Cross-Realm Zones Coming to Beta

[EdisonTrent]

Been waiting for them to crib this, I liked the idea in GW1, but the game itself left a lot to be desired, I'm surprised nobody picked it up sooner.

This could cause as many problems as phasing, however...

Q. Will my cross-realm group be disbanded if we move on to an adjacent zone together, like from Goldshire to Westfall or from Thousand Needles to Feralas?
Much like how cross-realm groups currently work, your party won’t be disbanded when you move through different zones, though if you’re not in the same home realm, you won’t be able to see each other if you’re in separate zone instances.

Why not just keep the group together in the same instance while moving from zone to zone? Surely it's not that difficult. That, or let players select the instance they're in.

[Aspect of Death]

Is this the "fix" they talked about a few months ago? (where they said they would fix low populated servers /*factions* since most servers have 97% / 3% between factions..
And i hoped that it would go back to vanilla/TBC when it was 50/50 before faction-lame-change came. I guess not, and they also are not changing this at all, only "people in a zone" so on my server it will still be 1 alliance 300 horde in 1zone, and soon it will be 0 alliance 100% horde. Then.. What is the point with the game, the game they made to be alliance vs horde.. Meeh

This change wont affect my server anyway since its allready full/locked and since there is already 1million horde online there wont be any alliance "filled" in the zones anyway. And tbh i dont really like this change at all, since they are not doing anything to fix factions, they are in a way, makeing it worse.
And ofc i dont really need the LFG-LFR/barrens chat all over the place with "your mom is so.." etc..

[Shaede]

Is this the "fix" they talked about a few months ago? (where they said they would fix low populated servers /*factions* since most servers have 97% / 3% between factions..
And i hoped that it would go back to vanilla/TBC when it was 50/50 before faction-lame-change came. I guess not, and they also are not changing this at all, only "people in a zone" so on my server it will still be 1 alliance 300 horde in 1zone, and soon it will be 0 alliance 100% horde. Then.. What is the point with the game, the game they made to be alliance vs horde.. Meeh

This change wont affect my server anyway since its allready full/locked and since there is already 1million horde online there wont be any alliance "filled" in the zones anyway. And tbh i dont really like this change at all, since they are not doing anything to fix factions, they are in a way, makeing it worse.
And ofc i dont really need the LFG-LFR/barrens chat all over the place with "your mom is so.." etc..

So what you are saying is that you were hoping that Blizz was going to force people to roll a certain faction, right? That's a ridiculous thought. What's after that? They are going to tell you what class to play as well? And before faction transfers were allowed the factions were still unbalanced, why do you think they appeared in the first place? Nobody would want to play World of Warcraft if they knew Blizz was going to tell them what faction to roll.

Whatever chat you don't need you can disable, so stop acting like you are defenseless against this onslaught of people talking. Realm transfers are 25 bucks..and should be free if you are moving from a locked server anyway, it's by your own choice that you are somewhere you hate.

[jeremynative]

cool but trading shouldnt have restrictions

[Shaede]

Ahem no...To be a shareholder, you do not need to be genius or even expert on the gven fileld..You must get some share (easiest way from the stockmarket) and that` all. Of course it`s depends on the company so not always soooo easy, but sometimes is:P
Proof for EU players went down? M8 look around in EU servers....Mine (Arathor) is in ridiculous state....Based on http://www.wowrealmstatus.net/servers/eu/arathor.php 85% of the players is alliance...and trust me, the alli side is literally dead..(can`t imagine the horde side or low population realms...)
What is exactly the genius thing to pay for a lot of almost unused servers? For me it`s sounds fantastically stupid...Merging servers can`t be done in a year or 2? IT expert as i can see

Sorry there, M8 but you are whining on about server status at the end of an expansion and the beginning of summer, as well as a beta that is open to a whole helluva lot of people. Come back when the expansion release and we'll check servers then. If you have been thru any expansion at the end you would know this is a natural stage of the game..it's called transition.

[btu10]

A great idea doesnt change the average content (well content that was primarily developed 7 years ago and has remained rather static - its quality is subjective).

Whether you have 100 people running around killing boars, or 1 person running around killing boars I dont see any difference in the "fun" of the exercise.

(The social aspects are a positive, but the annoyance caused by mob tagging and other things are negative, so really I see no essential "revolutionary' (lol) change here).

[Jinouga]

well with challenge mode dungeons we know that they can scale us down to certain ilevels would be cool if they scaled a lvl 90 down to lvl 18 stats or whatever and then we could run just as if we were 18. our action bars would just have lvl 18 and below spells and everything.

I don't see this working for Death Knights.

[mrtroll4u]

Awesome, it means i will be able to camp more lowbies

[Shaede]

Right now we are able to form groups with guildies and summon them to us for quick help. But remember, that's all going away. That will make this much more enticing.

---------- Post added 2012-05-10 at 09:37 PM ----------

I will say that although I like this change... I will be seriously mad if my realm gets shared with Moonguard US and I have to see a bunch of crazies in the goldshire inn trying to have an orgy. Sorry to those who actually are good, decent players on Moonguard, but your realm is the spawn of Satan and should be condemned to a life of solitude. Good day.

[Soeroah]

I did not expect this. I am cautiously impressed. One of my annoyances regarding group quests was the lack of people in the zones. I thought scenarios would be a great solution, but this is something I never really considered.

[Deleted]

I'm so damn impressed by this concept. Blizzard never ceases to amaze me. This must've been a total bitch to design and implement for them!

[Kickbuttmario]

As I have said previously, the whole genre is (relatively speaking) still in its infancy in terms of development. Very much work in progress. All the MMOs will borrow/steal from each other. This news is huge for the genre. I applaud Blizzard for this. The fact that they can make such a massive change to the game at this stage shows any doubters that they are still very much alive and kicking with this game.

Actually not to burst your bubble but other MMO's like GW2 have already thought of this and have done this, but instead as guest servers. Or I could be wrong if I read cross-realm-zones incorrectly but I think Gw2's guest transfers or guest servers (where you can play on other servers but your character is still in-tact to your original server) is far better.

[Simca]

Is this the "fix" they talked about a few months ago? (where they said they would fix low populated servers /*factions* since most servers have 97% / 3% between factions..
And i hoped that it would go back to vanilla/TBC when it was 50/50 before faction-lame-change came. I guess not, and they also are not changing this at all, only "people in a zone" so on my server it will still be 1 alliance 300 horde in 1zone, and soon it will be 0 alliance 100% horde. Then.. What is the point with the game, the game they made to be alliance vs horde.. Meeh

This change wont affect my server anyway since its allready full/locked and since there is already 1million horde online there wont be any alliance "filled" in the zones anyway. And tbh i dont really like this change at all, since they are not doing anything to fix factions, they are in a way, makeing it worse.
And ofc i dont really need the LFG-LFR/barrens chat all over the place with "your mom is so.." etc..

I don't understand what you expect them to do about your problem.

I assume you're playing on Sargeras, Mal'ganis, Cho'gall, or something like that (not anywhere near "most" servers). Blizzard even warns you when you try to make a character there for the first time that the server population is too high.

Their options are really something like this:
1. Combine servers (not possible because you'd have to graft a huge alliance server on top of it and the resulting server from the combination would be WAY too big)
2. Split servers (not possible because of the qq it will cause amongst the separated people)
3. Provide free transfers for Horde players off the server and for Alliance players on to the server (already done)
4. Prevent new Horde characters and/or accounts from creating characters (not possible because of the qq it will cause by separating people from their friends)


There is no obvious and easy solution that pleases all sides (and there almost never is).

Actually not to burst your bubble but other MMO's like GW2 have already thought of this and have done this, but instead as guest servers. Or I could be wrong if I read cross-realm-zones incorrectly but I think Gw2's guest transfers or guest servers (where you can play on other servers but your character is still in-tact to your original server) is far better.

Agreed that GW2's guest system is far better, but this expansion from Blizzard has surprised me with the new features like this. In the past, they'd basically just say "well, we kind of didn't plan for that back in 2004 and coding it has too much of a potential to upset existing systems". They must have overcome that stumbling block, which is nice.

[homerunhomer]

Now that's a good idea. Blizzard really seem to be trying out new things with MoP, will add some life to the old zones.

[Kickbuttmario]

Agreed that GW2's guest system is far better, but this expansion from Blizzard has surprised me with the new features like this. In the past, they'd basically just say "well, we kind of didn't plan for that back in 2004 and coding it has too much of a potential to upset existing systems". They must have overcome that stumbling block, which is nice.

Yeah but look at the people here, they are saying "OMG THIS IS AWESOME! FIRST MMO OUT THERE THAT EVER DID THIS!!".

Obviously a lot of ignorance from these people and I am sure other mmos have already thought of this too and are already getting ready to implement this. Just wish people don't go overboard and start fanboying a little more than they should.

[zingar]

I don't understand what you expect them to do about your problem.

I assume you're playing on Sargeras, Mal'ganis, Cho'gall, or something like that (not anywhere near "most" servers). Blizzard even warns you when you try to make a character there for the first time that the server population is too high.

Their options are really something like this:
1. Combine servers (not possible because you'd have to graft a huge alliance server on top of it and the resulting server from the combination would be WAY too big)
2. Split servers (not possible because of the qq it will cause amongst the separated people)
3. Provide free transfers for Horde players off the server and for Alliance players on to the server (already done)
4. Prevent new Horde characters and/or accounts from creating characters (not possible because of the qq it will cause by separating people from their friends)


There is no obvious and easy solution that pleases all sides (and there almost never is).

"1. Combine servers (not possible because you'd have to graft a huge alliance server on top of it and the resulting server from the combination would be WAY too big)"

it depends on the servers. most servers are under populated and even by merging like 4 or 5 you dont get to be remotely close to the most populated servers. and of course you should only merge servers that have overpopulation of different factions (duh..)

btw im on illidan horde side. the ratio is about 23 horde - 1 alliance and ive yet to see free transfers off horde side ATM (maybe there are but if there are its clearly kind of hidden since a regular player should hear of this without going to forums or whatever)

they could also charge more for people that wants to transfer to that server

there are a tons of little things like this. of course forcing players is a bad idea but you can always "encourage" them to do stuff and ive yet to see blizzard do that

[Deleted]

This is pointless and stupid. Stop pretending that levelling is group activity! This isn't GW2.

[Kickbuttmario]

This is pointless and stupid. Stop pretending that levelling is group activity! This isn't GW2.

Yeah, questing with this system is useless but.... Actually you may have not noticed this but I think this will definitely fix the pvp world issues people have been having for a long time in wow.

Think about it. Some groups of people can make a designated server (PVP of course) where tons of people can do pvp. Imagine that zone (forgot what its called) where people can do pvp against tarren mill and (forgot alliance town there). It can basically get groups of people to feel like vanilla again. It could actually work. If people organize it on mmochampion/pvpforums, im sure it will work without a doubt.

[Deleted]

Yeah, questing with this system is useless but.... Actually you may have not noticed this but I think this will definitely fix the pvp world issues people have been having for a long time in wow.

Think about it. Some groups of people can make a designated server (PVP of course) where tons of people can do pvp. Imagine that zone (forgot what its called) where people can do pvp against tarren mill and (forgot alliance town there). It can basically get groups of people to feel like vanilla again. It could actually work. If people organize it on mmochampion/pvpforums, im sure it will work without a doubt.

Well good for them. But I'm not on pvp server and this system will most likely only harm my gameplay. If wow had public questing this would've been great.

[Anzaman]

But I'm not on pvp server and this system will most likely only harm my gameplay.

Agreed.

Also, not everyone on PvP server(s) seeks for target that could be camped - it's a lot easier to find PvP guild(s) from there which does Rated Battlegrounds.