The highly anticipated re-release of World of Warcraft (Classic edition) is out now, allowing players to dive back into the MMO before it received any expansions. The release is proving to be wildly popular, and in some striking ways. As expected, players were faced with some pretty lengthy server queues to simply get into the game. But the waiting didn’t necessarily end once you make your way through the queues: Those who did manage to get in found other lines to wait in. Social media reports quickly formed to show that players have been waiting in literal queues in-game to complete quests.
Because players inhabit a shared world and are tasked with similar objectives, this means having to compete with others to land the necessary number of kills on a particular enemy type, for instance. If someone beats you to it, you’re forced to wait for them to re-spawn. This has always been an issue in WoW, as in many MMOs, particularly around unique bosses, of which there might only be one for everyone on a server to slay. But with everyone starting out at Level 1 and thus completing the same batch of early-game quests, this becomes extremely problematic – or simply adds another nostalgic memory for returning members.
Waiting in line in the starting zones might sound annoying, but some people seem to be taking it all in stride. “All these people waiting patiently in the queue to kill the boss in #WowClassic – this is the politest thing I’ve ever seen in gaming, ever,” wrote Twitter user @Farore13.
The lengthy lines appear to be affecting multiple WoW Classic servers, so there appears to be no escaping the wait. However, your mileage will undoubtedly vary, and wait times will surely decrease with time and as players spread out into Azeroth. After all, WoW Classic was only just released hours ago, so a max influx of players into small areas is to be expected.
Many World of Warcraft Classic players have faced hours-long queues to access the game since its release on Monday. Due to this, according to a post on the Blizzard forums on Wednesday, the latest hot fixes should alleviate login wait times.
“With hot fixes that we are currently deploying to all WoW Classic realms, we are substantially increasing the number of players that can be simultaneously logged in and playing,” a community manager said.
“We expect this to result in smaller queues for realms that have large queues, and some realms should no longer have queues at all. We will closely monitor performance and stability throughout this process.”
Released to coincide with the franchise’s 15th anniversary this year, Classic lets World of Warcraft subscribers experience the early days of Blizzard’s MMO with an authentic recreation of the pre-expansion game.
Shares of Activision Blizzard hit a nine-month high on Tuesday following World of Warcraft Classic’s release.
Blizzard will launch a World of Warcraft 15th Anniversary Collector’s Edition on October 8. Priced at $100 (£89.99), it will include 30 days of game time, a ten-inch Ragnaros the Firelord statue, a pin, mousepad, set of art prints and a pair of in-game mounts.
Additionally, since the release of World of Warcraft: Classic, Activision Blizzard Stock saw an incredible 6% rise on August 26, 2019. Stock peaked at $52.22 and was selling at $50.35, an increase over the previous day’s close at $48.69. Twitch viewership for World of Warcraft peaked over 1.1 Million on Monday. As reported on The Esports Observer.
“We, as a society, formed this queue.” – #WoWClassic players standing in queue to get the head of a freaking mob 🧡 pic.twitter.com/53q8YZxa80
— Amy (@FnaticKamiyee) August 26, 2019
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