Setting Up a World of Warcraft Server [Step-by-Step Guide]
If you’re a World of Warcraft player, then you’ve probably wondered what it would be like to play on your own server. World of Warcraft is an incredibly popular roleplaying game that’s enjoyed by millions of gamers around the globe. Private servers can emulate the experience of an online game, but they allow you to change certain aspects of the gameplay for your own enjoyment. Below we’re going to show you how you can create a private WOW server that you can play on. Let’s get to it! What is a Private Server? At the core a private server refers to any server that’s privately owned. Most private servers will allow you to play a version of the game that’s different than those commonly played on the official metimes you just really want to play an older version of the game, or include certain character or gameplay modifications, or even include custom items in regular gameplay. A private server allows you to create a custom-tailored gaming experience specifically tailored to your ivate servers can also allow you to play games that aren’t offered in your region of the world, or even play discontinued versions of the game. These kinds of servers are very widespread. Keep in mind that creating a private WOW server is in a legal grey area, and you should by no means charge for the server, or include to Setup a WOW Private ServerThe steps below will help you install your very own private World of Warcraft server. However, before you jump in you’ll need to install a program called AC Web Ultimate Repack. You can choose the repack that works best for you. You’ll also want to install the Microsoft Framework 2. 0 Service Pack, which you can install from this you have those installed we can move forward with setting up your very own server. Special thanks to Instructables for the configuration help. 1. Map DataYou’ll need to collect the Map Data from your existing WOW install. If you don’t have the game downloaded to your computer, then you’ll need to do this now. You can access the download from your existing WOW up the WOW folder and locate the file titled ‘maps’. Now you’ll need to go to ‘C:/AC Web Ultimate Repack/ Tools/Map Extractor enUS’ and copy the ‘maps’ folder and the ‘’ to the folder. Then, run the ‘’ program. 2. Logon Database Configuration Now you’ll need to find the file called ‘’, open it, and find the area that begins with, ‘LogonDatabase Hostname=’, make sure you change the information, so it looks like the text below:LogonDatabase Hostname = “127. 0. 1”
Username = “root”
Password = “ascent”
Name = “logon”
Port = “3306”
Type = “1”3. Configure Ascent RealmsNavigate to the file called ‘’, and locate the portion that starts with ‘
Top 11 World Of Warcraft Servers [ WoW Private Servers 2021 ]
This tutorial explores and compares the Best World of Warcraft (WoW) Private Servers to help you select the suitable WoW private server:
World of Warcraft is a 16-year-old video game that is still popular among the gaming community. It is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORG) praised for its lore and gameplay. Players need to log into a World of Warcraft (WoW) server to play the game.
You can play the World of Warcraft game on the official Blizzard server or a private WoW server. Many people prefer private servers due to better gameplay and gaming experience.
What You Will Learn:WoW Private Servers ReviewFAQs About World of Warcraft ServersList Of Top Private WoW ServersComparison Of The Best WoW Servers#1) WoW Circle#2) Ether Side#3) RetroWoW Insta 60#4) WoW Mania#5) Unlimited WoW#6) WoW Freakz#7) Sunwell#8) TwinStar-Apollo II#9) Tauri#10) Frostmourne WoW#11) Panda WoWConclusionRecommended Reading
WoW Private Servers Review
In this tutorial, we will review and compare the best private WoW servers. You will also read about commonly asked questions about the World of Warcraft private servers for playing the popular MMORG.
Fact Check: The official World of Warcraft subscription had reached a peak of 5. 5 million in the year 2015. The number of subscribers is gradually decreasing due to the popularity of private free WoW servers.
Figure: World of Warcraft Official Subscribers [2015-2020]
[image source]
Pro-Tip: Look at the population of the realm when selecting a private WoW server. To get the best experience, pick a server with a medium-sized community. Playing during peak hours with a high population will have long wait queues.
FAQs About World of Warcraft Servers
Q #1) What is a Private WoW server?
Answer: A World of Warcraft server allows people to play the popular multiplayer game online. Private WoW servers contain a copy of the Blizzard server-side game that is deployed in a private setting.
Q #2) Is playing on a WoW private server legal?
Answer: Blizzard terms of agreement prohibit the download of the server-side game. But it does not restrict users from playing the game online. You can play the game on private WoW servers without facing any legal problems.
Q #3) Can I get banned from the Blizzard WoW server for playing on a private WoW server?
Answer: Blizzard can ban players from its servers for playing on private WoW servers. But it cannot find out unless you tell others about it on the server.
Q #4) What is the benefit of playing on a private WoW server?
Answer: Many gamers don’t like what Blizzard has done with the game. With the private World of Warcraft servers, gamers can enjoy the classic version of the game. These servers often have better gameplay with new abilities and classes.
Q #5) What are the different types of WoW servers?
Answer: WoW servers are known as realms. Each server has different worlds, characters, and stories. There are four different types of WoW servers, i. e. Blizzlike (standard), PvP (Player vs Player), PvE (Player vs Environment, RP (Role Play), and RP-PvP (Role Play plus Player versus Player).
Q #6) Are private WoW servers free?
Answer: Most of the private WoW servers are free. You won’t have to pay anything to play the MMOG online. You can play the game online by downloading the game client for free.
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List Of Top Private WoW Servers
Here is the list of popular World of Warcraft servers:
WoW Circle
Ether Side
RetroWoW Insta 60
WoW Mania
Unlimited WoW
WoW Freakz
Sunwell
TwinStar-Apollo II
Tauri
Frostmourne WoW-German-WotLK-3. 3. 51
Panda WoW
Comparison Of The Best WoW Servers
Review of the WoW private servers:
#1) WoW Circle
Players: Multinational (Russian and English)
WoW Circle is the most popular private WoW server. Players can enjoy different content including Cataclysm 4. 4, WotLK 3. 5, Mists of Pandaria 5. 4. 89, and Legion 7. 5. The best thing about the server is that the gameplay is not that different from the official Blizzard WoW server.
Features:
Multiple fun rates
Low ping with hardware in Central Europe
10 game world with hundreds of active players
Blizzlike server
Technical Details:
Server Type: Bizzlile, PvP, PvE
Client Size: 49 GB
Population: 24, 921
Rates: Varies depending on the game (x1, x4, x5, x100)
Expansions: Cataclysm, Legion, WotLK, Mists of Pandaria,
Shop Items: Gold, characters, gear, level
Custom Currency: N/A
Migrate from other servers: No
Mount: Yes
Quests: Yes
Professions, Talents: Yes
Website: WoW Circle
#2) Ether Side
Players: Multinational (English and Russian)
Ether Side is a relatively new entry in the WoW servers. It is the first server optimized for the Battle of Azeroth (BFA). Players can raise their character level quickly with high points for quest and kills. The WoW private server has war mode (PvP) always on. The server is stable as compared to other WoW servers due to fewer players.
PvP always on
Raids, campaigns, dungeons version 8. 0
Optimized for Battle of Azeroth (BFA)
Server Type: Blizzlike/PvP
Client Size: 75 GB
Population: 120 – 500
Rates: x100 (x5 gold, x10 honor, x15 drop x50 quest, x100 kill)
Expansions: Battle of Azeroth
Shop Items: Gold, gear
Custom Currency: No
#3) RetroWoW Insta 60
Players: English
RetroWow Insta 60 is a custom Vanilla server for WoW. The server supports classic Warcraft games. You can instantly level up to 60 for some dollars. The server features cross-faction battlegrounds, scripted instances, and PvP tokens. There are also PvP, PvE, and raid quests where you can level up the player.
Vanilla
Instant level 60
Raid question
Scripted instances
Server Type: PvP. PvE
Client Size: 4. 9 GB
Population: 100-500
Rates: Insta 60, x4 experience
Expansions: WoW Classic Vanilla
Shop Items: Gold, gear, enchants
Mount: No
Website: RetroWoW Instant 60
#4) WoW Mania
Players: Multinational
Custom currencies
VIP membership
Free mount after level 10
Server Type: Blizzlike, PvE
Client Size: 19 GB
Population: 500-1500
Rates: x1, x2, VIP: x4, x6
Expansions: Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK)
Shop Items: Gold, gear, vanity items
Custom Currency: PvP Token, Maniac, Transmog Token, VIP Token, Vote Token
Website: WoW Mania
#5) Unlimited WoW
Unlimited WoW is a private WoW server that supports a stable connection without noticeable delays. The server continuously updates the game, introducing new features. You can create characters with instant 255-level that can spawn in different locations. The game also has various NPCs, weapons, professions, and gears.
Start at level 255
Access over 80, 000 unique items
Each race can access all classes
Multiple professions
Server Type: PvP, PvE, Custom
Client Size: 19 GB plus patch 63 MB
Population: 1000-2000
Rates: x9999
Expansions: Wrath of the Lich King
Shop Items: Gear, vanity items
Quests: No
Website: Unlimited WoW
#6) WoW Freakz
Players: Multinational (English, Romanian)
WoW Freakz is one of the oldest WoW servers that supports a large community. It offers a Buzzlike server experience making it the ideal alternative to the official WoW server. You can set the desired rate when setting up the account and also later in the game.
Migration
Stable server
Custom characters
Add-ons
Server Type: Buzzlike, PvE
Client Size: 48 GB
Population: 2000-7500
Rates: x1 – x15
Expansions: Legion
Shop Items: Gear, level, and vanity items
Migrate from other servers: Yes
Website: WoW Freakz
#7) Sunwell
Players: Multinational (English and Polish)
Sunwell server is a stable server with thousands of players. This server supports a maximum character level of 80. You can boost the rate by inviting subscribers to the paid VIP membership. Administrators moderate the balance between different factions that makes the game playable and challenging.
Stable performance
Bizzlike server
VIP and Referral rates
Server Type: Bizzlike, PvP
Client Size: 17 GB
Population: 2000-4000
Rates: x2, Refer to a friend x3, VIP x4, x6
Expansions: Wrath of the Lich King (WoTLK)
Shop Items: Gold, vanity items, power leveling, and professions
Website: Sunwell
#8) TwinStar-Apollo II
Players: Multiplayer (English, Czech)
TwinStar-Apollo II is a European-based WoW server that supports international players. You can experience a Blizzlike server environment.
The client is small, so you can download and start playing right away. They offer the servers free with no VIP account.
Gamers can set x1 and x2 rates to experience the authentic WoW experience. You can also set x3 rate for accelerated character development. Apart from visual skins, there are no shop items that will please players who don’t like pay-to-win servers.
Top European WoW server
Plenty of raids and dungeons
Server Type: Blizzlike, PvP
Client Size: 2 GB
Population: 250-500
Rates: x1, x2, x3
Expansions: Cataclysms, Vanilla, Apollo-2
Shop Items: Vanity
Website: TwinStar-Apollo II
#9) Tauri
Players: Multinational (English and Italy)
Tauri is a high-quality WoW private server. It has the least bugs among private servers, making the experience similar to the official server. The WoW private server supports two extensions consisting of different realms. The server supports excellent scripting and a vibrant community.
Special realms
Multiple rates
Two playable WoW extensions
Optimized scripting
Server Type: Blizzlike, PvE, PvP
Client Size: 26 GB
Population: 150-300
Rates: MOP: Tauri x1 rates – 1000 players; Evermoon x1 -1500 players; Warriors of Darkness -200 players; WoTLK: Crytalsong x1 – 3000 players, Burning blade x7 rates, Alaris: multiple rates
Expansions: Mists of Pandaria (MoP) and WotLK
Shop Items: VIP membership
Website: Tauri
#10) Frostmourne WoW
Players: Multinational (English and German)
Frostmourne WoW is a Europe based server with many fun features. The server allows a high rate of x15 that enables you to breeze through the levels. You can also start at level 80. There are many custom quests and realms.
The server supports custom PvE quests allowing you to create your characters. It also supports 1v1 and 3v3 arenas that are fun to play.
Level 80
High Rates x15
Instant level 80
Custom quests
Server Type: Blizzlike, PVP
Client Size: 16 GB
Population: 5000+
Rates: x15
Expansions: Frostmour
Shop Items: Gears and vanity items
Website: Frostmourne WoW
#11) Panda WoW
Players: Multinational (Russian, English, Spain)
Panda WoW is a private server that hosts thousands of online players. The server is one of the best and stable private servers for MoP. While it doesn’t offer an authentic Blizzlike experience, the multiplayer gameplay is exciting.
You can select different realms and create a custom character or select an existing character. You can also choose quests and areas that are detailed and fun to play.
High rates
MoP server
Server Type: PvP, PvE
Client Size: 12 GB
Rates: x100
Expansions: Mists of Pandaria
Shop Items: Gears
Custom Currency: NA
Website: Panda WoW
Conclusion
WoW private servers provide a similar experience to the official Blizzard server. Some of these servers are more fun and exciting than the official server.
Recommended reading => Best Rust Server hosting
If you want to play the MoP expansion pack, the best servers are Panda WoW, WoW Circle, and Tauri. The best private WoW servers for WotLK include WoW Circle, Ether Side, RetroWoW Insta 60, and WoW-Mania.
For the best Blizzlike server experience, you can select WoW Mania, WoW Freakz, and Tauri servers. The private WoW servers offer the same gameplay as Blizzard servers, but many consider them to be more fun and exciting than the original server.
Suggested reading =>> Best ARK Server Hosting Providers
Research Process:
Time taken to research this article: Researching and writing the post on the best WOW private servers took us about 8 hours so that you can learn all about the best servers to play the multiplayer game online.
Total tools researched: 25
Top tools shortlisted: 11
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Creating your own WoW private server in 2020 – Geek Crunch …
Posted on May 14, 2020 at 8:42 am
During this Pandemic gaming industry is on a rise. There are a lot of gamers and companies who are looking to build their own games or start World of Warcraft (WoW) servers. Question is if the servers are free how do private servers make money?
Before we dive into how to make your own private WoW server, a note of caution: There are a lot of guides that are out there which are Trojan horses asking you to open tons of port and/or asking you to download code from sources that are compromised. Beware of those guides.
Are WoW Private Servers free?
Yes, most of them are free of payment, however private servers do have a donation. Apart from that private servers make money with in-game purchases like, levels, gold and other advantages that are not normally sold on Blizzard. Some servers will even sell extra talent points for your character and you can max all your tree skills.
So yes once your server is up and ready and more games come in – the money will start to flow.
Road to Success
Like all businesses this is not a business that will give you a lot of money overnight. It’s not something that you set up and let it run.
Give it time
No venture can be successful without giving it proper time. Having WoW you need to be passionate about the same. Once you have got your server online, you need to start marketing it and inviting people who will like to buy the server. Usually such invitations are sent via social media like Facebook and YouTube.
Your effort will get in more and more players until you hit a traction where players start to recommend your server.
Unique Content
Having a plain Vanilla (Blizzlike) server will not help. The whole WoW eco-system is filled with them. You will need to come up with something unique on the market to succeed. Other big servers in the market are usually plagued with low experience rates, low speed etc. Which is where you can set yourself apart.
The server you make should be one of a kind, those servers you may have in mind are running for a few years, they have put in that effort to get a stable community where it keep on growing by itself.
Focus on creating some custom bosses, items or whatever you are capable of coding and use that to your advantage, promote the unique content you have to attract curious players.
Quality support and services
When I have been working with a lot of server owners, a common reason I have found why such servers or owners don’t make money is because of poor quality support. It’s not just the gaming industry even in industries like eCommerce, SaaS etc. What is required is quality support.
When a new player comes in and there is no guide or support to welcome them or “How to connect” etc. they will just leave your site/server and go to the next available server. Don’t forget there are a lot of other servers out there, when you can provide with quality support – they are looking for, your server will become their new “home”. Once they have found their new home, they will invite their other within their network to join your server.
To make sure that players are sticky to your server – answer the question what they are looking for. Answer is quite simple – they are looking for a community to play with and bond while having fun.
It’s your presence as Game Master will help to grow the community and get in more players.
Top Class Server Infrastructure
A lot of Game Masters will start with servers that are of extremely poor quality and because of poor infrastructure they are not able to keep their community very soon players will leave those servers and look for a new “home”.
Important advice, upgrade your hardware as your population is starting to rise, rent good and fast hosts with Ddos protection given by likes of Geek Crunch Hosting who provide High Performance Game Servers. Server performance is important, you need a good CPU (E3 or E5), WoW emulators require fast gaming processors and enough RAM proportional to your players count. For start I would suggest no less than 8GB memory and the E3 CPU and a port speed of 1GBPS. Going for 100MBPS doesn’t make sense even mobile internet can give you speed of over 50MBPS and with 5G coming it 100MBPS will be redundant.
It is never about “cheaper you start safer it is” – that way you will never be able to get your traction that you are looking. There is no point having a cheaper server when players will leave and go. Better to invest into higher quality infrastructure.
Promoting your server online
Once your basic website and server has been setup. Now it is time to start promoting your server online and get in new players. Only when players come and play you will get money. Think of it as a traditional gaming arcade – even if you have biggest and the best arcade, if there are no customers walking through your doors you will not be making money.
Buckle down and promote! Most of your time will go in for SEO, Free Advertisement, content marketing. Join the top lists for World of Warcraft private servers, Motivate your players to vote every day by adding rewards. So on! Keep the promotion up. Be consistant and it will pay off.
Use social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. to connect with new players and get them to sign on. Do regular posts on your FB, Twitter and create videos for your YouTube channel – keep ALL your social profiles active.
FREE TIP: Start a live broadcast of you yourself playing WoW on your server. Also record this live broadcast and upload it to YouTube, FB etc.
Coding skills required
You have two options, get a ready made repack or get the source code from GIT and compile it yourself. I always go with option 2 no matter how hard it will be, it’s safer and on a repack you can’t fix any core bugs.
So you will need to learn:
Advanced knowledge skills in C++ (Object based). Some emulators use LUA as well for creating MySQL skills, your database needs optimization and tuning. Wow database can grow huge, the Characters will be the biggest. Login or Auth will have a fair amount of records. First World import is big but the database will keep a similar size. Characters can go over a few GB, it’s hard to create safety backups and also really hard to recover from is also a must, players need to join through a website. Now you can use a ready made CMS but those are not 100% safe, it’s better to write your own code. In my opinion don’t invest a lot of your time in the design, make it functional and focus on the game first.
Management and networking
Setup your host on Linux or Windows. Most Emulators will offer a guide for how to compile and what you need to install: Visual Studio, GitHub, your firewall, open just required ports and block everything else. The Login for example will require only TCP port 3724. There is a second port required for the Realm List, and the third is your Realm. Read the configuration files, open just these 3 ports for the game to run and for players to your database with MariaDB or MySql, if you run a website on a separate IP you will need to make a ssh tunnel to your server host, I won’t go into details but you can also open 3306 as alternative but limit it to the web-host IP only.
Be aware there are a lot of low guides out there that tell you to open tens of ports, it’s not true, it’s not safe!
Frequently Asked Questions about wow private server hosting
Is hosting a WoW private server illegal?
Playing on the fanservers, which are also known as Private Servers for World of Warcraft are not illegal for players. But it does go against Blizzard’s ToS and Blizzard EULA. … Running and owning a wow server is a grey area, but can be argued to be illegal as running a private server is a copyright infringement.Jan 29, 2021
Can you get banned for playing private servers WoW?
Blizzard Entertainment considers using WoW private servers as stealing intellectual property and infringing copyright. Many players use private servers because they are free, but if Blizzard Entertainment detects you have been playing on a private server, it can ban you from the account you have on their platform.
Are WoW private servers dead?
They’re not dead, just kind of quiet since WoW sent out Classic.