The fundamental problem with the layer system & resource supply

i like the first one as long as blizzard doesn’t switch your character from layer to layer like they do from phase to phase on retail.

i dont like the second one except for the not being able to switch layers while in combat.

This is textbook problem that software programmers can solve easy. It’s not worth discussing.

There is no prob with layering

itself, no, but it does cause other problems that need to be addressed in terms of resources, pvp, grouping, etc.

My understanding of layering was that it does not work on a per zone basis but a per continent. So, each layer, to my understanding, will have a ‘separate’ Outland.

basically ya

I dont believe thats the case. The original reason for layers was a lot of players starting in the same areas, and layers were removed as players dispersed around the world.

You are fundamentally misunderstanding how layers work. Layers are not decided on a per zone basis, they are based on total server population. So if there are 3 layers, there is enough room for 150 players in your 50 player example.

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Maybe, but maybe you are too:

It’s not as simple as the number of players online. The number of players in a region/zone is also a factor. A server with 5k players could have 1 layer while a server with 2k players that happen to all be crammed into one region could have 2 or more.

If 1,000 players travel together to one place to farm the same thing, there would be added layers purely to alleviate server load… but if those players arrive over time, and nearly all of them change their mind & leave because it’s already too farmed by 50-100 players then you never get to 1,000 and therefor never get any added layers, which means no scaling resources.

That’s about enough for two players to farm.

We need dynamic respawns as well as layering.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/classicwow/comments/ct08c7/welcome_to_the_rclassicwow_subreddit_ama_with_the/exi8loz/?context=8&depth=9

Source 2: https://classic.wowhead.com/news/blizzard-clears-up-layering-tech-misconceptions-in-classic-wow-294589

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Exactly, that’s reaffirming my point … we will never get those added layers people think will solve the problem, because we will never get enough people committed to one area to trigger the layers.

When players have a choice to either be somewhere overcrowded/laggy or go somewhere else, they will usually go somewhere else. When the game launched everyone was forced into one place, they had no choice, so layers were added until players gained choices as they gained levels.

With farming locations its all about choice; what to farm, when to farm, and whether to farm with competition… and there’s a limit to competition before people stop trying to farm something. That limit is nowhere near high enough to compel layers, no matter how many players there are on a server.

So we are getting a lot more players with the same resource supply, and layers will never be triggered to compensate. That’s an indirect “change” blizzard caused to the game. It’s been a problem since day one, which they couldnt ignore for black lotus, but never bothered to figure out a solution to the dozens of other resources this affects.

In TBC it will be a lot worse before it gets anywhere near normal. Be prepared to see ludicrous prices for herbs, ore, primals for months… not just because of inflation, but because theres simply not enough on one layer to go around.

Where are you coming up with your numbers? 50k on a server? 50 people farming the elemental plateau?

Classic was busting at the seams at launch, sure… and when lockdowns happened, it was crazy then, too. However, things were pleasant (on my server, at least) in between those times, and since I came back a couple months ago, things have been pretty chill. TBC will level out.

They could cap each layer at 3,000 characters, instead of the 5,000-6,000 they’re capped at now. People would screech about it though; people will screech about any solution to any problem.

I would be happy if they capped it at 1,000 people per layer, Hellfire Peninsula is still going to be crowded as heck. At least since they added the cooldown so you can’t exploit layer hopping like they did on Classic release.

layers are NOT triggered by how many players are in a given zone, they are triggered by how many players are online. during launch blizzard used a lower player per layer figure to account for the rush at low lvl zones. All blizz needs to do to address TBC issues is once again use a lower player per layer figure.

Qbert doesn’t even know how layering works… Layering is a textbook technique to balance loads. A more advanced solution is layering by zone, which is said to be not suitable for classic.

Basically layers will improve the players experience, and there is not a problem with resources. The more players, the more resource we have for farm.

They do need to make sure people can’t continually hop layers to get a fresh set of resources to farm which is what happened early on in classic. People made ridiculous amounts of wealth early by abusing the layer system. They have said that they have “solved this issue” for tbc classic but haven’t told us how yet.

i mean i think the obvious answer is to layer the entirety of outlands if the population hits a certain point.

don’t make it zone or area specific.

if there are 5000 people logged on you will have 2-3 layers. or w/e

They did actually, iirc they implemented a layer hop cooldown that slowly accumlates so as not to interfere with normal gameplay.

TBH though it’s really not that much of a issue in the first place. If resources are in demand there’s going to be lots of people farming them. The initial few weeks where players might be able to farm a lot without much competition won’t really impact the market much in the long term. If for some mind boggling reason resources are in high demand but only a handful of people are farming them then yes they’d get rich, but prices would be lower then if they were somehow stopped from doing so.
I’m pretty sure the average player wants resources gathered as much as possible to bring the prices down, and probably doesn’t much care if it’s 1 or a dozen people doing the farming.

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