Returning after ~2.5 years - Does US PvE Realm Matter?

[Vigilant]

Hey all,

I'm planning on making a return to WoW after a pretty extending hiatus. My old characters were on US-Medivh, which is a medium-low population realm. If I'm going to be pretty casual, with my previous difficulty cap being normal-mode raiding, is it going to matter much which realm I'm on, or would now be a good time to pick a new realm? If so, any best PvE choices for the Americas. I'm located in CST.

Thanks,

[Daetur]

Unless you want to join a dedicated raiding guild, it won't matter much- anything except current-content Mythic raiding can be done via the cross-realm group finder.

You can even run with a regular guild group, if you find them via pugging and have them add you to their friends list- though you won't be able to use any consumables from the guild bank, or have them traded to you from your friends on other servers.

[gushDH]

While you can do casual stuff on any realm, I would still suggest you play on an active realm (I don't know which US realms are the most active), because it's a nicer experience when the trade chat or lookingforgroup chat is active.

[Uko]

With the whole cross realm normal and heroic it wont matter for that but I would recomend a higher pop server just for the economy. It sucks having trouble buying mats and stuff because your realms ah doesnt have a lot or its super overpriced because no one else farms it.

[Fayenoor]

Even for casual gameplay, realm matters - since the AH is still realm specific and availability and price of items on high-pop realms are way different than low pop ones.

When you buy Legion, you will get a free 100 toon. Just pick up a high pop realm.

Use wowprogress.com and sort by US realms.
https://www.wowprogress.com/realms/rank/us
Should give you a good idea of realm pops.

Your server Medivh got merged into Exodar.

[Halicia]

Unless you want to join a dedicated raiding guild, it won't matter much- anything except current-content Mythic raiding can be done via the cross-realm group finder.

You can even run with a regular guild group, if you find them via pugging and have them add you to their friends list- though you won't be able to use any consumables from the guild bank, or have them traded to you from your friends on other servers.

Although, if they're running feasts & cauldrons, that's perfectly crossrealm too... which should be more then enough to cover a casual normal/heroic raider.

[SirCowdog]

Unless you want to join a dedicated raiding guild, it won't matter much- anything except current-content Mythic raiding can be done via the cross-realm group finder.

You can even run with a regular guild group, if you find them via pugging and have them add you to their friends list- though you won't be able to use any consumables from the guild bank, or have them traded to you from your friends on other servers.

On a related note, does the same restrictions on trading consumables apply to drops? For instance, if someone from the same class gets a drop they don't need, but maybe you do? Can it be traded cross server in a premade group?

That might effect his choice of servers.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Hey all,

I'm planning on making a return to WoW after a pretty extending hiatus. My old characters were on US-Medivh, which is a medium-low population realm. If I'm going to be pretty casual, with my previous difficulty cap being normal-mode raiding, is it going to matter much which realm I'm on, or would now be a good time to pick a new realm? If so, any best PvE choices for the Americas. I'm located in CST.

Thanks,

Naw won't matter. LFR will be open to you no doubt. Normal groups are pretty easy to get into with the group finder. Odds are no problems. Realm economics is the only real different and it can work in both directions.

[Teri]

Guilds are realm-only.

Faction balance is a thing even with CRZ when it comes to tagging mobs.

I don't have the same "realm" feeling with other-realm guild names or people you can't trade with(outside of certain loot from rares or instances)

I came back in 2016 after 3 years and my realm was emptied out, and 80% other faction.

I moved and it's a huge difference in activity/experience, and no more grey mobs 90% of the time.

Chat was also dead, but obviously the world zones were not, just full of other-faction from many other realms.

While many things are cross realm, the full game is not, so realms still matter...

I'd say, if you can start over or move only like 1 character, do it before you commit to it. (I moved 9 characters for about 1.4million gold, but now at current rates that would cost over 4 million gold (EU))

Now another silly factor for realm choice, connected realms allow you to have more then 12 characters in the same guild, but connected realms aren't usually the big ones.

US-Exodar/Medivh seems really on the tiny side for horde, and small for alliance (judging the sizes/activity by https://www.wowprogress.com/realms/rank/us/lang.en)

But of course normal/heroic raiding is cross-realm, and bnet social stuff helps too.

[Daetur]

On a related note, does the same restrictions on trading consumables apply to drops? For instance, if someone from the same class gets a drop they don't need, but maybe you do? Can it be traded cross server in a premade group?

That might effect his choice of servers.

You can still trade boss drops within your raid group- though you won't be able to trade and trash-drop BoEs.

[SirCowdog]

You can still trade boss drops within your raid group- though you won't be able to trade and trash-drop BoEs.

That seems like it could be a problem for some people. It's something he should probably take into account, anyway.