Last weekend marked Blizzard Entertainment's 11th Blizzcon. The event was held in Anaheim, California at the Anaheim Convention Center. The event featured many gaming related announcements from the company, but the most surprising announcement regarded a look back into the company's history. For years, unofficial Legacy servers for "World Of Warcraft" have existed, these servers are built by underground developers, without the blessing of Blizzard Entertainment, and feature a vanilla version of "WoW" before the decade worth of expansions. Now, however, Blizzard Entertainment has announced they will be launching their own official Classic servers of the game.

'WoW' Classic Servers

For years there have been underground developers who have been running legacy servers which allow players to play a vanilla version of "WoW." These vanilla versions are pre-expansion versions of the popular game. The servers have become massively popular with the most popular server, Nostalrius, had over 150,000 active players.

However, these legacy servers were not officially authorized by Blizzard Entertainment and have been shut down and banned by the company. Nostalrius was one of the servers to be officially shut down by the company.

To say fans were disappointed would be a grave understatement. But, instead of rioting in the streets, fans initiated a petition. According to WCCFFTech, the petition was hand delivered to Mike Morhaime of Blizzard Entertainment by former "WoW" lead Mark Kern.

As a result of the petition, a meeting between the Nostalrius team and Blizzard.

Things went quiet for quite some time after the meeting, but now Blizzard seems to be heeding the cries of the legacy server fans.

Classic servers announcement

ARS Technica quotes "WoW" Executive producer J. Allen Brack as starting the announcement by saying, "Before I get to the big news today, I want to talk about ice cream.

I understand that for some of you, your favorite flavor is vanilla."

The reference of vanilla ice cream was referring to the legacy servers and vanilla versions of "WoW" that fans have been begging for. Following the bated breath of the crowd, Brack finally declared, "Fans of "World of Warcraft" around the world, we hear you."

Cheers erupted as the official announcement was made, Blizzard Entertainment would be launching classic servers for "World of Warcraft" featuring a vanilla version of the game before the decade worth of expansions were released.

Kotaku reports that some of the underground developers who ran the unofficial legacy servers wept with joy when they heard the news.

This has been something "WoW" fans have been clambering for, for years. Believing the game to no longer be as challenging, or the community as enjoyable, since the release of the expansions.

The vanilla version of "WoW," to fans of the legacy servers, is a return to the game in its purest and most enjoyable form.

There has been no announcement as to the launch dates, or any further information as far as how Blizzard will accomplish this feat, but fans can rest assured Blizzard has heard your cries and pleas. And they will deliver.
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