Synopsis

This will be an overview rather than a review of the servers and community known as Vengeance of Azeroth. I will be focusing on what I believe are the most important aspects of the server that potential players will be the most interested about and lastly; this is the writing of a current player that sees a lot of potential in this server but is in no shape, way or form associated with the staff.

Sources Of Information

The majority of information was taken directly from sources such as Github provided by the staff that I then went through and verified their name and work. Along with my own personal research into the years of experience that the staff claim to have. Throughout each section, I will provide links for interested individuals to read if they choose to do so.

Origin

Launched in September of 2014, the Vengeance of Azeroth project was little known by many until it began gathering attention toward the beginning of 2015. The server and community are headed by several developers that played a major role in WoW emulation organizations such as the original MaNGOS team and also the CMaNGOS team which allows us to enjoy previous iterations of World of Warcraft to this day.

Top 5 Important Points Regarding Vengeance of Azeroth


1. The development team behind the community.
2. Progression focused realms along with an small section on current issues related to bugs.
3. Player population.
4. Server location, hardware and protection.
5. Current topics regarding the server.

The Development Team

One of the largest points that the staff like to address to new and interested players is that their team is comprised of individuals that refer to themselves as the “original” and “lead developers” of MaNGOS / UDB / SCRIPTDEV2 / ACID. (Essentially these are terms in reference to wow emulation projects such as scripting and content databases)

Naturally this has attracted much skepticism and disbelief among the private server community due to the nature of the internet or in other words, anyone can claim being anything. In regards to that, I chose to seek out information directly from the staff and other sources to verify their claims.

In a recent discussion that I had with X-Savior, (One of the main developers of VoA that you may recognize already) I asked him to provide me with evidence of who he is and what work he has done. Following a lengthy conversation, he provided me with sources to Github which shows authoring work that has been done on Classic, TBC, WOTLK and Cataclysm iterations of World of Warcraft.

Alongside this enormous amount of information, I still wanted to search for older archives which pulled up posts from roughly 2008-2009 that does show that X-Savior played a substantial role in the wow emulation community along with a retirement thread posted on September 4th, 2014 which is around the time that Vengeance of Azeroth was launched.

Following this, it is safe to say that there is enough evidence to merit their experience as will be noted in the links below. In regards to that, you may recognize or want to look up names such as Laizerox, Neo2003, Maximus, XFurry and Amki within the WoW emulation community. It is with my best wishes that the staff continues working hard on the server for future progress.

The following is a list of links to work on wow emulation that X-Savior along with his staff have participated on or authored if any interested individuals would like to read deeper.

NOTE: Keep in mind that now that X-Savior is a retired developer, he has been removed from cMaNGOS active member list along with his GitHub account now only goes back as far as September 2014 compared to his work he has done since roughly 2009.

X-Savior's GitHub Profile

ACID-Scripts

The Burning Crusade Database via Github

WOTLK Database

Cataclysm Database

CmaNGOS

Script-Dev 2

Classic Database

Vengeance Of Azeroth – A Progression Based Server

Intent on the journey from the beginning, the developers are focused on re-creating the experience that many players enjoyed on their first adventures in World of Warcraft. Essentially for both Classic and TBC realms this means that not all content is currently available and the majority is closed. Currently both realms are operating on their own separate progression plans that have been outlined in the forums but are still the topic of debate. For the sake of this section, I will cover each realm.

Classic Realm “Booty Bay” – Currently, realm progression has not started on Booty Bay yet with the current focus on players leveling to 60 and the developers working on fixing the largest bugs along with polishing classes and their specific mechanics.

Also, while the server is running on the 1.12.1 patch, even Maraudon and Dire Maul are closed due to the focus on realm progression just as it was in late 2004 and early 2005.

At the same time, UBRS is also closed until realm progression kicks off. Following that, X-Savior provided me with the current realm progression plan as listed below.

NOTE: This does not mean these dungeons are not scripted or ready for release, it is the developer’s intention to purposely hold off on releasing content in favor of player population levels.

UBRS - First To Open - Realm Progression Kickoff (Proposed Launch Date: TBA - Early Feb ???)
MC - 2 Weeks After First UBRS Clearing
MARAUDON - 1 Week After MC Opens
DM + (Azuregos / Lord Kazzak / Meeting Stones) - 1 Week After MAR Opens
ONY - 3 Weeks After DM Opens
PvP - (Hall of Legends / Champion's Hall) - Same Time AS ONY
Gurubashi Arena + Elemental Invasion - SAME TIME AS ONY
BWL + Darkmoon Faire - 3 Weeks After Both MC and ONY Cleared First Time
ZG + STV Fishing Extravaganza - 3 Weeks After BWL Opening
4 Emerald Dragons World Bosses - 2 Weeks After BWL Cleared First Time
AQ - War Effort / Gate Opening - 4 Weeks After BWL First Clear
AQ20 and AQ40 - Will Open Once AQ War Effort Is Completed
Dungeon Equipment Set 2 Upgrades Available - 4 Weeks After AQ20 and AQ40 Opening
NAXX + New PvP Equipment Release - Approx 8 Weeks After First AQ20 and AQ40 Clearing


Source

TBC Realm “Wildhammer” – On the other side of the spectrum, realm progression has already begun for Wildhammer following the release of The Botanica normal and heroic version on January 8th 2014.

Below is the progression plan for Wildhammer along with additional details from X-Savior in relation to his post on the forums.

Raid Release Order: Kara - Grul Lair - Mag Lair - SSC - The Eye - Hyjal - BT - Zul'Aman - Sunwell (4-8 weeks between openings from first group to Clear) - We will judge timeframe based on Kara to set the pace

Dungeons:

“1 a week as we open the normal versions. But once all normals are open we will then open heroics each week for each dungeon grouping (hellfire, coilfang and ect). In the meantime during this we will open classic raids alongside Classic Realm so if players want something to do these will always be opening up aside from TBC content.

We still need to keep this at a reasonable pace to allow more players to join. Otherwise players will be trying to finish early tbc content while end game is already opening. This timetable is based on player progressions. If we get more players and faster progress then we will also look at accelerating the content release also. This whole system is fluid and dynamic based on the players.”
– X-Savior

The progression plan for this server can also be viewed here

To conclude this section, it is clear that the developers intend to put the fate of the server in terms of realm progression within the hands of the players themselves. While this is an appealing prospect, at the same time it can also be frustrating for players reaching levels 60 and 70 in short time only to find that they may quickly become bored with what is available.

I believe that the focus is currently on fostering the journey (With developers preferring to fix bugs rather than release new content) rather than providing more content for a temporary burst of fun. With this in mind, future and potential players must decide if they would like to be a part of a growing community or join another that has already been built up.

Excerpt On Current Issues / Priority Bugs

As with all other servers, Vengeance of Azeroth is no stranger to bugs. While I have no experience with the development side of WoW emulation, I can speak from my own time on the server. I believe the currently it has a strong foundation with many quests that are scripted correctly and able to be completed without a problem.

I believe the server is strong enough to stand on its own at the moment however the developers are working to polish and fix the most distinct issues.

Player Population

Perhaps one of the most important topics concerning any server is its current player population. In short, due to the limited amount of advertising and relative age of the servers, the population for Vengeance of Azeroth is low and of which I will go into detail below.

Classic Realm “Booty Bay” – Over the past two weeks, I have done daily checks of the population via the website’s realm status to find that there are usually 60-90 people on at all times with daily peaks at around 100-120.

TBC Realm “Wildhammer” – Over the past two weeks, I have done daily checks of the population via the website’s realm status to find that there are usually 15-25 people online at all times with peaks sometimes reaching 30-40.

While this is a lukewarm appearance when it comes to numbers, keep in mind that the majority of players are still leveling to 60 and with enough attention and support from both the community and otherwise, the player population will quickly increase however this will take time and effort that can only be decided by the players themselves.

Server Location

Vengeance of Azeroth has both servers located in both partially the EU and Canada. While the server has yet to experience any serious setbacks from DDOS attacks or legal repercussions, the staff insists that their hardware is protected due to being in-housed with no reliance on outside hosting.

North American players can expect to have anywhere between a 60-90 latency with European players around 150.

Hot Topics Concerning The Server

The following are votes created by the staff in regards to the Booty Bay realm that players are currently debating over concerning the future of the server.

Booty Bay - Your 5 Major and 5 Minor issues.

Booty Bay - When Should We Launch Realm Progression?

Resources For Interested Players To Visit

Vengeance Of Azeroth’s Website

Vengeance Of Azeroth’s Forums

Vengeance Of Azeroth’s IRC

That concludes this overview of Vengeance of Azeroth. I believe that this server has something to offer to everyone whether that is a lower latency for North American players or a chance for players to start over from the beginning when it comes to realm progression and so forth. I hope that this overview has provided some insight for you.

Thanks for your time and patience!

TL;DR – Vengeance Of Azeroth is a small but growing community with its servers located primarily in Canada. Focused on the Classic and TBC iterations of World of Warcraft, both realms are intended to be progression based for players to experience the journey to the endgame.