I’ve seen more than a few videos that would not seem to support the claims of lag despite a massive number of players, but the only one that I have seen that shows any lag is the one that you linked.
Regardless, having some “no sharding” servers alongside some “limited sharding” servers and allowing players to choose which type of server they prefer would seem to be a way to handle that initial rush with a minimal amount of dissatisfaction.
Every single Nostalrius video of the shutdown that I’ve seen displayed a tremendous amount of lag. Matcauthon was trying to claim that thousands of people were spamming AOE spells and in every video you see at most three spells going off.
Why do you think this is?
I think this is a good idea and would be your best bet at getting what you want, instead of demanding that they do not use sharding at all on any server.
I’ve obviously not seen every video. All but one of videos I have seen, though, are more supportive of little or no lag than a tremendous amount of lag, such as in the video which you linked.
I think it is a better idea, as well, and an idea that may lead to the least dissatisfaction. Hopefully, Blizzard will see these threads and at least consider offering both sharded and non sharded servers, so that everyone can choose their preferred experience.
That said, if Blizzard decides not to provide both types of servers, I will still be here asking Blizzard to find some other means of handling their anticipated initial rush other than using a technology that is antithetical to vanilla to artificially segregate the population.
To that end, I will continue to voice my opposition to sharding in any form until we get a final word from Blizzard on the use of sharding and if sharding will be used, the definitive geographical and time limits of said sharding.
so i need multiple instances of blizzard saying no sharding to make it legit?
the fact is like i said, most the interviews i’ve found all seem to be copies of the first, point still stands. blizzard said way back right after they announced it. NO SHARDING.
vs. Lore’s forum post after Blizzcon
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
Sharding is most likely incoming, we just don’t know to what extent. With any luck they will implement it wherever needed. Point does not stand…at all lol
I also want to point out that the suggestion of having a CE edition or early access is no different than sharding. Numerous posts have stated “anti community” how is a group of people getting a head start any different? Essentially those players would be leveled past non CE players and offer no community experience to the incoming group of players. They are in a separate grouping of players and the non CE are in a group of players.
I also dont think a major content patch in BfA will have much impact on the Classic launch. I’m not a current sub and haven’t been since 2010. I"m the exact target audience this game is aiming for, those who played but are not currently subed.
This makes me wonder if “hundreds of players are swarming in the same zone” creates realm instability (and not merely inconvenience to the players’ efforts to efficiently level), how can the infrastructure handle an un-sharded 300 v 300 WPvP match in Hillsbrad?
Another issue is that client side it can’t be handled.
What do you mean by “client side” in this context? Sorry, not versed in all the lingo… ![:wink:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/wink.png?v=6" ":wink:")
Are you referring to the player’s PC and local lag due to the video card?
It means that it turns into a slide show on your screen even if the server can handle it.
#manageexpectations
I win the internet
edit: No-changers hate that Lore quote and when I use it I get crickets from them. Do you want to open people’s eyes when they post that sharding isn’t coming? Feel free to speak truth to craziness and quote Blizz itself. For now, that quote gives us better insight into what they are thinking than anything else. For now…
Would that be authentic™ of how it was 14 years ago, or have there been client-side changes that make that particular example more-chunky today than it was then?
Interesting, do you hear that sound?
Kuh kuh kuh cricketts.
#manageexpectations ya’ll
While I understand the pros of this ‘sharding’ system, I believe it would be a good sign for players to see queues, give that truly Classic feel and help be part of the first phase of player filtering. I have seen comments about how systems are much further ahead so managing the mass of players should be easier in theory. While there is merit to that, there’s also the aspect that a game built to run on 800MHZ processors and 32 MB memory Graphics cards with 256MB of RAM (min specs) is going through one hell of a structural reconfiguration to work with modern software and hardware.
This is like how you can come across indie games with lower end looking graphics that chug on modern hardware or run your system hot and heavy when it doesn’t appear it should, while lots of it is optimization, its also the use of resources that simply take more power to run. (More complex databases at the very basis of extra processing power.) This means there’s still similar limitations as when the game launched initially, no matter how you slice it, unless Blizzard completely rebuilds or creates completely new coding formats and dependency resources to increase the efficiency drastically (massive development costs), Classic should perform smoother but with similar player count restrictions.
Even so, the ‘need for sharding’ would not dissapear over of few days or even a few weeks, if anything, every few weeks it would shift to another level bracket in zones. Part of the reason the expansive, World of Warcraft got explored is because zones were over-populated, so players sought out alternatives, finding new story lines and different paths to level. While this is the second coming so to speak, killing off that ‘forced’ dispersion of players across the entire world would resemble more of the structured & guided linear story adopted in Cataclysm.
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The example of 300 vs 300 TM WPVP, it never got quite that massive, when it did start getting over a hundred on each side, if specs went cranked to low, they did get cranked to low. There was lag and hang ups both client and server side, and yes even sometimes Azeroth server did crash. (In that sense it was like an end to the fun, logging back in with queues, akin to the end of a battleground and having to wait again. If you had to to repair after non PVP’d mobs happened to kill you during the lag fest or while you were loading in after reconnecting or not, since repair costs were always a limiter. (This was a type of tactic in WPVP, get players killed by mobs so they would take durability cost and have them leave over cost of continued repairs, to thin the higher lv ranks.)
In Vanilla, BC, & WOTLK, players had options of where to start their endeavor after a few intro quests, there was divergence.
In vanilla, you had your standard start zones for the various races, while Orcs/Trolls & Dwarves/Gnomes shared starting areas. While The horde in general was more clustered together, the Alliance was far more spread out, with the Forsaken on the outskirts of enemy lands much like the Night Elves. The facr remains the option of choice was much higher in Vanilla and there were options to be had.
IN BC after conquering Hellfire Peninsula, you could go to Zangimarsh for more on level/below level quests depending if you hit up the dungeons or head off to Terrakar Forest for higher level quests and comparable gathering to Terrokar. After that Moving to Nagrand was a progression that could get you close to level cap or if you didn’t clear out the zones take you to Blades Edge or Nether Storm as Shadowmoon Valley was released later in the closed Beta of BC, resulting to it being ‘forgotten’ or ‘over-looked’ as anything other than the end-game area you learned to use flight mounts in.
In WOTLK, there were 2 different choices of landing options on each side and a key Story area in Dragoinblight, Grizzly Hills & Zul’Drak were more optional, having only real presence as side areas with dungeon quests/unlocks. The other zones offered more staying power and incentive to do, yes, but the options were there if you wanted a less populated area to get things done.
So the 5 or 6 million currently playing BfA is a small player base.
Patience in an era where ADHD is the norm and most games encourage it?
Patience yeah it is a solution, so many people will defend their right to have the game centered around them not having competition on a multiplayer game day and night.
The experience will only happen 1 time and people surely don’t want it to be ruined by special snow flakes.
Wait a week or 2 and have the entire leveling zone to yourself on a small populated server.
That is a great question and one that has been asked numerous times.
Not surprisingly, those who want the convenience of reduced competition that sharding provides when it removes all those “obstacles” in their way cannot provide an answer to that question. They just say something like "Blizzard told us that sharding would only be used for two weeks and only in the starting zones. They told us sharding would not be outside of the starting areas or beyond the frst two weeks. We have to trust them. "
which exactly proves my point - blizzard at first said they weren’t going to have sharding.
they have since moved to probably having sharding at launch. they have moved the goal posts once. my goal is to prevent them from moving them again.