TURTLE WORLD

TURTLE WOW has become one of World of Warcraft's biggest private servers

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It’s the same reason you won't find group matchmaking or meeting stones that teleport players to the latest dungeons from halfway across the world, which are commonplace in the live MMO. These conveniences are common requests—after all, if someone wanted to experience every hardship exactly as it was, official classic servers do exist.

Akalix says finding out how much change is too much is a bit of a tightrope walk, but the guiding principle of Turtle WoW is that it fails unless it eschews anything that could impede socialization and cooperation.

“If you're part way into [a dungeon], and one of your DPS is obviously newer to the game, he walked into a pack, pulled them, and got your group wiped once. In the random dungeon finder on retail right now... it’s just a matter of ‘Kick ’em, we'll get a new person in 30 seconds and not have to deal with that again,” he says. “The old style makes you more invested in seeing your group succeed.”