WoW: Wrath Of The Lich King Classic Server Queues
18th Sep, 2022
Many World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic realms are currently plagued with server login queues of up six hours or more during peak playtimes. According to Blizzard this situation will only get worse.
Blizzard posted a detailed forum thread explaining the server queue situation. They also stated that they are working on solutions, but later stated that there is no technology or hardware solution. However, the real solution to the game's current server problems is for players to take advantage the free server transfers being offered to those most in need. Blizzard warns that the situation will only get worse over the coming weeks, noting that the majority of Wrath of the Lich King content will not be available until September 26th. Wrath of the Lich King, which is regarded as one of the most popular expansions in the game, will be a huge hit with players, resulting in queues that will grow even longer.
How did players and Blizzard find themselves in this situation, and how did they get there? According to Blizzard, they didn't want to be "heavy-handed" and prevent new or transferring player from playing on the game's most populated "megarealms" in the last year. This could have potentially restricted players and broken up friends groups looking to play together.
"However, the current situation on these realms are completely untenable and even though we can eliminate queues in a short term, this will continue to be an issue when new content is released as long as megarealms exist," Blizzard wrote. "We have made the decision to effectively close US and EU megarealms to new and more incoming players indefinitely."
Some players have asked for more server layers on highly populated realms in order to reduce the queue. However, as Blizzard explained in the forum post adding more layers on megarealms is not an option. Blizzard's solution for large numbers of WoW Classic players within a single area is layering. This creates new copies of the game environment to spread players and prevent "degradation" of the service/game world.
However, this won't solve the server queue problem. The problem is that servers can't handle more players without them "degrading or failing on multiple levels." Layers don't increase the server's maximum player capacity.
Blizzard writes, "So put as plainly and possible, we can't increase capacity without inviting additional and likely cascading failings to the service,"
Blizzard spends most of the forum posting trying to encourage players on highly-populated realms that are affected by long server queues to move to new realms. He also tries to dispel some myths regarding server population. Many players feel pressured by WoW Classic's lack of cross-server features to have a positive experience. More players means more people to raid with or dungeon with. Blizzard points out that WoW Classic player numbers are much higher than when Wrath of the Lich King launched in 2008. This means that if everyone in the queue transferred to new servers, it would likely fill those servers.
Blizzard writes that "These realms don't have to queue (many have never queued), they have strong economies and hundreds of groups forming daily for raids and dungeons." These realms would burst if we did not have realm caps in place as recently as 2014 in WoW. These mega-realms are not the only place that is 'viable' to play. We want to prove that they are great places to play.
Blizzard will be closely monitoring the servers players transfer to to make sure they don't reach the point that they need login queues. They may also lock servers or restrict transfers "with very little to no warning" in order to prevent mega-realm situations from ever happening again.
The server problems occurred in the wake of the Wrath of the Lich King Classic Pre-Patch, which introduced the Death Knight class, class talent overhauls, and a Scourge invasion. These events will continue to escalate until the full release of the expansion, which is scheduled for September 26.