Blizzard is no longer able to handle the queues. In WoW Classic realms are now being closed down, no new players can join – possibly permanently.
Currently, there are two main groups of players in World of Warcraft Classic preparing for Wrath of the Lich King Classic.
- One group plays on the “less popular” realms and manages well, experiencing little to no wait times.
- The other group plays on the most popular “mega-realms” and experiences wait times of several hours.
Blizzard has now opted for a very radical solution: The most popular realms will be closed, and new players will no longer have access to them.
What is currently happening in WoW Classic? The pre-patch for Wrath of the Lich King Classic has brought huge numbers of players back to World of Warcraft, flocking to the realms. Many want to use the time before the official launch to level a Death Knight or prepare another class for Northrend.
The problem that has arisen: A large portion of players seems to want to congregate on a handful of realms that are now bursting at the seams. This leads to ridiculous wait times of 8 hours or more and also causes lag on the realms.
No improvement has been in sight for days. Therefore, voices are increasingly being raised that Blizzard should do something to improve the situation.
While free character transfers from the overcrowded realms are available, they are used very little. It makes sense, as most want to play on the realm where their friends are and fear ending up on a “dead” realm, where groups can no longer be formed and the economy has come to a standstill.
If you are currently playing WoW Classic, you actually receive a mount in modern WoW:
Why doesn’t Blizzard simply increase realm capacity?
A common request in the WoW forum or subreddit is for Blizzard to stop being so stingy and simply upgrade the capacity of the respective realms. Here Blizzard clarified in the official WoW forum: This is simply not possible. The busy realms are operating at the limits of what is technically feasible.
We start with a simple and clear statement: The mega-realms in the US and EU regions that currently have to deal with queues are completely full. That is the absolute state of affairs, and there are no additional capacities that can be added to these realms to allow more players or reduce wait times.
The reaction of many players to this is that Blizzard should simply open more layers on the full realms, so that more players have space in the game world. However, that is also not a solution, as layers cannot increase a realm’s capacity:
[…] Layers do not increase capacity in any way. […]
The capacity of a realm is determined by the number of connections the server can handle simultaneously. Each time a player connects to the realm, that connection interacts with multiple services, systems, and adds load to the database, which collects data in connection with players, spells, quests, creatures, auctions, and so on. When the total number of all connections to a realm’s database reaches a certain amount, performance decreases or fails at several levels, leading to symptoms such as massive lag in the auction house, chat issues, or delays in looting items.
Never before in WoW’s history have realms had such a large capacity as now, and even with our modern capacity, we sometimes experience performance issues when the realms are full or databases are overloaded.
Players have only one choice: They must switch realms
Blizzard clearly states that capacity cannot be increased without causing even more problems. Therefore, they clearly state that there is only one solution:
Currently, the best and only way to mitigate the problems for the affected realms is to use the free transfer and leave these realms. There is no technical solution for this matter. There is no hardware solution for this matter. The situation will not improve when Wrath of the Lich King Classic launches at the end of September; it will only get worse.
WoW completely locks realms
A first step to at least somewhat contain the problems seems drastic. The most popular realms can no longer be targets for paid character transfers. Additionally, it is no longer possible to create new characters on the overcrowded realms.
In other words: Those who do not yet play on the overcrowded realms will not be able to do so in the foreseeable future.
These restrictions will remain in place indefinitely, possibly for several months.
Are the other realms so much worse?
No, and Blizzard keeps trying to emphasize this. Many players are concerned that the not fully employed realms will be essentially “dead” in a few weeks and that no groups can be found there. In fact, Blizzard points out that the capacities of the different realms far exceed what was possible during the original Wrath of the Lich King time.
For example, the EU realm “Everlook” is overall 3 times larger than a realm that was fully utilized back then, and even seemingly less populated realms like “Razorfen” or “Earthshaker” have a population twice as high as before.
So, we cannot speak of dead realms here.
Will you give in and leave the full “mega-realms”? Or will you ride it out, no matter how long the wait time is in the end?
If you want to stay out of all this commotion – the Dragonflight beta is also live, so you can already take a look at the future of WoW.
