EU Connected Realms Starting

[Poisonenvy]

As you may have seen, Blizzard have just started the process of implementing Connected Realms in the EU.  They have, however, confirmed that not all realms will be getting connected, and this is based on overall population on a server, not the alliance/horde balance (or lack thereof).

They have currently announced the following realms to be the first to be connected:

Realm	Population	Realm	Population	Total
Hakkar	8600	Emeriss	19500	28100
Taerar	12300	Echsenkessel	8600	20900
Burning Steppes	13500	Kor'gall	22100	35600
Theradras	10730	Dethecus	28800	39530

They used Kazzak as an example of a high population server that would not be getting connected - Kazzak, according to the Realmpop website, has a population of 184,800.

Our realm, Lightbringer, is currently showing a population of around 55,500, so probably not classed as a high population server .. however, neither would it be classed as a low population server, so we can only keep our fingers crossed and hope.

[Poisonenvy]

I've been having a quick peek at the most recent US realms to be connected ... one pair (Auchindoun and Laughing Skull) arrived at a combined population of around 71,000, another pair was around 63,000.

There was also a group of four realms connected (Dunemaul and Bloodscalp/ Maiev/Boulderfist), with a total population of 150,000!  They had already connected two of those, to make a combined population of around 91,000, and then added two more realms in another couple of stages.  So I'm hoping there is a fairly good chance that we'll get connected up with at least one other realm .. if we're really lucky, with one that has more of a horde presence!

It is possible that they are deliberately starting small with EU realms, to ensure they don't put too much pressure on the software/hardware all at once.  It is also possible that those they have announced so far may be connected with additional realms in the future.

[Jayondaga]

Could make things a bit more interesting.  I remember a time when calls went out in trade for 25-man raids, which NEVER happens now!

[Poisonenvy]

We perhaps should just be glad that they're taking it slow and steady with these connected realms, if this story is anything to go by!

 

[Poisonenvy]

More EU realms have been announced, although no time-frame as yet.  Unfortunately Lightbringer still isn't there:

 

Realm	Population	Realm	Population	Total
Burning Steppes	12300	Kor'gall	21300	33600
Mug'thol	15300	Dethecus/Theradras	37700	53000
Temple Noir	13400	Naxxramas	16900	30300
Crushridge	13500	Emeriss/Hakkar	27400	40900
Sporeggar	8700	Scarshield Legion	14400	23100
Vek'Lor	9500	Arthas	44500	54000
Shen'dralar	12300	Zul'jin	39500	51800
Haomarush	17500	Dragonmaw	18700	36200
Chromaggus	20000	Shattered Halls	18500	38500
Shattrath	33200	Garrosh	33700	66900
Valvengyr	?	Nazjatar	19500	?
Bladefist	33000	Zenedar	44000	77000
Runetotem	48600	Killrogg	50100	98700

[Poisonenvy]

More Realms have been announced:

Realm	Population	Realm	Population	Total Pop.
Uldum	34100	Shen’dralar/Zul’jin	50400	84500
Boulderfist	17600	Chromaggus/Shattered Halls	37300	54900
Rajaxx	10100	Anetheron	27500	37600
Agamaggan	21900	Emeriss/Hakkar/Crushridge	35600	57500
Terrodar	12000	Dethecus/Mug’thol/Theradras	47700	59700
Alexstrasza	45000	Nethersturm	31900	79600
Executus	18200	Burning Steppes/Kor’gall	29900	48100
The Venture Co	15500	Sporeggar/Scarshield Legion	21100	36600
Arathi	16600	Temple Noir/Naxxramas	27600	44200
Daggerspine	18100	Boulderfist/Chromaggus/Shattered Halls	54900	73000
Area 52	31100	Un’Goro	26100	57200
Thunderhorn	62850	Wildhammer	54500	117350

As you can see, there is a wide variety of population numbers, but the last one in particular encourages me to think that Lightbringer will be there eventually - not only are both of those realms the same type as ours (English speaking, PvE), but also slightly higher population numbers.  Combined, they amount to more than double our population.  Prior to those two, a lot on the list are non-English speaking realms, and a lot of them are PvP.  Obviously they have to match "like" realms together, so I'm hoping they're just starting to announce the English speaking PvE ones now ...

For information purposes, our realm is currently showing as having a population of approximately 52,500.

[Poisonenvy]

More realms have been announced.  Lightbringer has not been included so far, but there are more to come:

Realm	Population	Realm	Population	Total Pop.
Aggra	29500	Grim Batol	96000	125500
Arathi	16500	Naxxramas/Temple Noir	26000	42500
Ner’zhul	19000	Garona	36500	55500
Minahonda	40500	Exodar	43000	83500
Das Syndikat	15500	Die Arguswacht	12500	28000

All barring one set of these realms are PvP.

[Poisonenvy]

There is a list on the Blizzard forums showing which realms have been connected so far:

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8715582685

As you can see, the majority are PvP realms at the moment.

[Poisonenvy]

There have been some more connected realms announced .. unfortunately virtually all of them are PvP, barring two pair, which are Spanish and German:

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/9052878158?page=1

 

 

[Poisonenvy]

A few more realms have been announced ... still PvP

 

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/9052878158

[Poisonenvy]

As you can see, I've not been updating this thread for a while as there didn't seem much point.  Each week (usually) more connections are announced, but very few are PvE/English so hardly relevant.

I do know that Blizzard are connecting the lowest realms first, and apparently those happen to be PvP and RP realms .. it is estimated that in another week or so, those PvP realm connections will be complete and they will start on the PvE, but again starting with the lowest first.

Blizzard have told us that ALL low population realms will be part of the connection process, and some of the medium .. which has concerned me a bit, because Lightbringer is a medium population realm.  However, one of the MVP's has posted the following:

Considering the server capacity and the players needs I would say about 1000+ actives on both sides at peak times could be considered ok (note that this is my estimate based on public sources and several years of gaming experience, not official Blizzard figure).

If this is confirmed to be fairly accurate, then there is no problem with Lightbringer being on the list for connections, as Ive been monitoring online population for some time, and it VERY rarely gets over 300 (horde) at peak time.  I've not been on alliance side much, but their population is certainly higher than horde .. but nowhere near 1000 at a time.

The current thread is at http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/9582578502?page=1 ... and the first post will be updated with new connections as they know them, however, note that occasionally they stop a current thread and start a new one, so keep an eye out for that too

[Poisonenvy]

As is normal, more connected realms were announced today.  As you know, Blizzard have been generally working through the list of realms to be connected based on how many active connections there are ... the lowest ones getting connected first.  This has turned out to primary be the more specialist realms, such as PvP, RP, RP-PvP etc - but it finally looks like they're nearly finished on those and are moving onto the English PvE realms.

On checking the active connections from the sites available publicly, it certainly appears as if Lightbringer will be one of those connected in the future - the one announced today (for connection week commencing 24th March (assuming the US have a holiday or something important next week!)) is Nagrand and Kilrogg/Runetotem.  Between them, these have an approximate active population of around 20,000.  Lightbringer is currently showing an active population of around 8,000.

Fingers crossed!!

[Poisonenvy]

Blizzard appear to be picking up the pace a little bit and that, combined with the fact that Lightbringer is more and more often shown as "low" population on the realm selection screen leads me to believe that it won't be too much longer before we're connected. 

There are still plenty of other realms with a lower population than ours .. 32 English ones at the time of writing, including ours, but 5 others have been announced in the near future (plus a whole host of German realms)