I see a lot of people defending layering with basically just saying 'its bad, but its okay because it will be gone after phase 1 or after an arbitrary amount of weeks Blizzard decides on, and that its necessary." I made a video summarizing why exactly those arguments don’t work against how Blizzard is approaching layering, and how it should be changed
Edit:
Videos that show that Layering has not been working thus far (Though I give Blizzard the benefit of the doubt on these that they are just testing it out and working out the kinks):
I wish you’d read up on the debates we’ve been having before posting this, because in a nutshell…
he’s speculating and getting ahead of himself, where it’s easy to pick up the red flags from beta/stress test and run with it.
it’s crystal clear to everyone after these that exploits need to be addressed.
IF blizzard extend layering beyond starting areas, THEN it’ll open pandora’s box and a shipstorm will ensue. of that I have no doubt.
as I’ve stated in other threads, layering can be great to ease up on bottlenecks for new toons, but really NEEDS to be gone by the time we reach contested areas.
the bottom line is that layering will almost certainly be in at launch, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves and try to predict what hasn’t arrived yet.
it’s very, very easy to focus on negatives from the beta and stress test and let your mind run away with you, but ALL that achieves is doubt and worry for a whole two months.
if by some unbelievable lack of insight, layering exists into the contested zones and higher, well I just won’t have the words for it (or it’s implications) and THEN heads should truly roll.
BUT - let blizzard deal with that - and yes, I know what a lot of people will say, but that’s the way it is so just go with the flow.
focus on the overwhelming positives that will come with classic, and look forward to what should be a great experience for everyone.
I wouldn’t say I was just focusing on the negatives in the Beta. As Monkey news showed - there are upwards of 4-5 layers available on the Classic Beta, but based on how many people are online in the beta, there is absolutely no logical reason for there to be that many layers for that many players.
If its for testing purposes, I can understand it, but because blizzard isn’t releasing any information about how they plan to handle layering, its hard not to get worried when everything remains behind a curtain and everything we’ve seen has been super negative so far.
Waiting will result in no changes. Blizzard needs to know how serious this is and communicate how they are going to handle these issues. Watch a compilation video of all the problems and then consider they have next to no tests to see how the actual launch will go. This is going to be a bigger disaster than having no layering at all.
At 30 before they implemented laying wpvp on the beta was constant. Constant fights in stv/duskwood and hillsbrad. The alliance trying to kite the dragon to uc only to be stopped by the horde at the thandol span. Then they raised the cap and implemented layering. You look at the guild list and see 10 people in stv. You do a /who in stv and you see 5 people, none of which are any of the people in your guild. You wander around looking for fights and the only opposite faction you see is a hunter 10 levels lower than you because everyone else is on another layer. You kill his pet just to mess with him and move on. Its an issue they need to address. Layers in contested zones should not be a thing.
Layering/sharding whatever are all just part of a current plan they have for Classic. They test out this plan on the beta and stress tests to see what it’d look like.
Layering is not a confirmed feature for the official game yet. It’d be silly to make it set in stone and announce it as such before they can even test it out as much as they feel they need to first.
So no, layering is not confirmed to be in Classic. There’s still the option open for them to change course as they see fit.
Everything you said sounds pretty good and reasonable except for the “wait and see”. Blizzard isn’t exactly well known for fixing their beta issues and the launch is in 2 months. I’d love for them to change layering to what you said but honestly seeing how broken it is I think it would just be smoother to get rid of it all together. Maybe Blizzard has been fixing it and will communicate soon but really we just would like some communication.
Unfortunately it’s not that simple. This is a multiplayer game and there’s no way I can convince all my friends to wait an unknown amount of time until layering is gone. Most of my friends who quit retail because of those phasing issues probably won’t last until layering is gone either so this is a pretty make or break issue.
That’s sharding. Layering by definition extends beyond starting zones because a layer is the entire world.
I’ll admit I didn’t watch your videos, mainly because it’s 10 minutes and I don’t consider that summarizing.
Onto the comment above, beta participation is down. I imagine layering is left in purely for testing purposes. Ion explained in an interview that the goal of layering is to reduce layers as server populations decline. We may not have the exact details, but it’s a safe bet that live won’t be like beta.
All signs show live will be even worse. Everyone reaching out to Blizzard has got no answer to their plans. So many flaws in so many ways and no sign of it getting better.
