It's like solo playing

[Loli-Knight]

Hmm, been super busy since launch on A52. People everywhere at all times of day, sometimes even in the middle of nowhere. That's sharding for you though- if you want to see lots of people then go to a town or use LFG. I mean, everybody has preferences, but I can't fathom wanting a bunch of people running around you all the time. Sure, most things can be shared now, but not everything can. I feel like having people swarm areas would get really annoying really fast.

[FelPlague]

I play Dragonflight for the whole day and I don't see any people in the Open world zones . It's so boring it's like dead world exactly like play a solo game .
Anyone else got the same problem ?

Blizz made TONS of shards to deal with the massive influx of players, this helped on launch, and is still active because the highest pop servers are still obscene, but it could really be lowered for the rest.

[Itori]

I play on stormrage. Have seen lots of people in the DF starting zone, and even quite a few in SL. May just be bad instancing?

[Alyzah]

If I were to have known it would have been like this I would have kept herbalism

[Sableye]

I suspect they've heavily sharded the current content for the time being, I believe they did the same thing for BFA. I was on the 1st boat to the islands and after the loading screen there was about 5 people on the boat

they'll unwind the shards in a few weeks, I don't think they can dynamically do it when its artificially raised like this

[LordKharon]

The most jarring part was getting on the zeppelin in Ogrimmar with dozens of other ppl and then flying over to the DragonIsles. After the session change while arriving the zeppelin was then empty save me and 1-2 other ppl. They way overdid it with the sharding...

[chiddie]

I see people all the time. I think part of the problem is that the zones feel really large and with Dragon-riding being given right from the start, players are more spread out compared to the usual choke-points of bridges and narrow paths we're so used to. So I guess it's a problem if you're still in that early-developmental stage where object permanence is still a shaky concept, but this launch has been smooth as butter for me. I'm happy to see 5-10 people and have zero crashes/zero problems doing quests rather than seeing 50 of you idiots spazzing out over the same 10 centaur like every other launch.

It’s not the zones or insta-flying.

I logged in the first evening at 8PM (in EU launch was at midnight so big nope for me, too late). We were 5 in the zeppelin at Orgrimmar and when we landed in the Isles I was alone and I stayed alone pretty much e the whole time. I mean, no way I could be alone the first evening if it wasn’t for sharding/layering/whatever.

[Nyel]

I've seen players here and there, but it definitely feels like you're playing on a pretty dead server with occasional interactions from time to time. It's way too much phasing / sharding or whatever is going on.

[Noxina]

Pretty sure they overdid on sharding to be sure it was smooth.

I see a lot more people now though when doing WQs etc, and there's always the option to group

[Space Troll]

I play on stormrage. Have seen lots of people in the DF starting zone, and even quite a few in SL. May just be bad instancing?

I also play on Stormrage and have seen people from both sides, Good people on both sides. It's been pretty nice. A lot of help doing quests, especially group quests.

[Geckoo]

Honestly i'm glad if they overdid it with sharding this time. One of the things i usually hate most about a new expansions (in this game and almost any other MMORPG) is precisely when there is too much people following the same route, meaning that if there are more players than enemies on a questing area it becomes a little bit ridiculous in terms of story and even zone immersion. So i'm glad that my leveling experience is essentially my adventure with some other adventurer showing up sometimes, but not a literal horde of adventurers driving protodrakes to extinction.

[Tiwack]

Heavy sharding is always employed first weeks of launch but also

look up, fly you fools.

[Thirtyrock]

I feel like I'm seeing a healthy number of players. It's enough that on named mob quests I often have to wait for it to respawn but not so many people that I'm normally waiting on unnamed mobs. That seems about right, to me.

Every quest hub I go to I see at least a few people.

[Unlimited Power]

Don't know what to tell you. I play with warmode on which already puts me in the vast minority at this point. Yet at every dropped warmode cache, I see at least 4 other people swoop in before it has even landed.

Valdrakken is teeming with players and even trade chat (and I'm not talking about trade - services here) is booming offers.

I'm not expecting to meet other players while out questing, and frankly I prefer it that way. I really don't mind the aggressive sharing in that regard.

[Pakheth]

The most jarring part was getting on the zeppelin in Ogrimmar with dozens of other ppl and then flying over to the DragonIsles. After the session change while arriving the zeppelin was then empty save me and 1-2 other ppl. They way overdid it with the sharding...

This was my experience too. It felt really lonely and still do. Doesn't feel like a new expansion launch at all :/

[Rainsorrow]

I have yet to see town with flight master or few quests without another player. There is always someone either questing, farming or chilling.

[Lochton]

I play Dragonflight for the whole day and I don't see any people in the Open world zones . It's so boring it's like dead world exactly like play a solo game .
Anyone else got the same problem ?

You don't see people in the open world? How?!

I see them at any time of the day I'm logged in. Either they are on the ground as I pass above, or above as I and others pass below. You also have to remember that the zones are quite big, and there is so much to do for people. Either they are doing races, supply hunting, reputation farming, WQ running, questing, leveling, or dungeon queueing right at the location (Thought the Classic vibing people would love that), some even started Mythic dungeons to get ready for the seasons - and don't forget the few Pet Battlelers I've seen.

Playing on a low-population server or just experiencing the sharding which has been common for years at the release of expansions and will be disabled?

[crusadernero]

I see people here and there. I mean, its not filled to the brim with people, but they are there. In the main city hub, theres lots of people.

You might feel more "alone" just because of the sheer size of these zones, coupled with the fact people can fly around really quick. Previous xpacs zones were smaller and more crammed with stuff, its not like that now.

[shade3891]

I would be happy if they doubled the amount of player in outdoor zones. It is fine in cities. Does anyone know if guildmembers are always in the same shard?

[hulkgor]

First day of the expansion, cries about lag on overpopulated zones.

Fourth day of the expansion, complaints about too many shards to prevent said lag.

Love it.