I expect several million at launch. Is there anyone who doesn’t? Even the pessimists think that’ll be the case initially. So I’ll even say conservatively 2 million. So there’s 4 pve servers, 5 pvp servers, and the 2 rp realms. 11 total. Averages out to about 182,000 players per server. If they use authentic server caps of say 3k…that’s 60 layers per server.
And I think it’ll be even more.
And if those types of numbers start showing up during name reservations, they’ll be adding new servers. Each realm has a cap, even with layering, so when these first 11 servers get near full, they’ll open up a few more. This is whole point of the 2 week name reservation period. It is a pre-launch head count that will help Blizzard figure out how many servers they’ll actually need to launch with.
Ion stated that they’d start with lean realmlists and expand as needed.
I have to admit I haven’t been keeping up with the Classic development as much as I probably should have, but being a Vanilla player I agree that layers are a bad idea. The whole purpose of this is to try and recapture what we remember most fondly: social interactions, not segregating players in and out of a layer.
Also, if the server has to explode because there’s too many people at the AH, or the gates of AQ open, then so it be. It’s part of the Vanilla experience.
You all do realize that even if it were ONLY 2,000 people on a server chances are you wouldn’t meet all of them before the end of Classic? I played on Illidan in vanilla and I probably knew like 400 people at best? Layering isn’t the end of the world when it comes to “seeing new people.” Now, you can make the argument concerning abuse of layers to farm etc… but come on for the social aspect of things it’s not like you would meet everyone in phase 1… you wouldn’t meet everyone by phase 6 lol
Maybe if you’re Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, you might.
BTW Whiteoutz, you’re a jerk. A complete knee-biter. (kidding)
This was in my head but I didn’t know how to type it correctly.
Whoops! I think tons of us have been suggesting more hardware and a better DB system for… well since sharding and phasing became a crutch.
I’d do the same for Netflix if they acted like Bliz is acting. Suggest suggest suggest.
But really, when has this team ever engaged in objective dialogue? Never.
You seem unclear about what problem Blizzard is attempting to solve with layering. Rather than me wasting my time writing out another long post, I’ll just link one of my previous posts.
Beautifully written straw man.
Hey I’d be sad too if I felt it was my job to talk down to the people that were encouraging Blizzard to come up with new technology or hardware to run their game in such a way so as to not have to depend on community breaking software like layering and sharding.
It is what it is though and here we are.
that not how it works. layering ist xrealm.
you play on herod you stay on herod, forever
Well I tried. Consolation prize is you’re making me feel like a genius. I’m not, but it’s nice to feel that way every now and then.
nah, most people with characters on herod right now will be playing those same characters on different realms at phase 2
If genius is making up population numbers or scenarios about WOWs technology, that streamers and videos have disproven, sure. You’re the Einstein of that. 
In all seriousness though, I wonder why they didn’t just offer a server or two with no layering or sharding…? Let the people decide with their time, like having an AV 1.5 and a 1.12.
I presume the term is trying to more specifically point out that shard boundaries don’t necessarily line up with realm boundaries.
It’s not a dumb way of doing things at the beginning.
I don’t want to interject more than this. But the OP has a point. The game revolves around the community and the community around the game. It’s symbiotic.
At the very least, Blizzard could (should) open a South American server. That right there is a travesty.
I almost wish they would. It would be hilarious. 
Honestly the whole “avoid name collision” thing is silly in the first place. In the real world names collide all the time. Just allow it and have a unique ID behind the scenes. If you want to know if this “Legolas” is the “Legolas” you know you can do a get info and check the unique ID. Not to mention that if they are friends/enemies you can have the UI show that somehow.
But Classic and no changes I guess. We’ll just continue to have silly things like reserved names and struggles to grab them.
Because they would fill up and have tremendous queues to get in. Then you’re rolling the dice on whether the server stays overcrowded and needs to have transfers off or it goes to having too few and needs a merger. Basically creating the exact problems layering was made to correct. It makes no sense to have this.
For those of you who think layering won’t be detrimental to the game…here’s a lovely gem I found on reddit featuring ingame footage from a cave in Dun Morogh with a party of people killing yetis
https://clips.twitch.tv/DeterminedInterestingClintCeilingCat
If they don’t get the kinks worked out, launch day is gonna be a $hitshow 