World of Warcraft Classic needs you to switch servers due to "massively overpopulated" Herod realm

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Blizzard expects over 10,000 login queues if players don't switch over

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Having too many players isn't exactly the worst problem a game can have, but that's exactly the situation facing Blizzard leading up to this month's long-awaited release of World of Warcraft Classic. In a blog post, Blizzard Community Manager Randy Jordan says that name reservations indicate the Herod realm will face an unprecedented overpopulation problem if players don't switch to the newly-opened Stalagg realm.

Blizzard seems to be taking every step necessary to ensure a smooth experience for players when World of Warcraft Classic launches August 27. This includes maintaining strict realm caps and balancing populations across different servers to ensure stability. "While we are able to fit several times more players on a single realm in 2019 than was the case in 2006, we are not going to raise that cap any further, even though we have the technical capacity to do so," Jordan writes.

Intriguingly, Jordan mentions at one point in the blog post that a Medium server today is already more active than the most populated realms back in 2006, a time many World of Warcraft fans consider to be the game's golden age. If anything, today's news is a strong and welcome sign of a robust community coming to World of Warcraft Classic. Let's just hope Blizzard has this overpopulation problem under control by the time layering is turned off before Phase 2.

Beyond the warning of server overpopulation, Jordan assured fans that strong communities remain at the heart of what Blizzard is doing with World of Warcraft Classic, "which is why we’re cautiously opening new servers to meet demand."

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.