Keep it polite, people. There was a lot of thought, planning, effort, hand wringing, second guessing, dread, fear, and anticipation that went into this decision. Several people worked long and hard to make this happen. The alternative to shrinking was to outright close two, or possibly more, islands. The dev team ultimately felt that shrinking in this manner allowed us to achieve the objectives we needed to achieve, while minimizing the effects on the game overall.
This was a hard decision. No matter which way we took things, either freezing entire islands or freezing parts of islands, you can be guaranteed that the forums would be filled with people claiming that we had made the wrong decision. We are sorry that your particular favorite realm is possibly being destroyed as a result. Well, you're not alone. The realm of which my character is the ruler is going to affected, too. Probably destroyed.
BattleMaster is a big game. If your favorite realm gets destroyed, consider moving elsewhere. This is especially true if you have only limited experience with the game overall. I'm fairly certain you can find another realm somewhere that matches your play style. If not, then perhaps you and your buddies from that realm can start new characters somewhere else, and still play together. Battlemaster is not a game of one realm, or one character. Realms come, and realms go. Characters start, and characters die. If that happens to you, then start a new character, and start a new story.
