#0 - Jan. 5, 2009, 3:37 p.m.
The release of the World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, has generated an enormous amount of interest amongst our player base. This interest has persisted through the new year. As a result, a very large number of players are attempting to play the game at the same time. While it’s wonderful that we’re all eager to enjoy the new experiences that the expansion has to offer, it’s highly likely that the more highly populated realms are going to experience a queue due to the significant number of players online.
These queues engage automatically when a large number of players attempt to play on the same realms during the same time period. While this can be a short term inconvenience, this automated safeguard is in place to ensure a more stable play experience for everyone – even those that are in queue once they can actually get into the game.
With this, should a realm's population consistently generate lengthy queues or otherwise threaten overall stability, a lock on incoming transfers may be placed on the realm temporarily. Though such a restriction is not permanent, a realm may remain locked until its population can normalize or be mitigated through outbound transfers. Destination eligibility is constantly monitored and may be reviewed here:
We know that this can be a frustrating time, but we will continue to monitor the state of the realms, and should changes to either the queuing system, incoming transfers, or free realm transfers become necessary, then such determinations will be made as a result of this monitoring and analysis. In the meantime, we are unable to respond to requests for free realm transfers or alterations of the queuing or realm locking system on this forum.
If you’d like to see changes to the way the queuing system is handled, or you firmly believe that your realm is in need of long term population adjustment via free realm transfers, the only appropriate place to express your concerns and request such changes is on our Suggestions Forum here:
Thank you for joining us for Wrath of the Lich King and this new year! Your patience is greatly appreciated as we move into a new era of World of Warcraft.