Overcrowded private servers sound like a trash gameplay experience.
Even on Defias Pillager with layering in some cases some zones were empty and some were massively overcrowded (like Westfall). The overcrowded zones are far less fun to play in. Waiting in line for respawns isn’t a good MMO experience to most people.
Of course you don’t want to make servers too large, a cap of 5k instead of the original 2.5k is perfectly fine.
And it happened when we starting sharding servers in MoP just like it happened in TBC classic with permanent layering. History repeats itself.
It’s a necessary sacrifice that blizzard have thankfully said they will implement.
But it happens significantly less, and you don’t tend to remember people. That core vanilla audience wanted that old school feel and is why they wanted classic servers in the first place. You have retail if you don’t want that.
History hasn’t really backed up any of your points. Classic vanilla had substantially more healthy servers than TBC and WOTLK classic, and destruction of servers has its origins in permanent layering.
By the same token, servers got worse and worse over the course of retail as sharding got introduced.
Blizzard have refused to merge servers to fix the couple of dead realms, because they would rather profit selling you a transfer. If the handful of dead servers were merged, there would be no problems that would justify sharding and layers. Blizzard just has histroically refused for $$$.
Biggest problem with layering for me:
All the good names are already taken on defias 
Group up for quests.
And dynamic respawns are insane. When I was on DP (before I quit due to layers creating an empty world) there was very little quest ‘competition’. Which is a silly expression to begin with. It’s an mmo. Players should be an asset, not a liability.
As far as SoD….what’s the hurry? Are people really still obsessed with leveling as quickly and optimally as possible? To me that’s missing the point of this Season.
False, entirely. Faction balance died way before that on many servers.
Wintergrasp on Illidan had barely any Alliance in real WotLK and they always had huge stacks of the buff.
Cataclysm was even worse. You hardly ever saw any Alliance anywhere. After that we had won the war apparently and they were just nowhere to be seen again.
That’s more of a personal thing. Some of us don’t want to make new friends with randoms anymore and it has nothing to do with server size or layering.
You have era if you want to live in a small community vanilla WoW environment forever. They only have like 20k total players across all their servers where WotLKC and DF have 400k+ each.
Faction balance was entirely dead on most servers before sharding was a thing.
Cross-server zones was their first attempt to fix faction balance out in the world. That means they actually tried to fix a problem that had been ongoing for YEARS on many servers. It did not create the problem.
Actual server merging is stupid because of the also bad character naming system, but they do connected realms now.
Purists tend to hate cross-server grouping and zones on top of sharding and layering, but they’re all great tools for players with friends across several servers as well as for creating better world gameplay experiences.
This is kind of one of those things we just have to live with. Classic will never be able to emulate 2004 wow because MMOs are no longer growing. In 2004 a server was kept alive by a constant influx of new players. One thing we can be certain of now is that we will lose a significant portion of the population within the first month of launch, and will continue to lose players as the server progresses.
Trying to emulate vanilla servers would just leave us with a bunch of dead servers. That results in server merges, which is an equally terrible thing to do.
A handleful of servers? Yes, blizzards fault for not merging servers and not prohibitting transfers.
Not true. World pvp has like 80% of all I did in original cataclysm, it was an extremely boring expansion and I only kept entertained by resurrecting old school pvp. My server was roughly 50/50 and there were many at the time that also were. There was a few with bad balance but that was the exception not the rule.
It sounds like you fundumentally don’t enjoy vanilla or mmos in general. Great thing for you is you have retail which caters to the solo action adventure gamer like yourself.
Era has layers, which made sense when it was dead, less so now that its repopulated.
Not true. Tons of faction balanced servers through cataclysm, and then sharding comes in MoP.
This is such a pathetically dumb excuse. So the dead servers that did get merged in wrath should have stayed dead because someone has to put a funny letter in their name now? Yeah an extremely small number of people will have to change their names, this is not even the slightest of a big deal.
They are great tools for people who don’t enjoy mmos and social games but for someone reason want to turn a game designed around those principles into a solo adventure.
That’s nice for your server, but it’s not the reality on all or even a majority of servers and when you try to do oldschool server model, you’re sacrificing the experience of many players for a supposed improvement for a minority. An improvement that’s really just a fantasy of the anti-layering fanatics.
Illidan was one of the highest pop servers at the time and there were hardly any Alliance left on the server during Cataclysm.
Great thing is you have era where the minority of the playerbase that enjoys that cult-like endless vanilla experience can have it forever.
I highly doubt all or even most era servers have layers. There aren’t enough people on most of them to need it.
Data: https://ironforge.pro/population/era/
No it’s a failure of yours to understand connected realms are essentially a server merger and the current way they go about that.
Cross server grouping is by far a more socially positive feature where purists suggestions are actually all anti-social. I can actually play with friends no matter what server they’re on = more social, not less.
This is a lie you tell yourself, but it’s not the reality of tens of thousands of players who were playing at the time. Only a minority of the playerbase was playing on close ratio servers in 2011.
Pasted the list for US servers, the horde/alliance ratio is the parenthetical next to the server size:
This is how it determined population at the time:
- Population - amount of level 85 characters that meet any of the two conditions:
- The character is from a guild and the guild killed something in Tier 11 content
- The character killed something in Tier 11 content
> Realm Type Language Rank Score Population* TZ
> US-Illidan PvP en 1 4638.15 21,152 (1 / 0.07) -05:00
> US-Frostmourne PvP en 2 3406.31 15,878 (1 / 0.80) +10:00
> US-Mal'Ganis PvP en 3 2022.39 16,760 (1 / 0.04) -05:00
> US-Tichondrius PvP en 4 1909.93 14,421 (1 / 0.78) -07:00
> US-Proudmoore Normal (PvE) en 5 1686.95 13,520 (0.39 / 1) -07:00
> US-Stormreaver PvP en 6 1556.21 11,997 (0.93 / 1) -05:00
> US-Arthas PvP en 7 1527.05 14,108 (1 / 0.35) -04:00
> US-Mannoroth PvP en 8 1477.08 12,901 (0.66 / 1) -04:00
> US-Deathwing PvP en 9 1464.73 9,484 (1 / 0.40) -06:00
> US-Lightbringer Normal (PvE) en 10 1451.11 11,884 (0.22 / 1) -07:00
> US-Korgath PvP en 11 1446.07 14,509 (0.81 / 1) -05:00
> US-Kilrogg Normal (PvE) en 12 1403.68 9,332 (0.93 / 1) -07:00
> US-Blackrock PvP en 13 1372.03 17,709 (1 / 0.26) -07:00
> US-Sen'Jin Normal (PvE) en 14 1356.65 7,623 (0.97 / 1) -05:00
> US-Alterac Mountains PvP en 15 1341.04 7,673 (0.36 / 1) -04:00
> US-Cho'gall PvP en 16 1289.02 9,830 (1 / 0.05) -05:00
> US-Crushridge PvP en 17 1280.90 7,236 (1 / 0.75) -07:00
> US-Ner'zhul PvP en 18 1254.26 14,230 (1 / 0.79) -07:00
> US-Ysondre PvP en 19 1193.67 4,396 (1 / 0.42) -04:00
> US-Executus PvP en 20 1164.20 7,961 (1 / 0.61) -04:00
> US-Kil'Jaeden PvP en 21 1158.92 16,764 (1 / 0.76) -07:00
> US-Burning Blade PvP en 22 1003.35 10,591 (1 / 0.50) -04:00
> US-Jubei'Thos PvP en 23 996.78 12,463 (1 / 0.38) +10:00
> US-Whisperwind Normal (PvE) en 24 994.39 8,609 (0.49 / 1) -05:00
> US-Spirestone PvP en 25 961.62 7,688 (1 / 0.86) -07:00
> US-Frostwolf PvP en 26 958.68 10,359 (1 / 0.64) -07:00
> US-Doomhammer Normal (PvE) en 27 945.83 7,818 (0.45 / 1) -06:00
> US-Sargeras PvP en 28 938.45 15,817 (0.31 / 1) -05:00
> US-Thaurissan PvP en 29 926.85 10,713 (1 / 0.04) +10:00
> US-Ragnaros PvP en 30 898.83 14,316 (1 / 0.53) -05:00
> US-Argent Dawn RP en 31 861.14 7,935 (0.84 / 1) -04:00
> US-Magtheridon PvP en 32 813.54 10,849 (1 / 0.77) -04:00
> US-Barthilas PvP en 33 794.22 14,573 (1 / 0.48) +10:00
> US-Black Dragonflight PvP en 34 785.00 9,727 (1 / 0.33) -04:00
> US-Lightning's Blade PvP en 35 757.93 9,192 (1 / 0.41) -04:00
> US-Malfurion Normal (PvE) en 36 750.31 7,084 (1 / 0.89) -05:00
> US-Warsong PvP en 37 714.35 15,440 (1 / 0.25) -04:00
> US-Kel'Thuzad PvP en 38 710.75 15,495 (0.34 / 1) -06:00
> US-Destromath PvP en 39 703.21 8,179 (1 / 0.45) -07:00
> US-Mug'thol PvP en 40 698.76 9,476 (1 / 0.09) -05:00
> US-Mok'Nathal Normal (PvE) en 41 677.45 4,453 (0.50 / 1) -05:00
> US-Windrunner Normal (PvE) en 42 664.53 7,176 (0.19 / 1) -07:00
> US-Shattered Hand PvP en 43 648.02 9,617 (1 / 0.53) -04:00
> US-Laughing Skull PvP en 44 642.63 9,616 (1 / 0.62) -05:00
> US-Ysera Normal (PvE) en 45 614.31 8,361 (0.92 / 1) -04:00
> US-Zul'jin Normal (PvE) en 46 611.24 12,525 (1 / 0.96) -04:00
> US-Dragonmaw PvP en 47 600.98 9,715 (1 / 0.48) -07:00
> US-Shadowmoon PvP en 48 597.34 9,667 (1 / 0.85) -04:00
> US-Stormrage Normal (PvE) en 49 576.51 13,515 (0.11 / 1) -04:00
> US-Stonemaul PvP en 50 564.27 6,524 (0.83 / 1) -07:00
> US-Scilla PvP en 51 561.09 6,983 (0.70 / 1) -04:00
> US-Firetree PvP en 52 561.03 6,212 (1 / 0.47) -04:00
> US-Turalyon Normal (PvE) en 53 556.16 9,589 (1 / 0.72) -04:00
> US-Hyjal Normal (PvE) en 54 543.41 10,087 (1 / 0.50) -07:00
> US-Cenarius Normal (PvE) en 55 538.84 9,046 (0.25 / 1) -07:00
> US-Frostmane PvP en 56 525.02 7,948 (1 / 0.89) -05:00
> US-Gorefiend PvP en 57 521.40 6,786 (1 / 0.70) -04:00
> US-WildHammer PvP en 58 511.88 6,457 (1 / 0.54) -05:00
> US-Eredar PvP en 59 482.16 6,891 (1 / 0.74) -04:00
> US-Icecrown Normal (PvE) en 60 479.29 8,222 (0.51 / 1) -06:00
> US-Maelstrom RP-PvP en 61 477.82 6,986 (1 / 0.38) -05:00
> US-Lightninghoof RP-PvP en 62 472.38 6,474 (1 / 0.67) -05:00
> US-Area 52 Normal (PvE) en 63 469.54 13,176 (1 / 0.07) -04:00
> US-Eonar Normal (PvE) en 64 454.31 7,910 (0.63 / 1) -04:00
> US-Azgalor PvP en 65 451.70 8,065 (1 / 0.67) -05:00
> US-Dreadmaul PvP en 66 448.70 8,695 (1 / 0.49) +10:00
> US-Dalaran Normal (PvE) en 67 442.64 7,706 (0.50 / 1) -04:00
> US-Bleeding Hollow PvP en 68 440.65 10,909 (1 / 0.80) -04:00
> US-Dark Iron PvP en 69 439.19 8,373 (0.94 / 1) -07:00
> US-Dragonblight Normal (PvE) en 70 430.07 7,613 (0.52 / 1) -07:00
> US-Malorne PvP en 71 418.79 5,041 (1 / 0.29) -05:00
> US-Eldre'Thalas Normal (PvE) en 72 410.20 5,437 (0.53 / 1) -04:00
> US-Bonechewer PvP en 73 406.03 8,481 (1 / 0.56) -07:00
> US-Ghostlands Normal (PvE) en 74 403.69 5,259 (1 / 0.83) -05:00
> US-Burning Legion PvP en 75 402.21 9,147 (1 / 0.67) -05:00
> US-Gurubashi PvP en 76 387.54 9,721 (1 / 0.40) -07:00
> US-Garona Normal (PvE) en 77 378.34 6,878 (0.48 / 1) -05:00
> US-Dunemaul PvP en 78 376.31 6,510 (1 / 0.47) -07:00
> US-Blackhand Normal (PvE) en 79 375.25 8,417 (1 / 0.78) -05:00
> US-Baelgun Normal (PvE) en 80 370.06 6,529 (0.80 / 1) -07:00
> US-Nagrand Normal (PvE) en 81 367.62 7,847 (1 / 0.91) +10:00
> US-Arygos Normal (PvE) en 82 365.99 7,289 (0.57 / 1) -04:00
> US-Ursin PvP en 83 365.15 3,989 (1 / 0.40) -07:00
> US-Twisting Nether RP-PvP en 84 353.52 6,152 (1 / 0.37) -05:00
> US-Moon Guard RP en 85 352.48 7,070 (1 / 0.61) -05:00
> US-Archimonde PvP en 86 351.53 6,058 (1 / 0.50) -05:00
> US-Antonidas Normal (PvE) en 87 347.42 5,843 (0.41 / 1) -07:00
> US-Boulderfist PvP en 88 340.98 8,457 (1 / 0.43) -07:00
> US-Moonrunner Normal (PvE) en 89 332.82 5,059 (0.35 / 1) -07:00
> US-Andorhal PvP en 90 329.22 4,110 (1 / 0.35) -04:00
> US-Saurfang Normal (PvE) en 91 324.12 7,237 (0.78 / 1) +10:00
> US-Stormscale PvP en 92 316.16 7,636 (1 / 0.63) -07:00
> US-Tortheldrin PvP en 93 308.35 3,501 (1 / 0.09) -04:00
> US-Gilneas Normal (PvE) en 94 305.59 6,383 (0.41 / 1) -04:00
> US-Staghelm Normal (PvE) en 95 297.60 5,999 (0.87 / 1) -05:00
> US-Medivh Normal (PvE) en 96 296.77 6,876 (0.23 / 1) -04:00
> US-Khaz'goroth Normal (PvE) en 97 293.01 8,974 (0.78 / 1) +10:00
> US-Lethon PvP en 98 288.50 4,041 (1 / 0.49) -07:00
> US-Uldaman Normal (PvE) en 99 283.19 6,373 (0.99 / 1) -04:00
> US-Khadgar Normal (PvE) en 100 282.85 6,281 (0.50 / 1) -04:00
> US-Alexstrasza Normal (PvE) en 101 279.57 6,481 (0.44 / 1) -05:00
> US-Greymane Normal (PvE) en 102 279.09 7,478 (0.54 / 1) -05:00
> US-Drenden Normal (PvE) en 103 279.04 5,600 (0.37 / 1) -04:00
> US-Llane Normal (PvE) en 104 277.66 6,481 (0.60 / 1) -04:00
> US-Spinebreaker PvP en 105 271.35 7,120 (1 / 0.23) -07:00
> US-Hellscream Normal (PvE) en 106 270.64 7,679 (0.39 / 1) -05:00
> US-Anvilmar Normal (PvE) en 107 265.60 5,165 (0.42 / 1) -07:00
> US-Akama PvP en 108 263.12 6,537 (1 / 0.58) -05:00
> US-The Venture Co RP-PvP en 109 259.10 4,413 (1 / 0.72) -07:00
> US-Rexxar Normal (PvE) en 110 255.53 6,431 (1 / 0.95) -05:00
> US-Skullcrusher PvP en 111 255.28 9,425 (1 / 0.42) -04:00
> US-Shandris Normal (PvE) en 112 254.90 5,365 (1 / 0.99) -04:00
> US-Thrall Normal (PvE) en 113 254.34 10,238 (1 / 0.21) -04:00
> US-Kargath Normal (PvE) en 114 250.81 6,555 (0.59 / 1) -04:00
> US-Dethecus PvP en 115 248.77 3,441 (0.84 / 1) -07:00
> US-Elune Normal (PvE) en 116 245.44 7,463 (0.15 / 1) -04:00
> US-Aegwynn PvP en 117 244.86 3,667 (1 / 0.74) -05:00
> US-Darkspear PvP en 118 241.39 10,087 (1 / 0.89) -06:00
> US-Duskwood Normal (PvE) en 119 239.50 6,183 (1 / 0.86) -04:00
> US-Silvermoon Normal (PvE) en 120 237.22 7,812 (1 / 0.98) -07:00
> US-Shu'halo Normal (PvE) en 121 231.59 4,221 (0.93 / 1) -07:00
> US-Caelestrasz Normal (PvE) en 122 230.64 7,834 (0.81 / 1) +10:00
> US-Bloodhoof Normal (PvE) en 123 227.63 7,846 (0.87 / 1) -04:00
> US-Aggramar Normal (PvE) en 124 221.79 6,856 (0.45 / 1) -05:00
> US-The Forgotten Coast PvP en 125 221.02 5,597 (1 / 0.24) -04:00
> US-Thunderlord PvP en 126 219.17 6,659 (0.62 / 1) -05:00
> US-Kael'thas Normal (PvE) en 127 217.70 5,437 (1 / 0.95) -05:00
> US-Dawnbringer Normal (PvE) en 128 217.00 5,400 (0.96 / 1) -05:00
> US-Velen Normal (PvE) en 129 213.52 5,012 (0.97 / 1) -07:00
> US-Undermine Normal (PvE) en 130 210.85 4,862 (0.40 / 1) -04:00
> US-Quel'Thalas PvP en 131 209.66 7,772 (0.68 / 1) -05:00
> US-Borean Tundra Normal (PvE) en 132 207.72 5,268 (0.74 / 1) -05:00
> US-Zuluhed PvP en 133 204.35 3,637 (1 / 0.67) -04:00
> US-Draenor Normal (PvE) en 134 201.65 6,477 (0.45 / 1) -07:00
> US-Suramar Normal (PvE) en 135 201.25 5,548 (0.55 / 1) -07:00
> US-Muradin Normal (PvE) en 136 198.20 5,263 (0.45 / 1) -05:00
> US-Gorgonnash PvP en 137 196.59 6,671 (0.72 / 1) -07:00
> US-Dalvengyr PvP en 138 196.34 3,384 (0.65 / 1) -04:00
> US-Dath'Remar Normal (PvE) en 139 196.16 8,019 (0.58 / 1) +10:00
> US-Emerald Dream RP-PvP en 140 190.84 9,305 (1 / 0.89) -05:00
> US-Onyxia PvP en 141 183.19 2,197 (1 / 0.23) -07:00
> US-Nathrezim PvP en 142 179.24 5,230 (1 / 0.58) -06:00
> US-Durotan Normal (PvE) en 143 179.11 6,481 (0.60 / 1) -04:00
> US-Daggerspine PvP en 144 177.23 5,917 (1 / 0.31) -07:00
> US-Lothar Normal (PvE) en 145 177.13 6,117 (0.45 / 1) -04:00
> US-Bronzebeard Normal (PvE) en 146 175.24 6,288 (0.43 / 1) -07:00
> US-Bloodscalp PvP en 147 174.23 6,101 (1 / 0.31) -06:00
> US-Arathor Normal (PvE) en 148 172.86 5,194 (0.51 / 1) -07:00
> US-Madoran Normal (PvE) en 149 168.79 5,060 (0.55 / 1) -05:00
> US-Nazjatar PvP en 150 155.96 5,527 (1 / 0.36) -07:00
> US-Jaedenar PvP en 151 149.61 3,219 (1 / 0.37) -04:00
> US-Maiev PvP en 152 148.02 5,062 (1 / 0.54) -07:00
> US-Shadowsong Normal (PvE) en 153 146.96 6,293 (0.55 / 1) -07:00
> US-Azjol-Nerub Normal (PvE) en 154 146.63 6,631 (0.61 / 1) -06:00
> US-Malygos Normal (PvE) en 155 141.76 5,669 (0.40 / 1) -05:00
> US-Terenas Normal (PvE) en 156 141.67 5,216 (0.45 / 1) -06:00
> US-Balnazzar PvP en 157 141.59 2,570 (1 / 0.40) -05:00
> US-Aerie Peak Normal (PvE) en 158 139.92 9,271 (0.17 / 1) -07:00
> US-Runetotem Normal (PvE) en 159 139.86 6,261 (1 / 0.50) -05:00
> US-Bladefist Normal (PvE) en 160 138.16 5,364 (0.53 / 1) -07:00
> US-Alleria Normal (PvE) en 161 132.16 8,269 (0.23 / 1) -05:00
> US-Altar of Storms PvP en 162 131.73 4,625 (1 / 0.46) -04:00
> US-Aman'Thul Normal (PvE) en 163 131.60 7,566 (0.44 / 1) +10:00
> US-Earthen Ring RP en 164 130.56 8,977 (1 / 0.58) -04:00
> US-Uldum Normal (PvE) en 165 130.04 6,149 (0.71 / 1) -07:00
> US-Misha Normal (PvE) en 166 129.91 4,667 (0.55 / 1) -07:00
> US-Drakkari PvP en 167 128.37 6,162 (1 / 0.68) -05:00
> US-Nordrassil Normal (PvE) en 168 125.67 5,311 (1 / 0.88) -07:00
> US-Exodar Normal (PvE) en 169 125.15 5,761 (0.69 / 1) -04:00
> US-Eitrigg Normal (PvE) en 170 123.47 6,135 (0.58 / 1) -05:00
> US-Korialstrasz Normal (PvE) en 171 122.64 4,835 (0.37 / 1) -07:00
> US-Anetheron PvP en 172 119.99 3,503 (1 / 0.72) -04:00
> US-Winterhoof Normal (PvE) en 173 119.90 4,439 (1 / 0.94) -05:00
> US-Gul'dan PvP en 174 118.79 2,869 (1 / 0.16) -05:00
> US-Drak'Tharon PvP en 175 118.73 3,306 (1 / 0.32) -05:00
> US-Kalecgos PvP en 176 118.68 3,735 (1 / 0.41) -07:00
> US-Detheroc PvP en 177 118.20 4,362 (1 / 0.27) -05:00
> US-Garrosh Normal (PvE) en 178 117.22 5,473 (1 / 0.57) -04:00
> US-Trollbane Normal (PvE) en 179 117.06 6,093 (1 / 0.92) -04:00
> US-Uther Normal (PvE) en 180 116.77 5,847 (0.63 / 1) -07:00
> US-Perenolde Normal (PvE) en 181 115.99 5,326 (0.41 / 1) -06:00
> US-Thunderhorn Normal (PvE) en 182 112.88 6,440 (0.77 / 1) -05:00
> US-Fenris Normal (PvE) en 183 111.20 4,454 (1 / 0.95) -04:00
> US-Khaz Modan Normal (PvE) en 184 110.54 5,613 (0.35 / 1) -05:00
> US-Ravencrest Normal (PvE) en 185 108.04 4,335 (0.39 / 1) -05:00
> US-Vashj PvP en 186 107.37 3,163 (1 / 0.37) -07:00
> US-Azuremyst Normal (PvE) en 187 104.90 5,810 (0.70 / 1) -07:00
> US-Scarlet Crusade RP en 188 104.88 5,077 (0.54 / 1) -05:00
> US-Echo Isles Normal (PvE) en 189 104.20 5,137 (0.62 / 1) -07:00
> US-Norgannon Normal (PvE) en 190 104.13 4,209 (0.59 / 1) -04:00
> US-Anub'arak PvP en 191 102.49 2,814 (1 / 0.18) -04:00
> US-Draka Normal (PvE) en 192 102.47 5,587 (0.74 / 1) -05:00
> US-Haomarush PvP en 193 102.36 3,373 (1 / 0.58) -04:00
> US-Terokkar Normal (PvE) en 194 101.24 4,880 (1 / 0.89) -05:00
> US-Blackwing Lair PvP en 195 100.66 2,707 (1 / 0.21) -07:00
> US-Wyrmrest Accord RP en 196 100.07 4,707 (0.94 / 1) -07:00
> US-Thorium Brotherhood RP en 197 96.26 3,128 (1 / 0.81) -05:00
> US-Silver Hand RP en 198 94.83 5,054 (0.44 / 1) -07:00
> US-Shattered Halls PvP en 199 94.44 3,694 (1 / 0.72) -07:00
> US-Cenarion Circle PvP en 200 94.29 5,056 (0.68 / 1) -07:00
> US-Rivendare PvP en 201 94.21 3,273 (1 / 0.14) -07:00
> US-Feathermoon PvP en 202 94.12 6,108 (0.78 / 1) -07:00
> US-Zangarmarsh Normal (PvE) en 203 93.53 5,217 (0.49 / 1) -06:00
> US-Hakkar PvP en 204 93.51 3,238 (1 / 0.96) -05:00
> US-Demon Soul PvP en 205 88.54 3,250 (1 / 0.07) -04:00
> US-Blood Furnace PvP en 206 86.25 2,717 (1 / 0.10) -05:00
> US-Ravenholdt RP-PvP en 207 86.23 5,312 (1 / 0.45) -04:00
> US-Skywall Normal (PvE) en 208 85.03 6,441 (0.56 / 1) -07:00
> US-Kul Tiras Normal (PvE) en 209 84.22 5,070 (0.86 / 1) -05:00
> US-Blade's Edge Normal (PvE) en 210 82.96 5,004 (0.88 / 1) -07:00
> US-Gundrak PvP en 211 82.79 4,441 (1 / 0.83) +10:00
> US-Quel'dorei Normal (PvE) en 212 80.87 4,461 (1 / 0.97) -05:00
> US-Hydraxis Normal (PvE) en 213 79.78 4,452 (0.87 / 1) -05:00
> US-Azshara PvP en 214 75.91 2,009 (1 / 0.37) -05:00
> US-Steamwheedle Cartel RP en 215 75.80 4,930 (0.84 / 1) -04:00
> US-Cairne Normal (PvE) en 216 74.59 5,313 (0.63 / 1) -05:00
> US-Vek'nilash Normal (PvE) en 217 74.34 4,060 (0.49 / 1) -05:00
> US-Nazgrel Normal (PvE) en 218 65.82 4,593 (0.69 / 1) -04:00
> US-Tanaris Normal (PvE) en 219 63.02 4,738 (0.63 / 1) -04:00
> US-Gnomeregan Normal (PvE) en 220 59.53 4,538 (0.59 / 1) -07:00
> US-Smolderthorn PvP en 221 58.94 3,168 (1 / 0.22) -04:00
> US-The Underbog PvP en 222 57.95 3,239 (1 / 0.58) -05:00
> US-Grizzly Hills Normal (PvE) en 223 57.13 4,103 (0.33 / 1) -05:00
> US-Shadow Council Normal (PvE) en 224 56.71 4,252 (0.99 / 1) -06:00
> US-Galakrond Normal (PvE) en 225 54.29 4,081 (0.32 / 1) -07:00
> US-Nesingwary Normal (PvE) en 226 52.02 4,537 (0.65 / 1) -05:00
> US-Fizzcrank Normal (PvE) en 227 50.80 4,851 (0.78 / 1) -05:00
> US-Chromaggus PvP en 228 50.77 2,340 (1 / 0.16) -05:00
> US-Agamaggan PvP en 229 50.50 2,146 (1 / 0.67) -05:00
> US-Blackwater Raiders RP en 230 50.47 3,438 (0.71 / 1) -07:00
> US-Coilfang PvP en 231 49.72 2,818 (1 / 0.32) -07:00
> US-Farstriders RP en 232 49.63 3,945 (0.43 / 1) -05:00
> US-Sisters of Elune RP en 233 49.61 3,385 (1 / 0.65) -05:00
> US-Garithos PvP en 234 49.33 3,117 (1 / 0.69) -05:00
> US-Sentinels RP en 235 47.95 3,714 (0.92 / 1) -07:00
> US-Kirin Tor PvP en 236 47.86 4,710 (0.46 / 1) -05:00
> US-Dentarg PvP en 237 47.63 3,362 (1 / 0.53) -04:00
> US-Auchindoun PvP en 238 40.33 2,767 (0.91 / 1) -04:00
> US-Drak'thul PvP en 239 38.40 2,551 (0.83 / 1) -05:00
> US-Darrowmere PvP en 240 31.85 2,732 (0.43 / 1) -07:00
> US-The Scryers PvP en 241 31.82 3,123 (0.58 / 1) -07:00edit:
It’s annoying to count, but I counted 70 of 241 servers having a ratio of 1 to .7 or better. That’s not even 30% of servers being faction balanced (if 1 to .7 can even be called balanced). Only 3 of the top 10 had that ratio or higher.
Congrats to the uldaman and shadow council servers I guess with their 1 to .99 ratio. Only ~10k players between them so only around 10k US players in 2011 actually had nearly perfect faction balance. Oops I missed Shandris, so 15k.
FTFY
The die hard vanilla fans and nostalrious crowd that got us classic DO NOT want layering, and never have. The vast majority of pro-layering people are from retail, who are 100% irrelevant to any stakes in classic.
Connected realms effectively become layers eventually, and they have the issue where you can create characters of different factions on a different realm while being on the same cluster, which is a serious problem for era.
Cross server grouping goes against the entire spirit of classic and everything it stands for, the vast, vast majority of the classic community want nothing to do with it.
The stats you are giving are extremely mixed actually. And this problem is moot thankfully due to the faction queue blizzard finally came to their senses on.
Took you a week to respond and you posted nonsense that has no basis in reality.
Just no.
They actually demonstrate most servers were not faction balanced with the most popular servers heavily one-sided. You ignore the experience of the majority and pretend the small number of faction balanced servers represent the majority.
Throughout WoWs history most PvP servers did not maintain faction balance. Many lost it early on. Cross-faction zones and eventually sharding in War Mode was the only real attempt to bring faction balance back to PvP zones.
Layering is the solution to mega/dead servers.
The twisting of the concept of paying to win (giving your character an otherwise unobtainable advantage over others because you used your credit card) into being a catch all for “store purchases I don’t like” is one of the most offensively sad troll bits.
DOZENS OF YOU! DOZENS!!!
I love heavy layering just not inside cities. I want to see bustling cities. But I’m pretty much over competing with 50 other people for mobs that have a 10% chance to drop a quest item and only spawn every 10 minutes.
Looking at you Durotar tigers.
I don’t stare at the forums all day.
Would this be nonsense with no basis in reality? hmmm
It is very mixed, so its not true that “blah blah every server is one-sided”, you are making the opposite extreme claim.
What was needed was faction queue. Sharding was the nail in the coffin that turned every realm one-sided.
Not true, most servers early on did, and it was a very slow shift over time due to blizzards negligence on merging servers. Server populations shift because blizzard neglects dead realms and people transfer where the most people are to reduce their chances of spending more money, regardless of weather they enjoy a medium server. The crux of the issue is blizzard forces players to pay money to solve a problem they created by not merging servers when neccessary.
People keep on slamming mega servers and layering, but fact is that close community feel etc is dead. Players now don’t have the time to spend hours every day online. It’s why raid logging exists. And with people logging in and out 6 hours a week, the world will feel dead most the time without it being a mega server.
If Blizzard makes raiding a 3-5 days a week for 3-4 hours thing thing again SoD will be DoA. People just don’t have the time anymore.
Layering is necessary because of mega servers, and the respawn times.
With the push for PVP, layering is the best thing that can happen for those that want a good battle. In the old days, one side would get a big advantage and everyone on the other would leave. Is that what people actually want? I’d much rather have like 100vs100 per shard or however they manage it so that it’s always interesting and hopefully has the action moving around instead of just a hand full of choke points.
This is copypasta that is repeated for anything and everything unique to classic, towards things such as this which have zero connection to playtime.
On a medium server you can make your friend group and join a guild and play all the same content taking the same amount of time as you would on a high pop server. Its only a problem on low pop realms, which is blizzards responsibility to merge and not sell a solution with transfers.
High pop servers only reduce playtime if you are doing classic as a solo gamer and refuse to join a guild and find your dedicated friend group. Classic is not designed for solo play, this is a retail mindset that belongs in retail and caters exactly to players such as yourself, yet for some reason you want to transfer retail philosophy to classic.
Also, people always tout this as if adults didnt play original vanilla, and as if all adults have the same amount of playtime. You are projecting your own situation among the playerbase and/or your personal group, and to be frank most people who use this argument substantially exagerate the amount of time it actually takes to do some stuff in the game legitimately. You don’t have to dedicate ridiculous amounts of time into the game to clear everything playing legitimately, unless you cry yourself to sleep without a 99 parse and don’t do everything week 1 with full bis.
Not true. Original vanilla was amazing when you could recognize people of the opposite factions and form rivalries, and people were generally well known and could make a name for themselves. Quality experience was sacrificed for quantity; cross-realm was a cancer that slowly transformed WoW from an mmo to an arcade game.
Ill take layers over 5+ hour queue times.
By the gods, no. Tremendous servers give infinite anonymity to horrible players and people. This is a terrible idea.
Hope you all enjoy players gaming the system as always. Alliance take odd layers, Horde take even. Much brave pvp action to follow.
Help me out here.
I lost my bingo card.
Opie is Lemonfont, right?