@Vanillataur: nods slowly Noted.
As for myself… With a somewhat heavy heart a few minutes ago I sent my only character on Dragonfang to Earthshaker. After that I initiated the first of many moves from Zandalar Tribe to Hydraxian Waterlords, which already housed most of my TBCC alliance characters. Now they will be joined by my horde characters from Zandalar Tribe…
i’m happy for hydraxian waterlords since they will get a few more players. on the other side i’m very sad and angry about the planned shutdown of celebras. the disconnection to the rp community and the lack of ways to communicate directly with community managers is disappointing but shows the direction blizzard is heading to. otherwise we could make clear to blizzard, that you can’t just put two different native language speaking rp-communities on one realm. and that we are happy on celebras and don’t want to leave. at least 99% of all players would say the same. but yeah, the greed for more money with less work (effort) is endless and kills everything that is good. now it is celebras. sad.
same. I am stuck on Nethergarde Keep (moved there from HW when everyone left in November and regret it). hoping NGK → HW free transfers happen soon.
I just find it, as Spock would say, “fascinating” that you can’t transfer from the other EU realms yet. 
But will surely come, if they announced it. 
Within the next 4 weeks ;o
Yes, next time we need to communicate better 
Had i known that you were on Cele… 
I will leave all my characters on Cele.
What will happen after the merge, i don´t know… i still think, that i am going to delete them. 
livestream of the current mood in the Cele Discord…
… but they won’t.
My guess is
I do not understand that Blizz cannot see - even from the numbers alone - that they are killing off the biggest and best functioning RP server in all EU.
If only one RP server shoud be kept, why not the biggest, most active one?
@Vanillataur: I may be entirely wrong, but I am going to take a stab at this. One possible reason is that they are purely thinking about numbers, not servers and as such your three points may actually be at least part of the answer to your question, even though based on things that Malou and a few others have posted, you are probably partially (and I emphazise ONLY partially) in error.
I also think I better at least try to explain as well as I can, why I think precisely that.
First of all, I believe Celebras has already started to “shatter”. Because of language (mostly), significant numbers of Celebras players already have or are in the process of picking a German of realm of their “next preference”.
Second point is fairly simple. Retaining Hydraxian Waterlords means that people already based there remain as they have what they want (mostly). Zandalar Tribe will split, but many of those who have RP at heart will head to Hydraxian Waterlords, not a “random” PvP realm. Despite disliking Blizzard’s decision, very few people who have persisted to this day on Zandalar Tribe will quit.
Third point is complicated and sadly in a way counterproductive from the viewpoint of many German speaking players. WoW (and other Blizzard games) are still relatively speaking very popular in Germany and German players probably have the highest average income levels in the world. I fear that Blizzard is literally banking on most of German players relocating somewhere, not quitting.
Fourth point is also complicated. Some German players speak fluent English, others effectively none. But if we look at countries with large WoW player bases, which have neither English nor German as their primary language, people are (generally) far more likely to know English than German and as age of players goes down, the ratio of English to German goes up even more. On top of that, people who are natives of neither are very unlikely to know both well. What does this mean? In short, IF Celebras had been the only RP realm to survive, it would have meant almost zero incoming transfers from Hydraxian Waterlords and Zandalar Tribe. Also, some people, who have played on Hydraxian Waterlords and Zandalar Tribe would have defaulted to other languages than English or German, because for them the loss of their (even limited) English would have meant the end of RP for them. This may sound funny, but nobody is laughing: German speaking RP will most likely somehow survive the loss of Celebras, but English speaking RP would likely have suffered a deathblow, had we lost both Hydraxian Waterlords and Zandalar Tribe, because the already relatively speaking tiny group would have splintered even more.
@All: In conclusion, Blizzard made a decision that is without doubt (very) detrimental to German RP, but will save some (and hopefully most) of what English RP still remains. Furthermore I think I can only say on my own small part “Herzlich Willkommen!” to any and all German speaking RP-oriented players that decide to transfer to Hydraxian Waterlords. I also wish all those, who chose or choose among German realms, good luck!
This only because Blizz started to close it down.
EDIT: And picking a server is the rigth term, not transferring yet.
But - and this hurts to admit - almost nobody’s playing there, and I find next to no roleplaying there. It was made into a wasteland with the free transfer off, people simply panicked and left.
On the language front I think you’re rigth. I am neither German, nor English. My spoken German is at par with, if not better than my spoken Englisth, but for writing , English wins 
But thinking only for the future is wrong here. And I fear blizz is wrong here and many will actually quit.
Killing what’s alive, and supporting what is not, is what’s happening here. The possibility of a new PvE server with free transfer would have solved the problem with low-pop srver just as efficiently.
If you think I sound bitter, it’s because I am. Too little too late seems to be Blizz’s motto when it comes to PvE and RP servers.
And I still find the best solution would have been to keep both.
And I don’t really care any longer. I’m sick and tired of fighting to be allowed to play WoW the way I like and not the way somebody else think I should be playing. I play mostly Era now, and I am debating with myself if I should just not call it quits.
From what I see it will be 40% goes to Razorfen, 40% to Lakeshire, 10% to HW and the rest stops. As we only have free transfers to PvE Servers.
Would it be this reasoning I would at least halfway understand it. But they just said they think german RP Players would just feel fine on HW too.
But about age you missed another point. The average WoW player is OLD. Young people like me that are below 30 and so can speak english well are only a quarter of WoW players. So German players and english RP Players mixing together is like mixing russians and americans.
I wish I could be like you. My problem is Classic is just still to unacessable for me.
The good things that Classic has that other expansions has not are:
English Names, Warlock Soulstones are not group only, Warlock Portal is still needed, Druids can not talk while shapeshifting is supported by engine.
But Warlock Demons have no comments. There are no Blood Elves. You NEED other players as there are still many elite quests. Reputation from quests get lower if your quests turns grey. I grew up with TBC and WotLK where for me the perfect balance.
I mean I could play Classic for having a halfway functioning Succubus Warlock build.
But that is no real fun if my Succubus is not saying anything.
In the last few days, let’s say “backstage” a few things have happened that are not yet mentioned in this thread.
I got the impression in the last few days that more and more guilds are having problems exactly because of this.
Going? If so, where? Razorfen, Lakeshire?
Some have cancelled their subscriptions. Others wanted to leave already, others still waiting. Players who had stuck together for so long were in danger of losing their way for good.
We exhausted a few communication channels, but I still had one idea.
What I expected: Absolutely nothing.
What I got: An absolutely lovely and compassionate response from someone, let’s call it “in the hierarchy above CS/GM/CM.” 
That was the reason why I was able to let everyone know in Discord that the decision is final.
Yes, Trelw is right: the first transfers have been started as far as I know.
Celebras-TBCC is about to die for good.
With the transfers, a process has been set in motion that I don’t think anyone, even when they wanted to, could stop or reverse.
I am brokenhearted, but I think in the current situation it was necessary to avert further damage to the small, remaining community.
When it came to which realms would be deleted, the same logic was used everywhere. As a result, all three RP realms ended up on the list - the fact that all RP players in the EU were rendered homeless was apparently neither intended nor noticed.
It was then decided to leave one realm for the RP players in the EU to gather on.
There are just too few RP players - they had to choose, and if you have to choose, you always take what makes the most sense for most users in the long run, as Trelw already mentioned. PVP < PVE, German < English.
The choice could only be Hydraxian Waterlords, regardless of the current situation.
However, I had the impression that at least some at Blizzard were sorry to have to drive us away from our little realms…
and I also have some assumptions about the, let’s say “half open” transfers to Hydraxian Waterlords…
And I will probably, after my interaction with the Blizzard employee, renew my subscription again… I just have no idea where to go
OK - how strange, that you cannot go to a PvP server, as I understood that many of you wanted this.
But good that I overestimated the number of people quitting
Oh, how I understand you with these details making or breaking the game!
I am also trying the IronMan challenge, HC or No-death as you migth know it. It’s quite fun but also rather different from the normal way of playing.
blizzard just should let all three rp realms live - it’s that simple. in addition open up free transfers to these realms. you shouldn’t forget, that blizzard gets 13€ every month from every single player. in return we could have our realms, even if “they are dead” as other people say.
edit: i even could imagine to play on hydraxian waterlords but i don’t want to lose my guildies. i guess i’m not alone in this dilemma.
@Kraktor and @Malou: Excellent posts, thank you, both of you!
However, after reading them I need to emphasize one important point. For me both English and German are foreign languages and I wrote my posts in that light. I have spent a short while (about a week) in the UK a long, long time ago… and lived in Germany about 1,5 years near Leverkusen in 2006-2007.
Here in my homeland, a foreign language has been a compulsory subject in school for many decades and we have two official national languages, which means that even though skill levels can vary massively, pretty much all young people know at least three languages. However, such variety is not the norm on EU realms. Through WoW and other means, I have encountered literally thousands of people, who can manage their mother tongue and a tiny smattering of one other language at best.
What has been happening, though, is something that is at least somewhat relevant to our conversation. Even though the number of options has shot up, by a lot, since the time my father and his friends went to school, the general interest in foreign languages other than English has gone down and that has especially affected men. My father actually studied compulsory German for a while, because the school he went to only offered two foreign languages and the students were divided by staff, not by student choise and picking both was also not supported. My mother was only allowed a few years of most elementary schooling and therefore only learned her mother tongue.
In contrast, by the time I was sixteen, I had some official knowledge of four languages. A few years later that number had increased to seven. Today, it is twelve. But I am not making that observation to brag. My skill in most of them is very elementary at best. But… I am part of a gaming group that has several members of roughly my own age, many of whom are far more intelligent than I am and almost all of them have played WoW at some point, even though I am currently the only one with an active subscription. However, even though all members considered we can find at least three speakers for at least five languages among ourselves, the knowledge of German is very limited. In fact, as far as I know, I am the only member of the group, who can actually hold slightly more complicated conversations in that specific language and many of them would not manage even on a standard German WoW realm or if they were forced to use a German user interface on an English realm.
Very limited anecdotal data is not overall proof, but what I am trying to say is that outside of Germany and Austria plus tiny parts of Italian and Swiss population, working knowledge of German is actually fairly rare (and at least from my view point, getting rarer). What I am trying to say is… Transferring a very, very limited number of effectively English only users to a German environment is doomed to fail, but transferring a somewhat larger number of German speakers some of whom know at least rudimentary English to an English environment is not quite as bad. Also, because the move to Hydraxian Waterlords is not compulsory for inhabitants of Celebras, while not great, the situation should be survivable by most. And yes, sadly, some people are going to be gone for good. :(:(
I hope what I wrote above did not offend anyone, I was just trying to clarify my thoughts on this complicated situation. Blizzard’s decisions are going to sting some people, but at least I am able to find a tiny bit of comfort in the fact that they decided to spare at least one RP realm. Minor final note: After the transfers I carried out last night, I have one TBCC character on Earthshaker, a total of eighteen on Hydraxian Waterlords, nine on both sides.
First of all:
You assume that we wanted, that Hydraxian Waterlords would be gone for Cele. The only one who offered/suggested this, was Vanillataur, not the german rp community.
During Classic release, this group of roleplayers went to Everlook.
Then, when Lakeshire was released, some went to Lakeshire. And then some to Razorfen.
Almost no one went to Hydraxian Waterlords, and this will not change.
If you can play the game in the language you know, you will exactly do this.
And, i do not know, how often we have to say this, but maybe, if I yell, it will be more understandable:
MANY OF THE CURRENT CELEBRAS COMMUNITY DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH
And i mean: NOTHING
Try your luck with russian, might be more successfull.
I really do not understand why it is so difficult to get, if we say: not everyone in germany has learned english.
It is as survivable for the not english speaking german rp community on an english rp realm, as for the non german speaking community on a german realm.
But there is nothing to “survive” anymore anyway.
The german roleplay was successfully killed now.
We are scattered currently on:
)And yes, I know, the devs would have wished (for us, not for them), that the Celebras Community would have just moved together to Hydraxian Waterlords.
But due to the fact, that many never learned english, and do not speak english, this was never an option.
I know, that some want to play on HW (the last number i have heard was 10) mainly.
Some are trying twinks right now - but leave their mains, because they are not good in english - on the german PVE
As soon as Wrath is released, they will probably focus on their mains again.
Just because there are currently some people checking, how HW is, does not mean they will stay on the long run.
Celebras current player number was never the amount of players, that would have been possible.
Back then, when Cele was released, it was 8 weeks after release - and many player already founded guilds, found friends, made progress.
Not everyone, who would have startet on Celebras if Celebras would have been released at Classic start, moved.
The german RP community is now punished for something, they had no influence on.
I am pretty sure, if Cele was released to classic start, the numbers would be better now (way better).
And with wrath, the numbers again would have risen - there were already since the announcement 4 people i know off who wanted to play on Cele.
And this was pre release.
Some intented to come back and now won´t do it, because some of their friends are on HW, some on RAzorfen, some on Lakeshire.
And they are now supposed to choose, with whom they want to play.
You should also make Name change service for classic wow
come on i thought ppl start to wake up !
Mograin realm should be included also , its dead and my chars are stuck there.
Yes. I suggested this. For these reasons:
It was as much a desperate try for having all RP servers survive, but still I mean it. I would go to Celebras if it survived and HW not.
I never spent time in England, but else my language skills look much like yours. I bet I even understand your native languages
I would have liked all 3 servers to survive, and at least Celebras and WHW. But Yesterday I visited Celebras again, and saw that the number of online players had gone down to half of what it normally was. And my heart cried.