MoP Devblog #1 - Behind the scenes (Emucoach MoP Repack)
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[RELEASE] WOW Legends — free 3.3.5a WotLK repack with hundreds of AI playerbots

Kneuma

Kneuma

Veteran Member
72
2025
29
Hey all,

I've been building my own 3.3.5a WotLK repack for a while and it's finally out. Up front: it's not affiliated with EmuCoach, it's my own thing — and it's WotLK, so a different expansion from the MoP/Cata repacks here. Figured this was the right section for it.

It's free, an AzerothCore fork that you download and run yourself. What I focused on was making a solo WotLK world actually feel alive instead of empty:

  • Hundreds of playerbots that level, quest and run dungeons/raids alongside you
  • AI companions — the bots talk back in character (optional; hosted key or bring your own)
  • Hardcore mode — one life, no second chances, with Mak'gora duels to the death
  • Open core — 800+ searchable commands, tune basically anything

The repack is 100% free — the full thing, all the bots, all the commands, manual download and setup.

There's also an optional app for people who'd rather skip the manual setup — it one-click installs the server, game data and database, and sets up the AI for you. Supporters get the app, plus a player registration website for their own server (a separate download). It's all optional though — the free repack has everything in it.

Want to try before downloading? There's a live demo realm: play.wow-legends.eu/register

Download and details:

Let me know if you've got questions. Cheers.
 
Little update - we hid an easter egg in the repack 😄

Old school players might remember this one: "Don't Make Me Get My Main" by Cranius (Blizzcon 2009 movie contest winner).

At the exact filming spot in Stranglethorn Vale... she is still camping. And her main is still with her - in stealth, waiting for Alliance players.


And yes - after the kill he still eats you. Undead racial, nothing personal XD

Works no matter if world PvP is on or off. Camping is forever.

Live right now on the public test realm (set realmlist ptr.wow-legends.eu) - and it ships with the next release.
 
🔮 SNEAK PEEK — what we're cooking for the next update

You can now TALK to your bots... and they OBEY.

No command syntax. No magic words. Just tell your bot what you want — in your own words, in your own language:

🇬🇧 "then wait here a sec ok?" → waits (typos welcome)
🇩🇪 "folge mir" → follows, answers in German
🇪🇸 "Ataca a ese zombie" → charges in with a Spanish battle cry
"pull that mob" → "I'm a rogue, not a tank. Go find a warrior to do that." — yes, they know their limits

The same AI that chats with your bots now understands orders: follow, stay, attack, tank, pull, flee, drink, heal me, come to me, and more. Every reply in character. The screenshot below is a real, unedited PTR session.

chat.png


And something bigger is stirring at the Herald of the Fallen...
We're building Paths of Legends — opt-in challenge playthroughs you swear on a single character. One Life. The Long Road. Stack them... if you dare. That's all you get for now.

No dates — it ships when it's right. Supporters ride first, as always. 🐉
 
nik333vvv said:
Sounds like something perfect for introverts. What platform can we support you through to quickly get a server with this feature?
Click to expand...
Haha, introverts are exactly the target audience 😄 your own world, nobody else's schedule.

It's a one-time 25€ donation on Ko-fi, no subscription. Quick version: create a free account on the site, donate with the same email, and everything unlocks automatically within a minute - the App, your own player portal and 2500 AI credits. The App then installs the whole server in under 15 minutes, no configs, no command line.

Everything you get, with screenshots and the exact steps: https://wow-legends.eu/supporter

One thing to be clear about: talk-and-command is coming soon, it's not in the current release yet. Supporters get it first through the App updater the moment it ships - and there's already plenty to play with until then (the bots, AI chat, hardcore, the whole world). The repack itself stays free forever btw, link in the first post. 🐉
 
Hey all,

v1.3.0 is out. Remember the sneak peek about talking to your bots? That's live now. Whisper a bot you own in plain language, in any language, and it just does it - "follow me", "folge mir", "attack that". Ask a rogue to tank and it refuses, in character. 14 orders, only your own bots listen to you, and it's off by default (one config toggle, needs AI chat on).

The other big one is brand new: Paths of Legends. Five opt-in challenge oaths you swear at the Herald of the Fallen in every starting zone:

  • The Long Road - XP locks at 60/70 until the old raid bosses fall to you
  • The Iron Oath - no AH, no trades, no mail. What you carry, you earned
  • The Pilgrim's Way - no mounts, no flight paths, no hearthstone
  • The Slow Burn - all XP halved, forever
  • One Life - permadeath

herald_of_the_fallen_5_oaths.png


A Path only binds the character that swears it, nothing is forced on your realm, and they stack if you dare. Finish one and you get a readable trophy in your bags, and the Herald bows and announces your name to everyone around him.

herald_of_the_fallen_announce_player.png


Path_of_legends_trophies.png


Like always, every feature is a toggle in mod_wowlegends.conf.

And with v1.3.0 out, v1.2.0 is now the free community download - that's the release where bots remember you, hold PvP grudges and talk about their own lives: https://github.com/WOWLegendsHQ/wow-legends-community/releases/latest

Full notes: https://wow-legends.eu/news
Guides: https://wow-legends.eu/paths and https://wow-legends.eu/talk-command
 
Foxdalis said:
A large number of AI bots can make it take longer for real players to log in, because the bots occupy the login queue first. As a result, players may have to wait longer just to enter the game.
Click to expand...
That is not how the playerbots work, so no, they can not block the login queue.

Real players and bots use two completely different code paths in the core:

Code: 
real player:  client -> authserver -> worldserver socket -> WorldSessionMgr::AddSession_ -> queue check vs PlayerLimit
playerbot:    created in-process -> new WorldSession(null socket) -> HandlePlayerLoginFromDB -> never enters WorldSessionMgr

The login queue only exists in one place: WorldSessionMgr::AddSession_. There the server counts active + queued sessions against PlayerLimit, and if it is full you land in AddQueuedPlayer. That session count is literally _sessions.size() in WorldSessionMgr.

The bots never enter any of that. mod-playerbots creates them inside the worldserver process (PlayerbotHolder::HandlePlayerBotLoginCallback): it builds a WorldSession with a null socket and loads the character straight from the DB. That session is never registered in WorldSessionMgr, so it is never in _sessions - the module keeps its own bot list and updates it itself (PlayerbotHolder::UpdateSessions). No authserver contact, no queue slot, and they do not count against PlayerLimit either. There is no queue they could "occupy first". It is all open source, you can grep it yourself.

What is true: with a high bot count the server startup takes longer (the bots log in while the server boots), and if you configure more bots than your CPU can handle, the whole server gets slow, then everything feels slow, also logins. But that is hardware sizing, not a queue problem. That is why the default is 100 bots and you scale up to your hardware.

We also tested the extreme case: 10,000 bots online and a real player logged in with no issue. Screenshot and the measured numbers of that run (CPU / RAM) are here: https://wow-legends.eu/requirements
 
Kneuma said:
That is not how the playerbots work, so no, they can not block the login queue.

Real players and bots use two completely different code paths in the core:

Code: 
real player:  client -> authserver -> worldserver socket -> WorldSessionMgr::AddSession_ -> queue check vs PlayerLimit
playerbot:    created in-process -> new WorldSession(null socket) -> HandlePlayerLoginFromDB -> never enters WorldSessionMgr

The login queue only exists in one place: WorldSessionMgr::AddSession_. There the server counts active + queued sessions against PlayerLimit, and if it is full you land in AddQueuedPlayer. That session count is literally _sessions.size() in WorldSessionMgr.

The bots never enter any of that. mod-playerbots creates them inside the worldserver process (PlayerbotHolder::HandlePlayerBotLoginCallback): it builds a WorldSession with a null socket and loads the character straight from the DB. That session is never registered in WorldSessionMgr, so it is never in _sessions - the module keeps its own bot list and updates it itself (PlayerbotHolder::UpdateSessions). No authserver contact, no queue slot, and they do not count against PlayerLimit either. There is no queue they could "occupy first". It is all open source, you can grep it yourself.

What is true: with a high bot count the server startup takes longer (the bots log in while the server boots), and if you configure more bots than your CPU can handle, the whole server gets slow, then everything feels slow, also logins. But that is hardware sizing, not a queue problem. That is why the default is 100 bots and you scale up to your hardware.

We also tested the extreme case: 10,000 bots online and a real player logged in with no issue. Screenshot and the measured numbers of that run (CPU / RAM) are here: https://wow-legends.eu/requirements
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for the detailed and clear explanation!
 
Foxdalis said:
Thank you very much for the detailed and clear explanation!
Click to expand...
You are welcome! It was a fair question to be honest, most people think the bots connect like normal players, so it was a good chance to explain what really happens under the hood. If you try the repack and something looks off, just write here, feedback is always welcome :)
 
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