Why Icecrown?

[ZpiXDK]

Why are you guys playing Icecrown and not Lordaeron? or even Frostmourne?

I can never get in, so I don't even move my chars from Frostmourne to Icecrown when it resets.

But I started a char on Lordaeron to have a perment char, as it should really only be the leveling part that is different?
-Damn after playing private servers for so long that 1x exp rate... wow

Or is there other main featues that make you choose Icecrown? (I don't like Items shops, so that will not get me over)

Personal I only came to Warmane for the TBC servers, but as they shut down I joined Frostmourne (again Icecrown was full)
-And I stayed at Warmane, as it's one of private servers with most active players

[Shred92]

I play Icecrown because I can buy gear.

I don't play Lordaeron because I can't buy gear.

I don't play Frostmourne because I am not interested in progression or seasons.

[SilverFlash]

Icecrown because i don't have the patience to start gearing toons again on Lordaeron/Frostmourne(i do have some geared toons on Lordaeron but i'm not doing anything with them at this point),and the hardcore(not to be confused with road to ragnaros hc) aspect isn't something i'm interested in anymore. I do have some regrets(mostly when i do something outside guilds),but i can deal with it.

Not Frostmourne bc pre-toc progress is a drag for me,as much as i love ulduar/naxx. Also the hc aspect again. so i'd have to spend ~half of the server's lifetime doing what i don't enjoy anymore.

Not Lordaeron bc hc,and tbh, finding a suitable guild is no easy task,mostly due to the buffs. You either get the slim chance to show off for a proper guild or you'll be stuck with 8/12(at best) regardless of your skill level. Unless there will be an option to turn off the buffs on demand like switching from hc to normal on the fly,i don't see myself returning.

On that note,it's been 6 years,it's time to get rid of Lordaeron's buffs for 60-70 content on Icecrown.

[Drunkuser]

I would gladly play on Lordaeron, but sadly the moment cross-realm was introduced, pvp was totally ruined and killed. The whole purpose of playing there was dead for me.
Also i like 1x blizzlike, but not extra-difficult icc and pve.

Second best choice is Icecrown.

Seasonal Frostmourne is something I'm not interested in, and Blackrock is the spawn of satan.

[Persivaln]

Why not Icecrown? We want to play and enjoy game in a way that suits us. But it somehow bothers elitists from Lordaeron. Like it is offending to them that we are having fuu in a way that differs from their.

[ZpiXDK]

Sound like Icecrown is the place for me then, as Iam more a casuel player. (Iam becoming way to casuel to go back to Frostmourne)

Is Lordaeron really that overtuned?

You guys must have premium, you never have to wait on que on Icecrown?
-I was thinking almost everyone who plays on Icecrown has Premium :D (Else you will never get in?)

Also 4 replays on a topic in just 2 hours is pretty good (The forum seems dead to me?)

[Shred92]

All of my accounts are premium. No wait time for me when logging in ever.

[OhieMitzen]

Because of Ragnaros.

Although, with other options available, suppose I could write something..

I would play Lordaeron, still not as much as Icecrown, if it were x 1 blizzlike without custom/tuned content at all.
Frostmourne I could give a try, if it was based on aforementioned Lordaeron.
Blackrock - Not that into PvP, and it lacks PvE, and I have some PvP gears on Icecrown.

[Kovachut]

It should go without saying, but every person has his own personal preferences, and the four wotlk realms suit players' needs more or less. Since many people expressed their opinions on the matter, I'd like to do it as well. This is my personal preference hierarchy so far:

Icecrown > Frostmourne > Lordearon > Blackrock

Why Blackrock so low?

I'm not a pvp person. Simple as that.

Why Lordearon so low?

To be fair, I'm trying to gear a toon there right now, and the experience is really annoying. It misses a lot of the QoL changes present on Frostmourne and Icecrown (no surprise there, tbh), but the most unexpected thing for me was the lack of guild recruitment, at least on the Horde. If the latter had not been the case, I would have probably ranked it either above Frostmourne or even above Icecrown for that matter. The 1x XP rates could be annoying for a lot of players, and I certainly don't feel compelled to level alts there. The leveling journey was fun for me ngl, because I actually got to do the low-level content for the first time in my life. But that's just the reason - it was my first time, and because of this every next attempt would feel like a drag. Speaking of which, the grind for reputations is unbearable. Right now, I'm grinding the rep for "The Sons of Hodir" faction for the BiS enchantments, and despite doing the dailies for a couple of days straight, I'm only revered (5k/21k). I can't even be bothered to join icc rep runs or even reach Honoured with the Lower City so that I can summon Anzu due to how tedious the grind is.

Like, it's not a hard challenge that can only be overcome by the player's skill, but just an obvious time waste.

I would honestly love to experience the buffed ICC and RS content, but (and this is the biggest drawback of this realm imho) I can't seem to find any decent guilds recruiting on Lordearon {hopefully this is only true for Horde because I saw a lot of recruitment articles for Alliance guilds in the recruitment section}, which is very surprising given how well populated Lordearon really is. 8k+ players are a healthy amount imho, and yet the only guild recruitments I saw on global were for Russians, Hungarians, maybe Spanish as well. The English-speaking ones were either casual (I saw only 2), or they were looking for a specific class (I saw only 1 such guild). With only few opportunities to do the buffed content, you only have pug raids and casual guilds to help you out, and we all know how successful those can be.

I'm still going to stick around a little while longer on Lordearon, but not seeing any guild recruitments is highly discouraging.

Why Frostmourne in second place?

This realm has the best of both worlds - the QoL changes from Icecrown and the buffed content from Lordearon. It offers even more content in the form of timewalking, which is nice and offers another great opportunity to bond with your guild. Speaking of which, there are lots of guild recruitments as you would expect.

The only problem I have with it is that it's a seasonal realm, and sometimes I just get bored with the current patch (my favourite being 3.3.5, which comes way too late). This is especially true for the Naxx phase, where most of the instances are trivialised due to the lack of difficult mechanics with the only exception of OS3d. Ulduar, at least for me, becomes a chore after two months of raiding it. I guess, this could explain the other disappointing part of Frostomurne, which is the high tendency of guild disbandings with each passing phase. At the end of Ulduar, the realm had 4-5k players; with the start of ToC and ICC the player amount increased by a little, but never near the population of Lordearon.

To end on a positive note - the staff is always open for suggestions, and they try to make the realm more attractive with each new season.

Finally, why Icecrown so high?

*Clears throat*

• many QoL changes (7x XP rates, 3x professions, enhanced reputation rates);
• ICC and RS are always available;
• point shop, which makes the gearing in the early stages quicker and brings your character closer to ToC raids;
• you can always find guild recruitments in global;
• custom warmane events, which bring some charm to the realm

I could mention other positives, but I'm more or less neutral towards them. For example the lack of buffed content/the inclusion of the 30% icc buff for all players - while this is frowned upon some players, mocking Icecrown to be for casuals only, I see it as a great way to learn the game. I'd like to give you an allegory: Imagine riding a bicycle for the first time as a kid. You'd have safety wheels to help you learn the basics at start, and there's no shame in that. Everyone starts from somewhere. I personally find it more beneficial because you'd have an easier time venturing further into icc, and you'd get to see more bosses there. This would allow you to get accustomed to their mechanics, which would help you avoid them better in the future. As a result, sooner or later you'd feel more confident in yourself and in your ability to play, and you wouldn't rely only on the buff to carry you through icc.

---

Once again, everything depends on the players' personal preferences and what they can tolerate. If they can't tolerate it in a certain realm, they would go somewhere else (this includes going to another wotlk private server or the official Blizzard servers in general).

[Mrutyunjay]

[QUOTE=ZpiXDK;3143362]Why are you guys playing Icecrown and not Lordaeron? or even Frostmourne?

I can never get in.


mate.. 10 Euroes helps everything :)
but to your questions. doing everything 1x again.. especially the rep grinds sounds scary.
Leveling might be fun. rep farms.. no.. just no.. and after some playing on retail and then playing here on for a couple years i could say that buying those trinkets is cheap instead of waiting for me :) . but that's just my view.

[DragonfireEX4422]

For me personally, it's the population as well as eventful world PVP shenanigans that can happen almost anywhere you travel.

Also, just like Shred92, I like being able to buy gear as I don't have the time to raid like I used to.