Silver Member
To start, I am not associated with the staff or owners of this server. I started WoW on day one, migrating over from Everquest, and eventually became a WoW hardcore meta player in a U.S. Top 5 progression guild. Once I retired from U.S progression, I became the GM of a top 3 server guild who remained in the top 3 from TBC and through the end of MoP when I retired from WoW completely. I have an employee who plays retail and our conversations had me feeling nostalgic but I don't have the time available to put into retail WoW. My alternative was to return to the private server scene. I've played on at least a dozen of private servers and even ran my own for a bit. As such, here is my breakdown of Stormgarde based on my own past, experiences, expectations and desires for a server. Stormgarde currently has a population which can only be described as abysmal. In my time playing, I've not seen more than three characters in /who at any given moment. I find that this server is highly under-rated and I'm rather shocked by its low population. Now, the server is fairly new compared to most with higher populations and unlike most other servers, they don't exaggerate their population which I appreciate. As I browse the servers website, I'm left with a sense that the owner(s) want's honesty and integrity to prevail over false population numbers. Stormgarde is a 4.3.4 Cataclysm server with very few modifications that I can find. No mall, no fabricated starting areas with S20 gear dangling like low fruit on a tree. You start in the standard starting areas and you quest, just like in retail. After playing on more than a dozen private servers, I found this to be refreshing... Let's face it, how nostalgic can it really be with malls, transmog NPC's and arena gear everywhere? Stormgarde is a solo server but they handle it better than any other server I've found. They don't use solocast like so many others do. For me, that was a huge disappointment... Level 70 elite with 400 hit points and it goes down in one hit; how is that fun? Not Stormgarde, they left everything alone and added bots. They offer a nice selection of Heirloom gear obtained through voting points to give you that edge in the level grind and when you want to hit dungeons or raids, spawn your party and get to work. No pay to win... I am actually liking the server so much that I wanted to help support the server; throw some money at them but no... They don't want the money. Their is no donation system and voting rewards are nothing that you can't already get in game. I've not seen any custom gear, no god gear, no pay to win gear. It is simply just Cataclysm WoW with bots that enable you to create your own parties and/or raids. I applaud the owner(s) not only for what they are doing but also for what they are not doing. Keep up the great work!