In World of Warcraft, the population of the realms is not necessarily balanced. Blizzard aims to change that by connecting more realms together.
Those who adventure in World of Warcraft experience vastly different gameplay depending on the selected realm. While on some realms, you encounter another player every few meters and can embark on adventures together, other realms are eerily empty, often leaving you alone in the wilderness. Blizzard wants to address this issue and plans to connect realms.
Will the realms then be “merged”? No, each realm will continue to exist as its own entity. No one will lose their realm name or anything associated with it. The pool of cross-realm combinations will simply be expanded. This means you will see more players from other realms who will then be connected to your realm. You will share a game world but retain your server identity. This aims to increase player numbers to a healthy level.
How will this proceed? In the coming months, Blizzard will occasionally connect new realms during the weekly maintenance. The process will last “2-3 months” and will only be completed when “all realms with lower populations are linked to realms with significantly larger populations”.
Blizzard will always announce which realms are affected in advance so all players can prepare accordingly.
At the launch of the next expansion Shadowlands, all players are expected to be adventuring in well-populated areas.
What do the connections mean?
Are there any downsides? Yes, there are. Those who enjoy the tranquility of a somewhat emptier realm will naturally face some disadvantages. Some mount or pet collectors who enjoy hunting rare mobs will have more competition in the future. The same applies to limited crafting materials, such as herbs or ores. More competition here could lead to a deterioration of personal circumstances.
Similarly, roleplayers are concerned that their realms may be connected with non-roleplaying realms. However, there hasn’t been a statement from Blizzard regarding this yet.
Some fans of the War Mode may also be annoyed – because on some realms, the War Mode feels like cheating.
Are you looking forward to realms getting more connections and to seeing more players? Or do you perhaps even enjoy your relatively “quiet” realm?
