Originally Posted by
thegoodbroham
Okay, well you're overlooking the biggest and most obvious problem: Connection. Latency. Ping. What you're asking for simply is not possible. Ever done the southshore vs tarren mill battle? Or play Classic when phase 2 started? How many of those mass battle experiences were smooth, lag-free experiences? I'll answer for you. Zero. Battlegrounds and raids are fine, because the servers are only handling the load of 40 (or in the case of the big ones, 80) players at any given time.
Internet technology, like landline phones, are not built to withstand the activity of every possible user at one given time. BellSouth was broken up in the 2000s because it was seen as a security risk to the nation that so many people were dependent on one service that couldn't even withstand being used. Theoretically, in the year 2000, if everyone picked up their landline phone in their house and dialed at one time.. What would happen? It would crash, or nothing would go through. It only worked under the assumption that it was never under maximum load. The internet is no different. This is why websites like walmart, microsoft, gamestop, etc. all slow to a crawl when the new Playstation or Xbox is in stock. There is only a certain amount of traffic any network can handle.
So Gimlix doesn't really understand what he's asking for, so I'll explain it. If there was a "mega-server", under the hood what would they do? They would basically break it up into shards, layers, etc that dynamically apply as the number of players increase.
So... In other words....The concepts of realms/servers would simply be abstracted away from the user who does not select what "server" they log in to. But behind the scenes, it would literally apply.
So you're basically asking for a carbon copy of what we have already, except you'd simply have less info available, and they'd have put development work and hours into accomplishing zero percent of additional features. Log in and your friend says to meet by Oribos bank? Oops, different shard/server/layer that was abstracted away from you.
If it isn't clear, allow me to make it clear: THIS IS WHY SERVERS EXIST IN THE FIRST PLACE. And any game with a population over a few thousand will also be incorporating this, no matter how they advertise themselves, the concept of a "mega server" for hundreds of thousands to millions of players all seamlessly existing in the same space at the same time? Does not exist. Will probably never exist within WoW's relevant lifespan, which seems to be nearing it's end anyways.