At the start of Dragonflight’s prepatch, Stormwind was split into shards to prevent server load. After three weeks, it was unphased again, and there were so many people around to interact with, and it was great.
Now that Dragonflight is out, Stormwind is being phased and sharded again. Using TRP3’s ‘find character’ function, we can log in and scan for characters in stormwind. Many icons show up, indicating that there are indeed people in Stormwind in specific locations. But when you go there, there may only be one or two people there.
It’s frustrating. The Warcraft devs have made it so outdoor locations on roleplay servers are not phased, unless it is a current expansion. Why does phasing still apply to Stormwind and Orgrimmar, then? These places are MAJOR hubs for roleplay. It’s extremely disappointing when expansions and patches release and cause Stormwind and Orgrimmar to be phased and split up for absurd lengths of time. If you don’t have a friend or a guild, you usually have to wait until the end of the expansion in order to find people in the city, when phasing isn’t in place anymore.
This needs to be changed for the sake of the RP community.
21 Likes
It is quite ironic that places like Stormwind and Orgrimmar get sharded but you see the places like The Tuskarr’s village when the community feast event comes up, it lags to hell due to the absurd number of players involved. But nope, gotta shard these places on the RP realms because they’re truly the cause of the server’s chugging.
Honestly, I don’t know how it all works behind the scenes but it sure doesn’t look like its working in the right way if people in The Dragon Isles are still gonna pile up, lag a bit when the RPing that goes on in full force in Stormwind/Orgrimmar aren’t doing any of that. Even Valdrakken has a hell of a lot more players running around in a single shard than the two cities that is as dead as it can be.
6 Likes
Seriously, it’s been three entire weeks now, the sharding needs to stop in major cities already! A lot of people made new characters with the new expansion and if you don’t have people friended on btag you aren’t going to be able to rp for the most part until sharding stops, it’s a serious problem for the rp servers and devs are doing nothing about it. But this seems to be a trend when it comes to the rp community on WoW just being ignored by blizz entirely
6 Likes
You could RP that you’re looking for people in a giant city, only to find that they’re all missing! Then go on an adventure to find them.
2 Likes
This need more attention. Blizzard said they would not shard RP servers again back in what… BFA? This is ruining the RP community.
8 Likes
It is actually pretty depressing. In the pre-patch, most of the primal invasions got so bad they literally crashed the servers, but instead of sharding those areas they kept it in the cities. Now they continue to shard cities when the damn soup and world bosses are enough to cause continent-wide lag. What even is this nonsense?
5 Likes
There’s very little RP to be had these days because of sharding. It sucks to see dozens of people gathered on the TRP scan only to arrive and find the place deserted.
5 Likes
Blizzard enough with the sharding, rpers need RP , you don’t shard anything else but the main cities but you don’t do it to anything else??? What is your issue?? Here it is Tuesday again and tonight we are having to gather in a group just to rp, are you trying to destroy Moonguard like you have every other rp server with the elite groups?
5 Likes
Another maintenance day and STILL this is an issue.
Remove the sharding on RP servers, Blizz. 
7 Likes
Free the RPers from this suffering.
3 Likes
What’s strange is how those elemental storms bring dozens and dozens, but then it goes back to single player the moment you leave.
It’s a little better since I became level 70. Valdrakken isn’t a ghost town.
There’s definitely something wonky when the game struggles with a raid of people anywhere.
2 Likes
Hey, Blizzard if you get rid of sharding, maybe I’ll buy the new transmog set???
I promise !!! 
There’s no point in me getting it now when there’s no one around to see haha !!!
4 Likes
Turn it off! Please?
Wyrmrest Alliance has a hard enough time without this botheration.
4 Likes
RIP roleplay realms. Very strange that they are sharded.
4 Likes
It’s very odd that the game is feeling more and more like a single player game, especially in places being branded as “social hubs”. What’s social about knowing you’ve got 50+ people around you but being unable to actually interact with them?
Valdrakken is a zoo, elemental storms are a zoo, the community soup causes zone-wide lag. But it’s Stormwind/Orgrimmar with their checks notes people standing around that need sharding?
3 Likes
I dont think Boralus, Ironforge, Dalaran (new and Old), Exodar, Suramar, and every other major town or city that I’m forgetting isn’t sharded.
It’s Winter’s Veil. Take a vacation. Be creative with. Stormwind shouldnt be the end all be all of rp and thats the larger issue. If Moonguard rp dies then the fault lies in the community for relying on SW or Org too much and not improvising more.
If all you’re doing is relying on SW to roleplay then you’re doing it wrong.
Why does Stormwind need to be sharded at all?
4 Likes
