If you can’t await the official Blizzard vanilla realms, there is a way to enjoy vanilla World of Warcraft right now. There are different private servers that run the vanilla version of World of Warcraft and I tested a few over the last months. But currently I do really like the Light’s Hope private server because there is a lot of activity even in the low-level areas.
I am usually a Horde player but back in the classic World of Warcraft days, we actually started out on the Alliance side until we switched to the Horde. Weeks ago I became a bit nostalgic and wanted to visit the Alliance level areas again, like the Forest of Elwynn or Westfall and so on. So, I started on Light’s Hope and the Lightbringer realm is really good in my opinion.
Reason is, the community is very friendly and strangers send you invites to do quests together, and they are very communicative. But of course, this might also be the case because in vanilla you have to team up to actually enjoy the game. That’s the whole point! Anyway, I wanted to suggest this server if you’re like me and if you want to enjoy vanilla WoW before Blizzard finished their official vanilla realms. Nobody knows when that happens, that means if you can’t await it, private servers are an option.
But Light’s Hope is one that I would currently suggest. But keep it slow, you don’t want to get a burn out before Blizzard releases their own servers. Also remember, private servers can go offline at any time for whatever reason. Always keep this in mind! I just keep it slow on these servers.
Diary of Dennis 
And as tempting as this is, I think you’re right, I’d be afraid of lessening the experience by having to start over, or discovering that the neat new private server had disappeared and left us gasping. And still have to start over. I do remember the steep climb, and Im not sure experiencing that more than necessary is that much fun. Sort of like opening your Birthday presents early, and then the surprise is spoiled. =)
I logged into that private server a couple of times when I was in the mood to play the old WoW. But I’m really more interested to play the official vanilla servers when the time has come. But due to the fact that I saw classic again with private servers, I can say for myself that the steep experience is a lot more fun than what WoW has become with all those recent expansions.
But you’re also right about the fact that it will never be the same like the first time. It’s spoiled because we experienced it already back then, but the atmosphere is still there. When Blizzard has finished the official classic realms, I am going to play on them anyway… mainly because today I don’t play as much as back then anyway. There is no pressure to be a top player or something. I’m just looking to experience the old game and I don’t care if others are faster than me. I keep it slow and just experience the old world when the time has come.
Just for fun last night I watched last November’s announcement about rebuilding Vanilla WoW. One thing struck me, however, as he was describing how “we’ brought down Sargeras and all the others and ‘saved” the world. Again. I was remembering one of those events in Stormwind. The evil guy was there, and there must have been a thousand players, packed in around him, firing weapons and casting spells. And not surprisingly, he finally died, and we all cheered and people shouted, “we won!”
My thought now is, did we? What if they had attacked a city with one of those monsters and no one came to fight him? Or even look?
Well, since I have a friend who tried almost every single freshly released MMORPG out there, in hope to find one game that would be the big hype again, I can tell you. This phenomenon could be seen in many games. Just see how many tried to build on the success of World of Warcraft, but all of them failed miserably. There have been tons of dead MMORPG’s, in fact even many that were dead right from the beginning when we talk about the user base.
Blizzard did everything right back then, they took the best features of early MMORPG’s and copied them, but on a much better way. Apart from early bugs, they basically perfected the genre. That’s why they got such a large userbase. And that’s also why so many new MMORPG’s fail, they set a very high standard and gamers won’t accept anything below it.
Imagine there would be war and nobody goes. What you are talking about could be seen in many games that were dead right from the beginning.
I’m afraid I’ve become a skeptic about mass end game monsters, where every 14 year old boy gathers, manages to get off one shot, and suddenly the monster dies and everyone cheers, hooray, we killed it. I don’t think that happens. I think the monster is programmed to die, slowly, and everyone gets the credit for the last shot.
I just tried to load–and play–Shroud of the Avatar, since the screen shots and You Tube videos are so compelling. It looks like a stunning game. However, it damn near ate my computer, and locked it up so firmly I had to go into the registry and delete the game one line at a time. It threw hundreds of identical bits at me, and just overloaded everything.
I have, however, talked to people who say it’s an amazing game. Have you ever tried it?
No, never heard of that game. But I don’t follow the MMO market very closely anymore. A friend of mine does, but he never mentioned that game either.