How many servers would you have for launch?

I would estimate at least 1 million players on launch. If each server ends up with a population of 10k, that would be about 100 servers. Now I obviously don't have access to Blizz analytics but I would estimate that at least 1 million users will be interested in Classic after removing the tourists in the first few weeks. I think this is a pretty conservative estimate to be honest. Whether that interest remains for a prolonged period will be determined later, but I would estimate that Blizz can count on at least 1 mil active subs for the first few phases. I would say that you need at least 100 servers to satiate that population.

We don't know how many layers they are planning to go with nor do we have a perfect number of how many players per layer, only an estimate. Blizz has said they want to squash down layers as soon as possible, within the first few weeks but definitely before the 2nd phase. How high can you let the population go and how many layers can you add while also assuring yourself that you will be able to meet that deadline and squash layers down by phase 2? This makes me feel like they would be inclined to run a maximum of 2-3 layers per continent at an estimation of 3k players per layer for a total server population of around 12-20k players. Assuming you have some player attrition, these realms will comfortably decline to 10k players for the layer squish.

At this point this is mostly speculation, but people who are anticipating less than 50-100 servers must be estimating less than 1 million players. Just based on the quantity of players in the private server community, who will be the minority on Classic, it is likely that we will be at a very minimum of 1 mil players a few months into Classic.

Keep in mind that the higher populations are on a given server, the bigger impact layering has and the less likely layering will be squished in a short timespan.

edit: I use 1 mil as a very conservative estimate. I would estimate this to be far higher but my estimation is biased and silly. Blizz has a VERY accurate estimate, especially after the name reserve on Aug.13th. This will likely help them determine how many servers they will need.

I'd go with max 10 layers per server (before queues show up) = 30-40k / server. (loosely based on Ion's "our servers could probably hold 10 times as much today" comment)
Assuming 1 million players that would be 30ish servers.

Now if that million is both NA + EU (I'm leaving Asia region out for the moment) that would mean 15 / region.
Since EU has the whole German / Russian / French / English thing going we'll have to inflate that to at least 20.

PvP(ENx4, DEx2, FRx1, RUx1) = 8
PvE(ENx4, DEx2, FRx1, RUx1) = 8
RP(ENx2, DEx1, FRx1, RUx1) = 5

That's my very modest / low end estimation.
I still think that Classic will exceed their expectations.

I'd go with max 10 layers per server (before queues show up) = 30-40k / server. (loosely based on Ion's "our servers could probably hold 10 times as much today" comment)

While I can see where you got this number and it is plausible, I really hope youre wrong hahahaha. Temporary sharding to start zones is starting to look a lot better.... yikes...

"How many servers would you have for launch?"
Well, one I guess. Not sure why I would need many more than that since I don't play on separate servers at the same time. Good question, well worded.

If the RP-PvP realm news is true, Chinese people are getting 8 realms. If we compare the retail realm numbers (assuming the population densities, ratios of the retail people who are interested in Classic, etc. are about the same), English realms in Europe might even be as low as . . . 3? (So, one per realm type.) I am not sure. Maybe they did not announce the realm names because there won't be much room for choice once you decide on the realm type? Either way, it looks like everyone will have only a few realms that they can play on based on their region and language. This might be the actual reason for not getting RP-PvP realms. It is not "too niche" or something, maybe they just want to keep people less scattered?

Hmmm. Honestly... atleast 30-40 EU/NA Servers....or they make huge and much layers...

You can't really answer this question without knowing how many people are going to be playing. None of us know this, so we're guessing based on other guesses.

I think the question that is more relevant is 'how many players would you want per server?' And I don't know. I hear nostralius had a single massive server and people seemed to like it. But they also had dynamic respawns and things that blizzard never had in vanilla to help accommodate the much larger population. If server populations flattened out into a single layer with many times that of vanilla but with vanilla respawn timers, it could suck big time. So I'd want vanilla sized server populations based on vanilla respawn timers for mobs and nodes.

If blizzard was willing to do dynamic respawns based on population size then I'd be more into the idea of massive server populations. It's kind of a matched deal. I can't see one working without the other.

I would estimate at least 1 million players on launch. If each server ends up with a population of 10k, that would be about 100 servers. Now I obviously don't have access to Blizz analytics but I would estimate that at least 1 million users will be interested in Classic after removing the tourists in the first few weeks. I think this is a pretty conservative estimate to be honest. Whether that interest remains for a prolonged period will be determined later, but I would estimate that Blizz can count on at least 1 mil active subs for the first few phases. I would say that you need at least 100 servers to satiate that population.

We don't know how many layers they are planning to go with nor do we have a perfect number of how many players per layer, only an estimate. Blizz has said they want to squash down layers as soon as possible, within the first few weeks but definitely before the 2nd phase. How high can you let the population go and how many layers can you add while also assuring yourself that you will be able to meet that deadline and squash layers down by phase 2? This makes me feel like they would be inclined to run a maximum of 2-3 layers per continent at an estimation of 3k players per layer for a total server population of around 12-20k players. Assuming you have some player attrition, these realms will comfortably decline to 10k players for the layer squish.

At this point this is mostly speculation, but people who are anticipating less than 50-100 servers must be estimating less than 1 million players. Just based on the quantity of players in the private server community, who will be the minority on Classic, it is likely that we will be at a very minimum of 1 mil players a few months into Classic.

Keep in mind that the higher populations are on a given server, the bigger impact layering has and the less likely layering will be squished in a short timespan.

edit: I use 1 mil as a very conservative estimate. I would estimate this to be far higher but my estimation is biased and silly. Blizz has a VERY accurate estimate, especially after the name reserve on Aug.13th. This will likely help them determine how many servers they will need.

I think there will be much lower number of servers and the servers just will be bigger. There was a mention in last classicast (#30) that in interview some dev from blizz said, they dont want to open too many server like 30. They actually said too many like 30 servers. So I would say, and I also pick in the vote, it will be around 20-24 servers.

What if they create, for example 15 servers for EU, and after 1 year only 5 servers are full, can they "merge" the other 10 servers into 1?

I guess it will be be 15-20 Servers. But it is more a feeling not based on data :D CN is 8, but eu and na has more players as far as i know:P basically this.

personally i would like highly populated servers with 8k players online in the prime.

It's interesting how balanced the poll results are. This leads me to believe that none of us have any fucking idea on what's about to hit us later this month.

It's interesting how balanced the poll results are. This leads me to believe that none of us have any fucking idea on what's about to hit us later this month.

I think you might be right, sir.

I got the 8-bit version of the music from booty bay playing on my speakers right now and it's getting me pumped

screw reasonable population caps, I want 100k players per server. Give me one server, nostralius style, except with like 10x more people on it. I don't want to even be able to see the floor in ironforge :lol: