what took you so long?
There are no plans to merge servers.
In the email that went out it was mentioned that “low pop servers can now form aliances to take on bigger server”
Updates to World vs. World
World vs. World now features reward tracks, letting you make guaranteed progress toward the rewards you want most as you play. Through reward tracks, you can earn tomes of knowledge, crafting materials, and skins, including the new WvW-exclusive Triumphant armor set. We’re also creating alliances between low-population worlds, giving them the necessary numbers to go head-to-head with existing high-population worlds.
There are no plans to merge servers.
Pairing lower pop servers and maybe re-pairing every 3 months at most is merging servers for all intents and purposes. No two servers will survive being broken apart again.
Ie its fancy words for permanent server merger.
The difference being that servers remain still same. None are being deleted, removed or players forced to transfer off. Yes, it works out same as merging, only in case huge population surges in the future each server can be separated again into their own.