Blizzard locks busy WoW Classic realms

2023-01-11

Blizzard has disabled character creation for WoW Classic realms. This was done to reduce long WoW Wrath of the Lich King Classic queues.

"We'll begin with the easiest and clearest statement to make," WoW's Classic game producer Aggrend states in a lengthy post on Blizzard forums. "The mega-realms that are queueing in US and EU are completely full." Aggrend also states that layers - which are used to create more instances of a busy area to reduce overpopulation – don't address the core issue of realm capacity. This is determined by how many connections the server can handle at one time.

Aggrend stated that Blizzard cannot increase its capacity without causing additional and likely cascading problems to the service. "At the moment, the best and most effective way to resolve this issue in the impacted realms" is for people to leave the realm via "free transfers". They also stress that the problem will only worsen when WoW Wrath of the Lich King Classic releases on September 26.

Indefinitely, new character creation and incoming payments to EU and US mega-realms has been disabled. Aggrend explained that "the situation in these realms is totally untenable" and that even though we can eliminate queues in short term, it will continue to be a problem when there are new content releases. They also said that the team will monitor other realms, and will take similar steps to curb server growth if necessary.

Aggrend wishes to thank users who took advantage of free character transfers from busy realms to less populated locations, but reminds that more players are needed to move in order to end the current server overloading. Sulfuras US and Mograine EU, which offer free transfers, are very popular with players who choose to move. Aggrend states that Blizzard will end transfers before there are queues and warns that this could happen "suddenly" so players should move quickly if they want to.

Aggrend displays stats to dispel concerns players might transfer to a server feeling 'empty'. These stats show that peak concurrent player counts for many realms considered for free character movements are approximately 2-4x the population of a realm considered for free character moves. This is compared to the realm considered to be 'completely filled' when Wrath of the Lich King was first released in 2008. These realms would have been full to the brim if we hadn't put in realm caps as recently as 2014.

The majority of forum members are grateful for the post's clarity. Some even acknowledge that migration is the only solution for the short-term. Some are concerned about what will happen to the population when the initial popularity of the expansion has died down. Turbofart, a user, asks Blizzard for an apology. He says that server mergers for WoW The Burning Crusade Classic left "players stranded" on realms with low population long after realms such as Faerlina and Benedictioni had no queues.

If you've been experiencing these WoW Classic queue times for a while, it seems like a server move could be a viable option. Blizzard would definitely appreciate it. Aggrend concludes by saying that the team is "very reluctant to take heavy-handed actions for fear of breaking up friends groups and restricting players freedom," but admits that the time has come to end "the concept of a megarealm."

The WoW Wrath of the Lich King Classic prepatch finally sees the release of Naxxramas and the introduction of zombies into the fantasy game. For a preview of WoW Dragonflight, as well as our selection of the best WoW addons, please visit our WoW Dragonflight preview. It will give you a glimpse into the future of World of Warcraft and show you how to make the most of your journey through Azeroth.