Don’t you dare touch my low pop RP server. 
Okay thinking on it more, I think the only actual reason they haven’t merged servers already is because of the challenges with character and guild names.
What would you do to preserve those?
Nah. Quite a few people do still RP, from what I understand. They just don’t seem to do it out in the open anymore.
D:
Sorry! What server do you play in out of curiosity? I’d kind of like to check out a place with a smaller rp community.
Imo, more servers being linked/connected is likely to happen in the future and I fully imagine that cross-faction guilds is likely going to have short and long-term impacts going forwards
Linked/connected servers are ‘merged’ servers just that toons on either server have their respective server they’re ‘based’ if you will. So for example, let’s say Blizz shoots their shot and connects all the RP realms/servers into one mega-connected RP server, yeah?
I’d appear as Jabtrah-Moon-Guard to people based from the other servers and anyone vice versa while still being able to be in guilds, craft stuff for other people, trade, etc.
The unfortunate reality is that actual full blown mergers are going to require that some people lose their character and/or guild names. It’s certainly quite a stumbling block, I’ll grant you.
The former could perhaps be mitigated by enabling surnames, but I’m fairly certain they would have to do a lot of work to make that a reality. The latter is a little more complicated. The way I figure it (and especially with cross-faction guilds allegedly becoming a thing at some point during Dragonflight), the best they could do is offer a free name change to the younger guild in the case of like names. Barring the inclusion of surnames for characters, the same would presumably be done for characters.
What we have now, with the smart merge stuff, just adds -(server) to your name. That option is perfectly fine, but they for some reason don’t make use of it as intensely as they should.
How would you deal with creating new characters then, would you still use the same system of selecting a server and creating a character there?
That would be correct and how it still functions for linked/connected servers. Which server wouldn’t really matter as it’s just a matter of personal preference at that point.
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I’d be on board with that. I actually only play on the server I’m on now because I just went down the list and looked to see if this name was available, and that’s just how I’ve picked my server going forward.
I imagine they haven’t made any plans currently due to wanting to see the short/long-term impacts of cross-faction guilds and how that will shake up server populations.
Nah, I’m good with my Unconnected RP Server. We have a better sense of community for those of us that RP.
Now if someone could just convince Blizzard to dissolve the boundaries between certain realms so this could occur. I know some servers, like Moon Guard and Wyrmrest Accord, are like oil and water - a portion their respective populations would lose their minds, but they’d adjust in time.
I’m on Sentinels/Kirin Tor/Steamwheedle. lol
Most of our RP is more guild oriented nowadays, as the people who used to organize events kinda quit playing. (Now that I think about it, I really should try to pick up the slack and see what happens…) It’s a friendly bunch of little servers, though.
I wouldn’t mind being Connected with places like Argent Dawn, Scryers and the like. I see them with TRP profiles and think we do need more Connections. But I want to keep our smaller communities a bit smaller, personally. 
Some may leave for another server entirely for whatever reason, some may just not interact with those of other realms/servers for whatever reason but at the end of the day, like any changes people will adjust and adapt if such a change was to come.
I wish they would connect the low pop RP servers to either WRA and MG. Just divide them up between the two.
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swtor isnt a good compare.
Kirin Tor was my home server a very long time ago. I left once Relentless Dawn dissolved. It’s a big part of why I feel like some of the RP realms need to be connected. To this day I’m a bit bummed out by what it’s become.
I totally understand. I’m all for more Connections. Like I said, Argent Dawn adn Scryers are already CRZ’d with us and they’re good people. I’d love to see them Connected.
My idea is the following:
- get rid of CRZ
- Connect a bunch more realms based on type
- turn sharding into layering
And when you have guilds that have been around for 18 years and players who have held onto character names for 18 years. That will definitely result in some players walking away from the game forever. That’s why it’s never been done.