Brain Birmingham about Classic Launch: ‘We also have extra servers that we can switch on if necessary’

Is it even possible to get the launch going smoothly? The Dutch website IGN Benelux asked Lead Software Engineer Brain Birmingham.

“We will see, I think,” said Brian, laughing. “We are doing everything we can to be prepared and we are in a much better position than in 2004. We have more options in the backend, for example, enable multiple servers to increase the capacity. We are in any case prepared as well as possible and layering is also something we added to improve the launch. That way we can distribute people in such a way at the so the servers don’t get overloaded and people don’t get in each other’s way. The launch day experience will also be very different than in 2004. Back then people first had to stand in line to buy the box, then get home to install all the CDs, install the patch, and then log-in. By that time everyone was already divided, but now everyone is waiting in front of the gate until the button lights up and they can enter. That will be difficult, but we are prepared as well as possible. We also expect that within the first few days we will need fewer layers than during the launch and after the first phase they will disappear. We also have extra servers that we can switch on if necessary and the servers themselves are already a lot bigger than before. “