Yes yes yes. The sole fact that you are not running across different servers will ensure this. There will be layering, but only in the first phase, and voices of other people deeds will still reach your ears. I'm ready to see the Trustable Crafters list for every server :-) And also a good ninja-looter list will be surely done. I can't wait for the community!

well, layering is going away within the first month or two. but, yeah, i think its possible. i mean, just what kind of reputation are you after? on the large scale, i doubt anyone will ever be as famous as, say, the guild leader from the infamous Onyxia wipe animation. but people will generally recognize the best guilds on their server.

on the small scale, being nice and good at your class will always net you new friends after a successful dungeon run. more importantly, being an asshole will definitely see your name spread around. especially anything business related. screw someone over, or steal their crafting mats, no one will open a trade window with you again. ninja loot something from a guild raid and you'll probably get gkicked out of every subsequent guild you join after they figure out about it.

Layering is until P2 and I think Blizzard will not end P1 in about one month, layering wills stay 3-4 atleast.

well, layering is going away within the first month or two. but, yeah, i think its possible. i mean, just what kind of reputation are you after?

Well, I dont know. Still dont know what to play. But pugging classic wont be possible? #antisocial

Layering is until P2 and I think Blizzard will not end P1 in about one month, layering wills stay 3-4 atleast.

I can't find any definitive quote that says [Layering End] = [End of Phase 1]. All I can find are people asking whether it's that or if [Layering End] >= [End of Phase 1]. I would really like to know personally, but it seems like no one else knows for sure either, not even Blizzard.

well, layering is going away within the first month or two. but, yeah, i think its possible. i mean, just what kind of reputation are you after?

Well, I dont know. Still dont know what to play. But pugging classic wont be possible? #antisocial

If you keep a low profile it's entirely possible for people to not know much about you except which guild you used to be in.

With Discord / Reddit being a thing these days, it will be very easy to ruin your reputation once layering ends.

With Discord / Reddit being a thing these days, it will be very easy to ruin your reputation once layering ends.

Very true!

I don't think it will ever be as powerful as it was, but I think it will definitely matter a whole lot more than it has in many years.

Be careful about ninja lists guys - especially ones which don't require submissions to have evidence attached. Very easy to abuse systems like this.

I think it will be way easier to ruin someones reputation since we are all on discord/Reddit/ Other social forums/platforms but significantly harder to build a good reputation up because of the way the majority of people are today.

I suggest screenshoting every unsual situation, especially when someone in your party do ninja loot. Could be useful later, hopefully not. :)

in regards to the layering question, i cant remember where i saw it, so i dont have any proof...and dont feel like rewatching every blizz video/interview just to find it...but i'd swear on my life one of the blizzard staff specifically stated "layer will only last for about one month. a MAXIMUM of two."

in regards to the layering question, i cant remember where i saw it, so i dont have any proof...and dont feel like rewatching every blizz video/interview just to find it...but i'd swear on my life one of the blizzard staff specifically stated "layer will only last for about one month. a MAXIMUM of two."

Ion said in an interview the day after Beta that layering would last for the entirety of Phase 1, then be gone when Phase 2 comes out.

Pretty much the title. You guys think that you can make a reputation for yourself as well as you could back in the days? Or will the "layering" ruin it? Or will the servers be too big and players will be easily replaced?

Thoughts?

Depends entirely on populations. Layering will obviously separate the community and reputations will be non-existent during this phase, but thats only temporary. The larger a community is, the less intimate it becomes. If servers are 3-5k, you will know everyone. At 5-8k, you will know a lot less people and the social ramifications for your actions will be less. At 12k+ players, you wont know anyone and you will not be able to make a meaningful impact on the people you play with.

Think of a small town VS a large city. People are MORE valuable when there are less of them. In a small town you know your neighbor because they are your support network. In a large city that is overcrowded, people are nuisance and you intentionally avoid them when possible. From my experience on retail and private, private servers were like a large city and there were almost no social ramifications to your actions at about 10-12k players.

My behavior on private was VERY different than on retail because I knew that I would not be held accountable for my actions, and I wasnt.

We don't know what the desired pop will be for Classic from Blizzard and that population will dictate if you are actually able to make a meaningful impact on the players around you. When they collapse these layers what are we looking at? What about the server that has 4-5 layers at 3k per layer. What is Blizz willing to collapse that down to? When will servers be merged? What is low pop and what is high pop? We dont really have a lot of information at this point.

Think of a small town VS a large city. People are MORE valuable when there are less of them. In a small town you know your neighbor because they are your support network. In a large city that is overcrowded, people are nuisance and you intentionally avoid them when possible. From my experience on retail and private, private servers were like a large city and there were almost no social ramifications to your actions at about 10-12k players.

Very good comparisons, great reply. Thank you!

reputations will be non-existent during this phase

You are overstating this very dramatically. Do you really think you can just go around in one of 3 layers ninja'ing, being a cockhead etc. and not feel ramifications? That is really short sighted dude. Your post is well discussed and thought out, but I still think you are being overly dramatic about the layering impact on social aspects. It's not sharding, you will see a lot of the same people all the time during layering, you can't ignore that.

EDIT: I don't think we should get back into a layering argument and derail another thread, just wanted to point out my concern with the layering rhetoric.

You are overstating this very dramatically. Do you really think you can just go around in one of 3 layers ninja'ing, being a cockhead etc. and not feel ramifications?

I believe that social ramifications and the extent of shunning will be directly correlated to the amount of players on a given realm. I believe that layering will reduce the social ramifications of your actions. Do you disagree? Why?
Your post is well discussed and thought out, but I still think you are being overly dramatic about the layering impact on social aspects. It's not sharding, you will see a lot of the same people all the time during layering, you can't ignore that.

Nothing too dramatic. Take another read. I'll put it in simpler terms that may be more relatable... If 2 people are in a room and you fart, the other guy knows who it was. You will be held accountable for your fart. If 50 people are in the room and you fart, everyone avoids the group of people (guild/group) in the fart radius but aren't certain who is at fault. If 20,000 people are in a stadium, people are farting everywhere and no one can keep track of all the farts. You just plug your nose and try to surround yourself with the people you know. You silo yourself to avoid as many farts as you can but the reality of the stadium is that you will be smelling farts occasionally and you accept that as your reality.

The population of a server will be directly correlated to the social ramifications of your actions.

Edit: Concerning your layering comment, I totally avoided getting back into that... Lol, was surprised you aggitated the layering debate but I'm not interested in revisiting that either. I will try to keep this productive as possible!

I'm sure blacklist addons will be returning. With the hardware most people are packing these days gathering evidence with shadowplay will be very common and call outs won't be a bunch of hearsay.