Realm Splits Incomming?

[Watto44]

In order to address player queues on highly populated realms, we're offering free character transfer moves to players on the realms listed here.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...=65019653&sid=1

It's important to note that if not enough players take advantage of these free character moves, it may become necessary to split the population of a realm between two new realms, by performing the process of a Realm Split.
(...snip)

I'll be interested to hear people's thoughts. On a side note: did the tone of the "breaking news" login message remind anyone else of their mother?;)

[Treesh]

Heh. Both Terenas and Stormrage are available for transfers off the servers.

[Trien]

I think they should've capped server transfers/character creation on the high population realms before having to resort to something like this. Aside from the possibility of guilds getting split in two, being split from people who you've associated with for the last two years, even if they're not people who you've closely played/raided with, would be rather disappointing. The game is not all about the group of people who you play with consistently; there's a lot of interaction between players besides that both within and across factions, and I really don't want to see that all get ruined.

[Jarulf]

I think they should've capped server transfers/character creation on the high population realms before having to resort to something like this. Aside from the possibility of guilds getting split in two, being split from people who you've associated with for the last two years, even if they're not people who you've closely played/raided with, would be rather disappointing. The game is not all about the group of people who you play with consistently; there's a lot of interaction between players besides that both within and across factions, and I really don't want to see that all get ruined.

It would make sense to keep people in the same guilds together in a split though, no?

[NiteFox]

It would make sense to keep people in the same guilds together in a split though, no?

That's apparently what's happening.

This is, apparently, how the system will work:

1) If a realm is to be split, players logging on to that realm will get a message giving the option of which realm to transfer to.
2) If the player doesn't select the realm himself, after a while Blizzard makes the choice for him.
3) They check to see if the player is guilded, and if so which realm the majority of his guildmates are on and move them accordingly. (This is of course assuming that the guild itself did not communicate within itself and there's a split between the member base. At which point the guild and its members lose all rights to complain because they are obviously idiots.)
4) If the player is unguilded, perhaps a check to see which arena teams the player is in, and then move accordingly.
5) If none of the above is satisfied, pick lowest population realm and move lazy player to there.

[vor_lord]

That's apparently what's happening.

This is, apparently, how the system will work:

1) If a realm is to be split, players logging on to that realm will get a message giving the option of which realm to transfer to.
2) If the player doesn't select the realm himself, after a while Blizzard makes the choice for him.
3) They check to see if the player is guilded, and if so which realm the majority of his guildmates are on and move them accordingly. (This is of course assuming that the guild itself did not communicate within itself and there's a split between the member base. At which point the guild and its members lose all rights to complain because they are obviously idiots.)
4) If the player is unguilded, perhaps a check to see which arena teams the player is in, and then move accordingly.
5) If none of the above is satisfied, pick lowest population realm and move lazy player to there.

I believe that #3 and perhaps #4 is incorrect based on the official post regarding the matter. It is not based on the majority of the guild members, it is based on the guild leader.

Will I be able to choose my new realm?

When a realm is chosen to undergo a split, an in-game message at the character-selection screen will prompt all affected players to choose between one of the two new realms being created. The player will be able to make this decision (or change his or her decision) up until the realm-split process has been completed. The realm that the player chooses will be the destination for all characters that the player plays on that realm.

What happens to my characters if I don’t choose?

If a realm is not chosen by the player, each character will be individually relocated to one of the two new realms based on a priority system. The system will first determine whether the character is in a guild and move the character based on the destination of the guild’s leader. If the character is not in a guild, the system will then check if the character is part of an arena team and move the character accordingly. If these conditions do not apply, Blizzard will make the decision for the character(s).

source: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...ageNo=1&sid=1#0

[Trien]

It would make sense to keep people in the same guilds together in a split though, no?

That's the idea; I was referring more to the possibility of someone in the guild (accidentally, possibly) picking the wrong realm, or other factors which may come up.

My main concern is more about the cross-guild interactions which could get destroyed by server splits...

[Artega]

I think they should've capped server transfers/character creation on the high population realms before having to resort to something like this. Aside from the possibility of guilds getting split in two, being split from people who you've associated with for the last two years, even if they're not people who you've closely played/raided with, would be rather disappointing. The game is not all about the group of people who you play with consistently; there's a lot of interaction between players besides that both within and across factions, and I really don't want to see that all get ruined.

Well, the server transfers of long ago ruined two of the servers I played on, in terms of introducing then end-game gear (this was Ragnaros and beyond for the first, and it was less of an impact on the second) while my server was just beginning to raid. It completely throttled the tight-knit community we had and raped our server's economy.

At least people on split realms get a choice.

[mandydax]

Heh. Both Terenas and Stormrage are available for transfers off the servers.

Are we looking at moving to a specific server before they split or wait until they resort to a split and let the guild leader choose? I don't want to get left behind or anything.

[Treesh]

Are we looking at moving to a specific server before they split or wait until they resort to a split and let the guild leader choose? I don't want to get left behind or anything.

For Terenas, I'm waiting to see if we will be forced to split. I'll make a post about which one we're going to. If you don't choose a realm when it splits, all of your guilded toons will be transferred to the server that the guild master chooses. If you have unguilded toons and do not make a decision, they will apparently be randomly assigned one realm or the other. If you do make a decision and not have it done automatically for you, apparently all of your toons will go to that server. For folks with toons in two different guilds, I'm not exactly sure what will happen for all your characters. I'm assuming if you don't manually make a choice, each character will go with their individual guilds.

BTW, we've got about 130 slots still open if folks currently in the guild want to get those bank alts or whatnot guilded if you don't want to worry about manually choosing. I really want to make sure we don't leave folks behind. :)

[Ruvanal]

BTW, we've got about 130 slots still open if folks currently in the guild want to get those bank alts or whatnot guilded if you don't want to worry about manually choosing. I really want to make sure we don't leave folks behind. :)

There is not a limit on the number of toons in guild. But there is a limit of 500 on being able to display information of toons on the guild information tab. Just weed out the bank alts and such after a transfer.

[Treesh]

There is not a limit on the number of toons in guild. But there is a limit of 500 on being able to display information of toons on the guild information tab. Just weed out the bank alts and such after a transfer.

That's where I got the 130 left. I don't want to deal with the hassle of not being able to see all the toons on the display screen.