u/MrBluoe

It seems the sever is still growing strong ;)

Even with all the negativity on reddit, turtle refugees and newcommers have been making a nice cozy new home for themselves on Sandworlds.

Who is this server for:

• Mainly for NA, SA, and west-EU users. If you live further away, your ping will be too high and personally, I wouldn't recommend it
• If you like a challenge, this server is for you. Higher difficulty mobs, a bit slower XP gains, but the leveling speed should be about blizzlike because of the added mounts and QoL (less time running, less time going to cities to empty bags, more time playing).
• if you like engaging with other players (there's even XP boosts for groups and group content).

Who this server is NOT for:

• if you want to play on easy mode
• if you like getting boosted in dungeons
• if you like playing solo
• if you like multiboxing (forbidden)
• if you like exploiting bosses (most are being fixed, so don't come crying if invisible mobs kill you when you jump onto unreachable platforms to bug dungeon mobs)

It is a server for those who enjoy the game and like to engage in the social aspects of it. In the opinion of the dev's that's what turtlewow was about, and that's the direction they wish to go with this.

And everyone else, there's always retail.

Attention:

• the server is in pre-launch phase, expect some minor bugs here and there.
• devs said there will be NO char wipe for the launch, but existing chars will be "locked out" for the duration of the launch event (so everyone starts at lvl 1 together)
• and no: you are not allowed to farm materials not to sell later. you can only level up and farm gear and rare items.
• multiboxing is strictly forbidden and will get you banned.
• official launch will happen once update to 1.17.2 is out and stable.
• those who test and support now, will get some goodies at/during the launch.

https://sandworlds.com/

Sandworlds is continuing where TurtleWoW left off and expanding on the Vanilla+ philosophy. It runs on a fully working 1.17.1 core (currently upgrading to 1.17.2) with thoughtful QoL changes that respect difficulty and avoid pay-to-win.

Key changes and the reasoning behind them:

• TurtleWoW dropped tons of bags early on, which fixed inventory issues but killed early Tailoring and made bags worthless. Sandworlds instead gives new players a few starter bags (4 slots each) and lets materials, reagents, and potions stack to 100. This solves bag frustration while keeping Tailoring relevant and bag prices under control.
• Bank access was added to most quest hubs for the same reason: better quality of life without giving out bags.
• 1.17.2 gave early mounts that were slow and felt tedious on long journeys. Sandworlds instead expanded the rented mounts system, placing them in most quest hubs and making them significantly faster. This means you get quick travel for long trips, but you need to go back to hubs to re-mount. This keeps the world feeling large while reducing dead time, and keeps mounts special.
• TurtleWoW fixed many classes, but heavily buffed talents trivialized a lot of content. Rather than nerfing players (especially AoE farming), Sandworlds slightly raised enemy difficulty to keep encounters engaging.
• To build a more social and welcoming community, Sandworlds gives group XP bonuses (50-100% depending on group size). This encourages people to actually play together and make friends. (Multiboxing is forbidden)
• Dungeon XP was slightly reduced, so questing in the open world is the meta instead, leading to a living world where players actually meet and group up organically (as a bonus: it also solved boosting).

Future plans:

• Finish the 1.17.2 upgrade
• Player-driven reputation system (positive/negative feedback that carries real rewards, restrictions, and even special NPC reputations (including a PK reputation with exclusive areas but also making you hunted)
• Player surnames, so you can recognize people across alts and ties in with the reputations. As you can probably notice: social is a big focus.
• Inverted Auction House ("want to buy" orders) so higher level players can hire lower level ones to farm materials. This helps gold flow to newer players and fights inflation.
• And custom content: Starting with Uldum and Grim Batol. The goal is to have a horizontal progression system with Naxx-level endgame content for each of the game's magical elements: Fire, Frost, Nature, Arcane, Shadow, Holy.

This is just an overview. The webpage is currently only in portuguese (it is hosted in SA) but with the recent huge influx of international players, there is a shift happening towards a more international approach (client is in english). https://sandworlds.com/

PS: you need to join discord to be able to register.

🇧🇷 Com mais de 1500 no Discord, a comunidade ajudou a fazer o upgrade e agora o servidor suporta quase 3x mais players online, e está muito perto do próximo upgrade.

Incrível o que uma comunidade unida consegue atingir.

🇺🇸 The community just hit 1500 users on discord and has helped upgrade the server to now support almost 3x more players than before, and getting closer to the next upgrade as we speak.

It's amazing what a strong community can achieve in such little time.