Greetings!
Thank you for your support and the great questions! We will answer all questions one by one! :)
We’ve receive a lot of requests for the level capping and were tempted to agree but at the end decided to hold off on the idea. Turtle WoW is meant as a project for people who want to enjoy gameplay without racing, and this feature would actually force people to play in a timeframe, without taking their time, or playing at their leisure. We decided that this restriction is rather stressful and not fitting the idea of the project!Mary: I know that I have been asking this before, but I like the idea of level capping for people that don't have as much time for gaming as others. That way people can stay together for a longer time and people wont rush for mid maxing. Maybe 10 level per week or even more. I have never leveled a character with below x1 exp so I have no idea how long time it will take to hit max level.
Edo:One more vote for temporary level caps. Should it cap only for kill xp, you could still get the quest xp while helping others with quests you can complete, or fully cap? If latter, maybe an increase in amount of cash/greys dropped from mobs would be a nice compensation (increased blue/green drop rate would be too much imo) and would motivate you to be online while its in place.
Lee: Capping at every 10 levels weekly would be a cool idea so everyone takes their time and doesnt stay behind of the crowd
Plopkoek: I also really like the idea of putting a cap on how many levels you can gain daily. Regardless of which rate you install, people will always rush, I think.
Cgrome: Please no weekly level caps. I totally understand the concept but I people want to play with friends but have different play times they can always create alts for that purpose. I like the concept of taking our time but I feel these level caps will be way to restrictive.
Tegas: I posted in discord, but I'll also post here. I'm in favor of some sort of daily level cap. Something like 10, 19, 27, 34, 40, 45, 49, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60. Which would mean 15 days before the first lvl 60. I don't think that's too restrictive. Frostfang does bring up an excellent point that the zones might be a bit overcrowded. Do you plan to implement some sort of dynamic spawns based on zone pop?
It’s a great feature for people who want to level together, but it’s wrong to restrict everyone the same way. If someone wants to rush and play many hours per day, he deserves that his char will be higher lvl than someone who plays 2-3 hours per day!
Another reason is overpopulation of start areas, which could cause problems for leveling in general -- the game wasn’t designed this way, where all players should stay in one location. It also could confuse newcomers, even if it’d be good thing for first comers.
City Defender Frozennipple is entering the Tavern and warmly greets everyone!Mary: What do you guys think about RP names? Is it a must to have a RP name or could you name yourself whatever like on other servers? If so, are we going to be able to reserve names for the future launch?
Every name has a story and we won’t enforce everyone to have RP name. Players define what fits or what doesn’t fit for their character! But there will be restrictions for offensive names (server rules will be published in the next few weeks).
Yes for name reservations! We’ve received lots of requests about it so we have decided to do it. It will be a paid option (low cost … probably 5eu) for people who really want to make sure their name is reserved! The money raised through this will go directly towards server upkeep, staff costs, and development!
One week later we will open beta-access for people who want to create a character (players won’t be able to login further than the character creation list).
United KingdomSpiritseeker: Where are the servers going to be located?
DM and ZG won’t be disabled on launch. We’re going to run the final version of Classic WoW, just AQ and Naxx are going to be delayed due to pre-opening events! About leveling rates! We have received a lot of requests to lower rates even more. If you put all the quests and and do the math, 0.6x is actually the lowest limit where you can still level up to 60 without grinding! Everything below 0.5 is just too much. We could consider going to 0.7 or 0.6 after some internal testing. We’ll launch a poll in the next days!Kat: This is looking a lot further than launch but will Dire Maul and ZG be disabled? I also want to throw in a vote for level caps tho the time frame might have to be variable as something like 1-10 being a week long will be way different than say 30-40 being a week. Also since XP is only lowered for mob kills maybe we could even go lower like .6 xp rate for mob kills?
Frostfang: I also think weekly level caps are a bad idea as it will leave everywhere a little too crowded. The game doesn't really support EVERYONE being in the same place at the same time. Will there be some sort of beta? I wouldn't put too much faith in the server working flawlessly and a beta would help address issues that need to be fixed before launch.
Shouldn't the exp rate be something more like 0.6x? I haven't played a ton of vanilla but I can say for sure that I have often abandoned a zone just after running some dungeons because I outleveled it...I don't think 0.8x will be slow enough for altoholics like me as the rested exp is insane
We love the game and are ready to sacrifice most of our free time to make the game experience enjoyable for everyone.Namedrew: Okay. I'll just be straight forward. Most of us know there were some jerks that worked on the two biggest vanilla private servers of the past few years. That is Elysium Project and Light's Hope. For those who don't know, individuals were selling gold, characters, items, un-bans, etc. for personal gain, behind the community's back. This obviously violates the integrity of the servers, and fosters a sense of distrust between players and server administrators.
So what does the Turtle WoW team have planned to prevent such unethical behavior from taking place, and ensure the community that we can trust you?
We are adults, and understand that there are costs associated with running a server. Not only the rent of physical servers, and other security measure costs, but also marketing costs and developers who require payment for their work.
We believe the reason these other private servers struggled (and still do), was likely because they had volunteering developers who worked for free, which can cause problems. In the development world, there are varying levels of skill, especially in private wow servers. Once a server needs actual, complicated, dev work completed, they typically have to pay for it. Servers that don’t have financial plans in place to account for these costs, likely turn to shady means of finding that money.
So our solution for the long term, is to provide a small donation shop with vanity items to keep the project and staff up, kicking and stable! Running a project completely free can be great for a while when you’re full of enthusiasm, but it isn’t a solution for something that you want to see online for years.
Yes! Speak to NPC in your Starting location and help him/her to gather all the lost turtles to get your first mount. Slow but steady!Do we get slow turtle mount at level 1 ? Or at least from some point a bit later in-game?
Nope! As you said, on free-to-play server it’s easy to make tons of accounts and multibox them to kill your enemies. It also opens a door for those shifty gold selling bots, which we intend to shut down as quickly as we can. We won’t allow any form of multiboxing.Pantera: Will multiboxing be allowed on this server? I hope not! It ruins the experience when you see players doing so, and is overall not a "fair" way to play imo. Especially since it's free to play..you could end up seeing full 5man groups that are one person. Not cool!
Thank you for the detailed questions! We will be happy to hear all the stories about your past journey! Now let’s start with the questions:Lazyfrogrobot: Hi! Longtime RPer on retail WoW, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how this private server will turn out. I can tell you plenty of riveting stories about in character escapades by the fireplace or over a flagon of mead, from Emerald Dream to Moonguard! Roleplaying on WoW has always been a fun experience for me when fully immersed in the world, and no doubt many people trying to RP for the first time will enjoy it very much if they have the opportunity to try it on this private server.
However, there's several things I notice that'll hinder that experience for everybody. I'm here to play devil's advocate so that I can see how Turtle Wow plans to address these questions when they come up. Surely, as the (soon to be) best RP PVE Vanilla WoW server, you ought to be able to answer them all with confidence!
Firstly: the x0.8 leveling rate... I understand that the whole point of this private server is to take things slower to facilitate RP and quest completion, but there are a LOT of things you risk by making the leveling slower. Vanilla WoW leveling is already notorious for its grueling pace as it is. Do you really feel this leveling rate is necessary to have a stress/rush free experience? You risk alienating players who not only want to RP and level their characters at a normal pace, but players who just want to play on a PvE server, and players who want a Blizzlike vanilla server without any extra gimmick.
Why is this leveling rate even necessary? If it's too slow to level, there probably won't be many players on this server after they realize how grueling it is to progress, and less players ALWAYS means less RP.
Secondly: the necessity of a PvE server for RP. PvPers who want their fix of combat on Turtle WoW can join battlegrounds and flag themselves whenever they want, and they can talk to innkeepers(and I assume the battlemasters) to join them! I like that idea. However, I have always felt that RPPvP servers are the most fun and populous. Most private servers are PvP because world PvP, not just battlegrounds, are what make WoW notorious for what it is. Too many times do we hear mention of the battles between Southshore and Tarren Mill, how exciting and insane all of the battles were, and we won't be able to do that if we have to manually flag ourselves.
More players simply flock to PvP servers more than they do PvE servers because open world PvP is natural, doing it while RPing is even more fun, and my most fun memories of WoW are from RPPvP servers, not RPPvE. Will there be an option for players who want an RPPvP server? Is it too much to ask for one instead of what we're currently getting?
Thirdly, and finally: player population... Roleplay is entirely dependent on people being there to roleplay with. Because of the two other questions that I have, provided everything that you guys have planned for this server goes well, what makes you think this server will have a sizeable population after launch? My fear is that not that many people will be interested in Roleplaying and PvEing as you think. People want a fix of vanilla WoW until classic hits, and a small tight knit community on a private server that reduces over the course of time won't last that long.
Is Turtle WoW confident that it'll be able to rake in the population numbers to see thriving main cities, populated questing zones, and a prosperous world full of travelers to talk to? How's this server supposed to be maintained with donations and cash shop purchases if only a niche few of people are going to play it? RP and PvE servers are already a specific demographic as it is.
Turtle WoW was born out of the idea that the real game in WoW Vanilla starts from level 1, not level 60. Nowadays, the Classic experience was transformed into leveling and raiding race. Newcomers tend to skip interesting quest lines, waching youtube guides and blindly follow the leveling instructions of known players. We want to renew the feeling that this World if full of details and secrets which people tend to forget after 15 years.
Its true that there are a lot of players who just want a normal Blizzlike PvE server. It’s true also that there are a lot of projects passionate to follow Blizzard’s development’s mistakes and success step by step ;) We have our own vision, however, and we want to keep the original spirit of the game.
“If it's too slow to level, there probably won't be many players on this server after they realize how grueling it is to progress, and less players ALWAYS means less RP.”
“Thirdly, and finally: player population…”
We don't want to pray for numbers. We don't want it to be priority. We prefer it when everyone knows each other and everyone is valuable. Many of us have been playing on small cozy servers and those memories are indeed the most warm. We also don’t want to link our launch to Official Classic remake. We invite players who see the game as we do.
“However, I have always felt that RPPvP servers are the most fun and populous.”
Oh, that’s simple! There are a lot of PvP servers. We just want to be a server for players who are tired of PvP, even if there are not many of them! ;) Tarren Mill vs Southshore cliche battles are epic on the screenshots, true. However, I’ve seen enough of them to know that they don’t make servers successful. They’re a great feature and amazing experience, don’t get me wrong. World PvP for getting the bosses shouldn’t be a problem for people who don’t want to attend -- they simple won’t join the crew.
We may host some PVP events to bring that nostalgic feel (such as an organized Tarren Mill vs Southshore battle). Let’s discuss in detail soon!
“Will there be an option for players who want an RPPvP server?”
No, currently we don’t have plans for RPPvP realms. Let’s focus on PVE and go from there!
“Is Turtle WoW confident that it'll be able to rake in the population numbers to see thriving main cities, populated questing zones, and a prosperous world full of travelers to talk to?”
We’re confident that we will do what we can to reach as many people as possible and expose them to Turtle WoW. The rest is up to players who want this to be as much of a success as we do!
No rush.Evermorne: Can't you launch the server now?
Making cross faction groups and raids would be interfering into original gameplay. Even tho Alliance and Horde aren’t in active “war” during Vanilla times. We might consider, at some point, a creation of negotiation zone, in neutral cities like Booty Bay or Ratchet where people of Alliance and Horde can meet up to discuss possible plans for crossfaction interactions. The mutual chats aren’t impossible but currently there are no plans for it!Cropunk: Speak to the opposite faction. Send tells to the opposite faction. Group with the opposite faction. Make guilds with mixed factions. It would be interesting for being able to RP skirmishes between guilds or RP factions, friendships like the one that developed between Thrall and Jaina, spies, betrayers and the like. Or introduce a way for your character to learn other racial languages
Players will have the freedom to RP and play however they like, as long as it’s within our Terms of Use. Things such as cheating, racism, offensive names etc, will not be allowed. However you can RP however you like!Dimetal: Hey, Turtles! This will be my, and possibly others, first time playing on an RP server. Since you are aiming for a unique feel, will you have guidelines(not necessarily "rules") on how we should conduct ourselves while enjoying the server?
This queston already was on discussion on our forums, you can check it here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=10 The majority of the votes says no. Mismatched armor has its own charm!Mary: What do you guys think about Transmog, is it somthing you guys have been thinking about or just a big no for the whole thing? Me my self is 50/50 about the whole ide. I like how Vanilla looks but at the same time I love the Judgment set (Paladin Tier 2) and has allways wanted it on a Warrior. I would play Paladin if I could tank as it in raids. Turtle_in_love_head
We took Nostalrius original core as a base :)Kez: Hey all. Love the idea of the server and can't wait to get stuck into the world! Where's the server based and what core are you using? Also from what I can tell the shop is basically cosmetic stuff will you be able to tell us all the things available? Id love a beta test only just to get my hands on the realm quicker! Don't change anything with the low xp rates unless it's going lower! Another poster asked about having quests always giving xp and maybe having all quests stay green so they give basic xp will let us clear all the zones without overleveling it too hard instead of just finishing zones just for the sake of it. Good luck with the launch cant wait to see you all there!
Options available in the shop: small vanity pets, one large bag, mounts which were not implemented during the original game, characters customization: renames, look and race change. Currently no plans for faction changes. RP things like: Visual Transformation Orbs: 30 minutes transforms into different races, ghosts, and all kind of interesting stuff you might find interesting in roleplay! Most it’s changing the visual appearance of your character as you can see!
You need Classic client version 1.12.1 (download it here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DOM96 ... MSRY4yc5WN). Client 8.1.* won't work!Basileonardo: Hi, I hope everything is fine, you have a good way to announce the server! I hope I can play. my question, I have an updated wow version (8.1.something), if I change the reamlist to yours, will it work? Is there any way to keep the wow updated and play on your server separately?
We’re running pre-paid advertising on Facebook. Your task is to spread the word or write about us! Helping us on Reddit and other WoW communities would be an immense help!Weebo: How are you going to advertise server? What WE can do to help?
None of the drop rates got changed. I’d risk to say 95% of quests are fully complete. For the rest: please make a bug report in Development section of the forum. All the raid encounter is tested and might have only slight minor problems, but it’s unlikely.Bullgus: 1. What are the different drop rates. Besides xp 0.8?
2. How much of the quests are working in percentage?
3. How much of the instances and raids have been tested and working?
We will lower the rested XP bonus but won’t remove it entirely. More info coming on this!Dandilion: #norestedxp
Unfortunately, the classic client doesn’t support custom ranks unrelated to PvP. It’s not possible without breaking the game client or making horrible hackfixes on the server side which can break people’s addons or even cause crashes of the game. We could only make some of the unique items if there’s a real need for it!Edo: Is there a chance of making available custom titles, for purpose of showing allegiance to a tauren or orc tribe- i.e. "of the Stonehoof tribe" or just as a surname, from one of the existing families ?
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Tribe#Tauren_tribes
Are you still reading this text? Awesome, reply with "Turtle 2018".
We decided to do it from the experience we have seen on other servers (Such as PvE or low-populated realms): The WoW PvP-scene is usually limited to dedicated fans and history repeats itself every year: there're hardcore rankers, who use all known methods to get to the highest rank as fast as they can, even including abuse and dodging. Players who are usually not involved in this actions have no chance to compete with them or have any fun in battlegrounds, because they have their own rules and newcomers are not welcome at all.Evermorne: I'm really against the idea of queuing to BGs from the Innkeepers. How certain are you about implementing such feature?
Here on Turtle WoW we prefer a "chaotic" and random system which gives everyone a chance to do BGs. The alternate solution would be a command like ".joinbg" which is less lore friendly in our point of view.
Thank you and welcome! We won’t go completely insane making a lot of custom quests and items right and left but there’ll be some minor changes, including hidden content which we found in the client files.
Gorathsm: Hello, first time posting here. I totally support idea of getting x0.8 exp rates and buffed exp from grey quests, i always wanted to do all (or at least most) of the quests but it was a waste since i already leveled up too much and therefore didn't get exp for low lvl quests. So, basically that means we'll be able to complete and actually be awarded for all quests in game (on both continents!) if i understood it correctly? If you scale on some degree quests with char lvl that would be brilliant!
Please, no lvl cap per day or week, that would only make me stop playing. If someone want and can play 15 hours per day, let him be, he deserve that his char will be higher lvl than someone who plays 2-3 hours per day. If you decide to add some kind of restriction, maybe exp penalty after "cap limit per day or week" will do the trick. Example, if there's 10 lvls cap per day and i just hit my 11th lvl i'll get -20% exp for all action during the rest of day. But still, i don't support the idea of limiting people to this kind of stuff.
Will there be some custom npc's with custom quests/items? Nothing overpowered, just your stuff there added, maybe heirloom stuff that you can get from a special custom quest that gets stronger as you lvl up? Anything like that would make me excited.
Really looking forward to this server.
Thank you for all your attention and keep turtling!
is to go jointly go for 0.5 option 
