Realms tend to field maybe 100-150 each total pop most nights, but only a small portion of that can be considered active rvr. It drops off dramatically after 10:30pm Eastern US time. There are many many more characters than there are unique players too - meaning that when you see a new name, chances are it's somebody you already know just making their 50th alt.
Many people now play all 3 realms and just follow the population RP bonus around. You can be running with them one moment, and then fighting them the next. There's certainly not enough unique individuals to hold up 3 realms.
As far as my observations from the Alb viewpoint on realms:
Albion is a little dormant right now and generally considered the worst realm to join. It does have population, but many of them are buffbots. Cooperation in Albion usually just some 8v8 groups converging on a shared goal
Hibernia only exists because of one battlegroup leader. This was proven quite decisively when said BG leader left, went to Alb, and the realm vanished almost completely from the rvr scene for several months. Hib is doing better now that everybody is back where they belong though. Hib has a very good Battlegroup, but when it logs the realm dies out
Mid seems to be the most well rounded realm right now. They will disagree and say its a mess, but the reality is this: If an Alb dies in the frontier nobody cares. If a Mid dies in the frontier, they instantly get a group together to pursue. We see this regularly when we run their maze or dopp loop, and have to account for a Mid BG showing up every time we get a kill.
The current free-shard server Eden seems to have several thousand people playing at once, but I cannot confirm as I do not play there. If this is true, it is quite sad
The problem is that people seem to want to run with a BG leader and Hib has the only constant one running. When Hib runs a BG, there doesn't seem to be a consistent leader for Alb/Mid when they run during Herorius' (European primetime) hours . Also, some of the "elite" groups seem to run on the realm with the greater numbers so that deters others from forming up as they don't want to deal with the over populated BG and the "elite" groups.
Sadly the other server seems to be pulling in numbers equal to or greater during American primetime hours even with their season 2 beta going on.
It is a little alarming when your realms population is 65 people, many of which are bots, during what are still prime time hours on the US West Coast.
I came to the official servers because I figured there would be less chance at having progress eventually wiped out like you see on other servers, but I have my doubts about the future of the game lately. My understanding is the one of the main reasons "official" DAOC even exists is because some executive at EA has a soft spot for it which is not a very stable foothold given as often as cooperate leadership moves around these days.
reason alb is dormant..broadsword has been nerfing them since thornhill took over..if ya think im wrong..take a look at all the patches..do the math..see the bias.
Comments
Realms tend to field maybe 100-150 each total pop most nights, but only a small portion of that can be considered active rvr. It drops off dramatically after 10:30pm Eastern US time. There are many many more characters than there are unique players too - meaning that when you see a new name, chances are it's somebody you already know just making their 50th alt.
Many people now play all 3 realms and just follow the population RP bonus around. You can be running with them one moment, and then fighting them the next. There's certainly not enough unique individuals to hold up 3 realms.
As far as my observations from the Alb viewpoint on realms:
Albion is a little dormant right now and generally considered the worst realm to join. It does have population, but many of them are buffbots. Cooperation in Albion usually just some 8v8 groups converging on a shared goal
Hibernia only exists because of one battlegroup leader. This was proven quite decisively when said BG leader left, went to Alb, and the realm vanished almost completely from the rvr scene for several months. Hib is doing better now that everybody is back where they belong though. Hib has a very good Battlegroup, but when it logs the realm dies out
Mid seems to be the most well rounded realm right now. They will disagree and say its a mess, but the reality is this: If an Alb dies in the frontier nobody cares. If a Mid dies in the frontier, they instantly get a group together to pursue. We see this regularly when we run their maze or dopp loop, and have to account for a Mid BG showing up every time we get a kill.
The current free-shard server Eden seems to have several thousand people playing at once, but I cannot confirm as I do not play there. If this is true, it is quite sad
Sadly the other server seems to be pulling in numbers equal to or greater during American primetime hours even with their season 2 beta going on.
I came to the official servers because I figured there would be less chance at having progress eventually wiped out like you see on other servers, but I have my doubts about the future of the game lately. My understanding is the one of the main reasons "official" DAOC even exists is because some executive at EA has a soft spot for it which is not a very stable foothold given as often as cooperate leadership moves around these days.
Molvik and Cathal Valley seem to have some action depending on the day/time zone. Hopefully more people will come back once the weather turns colder.