TL;DR - The Perma Classic Servers may be (key phrase) Connected Realms (ish). Proof below.
Preface
With the introduction of BC, and Blizz scrambling to find ways to appease a plethora of audience, one thing I noticed and/or heard was the possibility (keyword) of the Perma Classic Servers being “Connected Realms” (ish). How did I come to this conclusion? One of the questions (during the Q&A) was asking about how names were going to be saved for both the BC and Classic Servers. Granted, the answer did state that they were NOT going to save those names forever, BUT there was something said that caught my attention. Below, is a Time Stamped version of the Q & A, that takes you directly to that Question (if you would like to see, for yourself).
Time Stamped Video
https://youtu.be/kUO5-VeAMhc?t=1541
Question
After I play Burning Crusade, when I decide to play my main character additionally on a Classic Era Realm at 60, will you have my name reserved for me there or is there a chance I’ll have to rename them?
Answer
Well, that’s a great question! And, I think kind of building on what Holly said, it really is like a “snapshot” taken, at the time we launch the patch. And, so, at that point, you do have your name, in both places. Um, of course, part of the reason we want to make people, uh, make a choice here, and encourage them to choose the place they want to go, is so that we don’t have people parking on those names, forever. So, at some point, we might, uh, decide to, uh, relax that, and let those names be unreserved. But, if you decide on “Launch Day”, that you’re gonna pay for the clone, and you want to have that Clone in both eras, you’ll have your name in both places. Uh, one of the things, we’re (also) concerned about is, though, what that looks like, in Classic Era. Like, uh, as we expect most players go to “Burning Crusade”, and we’ll probably have to do something to resolve that. Our current plans is that you’ll be able to keep your current name but probably have something similar to our "Connected Realms, that let’s you have a (the) “Realm Name”, on the end, so we could resolve any conflicts, if we have to do any mergers, like that.
Again, this is just a possibility, that the Perma Classic Servers may be or even become “Connected Realms” (ish) due to this point, here:
Our current plans is that you’ll be able to keep your current name but probably have something similar to our "Connected Realms, that let’s you have a (the) “Realm Name”, on the end, so we could resolve any conflicts, if we have to do any mergers, like that.
My Conclusion
If I’m reading this right, only shared names will suffer the “Realm Name” attachment, to help players keep their names, as Servers merge, together (in the future). OR, we’re all going to be under “Connected Realms”. I hope Blizz finds some way to do the former and not the latter. Just something I wanted to point out and be known to those of us wanting to stay and remain in Classic.