We understand that, and I understand completely, that sharding is antithetical to a cohesive Classic community, where you’re competing over limited resources. When Lord Kazzak is up, and guilds are racing to defeat him, there needs to be only one Lord Kazzak. When you’re trying to get, you’re trying to lock down the Thorium veins that spawn in limited sections of the world, you should be competing over limited resources. That said, the first few weeks when everybody is packed into Valley of Trials, when everyone is packed into Elwynn, we think we can use sharding there in a limited, time limited, way to solve the initial launch day load problems, while making sure that in the long run as server communities solidify, there’s a healthy population, and a single world for everyone to live in.
These are not the words of a team willing to say “Meh, shard everything whenever we want”.