Layer switching is the problem, not layering itself

[Jadsea-atiesh]

if it wasn’t for the ability to change layers there are many quests I would not have been able to complete.

[Rohias-lightbringer (Rohias)]

/tar (target)
/cast arcane shot

You’re welcome.

[Derka-sulfuras]

So a bunch of Uber-dorks with a bone to pick with layering made up a bunch of fake screen caps and fabricated stories about exploits everywhere? I’m shocked and amazed.

This is my shocked face.

[Lazzylove-tichondrius]

Full on 100% PR statement. Don’t believe this. Until they start banning people who exploited it I call BS.

[Fasciae-fairbanks]

Rest assured that there are not people running around with banks full of Thorium Crystals or Black Lotus.

Bwahahahaha

Thank you!

[Daperv-old-blanchy]

Confirmed exploit. Repercussions?

I sure hope so!

[Holycow-uldaman]

We’ve been closely monitoring the effect layering is having on economies and other aspects of the game, and many of the stories we see posted are wildly inaccurate. We’ve seen screenshots of banks full of rare crafting materials, which we’ve investigated and proved false.

Rest assured that there are not people running around with banks full of (Thorium) Arcane Crystals or Black Lotus.

I’m never trusting the internet again…

[anon79445180]

Excellent feedback.
Thank you!

[Oniana-lightnings-blade (Oniana)]

this is great news

[Hydra-grobbulus-664006]

I knew it all along. The Classic development team is nothing short of awesome. You love Classic as much as we do.

Now about those few that have already “abusively” exploited…

[anon27681781]

That doesn’t work because /who returns results from the entire realm

I can confirm this because I’ve been running Census for Pagle since launch. I highly doubt there’s 13,000 alliance on ONE layer at any given time.

Edit: See Pagle forum Census post for more info

[Baskervilles-blackwater-raiders]

I think the folks that spread this crap should be sanctioned.

[Ragnarcook-stalagg]

Its harder for me to trust ppl paid to do crowd control on forums.

[Elorael-bloodsail-buccaneers]

@Pazorax-1880

We’ve been monitoring players’ use of layers, and we agree that we should add a delay between subsequent layer transfers. Under the hood we have all the controls I talked about in the Reddit AMA before launch, a few secret weapons we haven’t discussed publicly, and we’re working on deploying some additional controls to further restrain layering from being exploitable.

While it’s great that you’ve seen this. The problem is that it’s already been abused despite the community asking for these limitations since Layering was announced. Just adding a delay won’t solve the issue either.

@Eloraell-moon-guard

Here are a few of my ideas:

1. Layer changes only happen at an Inn or City - This would prevent people from being able to switch layers while sitting on a node point by jumping from group to group. It wouldn’t interfere friends grouping up, because while you’d have to go back to an Inn, you’re not grouping for a second, so the % of time travelling would be minimal, and if you’re not even with the friends when you group, you’d have to travel past an inn or flight point anyway.
2. Default Layer binding - When you start the game, you are bound to a default layer ID. When you log out and log in, without being grouped, you return to that default layer every time. If a layer gets too full (e.g because it was assigned across the period of a day, then all the assigned people get logged in at once) then you may have your default layer changed next time you go into an Inn or City. That new default would remain your default. When you leave a group that caused a layer change, you would return to your default layer, when you enter an inn or city.
3. You can only change layers once every 10 minutes - Even if you group up, you can only change layers once every 10 minutes, except for returning to your default layer. This prevents people from hopping from layer to layer constantly. The only reason to group up should be to have friends play together, and if you keep changing friends every 5 minutes, are they really your friends?

The first point is relevant, as well, because especially on an RP server, immersion is broken when people disappear, and layer hopping should be a conscious effort, not an incidental action.

[Caelle-pagle]

If they were just concerned with crowd control they would just start banning and deleting posts rsther than relay information to the player base

[Frass-myzrael]

As I thought, a very few are screaming and exaggerating an issue that is very minor and not have any meaningful impact.

[Elorael-bloodsail-buccaneers]

a very few are screaming and exaggerating an issue that is very minor and not have any meaningful impact.

People having hundreds of lotus already isn’t really insignificant.

[Puffymuffins-scilla]

Another popular theory is that you can determine your current layer by doing a /who in a capital city, and comparing the results against the /who your friend does. That doesn’t work because /who returns results from the entire realm, not just from your layer, and if the result set is too large it truncates the results before sorting them. This means every player gets different results, but those differences in result set have nothing to do with which layer you’re on. This has led some people to claim that they’ve discovered dozens of layers per realm, but that claim is completely false .

This is a striaght up lie.
Do /who felwood
and then do
/who z-“felwood”
while you are in felwood

neither result is >50 results but both return different results. One query returns a single layer results, one returns all layer results.

[Holycow-uldaman]

Do /who felwood

Doesn’t that also return players and guilds with “felwood” in their names?

One query returns a single layer results, one returns all layer results.

Do you see all the results of the first query included in the results of the second query?

[Holypriest-netherwind]

Yes, but it’s rather obvious when it does so.