I agree with Sixxfury on a lot of this; I think whenever we/the community say “merge servers” what we are meaning is really “connect realms” a la retail.
It’s true, nobody likes to be on the weaker side of the faction coin. I sincerely do believe that if realms could be maintained with no more than a 60/40 faction split, people would prefer that scenario over being on the winning side of a 95/5 split.
My own server, for example- Heartseeker had so few Horde on it that many of us honestly forgot we even were on a PvP server. When our server died out, I can name exactly one guild out of at least 50 that transferred to a PvE realm. The rest of us came to Bene, with a few going to Grobb. When we xferred, the Bene split was around 60/40. We knew- or at least assumed- what we were going into; a PvP server with, well, PvP on it. (Oh how wrong we were, I suppose.) My point being that folks who were playing on a basically PvE realm still sought out a ‘true’ PvP realm. That was the main talking point when discussing where we were going to land.
I think while raw data on paper might show that folks want to be on an overwhelming majority server, what people are really flocking to is a population center that feels the most stable so there isn’t a second (or third, or fourth…) paycheck spent to move just to be able to properly play the game. Sacrifices on other preferences are made in the name of stability.
This, 100%. I think a big takeaway here is that this situation needs to be constantly and consistently monitored and have dynamic appropriate responses to faction fluctuations. I can imagine a small weekly blurb on the launcher listing future/current ‘restricted realms’ and a link to a ‘more info’ page.
I understand the hesitations regarding connecting realms and preserving a community, but as someone from a smaller, quite tight knit realm community, I can say without a doubt that we would have much rather joined forces with other realms instead of having us all flung into the middle of a massive population center where everyone has to rename and reestablish themselves and their guilds. Renaming doesn’t seem too big a change, but it genuinely does make a difference. I kept my priest, Dragona, on Heartseeker until I lucked upon my name on Benediction. If I never got my name, I doubt I would have transferred her.
There’s already realms on retail connected with lots of other realms. Even my own retail realm, Altar of Storms, is connected with three others. 7-realm-connections aren’t unheard of, either. Altar of Storms still does feel like Altar of Storms. It still feels like a smaller realm, and that’s okay. Would folks on small realms rather keep their name and identity but have a -Heartseeker tacked onto the end, or would they rather (usually) pay to get be a (probably) renamed minnow in an ocean?
Just as easily as I can see a weekly realm update blurb on the launcher, so too can I see a weekly short multiple-choice survey about game direction and people’s thoughts on changes like this. I really appreciate the effort made to reach out and have these discussions; I’m looking forward to a live chat. Thank you for your time!