Do WoW’s server divisions still matter?

Why does WoW even have servers anymore? Everything from open world questing up to Heroic raiding is cross-realm enabled. In a single play session, you might bounce between a dozen servers and never even know it. You’ll group with a sea of faces you’ll never see again.

But server divisions still keep players apart, preventing us from joining guilds or sending mail between your toons. Yet we know the technology exists to do away with these limitations. You can mail items from any server to any other server, provided they’re Bound to Account items. You can join a guild on another server as long as the realms are connected realms.

At one point, servers had a purpose, and they most had a thriving sense of community. You tended to see the same faces in Orgrimaar or Ironforge. You knew the server first guilds. Finding groups meant having friends or making friends. Your reputation mattered. In a world of LFG and LFR, that’s no longer the case. Why are we keeping this antiquated architecture when it no longer serves a purpose for our gameplay? The only reason that makes sense is transfer fees, but I doubt they generate that much income.

In my days playing WoW, I’ve moved my main several times in search of main tanks spots as the guilds I’ve been have folded for various reason, or have disappeared altogether after I took a WoW break. Each time, I’d start one (or several) alts, some of which got to max level, even before heirlooms or boosts. When I had to move, I had leave those alts on those servers. This has left me with a smattering of toons over a half dozen servers. I’d love to bring them all under the same server and guild to share resources and be able to see guild chat regardless of which alt I’m on, but with the current system that’s a pricy proposition.

Is it time to get rid of servers?