Stonetavern runs Vanilla WoW patch 1.12.1 for free. Here are the usual questions before starting.
Is it free?
Yes. No box price, no subscription, no expansion to buy. The realm costs us money to run and you can help with that on Ko-fi if you want, but it changes nothing in game. You do not need to own retail WoW or have it installed.
Do I need to edit realmlist?
On most private servers you download a generic client and edit a realmlist.wtf file to point it at the server. On Stonetavern you do not. The client we hand you is already pointed at our realm, so you unzip it and run it. If you have edited realmlist on other servers before, you can skip that habit here.
The steps
- Make a realm account on the website.
- Download the client and unzip it.
- Run the game from the unzipped folder.
- Log in with your account and make a character.
There is a fuller version of this with troubleshooting in the “How to connect” thread.
Is it legal? Will I get banned?
Playing on a private server is not something Blizzard can ban your retail account for, because the two never touch. Stonetavern runs separately from Battle.net. It does not see your retail account and does not talk to Blizzard’s servers. Use common sense: do not advertise private servers inside Blizzard’s official channels, and you will not have any trouble.
Is it safe?
Use an account password you do not use anywhere else, the same as on any website. Download the client from our site, not from a random reupload.
Questions can go below.