Here are some huge World of Warcaft private server news. It’s not often we get a high quality, fresh TBC server. I’m going to be checking out and playing in Netherwing. This is a brand new server by Stromforge and a fresh server that just launched only one day ago.

Intro

I’ll be talking about the servers’ massive and successful launch, and a bit about the servers’ unique features. I’m talking about increased exp rates and going over the incentives the developers are offering players in the hopes of creating healthy faction balance.

If you plan on rolling Alliance this time around in the Burning Crusade, then you’re going to love some of these new changes.

Start

The private server scene had been popping off the last few months, we have a few vanilla plus servers pulling huge player numbers, like Turtle WoW or Duskhaven, and then there are what I would consider more molded versions of WoW, like Ascension: Classless WoW. Now, we have a server that is, a little more old school and a little more like what we in the private server community are used to.

Stormfordge’s new fresh TBC Server Netherwing launched with a massive 4700 players online. That is pretty good for private servers in 2023.

Now, TBC isn’t my favorite expansion, but a lot of people really enjoy it. I will admit that the Burning Crusade is absolutely stacked with PVE content. You have Karazhan, Gruul’s Lair, SSC, Tempest Keep, Black Temple and Sunwell. Not to mention, this was the first expansion that arena was introduced, and although I don’t think it was the best in terms of balance, there are of people that like the fast-paced TBC PVP meta.

TBC isn’t without its flaws, however, private servers have been plagued with awful faction balance, because with arena, the Horde racials like Will of the Forsaken and ORCs stun resist are OP to say at least. Players generally don’t like playing sub optimally, so it’s not really the players’ fault for not choosing Horde over Alliance.

Racial Swap

But this is where Netherwing had been some really nice changes. You now have the ability to racial swap, any race can not learn any other races’ racial abilities.

You can be a Gnome with Will of the Forsaken, or a Dwarf with the Troll berserkers’ ability. Thus goes a long way in balancing the server out, but the devs didn’t stop there.

Server Features

They added unique incentives to alliance players. For example, you get your lv 60 ground mount for free and dual spec (free for alliance).

• Battle-tested Core: Netherwing will once again be powered by AtlantissCoreTBC with two successful realms and years of development put into it!
• Proven Developers: Stormforge Team is composed of Atlantiss and Tauri members with years of experience under our belts!
• Helpful Support: Our support team is here to assist you with any issue you might have!
• Faction Balance: Additional balancing measures to ensure the game isn’t one-sided.
• Racial Swap: Play the race you want, pick the racial abilities you want.
• Dual Talent Specialization: Extra talent tree for those willing to take multiple roles or experiment!
• Dynamic Quest Item Drops: Each time a quest item fails to drop, your chance of getting it from the next enemy mob increases until your bad streak is over!
• Shared Quest Items: Majority of quest items will drop for the entire group, making leveling with friends and all these changes seems to have worked, so far.

The faction balance, as of now, is roughly 50/50. The server is also 3x leveling speed, which has its advantages and disadvantages. It can be difficult to get the required WoW 10.0 Gold for mounts and talents while leveling, but leveling up quickly through the old classic content is nice. There were a lot of people looking for group, and it seems like 5 man dungeon grinding is the fastest way to level up. There are at least a few people who have already reached level 70, which is impressive.

The server has been remarkably stable for a fresh launch, there really haven’t been any crashes or roll backs so far. Which has been great!

Server Issues

My only real complaint or issue I’ve had while playing is that I had to disable my second monitor to adjust the screen resolution to 1920x1080 or get it to switch to windowed mode. So, that’s a quick tip if you’re having the same issue.

My other complaint is that the general chats, like trade, world of general have not been very active, I’m not sure if thus is because it’s a more international community, but there isn’t a lot of talking going on, for 4700 people online, this just seems odd for me. Or maybe I’m just spoiled, as I’ve been playing on Turtle WoW recently and have really been enjoying newcomers chat.

I think Vanilla Plus and Hardcore have ruined playing on regular Classic Era servers for me, at least for a while. But playing on Darkhaven or Turtle WoW, with all their changes, and quality of life improvement has made much of the Classic Era servers feel a bit stale.

Conclusion

Now, if you want a stable, fresh TBC server, run by a professional and competent veteran development team, then Netherwing is for you.

There aren’t many complaints I have, it is what it is, I’ll be checking it out in the future, to see how it’s doing, but I don’t have any plans on leveling to 70.

I think it’s moving towards classic or Vanilla Plus. Netherwing has made some significant changes, but there isn’t any new content that I’ve heard of and it’s just not enough for me to give up my time on other more interesting and new servers.