Connected realms - fancy way to say realm mergers?

[Derah]

They're not the same.

In a server merge, sure you solve the problem of low population but you create new problems.

namely, some players will lose their names, some guilds will lose their names, and if too many are merged, you get queue times to log in.

Connected realms, is a way to achieve all the benefits of a merger, without the downsides. For one, if there's a player named Derah on bloodscalp, and another player named Derah on Maiev, and then these two realms get connected, neither has to rename their toon. The same rule applies to guilds.

Secondly, if they connect 6 realms via connected realms, you get to see many players with whom you can quest, raid, trade, and join guilds with, but still have the queue time of a low pop realm.

So in many ways, connected is FAR FAR better than merged.

[Revak]

IMO waiting so long for the technology to do it this way probably has had 10x more negative impact than just merging years ago and people losing names.

I'm also concerned b/c I'm on a medium size realm. Or they call it that, but the amount of people that actually log in to the game makes it seem almost dead. And they haven't mentioned any merging of smaller realms with medium at all.

[Raelbo]

Is this just semantics or am I missing something?

As others have already pointed out it's more than just semantics. From a player perspective you get almost all the benefits of a server merge with none of the penalties (name change, guilds getting broken, loss of communities).

From a technical perspective it's a huge difference.

[Deleted]

server merge denotes the decline of a mmo, so they need a system like it but not quite it.

VERY much this point.

Merging or closing realms is a MAJOR announcement that the game is in decline... they cant do that or the shareholders wont be happy when their stock reduces in value.

Thats it in a nutshell.

[Wildtree]

VERY much this point.

Merging or closing realms is a MAJOR announcement that the game is in decline... they cant do that or the shareholders wont be happy when their stock reduces in value.

Thats it in a nutshell.

Can't be any more wrong and is nothing more than a paranoid stretch.
Truth is, merger and connection would be the same reason by your logic, and therefore shareholders would have the same feeling about it...

Fact is, that it's just like this:

They're not the same.

In a server merge, sure you solve the problem of low population but you create new problems.

namely, some players will lose their names, some guilds will lose their names, and if too many are merged, you get queue times to log in.

Connected realms, is a way to achieve all the benefits of a merger, without the downsides. For one, if there's a player named Derah on bloodscalp, and another player named Derah on Maiev, and then these two realms get connected, neither has to rename their toon. The same rule applies to guilds.

Secondly, if they connect 6 realms via connected realms, you get to see many players with whom you can quest, raid, trade, and join guilds with, but still have the queue time of a low pop realm.

So in many ways, connected is FAR FAR better than merged.

[Deleted]

Can't be any more wrong and is nothing more than a paranoid stretch.
Truth is, merger and connection would be the same reason by your logic, and therefore shareholders would have the same feeling about it...

Ur welcome to believe this very blinkered and uninformed view...

The truth is that there are realms which are so dead they might as well clsoe them completely rather than even merging them. This notion of problems with character names is simply bollocks, nothing more nothing less. The vast majority of players stuck on dead realms wouldnt care 1 bit if they had to name change... they just wanna play with other people.

The issue of low-pop realms started in Wrath and has become progressively worse ever since... it such an epidemic now that Blizzard had to do something to appease the vocal complaints.

Closing realms is a massive media no-no, always has been and always will be.

This is clearly shown in the media every time ANY MMO shuts down a few servers... this cross-realm technology was a way of avoiding the hugely negative media... and tbh so far its kinda worked.

If your point is true then when Blizzard start closing realms they will get the same media response as they have for cross-realm tech... i bet u my house its different.

[wow2011]

Connected realms is very different from old realm merges becdause of the existence of CRZ. Think of connected realms like CRZ on steroids. People were complaining you can't trade with CRZ ppl, can't invite them to guild, can't raid with them, etc, but all these problems are now solved with the addition of connected realm. The technology has the potential for Blizzard to merge all servers into a single server even when there are 12 million active subscribers.

The notion that Blizzard is doing this purely to avoid negative media is completely incorrect.

[Deleted]

It's permanent cross realm with some additional features(Shared AH,Guilds, dungeon/raid groups and chats). But players will still be on their own realms, just connected. So there wont be any fuss with duplicate character names or guilds as it would be were they doing a proper realm merge.

[Jimson]

If realms were merged instead of "connected," could you have 22 characters on the same merged realm? No.

If realms were merged instead of "connected," would you potentially have to change your name? Yes.

Right there, 2 reasons why they are not the same, and 2 reasons why "Connected" is superior to "Merged."

[Thelxi]

What kind of logic is this. Just because they will slap a disclaimer behind your name instead of forcing a you to namechange it does not qualify as a merge? grow a brain. It's just bad marketing to call this kind of thing a merge so most games come up with other names to call it.

[Deleted]

Realm mergers but you keep your character and guild name. Not much difference apart from that really.

[Forgettable]

It's the same thing, minus the mess.

[Arbs]

Its said in a way where there are connecting servers together without actually merging them or dropping any server. Meaning you get to keep your identity & you get to keep the name you have always used. Many people have said it, its a way to get rid of the downsides of mergers & only keep positivity.

Most other games forced there players into merges & than losing there identity or names in the process without the company having a care in the world for them.

[MoanaLisa]

In other MMOs, when you have low population realms, they get merged together. In WoW, when we have low population realms, they get "connected". Is this just semantics or am I missing something?

Mostly semantics but connecting realms and preserving capacity is an advantage for Blizzard and much less disruptive for players. To put this in context look down the road a few years when WoW is likely to go to some other revenue model or perhaps extend the current free 'preview' to something like 1-85 just as theoretical examples. Possible massive influx of players either returning or trying out WoW for the first time since something like that would be a lot more attractive than just 1-20 for free.

If they had merged servers and reduced capacity they would then have to spend some money putting it back in place with a set of brand new realms. This way they avoid all of that and maintain a lot of flexibility for the future.

Players tend to take a short-term view of every little thing. Blizzard thinks about the very long term. This is clearly a better solution for everyone--Blizzard and players alike--once implemented. Some people are apparently bitter that Blizzard found a way to solve the problem without going through the usual routine which rarely ends well for anyone. So it goes.

If someone wants to have more than 11 characters--many classes for both factions--that's a bonus.

[Romeothecat]

Kind of but they are different enough that they warrant a different name imo. Connected Realms allows characters with the same name the exist at the same time on that connected realm whereas with a merger it would be first come first serve with that type of stuff.

[Super Kami Dende]

I'm actually Hoping my Server gets connected with some other random server.

Just so I can make Alts on the other Server and join my Main servers Guilds.

Will pretty much let me have 22 Characters on 1 Server which would be amazing since I've got 1 of every class and can't reroll to the other Faction with the same class since I'm all full up.

[Deleted]

They too too long creating this system, they probably lost more players of dwindling servers than some outdated tabo of merging them would have.

This. They dragged their feet on merges for ETERNITY and left so many servers to just rot for years, all because they didn't want to have to admit they were merging servers. Now they've got this "connected realms" shit, and everyone just knows it's the same thing anyway. My friends and I just talk about when "server merges" are coming. They're not fooling anyone.

[Super Kami Dende]

This. They dragged their feet on merges for ETERNITY and left so many servers to just rot for years, all because they didn't want to have to admit they were merging servers. Now they've got this "connected realms" shit, and everyone just knows it's the same thing anyway. My friends and I just talk about when "server merges" are coming. They're not fooling anyone.

Well obviously they are fooling you and your friends, since you guys can't seem to understand the difference between actual server mergers and Connected realms.

[wowhasnothrone]

server merge denotes the decline of a mmo, so they need a system like it but not quite it.

losing half your customers in 3 years denotes a decline, merging servers just denotes you give a shit about the people still here. it's been a long time coming and there is still a lot of work to do too

[ringpriest]

In other MMOs, when you have low population realms, they get merged together. In WoW, when we have low population realms, they get "connected". Is this just semantics or am I missing something?

I think so. Connected realms are basically a years-long technical project to avoid having to publicly say, "realm merger".