Was anyone else noticing how common it was for the world to get refreshed on the beta? If this is going to be the same rate as on live, then Blizzard should change how it works to make it less common imo.
Broadly I thought the concept of layers worked on classic a lot better than how sharding does on retail and the beta version feels a lot more like sharding to me. I was in the gnome zone and getting the 5 minute message 3 different times before leaving, that is just far too often.
I am not sure what the solution could be, but I think players shouldn’t get layered while in a zone unless they are there for an excessive amount of time or if they choose to leave. I think more thought needs to go into how to balance this from Blizzard because frequent sharding to me is the opposite of a living world.
E.g. if a layer is getting too overpopulated, it’s probably better to start a new one up with low pop for a bit without moving already playing people over. If a layer is getting too underpopulated, either force a refresh when changing zones or give a longer timer.
Players trying to force low pop layers for farming should also not be the optimal strategy.