Cross-realm Real ID Battlegrounds now available
by Matthew Rossi 
Dec 1st 2011 at 6:00PM
If you like Battlegrounds and you like friends, there's important news for you. As of patch 4.3, you can form a party and queue for a Battleground with your Real ID friends just as if you were queueing up for a random dungeon. There are some restrictions, of course.
Kaivax - Cross-Realm Real-ID BG grouping is now available
It's not surprising that the tech works the same as the Dungeon Finder and the Raid Finder. While I'd love to see that get expanded so that you can form a raid with friends on your Real ID list, for now, it's still a nice development for those of us who have managed to scatter our friends hither and yon across the servers.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Kaivax - Cross-Realm Real-ID BG grouping is now available
A few reminders about this --
You're going to see the limitations as you do in Looking-For-Dungeon and Looking-For-Raid.
You can't invite Real-ID friends to a raid.
If you have Real-ID friends in your group, you can't convert to a raid.
You're going to see the limitations as you do in Looking-For-Dungeon and Looking-For-Raid.
You can't invite Real-ID friends to a raid.
If you have Real-ID friends in your group, you can't convert to a raid.
It's not surprising that the tech works the same as the Dungeon Finder and the Raid Finder. While I'd love to see that get expanded so that you can form a raid with friends on your Real ID list, for now, it's still a nice development for those of us who have managed to scatter our friends hither and yon across the servers.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
teejmorrison Dec 1st 2011 6:17PM
Cross-realm ID multiplayer?
Who needs couches
Revanel Dec 1st 2011 6:20PM
So who's battlegroup ends up being used? If I'm on the 'Vengeance' battlegroup and my buddy is on the 'Bloodlust' battlegroup, which one gets used? Is it the person who queues?
Just curious.
Nerokai Dec 1st 2011 6:33PM
I do believe the battlegroup queueing is no longer done. Everyone gets pooled together.
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. ;o
Revanel Dec 1st 2011 6:45PM
I don't see realms outside of my battlegroup when I'm running BGs.
Also, the fact that battlegroups still exist makes me think that isn't true. You wouldn't need them if we all ran together.
Glory Dec 1st 2011 9:12PM
They got rid of battle groups around 4.2 I believe. Just because there are still battle group names doesn't mean the bg group system still exists.
Dan Dec 1st 2011 7:18PM
Coincidence perhaps? I'm pretty sure all the battlegroups were merged for both LFD and BGs quite some time ago (and, more recently, for arena).
Revanel Dec 1st 2011 10:11PM
Anyone have any links to anything official? All I ever get is a bunch of confusion on the issue.
(I tried looking myself and didn't find anything.)
NetherLands Dec 2nd 2011 2:03AM
Battlegroups still exist, and are still used.
Probably because of changes in the LFD system that work the same (to counter the 'no social control' issue a bit) the system currently - around Cata release they first implemented a full merge - works like this:
1) look if there are enough people queueing up in your battlegroup;
2) if not within a certain amount of time, look further.
That's why at peak-time and/or smaller BG's you generally find more people from your own Battlegroup, whereas at 'dead hours' and/or bigger BG's like grand old AV you're more likely to find a wide variety of Realms.
Note that this also means that paradoxically add-ons that circumvent the max. 5 man premade limitation like AV Enabler also have the desired result more often for the smaller, more affected BG's than AV itself.
Ostentaneous Dec 1st 2011 6:35PM
Wait, does this mean you can do the LFR with a raid as long as everyone is on the same server? I thought the limit for that was 5 people no matter what.
Carune Dec 1st 2011 6:57PM
No, you can make a raid on your own server then que for LFR. The Real ID is limited to 5 people that you can form a party for then que for LFR.
iadamson Dec 1st 2011 6:37PM
Can you do rated and nonrated?
Nathanyel Dec 1st 2011 7:07PM
For rated, you need 10 people, so no.
Leslie Holquin Dec 2nd 2011 4:50AM
I believe the all of the battlegrounds other than Wintergrasp use the cross-realm system.
http://www.alivenotdead.com/LeslieHolquin/NutraScience-Review-Drop-those-Lbs-with-Great-Capacity--profile-1628194.html