Server Clarification

[Zarno 0]

Hello fellow players!

I'm an old WoW player, who after TBC stopped playing for several reasons. Some gamewise, some because of how life's changing.

I recently learned about this project and couldn't believe it. When my friend told me about this, I thought he was lying just to make me happy - seriously!

Thing is, I'm in a bit of a dilemma here, and I need your help.

I want to start on a server that is not too far in regards to available raids etc. 

I want a server that has enough people for me to feel like we are many, but not too many ( I don't want to be looking at a swarmed capital, too many people doing the same quest as I, or waiting in line to log in!) 

In other words - I know I'm late at the party - what server could help me remove that feeling? 

I'm going to try horde, since I've never tried that and would make the game even more new and exciting.

I'm sure this question has been made before, so please forgive yet another lost player.

Thanks in advance!

-Zarno

[Keala 28]

Elysium is probably the closest that you can get, but keep in mind it has around almost 9k players online during peak times, that's probably way too many players for you (according to what you said), but at least the server is not far with content, they just recently got their BWL patch, which is what you were looking for.

I don't think Anathema is a good option for you, there's barely 1500 players online during peaks times and Naxxramas is almost released.

[Zarno 0]

Hi Keala,

Thank you for the quick reply.

You are right that it seems like it is a lot of people. I don't seem to be able to grasp the concept of when a server has a lot of people. 

Your description with players during peak times gives me a good idea thou!

Which PVP servers are medium to high, with not to far content? 

[Justme 9]

8 minutes ago, Zarno said:

 

Which PVP servers are medium to high, with not to far content? 

None

[Zarno 0]

Oh okay. 

When I look at the server status, it says 600-700 in population, while Elysium says 5416. 

Am i reading/understanding it wrong?

[Keala 28]

No, that's entirely correct. That's the main problem: there is no good compromise, it's either an overcrowded (and these days laggy too) server or simply under populated. Most of the players just enjoy having a healthy realm to play on, not to mention the fact that most of them are scared of having the older realm (Anathema) die because of way too many players jumping ship. The result is what you can see now, 2 ghost towns and 1 very high populated server.

These are your choices:
Anathema, population between 500 to 1500 at peak times, Naxxramas almost relased.
Darrowshire (PvE), population similar to Anathema (slightly more lately), AQ to be released sometime in the future (I have no idea when).
Elysium, population between 5000 to 9000 at peak times, BWL released recently (which means it's at patch 1.6, ZG is still not there).

None of them are exactly what you described to be your ideal server, but Elysium is probably your best bet since it's not far ahead with content and realm seems alive, even though it has more players than you hoped.

[FEYAARES 3]

The last option you have at the end is the Crestfall server but it's not released atm. 
If you want to wait some few months you can make a fresh start on it with everyone (the server should be caped at 4/5k ppl online so maybe some queue but not overpopulated when playing). It will be a PTE server so Vanilla -> TBC -> TLK 

[Zarno 0]

Thank you so much for clarifying this server thing for me Keala! 

It is really helpful the way you gave me the options. It seems like I'll be joining Elysium. :) 

Are server transfers being offered sometimes? If some other servers get created? 

What server are you guys on? :)

Thank you o much for bringing Crestfall to my attention Feyaares! While i know that I can't wait for it to come up, it doesn't mean that it won't be an option later with another character (having a hard time deciding class so I will surely want another one down the road anyway)

When I read forums about this through google, I always stumble upon some old post mentioning Zek'thar server and stuff like that.. And every time I end up reading 40-50 post before realising they are more than a half year old. 
Nice with some fresh words guys.

Cheers

[FEYAARES 3]

I'm on Anathema horde side ! 
But Anathema is at the end content and in some months (year, century, I don't know) will progress to TBC (theoretically before Elysium).

So there is a lot of option for you :) 

Have a good start and lot of fun !

[Zarno 0]

Thanks a lot Feyaares :)  There truly is a lot of options for me. 

Thanks again for your input.

[Keala 28]

Right now, there are no transfers being offered, although there is no guarantee it will always be like this. The only tranfers that would make sense are from Elysium to either Anathema or Darrowshire, simply because being the least progressed server, it would be impossible or really hard to do the opposite (Anathema/Darrowshire -> Elysium), considering players from Anathema and Darrowshire have gear currently unobtainable on Elysium, which means they would have to either remove those items or disable them until the correct patch hits. You never know, maybe they will actually implement those, it's hard to say right now. I can see them implementing transfers from Elysium to the other 2 realms though.

I play on Anathema horde side, waiting for Naxxramas to be released on September.

Zeth'Kur was basically a mistake made by the staff. When Elysium released, it had an insane population with probably 10k players (I can't tell right now, but extremely high) and since it had a cap, there were insane queues as well (10k+ players waiting to log). They decided it was for the best to release another one in order to alleviate the mess on Elysium, which ended up backfiring after some months. Because of other reasons (mainly the fresh hype disappearing and some old drama happening back then), Zeth'Kur ended up being a ghost town. It was decided to shut it down after offering the players still playing there a transfer option to any of the other current realms.

[Zarno 0]

6 minutes ago, Keala said:

Right now, there are no transfers being offered, although there is no guarantee it will always be like this. The only tranfers that would make sense are from Elysium to either Anathema or Darrowshire, simply because being the least progressed server, it would be impossible or really hard to do the opposite (Anathema/Darrowshire -> Elysium), considering players from Anathema and Darrowshire have gear currently unobtainable on Elysium, which means they would have to either remove those items or disable them until the correct patch hits. You never know, maybe they will actually implement those, it's hard to say right now. I can see them implementing transfers from Elysium to the other 2 realms though.

That makes perfectly sense! I didn't even take that into account. 

So it would be another thing to take into consideration when choosing realm. 

 

8 minutes ago, Keala said:

Zeth'Kur was basically a mistake made by the staff. When Elysium released, it had an insane population with probably 10k players (I can't tell right now, but extremely high) and since it had a cap, there were insane queues as well (10k+ players waiting to log). They decided it was for the best to release another one in order to alleviate the mess on Elysium, which ended up backfiring after some months. Because of other reasons (mainly the fresh hype disappearing and some old drama happening back then), Zeth'Kur ended up being a ghost town. It was decided to shut it down after offering the players still playing there a transfer option to any of the other current realms.

Oh okay that's why they keep mentioning Zeth'kur and free transfer on that server - Finally feeling up to date! 

What Class do you play Keala? :) 

I did create a character on Elysium and I did all the quests till' Thunderbluff with a Tauren and it felt great regarding amount of players -also in Thunderbluff ( I know that Thunderbluff is not where everyone will be but still) 

[Keala 28]

I play mainly Rogue.

The only place that you might not enjoy are The Barrens, because it's way too overcrowded most of the times, and Stranglethorn (the ganking happening sometimes is pretty crazy).

[Zarno 0]

Okay thanks a lot! 

I have decided to follow your suggestion and go for Elysium to start with. The progression of content as well as the posibility of a later transfer should a new server arrive is intriguing. 

Once again thanks for your very descriptive replies. :)

Happy gaming Keala!

[Keala 28]

You're welcome.

Lastly, I should probably mention one more thing that I forgot which might change your idea: TBC has been announced recently aswell, and according to their current plan, Anathema will be the first to have the option to transfer the characters there. I have no idea how much you enjoyed TBC in the past, but keep that in mind aswell. If they don't change their mind about it and you're also really interested in playing TBC, Anathema then might just be a better option.

[Zarno 0]

Oh, is that so?

Well, in time hopefully they will offer it to the other servers. I mean, a lot of time will pass before I get lvl 60, even more, getting tired of Vanilla WoW in general. There's a reason why I want to play Vanilla WoW after all =). Ofcourse if they announce it'll be years then clearly it would sway me to think differently about what server to pick. 

I appreciate your thoroughness in regards to covering all aspects of my choice. 

On a side note, I think I'll be rolling a warrior.