Opening the Dark Portal concerns.

Before I go any further, I freely admit I do not know exactly HOW Blizzard intends to open the Dark Portal. Other then hearing that the demonlord in the Blasted Lands is going to do it, my imagination kicks in from there.

I feel safe in saying that Blizzard has something really cool in-game planned for when the event actually happens. Everyone available that day will probably gather around the crater where the Portal stands and watch in awe.

However, my concern is: will the servers handle it?

The Ahn'Quiraj world event, at least for me, was a disaster. The server I played on that day (Earthen Ring if anyone cares) crashed or locked up constantly. The server simply could not handle the amount of players in Silithus. I am sure I am not alone in this regard. Even when the event took place on the Maelstorm server, I made a conscious decision not to participate in the gate opening and instead stayed on the continent of Azeroth to avoid any major problems. That's not to say Maelstorm faired much better then Earthen Ring did for Maelstorm had it's problems too.

Caydiem said many times in her tenure that world events across all servers simultaniously were no longer possible with the amount of servers in place. Blizzard simply does not have the staff to monitor it unlike the demon invasion in Beta.

I guess what I am asking is what assurances does the player base have from Blizzard that the Dark Portal opening will be any different from the Ahn'Quiraj event? Now, I do not expect Eyonix or Drysc to say "We promise there will be no hiccups" because that is simply not possible and you won't be hearing from me if there are horrendous problems because I am expecting there to be issues (I'm too realistic to think otherwise.)

So any input Blizzard has to give on this topic would be appreciated.