Since release, World of Warcraft: Classic has kept true to the Vanilla phase of World of Warcraft that it was created to replicate. Unfortunately, that’s meant that many of the old problems returned as well.
One of the most pressing issues since release has been the difficulty with overpopulation and overfilled servers. With so many players, the realms often have waits that can take hours, effectively barring players from being able to log on.
There’s been an ongoing battle against the overpopulation efforts that has brought a drastic number of solutions and problems both to the table. Today, Blizzard went back to an older, less popular solution for two of the most overcrowded servers.
“Over the next few minutes, we’re enabling a second layer for the Herod and Whitemane realms,” Blizzard announced earlier today. “This is a step we’re taking very carefully to make it so that players can enjoy playing on those realms during peak hours.”
Blizzard has announced that the #ClassicWoW US realms Herod and Whitemane will be receiving a second layer today, in order to fight high queue times in peak hours.https://t.co/CqWrEg7ZJ1 pic.twitter.com/EiNy1SqibY
— Wowhead💙 (@Wowhead) May 29, 2020
In reactivating layering, Blizzard is making it so that there are essentially two realms that players are able to sign onto with the single realm, splitting players amongst the two. While this provides faster access to the realm, it also removes players from the company of the rest of the realm, which can have a drastic number of negative effects.
More than anything, most players seem to be against layering for the simple reason of the original Vanilla version not having them. Players want Classic to be as similar as possible and are asking for Blizzard to find a different solution to the issue.
However, this is far from a permanent fix. Rather, Blizzard is using this method to allow players to enjoy the game they play for while they search for another way to fix the problems.
“It has been a very high priority for us to understand why, after we de-layered ten realms on May 14th, these two realms reversed course and experienced this, while the others did not,” Blizzard states in their announcement.
Furthermore, the developers intend to pay close attention to the issue and do what they must to help players. They promise to make adjustments to the game service as necessary, and as such, Herod and Whitemane are still restricted from character transfer services.
Many players are reacting pleasantly, though others are against layering by principle. Still, if it makes it so that everyone can enjoy the game and Blizzard intends to continue trying to fix it without, what’s the harm?
As the title continues to improve, Blizzard seems to be doing everything they can to keep the game running smoothly. While the overpopulation issues are bothersome, the developers are getting closer every day to a permanent fix.
