Layering
- Not to be confused with Layer.
Layering is a game design tool used in World of Warcraft: Classic to alleviate player overcrowding in outdoor areas. It is based on the sharding system, but involves connecting multiple shards to form the entire outdoor world of a realm.[1] It was created with the intent to alleviate realm performance issues but keep original Classic world behaviors like mobs and players remaining consistent as they moved between zones. Its creation has been attributed to Blizzard employee Omar Gonzalez.[1]
Layering was used at the launch of Classic, but was later disabled.[2] It returned for Season of Discovery.[3]
Behavior
At the launch of Classic, players on overcrowded realms were grouped into different "layers". Each layer is a copy of the outdoor world,[4] with minor differences:
- Layers are dynamically created as player demand increases, but do not collapse until realm restarts.[1][5]
- Players can only see other players on the same layer.
- Each layer has its own set of NPCs. As such, rare NPCs may respawn at different times on different layers.
- Each layer has its own set of objects such as herbs and mining nodes.
Players can move to a different layer by joining a party with a party leader on a different layer.[6]
Blizzard originally intended to merge the layers of each realm before Phase 2.[7] This was made effective on 13 November 2019.[8]
Season of Discovery
Blizzard experimented with many different layering behaviors in Season of Discovery. In its initial implementation, layers would be created due to overcrowding and be dynamically collapsed in off-peak hours in order to funnel players into open-world interactions. This caused various issues with the Battle for Ashenvale world event frequently in Phase 1, and as such was changed to have layers retire only during realm restarts.[5] Similar problems occurred during the Phase 2 Blood Moon event, with layers moving players too aggressively, or not allowing them to see raid or party members, causing the Classic team to continue their work on alleviating issues in the open world.[1][9][10]
Patch changes
Patch 1.13.2 (2019-08-26): Added.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d https://twitter.com/knowyourgoat/status/1759307120543973687
- ^ Guys calm down!. Retrieved on 2019-11-02.
- ^ Forum:BlizzCon 2023 Q&A § Warcraft Classic Q&A
- ^ Wowhead - Blizzard Clears Up Layering Tech Misconceptions in Classic WoW
- ^ a b https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/update-on-the-battle-for-ashenvale-and-layers-12142023/1742396
- ^ Anshlun 2019-05-14. Layering in Classic WoW. Wowhead. Retrieved on 2019-05-15.
- ^ perculia 2019-08-21. Blizzard Clears Up Layering Tech Misconceptions in Classic WoW. Wowhead. Retrieved on 2019-08-22.
- ^ Wowhead - All Realms Down to a Single Layer in Classic WoW
- ^ https://twitter.com/knowyourgoat/status/1759337028116713809
- ^ https://www.pcgamer.com/the-server-tech-that-saved-wow-10-years-ago-is-causing-problems-for-classics-season-of-discovery-dev-reveals-a-layer-is-actually-just-sharding-with-a-lot-of-sticky-tape/