Is it okay for Blizz to change the language of a realm without offering transfers?

[CandyCotton Marshmallows]

You aren't losing any English speaking players. You can still chat with them. You can still recruit with them. Hell, you can even make a special chat channel for the English speaking players on the server that you can do trade, recruit, etc with.

What you will find, is a more full server, more people in non-CRZ'd zones and cities. They actually did the smart thing by merging two servers that are known for being the destination of a specific language, even on opposing factions.

Will it be annoying for you? Possibly. But you will still be able to do everything you have done, and there are options.

Lastly, and not the most enjoyable option for some; not only will you be able to cross realm raid for everything but mythic, but you can send heirlooms/BtA gear cross realm now as well. So you can raid through bnet formed groups with the improved future queueing/lfg tool (not lfd/lfr), or you can level a new character to 90, even playing passively in a week or two with just a couple hours a night and have it ready to raid, especially with the BtA timeless gear you can send cross server, just a few hours of farming burdens and you are golden (with the increased drop rate).

You could pay for a server, but they are not going to do free transfers off of realms they are merging to get higher populations. Sorry about your 'luck' ... connected realm RNG sucks sometimes.

[Deleted]

I don't get it. So two servers that are almost exclusively Czech on one faction, with a minority that speak english on the other faction, are being merged?

[Mammoth]

I don't get it. So two servers that are almost exclusively Czech on one faction, with a minority that speak english on the other faction, are being merged?

Burning Blade:
5% Horde: English
95% Ally: Czech


Drak:
95% Horde: Czech
5% Ally: English


This becomes:
Horde: 95% Czech, 5% English
Ally: 95% Czech, 5% English


If you're English, you can't chat to people in the city. If you need a guild, you're told not on this realm if you're English. Talking a English speaking CZ on the Czech side of DT now and he's telling me that the CZ will just completely ignore you or give abuse if you use English.


Yes, my guild will still be here, but people will start to transfer and there'll be no English speaking replacements.

[Deleted]

Burning Blade:
5% Horde: English
95% Ally: Czech
-snip-

Hmm, well I guess from Blizzards point of view, you choose the wrong server at first, so it is your fault.

From player point of view, I still don't understand why one would join a so heavily czech populated server? Guess a free transfer would be sorta fair, sorta.

[Netherspark]

They did the same thing with Aggra/Grim Batol. English-speaking Horde players suddenly became a minority on their own server; all english communication is now buried under a sea of Portuguese.

And once upon a time, Burning Blade was a fully international server, with all communication in English.

[Mammoth]

Hmm, well I guess from Blizzards point of view, you choose the wrong server at first, so it is your fault.

From player point of view, I still don't understand why one would join a so heavily czech populated server? Guess a free transfer would be sorta fair, sorta.

There's no one speaking CZ on the Horde side of BB atm, only the ally side. The sudden CZ influx is going to be purely Blizzards intervention for us.

[Deleted]

I don't get it. So two servers that are almost exclusively Czech on one faction, with a minority that speak english on the other faction, are being merged?

So let's say you're on a server where your faction is the minority. There aren't a lot of players on your faction, but the opposite faction has a lot of players, that almost exclusively are Czech players, that only speak Czech and don't accept english-speaking players. It doesn't affect you, because it's not your faction. But there's another server that has a similar problem, only the factions are reversed.

So Blizzard paired those servers, which means on both sides, Alliance and Horde, there are now a lot of players, but almost all of them are Czech players. Technically one could assume this doesn't change much for the english-speaking players, because no english players left the server. Even if you can't communicate with those Czech players, you don't lose anything. But... I have a feeling that the few English players that are left are completely drowned out now by a massive amount of players they can't communicate with. I can imagine this isn't particularly fun. There is now a lot more activity in the city, a lot more people to raid with and a lot more people out in the world, but you can't play with them, which must be frustrating. On top of that it sounds like those Czech players are rude towards english-speaking players.

[Deleted]

There's no one speaking CZ on the Horde side of BB atm, only the ally side. The sudden CZ influx is going to be purely Blizzards intervention for us.

Well, yeah. But as you said both servers is majority czech, and both servers are unbalanced faction-wise. Blizzard is shooting two birds with one rock.

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So let's say you're on a server where your faction is the minority. There aren't a lot of players on your faction, but the opposite faction has a lot of players, that almost exclusively are Czech players, that only speak Czech and don't accept english-speaking players. It doesn't affect you, because it's not your faction. But there's another server that has a similar problem, only the factions are reversed.

So Blizzard paired those servers, which means on both sides, Alliance and Horde, there are now a lot of players, but almost all of them are Czech players. Technically one could assume this doesn't change much for the english-speaking players, because no english players left the server. Even if you can't communicate with those Czech players, you don't lose anything. But... I have a feeling that the few English players that are left are completely drowned out now by a massive amount of players they can't communicate with. I can imagine this isn't particularly fun. There is now a lot more activity in the city, a lot more people to raid with and a lot more people out in the world, but you can't play with them, which must be frustrating. On top of that it sounds like those Czech players are rude towards english-speaking players.

As said above this, Blizzard is shooting two birds with one rock. That a minority is being negatively affected, I don't think Blizzard cares (or even can care for such things).
I will probably suck, yeah. And I honestly never played with czech people, so can't say if they are good or bad.

[Deleted]

Hmm, well I guess from Blizzards point of view, you choose the wrong server at first, so it is your fault.

From player point of view, I still don't understand why one would join a so heavily czech populated server? Guess a free transfer would be sorta fair, sorta.

Maybe because it wasn't always like that? My server is dead on the Alliance side. I didn't just choose a dead Alliance server. It happened over several years. More and more people faction-changed or transfered away.

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Well, yeah. But as you said both servers is majority czech, and both servers are unbalanced faction-wise. Blizzard is shooting two birds with one rock.

- - - Updated - - -



As said above this, Blizzard is shooting two birds with one rock. That a minority is being negatively affected, I don't think Blizzard cares (or even can care for such things).
I will probably suck, yeah. And I honestly never played with czech people, so can't say if they are good or bad.

If they're trying to kill two birds with one stone, then they missed twice.

[Dyra]

Hmm, well I guess from Blizzards point of view, you choose the wrong server at first, so it is your fault.

From player point of view, I still don't understand why one would join a so heavily czech populated server? Guess a free transfer would be sorta fair, sorta.

Mammoth's not really made himself clear on this point.

Once upon a long time ago, BB was actually Horde dominated, high population, and as Netherspark said, it was fully international, and predominantly English speaking. We were the destination realm for free migrations for Alliance for quite a while. Then one day we suddenly had a massive influx of Czech Alliance (apparently from Drak'thul it turns out). Time went on and gradually the Czech Alliance became the dominant force on the server and the Horde gradually transferred away and stopped, to the point where we were the destination realm for the free transfers for the Horde.

So from our point of view, we were on the right server to start with.

[Deleted]

Maybe because it wasn't always like that? My server is dead on the Alliance side. I didn't just choose a dead Alliance server. It happened over severeal years. More and more people faction-changed or transfered away.

And neither is Blizzard to blame for such a change, and they can use that as a valid argument to not give them a free transfer.

[Bullettime]

I don't get it. So two servers that are almost exclusively Czech on one faction, with a minority that speak english on the other faction, are being merged?

In many cases, it didn't start that way though. It's like on some of the NA servers that were almost all English speaking then started to get an influx of Brazilian players and the Brazilians all migrated to like 2 servers. Suddenly, the English speaking players that were on those realms from Canada or the US were forced into being minorities on their own servers and couldn't play with anyone, getting worse as more and more of the English speaking players transferred off which left some players stranded.

It's unfortunately forcing these players into a position of pay Blizzard $25 bucks to transfer, plus more if you have alts, or have a hell of a time communicating and recruiting on your realm. They really should offer FCMs for those players to allow the English speaking players a way out.

[Deleted]

If they're trying to kill two birds with one stone, then they missed twice.

They balance the factions, they can shut down a server and have an almost exclusive czech server. How is that missing?

[MoanaLisa]

It would be a nice thing to do on Blizzard's part. But it's also true they're joining up two English-speaking realms by their lights. So I wouldn't expect it, no. If I were them I'd be cautious about setting a precedent that probably applies to some other realms. Getting a free transfer just because you don't speak the language on the server, especially if you speak the official language as set by Blizzard for the realm is a rat's nest of problems.

[Deleted]

Mammoth's not really made himself clear on this point.

Once upon a long time ago, BB was actually Horde dominated, high population, and as Netherspark said, it was fully international, and predominantly English speaking. We were the destination realm for free migrations for Alliance for quite a while. Then one day we suddenly had a massive influx of Czech Alliance (apparently from Drak'thul it turns out). Time went on and gradually the Czech Alliance became the dominant force on the server and the Horde gradually transferred away and stopped, to the point where we were the destination realm for the free transfers for the Horde.

So from our point of view, we were on the right server to start with.

Hmm, yeah okay, then it makes a bit more sense. Then I think Blizzard, should give a free transfer to english speaking players. Problem is, Blizzard will probably say people will misuse it to just get a free transfer, even if they aren't english speakers

[Mammoth]

Well, yeah. But as you said both servers is majority czech, and both servers are unbalanced faction-wise. Blizzard is shooting two birds with one rock.

Yeah, I just feel like the collateral damage between the two birds. Blizz know we exist, but have taken no steps to protect us. I guess they don't care about only 1000 English players.

[Bullettime]

Hmm, yeah okay, then it makes a bit more sense. Then I think Blizzard, should give a free transfer to english speaking players. Problem is, Blizzard will probably say people will misuse it to just get a free transfer, even if they aren't english speakers

If the Czech players opt to use it to migrate from a Czech dominant server to an English speaking one, let them. They'll regret it. I doubt many would opt to use it except the English speaking minority who are stranded as it would be leaving a realm of your countrymen and those who speak your language to go somewhere else where you would run into language barriers.

Yeah, I just feel like the collateral damage between the two birds. Blizz know we exist, but have taken no steps to protect us. I guess they don't care about only 1000 English players. I'm sure they wouldn't get away with this on a US realm.

They didn't offer FCMs for those on Brazilian heavy servers after the pseudo takeover of 2 or 3 servers a couple years back. Hoping they learned from that lesson and do something about it this time around.

[Deleted]

Yeah, I just feel like the collateral damage between the two birds. Blizz know we exist, but have taken no steps to protect us. I guess they don't care about only 1000 English players. I'm sure they wouldn't get away with this on a US realm.

Question here, what have you done to inform Blizzard of this collateral damage? Have all 1000 players, expressed their concern? If not, get on that, and maybe the pressure will make Blizzard show their good side

[Deleted]

And neither is Blizzard to blame for such a change, and they can use that as a valid argument to not give them a free transfer.

They are to blame for making the gameplay experience of the english-speaking players on those servers even worse.

They balance the factions, they can shut down a server and have an almost exclusive czech server. How is that missing?

You don't understand the situation. Neither the Czech nor the English players are getting anything out of it, because they can't play together. The Czech players don't want to play with the English players, and the English players can't play with the Czech players, because the Czech players reject them and refuse to speak English. If anything it has made the situation worse for the English players, but not better for anyone.

[Deleted]

If the Czech players opt to use it to migrate from a Czech dominant server to an English speaking one, let them. They'll regret it. I doubt many would opt to use it except the English speaking minority who are stranded as it would be leaving a realm of your countrymen and those who speak your language to go somewhere else where you would run into language barriers.

I know it is illogical but Blizzard have a tendency to use illogical excuses (that is every single company in any business, really)