As we previously announced, we’re in the process of rolling out region-wide battleground matchmaking. Once completed, all realms for our North American players will be matching together for battlegrounds, and four larger groups for dungeon finder use. This is a large technical undertaking, and while we’re extremely excited to see this huge advancement in connecting players within World of Warcraft completed, the complexity means we’ll be rolling it out slowly in a staggered approach.

Battlegroup listings and which realms are within each can be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/battlegrounds/battlegroups/


Phase 1 - Completed 10/26

Battlegrounds
The below battlegroups are now linked for battleground matchmaking.

Whirlwind
Emberstorm

Dungeon Finder
The below battlegroups are now linked within their group for dungeon finder matchmaking.

Group A
Whirlwind
Emberstorm

Phase 2 – Completed 11/3

Battlegrounds
Two additional battlegroups are added and all four are linked for battleground matchmaking.

Whirlwind
Emberstorm
Vengeance
Bloodlust

Dungeon Finder
The below realms are linked within their groups for dungeon finder matchmaking. In the final phase, all realms are expected to be grouped in this manner.

Group A
Whirlwind
Emberstorm

Group B
Stormstrike
Nightfall
Retaliation

Final Phase - Completed 11/9

Battlegrounds
All realms linked for battleground matchmaking

Dungeon Finder
All four dungeon finder groupings complete.

Group A
Whirlwind
Emberstorm

Group B
Stormstrike
Nightfall
Retaliation

Group C
Reckoning
Cyclone
Bloodlust
Vengeance

Group D
Ruin
Vindication
Rampage
Shadowburn

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Q u o t e:
Will battleground matching/LFD matching apply to arenas aswell?

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No. Arena is still based on individual Battlegroups.

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Q u o t e:
There is absolutely no reason that they cannot make region-wide 5-mans if they can link region-wide battlegrounds.

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Yes, there is, which is why we're not doing it at this time. The dungeon finder system is far more complex than the battleground queue system. We're continuing to evaluate the possibility of a region wide LFD, but it's not something we're currently planning for.

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Q u o t e:
There is no reason that players on Emberstorm and Whirlwind should be punished.

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You now have more players available in your LFD queues than you did before. That's not a punishment.

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Q u o t e:
Great update, however I have been seeing people from Shadowburn and Rampage in the LFD tool on Reckoning. According to your update, this shouldn't be happening. :-) Did these accidentally get connected?

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It's a known configuration error that we're working to resolve, thanks for the report. :)