TBC Classic: Oceanic Realms merge with Americas battlegroups

The Burning Crusade Classic players are reporting severe lag issues in Oceanic realms because they are being merged with battlegroups in the Americas. A Blizzard Community Manager responds to these concerns, noting that it’s a deliberate change to help reduce queue times and provide better matchmaking.

Here’s the Blizzard Community Manager Kaivax’s response: 

“I just want to acknowledge that this was a deliberate step taken to prepare for PvP in the Burning Crusade Classic.

As a result, we expect to see:

• Better PvP queue times for players on Oceanic realms.
• Better Arena matchmaking for Oceanic players.
• A much higher likelihood of Oceanic players being able to meaningfully compete for end-of-season rewards.

On that last point, remember that all of the realms in the Americas and Oceania are part of the same region, and Arena season rewards are region-wide. We don’t want to see Oceanic players prevented from earning rewards because they aren’t being matched up against the vast majority of the region.”

Understandably, many Oceanic region players are responding negatively to these changes. Some players report that the OCE population is large enough for arena play, and the change will cause more harm than good due to massive ping differences. Playing with a lag of 200-300ms naturally puts players at a big disadvantage.

The question comes down to whether OCE players would rather compete with high ping or endure hour-long queue times.