And the assumption was, “you think you do , but you don’t”. A lot of servers will not die off and we will be stuck with many servers way over what the cap should be.
My answer to the problem we face is this. By this time we should know what the servers cap should be in a perfect world. Someone has the numbers. Lets say 5k is the best number you would want. Set each servers cap at 6.5-7k without sharding and let the ship sail. Open as many servers as it takes. I mean you can pretty much say their will be 1 million resubs just for classic meaning 15 million dollars. Then when the dust settles offer a 1 time server transfer for free, better yet an account transfer. I would say this should be the phase 2 deadline they are claiming to remove layering. On the truly dead servers force the move. All that is better than layering.
If it required a separate subscription, yeah I think you’d have a point. But I imagine there’ll be a lot of people from modern trying out Classic at first.
I mean I agree that a cap would be ideal, but at the same time that doesn’t solve the bottleneck issue at the start. That’s the whole issue that Blizzard is worried about, and with good reason. I really, really doubt we’ll see 1 million new subscriptions from Classic - that seems ludicrous no matter what, and opening too many servers is a very bad idea.
Then cap the server a little over the ideal cap and layer that. I would still not be ok with it but would deal with that as being an option. But to layer a silly high number is dangerous. All this is just guess work because they have not said what each realm will be capped at officially. I can only assume their greed and pick a number over 10k.
Edit* I did not mean NEW subs, I meant old people coming back. Is it really hard to believe that a game that now has 5 million vs 20 million in its great days would not get just 1 million back?
I mean, three thousand players a layer is still a lot, and it’s per continent. I also don’t think you really understand why they don’t want to open a lot of servers.
It was in one of the interviews (can’t remember whose and no desire to look it up because I already heard the answer)…
Layers of “typical” vanilla size. They’re “hoping” to remove layering after a couple weeks, but no later than the start of P2 and after that, login queues… just… like… back… in… the… day.
Ultimately, we would end up with server sizes about the same as vanilla. If there was an overpopulated server with not too many drops, then that server is gonna have queues. My assumptions is after that, they would offer free transfers to low pop servers.
I will not argue any more. Their is only one positive, which by some would be considered a negative to layering. That positive is a smooth launch. Absolutely no other positive from the player side. That is 100% not enough of a reason to sacrifice what Vanilla WoW is and should be today. I can list easily a dozen negatives that layering provides. List me more than smooth launch. If it is in the game I will abuse the system to my benefit like many others who would understand this. Have fun leveling ladies and gents.
Well except for the fact players can experience vanilla more how it was intended, and more people are likely to stay given they’re not bottlenecked with several hundred other players, which likely increases the longevity of the server overall. You can argue all you like, but the fact is there isn’t really an alternative. Locked servers are worse than layering, as they can’t even play with their friends if they decide to come a bit later to the server or are a late starter.
If you abuse it, likely you’ll be actioned for it, so be warned.
Then once those tourist leave and they won’t play those chars then the servers should auto delete the chars after so many days just like D2 servers are to make room for the players who are actually going to play. I think they should also apply this to retail.
If the servers are capped yes that would be a problem, but if they’re not then it isn’t. It matters who is logged on, not characters created beyond name.
Some key points about layering, you choose if good or bad for the authentic Vanilla experience. :
When you come to a new questing zone and you see the opposing faction making life hard, change layers and continue a long your journey.
When farming materials and there are none to be found , change layers and continue a long your journey.
When hunting chests, rare spawns etc, HOP LAYERS AND CONTINUE a long your journey.
When getting camped because you are a noob, HOP LAYERS, and continue a long your journey.
When big world events happen, many layers will be dead. Some might not want to participate in this or might not be in the know and are thus forced to be on a dead layer.
When general chat or world chat is going on about alliance coming to org to defeat Thrall and you want in on the fun only to find out when you run there it was all a joke because there is NO ONE AROUND. Oh wait ! INVITE ME TO RAID LAYER!!.. again ZERO immersion. I should be able to LEERROOY into the fight and not ask for an invite to a specific layer.
I have seen this on a stream. When you are solo questing and you finally get to the named mob that you have been working towards for what seems like for ever, only to see someone else who is there that needs help too. You party up and the mob VANISHES. “layering”
A smooth launch with higher than expected server populations due to the real popularity of Vanilla wow. Causing layering to not go away or for there to be super long ques to log on and or forced server transfers.
When the known bridge ganker is doing their normal stuff, change layers and avoid him…
When your friend is getting ganked but you are already in a group but are near by and decide to help. Only to find out they are in another layer. “immersion”
When the new meta is having layer spies to know where your rival opposing faction guild is at so you can avoid the raid fights entering raids… “immersion”
Layer hoping to to get world buffs vs just being in town and getting them. Again “immersion” I would assume this can be stomped out by just making any dropped world buffs go through every layer regardless which layer it was dropped on. But probably has not been thought of.
Did I say smooth launch? Cuz I mean, smooth launch amiright?
What happens when you think you do, but you don’t backfires in your face and you are stuck with servers that have over 10k active daily players? force 5+k ques and wait for people to log off or force whole ream transfers? Because you promised to remove layering and these are your only two options to avoid changing the core code to help that over population, spawns, nodes, etc.
I have made many edits adding to this, I might add more but this seems to be good enough to make a point.
Screw it ! When a big event happens and the majority of the server hops to one layer, How does this get fixed? Through logging? What if no one logs for 8 hours? Many are screwed and forced to play on dead layers?
This can not be done, I have not played retail since June of 2015 and all my stuff is still there. That is the benefit of having an official server. Once those tourists leave, if they ever come back there will be a que if the server is capped out.
I find it so strange that so many people (even Blizzard) have zero faith that Classic will capture the attention of new players. The thing is, it only has to capture their attention for like one year, maybe two and we will see many players getting to lvl cap and thats when Layering will be gone* and a large number of players all lvl cap will be shoved into the same zone.
If Vanilla WoW was such a great game why do so many people think this new generation will leave it so fast? Because of how the new generation has been conditioned to understand what makes a video game good or what? I’m really curious.
That’s the funny part about “layering”… It’s sharding with a different label.
Players: pitchforks and torches DON’T RAIN ON MY PARADE!
Blizz: OK, we heard your opinions and decided we won’t rain on your parade.
Players: YAY! See they listen! Implements raining on entire planet
Blizz: It’s not raining on your parade… it’s a global weather event.