cross-realm
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Warlords of Draenor: New Mythic Tiers will not be cross-realm
With the patch 6.0 pre-expansion period almost upon us (certainly within the month) we know that we'll get to see the debut of Mythic difficulty Siege of Orgrimmar. However, that difficulty will be cross-realm, just as heroic SoO has been up to now. Watcher answered a recent question on twitter about how Warlords of Draenor mythic raids will work in this regard. @goldman1337 New Mythic tiers will not be cross-realm; that restriction will be removed after some time, likely when the next tier arrives. - Watcher (@WatcherDev) September 30, 2014 What this means is that the newest Mythic raid will always be realm only, keeping the prestige of realm first chases alive, but as another tier is launched, that previous Mythic tier will hopefully become cross-realm, allowing you and your friends (or even just willing strangers, ala today's SoO pugs) to run the older content. Seems fairly reasonable to me.
Cross-realm raiding now enabled on all servers
Raiders, rejoice -- a new cross-realm raiding feature has now been implemented. In a blue post by Rygarius, it was announced that cross-realm raiding via BattleTag and RealID has been enabled not just for Flex mode, but for Normal and Heroic mode raiding on all servers. These cross-realm raids will be allowed to get the Reins of the Kor'kron War Wolf and all titles associated with the Siege of Orgrimmar, none of which were previously allowed on Flex or LFR difficulty. Rygarius We've recently implemented an often requested feature to enable cross-realm raiding for Siege of Orgrimmar. Cross-realm BattleTag™ and Real ID friends can now raid together and take the fight to Garrosh on Normal or Heroic difficulty. Players will be able to earn greater rewards such as Reins of the Kor'kron War Wolf or the title of Conqueror/Liberator of Orgrimmar; both of which aren't available to be earned within Flexible or Raid Finder difficulty. This change is currently live. source If your cross-realm Flex group has been doing well and defeating Garrosh, now might just be the time to step into Normal mode, test the waters against the forces of Hellscream on a higher difficulty, and reap all the rewards for doing so. Good luck! Edit: Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas has stepped into the thread in question to clarify a few points. Read on after the break.
Do we need cross-realm Siege of Orgrimmar Normal?
Blizzard Senior Community Rep Jonathan "Zarhym" Brown engaged in an interesting conversation with a Twitter user yesterday, regarding making Siege of Orgrimmar cross-realm in normal mode as well as in Flex and LFR. You can see the whole conversation after the break as an image, but the jist of it is that the OP wanted it cross-realm, and Blizzard can't do it. The framework is apparently not in place, despite it being there for flex and LFR, and they feel the failure rate would be too high. Not to mention that any additional development work that was done on Mists would affect the delivery of Warlords. Cross-realm normal mode raids are something that has been asked for for a long time, since LFR appeared almost. In the twilight days of Mists, it might be a good way for raiders to spend a bit more time on the content and might elongate the life of Siege. But is it really worth potentially delaying the new expansion? Given that the delay between now and the new expansion is the whole reason why we'd need it in the first place, it doesn't seem that way.
Cross-realm account-bound mail now live, mailing rules
It's time to roll that new alt! Those of you playing on multiple realms -- or those of you who want to -- have reason to rejoice today, because with patch 5.4.2 you can now mail account-bound items between realms. This is at least true on North American realms and Oceanic realms -- European realms can expect the feature to pop up tomorrow after the patch. The process isn't much more complicated than sending items on a single server: just send your mail to "charactername-servername" -- without the quotation marks, of course. If your server name has spaces in it, skip the spaces. (So "The Venture Co" server would be "theventureco" for mailing purposes.) Bashiok explains the syntax: 5.4.2 is live and brings true account-bound items. Cross-realm mailing syntax is name-nospaceserver. Ex.: joeyjoejoeshabadujr-theventureco - Bashiok (@Bashiok) December 10, 2013 Like any mail you send to yourself, once you've clicked "send," the item immediately appears in your mailbox. And though heirlooms are the most obvious items to mail from character to character, there are a number of items that fall into the account bound category, including archeology items, Timeless Isle armor tokens, and more. However, you still can't send cash or non account-bound items, so your gold stash is tied to your server.
Warlords of Draenor: Blizzard's Group Finder will allow leaders to filter applicants
Blizzard Community Manager Lore has been all over the forums talking about how Blizzard will build their cross-realm group finder. The latest update for the would-be cross-realm raider, world boss killer or PvPer is as follows: Lore Quote: But with OQ you can put restrictions, view how well they've done before, and how well they're liked with the public. Openraid had a reputation how well people liked your raids and gave you upvotes. Is there any way they will add something like that to help people avoid groups lead by bad players, mean leaders or elitist jerks? We do want to provide some options for group leaders to put some restrictions for who can and can't request to join their group. We don't want to do it in a way that encourages people to be too heavy-handed, but we also want to make the system easy and intuitive to use, and feel it's better for everyone if the system lets leaders be upfront about who they're willing to bring along. Basically, we want to avoid a situation where you can be invited to a group and then immediately be kicked when the leader inspects your gear and finds you're 10 item levels lower than he or she is looking for (and then have to repeat that process until you eventually either find a group that will bring you or give up entirely). We'd rather do our best to make sure you only see groups that you've actually got a shot at running with :) source
Clarifications on Cross-Realm raiding and Warlords' Group Finder
Community Manager Lore has released some additional clarifications on the differences between the cross-realm functionality being added to the Raid Browser in patch 5.4.2, and the new Group Finder being introduced with the new expansion in patch 6.0. These two features are entirely different things -- the Group Finder is an all new feature being built from scratch. This new Group Finder will allow players to find and create groups for any content at any level. The cross-realm functionality in 5.4.2, however, is just that -- cross-realm functionality. Currently, the Raid Browser only allows players to see other players from their own realm. In patch 5.4.2, players will be able to see cross-realm players as well -- something that is similar to what the popular addon oQueue already accomplishes via the BattleTag system. Follow after the break for the full post from Lore.
OpenRaid adds new features
For those who haven't tried it yet, OpenRaid lets you create and join cross-realm raids for everything from achievement runs to Siege of Orgrimmar flexible raids. It serves the same purpose as the oQueue addon, but with the added option of scheduling events ahead of time. I've joined quite a few flex raid groups through the site and have had success in most of them, including some Garrosh kills. OpenRaid has just launched version 2.2, adding some nice features to an already great site. The biggest feature is the new "Quick Raid" tab which lets you see raids happening at this very moment who still need more players. Previously, this type of group forming was done in the chat room, which could get a little hairy when you had thousands of people spamming the groups they're looking for. Chat is still there for those who prefer it. Quick Raids work much like existing OpenRaid events except they aren't planned ahead of time. Event creators will see a new option for repeatable events, which can automatically invite the same people if you want to do the raid again. Head over to the OpenRaid site to see the rest of the new features.
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar reveals; we analyze
We've gotten some substantial updates about WildStar over the last two weeks. Not as substantial as we might necessarily want, but I don't think anyone realistically expected this much news. Frankly, after an extended drought of worthwhile information, I'm happy to get as much as we have. Some of it has been hinted at before, some of it's completely new, and some of it is both unexpected and highly welcome. And then we've gotten some hints worth speculating upon, even if we haven't been told what's happening outright. So in the grand tradition of this column guessing at things only to be proven wrong not long thereafter, it's time to analyze and speculate a whole mess of things, starting with the biggest element that I didn't expect from WildStar at all, and that's all the cross-realm features. That's way more intriguing than mere class speculation.
WildStar offers cross-realm play
Don't stress too much about what server you initially pick for WildStar, since the game will feature several cross-realm options to keep the larger community in touch with each other. Carbine Studios revealed a few details as to how this will work in this week's WildStar Wednesday. In the post, the studio talks about how it's supporting cross-realm play through three primary features. Players will have the ability to talk to anyone on any realm using the chat system, they'll be able to group up with friends through the party system, and they'll be able to meet random strangers through the group finder. The cross-realm play does have a big limitation, however. Cross-realm parties will not be able to hang out on the landscape, but can only enter instances, battlegrounds, or arenas, and these parties will not be able to trade items between each other. Players who are not interested in cross-realm play will also have the option to toggle their account to group with only members of their server.
Inventory fixes being worked on
WoW Insider's Adam Koebel posted just a few days ago about his inventory woes, and the trials and tribulations of having to keep up with his huge toy collection from the Timeless Isle. And as if by magic, Blizzard Community Rep Bashiok has responded in kind with a blue post on the official forums: Bashiok We've talked a bit more about our plans in recent interviews. We're working on some ideas to get things like tabards and heirlooms out of inventory slots, as well as "toy-like" items, in a way that's similar to pets and mounts. Soooooo, yup! source This is great news for collectors everywhere, getting tabards, heirlooms and toy items moved to something like a pet or mount interface would be amazing, and free up a ton of bag space. Bashiok's response was actually in a thread discussing cross-realm heirlooms, so perhaps this is a system which would move heirlooms to a battle.net account level, like mounts and pets, where they would be universally accessible from any character, regardless of server. If the same were true for toys, I think a few collectors would be a little sad, but nonetheless it would make it a lot easier to remember where your puntable marmot had gone. As Adam said in our work chat, "I'll immediately have 100+ free bag slots if they do that"! Just having an heirloom interface that was genuinely account-wide rather than server based would be amazing.
Massive cross-realm gathering successfully unites players from 11 realms
It was a massive multiplayer success for this massively multiplayer game: On March 20, the Thundering Hammer Clan of Feathermoon (US-Horde) successfully brought together more than 120 players from multiple roleplay realms in what might have been WoW's first large-scale, player-run cross-realm event. In bringing together three full raid groups from half a dozen realms, the Kosh'harg roleplay gathering of Horde clans helped demonstrate how to pull off a major cross-realm event and explore the possibilities and limitations of CRZ (cross-realm zone) mechanics. What can other players learn from the Kosh'harg about organizing a CRZ event? We went behind the scenes with Kosh'harg organizer Thorgrun (GM of the Thundering Hammer Clan). WoW Insider: It sounds like the event was a smash success. Congratulations! Thorgrun: The Kosh'harg was an amazing success. At the peak of the event we had three full raid groups and a number of ungrouped local attendees, bringing us up over 120 players from a dozen different realms who joined us in Nagrand for the festivities. How much did you and other organizers know beforehand about realm and zone loads with regard to cross-realm mechanics? We only knew what has been published and widely publicized, namely that the CRZ mechanic is designed to populate low-pop zones with players from associated realms and when population grows to a certain point to split those players off into separate zones. We also knew that players from any North American realm could be brought into any zone on a host realm just by being grouped with a majority of members from that realm – i.e., two Feathermoon players can host a third player from say, Farstriders, in their version of the zone, or alternatively a 5-man group of Feathermoon players could host an entire raid of CRZ players, provided no more than four of them were from the same realm in that particular raid. This is the mechanic that we used to "anchor" our event firmly on one server's seed of the Nagrand zone.
Feathermoon Horde players organize massive cross-realm RP event
Horde players from multiple roleplay realms will gather on Feathermoon (US-RP) next week for what may be the game's first major cross-realm, multi-realm roleplay event. On Wednesday, March 20, Feathermoon's Thundering Hammer Clan and the realm's Horde roleplaying community will present the Kosh'harg, a gathering of the clans of the Horde. WoW players have historically not been happy with the implementation of cross-realm zones, with some players going so far as to transfer realms to escape them completely. The Kosh'harg will attempt to blaze a positive new path for CRZ play, bringing together players from different RP realms to participate in what could be an event of some magnitude. Activities for the tribal-themed spring equinox event include a ceremonial processional of the clans, a great feast, a bracketed 1v1 PvP tournament, and a Spirit Walk storytelling competition. "It is part spiritual pilgrimage, part tournament, and part raucous feast," writes THC's Thorgrun, "and if you are a Horde player who respects Horde culture and lore, we want to see you there!" Organizers have assembled an array of prizes, with consideration for items that cannot be traded across realms. The Kosh'harg is open to both individual players and groups or guilds, but sign-ups are strongly encouraged. Keep reading for more details about how to sign up to attend or volunteer.
Do we need a cross-realm Auction House?
I live on a dying server. It's not quite dead, but it's slowly withering away. I'm not sure what happened, exactly, but I have an idea of when -- at the beginning of Wrath of the Lich King, Dalaran was packed. By the end of the expansion, there were far fewer people running around. Orgrimmar in Cataclysm was a quiet place to be, and in Mists, the Horde shrine is populated by a few handful of players. As I said, I don't know what happened, but for some reason the masses that were on my server when I rolled there in Burning Crusade have all but evaporated. On the one hand, it makes Pandaria a pretty quiet, idyllic place to be. There's hardly any competition for rare spawns, and you don't really have to compete with anyone for quest mobs or ore nodes or herbs, either. There's hardly any drama on the server, by and large because there really aren't enough people around to generate it. Sure, there are a few jerks, but it seems like everyone on the realm is generally relaxed and well-behaved -- as long as you stay out of Trade Chat. On the other hand, it makes trying to buy or sell anything on the auction house an absolute nightmare.
Patch 5.2: Cross-realm 5.0 raids on the way
Patch 5.2 is only a couple of weeks away, so you'd better start prepping for all that it will bring. Although many things can change during PTR testing, it's nice to receive confirmed news. We've assumed for some time now that 5.0 raids would become cross-realm accessible once patch 5.2 hit, and now we don't have to wonder any longer. Ghostcrawler confirmed via Twitter that we will indeed get cross-realm 5.0 raid content in 5.2: @reliqeu @cm_zarhym @bashiok Yes. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) February 8, 2013 The community has embraced cross-realm raiding since it was introduced in patch 4.3.2, and it remains a great way to catch up on old achievements. With new cross-realm content, players will be given more opportunity to experience MoP raiding -- be sure to revisit the cross-realm resources out there as patch 5.2 gets ready to drop! Are you looking forward to slaying all the things with new and old friends?
What does community mean in World of Warcraft?
When I first started playing World of Warcraft, in late 2004 on the server Azjol-Nerub, I knew the people in the guild my wife introduced me to and that was about it. Via that guild, I eventually met people who brought me to another guild, one that raided fairly heavily. That guild moved to Norgannon, becoming one of its top raiding guilds up until the end of Wrath of the Lich King when it moved servers and factions, and I didn't go along for the ride. I instead moved to Cenarion Circle, then Sisters of Elune. In all of this, my sense of community in the game has always been very heavily guild focused. This means that when people talk about having developed a sense of server community via pugging Stratholme or Shadow Labyrinth back in the day, they're talking about a game I never played. When I was pugging in early BC, before I started raiding again, I was miserable dealing with non-guildmates who often wouldn't listen, demanded a tank with more AoE than a warrior, refused to CC or refused to do so on the targets I asked, and were otherwise often awful. This isn't to say I didn't have any good pick up groups in those days, but if I wanted to get anything done I often had to wait for guild groups. One of the reasons I heralded the advent of the Dungeon Finder was that instead of bothering my guildies so I could get some runs in, I just queued up. No more "LF Tank and 2 CC for Shattered Halls, Paladin tank preferred" or whatever the flavor of the month is. Not that we were running Shattered Halls anymore by that point, of course.
Should players be in charge of accountability?
Once upon a time in vanilla World of Warcraft, player behavior was something that was kept in check by server community. How did this happen? Well at that point in time, there wasn't really anything in game that was cross-server. If you wanted to do something in game, you had to do it with people from your realm -- and if you misbehaved, players were quick to call you on your behavior in a very public manner. Because of this, players that were legitimately called out by the community soon found themselves with nothing to do, because nobody would group with them. Their only choice was to re-roll on another server and start over -- at this point, you couldn't even transfer your characters to other servers if you wanted to. And oddly enough, the system that wasn't really a system completely worked. Players that were jerks eventually had their jerk-ish ways come back to bite them on the butt, and the rest of the server community happily resumed playing. While cross-realm play is incredibly useful for opening up the player base, it's had the unfortunate side effect of getting rid of that accountability aspect of the game from vanilla. What's to be done about a jerk if that jerk is on another server?
Breakfast Topic: If you could opt out of CRZ, would you?
Cross-Realm Zones have to be among the most controversial features in the game right now, and despite Blizzard's best efforts to make them work, with Blizzard CM Rygarius working hard to keep players updated, many remain immensely dissatisfied. WoW Insider readers already know I'm not one of those players. I am a fan of CRZ, and I'm not afraid to say so, despite the disapproving glares. I like the return of lower level world PvP, I like seeing other players around, I like the reinvigoration of PvP hubs in Outland, and elsewhere. However, I do get fed up with people stealing quest mobs and node spawns! But, despite my opinion, I can put myself in the shoes of players who don't like it and understand where they're coming from. Many players have called for an opt out feature, allowing them to select whether to participate in Cross-Realm Zones or not. It doesn't seem particularly likely that Blizzard will add any such feature, Cross-Realm Zones are a new feature themselves, that Blizzard's developers have clearly put quite some time into. Letting players switch it off would, firstly, likely require a ton of work on the systems side, and secondly not provide Blizzard's team with the information they need to improve the feature. Opting out would defeat the purpose of the feature completely. Nonetheless, I'm wondering. If you could opt out of CRZ, would you? If there's only one "no" vote in the poll, that's me. %Poll-78674%
Rygarius updates us on Cross-Realm Zones
Whether you love, hate, or have absolutely no opinion on Cross-Realm Zones (I'm in that third group, I just plain don't care about them) you're hopefully aware of them by now. Rygarius has been the CM working to keep us all informed about the feature, originally created to help lower level zones have more players to interact with when questing and leveling up since the majority of players tends to be in the higher level zones. Now Rygarius has updated us on CRZ, explaining what's being done on various issues players have with the feature. Discussed is the range of time zones the servers can pull from and ways to address the discrepancy (including wholly redesigning how the servers tell time), players being dismounted and seeing nodes disappear as they cross zones, and framerate/transition lag. If you're interested in any of these CRZ issues, you should read the full announcement after the jump.
3 reasons to like Cross-Realm Zones
Cross-Realm Zones are getting a bad rap. This recently introduced new feature seems to be stirring up all kinds of hostility on the forums, with players complaining about them left, right and center. And yes, they have definitely had their problems. I can totally understand why players on PvE servers weren't happy with being merged with PvP servers, for example, and why people weren't pleased about the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza being winnable within an instant of its starting. I totally get that the spammy chat is annoying, and why being dismounted on crossing into a CRZ was really tiresome. And I do really understand how people are fed up with other players around stealing their nodes, and their Time-Lost Proto-Drakes. I can completely wrap my head around the many reasons why players are not enjoying the CRZ experience. But, having read the thread Rygarius posted a few days back, it seems like Blizzard are listening to the concerns, and trying to take active steps to mitigate them. I hope we're going to see more official information coming from Blizzard soon regarding the problems players continue to experience.
Blizzard clarifies Cross-Realm Zones
Blizzard CM Rygarius has posted a huge amount of information clarifying Cross-Realm Zones over on the Blizzard official forums. This much-discussed new feature has recently arrived on EU realms having been live on US realms for some weeks now, and has had a few teething problems that Blizzard continue to iron out. Rygarius has clarified that Blizzard are still working to address problems with things like reporting and ignoring players, the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza, /who requests, chat spam, realm hopping, and Tol Barad and Wintergrasp. It's always great to know that Blizzard are listening to player concerns, and if you have any more do check out Rygarius' post to see how to report bugs or issues. Rygarius also provides a complete 101 on Cross-Realm Zones, letting us all know how they work, how realms are selected to be joined, and how parties and groups work. Rygarius also addresses concerns about realm community, low-population realm economies, and clears up just exactly how CRZs will work when Mists of Pandaria launches. Check out the full post after the break!
