20-04-2021

Wow Classic Layering

Wow Classic Realm Netherwind
Classic Realm Pop
Wow Classic Layering
Wow Classic Layering Explained

While many Classic originalists don’t like the idea of layering because it’s technically a change from the way that WoW was when it first came out, Asmongold said on stream today that he doesn’t. WoW Classic only requires a monthly subscription, $15. No need to purchase BFA. So the influx of new players, existing subscribers, and returning subscribers for the WoW Classic is going to be huge. The amount of Realms to choose from will be much much lower than retail WoW. Layering is specially designed to emulate what it would be like to play on a populated server back in the day while simultaneously increasing server stability. Layering will only be present in the first few weeks of Classic World of Warcraft as a way to support the initial player base. Learn more in our WoW Classic Layering Overview.

Not to be confused with Layer.

Layering is a game design tool that prevents player overcrowding in outdoor areas of World of Warcraft: Classic. It is effectively the same as sharding, but covers the entire outdoor world of a realm.

Behavior

At the launch of Classic, players on overcrowded realms were grouped into different 'layers'. Each layer is a copy of the outdoor world,^[1] with minor differences:

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.

Wow Classic Realm Netherwind

Players can move to a different layer by joining a party with a party leader on a different layer.^[2]

Blizzard originally intended to merge the layers of each realm before Phase 2.^[3] This was made effective in November 13, 2019.^[4]

Classic Realm Pop

Patch changes

Patch 1.13.2 (2019-08-26): Added.