Layering

Layering is a game design tool to alleviate player overcrowding in outdoor areas. It is effectively the same as sharding, but covers the entire outdoor world of a realm. Layering was used at the launch of World of Warcraft Classic, but was later disabled.
==Behavior==
At the launch of Classic, players on overcrowded realms were grouped into different "layers". Each layer is a copy of the outdoor world,Wowhead - Blizzard Clears Up Layering Tech Misconceptions in Classic WoW with minor differences:
* Players can only see other players on the same layer.
* Each layer has its own set of NPCs. As such, rare NPCs may respawn at different times on different layers.
* Each layer has its own set of objects such as herbs and mining nodes.
Players can move to a different layer by joining a party with a party leader on a different layer.
Blizzard originally intended to merge the layers of each realm before Phase 2. This was made effective in November 13, 2019.Wowhead - All Realms Down to a Single Layer in Classic WoW
==Patch changes==
*
==See also==
*Phasing
*Sharding
==References==
Category:Game terms