Hello, I am absolutely completely new to this game (and MMOs in general) and I started a new account/character for free yesterday and was planning on upgrading to paid tonight as I am almost at level 20 and I was wondering when I was able to chose a server? As far as I can tell - I was never given the opportunity and I was placed on a beginner server (which is fine for now seeing as I am a beginner) but I heard that I have to pay to migrate in the future? I don’t want to put in a ton of work and get stuck on a “dead” server. Will I be able to chose a server when I begin a subscription or am I just stuck? Thanks!
Hello,When you create a toon for the first time ever you end up on the new player realm’s. You are not limited to those realm you can change them with out getting a subscription. All you have to do is select realm at the top and change to what ever server you would like to go to. I do recommend you look at wowprogress to see what suits you. Welcome and enjoy the game. I am pretty new to the WoW community as well.
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Great! Thank you so much!
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I recommend joining the highest population servers (see below) there are benefits. Some of them are: more guilds, more trade/city chat, more people in cities, probably (not positive) more people in zones although cross realm zoning helps lower pop servers. More people in zones means faster leveling and world questing. The BFA zones are highly populated on my server Illidan.
Alliance: Stormrage, Sargeras
Horde: Illidan, Area 52
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Awesome, thanks for the info! I have heard people tell me to join a “medium” population server to avoid waiting time to log on . . is that something I should be concerned about or do the benefits heavily outweigh the negatives? Thanks!
You will never wait to log in even if it says the server is full. Make some new characters on the high pop servers you’ll see.
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So when I select “change realm” and pick a new one it is not showing my character . . . is my character stuck in the beginner realm? I really don’t want to start another character yet - can I move mine to another realm?
Doesn’t really matter much anymore except RP vs nonRP because WM can be turned on/off.
I’d say pick a server with your time zone if you have not already.
I’ve changed servers a dozen times. I have had alts on many different servers. Making it to level 20 is easy to do and not a big loss if you need to switch realms.
If anything if you find friends and/or guild you like stay there.
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Ok, I really wish I had seen the option to pick a realm before I started a new account though because even though 6 hours is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things - I would want to make the same character and I really don’t feel like playing through the exact same quests again -_-
Well, and this is up to you, but paying for a transfer sounds like the best option.
Trust me, when I started during Legion, I didn’t understand realms at all. However, I did follow my friend onto Bronzebeard as Ally, but he doesn’t play anymore and I was left alone.
I hope you can hold onto your original toon. Worgen Warrior/Arms. The intro level was such an experience. Alas, he is long gone and on a self imposed banned account.
Cherish every new moment.
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Ok, thank you for the help/info i will consider paying for a transfer in the future - is it safe to say that I should be good for a while to just continue with story quests and such or will I suffer significantly for being on a server with a ver low population?
With Cross realm, I doubt it’ll seem low. The Auction House might be more empty.
Honestly, unless you are planning to rush to end game and ASAP be ready for Shadowlands, stay on your current realm. Enjoy each new zone and Blizzard has enough catch up mechanics built into the game that you will never be too far behind.
However, these latest expansions are making it so that having more than one toon and gearing appropriately a pain.
I’d stick to this toon. Get used to the class and his spec.
Another thing to do is test but not unlock completely the free boost on various classes so you have an idea what each plays and feels like at end game.
Nevertheless, I’d say just take your time and worry about the transfer later.
I would never pay to switch servers. Level 1-20 will go much faster the second time now that you know the basics and the quests. Just chalk it up to basic training. I’ve leveled about 12 blood elves through the same early zones and it goes so fast. People abandon high characters all the time if they don’t like the class. They also spend hundreds of hours farming for mounts they never get.
Keep in mind almost everyone has multiple characters and many have all classes at 120. Also, I would queue for dungeons while questing starting at level 15, which is fast exp including the quests in the dungeons. I personally would reroll It’s a long life. The second time will go faster.
Another tip, create all your alliance characters on the same server so you can mail gold and items between them. Keep all your horde chars on one server too. There is usually over 100 people near the AH on my server. Lastly, icy veins class guides for rotations.