Thank you Sabetha, Dawnspirit, and Kolben for your thoughtful replies.
There are two ways to do Vanilla.
- Mishmash the most nostalgic patches for each of the important content or features into a static world.
- Run a progressive server, going from a starting patch to a final patch.
The second option could be done only once, or as a repeating cycle. The latter consequently complicates Blizzard’s choices. What happens to characters on reset? If not deleted, then is there still a need for a static server that maintains a final patch state? A good thread to discuss this latter option is here:
As for the sharding mention, I will respond to Dawnspirit.
Using sharding to alleviate crowding during the early leveling phase is not easier to get rid of later. What do they mean by later? Level 60? When instances become the main activity? If no one competes for mobs, or if there are rare opportunites to be picky about party members, then the intent of mitigating damage to community development is merely delayed. The damage could be worsened due to player expectation of resource abundance, which people fear will be an excuse for sharding permanency.
- Sharding hastens the server average growth rate for character level.
- Sharding inhibits player bonding and guild recruitment by preventing chance encounters.
We study how others play without thinking about it. We remember instances where another acted for or against our liking towards us or others. We are more amiable toward those who seem to frequently pass by. We avoid or compete with people who gave us reason to /rude. We inspect others. Sharding hides some of these opportunities.
Thank you for providing the video links here! 