New realm !

New realms are opened when there is an actual need for them, i.e. when other realms of the same realm type fill up. If all realms of any given realm type(be it PvE/Normal, PvP, RP, RP-PvP) are highly populated, then there is a need for a new realm of the said realm type. The decision of whether or not there is a demand for new realms is solely based on the population on existing realms.

Right now it is still too early to say if we will open new realms after the launch of Cataclysm, but should we decide to do so, we will make an announcement about it on our website and/or in the forums.

We simply cannot open a new realm because of "popular request" whenever someone feel like starting over from a fresh, even though we acknowledge that there is something attractive about being on an all new realm where everybody are starting out from scratch. If this was to be a factor when considering new realms, we would need to open new realms every month resulting in a large number of very empty realms, which is something that is far from desirable.

Vaneras, I have a question regarding the reverse: Removing realms. Or to be clear, moving the contents of one lowly-populated realm to another realm, then removing the now-empty realm. Or just plain out merging, but one name's gonna disappear in the mix anyhow. >_>

Any plans for that? (And if someone has a blue link from before, please do toss me one!)

If we were to merge realms right now, we would create new realms with very long and excruciating queues, so there are no plans to do this. If something like this is ever needed though, an announcement will be made.