I'm just wondering what would be the best strategy to avoid a dead server on Classic WoW.
I don't want to pick a server that starts off with a high population at launch. Then 2, 3, or 4 years from now it turns into a dead (low population) server.
So far, my strategy to NOT pick a "future dead server" is to wait, 2, 3, maybe even 6 months after classic launches to finally start playing. That way I can see which servers' population falls and which one's rises. And then I can choose the one with the high population.
But I also feel that my strategy might be a bad strategy by letting all the other players get ahead of me. And then I am playing the low level zones without any other players.
TLDR: I just deleted half my post but it's still too long. TLDR is below.
I'm just wondering what would be the best strategy to avoid a dead server on Classic WoW.
I hope Blizzard includes Server population and Facton per server population on the server selection screen.
Additionally I hope they throttle the addition of accounts to certain server's / factions as needed to control population growth.
Some interesting facts about original Vanilla; the PVP servers were usually close in Population being close enough to a 50/50 split that there were no real issues there for the most part.
The real imbalanced servers were PVE servers; because every one wanted to play the Night Elves.
As soon as TBC came out and soiled the horde with Blood elves; tons of people faction changed to Horde to play the new Blood elf race (2.0 series TBC)
Additionally I hope they throttle the addition of accounts to certain server's / factions as needed to control population growth.
Some interesting facts about original Vanilla; the PVP servers were usually close in Population being close enough to a 50/50 split that there were no real issues there for the most part.
The real imbalanced servers were PVE servers; because every one wanted to play the Night Elves.
As soon as TBC came out and soiled the horde with Blood elves; tons of people faction changed to Horde to play the new Blood elf race (2.0 series TBC)
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If you watch the interview about the history of WoW you will see they are pretty proud of their sharding technology developed for Legion's launch. I see no reason they wouldn't use the same for classic.
08/24/2018 08:23 PMPosted by DracarianIf you watch the interview about the history of WoW you will see they are pretty proud of their sharding technology developed for Legion's launch. I see no reason they wouldn't use the same for classic.
If you had of read any of the Classic WoW interviews you will see they are not going to be using Sharding technology as they know its something that the community overall does not want.
05/08/2018 01:33 PMPosted by WilliamsBrack is clear that using modern server architecture doesn’t mean that these Classic servers will have the same features that current World of Warcraft does. There won’t be cross-realm servers or Looking For Raid and Dungeon Finder automatic party matchmaking. There’s still a lot of questions about how the team will tackle it, but Brack says they’re committed to recreating an authentic Vanilla World of Warcraft experience.
"One of the tenets of Classic WoW is none of the cross-server realms and different [server] sharding options that we have available to us today. There’s a lot of desire on part of the community that this is something that they don’t want."
I suggest looking for the server popular streamers choose and go with that. They will probably be overcrowded and who knows how that will play out in classic where you would probably stand for 2 hours trying to complete one quest.
If you don't mind those issues, just go with what they do.
If you don't mind those issues, just go with what they do.
(This is more geared towards what Blizzard should do, not players.)
1. Either a separate sub or an up front box cost of 20$+. This will discourage retail players with no real interest in Classic from starting a character and artificially inflating the number of servers needed on launch.
2. A shared name database amongst 2+ servers, allowing easy server merges with no name contention when populations dip too low.
3. Eliminate design decisions that cause mass server exoduses, like releasing an expansion (TBC/WotLK) on new servers or FRESH servers.
4. If we are getting expansions, consider creating "vanilla-only" and "progression" server on launch. This avoids the creation of new servers for expansions, which would cause the server populations on existing servers to plummet with each expansion release.
5. The most important way to avoid a dead server... contribute to a positive community! The more satisfying the social experience is for everyone, the more word of mouth draws in new players. Vanilla was awesome because it had positive player growth throughout, which naturally staved off dead servers. Hopefully we can see positive player growth again beyond the initial launch.
1. Either a separate sub or an up front box cost of 20$+. This will discourage retail players with no real interest in Classic from starting a character and artificially inflating the number of servers needed on launch.
2. A shared name database amongst 2+ servers, allowing easy server merges with no name contention when populations dip too low.
3. Eliminate design decisions that cause mass server exoduses, like releasing an expansion (TBC/WotLK) on new servers or FRESH servers.
4. If we are getting expansions, consider creating "vanilla-only" and "progression" server on launch. This avoids the creation of new servers for expansions, which would cause the server populations on existing servers to plummet with each expansion release.
5. The most important way to avoid a dead server... contribute to a positive community! The more satisfying the social experience is for everyone, the more word of mouth draws in new players. Vanilla was awesome because it had positive player growth throughout, which naturally staved off dead servers. Hopefully we can see positive player growth again beyond the initial launch.
you cant. all the classic servers will be dead within a short period of time but enjoy the little time you have
[quote="207662699140"]If you watch the interview about the history of WoW you will see they are pretty proud of their sharding technology developed for Legion's launch. I see no reason they wouldn't use the same for classic.
If you had of read any of the Classic WoW interviews you will see they are not going to be using Sharding technology as they know its something that the community overall does not want.
Sharding the first 2 weeks would make the game playable at least. wonder if its a technology that they can use, but then turn off as the populations migrate to other zones.
Unless it’s just used for the first week or so, sharding would kill most interest in Classic.08/24/2018 08:23 PMPosted by DracarianIf you watch the interview about the history of WoW you will see they are pretty proud of their sharding technology developed for Legion's launch. I see no reason they wouldn't use the same for classic.
08/24/2018 08:19 PMPosted by HärländSome interesting facts about original Vanilla; the PVP servers were usually close in Population being close enough to a 50/50 split that there were no real issues there for the most part.
The real imbalanced servers were PVE servers; because every one wanted to play the Night Elves.
Odd, I found the opposite to be true, my launch server was never imbalanced back then, the worst one I remember was Cho'gall and it was pvp.
Honestly i dont remember any really bad ratios for awhile anyway.
There were twice as many Alliance as Horde overall during Vanilla. PvP servers had it less bad, but still bad. Obviously there were exceptions. I had the most fun playing Horde since the BG queues were short.08/24/2018 11:59 PMPosted by Studmuffyn08/24/2018 08:19 PMPosted by HärländSome interesting facts about original Vanilla; the PVP servers were usually close in Population being close enough to a 50/50 split that there were no real issues there for the most part.
The real imbalanced servers were PVE servers; because every one wanted to play the Night Elves.
Odd, I found the opposite to be true, my launch server was never imbalanced back then, the worst one I remember was Cho'gall and it was pvp.
Honestly i dont remember any really bad ratios for awhile anyway.
How about the fact that they said they wouldn't? I understand Blizzard isn't known for keeping their word but this is a red line for most Vanilla enthusiasts.08/24/2018 08:23 PMPosted by DracarianIf you watch the interview about the history of WoW you will see they are pretty proud of their sharding technology developed for Legion's launch. I see no reason they wouldn't use the same for classic.
Wait 2+ months then pick a server
Follow the streamers.
IMHO I don't seeing that being that big of issue this time around as I don't foresee them launching a huge amount of server as I said before maybe a fist full two fist full at best and growing from there is need be. Make no mistake they are not going into this thinking millions will play. I would bet they make each server type and one for each time zone within that server type.
08/24/2018 08:03 PMPosted by RainfiireI'm just wondering what would be the best strategy to avoid a dead server on Classic WoW.
I don't want to pick a server that starts off with a high population at launch. Then 2, 3, or 4 years from now it turns into a dead (low population) server.
So far, my strategy to NOT pick a "future dead server" is to wait, 2, 3, maybe even 6 months after classic launches to finally start playing. That way I can see which servers' population falls and which one's rises. And then I can choose the one with the high population.
But I also feel that my strategy might be a bad strategy by letting all the other players get ahead of me. And then I am playing the low level zones without any other players.
TLDR: I just deleted half my post but it's still too long. TLDR is below.
I'm just wondering what would be the best strategy to avoid a dead server on Classic WoW.
It depends heavily on the subscription model. If there is no additional cost for BFA players, if no separate sub, if no initial buy-in, expect most all servers to be nearly empty husks after a couple months.
If however the subs are kept separate, there is a much better chance of those with skin in the game (primarily those who played vanilla back in the day and are not tourists) remaining on the servers they choose.
08/24/2018 08:03 PMPosted by RainfiireI'm just wondering what would be the best strategy to avoid a dead server on Classic WoW.
The #1 cause of dead servers is Blizz allowing server transfers. If they don't do that, then servers will be fine. Some will be a little low, some will be a little high, but none will suffer from an exodus.
08/24/2018 09:00 PMPosted by Blurrzyou cant. all the classic servers will be dead within a short period of time but enjoy the little time you have
That has never happened in the history of wow, so I remain highly skeptical of your prediction
08/24/2018 11:59 PMPosted by StudmuffynOdd, I found the opposite to be true, my launch server was never imbalanced back then, the worst one I remember was Cho'gall and it was pvp.
Honestly i dont remember any really bad ratios for awhile anyway.
Faction imbalances really started in TBC as raiders transferred around to get access to high-end guilds, and they were really out of whack (as in "way too late to fix them") by LK.
In TBC, it was not uncommon for one faction to control Halaa 75% of the time. By LK, players were actively transferring to servers where they could have a shot at the WG raids. Our server imbalance was about 60/40 in TBC and 80/20 in LK.
08/25/2018 08:03 AMPosted by Parthena08/24/2018 09:00 PMPosted by Blurrzyou cant. all the classic servers will be dead within a short period of time but enjoy the little time you have
That has never happened in the history of wow, so I remain highly skeptical of your prediction
we have definitely had dead servers, some of them lasted for years before blizzard finally merged them