Try logging into WoW Classic last night? So did a lot of people. After 15 years many players thought Blizzard would have a plan to handle massive log in queues. The result showed players that it may not be the case.
Players clamoring to hop back 15 years in time and re-discover how World of Warcraft felt in 2004 were met with a familiar scene to players form that era: server queues. In fact, some queues left players waiting to log in for over an hour, frustrating many fans eager to see Stormwind in all its 2004 glory. Taking to the forums, many players expressed incredulity that Blizzard seemingly hadn't prepared well enough for this, noting the company's hesitation to open new servers leading up to the massive launch.
In a response, Blizzard's Ion Hazzikostas explained that the cramped servers today will lead to a more stable community down the road for the Classic game.
"But from the start of planning for this launch, we’ve tried to prioritize the long-term health of our realm communities, recognizing that if we undershot the mark in terms of launch servers, we could move quickly to add additional realms in the opening hours. But if we went out with too many servers, weeks or months down the line we’d have a much tougher problem to solve. While we have tools like free character transfers available as a long-term solution to underpopulated realms, everything about that process would be tremendously disruptive to realm communities, and so it’s something we want to avoid as much as possible."
Ion goes on to explain that the team took the path they felt would be the least disruptive long term to server population. As with any game, players drop off. In this case, much of the novelty might wear off and players could yearn for the quality of life features found in modern WoW. Hazzikostas also noted that since launch, the Classic team has opened over 20 new realms worldwide, but each new realm has to be full before opening a new one.
So for the time being players might have to deal with long queues as Blizzard feels the pay off will be a healthier community for those who stick around past the initial phases. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
