r/classicwow • u/Dwarni • 1d ago

Classic 20th Anniversary Realms @Blizzard: Please implement zone wide layers

The current server-wide layering system creates a frustrating imbalance across Azeroth. While leveling zones like The Barrens or Desolace are practically deserted (where even 3 layers feel excessive), end-game zones are severely overcrowded.

This overcrowding particularly impacts valuable resource farming:

  • Winterfall Firewater farmers competing in Winterspring
  • Rich Thorium Veins in zones like Un'Goro and Winterspring
  • High-level herbs like Plaguebloom and Black Lotus
  • Valuable mob grinding spots for Essence of Water/Fire/Air

With everyone packed into the same few profitable zones, what should be enjoyable farming sessions turn into frustrating competition. A zone-specific layering system (allowing 10+ layers in high-traffic areas while reducing layers in quieter zones) would help distribute the population more effectively, making the experience more reminiscent of original Vanilla WoW where you'd regularly encounter others during leveling, without the current extreme overcrowding in farming zones.

33 Upvotes

66% Upvoted

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35

u/soFFe51 1d ago

How far we've come. We traveled from barely accepting layers purely because Blizzard servers are unable to handle the load, to begging for sharding because layers are handling the load too well. Humanity is weird bro.

40

u/casualJungler 1d ago

The issue is that layers fail to solve the issue they come to solve.

right now they decided on a magic number let's say x=500, each 500 players logged in spawn a new layer.

On paper this should work, but the problem is with how concentrated certain area's get, especially the 60 area's where the player pool just keeps getting bigger.

you do not need 6 layers for dustwallow for example, but you do need 30 layers for winterspring.

zone layering would actually be the solution to the problem they originally wanted to solve. but i understand why it's difficult to implement.

14

u/terabyte06 1d ago

The irony is that it took an assload of effort to create layering from the existing tech of sharding (aka "zone layering").

7

u/Vandrel 1d ago

That's sharding, tech Blizzard has had in WoW for over a decade but was avoided for Classic people people were upset at the idea. Layers are derived from the sharding tech.

1

u/Chronia82 1d ago

Blizzard had that tech well before Classic launch, but Classic players advocated against it (part of the whole No Changes 'movement') and basically asked for no layers at all, but when it was explained that Classic realms would get way higher population limits than was the case in actual Vanilla in 2004-2006 the vocal part of the playerbase begrudingly accepted layering (serverwide) as intermediate solution as they deemed sharding on the zone level not acceptable for gameplay reasons.

And now the playerbase seemingly is turned around on it, and is now asking for the exact the thing that was rejected 6 years ago.

7

u/PK_Dreadlord 1d ago edited 1d ago

The way I see it is Vanilla WoW is not evolving any further yet the players are becoming even better and better at playing it. The 2019 classic launch was the first time many played the game at a higher level , not being a clueless kid. And if they're still playing, they've gotten even better at min-maxing.

The way the playerbase plays in 2025 & amount of players is now getting to the point of requiring changes.

NoChanges worked for awhile but as players get better at the game (not to mention botting/gold selling tools improving), this is the conclusion

The way the playerbase actually PLAYS has #YesChanged A LOT from 2004 to 2019 to 2025. It is not absurd for people to want changes now that they have previously denounced now that a large amount of players have an increased +6 years of gameplay experience/Addon's

5

u/Dwarni 1d ago

We? I was never against sharding etc.

All I want is a good gaming experience that doesn't alter the spirit of classic wow and layering is already implemented.

5

u/soFFe51 1d ago

Not saying you're wrong for asking for this. It's long overdue they balanced amount of players in a layer vs. amount of resources in a layer. I'm just getting old.

-1

u/SeriousDude 1d ago

Zone layering is not possible on PVP servers.

3

u/Chronia82 1d ago

Why would this not be possible? Seeing that it has been available on retail pvp servers since they implemented the tech, which was well before classic even released

0

u/SeriousDude 1d ago

Never played retail, how does it work when you are on the border of the zone, do both players stay in the layer until they are certain distance away? I guess i see it working, but surely it feels scuffed.

1

u/Chronia82 1d ago

Not sure now, as its been a while since i pvp'd in warmode on a exact zone boundary. But when i last did (i think in BFA, due to the assassin system that was then introduced at quite a bit of fun), you wouldn't layer when in combat, but only after combat.

2

u/thatyousername 1d ago

Right so consider you are waiting at the edge of a zone and see someone off in the distance on the other zone. As they run closer to you they magically poof away because they layer as they enter your zone. Does that happen?

1

u/Chronia82 18h ago edited 18h ago

I haven't noticed it myself i think, but i have to say, i also haven't been looking out for it. But i'd reckon in theory if the layer you are on is overcrowded and there is a spillover layer available for the zone you are in, and they are crossing over into your zone could be a possibility that they layer into the spillover layer and not your layer. As that is what the system ultimately is designed for, balancing out player numbers between multiple instances of the same zone.

-2

u/Vandrel 1d ago

Sharding worked fine on pvp servers before the introduction of war mode on retail and continued to work fine after.

-1

u/iHaveComplaints 1d ago edited 1d ago

We've only come around like this because of how they've crept forward with changes. Back in 2019 with medium-high servers it was unthinkable. The original claim was that layers would be used for the influx of launch and then servers would be unlayered. Then the megaserver shitfest happened and we ended up with 2-3 fixed layers at all times. Then they gave us megaMEGAservers starting with hardcore/SoD and, most critically, implemented this dynamic layering solution. The dynamic layering is what actually creates the issue that now has people calling for this change. 10+ layers at peak times serving even more layers worth of total population all forced to do their farming in 3-4 layers during off-peak times. Sharding is being requested because they simply aren't going to give us 10 fixed layers at all times - the decision to have dynamic layering is already a given. Server load has nothing to do with it, you dunce.

It looks like the frog was boiled but really the frog was uncomfortable halfway there and then they just cranked the heat to max and finished the job.

3

u/soFFe51 1d ago

Wild how

The original claim was that layers would be used for the influx of launch and then servers would be unlayered

turned into

Server load has nothing to do with it, you dunce.

that fast. Gotta love internet comment sections.

-2

u/hoticehunter 1d ago

Ok, first off, people like you need to realize humans aren't a monolith. Somehow you're surprised that two people have two opinions.

Humanity isn't weird, it's good at noticing problems.

3

u/soFFe51 1d ago

Read my comment again when you calm down.

-6

u/WeeTooLo 1d ago

Sharding was always the answer, Blizzard just didn't have the balls for it because of the "muh classic feeling" uproar.

Another example in a long line of good retail changes the community rejects simply because it's retail. Not all the things they did were bad.

One of my favorites is how against major city portals players seem to be yet the mage/warlock bots are thriving because everybody just takes a port.

2

u/Domain77 1d ago

The issue is I think people associate sharding with The combining of servers. Because in retail there is no server community anymore. You could see someone from any server in the same zone. So you almost never saw the same person again and that really turned retail into lacking that community feel that people wanted from classic.

1

u/Prize_Ad5203 23h ago

Yes, and this is a way to make gold. How is that not a classic feeling?