Has Connected Realms helped your experience in wow any bit?

[Traveler Voltin]

no because my realm isnt connected to another one yet. very annoying.

[Azutael]

no because my realm isnt connected to another one yet. very annoying.

Same here.

I had hoped my realm would be connected sooner rather than later, but I got tired of waiting. So I took my break from WoW early.

[Traveler Voltin]

Same here.

I had hoped my realm would be connected sooner rather than later, but I got tired of waiting. So I took my break from WoW early.

my realm is always forgotten. sigh

[Deleted]

Server merges have been a tried and proven concept to deal with population issues for ages.
It would be an embarrasing accomplishment if it did not help.
Those few only bothered with the void on their realms filled are always the exception to the rule.

[Alopex Major]

Connected realms yes, crz, no.

[BenBos]

Server merges have been a tried and proven concept to deal with population issues for ages.
It would be an embarrasing accomplishment if it did not help.
Those few only bothered with the void on their realms filled are always the exception to the rule.

Except, connected realms is not the same technique as merging servers.

The difference is that with connected realms everyone can play and log in on his server, while playing in real time with other players logging in on their respective servers.

BIG difference as the World of Azeroth can be populated independant of individual server identities.

With merged servers, you just postpone the emptyness of the world. With connected realms, players never leave their server and can play with players from other connected servers without even noticing it. To prevent future emptyness, Blizzard can just connect new servers to the cluster without bothering the players one bit.

If you don't get that, well it is time to understand it by now.

I know it is a hell of a technique and I know you hate Blizzard. Shrug, I don't care as long as it solves the eternal problem of individual server populations.

[Alvito]

So far it has hurt my server. Since we are low population and not merged people are leaving faster then before for other servers that aren't ghost towns. Guild after guild keeps jumping ship for Hyjal or Mal'ganis. At this point when it does come it will be like using a bandaid to try and help a heart attack victim.

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Same here.

I had hoped my realm would be connected sooner rather than later, but I got tired of waiting. So I took my break from WoW early.

It is amazing how long it is taking them. Well over 6 months now and they aren't half way done. Hopefully they finish before WoD goes live or it will destroy the poor low population servers they didn't get around to. The pace and way they have handled this is one of the biggest failures of MoP.

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It made things worse doing thing out and about though. My server was horde favoured by quite a bit, but it was manageable because the server was pretty dead overall and the population turned carebear. But now, the horde population advantage is just massive. I can't do anything on Timeless Isle unless I play a stealther, and even the farming dailies are a crapshoot. When it came to PvP servers, they really should have kept faction balance in mind, but they didn't. It's a shame, because my server, before MoP was very well balanced, and it was really fun.

This is one of the bigger issues they and players are having with this. The realms are being merged with other realms that have their servers housed out of the same cities. In some cases this really limits what they can group them with. So you have realms with different time zones, faction ballance pve and rp being mixed things like that. Whoever was in charge of all of this did a awful job on the front end to make sure things worked out and went live in a timely fashion and in a way that wasn't game breaking for the people playing on the old servers.

[BenBos]

So far it has hurt my server. Since we are low population and not merged people are leaving faster then before for other servers that aren't ghost towns. Guild after guild keeps jumping ship for Hyjal or Mal'ganis. At this point when it does come it will be like using a bandaid to try and help a heart attack victim.

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It is amazing how long it is taking them. Well over 6 months now and they aren't half way done. Hopefully they finish before WoD goes live or it will destroy the poor low population servers they didn't get around to. The pace and way they have handled this is one of the biggest failures of MoP.

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This is one of the bigger issues they and players are having with this. The realms are being merged with other realms that have their servers housed out of the same cities. In some cases this really limits what they can group them with. So you have realms with different time zones, faction ballance pve and rp being mixed things like that. Whoever was in charge of all of this did a awful job on the front end to make sure things worked out and went live in a timely fashion and in a way that wasn't game breaking for the people playing on the old servers.

The planning is rolling out.

And btw the connected realm technique is not equal to a server "merge".

In a server merge you mix one or more servers to become a new server with players being renamed.

A server merge doesn't help one bit in the long run as populations stay within the limits of the ONE new "merged" server.

Connected realms are independant of future population problems because you simply connect new servers (with players on it) to the already clustered ones.

With connected realms everyone logs in on his Original server and he is hardly even aware of the things happening.

As populations would go down, you simply add more connected realms to the cluster, solving the eternal problems of single (merged/upon merged) server play.

Apparently Blizzard follows a strict schedule helping to aid the servers with the biggest problems. If your server is having problems it will be connected to other ones in the future.

Just be glad this awesome technique for a Legacy system is even available in the long run. Players on different servers can now play with each other in the open world or instances without the problems of a ONE server limit.

It IS the Holy Grail of MMORPG design as population is no longer restricted to ONE server play (and its very small limits).

[thedinosaur]

good that the realm is now alive and trade chat actually appears in my chat log. Gundrak was a ghost town

there was a bit of "anti other server" chat for a while but that seems to have died down to just trolls.
the shit thing is since the merge Gundrak cant use the armory or remote auction house but Jubei is still fine - yeah, they don't mention that in the pre merge announcement!

[Tucci]

Yeah, the server feels alive now. There's a lot more people to do stuff with if I ever want to do anything, the ah has tons of new stuff, which could be good or bad. I did 6/9 CM gold last night, first time ever running a CM. Was fun.

[Alvito]

Apparently Blizzard follows a strict schedule helping to aid the servers with the biggest problems. If your server is having problems it will be connected to other ones in the future.

That has been shown to be completely false by the way they have gone already. Many servers linked to multiple already or medium pop server linked while dozens of low pop float around in limbo.

[MoanaLisa]

Server merges have been a tried and proven concept to deal with population issues for ages.
It would be an embarrasing accomplishment if it did not help.
Those few only bothered with the void on their realms filled are always the exception to the rule.

The other big difference that people aren't talking about so much are the advantages that connected realms give Blizzard with regard to capacity management. When a game company closes down servers that's pretty much the end of it. They rarely reopen servers when conditions change. Blizzard is doing what they're doing in a way that when they eventually open more--but probably not all--of the game to F2P/B2P (say 1-80 or 85) they can manage the potential influx of people. It's a win for them. Connected realms are a win for both sides. As to whether or not they'll wrap things up before WoD: yeah, I'd say after today's news they probably will.

[Traveler Voltin]

RIP shadow council

[Lochton]

I have only had good experience with the connected realms.

Given me a good view of other people in the zone than just making me feel godlike to own a whole zone alone. Gives

[Itisamuh]

Yep, it increased world PvP and reduced AH prices, both of which were sorely needed. We need more merged, though.

[BenBos]

The other big difference that people aren't talking about so much are the advantages that connected realms give Blizzard with regard to capacity management. When a game company closes down servers that's pretty much the end of it. They rarely reopen servers when conditions change. Blizzard is doing what they're doing in a way that when they eventually open more--but probably not all--of the game to F2P/B2P (say 1-80 or 85) they can manage the potential influx of people. It's a win for them. Connected realms are a win for both sides. As to whether or not they'll wrap things up before WoD: yeah, I'd say after today's news they probably will.

As stated Connected Realms are the Holy Grail of traditional MMORPG play as it makes the game INDEPENDANT of narrow individual server limits.

A merged server doesn't solve anything in the long run as you are playing within the same constraints of a single server limit and when population goes down on that newly merged server, you are facing another merge already.

With connected realm play you solve this eternal problem as populations are no longer regulated/limited by one server but you can manage a server cluster to populate Azeroth (almost forever and down to 100k players per region even).

Btw: CRZ is needed too as Azeroth is soooo huge these days, you need to populate all 100+ zones throughout all levels to give it the feeling of an MMORPG. The fact open world low level content is no longer group based is an independant Legacy problem, but that's not the fault of CRZ. At least people see other people in every corner of Azeroth and that's needed in an MMORPG.

The BIGGEST advantage of Connected Realms is of course the economy. It makes the game healthy again to have a few thousand traders.

Connected Realm play is without a doubt the BIGGEST technical achievement in WoW in 10 years time.

[Pickynerd]

no because my realm isnt connected to another one yet. very annoying.

Same here, very annoying, our server has been dead for far to long.

[Rampant Rabbit]

Compared to a dead server that once was very crowded, it's a big improvement.