It turns out that WoW Classic is now more popular than ever, with the upcoming launch of Wrath of the Lich King driving so much traffic to the servers that they've begun crashing and locking up, so for now, Blizzard has brought in population controls. The most populated servers will now no longer allow new character creations, nor character transfers, until populations stabilize and in the most extreme cases, reduce.
"We’ve been hesitant to [do] this because we really dislike restricting player movements and potentially breaking up social circles, but that ethos is no longer compatible with the reality we find ourselves in," the game's producer Aggrend wrote in a forum thread.
To further push people away from the busiest of servers, Blizzard is also offering free character transfers from those mega servers to any that haven't reached their population cap yet.
Still, the sheer number of players enjoying WoW Classic at this time is cause for celebration. Unlike the main WoW servers which can work well enough with limited player numbers in certain areas, WoW Classic relies on players showing up for big events and expansion launches, so that they can experience that early WoW gameplay feel first hand. That's what makes the high popular servers so popular: they have everything that other players want and need.
But too many players lead to queues, lag, and even server crashes, which is no fun for everyone. Hence the new situation we're in.
Are you planning to enjoy Wrath of the Lich King when it debuts on September 26?