Sharding in Classic

[Tic Tacs]

Do you think Blizzard should aggressively use sharding technology in Classic?

Here is an example of sharding technology:
https://clips.twitch.tv/UnusualComfo...trawberryKappa
https://clips.twitch.tv/AbstemiousRa...DogeBloodTrail

According to Blizzard sharding will be in Classic:
https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/...548630#post-15

In a nutshell, sharding means that you can not have lets say more than 40 players in the same area and when this happens, other players will disappear on your screen and you and other players will be split into different smaller instances aka shards.

What is the problem? Well, imagine you are questing with people around you, you see them, you interact with them and out of nowhere you are thrown into another shard with completely different players. Do you remember these huge South Shore and Tarren Mill fights or city raids? These will be sharded, means there would many instances of Stormwind, Orgrimmar and so on.

Why shard? Blizzard started using sharding technology aggressively in later expansions to facilitate engine limitations to prevent server crashes especially on major content release dates due to large number of players starting in the same areas.

[Jyggalag]

If sharding happens I won't play. At the heart of the core experience was player-made communities, consisting of a finite number of people from YOUR realm. Sharding will not only destroy this, but will bring the toxic atmosphere of today's iteration of a once great game with it. There won't be any real penalty for being a fucking dick to every person you meet, or kicking people/leaving groups, etc. No thanks.

[Shockzalot]

Use it for the first week to promote server stability and less competition in the starter areas then disable it.

[hynx]

part of what made classic fun was rounding up 120 players in 3 full raid parties and attack a city

[DazManianDevil]

In short, no.
I personally would like sharding to only extend to the first leveling zone and not major city hubs and only for say, the first 2-3 weeks of launching.
(Example: affecting Dun Morough, Durotar etc)
I distinctly remember playing Vanilla on a level 9 Dwarf Warrior and having to ask a passerby to go into Lag Forge and buy me 1 [Fine Thread] as my PC couldn't handle it.
Stupid as that instance is, I remember it 13 years later as a cool interaction with a living person.
Was the lag fun? No.
Is it proper Classic to forego sharding? Yes.
Funny enough at BFA launch Boralus was hardly playable despite Blizzard having full access to shard tech. :thinking face:

[Pu3Ho]

No, No and NO. Maximum for what it should be used is the starting zones like Elwynn or Durotar and only in the first few weeks. Leave that crap to retail and let it finally die piecefully cuz when Classic gets released... instead of 2M subs which still "playing" @retail there will remain like maybe 1M or so and propably even less.

[ablib]

This thread and poll again...

I vote no. There are private servers that have WAY more players per realm than Blizzard would allow, and it's fine. If Blizzard can't do it, then they need to re-evaluate their systems and infrastructure teams.

Although, without sharding there would be a log in queue, and I'm fine with that even.

[Shisui-kun]

Do you think Blizzard should aggressively use sharding technology in Classic?

Here is an example of sharding technology:
https://clips.twitch.tv/UnusualComfo...trawberryKappa
https://clips.twitch.tv/AbstemiousRa...DogeBloodTrail

According to Blizzard sharding will be in Classic:
https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/...548630#post-15

In a nutshell, sharding means that you can not have lets say more than 40 players in the same area and when this happens, other players will disappear on your screen and you and other players will be split into different smaller instances aka shards.

What is the problem? Well, imagine you are questing with people around you, you see them, you interact with them and out of nowhere you are thrown into another shard with completely different players. Do you remember these huge South Shore and Tarren Mill fights or city raids? These will be sharded, means there would many instances of Stormwind, Orgrimmar and so on.

Why shard? Blizzard started using sharding technology aggressively in later expansions to facilitate engine limitations to prevent server crashes especially on major content release dates due to large number of players starting in the same areas.

I wouldn't mind it on release. Very original topic by the way, we didn't see this on MMO-C or reddit for a day.

If sharding happens I won't play. At the heart of the core experience was player-made communities, consisting of a finite number of people from YOUR realm. Sharding will not only destroy this, but will bring the toxic atmosphere of today's iteration of a once great game with it. There won't be any real penalty for being a fucking dick to every person you meet, or kicking people/leaving groups, etc. No thanks.

If it's just at the start, it keeps the community intact. But you do you man, if you don't want to play if sharding is in you weren't the true demographic anyway. Maybe WK does a turn around during release, but I wouldn't count my hopes on it.

part of what made classic fun was rounding up 120 players in 3 full raid parties and attack a city

Have fun being one shotted by guards, unless you ment during across the lifespan of the release, in which case they have already mentioned that they don't want to interfere with that experience.

This thread and poll again...

I vote no. There are private servers that have WAY more players per realm than Blizzard would allow, and it's fine. If Blizzard can't do it, then they need to re-evaluate their systems and infrastructure teams.

Although, without sharding there would be a log in queue, and I'm fine with that even.

The definition of fine appears to be lost to some. Rollbacks, dc's and server outages happen frequently on Pservers, even on NerdDalek. The rubberbanding that happens in PvP at times is pretty unacceptable in this day and year, not to mention people abusing it on purpose. There is a difference between quality and quantity in terms of server responses and they chose to go for quantity (e.g. low amount of return responses on player location, player state). If you truly believe they did it better with their silly Mangifera indica core, please stay in the queue so others can play.

[Orby]

I am less concerned about the sharding right now than I am with the loot and report systems. Sharding is like third on my list of worries because at least we know Blizzard intent to keep it for only a few days after release. The loot and report system may be permanent and even more damaging.

[korijenkins]

You know how the current starter zones are divided into the full zone, and then the beginner hub?

Like In Elwynn how Northshire is it's own tiny subzone?

Those are the only places I would be okay with sharding, and only for a few days after launch.

[Orby]

Whats the deal with the report system again?

They are going to be using the automated right click report system they use in cuirrenjt WOW. Which people have been seen exploiting a lot lately in current WoW. Mostly in rated BG's and stuff so it may not be a big deal in WoW classic but it's a very flawed system either way.

Basically expect to be banned by Blizzard bot system because a gang of asshats decided to report you for no reason.

[Maudib]

If a handful of dev wanna-bies can make a private server, running on mundane rental servers ans have 10k-12k concurrent players.... I'm sure Blizzard can manage to pull off Classic without much of an issue. If they CHOOSE to use sharding throughout the life of Classic instead of the first couple weeks of launch...

They will manage to kill the game before it gets started. Judging by the stock prices and layoffs... one can only hope they know better than to fuck with perfection.

[Shisui-kun]

I am less concerned about the sharding right now than I am with the loot and report systems. Sharding is like third on my list of worries because at least we know Blizzard intent to keep it for only a few days after release. The loot and report system may be permanent and even more damaging.

The only thing that gives me a slight worry is the report system to be honest. I haven't felt anything in HotS, but just the thought of it gives a sense of uneasiness. Some people really deserve a fast punishment, but there are a lot of cases where the automated system fails to deliver and in the meantime you are unable to do anything about it. I personally think it can only be fine if they set the threshold fairly high and do some manual checking first before taking action, but that defeats the purpose of the system to begin with. One of the more unlikely trends in the gaming market tbh :<

[tikcol]

They only said they're thinking about using it at the starting zones at launch. Stop spreading misinformation with a devious agenda.

[THEORACLE64]

If it's only used in cases where server stability is an issue then yes, use it. I think that'll be the case during the first week/first few days, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see it then. I'd rather actually play the game rather than suffer with a ton of disconnects and server lag.

[Bramickias]

As long as it's only in the starting zone and/or for the first week, i see no problem in this.
I can't even imagine Blackrock Mountain with sharding tech, it would be disastrous. Tuesday night was so much fun in there on a pvp server.

[Alkizon]

Y another one? The last (being recently dug out) is here. Was something bad with it?

[Armourboy]

I'm fine with it in the opening zones right at the start, but anything long term will be a major disappointment.

[PLS]

Yes, for opening couple weeks but merged chat. And server pops capped at old numbers.

[Jyggalag]

If it's just at the start, it keeps the community intact. But you do you man, if you don't want to play if sharding is in you weren't the true demographic anyway. Maybe WK does a turn around during release, but I wouldn't count my hopes on it.

I'm on board if it's just for launch and to avoid initial server stability hiccups, but definitely not long term. And.. what..? I'm not the "true demographic" for wanting an authentic experience? what would you define as "true demographic" then?