Should we as a community have a planned stress test in a non-starting zone on beta/launch?

[Cheater-azjolnerub (Cheater)]

My thoughts are based on the following quote from a different thread, that begs a new idea from me:

@Åpocalypse-illidan

Åpocalypse
But the larger concern is honestly lag/latency… A modern client has a stroke when you get 40v40 in wpvp… where as the vanilla legacy client, when run on a modern system that is essentially a super computer compared to tech at the time can push 300+ people on screen without issue. I have rather extreme reservations that the game will run nearly as smoothly as it should on such relatively advanced hardware.

I think when/if a beta comes around, we need to do a test as a community and drag 80 to 120 level 1s down to a zone that is not going to be sharded. STV/Wetlands/Dustwallow etc. and start dueling each other.

This will test two things: Are they lying about it not being sharded, and will the server be able to handle the load.

Epic battles in vanilla, while rare, are one of the great hallmarks of WoW as an MMO. We need to test and figure this out ASAP because epic battles MUST be possible in Classic WoW.

If a GM shows up and mass teleports us away, we have the answer to our question about authentic vanilla world raids, and from that point forward we need to demand a better solution.

Is this something we should be responsible for doing as a community?

[Winterspite-blackrock]

If they do a beta, you can count me in boss.

[Ghan-tichondrius (Ghan)]

I don’t think they’ve said anything about only sharding the starting zones have they? As far as I know, that’s just an invention of the forums. I would imagine it would be much easier to implement sharding across the board than only limit it to a few zones.

[Cheater-azjolnerub (Cheater)]

@Ghan-tichondrius

I don’t think they’ve said anything about only sharding the starting zones have they? As far as I know, that’s just an invention of the forums. I would imagine it would be much easier to implement sharding across the board than only limit it to a few zones.

From this post: Guys calm down! (No Sharding thread) - #15 by Lore

I don’t know how to properly quote a CM but this is Lore, a CM on Classic some time ago around Blizzcon.

@Lore

However, realm sharding is one of the best tools we have to keep realms stable when hundreds of players are swarming the same initial few zones and killing the same few mobs (like they will be at the launch of Classic). To that end, we do believe that some form of sharding may be helpful, especially in those early days. But we recognize that a cohesive world is critical to WoW Classic and are committed to bringing that to you.

I don’t have the rest of the quotes about starting zones so I guess this quote doesn’t prove anything.

Although if what you say, that sharding is not limited to starting zones, then we have even more to worry about and this test needs to happen ESPECIALLY in a non-starting zone.

Edit: Ythisens was talking about it being exclusive to starting zones on the ClassicWoW Discord server but I can’t link the screenshot.

[Zonkabonk-blackrock]

I think the best test would be for everyone to all go to the Barrens immediately. We will test just how many Chuck Norris facts per second the server can handle.

[Gurrag-steamwheedle-cartel (Gurrag)]

Yeah, this sounds like a great idea. I don’t think they are going to drop the ball on this though. They are more than aware of how important this issue is to the community, and to mess it up could potentially kill Classic… Either way though we should verify it one way or the other.