Hello community,
Dalaran: our new realm's launch is going to be on the 19th of August at 18:00 GMT+2 (or Algalon's Server Time).
This being said, we wanted to clarify a few things regarding some questions we have been receiving.
General information
Recruit a friend feature's extra experience will not be active at the release (although you can recruit now). Players who wish to make use of this feature will be able to do so for free after the Realm First level 80 Class, Race and Professions are obtained.
In the beginning, In order to be eligible to create a Death Knight, you need to level from scratch a new character and reach level 55. If you come from Algalon, even though you will be able to see your level 80 characters on the character list since the first day, you won't be eligible to create a Death Knight unless you level a fresh character to 55 or you wait for the general Algalon characters unlock after the class, race and profession realm firsts are achieved. Death Knights, as they are heroic classes - are limited to 1 per realm.
Our shops and services like Faction Change, Customization, Name Change, etc.. will also be available after the realm firsts. Remember that we have never been pay to win and we will never be - only cosmetics, TCG items etc. Instant 70 will not be active for now, it may be in the future.
Global chat will be available for everyone with no level requirements (at the beginning, later some may be applied).
Whispers are going to be limited by level to avoid unnecessary spam. Players will be able to whisper to other players after level 10.
There seems to be a trend over the last few years where many players don't actually log in to enjoy the game and play, but only just spam /who and try to foretell or prophesy the possible outcomes of the realm based on each one's criteria about how many players a server should have.
Therefore, as we want an immersive experience, /who will be limited to 49 shown players as it was during the original WoTLK days. We don't want a /who simulator game, we believe that what matters is the experience. If a player is having a really nice time leveling, meeting other players and doing lots of different activities - numbers lack importance. The gameplay and the experience are much more significant.
Additionally, please note that this realm is not just a "normal fresh" - it is a unique and different kind of realm where there are many other factors to take into consideration, being the later unlock of the level 80 characters from Algalon one of them. There are more though, all in all, this realm has been designed to have its full effect in the long term, so the initial population is important but not determinant at all, like it might be on a normal fresh realm - for the reasons explained here (section: "why now?"). If players prefer to have it not limited, we might remove the cap on the progression. Of course, Alliance players will only see Alliance, and Horde players will only see Horde.
You will never see any staff member participating in public chats, but we will monitor them; heavy spam, insults, rants, advertising/mentioning other private servers, is not going to be allowed. We are tolerant, but we will mute and ban if continued.
We have performed a lot of testing, but we are only humans. If something is amiss, please contact us and we will try to solve it as soon as possible.
If you need assistance, don't ask for GM help in global chat, please use the ingame ticket system.
If you wish to report bugs, use the bugtracker, unless you believe it is a sensitive matter or you believe it needs instant action from us, then use the ingame ticket system and we will help you. New realm's issue tracker will be available shortly.
Once the class, race and profession realm firsts are achieved, level 80 characters from Algalon will be unlocked. At this moment raids will not be open yet, of course. We will allow a week or two so players can prepare for the opening of Naxxramas and season 5. More information about this will be published shortly.
Snapshots
Regarding the snapshots and the level 80 characters from Algalon: You do not need to do anything at all.
Further snapshots will come, we have no date just yet, because it will also depend on how things are going. We will be posting more information about this after all the Tier 7 realm firsts have been achieved. Although we can say in advance that lower levels will also be able to transfer to Dalaran later during the progression.
For Algalon players
When Dalaran new realm launches, you will be able to see your level 80s on this new realm's character list.
However, you won be able to log in with them. If you try to do so it will say "Character locked. Contact billing for more information". Do not worry at all, this is just a default message for locked characters that the client has from the old WoTLK days. It may sound a bit misleading, but you do not need to do anything nor contact anyone at all. The only thing you need to do is wait, your characters will unlock automatically once the proper time arrives, and after that, you can enter into the world normally, as always.
Your level 80 characters will already have the restrictions applied.
If you have multiple level 80s from Algalon; all of them will be there. However, the gold will just be in one of them (usually the first one on the list), you will have to manually distribute it between your characters as you see fit.
If you have 10 characters level 80, all of them will also be in the new realm. You won't have any available slot in case you wish to start a new fresh character during the release. Therefore, you may need a new account in order to start fresh this Friday. If you delete now one character on Algalon in order to have a free slot on the new realm - it will not affect as the snapshot was already done.
If you decided to free your level 80 character's name, it means that name will be available on the new realm, so you can use it on a fresh character.
There will be an adaptation time, we could call it "pre-naxxramas", where Algalon characters and new characters will create a community together before the raids open, between one and two weeks. Here we want to encourage dungeon farming, reputation farming, creation of new bonds, and preparations for the raid race (or to just enjoy the progression slowly!).
Few extra points:
The intention is to have a fresh raid-progression realm, where new and old players can enjoy the experience together under the same circumstances. Old players who arrive later and join the realm, will be able to just log in and catch-up (check this video for a voice-guided explanation), this way the community twines itself each time an old player returns. It will always be fair for everyone.
The timings of the Algalon characters unlocking are not set in stone, because they depend on several factors, such as the speed of the Realm Firsts. In the not very probable case that the race, class and profession realm first take too long to be achieved, we will then unlock Algalon characters. Note that they are not eligible for the class, race and profession realm firsts (or Vanguard). Of course, they are for every single one of the rest so everyone can participate in the raids realm firsts.
The Raid release schedule is prepared to be "fast-paced". Algalon's back in the day timings shouldn't be a reference because they were set like that due to the raids rework. Raids (with improvements) are ready, and we will do Beta testing to set the proper tunning after the Tier 7. Although we consider that the raid overall buffs during Algalon's progression were actually pretty good. Naxxramas and Trial of the Crusader tiers, are thought to be "short" and Ulduar and Icecrown Citadel longer.
Trial of the Champion, Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron and Halls of Reflection (normal and heroic modes) are not available at the release; they will be adapted to the proper tier opening (Tier 9 and Tier 10).
We are open to changing some base features on further Eras (not this first one), such as type of realm (PvP/PvE), RDF, etc...
Thank you everyone!
