Servers don’t really matter for sharding, but they are still there, with all characters, guilds, data, etc. From how AOO quest and War Mode bonus % are calculated we can assume that that data on servers also shows who uses War Mode and for how long. This can be used to determine how many players are actually into WPvP or at least don’t mind it.
From recent interview with Ion Hazzikostas & Calie Schie
Unlike sharding where we run multiple copies of an individual zone in modern BFA, what we’re doing in Classic is actually running multiple copies of the entire world. So let’s say you playing on a server there might be three entire copies of Azeroth, full versions of Azeroth, where you can walk around, take a zeppelin, and you won’t see people appearing and disappearing around you…
So there is data about all players in War Mode across all servers, and there is a technology to create full copies of entire world.
Current sharding creates copies of zones, and makes initial balancing = our current shards. What if instead of making shards from zones and putting players there in RNG, system was changed to use Layering technology instead? But not layers from one server - similar to current sharding - layers from all servers, like:
- Use data about players in War Mode to see what servers can be connected in clusters, similar to how current RP servers are connected.
- Create layers - full copies of the world - and put players from those connected clusters on those layers. Each cluster has it’s own layer.
- Servers clusters could be dynamic - each reset system would re-check balance for each cluster and make adjustments if needed from what’s avaliable to have as close to 50/50 as possible.
- War Mode ON and OFF should have their own separate layers, with War Mode ON has a top priority for Faction balancing, since that is where it really matters.
So basically, instead of current small shards - a system that would connect servers together to create full worlds with as close to 50/50 balance as possible, and re-check it every reset.
Although I really don’t like limitations, but this idea probably won’t work without at least some LFG limitations.
In War Mode OFF - it doesn’t need any limitations, so players can travel from layers/shards to other layers/shards as much as they like. Plus it’s kinda important not to have limitation here for Raids/PvE PUGs, etc.
In War Mode ON - regular LFG (not automated one for Elite/World bosses WQs) should be limited to players from current layer only. This will keep faceless zergs at a minimum level. But, players are still should be able to go to another layers, by joining someone from their friend list, or Community they are in. It’s only to limit LFG tool itself.
And to keep at least some consistency on Layers, for social aspect:
- Servers must be connected for both factions on the same server. So if Horde from a server is on this layer, Alliance must be too. Server cannot be separated between different layers.
- There must be consistent pairs of servers, probably big ones, that stay connected, while smaller ones are mostly used to balance faction ratio.
War Mode ON bonus - still needed, for the same reasons it’s here now, plus LFG limitations. But I don’t think there would be a need for things like AOO anymore.
There is still can be more Horde than Alliance in War Mode, or more Alliance on RP realms, or whatever else, the point is - faction balance can still be skewed towards one faction, but with Layering - it’ll be skewed for a layer, so WM bonus can also be per layer. And to avoid abusing, if player goes for another layer with different bonus - bonus can only go lower than player’s original layer, not higher.
In addition, lags and servers performance could improve, since sharding won’t be happening every time, but just once per day.
Well, this wall of text makes a good outline of an idea.
What do you think - will something like that be better than current sharding?
![:slight_smile:](https://d1bg94bbsh66ji.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=6" ":slight_smile:")