Are Warbands Cross Server in World of Warcraft The War Within? Yes, the new Warbands system in World of Warcraft encompasses all characters on a player’s Battle.net account within a single region, spanning every realm and faction. At rental-server.net, we help you navigate the complexities of server management so you can focus on maximizing your gaming experience. Discover how Warbands are revolutionizing alt character management and enhancing your overall gameplay!
1. Understanding the Warband System in World of Warcraft
The Warband system in World of Warcraft: The War Within is designed to integrate all characters within a player’s Battle.net account into a unified group, improving gameplay and character management. This system consolidates various aspects of the game, such as reputations, item collections, and progression, across all characters within a region. This means whether you’re on Americas, Europe, Korea, or Taiwan, your Warband encompasses every realm, faction, and subscription you have.
1.1 What Exactly are Warbands?
Warbands represent a significant evolution in how World of Warcraft treats player accounts. Instead of managing characters as separate entities, the Warband system acknowledges that all characters belong to the same player, streamlining progression and resource sharing.
Key Features of Warbands:
- Account-Wide Scope: Warbands include all characters on a Battle.net account within a single geographic region.
- Shared Resources: Access to a Warband bank for easy item and resource sharing among characters.
- Unified Progression: Many reputations and Renown tracks are Warband-wide, meaning progress on one character benefits all.
- Transmog Collection: Collect item appearances with any character, regardless of their ability to equip the gear.
1.2 The Goals Behind Implementing Warbands
The introduction of the Warband system aims to achieve several key objectives, focusing on improving the overall player experience and acknowledging player accomplishments across their entire account.
Core Goals:
- Make Playing Alts Easier and More Enjoyable: Recognizing that many players enjoy playing multiple characters, the Warband system seeks to streamline the alt experience.
- Enable Character Switching Without Falling Behind: By moving progression to the Warband level, players can switch between characters without losing efficiency or long-term progress.
- Acknowledge the Player Behind the Screen: The system celebrates accomplishments across the Warband, not just on individual characters.
- Clarify Account-Wide vs. Character-Specific Aspects: The UI clearly distinguishes between elements that are Warband-wide and those that are character-specific.
2. How Warband Conversions Work
The transition to the Warband system involves converting character-specific elements into account-wide features. This process is designed to be seamless, occurring automatically when The War Within pre-expansion patch goes live.
2.1 Automatic Conversion Process
Players do not need to manually log into each character for the conversion process. Upon the first login after the patch, the system automatically converts eligible aspects of the game to be Warband-wide. While there may be a wait time during this initial login due to the large amount of data being processed, this ensures a hassle-free transition for all players.
2.2 Impact on Reputations
One of the most significant changes is the conversion of reputations to be Warband-wide. This means that progress made on one character will benefit all characters in the Warband.
Reputation Conversion Details:
- Shared Progress: Any progress on a Warband reputation is shared with all characters.
- Unified Rewards: Rewards are unlocked for all characters, although some may need to be collected individually.
- Furthest Progress Earned: Warband reputation progress displays the highest level achieved by any character in the account.
For example, if one character has Renown 5 with the Valdrakken Accord and another has Renown 10, the Warband’s Renown will be 10. This approach ensures that players are credited with their highest achievements, preventing any sense of lost progress.
2.3 Dragonflight Reputations Converted
Many Dragonflight reputations are being converted to Warband-wide reputations, allowing for a more streamlined and unified experience.
List of Converted Dragonflight Renown:
- Dragonscale Expedition
- Maruuk Centaur
- Iskaara Tuskarr
- Valdrakken Accord
- Loamm Niffen
- Dream Wardens
List of Converted Dragonflight Standard Reputations:
- Wrathion & Sabellian
- Cobalt Assembly
- Artisan’s Consortium
- Azerothian Archives
- Soridormi
Certain reputations, like Winterpelt Furbolg and Glimmerogg Racer, were excluded due to their specific nature and fantasy elements that do not translate well to a shared system.
2.4 Future Reputation Conversions
The development team plans to gradually convert older expansion reputations to be Warband-wide. However, similar to Dragonflight, some reputations will remain character-specific due to lore implications or character-specific choices, such as Aldor and Scryer in Burning Crusade and the Covenants in Shadowlands.
3. Warband Achievements: A Unified Score
The Warband system brings significant changes to how achievements are handled, aiming to unify progress and reward accomplishments across all characters in the Warband.
3.1 Eliminating Character-Based Achievement Score
With the introduction of Warbands, the concept of a character-based achievement score is being eliminated. Instead, a total Warband achievement score will be tracked and displayed. This score combines all account-wide achievement points with points from any character-specific achievements completed on any character.
3.2 Converting Achievements to Account-Wide
Approximately 2000 achievements from across all expansions are being converted to be account-wide. The guiding principle for this conversion is that if an achievement allows for shared progress across characters, it should be converted so all characters can contribute to its completion.
Examples of Converted Achievements:
- Achievements requiring a certain number of actions (e.g., capturing flags in Warsong Gulch).
- Achievements that benefit from shared progression across multiple characters.
Exceptions to Conversion:
- Achievements where the difficulty lies in completing the activity on a single character, such as Insane in the Membrane.
- Achievements that do not benefit from shared progression, such as Memories of Teldrassil.
3.3 Changes to Achievement Rewards
Most achievement rewards are being converted to be Warband-wide. This includes titles and other cosmetic rewards. Dungeon teleports earned from Keystone Hero achievements will also become account-wide, both in the achievement and the reward.
Exceptions to Warband-Wide Rewards:
- Rewards that are intrinsically per character, such as Dreaming of Wyrms.
- Achievements that celebrate highly prestigious accomplishments on a specific character, like the Gladiator: Dragonflight Season 3 achievement.
3.4 How Progress is Calculated
For most achievements, progress is added across all characters. For example, if you have completed 200 personal crafting orders on each of three different characters, the Personal Crafter achievement will be immediately completed upon login. In cases where it only makes sense to take the highest value across your characters, such as the Reach Level 70 achievement, the highest value reached on any character will be used.
4. Currencies and Items in the Warband System
The Warband system introduces changes to how currencies and items are managed, with the goal of making it easier to share resources and enhance the alt-friendliness of the game.
4.1 Currency Transfers
Rather than making all currencies Warband-wide, the system focuses on making it easier to transfer currencies between characters. This approach helps avoid confusion over spending the wrong currency on the wrong character.
Currency Transfer Details:
- Direct Transfers: Players can directly transfer any shareable currency from other characters to the one they are currently playing.
- Warband-Wide Currencies: Currencies intended for purchasing Warband-wide items, such as cosmetics, pets, and mounts, will be completely free to transfer between members of your Warband.
- Limited Transfers: In cases where a currency is intended for a specific character but players may want to transfer excess currency, there will be a slight loss in the transfer.
Non-Transferable Currencies:
Some currencies will remain non-transferable because they represent important character-based progression. Examples include the Crest and Flightstone equivalents in The War Within.
4.2 Warband Bank: Sharing Items and Gold
The Warband Bank provides a shared storage space accessible to all characters in your Warband. It is located at bankers throughout the game and offers up to five tabs with ninety-eight inventory slots each.
Warband Bank Features:
- Shared Storage: Any non-soulbound item can be deposited and withdrawn by any character in the Warband.
- Reagent Bank Functionality: The bank functions like a reagent bank, allowing players to craft using reagents stored within it.
- Gold Transfers: The bank allows for the deposit and withdrawal of gold across characters in the Warband.
- Customizable Tabs: Each tab can be customized with an icon and organized like a Guild Vault.
Limitations:
Players who play multiple characters simultaneously on multiple World of Warcraft accounts will find that only the character that logs into the realm first will have access to the Warband Bank.
4.3 Warbound Until Equipped Gear
Warbound until Equipped (WuE) is a new type of gear binding introduced in The War Within. Gear with this binding can be freely traded across your Warband but becomes Soulbound once equipped by a character.
WuE Gear Details:
- Tradeable: Can be freely traded among characters in the Warband before being equipped.
- Source: Available within raids, dungeons, and the new Delves feature.
- Drop Chance: Players have a small bonus chance to gain an additional piece of WuE gear as personal loot.
- Item Level: Typically one tier lower than other loot from the same source.
- Usability: Can be gear usable by any class.
WuE gear provides an easy way to gear up alternate characters or try out new classes.
5. Transmog Collection Enhancements
The Warband system brings significant improvements to collecting transmog appearances, making it more Warband-centric and allowing players to expand their collections more easily.
5.1 Collecting Appearances with Any Character
In The War Within, any character can collect any item appearance, regardless of whether they can equip the item or not. This change allows players to collect appearances more efficiently, without needing to plan gear runs on a per-armor-type basis.
Exceptions:
Class-specific appearances are an exception and can only be collected by the specific class.
5.2 Viewing Appearances in the UI
The appearances UI allows players to view appearances on any character of any class or race. This makes it easier to plan and coordinate transmogs across the Warband.
5.3 Easier Collection from Unbound Items
Collecting appearances from unbound items is now easier. Players no longer need to equip the item to add it to their collection. Destroying an item via disenchanting, deleting, or selling automatically adds the appearance to the collection.
New Flow for Bind on Equip (BoE) Gear:
A new flow allows players to directly collect the appearance from Bind on Equip (BoE) gear that they cannot equip by converting it to Warbound until Equipped instead.
5.4 Changes to Group Loot Rolls
In raids with Group Loot, any gear that drops with a transmog appearance that a player has not yet collected will have the Transmog option to roll for it rather than the Greed option.
Rolling Priority:
Gear that can be equipped by the current character gets higher rolling priority than those rolling with characters who cannot equip the item.
6. Updated Character Select Screen
The Character Select screen has been updated to provide a comprehensive view of the entire Warband, making it easier to choose which character to play.
6.1 Unified Character List
Players can now see their entire Warband in one list of characters, without needing to swap between realms.
Exception:
Players with multiple World of Warcraft subscriptions within one Battle.net account will only see the characters on the account they are logged in on.
6.2 Warband Scene
The updated Character Select screen features a scene where some of the characters in the Warband hang out together. For the launch of The War Within, players can assign up to four characters to this scene, with more scenes planned for future updates.
6.3 Additional Character Information
To make it easier to decide which character to play, the Character Select screen now includes additional information about each character.
7. Impact on First-Time Quest Rewards
The Warband system introduces a new concept with quest rewards to ensure that players with many alts do not have an intrinsic advantage over those who focus on a single character.
7.1 Bonus Quest Rewards
Players can earn a bonus quest reward for any quest completed for the first time on their Warband. Additional completions of the same quest on alts will grant a different bonus.
Reputation as a First-Time Completion Bonus:
Quests will primarily give reputation as a first-time completion bonus. On additional completions, players will earn a bonus reward currency similar to Dragon Isles Supplies instead of reputation.
7.2 Warband-Level Rewards
The bonus reward currency earned from completing quests on alts can be freely transferred across the Warband and used to purchase various Warband-level rewards, such as cosmetics, mounts, and pets.
8. Shared Flight Points for Your Warband
Flight points are being converted to be account-wide, making it easier for players to navigate the world on their alts.
8.1 Unlocking Flight Points
Players only need to collect standard flight points on one character, and they will be unlocked across the entire Warband. Flight points that have already been collected on any character across the account will be unlocked for the Warband.
9. Diplomacy Racial Trait Adjustment
The human racial trait Diplomacy, which grants a bonus to reputation, is being adjusted due to its character-specific nature.
9.1 Converting the Racial Bonus
To prevent players from feeling compelled to play a specific character or race to earn Warband-level rewards more efficiently, the race-specific bonus is being converted into something new. More information on this change will be shared at a later date.
10. Map Exploration and the Warband
Map exploration is being preserved as a character-specific activity, as revealing new parts of a map can be fun and provide experience.
10.1 The Warband Map to Everywhere All At Once Toy
For players who may not be interested in re-exploring every map on all their characters, a new toy, The Warband Map to Everywhere All At Once, is being added. This toy will allow players to see the explored areas on all their characters.
11. FAQ: Warbands in World of Warcraft
Here are some frequently asked questions about the Warband system in World of Warcraft.
11.1 Are Warbands Cross Server?
Yes, Warbands are cross server within the same geographic region (Americas, Europe, Korea, or Taiwan).
11.2 How Do I Access the Warband Bank?
The Warband Bank can be accessed at bankers throughout the game.
11.3 What Items Can Be Placed in the Warband Bank?
Any non-soulbound item can be placed in the Warband Bank.
11.4 How Do I Transfer Currencies Between Characters?
You can directly transfer any shareable currency from other characters to the one you are currently playing within the currency User Interface (UI).
11.5 What is Warbound Until Equipped Gear?
Warbound until Equipped gear can be freely traded across your Warband but becomes Soulbound once it’s equipped by a character.
11.6 How Do I Collect Transmog Appearances Now?
Any character can collect any item appearance, regardless of if they can equip the item or not.
11.7 Will My Achievements Be Shared Across My Account?
Yes, most achievements are being converted to be account-wide, and a total Warband achievement score will be tracked.
11.8 How Does the New Character Select Screen Work?
The updated Character Select screen shows your entire Warband in one list of characters, without needing to swap between realms.
11.9 What Happens to Flight Points I’ve Already Collected?
Flight points that have already been collected on any character across your account will be unlocked for your Warband.
11.10 How Does This Affect First-Time Quest Rewards?
You earn a bonus quest reward for any quest completed for the first time on your Warband, with additional completions granting a bonus reward currency.
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