Bigger is Better

We are moving servers. I know... big shocker, right? Honestly, the only thing I didn't see coming is that it took us this long to do it. I came to this server to raid with a friend, cannot raid with him due to R/L commitments, and instead of leaving I stuck around to try and make my own guild here. Bad choice.

The server I am leaving has a medium sized population. The only problem is that 80% of it is Alliance. That leaves a very low population on the Horde side, which has all sorts of awful effects. The economy is in disarray to the point where all crafting materials are a minimum of twice the price that you pay for the crafted item they create. It is bad enough that making 1k gold a day gross income is a good day; the supply of things you need are low across the board, even having gaps at times; and players are almost impossible to find. Notice that I said 'players', not 'good players'.

Let me paint a picture for you. It is Tuesday evening, prime time on reset day. The Horde just won TB for the first time of the day. What is trade chat filled with? Silence... even the crickets have left the server and aren't around to chirp. I form up a BH raid with the tank and healer spots already taken care of, as well as a couple of DPS. I decide to PuG the last four spots and advertise in trade. Please remember, my group has geared and accomplished players in it that already include the tanks and healers. I am asking for DPS... I get nothing. Not even some low level asking, "what BH is and can I come?" After 45 minutes of trying to get some DPS I finally get a retarded Ret Paladin that has half of his gem slots empty, the other half filled with crit gems, and a green AGI polearm asking to join us. Terrible, just terrible.

I did manage to recruit and impress some very skilled players (the only good thing to come out of this server). These players have also equally impressed me. They are sticking with me and following me to Area 52. They came to this server for the same reason that I did and want to leave for the exact same reasons. Why Area 52? It is huge, and bigger is better. Population size isn't the only thing that counts in a server; not by far. It is a great indicator of where to start looking though, and heavily influences almost every other important aspect of a good server. On Area 52 the Horde outnumber the Alliance by extreme amounts. The extremity of the faction imbalance is not necessary, but having your faction in the lead is... even if just by a little. The economy is stable and exactly what you would suspect. Demand for crafted items far outstrips the demand for the materials and creates a way for people to use their crafting skills to make gold. 20 of the guilds on the server are in the world's top 200 ranking, making raid drop BoE's and epic enchanting crystals much more available. Those guilds also draw players. Lots of players. Finding people has never been so easy, and we can afford to PuG our remaining spots while we wait for the awesome players that we actually want to recruit.

I knew all of this stuff. I have known it for a long time. I originally left Gul'dan because the population had dwindled to such low numbers that IF was actually empty on a Saturday afternoon. Why then, didn't I move servers sooner? Because I made a mistake. Yup, happens to everyone. The good thing is that this mistake isn't going to cost me the valuable players I have gained, only a little bit of time.

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P.S. I have started leveling my Priest and healing instances on the way up. Healing hasn't been this much of a blast since vanilla! Blizzard did wonders for the healing game and it really works the way it is supposed to. With that in mind, I am heavily considering switching mains. More on that subject later.