Just a hypothetical question. I know it would likely be a technical nightmare to manage.
So imagine Blizzard reveals two groups of realms.
One group (NO-SHARD) is labeled from Day 1 as never having sharding or dynamic respawns, or any other gimmick solutions - just the potential for login queues, lag, even a “world server” crash if population goes too high in an area.
The other group (SHARD) is labeled from Day 1 as having sharding, whether that is only used in the level 1-6 starting areas or the broader level 1-12 starting zones, or eventually gets used any time the population exceeds a safe number in an area.
Do you care enough that you’d roll on a SHARD or NO-SHARD realm specifically to get the experience you want? Which one? Would you only roll on a SHARD realm if it was guaranteed to never be used after 1-6 or 1-12, or does use of it later (such as major capital city, Blackrock Mountain, AQ event in Silithus) fine with you?
3 Likes
I want to play on a sharted server.
4 Likes
I would absolutely play on a NO-SHARD realm, for my part.
In the absence of such a choice, even if they use sharding all the time, I’ll play until and unless I discover it’s directly impacting gameplay for me.
15 Likes
I would prefer a (NO-SHARD) server my self. I am not the most up to date on the latest and greatest in technology my self. And login queues are not that big a deal.
5 Likes
I’ll be playing on one of the more populated servers. I’m not sure which server type that would be if both were offered.
IF I won the lottery I would buy Blizz and ban every one of you that create the “What IF” posts. See what I did there? #NoChages
5 Likes
Sharding in the starting zones, hands down the better, and actually playable, experience.
3 Likes
That would have to be a pretty hefty lottery.
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Haha, what a waste of money … but that’s about on par with how most lottery winners blow through their money.
7 Likes
I do care enough. I would play in the NO-SHARD zone and unironically be smugly content to do so, blissfully ignorant of other players on other servers forever and amen.
8 Likes
Sharded server, at least at release where it will probably be busy, but also in any of the zones where completing a quest is impeded by others…unless I am competing against the opposite faction on a pvp server where we can fight for the resources.
They will need to extremely limit the number of initial realms or sharing will eventually become mandatory to play classic.
No shard. Sharding is for tourists
16 Likes
No sharding.
I would rather deal with queues than sharding.
Then again, I am not concerned only about my own convenience, nor do I see all those other players in an MMO as nothing but obstacles in my way or random a-holes.
19 Likes
No sharding.
I’ll play anyway, but I’ll quit when I notice it. Nothing like a world fading out and back into existence to destroy any likeness of realism.
6 Likes
I would take the no-shard realm.
11 Likes
Very useful question from a respected member of the Classic Community - thank you for asking!
I would personally choose a NON-SHARDED server.
I saw first hand the other day the effect of the often linked YouTube video of the chap in the demo who was there by himself until invited into a group and many players magically appeared around him - whilst nowhere near as dramatic, my 2 bankers in the same Auction House in Stormwind (I have 2 accounts) were on simultaneously, one in a completely empty Auction House and the other in a very busy Auction House.
It bought home to me in a very real way that this might be something that happens whilst playing Classic, and it’s not the experience I would wish to have.
Whilst I recognise that the down side to this choice is the potential for some issues or inconvenience, I would prefer that over playing the game in a shard with few or no other players around.
8 Likes
I would love to see more server options that provide more choices for the playerbase, like sharded/unsharded servers. However, I doubt that Blizzard would ever introduce such a server option. Blizzard seems like a company that would want to insulate its customer base from any decisions that involve backend server technology, rather than gameplay altering options like RP/PvP/PvE.
If they did offer a choice, I’d 100% choose unsharded.
4 Likes
Its not a question I can answer because they have never even considered sharding anything but the starter areas for the first few weeks.
Thats all. So creating a question where they shard anything other than that is literally just making stuff up. Creating doomsday scenarios they have already said wont happen.
Assuming they do like they said, and I had a choice between sharded starting areas for the first few weeks and a server without them, I literally wouldnt give a crap. A few weeks versus the what… 3 years Ill be playnig on the server? Why would I even care enough to draw a distinction? Im not going to be in Naxx fuming like “REMEMBER 3 YEARS AGO WHEN I WAS LOOTING THAT LEVEL 2 WOLF CUB AND I WAS SHARDED?”
Cmon, get real.
1 Like