WoW Classic layering complaints are “wildly inaccurate”

Blizzard has its eye on layering exploits, but says that reported exploits aren't as widespread as originally thought

Blizzard has responded to player concerns around layering in WoW Classic. The practice, which involves splitting servers to allow for increased population, lead to reports that players were hopping between layers to farm resources and dodge PvP encounters.

Last night, a post on the Icy Veins forums centered around a screenshot in which a player had allegedly moved between layers to farm thousands of items, potentially damaging the economy of a server. Later that evening, however, developer Pazorax issued an official response from Blizzard, acknowledging the issues that layer-hopping presented – but suggesting that they aren’t as widespread as players feared.

Pazorax says Blizzard has “been monitoring players’ use of layers, and we agree that we should add a delay between subsequent layer transfers.” They go on to say, however, that “we also want to assure you that the issue is a much smaller problem than some people are claiming. We’ve been closely monitoring the effect layering is having on economies and other aspects of the game, and many of the stories we see posted are wildly inaccurate.”

What is WoW Classic layering?

Layering is a technology introduced for the launch of WoW Classic. Similar to sharding, a practice in which splits certain areas to prevent server load and which has been around in MMOs for years, layering splits entire the entire continent, rolling the concept out server-wide.

The post also debunks claims that there are “dozens” of layers per realm. According to Pazorax, there’s no way of telling what layer you’re on, and “all realms have a single-digit number of layers. Most of them have a low single-digit number.”

While Blizzard doesn’t have a timeframe for changes to layering, it is at least comforting to know that the WoW Classic isn’t in any imminent danger of getting tanked by a couple of greedy item farmers.