World of Warcraft cross-realm zones coming

Cross-realm zones are coming to World of Warcraft, joining underpopulated areas of the world across severs. This tech can also be used to split overpopulated areas into multiple instances per realm.

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In the beginning, World of Warcraft servers were isolated, lost and alone, spinning through the void. Then came a cross-realm dungeon finder, letting players across servers group together to hunt loot, followed by cross-realm raids. Now Blizzard's going the whole hog and introducing cross-realm zones, joining underpopulated areas of the world across severs.

Blizzard explains as most players are around the level cap, lower-level areas of the world are near-deserted for new players. To fix that, underpopulated zones may be shared, letting players from other severs see and adventure with each other. Capital cities and other bustling areas won't be joined, nor will auction houses.

You'll be able to group with players from other servers, chat, and collect boar livers together, though not trade. However, your party won't necessarily all stay in the same instance if you travel to a new zone. Servers will be divided into pools which cross over, so it is likely you'll see the same people some time again, though.

Blizzard's also planning to use this tech to split certain zones into multiple instances per server, such as overpopulated starting areas. You won't be able to see or interact with players in other instances of these areas, or have to fight them for quest goals.

Cross-realm zones are coming to the Mists of Pandaria beta first. Do check out Blizzard's FAQ for more details.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    May 11, 2012 6:00 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, World of Warcraft cross-realm zones coming.

    Cross-realm zones are coming to World of Warcraft, joining underpopulated areas of the world across severs. This tech can also be used to split overpopulated areas into multiple instances per realm.

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      May 11, 2012 6:03 AM

      [deleted]

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        May 11, 2012 6:05 AM

        Does it matter? I think a unified economy would be kinda cool, myself.

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        May 11, 2012 6:38 AM

        How can it be a bad thing?

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        May 11, 2012 7:35 AM

        I'd really be happy about that, tbh.

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        May 11, 2012 7:42 AM

        Why is that bad? I think it would regulate prices a bit. Ive got a main toon on one server, and another ona PVP server that I play with friends on. Pricing at the AH on the PVE server are ridiculous, I can usually find stuff for 2-3 times LESS on the PVP server. I'd love a global server with global AH pricing.

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        May 11, 2012 3:18 PM

        Crossfit, probably.

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      May 11, 2012 10:29 AM

      Whether you hate World of Warcraft or not, what Blizzard is doing on a technical level is impressive. They're interconnecting players on a larger scale and gradually breaking down the server barriers. Maybe someday they'll even reach a point where all players connect to a single logical server.

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        May 11, 2012 2:25 PM

        It's called Eve Online.

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          May 11, 2012 2:28 PM

          Right, let's see that work with 10 million players.

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        May 11, 2012 2:30 PM

        No thanks I really don't want 10 million actual toons populating Azeroth, it isn't big enough and they will all be in Ogrimmar and Stormwind anyway.

        • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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          May 11, 2012 3:05 PM

          Azeroth may not be big enough (it could be if there were more population hubs than just one per faction), but their next game might be.

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      May 11, 2012 10:41 AM

      I don't know how I feel about this.

      I think I would appreciate this if I still played WoW at all. Its biggest problem right now has nothing at all to do with ease of interacting with other players.

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      May 11, 2012 12:51 PM

      If they bring Cross Realm PVP, that would rock!

      Probably won't happen though...

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        May 11, 2012 1:39 PM

        What I meant by that is Cross-Realm Zone pvp. Would love that.

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      May 11, 2012 12:57 PM

      know what would be real cool if you could play one character and move between all the blizzard games not just World of Warcraft. So your wow character would become a hero in Warcraft 4 and you could level him up by playing hundreds of games or that same dude could walk into Diablo 4 and play that. I know the stories would be fucked up but It would be cool to see some sort of series of games that would all branch out into the different genres of gaming but all effect the same character in some way.

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        May 11, 2012 2:31 PM

        This is a good idea, I am stealing it now.

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        May 11, 2012 4:28 PM

        Want to unlock the REAL ENDING for warcraft 4? Level up to 85 in World of Warcraft! If you buy a subscription for a year you will get the Orcs DLC and you can play the Orc campaign!

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      May 11, 2012 1:01 PM

      fuck rogues

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      May 11, 2012 2:43 PM

      Next up, zoning into an area and having to relog in and out until you get to the instance where your friends are.

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