Will we be allowed to create new realms in new lands or will we have to take from the current realms?
I'm not sure what "new lands" you're expecting to be created for this. We've been saying over and over that creating a new continent is a lot of work; well, that's just as true for adding land to an existing continent.
The first one would preserve history.
The second would appear to allow us to ruin the experience and history of EC. Naturally, most players when forced out of their home islands will want to create something similar to what they had before. They'll be frustrated and upset. Some will want to just wreck havoc for being forced into a new scenario.
It wouldn't ruin
history. It would have a significant impact on
the status quo, but that's an enormously different thing.
History is what has already happened on the continent. That can't be ruined—it can only be continued, or cut off. Tom doesn't want it to be cut off.
Will this be done at all though? If we are going to do it, might as well do it soon. That way players don't keep getting hit with bad news over and over again. BM will take a hit from this change in the negative fashion.
It will be done when the dev team has time to make sure it's done right. I could just turn off continents tomorrow—blip! Like flicking a switch! But that wouldn't give proper warning, or allow for people to emigrate their characters, or any of the important things that turn sinking a continent from a disaster into merely a stressful event.
