New Realm Population Label System

Blizzard

With a hotfix to WoW Classic a few moments ago, we’ve changed how the realm population labels work in order to display realm populations in a more meaningful way.

How it worked before this hotfix

As we explained here, the system previously calculated the population labels by comparing all realms to the most-populated realm. This could result in a very crowded realm (with a lengthy queue) showing up as “Medium”, since it was being compared to the realm that had the highest population and a potentially massive queue.

How population labels work now

This system now measures each realm against a realm’s absolute capacity. Medium indicates a healthy total population on a realm – well in excess of what we considered Full in a 2006 – with room for more players to log-in. You’ll now see a High label if the realm is close to having a queue, and a Full label if the realm currently has a queue.

We will continue to monitor this system closely and take further steps if necessary.

Thank you very much!

Source: Official Post

New Classic Oceanic Realm, Medium pop realm queue’s, Zeppelin/Boat issues, Classic forum changes.

New Oceanic Realm Open – 7:30pm AEST August 27

Blizzard

We have opened a new realm in the Oceanic region:

Felstriker – PvP – AEST

The other two PvP options in the Oceanic region are currently experiencing significant login queues, so we’re bringing an additional realm online to handle demand. We recommend that players looking for a smoother experience strongly consider moving to this new realm, which should be drawing upon a population base that is easily sufficient to support an additional healthy Oceanic PvP realm community.

Thank you for your patience!

Source: Official Post

Login Queue Clarification on Medium Population Realms

Blizzard

Why does Herod still have a 900 person, 8 minute queue when it’s showing Medium population?

The way realm population display currently works once the servers are live is that High, Medium, and Low are determined dynamically, in terms relative to the most crowded realms. So a realm with pretty rough queues (say 4k-5k) might end up showing as Medium because you aren’t Faerlina, Herod, etc.
This is how it’s worked for a long time, but the unprecedented size of the queues on the handful of outlier realms is skewing the algorithm. The team’s first priority is stability and getting new servers online as needed, but beyond that, we’ll look into changing this logic to be more intuitive (i.e. showing “Full” when a server has a queue, for starters). I know, this is technically not #nochanges, but then again neither are 20k people waiting to log into the same realm…

You MUST have known there would be long queues. Why the hesitation to have servers in place to handle extra players? (not characters)

I understand the frustration: Anticipating and planning around jumping back into this world we’ve all missed, only to be stuck in a long queue, is not the experience we want anyone to have.

But from the start of planning for this launch, we’ve tried to prioritize the long-term health of our realm communities, recognizing that if we undershot the mark in terms of launch servers, we could move quickly to add additional realms in the opening hours. But if we went out with too many servers, weeks or months down the line we’d have a much tougher problem to solve. While we have tools like free character transfers available as a long-term solution to underpopulated realms, everything about that process would be tremendously disruptive to realm communities, and so it’s something we want to avoid as much as possible.

Thus, we took the path of launching with few enough realms to still thrive in the event that our most conservative estimates ended up proving accurate, while having enough servers ready to activate at a moment’s notice if needed. And clearly they were, and are, needed.
We’ve released over 20 new realms worldwide so far since launch, and we’ll be up around the clock continuing to do so until everyone who wants to experience Classic is able to. But even still, as we bring new realms online in a given region, we wait for them to fill before opening new ones, because we want to make sure that each and every realm has a healthy population in the long term.

Source: Official Post

Zeppelin/Boat problems

Blizzard

There is a known issue that’s causing zeppelins and boats to be unavailable on certain servers (mainly the ones brought online after initial launch), which is obviously a major concern if you’re looking to switch starting areas to meet up with friends, or are getting to higher levels and have quests sending you across the sea. The upcoming regionwide restarts (4.5 hours from this post for NA/OCE) will fix this going forward.

Source: Official Post

Classic forum changes Incoming

Blizzard

With the release of WoW Classic mere hours away, I wanted to provide a few updates on what will happen with the Classic sections on the forums:

    • Individual Classic Realm forums will be opened prior to launch.
    • Starting from 27th August, all WoW Classic sections will require an active subscription or game time to post in.
    • The current Classic Discussion section will also be archived tomorrow and a new one created so we start from a clean slate.

For now, we will not be adding Class or Profession sections for Classic. We encourage you to use the existing sections and prefix your thread title with [Classic]. We will monitor these sections over the coming weeks.

Not long to go now!

Source: Official Post

Classic LFG Addon Restriction

Source: Official Post

Blizzard

We’ve been closely following the community discussion around this add-on for WoW Classic, as well as analyzing it to make sure we understand how it works. After careful examination, we believe the nature of ClassicLFG is incompatible with our social design for Classic. Thus, in an upcoming patch (in the weeks following launch), we will be adding restrictions to the Classic add-on API that will significantly limit this add-on and others like it.

In line with what we shared at BlizzCon last year, we intend to be very careful about allowing add-on functionality that might undermine aspects of the social dynamics that are core to the Classic experience, even in cases like this where it’s clear that the addon author had no ill intent and was simply trying to provide a service to the Classic community. Ultimately, if a streamlined group-finding system was something we considered compatible with Classic, we would have kept the modern Premade Group Finder tool rather than choosing to remove it from the Classic client.

It’s difficult to articulate a clear-cut rule for exactly when an add-on crosses the line. However, when an add-on goes beyond presenting information or providing aesthetic customization, and attempts to create an interconnected social network that relies on other players also using that same add-on, we are likely to scrutinize it particularly closely.

Source: Official Post

HyperX to kick off WoW Classic launch

HyperX Gaming have announced a Kickoff event for WoW Classic, the live broadcast event will last for 4 hours leading up to the Global Launch of WoW Classic. During the event, which will be streamed on Twitch, HyperX will have interviews with streamer personalities, Game developers, and Method Guild Members.

The Kickoff to WoW Classic will begin streaming on August 26, 2019 at 11:00 AM PST, being broadcast from the HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Catch the stream on Twitch at twitch.tv/HyperX.

Don’t forget, later on the 26th, the Classic Race to World First presented by Method and the World Showdown of Esports will begin, also in Las Vegas!

Attending the HyperX Kickoff to WoW Classic

Asmongold iAmKate Esfand Healingstat
Sonii A WoW Developer JakeNBake AskJoshy

Closed Beta re-opened!

Source: Official Post

Blizzard

Thanks to your help testing WoW Classic, we’ve fixed many additional reported bugs since the Beta ended last month. To really ensure that these fixes are all functioning as expected and prepare the smoothest possible launch in two weeks, we’ve just re-opened our closed beta realms for additional testing of WoW Classic.

All testers who previously had access to the closed beta are now able to log into those realms. Characters that were previously created on the beta test realms were removed, and level 40-character templates are now available. The level cap has been increased to 45. Characters in this range will find level-appropriate quests to explore in zones such as Stranglethorn Vale, Swamp of Sorrows, Dustwallow Marsh, and Desolace.

As before, please use the in-game Bug Report button to submit issues encountered while testing. If you need more text space to explain an issue you encountered, please take it to our WoW Classic Support and Bug Report forum 18, which is now open for new threads.

This final closed beta test will end on Friday, August 16.

Thanks in advance to everyone who jumps in to test WoW Classic and help us prepare for its worldwide release on August 26 at 3:00 p.m. PDT!

Source: Official Post

Classic Pre-Launch Test Extended through monday!

Source: Official Post

Blizzard

We’re going to keep the WoW Classic pre-launch test realms open and available for play through the weekend. Please feel free to test WoW Classic as much as you like.

The pre-launch test will end on Monday, August 12 at 9:00 a.m. PDT. We are not planning an in-game event for shutdown this time.

Thank you very much to everyone who came out and provided the testing we were hoping for! Thanks to you, we’ve been able to fine-tune our plans for launch, and we even captured a few issues that we were able to solve yesterday.

We’ll see you in Azeroth!

Source: Official Post

TBC Shaman Pre-Raid BiS

This is an Elemental/Enhance/Resto Shaman Pre-Raid Best in Slot list for The World of Warcraft Burning Crusade expansion. This list will allow you to begin raiding Karazhan if you have an item from this list in every slot.

Select a specializations

Elemental Shaman

Helm

Neck

Shoulder

Cloak

Chest

Bracer

Hands

Belt

Legs

Boots

Rings

Trinkets

Totem

Main Hand

OH / Shield

Two Hand

Enhancement Shaman

Helm

Neck

Shoulder

Cloak

Chest

Bracer

Hands

Belt

Legs

Boots

Rings

Trinkets

Totem

Main Hand

OH / Shield

Resto Shaman

Helm

Neck

Shoulder

Cloak

Chest

Bracer

Hands

Belt

Legs

Boots

Rings

Trinkets

Totem

Main Hand

OH / Shield

Two Hand

TBC Druid Pre-Raid BiS

This is a Balance/Feral/Tank/Resto Druid Pre-Raid Best in Slot list for The World of Warcraft Burning Crusade expansion. This list will allow you to begin raiding Karazhan if you have an item from this list in every slot.

Select a specialization

Balance Druid

Helm

Neck

Shoulder

Back

Chest

Bracer

Hands

Belt

Legs

Boots

Rings

Trinkets

Idol

Main Hand

Off Hand

Two Hand

Feral (DPS) Druid

Helm

Neck

Shoulder

Back

Chest

Bracer

Hands

Belt

Legs

Boots

Rings

Trinkets

Idol

Two Hand

Feral (Tank) Druid

Helm

Neck

Shoulder

Back

Chest

Bracer

Hands

Belt

Legs

Boots

Rings

Trinkets

Idol

Two Hand

Resto Druid

Helm

Neck

Shoulder

Back

Chest

Bracer

Hands

Belt

Legs

Boots

Rings

Trinkets

Idol

Main Hand

Off Hand

Two Hand