Cross-Realm Zones Coming to Beta

[Puntar]

This will put the final nail in the coffin of server community. It will be a giant repeat of what LFD did to WoW but on a grander scale.

"I do really wonder when did RL community got a nail in the coffin that nowadays individuals are soo arogant and ignorant of other people across the globe (or a stranger across a street)? With all the technology available to either talk to or get in touch and/or travel half the globe (crossing the street) just to meet him/her "

Yes I am stereotyping, but really? How can people claim community (in game or RL), when individuals are so self enclosed within himself/herself about "perceived community" (mostly family members and close relatives / and best friends) that anytime a stranger ask for anything he is either ignored or ridiculed with "I do not care/retard/n00b" answer? (arrogance)

Really? The exact same mentality is one major cause (of many other) of current global economy crisis!

[creb99]

Why on earth does it matter where Blizzard got the idea from? It is a cool feature and good on them for implementing it in WoW. I hope they continue to take good ideas from other games. (*hint* Dynamic content!)

[Linj]

If this gets launched, it might give damage to the roleplaying community.
It should be optional if you want to be in a cross-over zone or not, where those crossed in interface can meet, otherwise no.

[jimlow]

Damn it! this sucks now I'm going to have more competition for all the mobs and nodes
I liked breezing through the low level zones on alts, it made me feel like in some kind of Apocalypse movie and all lone gunman it was great.

[rav1410]

so if I have a friends in the opposite faction and another realm can I see them and kill them if we are in pvp server

This would mean much for me because i got some friends who did a faction change to another realm ..

[Drakhar]

God forbid people are allowed to be fond of multiple games at the same time.. I'm like a walking blasphemy machine, I love WoW and D3, and I also love GW2 and Path of Exile at the exact same time. According to some people on this and other forums, I think that qualifies me as eligible for the death penalty.

Totally unacceptable, this type of conduct is not allowed.

MMO-CHAMPS, GRAB YOUR PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES, WE HAVE A BLASPHEMER!

[BenBos]

Well to be frank neither do I, but it's still fun seeing people rage over it as if somehow GW2 was this holy entity that's above everything, even other games taking inspiration from it and them taking inspiration from other games.

Great feature in theory, I'm waiting to see though how it turns out in reality. Tbf on 2 of my servers there's been a lot of activity in low level zones the past weeks. New players, many on SoR or RaF/Trial etc etc so perhaps when it goes live it won't even affect my servers.

If you want so see end results for the new cross server zones in WOW: it is quite simple.



You go to Hellfire on your server: on my server there is always 5 to 10 people leveling on one side.

Cross the zone along 10 servers ... and you'll have 50 to 100 people per side ... These can group up and be invited.

Apparently there will be a mechanism that triggers the cross server technology when the system sees the number of players fall under "X" number of players per server.

For example: the moment you have less than 30 players in a zone: the cross server mechanic automatically is activated.


The fact it happens without loading screens or even a hic up is fabulous.


This is very important for future MMORPG design since the sky is the limit. Imagine a planetary system that will always be full of players by these regrouping techniques.


You could go further and combine these cross server settings with different phased content according to what you or your avatar did in the game (for example be friendly or hostile to that planet ) AND combine it with dynamic events.

After this the single server MMO's will be dead on arrival since ... 3K players per server is simply MUCH too small to support such future MMO systems (read Titan).

The fact this technic IS based on the tested phasing technique (first seen in late TBC 2008) but now applied accross servers is a giant step for the development of MMO's.

The problem is ... only Blizzard implemented this seamless changing of worlds in their game. I don't think it will be that easy to "catch up".

[Darthballz]

I just feel WoW is becoming the whipping boy to features Titan will have.

[Syce]

its funny they like totally skipped over that one question.

everything in lower zones are so easy you dont need to group with people. NOW, if they implemented it in a way that grouping provides a bonus to XP or something, then you can see people group up. but right now, it might be alright to actually see other players in the zone but other then that.....

[DietzThought]

its funny they like totally skipped over that one question.

everything in lower zones are so easy you dont need to group with people. NOW, if they implemented it in a way that grouping provides a bonus to XP or something, then you can see people group up. but right now, it might be alright to actually see other players in the zone but other then that.....

Well, part of the reason most outdoor elite mobs and group quests got removed or nerfed were the areas being too deserted to form groups... you had to look for others for half an hour and longer, or you just skipped those quests altogether, with quest rewards getting replaced so fast anyway.

Who knows, maybe we will see group quests reintroduced?

[Skulli]

I dont think Blizzard will get rid of realms in the near future. The profit they can get from simple things as a server transfer is still too big for such a step.

[Rreessii]

I'm slightly confused about the grouping... Will we be in a group together or grouped up locally on a instanced playing field? I mean, will you be in your own group in that instanced playing field.

[anarkiqt]

Not sure if this was mentioned already, but what about rare world spawns, time lost protodrake, camel figurines etc, would it mean u get more competition on those?

[Nerraw]

There is hardly anyone left on low pop servers, we all gave up on Bliz years ago and either moved to another server, or left the game entirely. Unfortunately most left the game from what my experience. They shoudl have done this years ago, but I suppose its good that they've been forced to actually take action on this matter, after ignoring it for years.

Stop speaking for everyone on low-pop servers as if we share your opinions. Because we don't.

[ganush]

This is a solid idea by Blizzard. Creating the illusion of a more populated game is good for new players starting out and, I think, makes the game more fun leveling alts. It might actually be possible to hit your zone chat together to chain some instances rather than solely relying on the LFD tool. I definitely think it'll bring back some PvP to the leveling experience on PvP realms as they can match Alliance dominated realms with Horde dominated realms. Lots of good things about this system.

However, this does little to address the bigger issue of dying realms, which there are lots of. Players on those realms will eventually be forced into a decision between realm transfer fees or just quitting if Blizzard doesn't find a solution for them. I'm on a dying server myself and if it comes down to transferring being the only way I'll be able to enjoy the full game the way I want, I will quit rather than send Blizzard the transfer fee.

[Fool]

It might actually be possible to hit your zone chat together to chain some instances rather than solely relying on the LFD tool.

No. As much as I like this particular technology this won't happen. Once they introduced the LFD and made everything so "convenient" there's no going back from that.
That's why with the super fast leveling, no group quests and LFD this technology will not be used to its full potential.

[videotape]

I like most of this quite a bit.

I'm not so sure about the concept of the server quietly instancing overpopulated areas though. That seems to disrupt the consistency of the experience of playing on any given server. And how does that work with, say, world PvP? World boss spawns?

Sounds like there's a lot of room for the kind of annoying edge cases and inconveniences that inevitably won't be worked out until long after the feature goes live, after they've repeatedly griefed a number of players' gaming experiences.

[Floppi14]

Sweet idea, kudos blizzard.

[ganush]

No. As much as I like this particular technology this won't happen. Once they introduced the LFD and made everything so "convenient" there's no going back from that.
That's why with the super fast leveling, no group quests and LFD this technology will not be used to its full potential.

Maybe not, but I know that personally if I were leveling a tank or healer, I'd put feelers out before using LFD. The odds of getting some random idiot are greatly diminished if they actually have to respond to your request. I had no problems putting server groups together at the beginning of Cata rather than using LFD. All it really takes is the time to ask. So, for those who would rather build their own groups the option is there, and the option will be accessible while you're out in the world questing as opposed to sitting in Org/SW, because there will actually be people questing in the same zone as you. It's just up to people to take advantage of that option, which is something I personally would do.

[Boatking]

Tentatively excited.

I would like to see them doing something more to encourage max level players to move out of SW/Org but this is a good move.