So why has blizzard stopped connecting servers togheter?

[Lilija]

Only mail and AH is not intra-region, everything else is already.

Guilds and mythic raiding aren't

[Low Hanging Fruit]

First big one is a new expansion is soon. So they want to see where things stand.

Second they want you to pay for transfers.

Thrid they KNOW many will pay for transfers. Fuck some people transfer off high pop realms to level and back to raid.

After that I would imagine their is some technical reasons, resource allocation, or even lack of desire.

[Sinyc]

Well, my realm (Darkmoon Faire EU) is only connected to one other RP realm (Earthen Ring). There are two other RP realms available on EU (Argent Dawn and Steamwheedle Cartel) yet for some reason, the merger didn't take place.

Generally speaking, if you look at the wowprogress server population, it will give a you a clear idea of what (connected) realms are almost dead

I'd like to see Blizzard give a report of server population as opposed to 3rd party sites. But since Blizz stopped reporting on subs, I fear they will never release server populations.

[alexkeren]

Guilds and mythic raiding aren't

Might want to reread the 6.2.3 notes ...

Cross-Realm Mythic Raiding

Cross-Realm raiding has been enabled for Hellfire Citadel on Mythic difficulty. You’ll now be able to join with friends or fill that last raid spot to take on the most difficult encounters in Warlords of Draenor.


As for guilds, they aren't really needed since Group Finder and RealID features means you can do all content from any realm.

[Deleted]

They're done, there will be no more merges. Most people don't want to put up with the hellish shitholes that the big servers certainly are, and prefer their "Low" pop servers.

[Tomana]

I'd like to see Blizzard give a report of server population as opposed to 3rd party sites. But since Blizz stopped reporting on subs, I fear they will never release server populations.

I assume that by scanning the armory a lot, you can get pretty accurate results.

[Fabinas]

Remember the "cyclical nature of WoW subscriptions"? Well, they will NOT connect any servers now, cause Legion launches soonish and they expect a player return. Plus it's the end of expansion and many ppl unsubbed waiting for Legion. See if your connected server gets back up at pre-patch and stop whining for now.

[aeuhe4yxzhds]

Many people come back during launch of an expansion. So population goes up, through the roof during the first 3 months or so. If realms got bigger maybe they end up being unstable. Sounds like they implemented some tech during launch of wod that start up more servers if too many people ended up in the same area. Blizzard also make a lot of money from transfers, sadly way too much. The fact that they do not give a free transfer or mass transfer for your characters ever 3-6-12 months show how little they care about you and your MMO experience

[skannerz22]

they are preparing for millions of people to come back
servers won't be low population anymore

[Nayami]

I really wish that they would merge Outland and Stormscale (EU) but won't happen probably due to the enormous population.

Would love to see a more balanced A/H ratio on realms.

[Donair]

Other things on their plate. In the grand scheme of things, realm population is pretty low on the list of things to fix so it's likely fallen under their radar. (Most likely due to the fact that the solution -- server transferring -- is something which affects their bottom line.)

I'll admit this is a pretty shitty excuse but as I said it's a situation which is unlikely to improve itself until after Legion hits.

It should absolutely be numero uno at all times at every single point of their release schedule consistently throughout the year. This is an MMORPG. Or at least it used to be. Connecting players and encouraging group play as much as humanly possible is their absolute first priority. No excuses ever. It is the central core of this genre's defining characteristics.

I realize a large portion of players who have stumbled onto the game over the last few years thoroughly love treating it as a single player game, but it was never designed to be played in such a way. The genre will continue to wane in popularity as long as large scale player interaction is ignored. It's a large part of what has made legacy realms and the heated discussion over them recently so popular because they foster such a sense of community and player interaction.

This cannot be pushed off the radar. That would be as much a death sentence as their inability to release any sort of content in a reasonable manner.

Bring your community together and fix this shit Blizzard. No excuses.

[Sierra85]

they are preparing for millions of people to come back
servers won't be low population anymore

is there actual evidence of this though? how are they prepping?

[Lilija]

Might want to reread the 6.2.3 notes ...

Cross-Realm Mythic Raiding

Cross-Realm raiding has been enabled for Hellfire Citadel on Mythic difficulty. You’ll now be able to join with friends or fill that last raid spot to take on the most difficult encounters in Warlords of Draenor.


As for guilds, they aren't really needed since Group Finder and RealID features means you can do all content from any realm.

Yes, that happens at the end of expantion the same as it did in SoO. But typically, Mythic raids are not xrealm. I would love them to be xrealm full time but I somehow doubts Blizzard is planning that for Legion.

[MagicMert]

Becasue it means they cant soak up the last scraps of money from the addicts who are still playing since they have to server transfer every other week just to have people to play with.

We will not see any more realms connected ever.

[Relapses]

Yes, that happens at the end of expantion the same as it did in SoO. But typically, Mythic raids are not xrealm. I would love them to be xrealm full time but I somehow doubts Blizzard is planning that for Legion.

Cross-realm Mythic out the gate ruins the sense of server progression. People often respond "huehue server progression doesn't exist anymore" when I mention this but it does mean something to a good number of guilds. It also opens the door for predatory guild recruitment tactics and feeder guilds a la TBC-era. It even has the potential to make organized PuG raiding a viable alternative to guild raiding.

It'd be great for dead/dying realms who have trouble fetching the requisite number of skilled players for high-end Mythic raiding but I think there are solutions to the problem which do not involve cross-realm Mythic off the bat.

[MoanaLisa]

is there actual evidence of this though? how are they prepping?

They increased the capacity on all of the realms a few weeks ago. That led to all sorts of BS threads about how most of the realms when to low pop overnight.

- - - Updated - - -

Becasue it means they cant soak up the last scraps of money from the addicts who are still playing since they have to server transfer every other week just to have people to play with.

We will not see any more realms connected ever.

Probably not. Cross-realm stuff serves the same purpose and I wouldn't be surprised to see cross-realm guilds in Legion. By the way, I keep asking and no one ever answers: Why would they connect servers and implement cross-realm functionality for most of the game if they were trying to "soak up the last scraps of money from the addicts who are still playing since they have to server transfer every other week just to have people to play with"? Seems counter-intuitive. If their intention was to soak up bucks and it was all about greed, go ahead and explain that. Be my guest. Be sure that it makes sense.

[Chickat]

They are probably waiting to see if Legion brings people back first.

[Deleted]

There won't be any more merges - they want to squeeze out every penny they can from server transfers.
In EU they didn't even complete the merges, Chamber of Aspects is not connected at all.

The same botched, half-assed quality that became the trademark of WoD.
I certainly hope they re-read their core values before Legion launch and try to act like they care.

[In Ogres We Trust]

There won't be any more merges - they want to squeeze out every penny they can from server transfers.
In EU they didn't even complete the merges, Chamber of Aspects is not connected at all.

The same botched, half-assed quality that became the trademark of WoD.
I certainly hope they re-read their core values before Legion launch and try to act like they care.

The Connected Realms feature was a half-assed attempt from the start. The realms should be hard merged down to 40-50 realms in NA, etc..

[Ulfric Trumpcloak]

90% if not more of the servers are dead, they don't do anything to get that $$$ from server transfers.