Why is the low population server situation not solved?

[Marrilaife]

Mount collecting? Getting rares?

Is that hard to think about?

Are you living 6-7 years in the past? You'd never go to outdoor area and be alone, always lumped with people from other servers. I can log alts on dead realms and 100% see every mount dropping rare dead due to people from other servers camping them.

What server are you on that the AH is empty? I'm on Blackrock, which is a very low pop server these days, but the AH still has plenty of items listed; and plenty of competition for player made items.

Since you're NA you can't really see it, but for EU people feel free to visit Moonglade, Blade's Edge, Khadgar, Saurfang, just few places where I have alts and nothing ever moves on the AH, prices are all over the place, there's no supply and no demand.

I have characters on high pops like Draenor, Silvermoon and Argent Dawn and the difference? Most stuff sells, if it's not some obscure crap. Also if you need to buy something, you can.

For example contracts. On low pops there was often no supplier for the newest 2 contracts until a week later after high pop servers got it, and often they'd be posted for 20x the price than on other servers because if you have monopoly you can price gouge.

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What'ya talking about mon? In EU all servers are connected to there's no problem of small servers.

Either sarcasm or another Kazzak player.

[Schizoide]

RP realms are the secret. They aren't CRZ'd. I camped TLPD on a RP formerly PvP realm and finally got it there.

[themaster24]

Yeah except CRZ is not some magical fix. And is in fact quite random. Most of the time i play (on a low pop server) i am in fact on a low pop server with no one around.

Pop into a zone like org and it merges with other realms sure. But waiting in storm peaks for proto drake, I dont see shit.

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Do you guys actually play on a low pop server? Doesnt seem like you do.

That's just CRZ. I have the same experience most of the time if I go to storm peaks and decide to do some TLPD laps. Occasionally I see a handful of people doing the same. CRZ doesn't mean that you will always see people where you are. With how much landmass there is, the wow population is super spread out. Your shard might have 3 people in storm peaks, it might have 40 another time, regardless of what server your originate from.

[Volatilis]

That's just CRZ. I have the same experience most of the time if I go to storm peaks and decide to do some TLPD laps. Occasionally I see a handful of people doing the same. CRZ doesn't mean that you will always see people where you are. With how much landmass there is, the wow population is super spread out. Your shard might have 3 people in storm peaks, it might have 40 another time, regardless of what server your originate from.

Yeah but I notice that its the same realms that keep popping up . They clearly group them by region and then servers among that region.

And most of the oceanic realms are dead except 1 or 2. And one of those realms is 99% ally, so if I turn off warmode I barely see anyone.

[themaster24]

Yeah but I notice that its the same realms that keep popping up . They clearly group them by region and then servers among that region.

And most of the oceanic realms are dead except 1 or 2. And one of those realms is 99% ally, so if I turn off warmode I barely see anyone.

Technically it's based on server time zone, but ya, that's effectively region locking the system. So, it sounds more like a regional issue, one which you are potentially using the WM feature (by disabling it) to further segregate yourself from people. Not necessarily a low pop server problem.

[Blackmist]

Question: Why do we think Blizzard would ever fix it, when leaving it results in more transfer fees?

Ideally, we'd be able to cross realm trade, join guilds on other realms, have one unified AH, and all do Mythic raids together from day one.

But we can't because money.

[Seranthor]

I know that they do have the expertise to fix this situation, I know that deep down they're still competent.

I'm just puzzled as to why they haven't done it yet.

Low population servers are now basically desolate hellscapes devoid of any and all life. It is hard for most people to enjoy an MMO under such circumstances.

And yet they can't escape the situation. They have invested a lot of time and effort into their characters on this realm.

Why isn't the situation fixed? I know Blizzard aren't that greedy to let this be a problem just so they can get more money from realm transfers. Are they just too lazy or not willing to invest the development time for it right now?

It's not 'fixed' because its not broken.

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The auction house is also nearly empty on a low pop server, with few people posting items. Also, since this is an MMO, having an actual community on the server is a definite necessity, otherwise you might as well play a singleplayer game. And yet, these low pop realms are nearly dead. Small communities can be great, but at this point the communities are nearly non-existent.

Do you play one of these servers? If so, which one? If not, then have you ever played on one? If not, why are you carpet bombing us with your fake tears?

[beanman12345]

Money, and they did get mine years ago because I got fed up with it and bought some transferred when they went on sale sometime i think in early legion. Well someone else paid for it technically since i used tokens.

[Azerate]

Like what? Unless your realm is RP so it isn't CRZ'd there are only disadvantages, as I see it.

Despite CRZ, low pop realms tend to be less crowded, so there's at least a chance to find a less crowded mirror of an open world location

Communities are not even close to Guilds. Come on now...

Are Discord Servers like Guilds too?

Depends what you associate the idea of a guild with. Our guild raids together with another guild and we use the in-game community and joint Discord server. It's pretty much like one guild, though we retain our old guild structures within the game, mostly for the old times' sake, as both the guilds are actually on the same realm.

For a non-mythic raiding guild, guild vs. community is just a difference of chat channel in the game.

[MoanaLisa]

Question: Why do we think Blizzard would ever fix it, when leaving it results in more transfer fees?

Because they connected a bunch of realms a few years ago so there was less need for transfer fees? And they said they thought it needed to happen again? Maybe that's why some think that.

I mean, for fucking years, there was this cynical BS here and elsewhere about how Blizzard would never close or connect realms because server transfers made them so much money. And they they did realm connections.

And before y'all start flaming me, all of the above is factual. It's just the truth. That's what they did. That's what the game director has said. Just reporting.

[Volatilis]

Because they connected a bunch of realms a few years ago so there was less need for transfer fees? And they said they thought it needed to happen again? Maybe that's why some think that.

I mean, for fucking years, there was this cynical BS here and elsewhere about how Blizzard would never close or connect realms because server transfers made them so much money. And they they did realm connections.

And before y'all start flaming me, all of the above is factual. It's just the truth. That's what they did. That's what the game director has said. Just reporting.

I just realised you're not a mod anymore. And posts like this highlight why I am glad you are not.

You were incredibly biased and now you are no longer mod you dont even attempt to hide it.

Also 1 merge over 16 years. I wonder why people get pissy about it.

[MoanaLisa]

You were incredibly biased and now you are no longer mod you dont even attempt to hide it.

Biased for facts over BS? Yep. Also if you think I'm so incredibly biased for Blizzard you weren't paying attention. When I see stuff I don't like I say something. When I see stuff I like I say something. I understand the latter is some big sin but that's how I roll.

As to my post, if you see anything there that isn't factual, say so. I'm listening.

People all through this thread saying Blizz would never ever do this because of transfer profits. Well they have done it. They said they look at doing something again. It's facts. When you don't have facts I suppose you accuse people of being incredibly biased. Years of that BS too.

[Volatilis]

Biased for facts over BS? Yep. Also if you think I'm so incredibly biased for Blizzard you weren't paying attention. When I see stuff I don't like I say something. When I see stuff I like I say something. I understand the latter is some big sin but that's how I roll.

As to my post, if you see anything there that isn't factual, say so. I'm listening.

Oh facts like you making out blizzard merges servers all the time when in reality its been once in the games life time and at times it needed at least 3-4 in some cases. But w/e people on these forums and elsewhere are just being jerks that cannot be impressed.

And the only sin is your condescending tone. If you think we're such scum why do you bother to post at all then.

[Marrilaife]

Do you play one of these servers? If so, which one?

I listed you a few in post #42 feel free to check those amazing places to be, or rather, try to conduct AH trade and see how it fares.

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And they they did realm connections.

They did it back in MOP, we've had 3 expansions after that with 2 of them dropping subs left and right, they do it way too slowly and way too rarely and the ones they did in MOP weren't "aggressive" enough, in EU people asked them to merge the non-AD RP realms all together cuz they're all dead, yes back then in MOP they already were, and nope, Moonglade and Earthen Ring were never connected and they're now both deader than dead. They made a 3-way and a 2-way instead of making a 5-way for who knows what reason when already they had the tech to merge up to 10 servers in a cluster because some dead pvp realms were made into 10-way back then. It's been 5+ years since then and nothing was done. I'm pretty sure people are justified to be cynical about the subject when 3 expansions is a quite long period in the game lifespan.

[Drusin]

I know that they do have the expertise to fix this situation, I know that deep down they're still competent.

I'm just puzzled as to why they haven't done it yet.

Low population servers are now basically desolate hellscapes devoid of any and all life. It is hard for most people to enjoy an MMO under such circumstances.

And yet they can't escape the situation. They have invested a lot of time and effort into their characters on this realm.

Why isn't the situation fixed? I know Blizzard aren't that greedy to let this be a problem just so they can get more money from realm transfers. Are they just too lazy or not willing to invest the development time for it right now?

How can they fix it? Let me present to you the people you have to simultaneously keep happy:

1. The guy who wants his low pop server merged, so there's more people to group/trade/etc with
2. The guy who doesn't want his server merged and is happy in a low population environment


Guy 1 doesn't pose an issue, any possible solution will please him but guy 2 will likely be upset at any of those solutions lol.

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Since you're NA you can't really see it

https://theunderminejournal.com/#eu/...gory/herbalism

I chose a random category

[Marrilaife]

https://theunderminejournal.com/#eu/...gory/herbalism

I chose a random category

And you don't see how stupidly overpriced this stuff is due to low volume? Normally a bfa herb goes for 3-4 gold (stuff like Winter's Kiss or Rivebud). Then we have less than ONE STACK of Zinan'thid and you're telling me that's healthy economy?

Also this data misses the second half, did this stuff actually sell or returned unsold.

[Airlick]

That's just your opinion though, here's a counter opinion: Low population servers have finally returned to the glory days of pre-crossrealms, now it actually feels like you're on an epic adventure as opposed to one of the 586,392 people in the zone.

Believe it or not the are a lot of people who specifically rolled on low pop servers because we didn't want to see other players every five minutes when out in the world, this was the whole reason players were given low/med/high pop as an option when picking a server.

That's quite literally the first time I hear the idea of rolling specifically on a low-pop server to avoid other people, but here's an idea - merge most of the dead servers, and leave a specific 1-2 servers that you don't merge, but instead open free transfer in and out of them.

Of course this begs another question - why would anyone play an MMO that never had good story, crafting, combat, or basically any aspect you can do on your own, if they don't want to meet other people in-game... But even assuming there are such people and they are not in extreme minority, is it really justifiable to force people who were unfortunate to roll on a low-pop server (probably because they didn't know any better when they started or their servers died later) to pay for transfers?

The answer is obviously that Blizzard thinks that if people are desperate enough, they will either reroll or pay, and it nets them more money than what they lose from people who just quit instead.

[StrawberryZebra]

Unless you are raiding at a Mythic level, I never really thought it mattered. What server are you on that the AH is empty? I'm on Blackrock, which is a very low pop server these days, but the AH still has plenty of items listed; and plenty of competition for player made items.

I'm on Xavus EU and I'm lucky if the AH has enough Flasks to last me a raid night. If the AH wasn't linked I'd probably be looking at an AH with nothing at all on it for sale.

What'ya talking about mon? In EU all servers are connected to there's no problem of small servers.

On my realm there are usually single digit max level Alliance online at any given time - It makes prospects of doing anything other than pugging content an impossiability. I don't even know if there are even any active guilds on my realm, I've not seen another Alliance player throughout the whole of BFA who has been from Xavius. As I mentioned above, there's barely anything on the AH, and what is there is generally overpriced because it's the only one on the market.

If it wasn't for Sharding and CRZ, I'd probably never see another Alliance player ever. Without the cross realm looking for group tools, I'd never get to do any content beyond soloing.

Let's be honest and call it what it is. A broken game state. All of the pillars that support the MMO part of the game have toppled over and what's left is a lobby based game, where you queue for everything you want to do.

You can't seriously consider having no alternatives but to pug everything or transfer to be anything other than a broken game state for an MMO.

[Onikaroshi]

They're supposed to be connecting around shadowlands, lets see if they do it. I live on a high pop server so its not big deal to me, but my wife still has characters on Blackwater Raiders.... there was 4 people in org the other day.

[MoanaLisa]

Oh facts like you making out blizzard merges servers all the time when in reality its been once in the games life time and at times it needed at least 3-4 in some cases. But w/e people on these forums and elsewhere are just being jerks that cannot be impressed.

And the only sin is your condescending tone. If you think we're such scum why do you bother to post at all then.

You're missing the point. The general feeling is that Blizzard would never do anything to harm their precious transfer income. So we have connected realms, a promise to look at it again, cross-realm dungeon groups, cross-realm raids, cross-realm just about everything except guilds and Auction Houses.

So explain how any of that is protective of their income from realm transfers and if they would never do anything, why in the hell would they do any of that?

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That's quite literally the first time I hear the idea of rolling specifically on a low-pop server to avoid other people.

I've done this. It's both good and bad. You can corner auction house markets if you play smart but the market can be weak enough to be not worth cornering. Other than that it's pretty peaceful and there's all the stuff in my other post if you want to group up.