Patch 5.4 Feature Preview: Connected Realms

 

                    Over the years, World of Warcraft players of all kinds have naturally migrated to different realms to play with their friends, find new guilds, strive for Heroic boss kills, search for the most competitive PvP experiences, and otherwise try to find the right place to call home. Over time, these shifts in player population can sometimes create a less-than-optimal play experience for those on less popular realms, making it tougher to find guilds, conquer group content, and get what they’re looking for from the Auction House and in-game economy.

In Patch 5.4, we’re looking to address this with a new feature called Connected Realms. Building on our existing cross-realm technology, a Connected Realm is a set of two or more standard realms that have been permanently and seamless “linked.” These linked realms will behave as if they were one cohesive realm, meaning you’ll be able to join the same guilds, access a single Auction House, run the same Raids and Dungeons, and join other adventurers to complete quests.

Our goal with Connected Realms is to give players on lower-population realms more opportunities to group up, compete, and connect with other players to take on Azeroth’s bigger challenges. That sort of interaction is a big part of what makes World of Warcraft fun, and this feature will help us deliver that experience to even more players.

We’ve prepared a short FAQ to answer a few questions we’re sure you’ll have, and we’re very eager to hear your thoughts and collect further questions in your comments below.

Q. Why are you implementing Connected Realms?

A. As WoW has evolved, we’ve seen players naturally gravitate toward a subset of very active realms, leaving behind lower-populated realms. Due to the massively multiplayer nature of World of Warcraft, certain kinds of gameplay experiences simply aren’t well-suited to a low-pop realm. By allowing players from two or more lower-pop realms to play together, we hope to give more players more opportunities to participate in group-oriented activities, helping to foster a more vibrant in-game community.

Connected Realms also allow us to link populations in a way that’s not disruptive to players, and that doesn’t negatively impact players’ sense of identity and character. Other alternatives such as merging realms would require us to force character name changes if there were conflicts, and could lead to confusion for returning players who’d log in to find their realm missing from the realm list. Some players also feel strong ties to their realm’s name or history, and we don’t want to erase that.

Q. Why implement this now?

A. Our cross-realm technology has continued to evolve since it was first developed for joining players in dungeons. It’s now at a point where we can create seamless worlds made up of multiple individual realms, and we think there are some really positive benefits to that.

Q. How can I tell if someone is on my Connected Realm, but from a different realm?

A. Similar to how we use the (*) symbol next to a player’s name to denote if they’re from another realm in Raid Finder, Dungeons, Scenarios, or a cross-realm zone, we’ll be using a (#) symbol to indicate that someone is part of your Connected Realm, but not your home realm.

Q. Which realms will be connected as Connected Realms?

A. We haven’t decided yet which realms will be made part of a Connected Realm, or which other realms they’ll be connected to, though realms will only be connected to other realms of the same type (e.g. PvE to PvE, PvP to PvP, RP to RP). In the end, we’re considering a number of factors, including Battlegroup, population, and faction balance.

Q. How many realms will make up a Connected Realm?

A. We don’t know how many realms will make up a Connected Realm yet, and it’s likely to differ from Connected Realm to Connected Realm. Our goal is to create a vibrant and fun online experience where you can join guilds, access an active Auction House, and band together to take on group content.

Q. Will Connected Realms have any limitations?

A. There should be no limitations. We want the experience to be seamless, and we expect it work as if you’re suddenly part of a much more active realm.

Q. When will Connected Realms be available?

A. We haven’t yet determined when we’ll be creating the first Connected Realms, but we expect it will be some time after the launch of Patch 5.4.

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Game Director Letter – July 2013

Hi all,

The warmth of summer is upon us and most of the dev team is back from their vacation and raring to go on Issue #8. I’ll keep this update short and sweet.

First of all, I wish to thank everybody who joined in the celebrations of the first anniversary. It was a huge success, some technical glitches aside, and it was amazing to see the way the community came together to form a great hunt which purged The Secret World of the Guardians of Gaia almost as soon as they appeared.

It’s also been a great learning experience for us and will help us to direct large scale events in the game in the future. Thank you to everyone involved, and let’s make sure that the second year of The Secret World will be as amazing as the first!

There have been quite a few community questions regarding the Fusang Pet - it will be available through another event at a later date for those who missed out on it during the anniversary.

Moving forward, we are splitting the development team into two different areas of focus - the systems driven updates for Issue #8 and the content heavy new Tokyo playfield for Issue #9.

Issue #8 begins at the Council of Venice, the location where players will be able to access the Scenario system. From there, players will need to earn certification for entering Tokyo by running a certain number of scenarios. The plan is to ship Issue #8 with a number of Scenarios, some of which will be free and others which will be available for purchase in the Item Store just like in other Issues.

The Augment system, which allows you to improve almost all of the abilities in your arsenal, will also ship with Issue #8. The Augments, which require crafting to create, are made from base drops which players can collect during the Scenarios.

The Augment system and Scenario system go hand in hand and, in reflecting the growing versatility of the player with regards to Anima, as you increase your skill in Augmentation, your ability to store Ability Points will increase. Some of the more expensive Augmentation upgrades can cost several hundred AP.

Then, there is Tokyo. This is the one that people have been eagerly awaiting for a while, and we aim to meet all of those expectations. We’ll be pouring all of the lessons we have learned over the past year into Tokyo and we’re very excited to start letting people into the zone.

As I have mentioned previously, Tokyo will be broken down across several updates. Issue #9 will contain the first half of the zone - including an expanded section of Venice and a return to a location that everybody will recognize immediately.

Other updates will contain the second half of the Tokyo zone, and other important parts, such as the Tokyo Lair and the Orochi Tower, which has both a solo and component and a group dungeon. Tokyo also includes a location which will reveal the next zone where we will be taking the story.

We’re very excited about the work we are doing on Tokyo and the zone is a massive urban landscape which really highlights the setting and the strength of The Secret World.

I look forward to telling you more about it, over the coming months.

Cheers,

Joel

15 Million!

It’s unbelievable: Star Citizen fans have helped us reach the $15 million mark without any special promotion! Ten years ago, big publishers decided space games weren’t profitable… and you are proving them very, very wrong!

The $15 million unlock adds another flyable ship class to the game, the oft-discussed escort carrier. Every backer will also get a free digital 42-page Upgrade Handbook manual with their game which goes through the process of customizing and overclocking ship systems! We’re excited about putting this one together, since it goes right to the heart of what’s going to make Star Citizen unique.

The previously-announced $16 million stretch goals are:

• Arena mode: Arena mode is a simulation within the game, although it is not the simulator itself. Players will have access to an actual training simulator in their hangars, which will be used for the dogfight alpha. The Arena is something bigger. It is a galaxy-wide event, where players come to specific locations, pay their entry fees, and jump into space battles to prove who is the best dogfighter of all. Think of it as a combination of a sports tournament and modern-day gaming contests. Each winner will receive credits for the victory, and the best of the best will meet in higher and higher rounds until a grand champion is crowned.

• A laser pistol for every pledger before this point. Keep your ship safe from boarders with a pistol by your side.

With today’s achievement, we’re happy to unlock the $17 million rewards:

$17 million

• Ship upgrade package for every pledger containing an engine modifier.
• Additional flyable ship class: battlecruiser

Thank you all for your continued support. Tell your friends, Star Citizen is coming!