I have quite a few characters dotted around realms but my 2 highest level characters are now both level 35. Problem is, they’re now on a low population realm, it’s quite depressing when logging in.
I’ve therefore decided to switch realms and am now trying to figure out:
Which realm to go to?
Whether I should start over or pay for a transfer?
Am I correct in thinking that choosing a full realm will serve me well? Will any of the Horde ones be fine? Is there much difference between full and high? Some of my oldest characters from TBC days are on Karazhan, a high pop realm, but they’e level 70 (or whatever the equivalent is now for that).
Given how fast it is to level to 50+ now, would it be fine to just start over with new characters? I’m quite looking forward to playing through the story of the expansions that I’ve missed out on. I’d rather not pay for a character transfer if it’s not necessary.
I would say start a new character on your original account. If you have a sentimental attachment to some character, you can always transfer it later.
Levelling now is FAST. You get to 10, then can level to 50 through just one expansion, and you can choose which expansion by talking to Chromie. People are levelling in crazy times. Here’s an article about it, giving specimen times:
So if you’re familiar with everything up to Mists, you could choose Warlords or Legion or BfA. For some reason, Blizzard are trying to push new people through BfA, but since you are on an older account, you should be given the choice. (I say “should be” because nobody is quite clear on what qualifies someone to pick an expansion, and as a very old player they may turf you into BfA.)
“High” means not much these days. Full realm is what you want … except … at the moment, Draenor, the Horde realm of choice, is overloaded, and having lag and queues. These will clear up probably after Christmas, but it’s your choice whether to put up with that for the sake of the benefit through the rest of the expansion, or avoid it, in which case Stormscale and Tarren Mill are probably your choices.
Thank you so much for your reply, Gráinne, there’s a lot of useful stuff there. One more question if I may - I’ve been Horde my entire (retail) WoW career. Is trying things out on Alliance a mistake? It feels as though Horde is the defacto choice these days.
Horde is the default choice these days. It IS. There’s no denying it.
Overall, Horde are in a majority (though not on every server, obviously), but much more important, they are much more active. They do more stuff. I might expect to see twice as many Horde PuGs as Alliance listed in the Group Finder, and that’s by actual count I’ve done several times.
If you get yourself a suitable guild., you will be fine on either faction. There are also Communities now - like cross-realm guilds that you can find people to do things with, and there are also Discord groups.
But if you want to get stuck into group content like M+ and raids, and chase some gear, and you want to PuG, Horde is by far a better choice today. Sad, but true.