World of Warcraft" and also planned to create a "Legacy WoW". The "Nostalrius" team threatened to release the Blizzard source code for "Legacy WoW" to force Blizzard to confirm the creation of a Legacy plan -- the subject possibly their topic during their 2016 meeting with the game director.
Over the weekend, stress tests have revealed positive results with 10,000 players traversing the digital world in stable conditions. Also, players who have characters on the "Nostalrius" servers before the shutdown can continue their progress as "The Elysium Project" would carry over all information. The response is possibly Blizzard's "appeasement" offering to the "Nostalrius" team.
The "World of Warcraft" MMORPG is a spin-off game still based on the original "Warcraft" universe. Blizzard's medieval alter-ego of its high sci-fi game "Starcraft" has earned the loyalty of many fans to a point that a fan-made movie has made it into Hollywood and is likely to have a sequel. For more game news, stay tuned!
