WoW Classic Was So Congested That Players Literally Lined Up To Complete Quests

World of Warcraft Classic is out now, allowing players to dive back into the MMO before it received any expansions. The release is proving to be wildly popular, and in some striking ways. As expected, players were faced with lengthy server queues to simply get into the game. But the waiting didn't necessarily end once you make your way through the queues: Those who did manage to get in found other lines to wait in. Social media reports show that players have been waiting in literal queues in-game to complete quests.

Because players inhabit a shared world and are tasked with similar objectives, this means having to compete with others to land the necessary number of kills on a particular enemy type, for instance. If someone beats you to it, you're forced to wait for them to respawn. This has always been an issue in WoW, as in many MMOs, particularly around unique bosses, of which there might only be one for everyone on a server to slay. But with everyone starting out at Level 1 and thus completing the same batch of early-game quests, this becomes extremely problematic.

The images coming out of vanilla WoW are pretty striking. We've rounded up a few of the posts we've spotted on Twitter, and you can see them at the bottom of this post. This likely won't last as some players drop off and others advance beyond the opening stages of the game, but for now it's a sight to behold.

Waiting in line in the starting zones might sound annoying, but some people seem to be taking it all in stride. "All these people waiting patiently in the queue to kill the boss in #WowClassic - this is the politest thing I’ve ever seen in gaming, ever," wrote Twitter user @Farore13.

The lengthy lines appear to be affecting multiple WoW Classic servers, so there appears to be no escaping the wait. However, your mileage will undoubtedly vary, and wait times will surely decrease with time and as players spread out into Azeroth. After all, WoW Classic was only just released hours ago, so a max influx of players into small areas is to be expected.

A dramatic video posted on Reddit shows off what it looks like when hundreds of players spawn in at the same time. It's pretty incredible to see.

It's not a completely new thing for players of online games to wait in literal in-game lines. You may recall that the on launch day for the original The Division, people waited in line to use a laptop.

WoW Classic, as its name suggests, is a re-release of the original MMO from 2004 with some functionality changes. It's free for existing subscribers of WoW. For more, check out GameSpot's rundown of everything you need to know about WoW Classic.