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WoW ClassicJul 28, 2020 11:38 am CT

Blizzard thinks that they’ve solved the lag issues for the opening of Ahn’Qiraj event in WoW Classic

I think it’s fair to say that the Scarab War in Silithus is probably the most anticipated event in all of WoW Classic. The Blood Plague of Hakkar is the only thing that even comes close to the anticipation around the ringing of the gong to open up the Ahn’Qiraj raids. It’s an event that’s been spoken of fondly as something really cool, but that was hampered by technical limitations of the day. Back in Vanilla WoW when the gong was rung servers would often lag so much that it was like you were standing still, or grind to a halt entirely. But this time, Blizzard thinks that they have a solution to ensure that the event is as epic as possible.

Originally Posted by Kaivax (Official Post)

The Calendar
First and foremost, we have the exact time of the content unlock. This will occur with the weekly raid reset in each region, because the content involves Blackwing Lair. In this region, the content will unlock on:

  • July 28 at 9:00 a.m. PDT / 12:00 Noon EDT
  • July 29 at 2:00 a.m. AEST / 4:00 a.m. NZST

This is the time when the War Effort will begin and each faction can turn in immense amounts of supplies that, once completed, will require five days to be transported to Silithus. Due to the raid requirements in the quest chain leading up to the “Bang A Gong!” quest, the earliest that the gong-ringing can occur in Silithus on highly-motivated realms will be just over a week later.

Once the gong is rung on a realm, the 10 Hour War begins. Once the 10 hours has elapsed, “Bang a Gong!” can never be turned in anymore, the two Ahn’Qiraj raids will open, and the “Treasures of the Timeless One” quest will become available.

The exact times for the ringing of the gong, and therefore the raids opening 10 hours later, will differ on every realm.

Before you can even think about ringing the gong your server will need to have collected all of the materials needed for the war effort. There are tens of thousands of different things needed so it truly is an entire server effort. We haven’t seen anything that has come close to replicating that in-game since. Some servers have managed to do that already, so they’ll be able to start the event as soon as possible next week.

Once the gong is rung there’ll be a 10-hour war that takes place in Silithus. Players will have that opportunity to beat back the swarms of Qiraji that pour forth from the hives. If they’re coordinated enough to take down the colossal Hive Lords they’ll even get some shiny loot for their efforts.

They’ve even got some plans laid out to make sure that the actual event isn’t a buggy mess — aside from all of the angry Qiraji bugs that is.

Originally Posted by Kaivax (Official Post)

During the 10 Hour War, world bosses do not only spawn in Silithus. Resonating Crystals that spawn major enemies will appear in Tanaris, Feralas, Thousand Needles, and Barrens. This is important to know because we expect there to be an overcrowding issue in Silithus on realms whenever large groups of players all go to Silithus at the same time. While the negative effects of overcrowding can’t be eliminated, we’re taking several steps to mitigate the worst outcomes:

  • Thanks to players who helped us test on the PTR in June, we can support a higher number of players in the zone than we could before.
  • Those PTR tests also helped us determine the maximum number of players that can be supported before “a little laggy” became “unplayable.”
  • If the maximum is reached, players will be automatically removed from the zone.
    • First, players will be removed if they are below level 60. Alliance players will be ported to Westfall, and Horde players will be ported to The Barrens.
    • Level 60 players who are ported out will be moved to to Un’goro Crater, Tanaris, Thousand Needles, or The Barrens.
    • If Silithus is at max population, a level 60 player can only zone in when another player leaves Silithus.
    • Players who have a Scepter will never be automatically removed from Silithus.
  • Zone maximums and automatic adjustments are per-layer.

There are restrictions on realm-to-realm character transfers, which are in place to prevent players of a different realm from coming to your realm and disrupting the progress of events. The quest “Bang a Gong!” cannot be completed by characters who transferred to the realm in the past 90 days, however, those players can complete “Treasures of the Timeless One”. Before the end of the 10 Hour War on a realm, there are also other restrictions on transfers for characters who have participated in significant event activities elsewhere. For example, players cannot transfer a character that has Silithus Carapace Fragments in their bags or bank.

This is great. I’m sure that there’ll be lots of players who may have not been playing as much who are going to be showing up to witness history. This is one of the examples of a good change from the original event. By implementing a maximum cap of contributing players for the zone they’ll be able to ensure the best possible event for as many people as possible, but without sacrificing the integrity of the event for the No Changes crowd.

I do wonder how they’ll track the zone being at maximum population from outside of it. Will players who want to join in the event just have to keep running face-first at the boundary and seeing if it lets them in? Will there be a queue implemented so that you know if you’re close to getting in, or will it just be a free for all situation? They also don’t say what kind of criteria is involved with removing any level 60 players. We know that the Scepter holder won’t be removed, but It’s possible groups might just lose their main tank or some of their healers. Which could lead to some frustrating issues trying to get them back into the zone.

For players who’ve been taking their time leveling, but still really want to be there when the gong is rung. You’ve got just over a week to reach max level. For everyone already at max on a high population realm — it sounds like you might need Lady Luck on your side.

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