I can provide that here:
- No realms have been deleted.
I’d have to imagine it since all realms are still there. What realm are you looking for? Make sure that you’re logging into the right version of the game (Retail versus Classic) as they have different realms too and are not interchangeable.
This is very true unfortunately When there’s been a long absence, the server list seems to go into some weird state where it doesn’t list the number of characters you have on each server. It definitely sucks for finding your toons after a prolonged absence!
There is a thread that’s been going for a long time now in the CS forum where the Blues (Blizz employees) have been helping people find lost characters and even lost accounts! You can definitely post there too and ask for help if you need it.
Otherwise, Tory is right that you can also go server to server (selecting each one to update the # of characters you have on it.