Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction • Hacker News Board

Re: Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction

#31

Post by Thaxll » Sun, Apr 19, 2026, 5:41 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #6

Just background in case you don't know: Turtle WoW tried to turn Classic World of Warcraft into a Roguelike, but in doing so wound up creating a bunch of new mechanics, and a gameplay loop that was quite unique even relative to other Roguelikes. So my position on this is; two things can be true at the same time: - Turtle WoW violated Blizzard's copyright, tried to charge money for some services, and Blizzard are well…

I mean they use the same game client and assets / quests on the server. It is stolen material. On top of that you can pay for it, they have a business model based on intelectual property from another compagny.

Re: Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction

#32

Post by surgical_fire » Sun, Apr 19, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC

The irony is that the Turtle team released what was probably the best version of WoW, ever. Blizzard had to get it shutdown because it was fucking embarrassing that a fan project more artistically cohesive and more fun to play than anything Blizzard could spit out in decades despite having virtually unlimited resources.

Obviously, the most competent people at Blizzard are lawyers. That Turtle would eventually shutdown was expected.

Hats off to them. I had fun.

Re: Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction

#33

Post by Pay08 » Sun, Apr 19, 2026, 5:46 PM UTC

lousken wrote: post #5

WoW servers existed for years, it's funny blizzard still tries after this many years.

Do they still exist? I remember spending a few weekends on them back when I was 13 or so and couldn't afford a subscription.

Re: Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction

#34

Post by Thaxll » Sun, Apr 19, 2026, 5:49 PM UTC

SlightlyLeftPad wrote: post #28

Someone1234 wrote: post #6

Just background in case you don't know: Turtle WoW tried to turn Classic World of Warcraft into a Roguelike, but in doing so wound up creating a bunch of new mechanics, and a gameplay loop that was quite unique even relative to other Roguelikes. So my position on this is; two things can be true at the same time: - Turtle WoW violated Blizzard's copyright, tried to charge money for some services, and Blizzard are well…

Why not just buy it then? It reminds me of Valve’s treatment of Black Mesa, which made the community love the company even more. It’d be hilariously easy for Blizzard to spend some money on the thing and just buy the devs out, fans love you for it and it builds good will with a fanbase. Corporations can’t see past the legal aspect of things I guess.

You understand that the people playing Turtle don't pay for it, they don't use the official game because they don't want to pay.

Re: Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction

#35

Post by littlestymaar » Sun, Apr 19, 2026, 5:49 PM UTC

SlightlyLeftPad wrote: post #28

Someone1234 wrote: post #6

Just background in case you don't know: Turtle WoW tried to turn Classic World of Warcraft into a Roguelike, but in doing so wound up creating a bunch of new mechanics, and a gameplay loop that was quite unique even relative to other Roguelikes. So my position on this is; two things can be true at the same time: - Turtle WoW violated Blizzard's copyright, tried to charge money for some services, and Blizzard are well…

Why not just buy it then? It reminds me of Valve’s treatment of Black Mesa, which made the community love the company even more. It’d be hilariously easy for Blizzard to spend some money on the thing and just buy the devs out, fans love you for it and it builds good will with a fanbase. Corporations can’t see past the legal aspect of things I guess.

I don't think we needed any more proofs that blizzard is ran by actual assholes, but here be are.

Re: Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction

#36

Post by thaumasiotes » Sun, Apr 19, 2026, 5:50 PM UTC

Thaxll wrote: post #34

SlightlyLeftPad wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just buy it then? It reminds me of Valve’s treatment of Black Mesa, which made the community love the company even more. It’d be hilariously easy for Blizzard to spend some money on the thing and just buy the devs out, fans love you for it and it builds good will with a fanbase. Corporations can’t see past the legal aspect of things I guess.

You understand that the people playing Turtle don't pay for it, they don't use the official game because they don't want to pay.

That seems to conflict with the idea that Turtle's problem was that they charged money for services related to the game.

Re: Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction

#37

Post by littlestymaar » Sun, Apr 19, 2026, 5:50 PM UTC

Thaxll wrote: post #34

SlightlyLeftPad wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just buy it then? It reminds me of Valve’s treatment of Black Mesa, which made the community love the company even more. It’d be hilariously easy for Blizzard to spend some money on the thing and just buy the devs out, fans love you for it and it builds good will with a fanbase. Corporations can’t see past the legal aspect of things I guess.

You understand that the people playing Turtle don't pay for it, they don't use the official game because they don't want to pay.

They will could have shut down the free service but brought the new gameplay to retail.

Re: Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction

#38

Post by breakfastduck » Sun, Apr 19, 2026, 5:50 PM UTC

SlightlyLeftPad wrote: post #28

Someone1234 wrote: post #6

Just background in case you don't know: Turtle WoW tried to turn Classic World of Warcraft into a Roguelike, but in doing so wound up creating a bunch of new mechanics, and a gameplay loop that was quite unique even relative to other Roguelikes. So my position on this is; two things can be true at the same time: - Turtle WoW violated Blizzard's copyright, tried to charge money for some services, and Blizzard are well…

Why not just buy it then? It reminds me of Valve’s treatment of Black Mesa, which made the community love the company even more. It’d be hilariously easy for Blizzard to spend some money on the thing and just buy the devs out, fans love you for it and it builds good will with a fanbase. Corporations can’t see past the legal aspect of things I guess.

Valve aren't owned by private equity and other giant corporations so they make good decisions and do things fans like.

A lot of their entire platform is built on mods they've bought and turned into proper 1st class games (cs, dota, Garys mod etc)

Re: Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction

#39

Post by stavros » Sun, Apr 19, 2026, 6:02 PM UTC

surgical_fire wrote: post #32

The irony is that the Turtle team released what was probably the best version of WoW, ever. Blizzard had to get it shutdown because it was fucking embarrassing that a fan project more artistically cohesive and more fun to play than anything Blizzard could spit out in decades despite having virtually unlimited resources. Obviously, the most competent people at Blizzard are lawyers. That Turtle would eventually shutdow…

No, Blizzard had to get it shut down because they're greedy bean counters. They could have spent less money than they spent on legal fees to hire the team and had them produce an even better version, but why do that when you can destroy things and replace them with mediocre slop instead?

Re: Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction

#40

Post by petterroea » Sun, Apr 19, 2026, 6:02 PM UTC

SlightlyLeftPad wrote: post #28

Someone1234 wrote: post #6

Just background in case you don't know: Turtle WoW tried to turn Classic World of Warcraft into a Roguelike, but in doing so wound up creating a bunch of new mechanics, and a gameplay loop that was quite unique even relative to other Roguelikes. So my position on this is; two things can be true at the same time: - Turtle WoW violated Blizzard's copyright, tried to charge money for some services, and Blizzard are well…

Why not just buy it then? It reminds me of Valve’s treatment of Black Mesa, which made the community love the company even more. It’d be hilariously easy for Blizzard to spend some money on the thing and just buy the devs out, fans love you for it and it builds good will with a fanbase. Corporations can’t see past the legal aspect of things I guess.

I can imagine naked licensing being a factor.