RIP Private Servers

[fodah]

Anybody who plays retail will notice that as of November 11th, you will need a Battle.net account to play World of Warcraft (retail). What people don't realize is what blizzard has in store for private servers. Read the quote from the Battle.net FAQ below...

After November 11, 2009, you won’t be able to log in to the game unless you merge your account with a Battle.net account. You will need to log in using your Battle.net account username (your email address) and password.

This says that anybody without a Battle.net account will not be able to access the game. This means that without a b.net account, you will get an error at the loginscreen. Why is this a problem? The battle.net realmlist is built into the client! (<- not changeable)

To prove my point above, go change your realmlist to one of a private server... if you log in without an email it will take you to the private server. If you log in with an email, it will take you to retail wow. The realmlist.wtf will no longer be needed after November 11th, thus private servers will no longer be able to go past the current patch.

Hopefully somebody can prove me wrong, but from what i've experienced so far with the new battle.net system, it does not look good.

[Henkke]

Sigh.
It's been thinked over & conquered already, nothing to worry about.

[pinki104]

I hope they die so everyone can come to laughing skull eu

[orcmaster112]

hosts file?

[fodah]

hosts file?

Yea, thats what I was thinking

[craigy109]

Explin a bix more please what host files....

[Iaccidentallytwink]

...hosts file? srsly?

No. You can always patch the MPQ that stores the realmlist, and in the worst case scenario, the client itself can easily be patched. (or hex edited LOL)

[Jiaud]

Come on, modifying host file take 10s and you don't need to modify client files.

[LJN]

I don't think the realmlist will be deleted, but if it does get deleted just create a program to catch the data sending to battle net and send it to the private server. (Sounds like it would work, I don't do any C++ :P)

[Hellgawd]

You are correct, the realmlist file does become obsolete.
No, you don't need to edit the hosts file.
Yes, emulator developers have already found a solution. NEXT

[Mitron]

Hellgawd rocks
Well... i dont care about private servers anymore... would like to play on Scapegaming but having probs with that... playing retail :P so if anyone gets bored head over to Vashj EU xD

[Clain]

Didn't Ralek or TOM_RUS already start reversing the battle.net stuff for WoW? :P

[chaoschief]

But TOM_RUS has an underscore.

[2dgreengiant]

oh shi- were doomed *runs*

[Moaradin]

This change won't kill Emulation Servers.. But, since Blizzard just sued the biggest private server of them all(Scape Gaming), I can see people start shutting them down.

Also, LOL at the people who wasted their money to buy OP gear on that server.