Low vs high population servers

Strevi

Is there any advantage to be on a fully populated server?
Or will the low population servers offer a better experience?

Bullvinne

Unknown at this time. Although they have a lofty goal of having 8-10k population per server.

akabear

That will be a hard one.. as the mob joins and leaves games at an alarming speed nowadays.. join, consume, leave.. so I imagine a little like NW experienced.. and there will be server merges a few months after start when the core remains..

Would be nice to see they start up systems for node development factor nodal community moves of something of the like that NW did.. NW move guilds I believe

bloodprophet

Being on a high population server is better.
Server feels more alive. Easier to find groups to both group with and complete against.

PlasticLemons

We just won't know until we get into the world and see. Gameplay will without a doubt be better on higher pop servers since there will be more chances to get involved in conflicts, nodes should level easier, wars will happen more often, etc. Low pop servers could be fun still tho since Ashes will be a blast. Maybe low pop servers will be the "PvE" servers

Strevi

PlasticLemons wrote: »

We just won't know until we get into the world and see. Gameplay will without a doubt be better on higher pop servers since there will be more chances to get involved in conflicts, nodes should level easier, wars will happen more often, etc. Low pop servers could be fun still tho since Ashes will be a blast. Maybe low pop servers will be the "PvE" servers

Then players might ask for many low pop servers and oppose server merges?

Garrtok

It's very much likely that even ashes will be an awesome game alot of initial servers will have super low player count after some time. I guess they should prepare for this scenario

BaSkA_9x2

First off Intrepid needs to decide what average number of online players is low enough to make servers merge. I believe that an average of about 3~4 thousand people online during prime time is more than enough for a server not to be merged.

So, if low population servers have an average of 3 or 4 thousand during prime time, I feel like those servers will be safer in general regarding owPvP for both corrupted players and non-combatants. It'll probably be easier to dominate large zones in these servers if you have enough numbers and skill, which is fine, because on the other hand it'll be easier to be a successful small group/guild far away from the zergs.

I think that lower population servers won't have multiple Metropolises, not because they won't be able to level them up, but because the "upkeep" will probably be high, needing hundreds of players to keep each one alive on a weekly(?) basis. That's not an issue per se, but it might be a concern for some.

At the end of the day, like in most PvP MMOs, server population will affect gameplay and players with different playstyles will lean towards more lively or quieter servers.