Azeroth's earthquake splits the server under your ass

[HRose]

While on other threads we discuss about the "barriers" between players, Blizzard is preparing this:

We have a more drastic step just about to be tested on the beta servers (I think we posted about it on the beta forums already, not giving anything away here). We have a new forced server split mechanism just about ready to go, implemented as fairly as we possibly can. You'll have a week or so to choose a server (all done in-game), we'll keep guilds together as much as possible for people who don't make a choice, etc. It's a last step measure, so I want to encourage all of you to take advantage of any other options presented to you before it comes to this. We would prefer to never use it. But it's almost inevitable we're going to have to on at least a few servers. Maybe many.

FORCED server splits. Reality shatters. From the POV of the little WoW people this is like a cataclysm. Opening chasms into the ground.

[Merusk]

Given that Alleria (My server) is hitting 800+ queus on weeknights and we haven't even seen BC's release yet, it's pretty much a mandatory thing.   Of course, if they wouldn't drag their feet on offering free transfers, it'd be less required.  We're only on our second one with the transfers they announced earlier this week, and it's long overdue.

[Morat20]

I wonder which servers are on the block? I'm Argent Dawn (RP-manginas for the win!), but the worst are queues get is 500. Prime time, it's generally about 250 and maybe 10 minutes or so.

I'm thinking I'm probably not going to have to worry.

[Venkman]

Holy crap. I mean, they obviously will need to do it. Hardware upgrades or not nobody expects to log in on day one of BC. And I actually think this is the only option available to them. And no Hrose, I don't care about your idea from 3 years ago :) They can't just up and rebuild everything.

Off to tell me guild.

[Simond]

While on other threads we discuss about the "barriers" between players, Blizzard is preparing this:

We have a more drastic step just about to be tested on the beta servers (I think we posted about it on the beta forums already, not giving anything away here). We have a new forced server split mechanism just about ready to go, implemented as fairly as we possibly can. You'll have a week or so to choose a server (all done in-game), we'll keep guilds together as much as possible for people who don't make a choice, etc. It's a last step measure, so I want to encourage all of you to take advantage of any other options presented to you before it comes to this. We would prefer to never use it. But it's almost inevitable we're going to have to on at least a few servers. Maybe many.

FORCED server splits. Reality shatters. From the POV of the little WoW people this is like a cataclysm. Opening chasms into the ground.

Didn't EQ do this about seven and a half years ago?

[Rasix]

Nice, I hope I'm given the option to move/split. I don't have really any ties on my current server.

[Morat20]

Nice, I hope I'm given the option to move/split. I don't have really any ties on my current server.

Front paged on the WoW site is something like 16 or so servers with free character transfer to new realms.

[Dren]

This doesn't bother me as long as I can move with my guild.  I'd be happy with that.

[ajax34i]

Free character transfers aren't quite the same as a server split, in terms of AQ gates being opened and the prices on the AH's.  I don't know, however, what percentage of the players refuse to switch to a new server because of the cost of character transfer, as opposed to because they don't want to deal with a new economy.

[Venkman]

We've considered moves each time there was a chance Icecrown could be offered it. The reason we don't is because we have a lot of people who careen in and out of the game. We stay with Icecrown so they have an active channel to return to.

[SurfD]

Realisticly, this had to happen sometime.

Given the stories you people tell about queues, im honestly surpised my realm (Tichondrious) hasnt seen any.  Considering we were one of the origional first live realms, and considering that, for some reason, our server is regarded as one of THE PvP realms (entire guilds have moved to our server, or one of the servers in our Battlegroup just to PvP against some of the PvP teams on our server) i wouldnt be surprised if our server was one of the highest population servers in the game.  When people just keep coming, and very few leave, you will eventually need to force something through to cut the population down to a level the hardware can handle.

[Venkman]

I really don't think it's pure population. Rather, with all the servers they have, they may have some machines that are just different spec than others.

Icecrown is up to about 500 in queue during peak time (about 20-25 minutes).

[geldonyetich]

Seeing how it seems World of Warcraft still isn't doomed, I'll instead fall back on scorning Blizzard for being unwilling to develop a more robust server architecture that can support more concurrent players.

[Righ]

Got a link to this?

[Morfiend]

Given the stories you people tell about queues, im honestly surpised my realm (Tichondrious) hasnt seen any.

Tich is only a medium pop server. I have played on Tich, and also on a high pop server. There is defenetly a difference in the amount of people running around on the high pop.

Oh yeah, Surf, you A or H and whats your name?

[Simond]

Got a link to this?

Found one

[SurfD]

Given the stories you people tell about queues, im honestly surpised my realm (Tichondrious) hasnt seen any.

Oh yeah, Surf, you A or H and whats your name?

Horde, could possibly be seen around on Kaimei (Main, Mage), Incarna (most popular alt, Shaman) or possibly Fenella (herbalist alt, Druid)

[Venkman]

Whoa, this could get fugly. New sticky link. Their archiving process sucks, so here's the whole post. Bolded the problem area.

Beta Realm Split Test

We are in the process of testing a functionality that allows us to split an existing realm into two new realms. This functionality may become necessary should the total population of a realm reach maximum player capacity. During this test we plan to split the Hellfire beta realm. For further information, please read the Realm Split FAQ listed below.

If you have additional questions or concerns, please reply in this thread so we can update the FAQ accordingly.

What is a realm split?

The term realm split describes the process of taking an overpopulated realm and dividing the population between two new realms.

What will determine whether a realm will need to undergo a realm split?

As severe realm overpopulation can result in unacceptable queue times for players entering the game, the need for a realm split is determined by the extent to which a realm is overpopulated. In the event of excessive overpopulation, Blizzard will examine a number of factors and explore multiple options for mitigating that overpopulation. A realm split will be executed only if Blizzard feels that the procedure represents the best option for addressing population-related issues.

What are the benefits to a realm split?

When a realm reaches maximum player capacity, gameplay becomes adversely affected. By dividing a realm’s population between two realms, we’re able to create a more stable, more enjoyable environment for all affected characters, which in turn contributes to a much more satisfactory World of Warcraft experience for everyone.

Are any other measures being taken to avoid forcing a realm split?

Yes. One measure is to raise the player caps for all realms when The Burning Crusade launches. This will be possible in part because of the hardware upgrades that we’ve worked to put in place since the original launch. In addition, our programmers regularly review our realm code to identify better ways to maximize performance as a realm’s population increases. Furthermore, as we have in the past, we will initiate a free character move (to realms designated by Blizzard) before resorting to a realm split.

Will I be able to choose my new realm?

When a realm is chosen to undergo a split, an in-game message at the character-selection screen will prompt all affected players to choose between one of the two new realms being created. The player will be able to make this decision (or change his or her decision) up until the realm-split process has been completed. The realm that the player chooses will be the destination for all characters that the player plays on that realm.

What happens to my characters if I don’t choose?

If a realm is not chosen by the player, each character will be individually relocated to one of the two new realms based on a priority system. The system will first determine whether the character is in a guild and move the character based on the destination of the guild’s leader. If the character is not in a guild, the system will then check if the character is part of an arena team and move the character accordingly. If these conditions do not apply, Blizzard will make the decision for the character(s).

Is it possible to send my characters to different realms?

If a player does not provide us with his or her preference, and allows the priority system described above to individually process the
relocation of each character, then it is possible to have characters become divided between the two new realms. Manually selecting a realm during the selection period will ensure that all characters from a single account on the affected realm will relocate together.

Does providing my realm preference guarantee my destination?

We will do our best to accommodate everyone’s realm preference, but if manual realm selections result in one of the two new realms being overpopulated, we may need to move some of the population to a different realm.

What happens to my Friends and Ignore lists?

The characters on a player’s Friend and Ignore lists will remain, provided those characters moved to the same realm.

Will items in the mail or auction house become lost?

These items will be moved with each character.

During the time of a realm split, will the Paid Character Transfer service still be available?

Yes. Players will still have the option to transfer their characters using the Paid Character Transfer service.

Will the transfer of my character(s) from the realm being split count toward the transfer “cooldown,” affecting my ability to transfer elsewhere using the Paid Character Transfer service?

No. Characters moved through the realm-split process will not activate the transfer cooldown.

What if I don’t like the new realm? Am I stuck there?

All players will have the same opportunity that they normally would to transfer the characters they play on an affected realm to a new realm using the Paid Character Transfer service

*does stay-away-from-Icecrown dance*

[Trouble]

The game is seeing a massive influx of players, whether they be new or returns. Most servers are reporting queues at least some of the time, including many many servers which have almost NEVER seen queues. My own server falls under this. We saw queues for the first three days the server came up 9 months ago as people rushed to play in the new playground and haven't seen any since. That is until about Christmas. There's been queues most nights since.

The anticipation for this expansion is huge. Expansion always bring people back, this is a known fact. But this is unique....this expansion is bigger than any other MMO has really done in the past. Not only that, but it's WoW. It already has a huge draw. We're going to continue to see a massive influx of people as the expansion approaches and releases. WoW has many times in its lifetime been a victim of its own success and this is the case once again.

[Venkman]

Actually, while the expansion has a lot of cool stuff, I can think of some EQ1 expansions that encompassed an equivalent amount.

The anticipation is huge I think in part because it's both the first one and a LONG time coming, by gamer standards. They don't wait this long for sequels :)

And yes, it's WoW ;)

[ClydeJr]

I just hope they're beefing up their registration servers. Having several million people all try to enter their BC code at once is going to be ugly. They really should create a way to do this in advance. Something like you could BC-enable your account early if you've preordered but none of the new content will be available. If I remember correctly, Cryptic did something like this when they were getting ready to release CoV.

[Xanthippe]

I'm very happy that my server (a fairly newish one) is only at most at medium population.  It makes such a difference in my enjoyment of the game.

My guild moved when offered a free move off Shattered Hand some time ago, and it's been great.  In fact, SH still has server queues despite some large guilds leaving.

[Tale]

The game is seeing a massive influx of players, whether they be new or returns. Most servers are reporting queues at least some of the time, including many many servers which have almost NEVER seen queues. My own server falls under this. We saw queues for the first three days the server came up 9 months ago as people rushed to play in the new playground and haven't seen any since. That is until about Christmas. There's been queues most nights since.

The anticipation for this expansion is huge. Expansion always bring people back, this is a known fact. But this is unique....this expansion is bigger than any other MMO has really done in the past. Not only that, but it's WoW. It already has a huge draw. We're going to continue to see a massive influx of people as the expansion approaches and releases. WoW has many times in its lifetime been a victim of its own success and this is the case once again.

Too right. I came through a 550 queue on Sunday on Proudmoore. Closest I've gotten to the bad old days of 2000 queues on Blackrock, but I can see those coming soon. Everyone is coming back for this expansion and it will be difficult to log in.

[bhodi]

So. I'm keeping smidge (gnome rogue) on icecrown and moving sooth (dwarf priest) over to arygos.

[Rasix]

Moved all of my relevant characters (Horde) to Shu'halo.  :-D Well, it's processing.

Eligible realms (incase anyone's interested):

Draenor (PvE) 
Shadowsong (PvE)    
Uldum (PvE)
Windrunner (PvE)
Dragonblight (PvE)

[Azazel]

Too right. I came through a 550 queue on Sunday on Proudmoore. Closest I've gotten to the bad old days of 2000 queues on Blackrock, but I can see those coming soon. Everyone is coming back for this expansion and it will be difficult to log in.

That's normal for Saturday and Sunday afternoons on Proudmoore mate. Seems to be because it's our weekend combined with Fri & Sat nights in the states.

[Rasix]

Character move question: if you create a character with the same name as the one being moved on the detination server(while the move is in process), will you be able to change your moved character's name?

2 of my chars are STILL pending status. 

[jpark]

Character move question: if you create a character with the same name as the one being moved on the detination server(while the move is in process), will you be able to change your moved character's name?

2 of my chars are STILL pending status. 

Yes.

When you login your character will have NameXXXXX - you will recieve a prompt asking for the new character's name.  If you have placeholder character with the name you want on the destination server - delete the character - and then quickly log in your transferred character and assign him the deleted name.

[MournelitheCalix]

While on other threads we discuss about the "barriers" between players, Blizzard is preparing this:

We have a more drastic step just about to be tested on the beta servers (I think we posted about it on the beta forums already, not giving anything away here). We have a new forced server split mechanism just about ready to go, implemented as fairly as we possibly can. You'll have a week or so to choose a server (all done in-game), we'll keep guilds together as much as possible for people who don't make a choice, etc. It's a last step measure, so I want to encourage all of you to take advantage of any other options presented to you before it comes to this. We would prefer to never use it. But it's almost inevitable we're going to have to on at least a few servers. Maybe many.

FORCED server splits. Reality shatters. From the POV of the little WoW people this is like a cataclysm. Opening chasms into the ground.

This was a good thing, not a bad thing in my opinion.  Both of the servers I have been playing on had queues with an average wait of 15-25 minutes each night.  With the Burning Crusade out and people coming back to the game again, the queues were going to get larger, not smaller.  For a casual player this is way to long to wait to play for a game you pay to have access to.  Blizzard also already went on record and stated that they were going to try to keep guilds together.  To me this was the best of the options available and it as long as they keep players and guilds together, it was done in a manner that was as respectful to the player as possible.

All in all it was a job well done by blizzard.

[Trippy]

While on other threads we discuss about the "barriers" between players, Blizzard is preparing this:

We have a more drastic step just about to be tested on the beta servers (I think we posted about it on the beta forums already, not giving anything away here). We have a new forced server split mechanism just about ready to go, implemented as fairly as we possibly can. You'll have a week or so to choose a server (all done in-game), we'll keep guilds together as much as possible for people who don't make a choice, etc. It's a last step measure, so I want to encourage all of you to take advantage of any other options presented to you before it comes to this. We would prefer to never use it. But it's almost inevitable we're going to have to on at least a few servers. Maybe many.

FORCED server splits. Reality shatters. From the POV of the little WoW people this is like a cataclysm. Opening chasms into the ground.

This was a good thing, not a bad thing in my opinion.  Both of the servers I have been playing on had queues with an average wait of 15-25 minutes each night.  With the Burning Crusade out and people coming back to the game again, the queues were going to get larger, not smaller.  For a casual player this is way to long to wait to play for a game you pay to have access to.  Blizzard also already went on record and stated that they were going to try to keep guilds together.  To me this was the best of the options available and it as long as they keep players and guilds together, it was done in a manner that was as respectful to the player as possible.

All in all it was a job well done by blizzard.

Server splits to relieve overcrowding are good in general. As Darniaq pointed out Server splits that can cause your non-guilded alts and mules to be randomly distributed are not so good. Server splits that can cause guilds and characters to be split up because too many guilds choose one of the two servers are even worse. Now I realize that this is a difficult problem so Blizzard really can't guarentee a whole lot. However instead of allowing people a chance to "reshuffle" characters for free as a one-time-deal to fix any problems they had to gall to say that people can fix the problems Blizzard caused for a fee. And I shudder to think what's going to happen to all the characters on those servers whose accounts aren't currently active.

Edit: relieve not reload

[MournelitheCalix]

[

Server splits to reload overcrowding in general are good. As Darniaq pointed out Server splits that can cause your non-guilded alts and mules to be randomly distributed are not so good. Server splits that can cause guilds and characters to be split up because too many guilds choose one of the two servers are even worse. Now I realize that this is a difficult problem so Blizzard really can't guarentee a whole lot. However instead of allowing people a chance to "reshuffle" characters for free as a one-time-deal to fix any problems they had to gall to say that people can fix the problems Blizzard caused for a fee. And I shudder to think what's going to happen to all the characters on those servers whose accounts aren't currently active.

[/quote]

Could i ask you what you mean by reload.  Do you mean to relieve?  If so I agree completely.

I agree that a split that splits up your alts and mules are in general not a good thing.  Maybe I am wrong or my experience doesn't reflect what is happening outside of my guid; however, most of the people I know and have gamed with have their alts and mules in the same guild.  If Blizzard is indeed honoring this policy of not splitting up guilds then for these people there really should not be a problem.  Blizzard also might I add gave people notice that this was going to happen.  I mention this because people had time to prepare.  One of the servers I played in, Argent Dawn was going to be split into Sisters Of Elune.  We knew the split was happening well in advance of the release of The Burning Crusade, because Blizzard announced it.  We knew it and my whole guild (the active players in the guild) took advantage of it.  We moved everything we wanted off of Argent Dawn.

I understand your point though, and I think you have made it clearer than the OP (no slight meant to him).  I can see how for people who do not have all their alts/mules in one guild how this could impact their gameplay.   I can also understand how it would be very frustrating if one day you log in and your alts and mules are on another server and Blizzard's answer was to pay your way back or go free to the alt.  I would agree that for these individuals Blizzard's solution was not an ideal one.  However ignoring the ever increasing queue's were not an acceptible solution either.  In my way of seeing things something had to be done and unlike companies like Sony Online Entertainment, Blizzard acted with their customers best interest at heart.  Now in the execution I guess it could be argued that for some people the solution was not in their best interests.  However pixels are replaceable.  Friends are not.  I think Blizzard got their priorities straight by keeping people together in the same guild first.  While it does suck, you can replace what you lost.  If your in a good guild, you should have friends that will help you a long the way.

I guess I took all this time to say again what I said earlier, the server split was a good thing.  Although I will conceed that for some I guess its less than ideal.  To those who are in the situation where their alts/mules were unguilded and now find them on another server, I truely sympathize with what your going through.  There was no easy solution in this.  I still think that this action by Blizzard was overwhelmingly positive.