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Cross-realm zones (colloquially known as CRZ) is a game design tool created to "fix the issue of having a ton of players at max-level, but lower level zones being dead."[1] CRZ operates by putting players from multiple realms into the same "instance" of a particular zone to make it "feel active and alive."[2]

Currently, cross-realm zoning only occurs between realms within +/-3 hours time zone difference.

Zones unaffected by CRZ[]

Certain zones that are not affected by the feature, including:

Notes[]

  • Realms are only cross-realm zoned with realms of the same type (Normal or RP)
  • This feature is not intended to affect the fishing tournaments' winners, though you will still have to compete cross-realm for fishing pools.
  • Low populated zones include most of the factions' major cities and are currently part of the system, even though it was stated they would not be.

Known issues[]

  • When leaving a major city into a cross-realm zone (such as Stormwind to Elwynn) in a passenger mount such as the Ability mount mammoth brown [Reins of the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth] with a player passenger on board, the player passenger will be dismounted (suddenly placed on the ground, standing) and the NPCs returned to their positions on board.

Cross-Realm groups[]

With the exception of zones that are never cross-realm (notably Stormwind and Orgrimmar but only on RP realms), generally all members of a cross-realm group will be phased to occupy the same copy of a zone. The rules governing which copy of the zone the group sees are complicated. Roughly the selection operates as explained below.

  • In the following rules, home zone refers to the copy of the zone that a character would see while ungrouped.
    • Generally all characters on one realm or group of connected realms share a home zone.
    • Due to cross-realm zones some characters from different (unconnected) realms will also share a home zone.
  • A newly-created group (ie with a single member) starts by using the leader's home zone.
    • From this point forward, group leadership no longer affects phasing.
    • Phasing to a different copy of a zone may only be triggered by a change in group membership (a member joining or leaving).
  • If one group member exceeds the level of anyone else in group, the group will phase to his home zone.
  • If two or more group members with different home zones are tied for maximum level, the copy housing the most max-level characters is used.
  • In the case of a tie in the previous rule, the zone copy housing the most characters of any level (but ignoring level 1 toons) is used for the group.
  • If there is still a tie, no phasing occurs and the group remains on the most recently-selected copy of the zone.
  • The Online/Offline status of group members does not affect phasing decisions.

Patch changes[]

  • Legion Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Cross-realm zones have been enabled for the continent of Draenor.
  • Warlords of Draenor Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Cross-realm zones have been enabled for the continent of Pandaria.
  • Mists of Pandaria Hotfix (2012-09-20): Cross-realm zones no longer bring together players who are more than 3 timezones apart.
  • Mists of Pandaria Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Added.

See also[]

External links[]

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