Do Not Shard Players

[Böösey-destromath (Böösey)]

1000 people will not be in the same starting zone. I guarantee there will be less than 100 players in every starting zone.

There are so many variables dispersing the player base.
Different realms, different races, what time the character is created etc.

[Fesz-cenarius]

You got 2 options:

1. No sharding. Everyone lags. No one can finish quests cause you got 1000+ people in the same starting zone trying to kill that boar and logging off quitting and raging and you’d also all be lagging and crashing servers.

2. Sharding for first few weeks and avoid that.

There are other options.

But, what happens when those 1000+ people in Elwynn all move into Westfall and are all waiting for the Defias traitor or the Defias messenger? What happens when the 1000+ in Durotar AND the 1000+ in Mulgore all move into the Barrens and you can’t get those zhevra hooves?

Should Blizzard extend sharding beyond the starting areas or beyond the first few weeks if Johnny thinks there are still too many obstacles (all those other players in an MMO) standing in his way or that the game is still too inconvenient so that the game is “convenient” enough for him?

[Sinelus-moonrunner (Sinelus)]

This isn’t a small company’s game you never heard of. This is Blizzard and WoW. They got nearly 2 million subs(guesstimating) and we don’t know how many servers they will have at launch but I doubt it’ll be 100 or more. A lot of players might also pick local time, and a specific realm at that so 1000+ eastern time players like me would crash and lag eastern servers.

[Böösey-destromath (Böösey)]

Seriously. There will be less than 100 players in any given zone. It won’t be as dramatic as people think it will be.

Half on the horde side half on the alliance side then split up by race.
Many variables dispersing the player base.

[Galdor-maelstrom (Galdor)]

Seriously. There will be less than 100 players in any given zone. It won’t be as dramatic as people think it will be.

They made a point to talk about server population caps and how they don’t really exist. From my perspective, they’re not going to limit servers to 2.5k like so many people thought they were. How many servers would they have to launch with? 500?

They’re going to stuff as many people as they see fit on a server, shard them for the initial launch and then remove sharding once the nostalgia tourists have tapered off to ensure healthy server populations in the long run. That’s how I see it at least.

[Fesz-cenarius]

Seriously. There will be less than 100 players in any given zone. It won’t be as dramatic as people think it will be.

They made a point to talk about server population caps and how they don’t really exist. From my perspective, they’re not going to limit servers to 2.5k like so many people thought they were. How many servers would they have to launch with? 500?

They’re going to stuff as many people as they see fit on a server, shard them for the initial launch and then remove sharding once the nostalgia tourists have tapered off to ensure healthy server populations in the long run. That’s how I see it at least.

And what happens if that population drop-off never occurs or is not as drastic a drop as many people seem to think it will be?

Should Blizzard extend sharding or tell the players to “suck it up and learn to deal with a little competition and inconvenience”?

[Böösey-destromath (Böösey)]

So the discussion should now be what is a healthy Realm population?
The chances of a Realm hitting cap instantly are slim.
It is only going to happen to the realms with the coolest names.
Sharding should not be utilized. It will be a much greater experience to play with 100’s by your side.

Increased spawn rates FOR STARTER ZONES ONLY would eliminate the need for sharding.
Because that is the concern right?
Not enough spawns and long spawn times. FOR STARTER ZONES ONLY for the first couple of weeks only would solve any need for sharding.

Everyone is going to do their starter zone quests and move along. After the starter zone everyone spreads out.

[Folcred-emerald-dream]

Not enough spawns and long spawn times. FOR STARTER ZONES ONLY for the first couple of weeks only would solve any need for sharding.

This sounds preferable to sharding. No way sharding should be in classic. It is shocking that there isn’t more of an upcry about this.

[Yunzhu-mannoroth (Yunzhu)]

Sharding is fine up to Westfall, Darkshore, Loch Modan, The Barrens and Silverpine Forest.

Anything beyond that is a no thank you for me.

[Mogar-stormrage (Mogar)]

And then when players are in those zones fighting over quest objectives, they’ll be demanding sharding get extended. And then add “But it’ll be fine in STV, Wetlands and Stonetalon!” And so on and so forth. Once it infects the game it’ll never be gone.

[Yunzhu-mannoroth (Yunzhu)]

I don’t buy into the slippery slope narrative.

[Mogar-stormrage (Mogar)]

And yet you’re part of one. Already you’ve gone beyond starting areas to extend to the next zone.

[Yunzhu-mannoroth (Yunzhu)]

The sky is falling!

I mean…the sky is sharding!

[Mogar-stormrage (Mogar)]

Hmm, deflect and change the subject. That’s a new tactic.

But actually, now that I think about it the game doesn’t start until max level. So technically the starting zones are all through 1-59 content. Sad thing is some people will say that without sarcasm.

[Galdor-maelstrom (Galdor)]

Once it infects the game it’ll never be gone.

Sounds like paranoia.

[Fesz-cenarius]

I don’t buy into the slippery slope narrative.

You’ve already bought into the slippery slope by advocating sharding well beyond the starting areas or even starting zones.

Westfall, Loch Modan, The Barrens, Darkshore and Silverpine Forest are all at least secondary zones.

[Xecks-stormrage (Xecks)]

The devs simply need to prevent it from ever taking root, because once it does no amount of Roundup will kill that weed. Oh, and it might give you cancer too.

yep. i agree. i really hope they dont do it

[Hoebowjoe-proudmoore (Hoebowjoe)]

And then when players are in those zones fighting over quest objectives, they’ll be demanding sharding get extended. And then add “But it’ll be fine in STV, Wetlands and Stonetalon!” And so on and so forth. Once it infects the game it’ll never be gone.

There comes a point where Blizz needs to say, “X is the way it’s going to be. Deal with it.” Whether that is no sharding, sharding in 1-6 areas, starter zones (1-10), or extending it further. Some subset of the WoW community will be upset regardless of where Blizz draws the line.

I’m in the no sharding camp because I’ve been there, survived and came out ok. Sure, some people rage quit back then due to stability issues, never to play again, but millions didn’t. And that was when the game still had the potential to turn out unenjoyable content. All these years later, we all know whether or not we want to play the content. We don’t need to hope the next raid tier will be worthwhile.

I feel sharding is that last big unknown that will have the largest impact on when many people will start playing, if at all. Sharding is like asbestos: everyone loved and used it because it was amazing at accomplishing what it was designed for… but we found out it causes a vicious form of cancer. Cancer is a silent killer. Sharding is a silent killer of community in WoW.

[Mogar-stormrage (Mogar)]

There comes a point where Blizz needs to say, “X is the way it’s going to be. Deal with it.” Whether that is no sharding, sharding in 1-6 areas, starter zones (1-10), or extending it further. Some subset of the WoW community will be upset regardless of where Blizz draws the line.

They do need to clarify and clarify soon. The thing is…they understand the harm it does. They understand it’s contrary to the tenets of Vanilla. In the Blizzcon Q&A Ion said, “I understand that sharding is antithetical to the concept of a cohesive Classic community…but that said…”

No, Ion. Stop right there. There is nothing left to be said. Putting qualifiers on that is diminishing the basic principles of the game. Don’t even start that now. Stick to the vision. Things will be okay. People will deal with it. We did once and we will again. And the players who can’t deal with it will go back to BfA for a week or two and then come back to Classic when the playerbase has dissipated naturally. There’s absolutely no need for sharding.

[Nechross-eonar-37277 (Nechross)]

Sharding should NEVER be used because it was NEVER part of “the 2006 authentic experience” that Ion, himself, said he is trying to restore.

Sharding changes the way players relate to one another - it turns fellow adventurers who live in my hometown realm into anonymous ghosts who appear from and disappear into some twilight zone.

Stay true to the mission of this project, Ion! We need commitment to restore the game you know we all loved - just as it was in 2006.

To quote Ion Hazzikostas at BlizzCon 2018, the Design Philosophy is to deliver an authentic experience of playing WoW in 2006:

Before we began any of these decisions, first and foremost, really is authenticity as our goal. We want to create an experience that feels just like 2006 WoW. If someone was playing WoW in 2006 and they lay down and took a very, very long nap and woke up in 2019 and sat them in front of WoW Classic, it shouldn’t feel like an immediately different experience…it should feel like the game that you know."
—Ion Hazzikostas

When it comes to authenticity…it’s also about the community - it’s about the social dynamics that are part of what defined wow classic…anything that might threaten that undermines those dynamics is something we need to be very suspect about and, again, use authenticity as our guide - even if it might seem minor at a glace, those small changes could have large ripple effect that could change the way players related to the world and to each other.
— Ion Hazzikostas

(Source: youtube dot com/watch?v=hhKkP8LryYM - Starting ~29 min).