And going to reiterate as someone who has reached out to in-game GMs, customer service, what have you: these are the things we were directed to do. So we are going to keep doing it.
I understand this realm connection, and Khadgar in particular, has been tried multiple times in the past and encountered issues. I wonder at times if this is why Earthen Ring is passed up because it, like Khadgar, is one of the OG realms.
We are raising our voices as much as we can and would really, really appreciate transparency on why our realm and other small realms are being passed up, and what criteria there is to have our realms connected. Earthen Ring is already CRZ’d with Kirin Tor, Argent Dawn, Sentinels, and Scryers. Connecting our realms to them and other RP servers would be ideal.
When I am in Boralus, it is actually not uncommon for me to see more players from our CRZ neighbor Argent Dawn than from Earthen Ring itself.
My guild and many others are about to enter yet another expansion without a realm connection. As some of our progression GMs have chimed in, recruiting and maintaining an active roster is difficult, and they are kind enough neighbors to fellow raid guilds to not poach from what is already a small player base. Recruiting off-realm players is even more difficult, and pugging disqualifies ER raiding guilds from raid achievements.
In my realm of roleplay, we are spirited but small, with communal events being attended by the same groups who are happy to see one another, but cannot branch out and add new friends without poaching from one another or somehow recruiting off-realm to a small and sometimes ghost-like server. Smaller guilds or free agents who could manage to transfer off server without leaving friends behind have already done so. My guild is too large to transfer without drawing a line between the have and have-not guildies with funds to afford every main and alt to continue enjoying the game as they do now, and that is a non-starter for a guild that has been together since 2007. Those still on Earthen Ring are not large enough to have what essentially has become a private server to itself and only wish to have the same play experience as other players without paying additional fees to transfer off-realm.
Knowing what is the future of Earthen Ring and other similar realms, along with whether this is the last batch of realm connections, would be a much-appreciated blue post!