Patch 5.4 Feature Preview: Connected Realms

[player2002]

for second there i was reading that as isle of giants....my eye are bad

[Gorrilas]

What i would like to ask if anyone knows.

After Connected realms, the server as area will be common for all, or as it is now, what i mean is for example :
Herbs, mines, Rares etc will be common for all, or will be for each server, like the pre-connection of the servers?

[Benomatic]

So if i have 11 characters on one realm, then make some more characters on a realm connected to that one, can i send my account bound heirlooms across to that real?
Does this mean I essentially can have 22+ alts now that are connected?

[VINDALOO]

Only thing I'll need for this is a larger ignore list, trade chat will be interesting for a bit until you figure out the who's who trolls of the connected servers!

[therealbowser]

Isn't this just almost exactly the same as merging 2 realms? :s

Anyway, it's a good change. I just don't see the difference between 'connected' and 'merged', looking at the description.

1. Players (theoretically) won't feel forced to do something they don't want to do, such as change their names (including guild names).
2. It won't look like World of Warcraft is getting weaker and beginning to 'die' since they are merging realms and have less of them. (key reason here)