Blizzard Puts World of Warcraft Server Blades Up for Auction
The perfect Valentine's Day gift for that special WoW enthusiast.
Consider yourself the ultimate WoW fan? Well, you might consider Blizzard's latest announcement in which the company reveals plans to auction off old server blades for charity.
"Following a recent upgrade of our World of Warcraft server hardware to improve your gameplay experience, we have decided to auction off the retired HP p-Class server blades and donate the proceeds to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital," Blizzard said in the announcement.
"For a time, these servers were doorways into a universe of magic, mystery, and unlimited adventure. People vanquished mighty foes, they formed bonds of friendship, and some even found love in the game worlds that ran on these servers. If you listen closely on a starry night, you can still hear the ghosts of the past running through their circuit boards, recounting tales of epic conquest.
"Now you have the chance to own a very real piece of game history and help us support a good cause in the process. Blizzard Entertainment will donate 100% of the proceeds after auction expenses to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital."
Each server has been preserved in a special case bearing the World of Warcraft logo and marked with the realm it was used to host, meaning interested parties can bid on the server connected to the realm of choice. Servers are also mounted along with a special plaque that reads:
Blizzard Entertainment has carefully preserved and archived our retired server blades, releasing only a limited number for a noble cause. To us, this server blade is more than just hardware: within the circuits and hard drive, a world of magic, adventure, and friendship thrived. From fishing in quiet lakes to defeating Arthas in Icecrown Citadel, this blade was home to thousands of immersive experiences across the world of Azeroth and beyond. We thank you for the safekeeping of this important part of history.
The plaque is also signed by the signatures of the WoW development team. According to the Telegraph, Blizzard has 2,000 blades to auction. The auction is live on eBay right now, so get bidding!
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It's uncertain if they still work... plus they are all European.
They're gonna make a bloody killing off of this stuff, but I guess all's well since it's going towards a good cause. Good for them.
I would buy them but my wallet took a arrow to the knee after paying for college
Why doesn't it say anywhere what hardware is inside?
Wow, fantastic that the entire sale price is being donated to charity!
Didn't they do this a few months ago? "100% to charity" RIGHT
wasn't this news a LONG while ago?
Didn't they do this a few months ago? "100% to charity" RIGHT
They had advertised a few months ago that there was going to be some auctions of the servers but I never looked much into it. Going on my third year of playing wow. Most of the money likely isn't never going to see the light of day much less going to a charity. Blizzard is very much greedy and is why they won't support past expansions so they can farm new players.
The servers all seem to be at 100$....
Not bad for an used server...
Screw the fact it is from WoW
When I played 6 years ago, I thought they hosted on toasters, seeing as during peak hours I had a 4000ms ping.
The servers all seem to be at 100$....Not bad for an used server...Screw the fact it is from WoW
does an 18lbs item really cost $116 for shipping? It's not that big of a box really, is that really the shipping cost or are they trying to increase their own profit, since shipping won't be part of what is taken out for the charity?
At least it's for a good cause.
Would it still work outside of the case?
Guess they have a few extras since they lost over a million subscribers last year !!
Who wants to guess that these are really hitting the dirt because with swtor and all the new mmos coming out plus diablo 3 wow just simply does not need the capacity it used to? It's not an upgrade It's a downgrade!
Well, it is for charity, can't beat that..
4000ms is pretty amazing for a toaster
I think the whole idea is admirable and I doubt anyone that would buy one of these blade servers wants to actually run it in a server but.....the specs are not listed anywhere. Not on the eBay listing themselves, not on the Blizzard site... seriously how is that kosher for selling server blades without any technical info at all. If I was gonna buy a big fancy paperweight like this, I'd at least like to know if there was anything else salvageable in there.
Good to them for putting this towards charity.
They should match the tax write off and donate that too.
Oh and btw, most of the blades already have bids up to $250-$300 NOT including the $116 shipping. I'm very curious how high they go with 4.5 days left still....
They should match the tax write off and donate that too.
Good point. They could donate that to centers for treating video game addiction since they've probably sent countless people that direction
altho im not sure why so meny ppl seems suprised its for 100% charity. eny one of this servers gave blizzard 500,000 dollar each. but its still a nice roll out of blizard
It seems that at least some NA servers sold in October and went for $500ish.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blizzard-W [...] 536wt_1396
Specs please ? And btw, seems rather cheap. 2 Xeons and some FB Dimms for 100 USB. Sure , ill buy one !
"St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will receive 100% of the winning bid on this auction less $50 for the actual costs for creation of packaging, handling and insurance, any fee associated with the use of Pay Pal and approximately 1% for the eBay listing fee."
100%... sure...
no specs, because they are rendering inoperable before selling them.
does an 18lbs item really cost $116 for shipping? It's not that big of a box really, is that really the shipping cost or are they trying to increase their own profit, since shipping won't be part of what is taken out for the charity?
they only weigh 18lbs ? I upgraded the memory in our sccm server recently, and I had to request a collegue to help get the thing out of the rack. Granted that was a dl380 and not a blade, but still. Has roughly the same sort of hardware inside.
wasn't this news a LONG while ago?
Specs please ? And btw, seems rather cheap. 2 Xeons and some FB Dimms for 100 USB. Sure , ill buy one !
The old auction was for US realms. This time the European realms servers are on the auction.
Maybe they should have established a Folding@Home farm instead. Rather than helping some kids that are currently sick (which, don't get me wrong, is a very worthy cause! And I do applaud them for it), they might have helped prevent or cure a disease.
The servers all seem to be at 100$....Not bad for an used server...Screw the fact it is from WoW
These are blades. If you have nothing to put them into, its worth 0$.
The old auction was for US realms. This time the European realms servers are on the auction.
It sure is newsworthy then! /s