Private Server Guide
Private server terminology, general outline.
Terminology
As you have probably noticed on many of the pserver top lists, the wow servers have summarised descriptions where you can quickly see what features, versions and realms they have available. This is a basic brakedown of these descriptions incase you are not familiar with the terminology.
Version
A very important characteristic as you will only be able to connect to a private server if the server is running the same game version as what your wow installation. Currently most servers are running 3.2.x or 3.2.2 versions of wow private server. You should note that the retail game often runs on a higher version number of the game as the private servers take a while to catch up with stable versions of the server. Most players who play retail wow and on private servers actually have two separate installations of wow on their computer in order to be able to play on differing game versions. Depatching down to meet a private server requirement can be a daunting task so be careful not to patch up your pserver installation by accident.
If the version on your computer does not match the one of the private server, you will not be able to connect to it!
Other common game versions are 3.1.3. and in many cases 2.4.3. which has been found to be a very stable and balanced version for private servers.
Population and Uptimes
Ok, lets face it, everyone marketing their private server will be boasting about a high population, uptimes and how great their servers are. Just because they have a large number of registered players it doesn't necessarily mean that they have a large active population. No more about this, just take this marketing with a grain of salt. You will see the reality when you test the realm. Same goes for the great GMs that everyone appears to have according to the marketing hype. Its funny how some are even claiming 100% uptimes, which is something that even no hosting company seems to be offering ;)
Be sure to also check how many realms the private server hosts. 1000 players spread over 9 realms may not be many on the realm you decide to play on.
A good indication of total population on the top wow private server sites is the amount of votes they are getting. Again, check how many realms this amount is spread over and be sure to do a bit of research on the realms from the server forums before making a longer commitment so you will not be disappointed later.
Server types
Another important specification, as it will tell you what type of gameplay you can expect to find. Common types are blizzlike, funserver, pvp realm. More about the different server types in our private server types section.
Other terms used
instant 80
pretty self explanatory, all new chars can achieve level 80 as soon as the character is created. Usually this is done using a quest in the starter area or its is scripted to be automatic.
malls
these refer to custom content. Malls usually contain all trainers in a custom area so that learning skills/professions and in some cases, buying materials for crafting are all conveniently in one place so you wont need to waste time travelling across the lands finding the right vendor/trainers.
Levelling roads/custom levelling
these are custom areas designed to help you level up your character. Usually with high exp rates to cut down on the boring grinding time. Many people prefer this to instant 80 as they are not immediately trown in the deep end with a new class that they haven't played before so on the levelling area they get a little practice before going for whatever challenges the private server has for them at end-game level.
Teleporter
Custom mob/item/quest that allows you to instantly beam to different areas in the world. Very useful as private servers are mostly fun-based and long travel times mean you spend less time doing what you enjoy doing. Of course if you enjoy the flight from Undercity to Booty Bay, you can still take the flight path as you could on retail.
Level capls
this is one of the big differences of private servers to retail. Many private servers are capped at lvl 80 just like regular World of Warcraft but on several funservers the levelcap has been increased to 100 or in some cases upto level 255. This will bring with it changes in gameplay and usually these servers have a lot of custom content to provide the players with challenges to match the higher level cap.
Working instances/dungeons/scripted
the functionality of instances or raids is not necessarily a given on private servers as these need to be spawned separately so keep an eye out on this attribute if you intend on taking on this content at a private server.
Custom bosses/instances
self explanatory really, this means that the private server has implemented their own custom areas that you would not find on retail wow. This is a necessity for private servers with a lvl 255 cap.
Voting
most private server have implemented a vote/reward system where they reward players with items/gold/etc if they are voting for their realm on the top wow private server sites.
PvP system
same as with instances, battlegrounds are not necessarily working on private servers unless they have been implemented on the private server.