April 10, 2016
Nostalrius Shuts Down After Blizzard C&D
Legal Milestone
The high-profile Vanilla progressive realm Nostalrius received a Blizzard cease-and-desist and shut down on April 10, 2016, ending the most visible attempt to preserve original World of Warcraft at scale.
The shutdown sparked a global player campaign that directly led to Blizzard's official Classic initiative — an 18-month arc from private-server closure to BlizzCon announcement.