Classic Discontinued
 

I reluctantly announce that Classic/Graal the Adventure has officially withdrawn from the server list.

While a period of further development may be necessary for the server to become revitalized, I am sorry to those who have stood by the server despite troubles to say that all plans are cancelled, and that the server is set to remain in this state indefinitely.

This decision is the result of a general consensus among staff, who also agree that a monumental effort was made to both develop and push the server, but unfortunately it has not been enough and continuing efforts under the current circumstances would be clutching at straws.

It should not come as a surprise to hear that the main reasons for this are the game-breaking observer mode plus the vastly dated and unreasonable subscription policy.
When deciding to rebuild Classic from scratch, I honestly believed there may be at least one positive change in regards to this issue within 3 years. It has now been a total of 5 and a half years since the current policies were implemented, Stefan has recently expressed that he doesn't understand why observer mode is a bad thing, that trials logging out in frustration is a good thing, and despite iPhone Graal proving to be a shining beacon of light as to how allowing free players to properly experience the game can actually be beneficial, he still maintains that PlayerWorlds should be using hard-coded restrictions that massively hinder the game.

I should state that it would be wrong to put the server's failure entirely down to these policies, mistakes have certainly been made and there are things that given another opportunity I would wish to attempt differently.

The benefit of hindsight would however also apply to our attempts to remove observer mode, where much of the replies turned out to be lies, bovine fecal matter, evasive or irrelevant excuses, or no response at all.
To single out and highlight one of multiple examples of how frustrating this has been, in one of the unreplied-to emails, a private video was included. Within days of sending, certain elements of this video were put into use on iPhone. Youtube analytics showed there had been multiple views from 2 unique viewers in France, however a response to a later email of mine purported the initial email had not yet been read.

It's a huge shame to say goodbye to such an incredible amount of work, but never say never, there is still some discussion going on behind the scenes, or alternatively the server may have a different option at some point in future.

I would like to finish off by saying a big thank you to Racil, who Classic's redevelopment couldn't have got far without, and is possibly the nicest person on Graal, I've been privileged to work with you. Honorable mentions go to WhiteDragon, Bell, Nello, Ranger and Skyzer, who have all contributed a key role in one way or another.

My sympathies, Thor. Grey and I went through a lot of the same garbage in our attempts to get Babylon back up and running several years ago, so I know how frustrating it is to watch the management behind the game seemingly thwart any attempt its players have at giving it a chance of restoration. This is the exact kind of fate we assumed we'd meet, and we used our foresight to conclude Babylon's development, despite many requests to continue it. It is a shame.

I'm hoping continued events like this will either queue Stefan & Unixmad to make changes, or (and in my opinion, the better solution), finally lead to Graal dying.

Thanks for all your hard work to try to bring back one of the good things Graal once had to offer.

Sorry to see this, I know you put an incredible amount of work into that server. Best of luck.

that sucks... u ever try classic with a mix instead of pure classic ?

i agree, classic should of been mixed with purple to attract a more urban crowd.

R.i.p!

RIP Classic :( My first graal home.

Thanks for the strong effort of trying to push Classic back up on it's feet. I was looking forward to it, but by the time it was up, I was both very much over, and uninterested in Graal.

I was hoping that there would be a nice and lively community back in Classic when it came up, but I was met with the casual group of boring idlers and other people who just complained and basically did nothing. One of the reasons I stopped playing graal for the most part is because of this. Any other server with people that actually do stuff isn't in my interest since it falls outside the Zelda 3 feel.

I'd just like to say that I really appreciated what Thor and others did, but people were just too callous, and I really didn't want to subject myself to that.

I feel bad for you, but in to be honest I feel quite joyous. I believe this will need to happen more often for change to come. I'm sorry you put a lot of effort into this, and Graal screwed you over. But none of us here will forget Classic and the trend it will hopefully start. Developers and players need to man-up and QUIT coming back to Graal.

was a fine attempt.

if anything, your quests were probably the best graal ever got and will ever get.

I have to agree. Very nice work, I really admire your willpower. It's sad to see this happen, but not surprising.

Sorry to see the server go.

:(

Stefan is an ostrich. Come at me bro!

Why not pass it to another developer to keep it up?
Thats the problem these days, good servers go online then the staff gets tired of it and takes it down.. When i was working for n-pulse there were atleast 5-6 different owners.
Pass it on. Dont just take it down :(