Connected Realms Update - 23/01

The following realms are due to be connected next:

English Realms

• (PvP) Xavius and Skullcrusher
• (PvP) Auchindoun and Jaedenar

The following realms are scheduled to be connected after the realms above:

English Realms

• (PvP) Dragonmaw and Haomarush
• (PvP) Zenedar and Bladefist
• (PvP) Deathwing and Karazhan/Lightning’s Blade

French Realms

• (PvE) Krasus and Eitrigg

German Realms

• (PvP) Blutkessel and Arthas/Vek’lor

Plans for these connections may change at any time. We’ll provide additional updates for future connections here as soon as we can.

To see a list of all realms connected so far, see our other forum post. For more information on Connected Realms, please read the preview blog post here.


FAQ
Q. My realm needs connecting, is it on your list?
A. All low and some medium population realms will be connected. They’ll all have a healthy population when we’re done. Don't worry, we're aware of the exact situation on each realm.

Q. When will my realm be connected?
A. We'll keep you posted on the latest information as we get it. It's an ongoing process and the schedule is updated as we progress.

Q. My realm has a lower population than some of those on the list, why isn’t mine being connected first?
A. The order we connect realms depends on a number of technical factors, but we will get to them all.

In case anyone was wondering, here's the old update thread: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8427764143

Guess it was getting a bit cluttered. :P

Indeed, new year = new thread :)

06/01/2014 09:20Posted by Onacona

Any chance for Frostwhisper to get Connected Realms ? its been long time :(

06/01/2014 10:27Posted by Beerwolf

WTB Merger for SunStrider - that server's as dead as a Dodo...

I just added a short FAQ to the original post.

Q. My realm needs connecting, is it on your list?
A. All low and some medium population realms will be connected. They’ll all have a healthy population when we’re done.

Also I assume by

(RP PvP) Ravenholdt and Scarshield Legion

you mean

(RP PvP) Ravenholdt and The Venture Co/Sporeggar/Scarshield Legion

Yup, thanks! Updated.

06/01/2014 14:19Posted by Zophiol

I see your reply mention Ravenholdt and the other RP PVP realms yet the original post doesn't have them in it at all, did you edit them out accidentally?

Nope, as we don't have a date for those connections yet I figured it was probably better to keep them off the list for now in case anything changes. It shouldn't, but I just want to avoid potential disappointments. If all remains on track they'll be on the next list :)

Hey all, this week's connections went through so the original post has been updated. I'll add new info as soon as it's been confirmed :)

08/01/2014 09:37Posted by Strex

Terenas - Horde.....Dead

Another vote for Terenas . Horde is dead, yet the place seems to be crawling with Alliance.

How come Blizzard never responds to this every time it gets asked?

If your realm has a low population overall it will be connected, as I said in the FAQ. Where possible, we took faction balance into consideration when choosing which realms to connect, with the aim of balancing things out a little better. However, overall EU PvP realms have more Horde players, and EU PvE realms have more Alliance, so achieving perfect balance won't be possible.

I've updated the original post, all realm connections went through except Bloodfeather and Kor’gall/Burning Steppes/Executus, which needs a little more time. We'll let you know when that's back on the schedule :)

15/01/2014 08:20Posted by Ticticbóom

And do you have a plan for the next bunch over the next few weeks.?

Just added that too! :)

15/01/2014 09:18Posted by Brutwan

I believe, he was hoping for a "little" bit more than one connection ahead :-)

It's all I have at the moment, I'll update it the instant I get any more info, promise :)

If you are on a full realm, and not getting connected, will you receive more char slots then? Or will Blizzard sort this in another way, like merging a dead and a full realm?

Seeing as, if you are on a realm getting connected you would be able to play with 22 chars at least (in cases with only two realms being connected), having them all in the same guild etc.

Please, at least let us know, if you are considering this issue. (And sorry if it has been answered in the other thread - I might have missed it in the 63 pages)

There aren't any plans to give a bunch of extra character slots to folks on non-connected realms to my knowledge, no. In the situation you mentioned with connected realms, the limit per realm is still the same, it's just those characters have a bit more freedom with how they interact with guilds or characters on a different realm (the one they're connected to).

Full realms will not be connected with any other realms, that would just make queues worse.

Guys, while I fully understand your eagerness to find out more about your specific realms and the schedule, please know that we're sharing this information the moment we receive it. Many of the questions I see here are covered in the FAQ in the first post (namely, "My realm needs connecting, is it on your list?"). By filling the thread with questions like this, you're making it take longer for us to reply to the questions and feedback we can respond to.

15/01/2014 20:11Posted by Pupuna

Why is it only English PvP realms being connected? Only like 4 PvE realms are connected. The PvE realms are suffering from low population aswell. >_>

Because PVP servers are the smallest of them all.

Pupuna's correct, we started off by connecting some of the smallest realms where possible, and many of those happened to be PvP.

The following connection will need a little more time, and has been re-scheduled:

English Realms

(PvP) Bloodfeather and Kor’gall/Burning Steppes/Executu

Is there any information on when?

As I said, as soon as I know, I'll tell you :)

Is it not possible to connect full servers to nearly empty ones and then give players free character migrations from the full server to the empty one?
I am pretty sure many would take it to avoid queues without losing their guilds or contact with their friends. And your customers will be happy. Or is there a downside I am not seeing?

People won't move from a full realm to an empty one, no matter how bad the queues are. We've been trying a new tactic with FCMs from full realms recently here in Europe, where people can move to medium-high pop realms, and it's been much more successful. But many are still reluctant to move from their full realms despite huge queues at peak times. Anyway, that's a little off-topic ^^

16/01/2014 10:16Posted by Czappsticks

As I said, as soon as I know, I'll tell you :)

Aren't you supposed to be in the loop at Blizzard?

As soon as the decision is made to go ahead with a set of connections, we're informed, and then you are informed. There really isn't much more to share, the decision is based on things like the results of the previous connections, realm populations and a couple of other factors such as patches. Not sure what you think I'm holding back. We can't name specific realms in advance in case populations shift, which is why we're doing it gradually.

More info has been added to the original post :)

17/01/2014 11:22Posted by Bapu

And what happened to Bloodfeather?

All going well, it should hopefully be due after the ones currently listed. But as I always stress, things may change.

22/01/2014 10:14Posted by Kralo

Bladefist been taken off the connection date again ?

22/01/2014 10:37Posted by Chiaoo

Did Zenedar and Bladefist get connected?

Unfortunately it's been temporarily postponed. Haomarush and Dragonmaw was on the list too, and that's also been delayed. I'll let you know as soon as they're back on the schedule, sorry for the hold-up guys.

23/01/2014 08:50Posted by Garathjax

Bloodfeather is one of the oldest servers in the EU and its starting to look like the "technical issues" are hardware problems. Every expansion or patch Bloodfeather is amongst the last of the realms to go live and there are always problems when it does . Isn't it about time Blizzard spent some of their "hard earned" cash and invest in a new server or at least give us unlimited FCM and close this piece of junk.

No, that's really not the issue. Bloodfeather's good, there's just a lot of technical work going on with moving all these realms, and occasionally work on one set of connections affects future connections on other realms. Don't worry, it's still firmly on the schedule, you'll see it appear in the list again soon :)

22/01/2014 14:47Posted by Crayontrain

Unfortunately it's been temporarily postponed. Haomarush and Dragonmaw was on the list too, and that's also been delayed. I'll let you know as soon as they're back on the schedule, sorry for the hold-up guys.

Somehow I'm still surprised. After the first time you took Dragonmaw-Haomarush off the list you would've learned not to put it back there unless you were sure it would go through this time around.
Too much hope obviously, should expect nothing but trainwrecks from this.

edited grammar less awful

This is exactly why we're not able to share much info in advance, because things regularly change at late notice for reasons that can't be predicted before we begin the process. I fully appreciate it's frustrating to see your realm connection postponed, however, you'll see Dragonmaw-Haomarush is back on the list once more though, as is Zenedar and Bladefist. We're doing everything we can to make sure it goes ahead as planned :)

22/01/2014 17:47Posted by Valkarya

What about already connected groups who still appear as low? Agammagan - Emeriss - Hakkar - Crushridge group, the most of the time is marked as low and I have yet to see an Alliance player (transferred some time ago).
Even as Horde player, while realm is way from being "dead", it's not really what I'm used to.

Also, will we see merge of realm forums? Posting the very same thing 3-4 times is not really the optimal way of out-of-game communication.

It's likely there are further connections to be made to a realm if its overall population (Horde + Alliance) is still low after being connected to another realm.

We don't have any plans to change the realm forums at this time, but yeah I'll pass on the feedback, thanks :)

23/01/2014 22:12Posted by Dolte

Hi there!

Could you clarify something for me please?
I thought you guys wouldn't try balancing out alliance-horde ratio at this time?

Then why is it that Jaedenar (a realm with a few Horde raiding guilds, low pop) is being connected with Auchindoun, which is a realm that's more high then mid, full with alliance raiding teams?

I hope this isn't the end of it for us, Jaedenar players? This obviously isn't going to help our recruiting or economy (except if you're trying to make us swap sides by paying & going alliance...?) Or maybe you're trying to tell us that Jaedenar should be an alliance realm and that we should all gtfo?
We're prepping for a a massive alliance invasion as we speak, all deserting shrine in fear of being ganked pretty soonish :/

Free migration from jaedenar please?

Realizing what will happen to our dearly beloved realm, I'd also like to ask for a free migration plx T.T

We're trying to help with faction balance where possible. As there tend to be more Horde players on PvP realms, it's a hard thing to do though sometimes. Auchindoun is a medium population realm with a pretty much even faction balance actually, and as you know Jaedenar has a low population so the end result will be a nice evenly balanced realm. I think you'll really like the results.

24/01/2014 12:05Posted by Kubuntu

Its cool that you try to do some faction balance on servers bur for real? Auchindoun faction balance server?!? 90% alliance 10% horde its balance for you ?

Just hope that you will connect more servers to Auchindoun then Jaedenar in future

This seems to be a really common misconception. Looking at the data right now and it's pretty much 1:1.