Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction

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Last week, popular World of Warcraft private server Turtle WoW got hit with a cease and desist from Blizzard after a judge ruled in the studio's favor regarding a copyright infringement suit filed last September. Court documents revealed that the two parties reached a settlement that hinged on "certain actions that are required to be taken by certain parties," and today, the other shoe dropped for anyone still playing the modded MMO: a forum post announced a complete shutdown of the project.

"Working on Turtle WoW has been the highlight of our lives," said Turtle WoW developer Torta in the post. "The adventures you had, the battles you fought, and the friends you met are what made it all worthwhile. We hope you will cherish those moments. What we leave behind are fond memories of an 8-year-long journey, and we hope you'll remember it every now and then."

The servers will close on May 14, and all servers have been shot forward to the final patch "for those who want to see the new raids before the project's sunset." All associated social media channels, including the forum site, will close later this year on Oct. 16.

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Fans of the server saying their farewells on the subreddit and forum. "Wish I ended up playing more and dinging 60 in the end, but the time I did spend was fun. Thanks for the game and wishing everyone all the best," wrote forum user Zeran. Reddit user ElChuppolaca wrote, "This is genuinely heartbreaking but I figured it would come seeing as they delayed any response for so long."

If you're unfamiliar with the server, it takes an Old School RuneScape approach to World of Warcraft's pre-expansion era, back before you could roll a paladin on the Horde or get an epic mount without grinding for hours. There are new raids, zones, playable races, and dungeons, but nothing that raises the max level or incorporates lore from recent story arcs.

The server aimed to deliver the "Classic Plus" experience fans of vanilla WoW have clamored for since official pre-expansion servers landed, and with Blizzard teasing its own take on the idea following the end of the game's Season of Discovery, it's hard not to see parallels with the shutdown of Nostalrius (which came just a year before World of Warcraft Classic was announced).

Regrettably, it seems that publisher-approved fan servers like EverQuest's Project 1999 and City of Heroes's Homecoming are the exception and not the rule, as in the end, the Turtle WoW team's open plea for a fan server licensing framework proved fruitless.

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Justin Wagner

Justin first became enamored with PC gaming when World of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights 2 rewired his brain as a wide-eyed kid. As time has passed, he's amassed a hefty backlog of retro shooters, CRPGs, and janky '90s esoterica. Whether he's extolling the virtues of Shenmue or troubleshooting some fiddly old MMO, it's hard to get his mind off games with more ambition than scruples. When he's not at his keyboard, he's probably birdwatching or daydreaming about a glorious comeback for real-time with pause combat. Any day now...

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