Part 3
Layering
This is obviously another point of concern in the community and I fully understand the point behind Layering; it’s an elegant solution and 10X better than sharding so long as you can make it work.
However consider a methodology that would improve the practical side of Layering for the unavoidable Phase 2.
In phase 2 if the player base expands your back is against the wall; not in a bad way but just in a way that will make splitting servers up a lot more complex.
How about you make the Layering system semi-sticky meaning even when you log off for the night and log in the next day you will be a component of that same layer.
The layers could be effectively sorted by pairing guilds and friends lists so that people who play together are always together; this further adds strength to the community.
During phase 1 this allows for some cross over and potential merger if needed while in phase 2 if the servers must be split then you can simply split them based on the layers and no one is going to be missing out on their friends or enemies, thus keeping the solid feel of a community.
This more active approach gives you a far more authentic feeling from day 1.
Additionally it’s been said in the forums that to “Cross Layers” a very simple system of requiring all members be in a major city such as Iron Forge could be required to jump layers to negate some questionable exploits of layering.
That is all.