ramuller wrote:Sevenless wrote:Plymouth is the least active server. That being said, it still has 2/3'rds the pop that Roa has at peak. Least active =/= inactive in this case.
This leads me to believe that perhaps the ability to start new characters on a fresh server is more fun than operating established characters. Part of this is probably that we just need a bunch more skills to provide more stuff for high level characters to do when they aren't out raiding.
However, it may also be that there is less and less low hanging raiding fruit so the time between raiding successes increases. If this is correct, then turning established raiding communities loose on new servers will result in yet more people on the new servers gobbling up that low hanging fruit, driving those players who provide that fruit to yet another new server.
Generally speaking that's not far off the mark. Most of plymouth is either out of the way of major raiders, or well enough defended that the raiders are leaving them alone.
You've got to remember that people like the idea of fresh areas to colonize. I think this effect isn't caused by players migrating from plymouth to other servers, I think it's the new keys being released. It's generally known in most games that have "shards" that you'll be less behind the curve if you go to the newest one. Even casuals like the idea of not being further behind than necessary.
So what I'd expect is that new servers are almost entirely new accounts playing. Plymouth will have gotten some new accounts (from people just not reading much) and will have its backbone community still in place.
Edit: And jamestown is less popular than roa because the area around the spawn has a fair number of ridges. New players get frustrated with that and either quit or try another server from what I've heard.
It's been neat to see the evolution of a game. Salem has come so far, and still has far to go. Although frustrating, I think it's been an experience worth the effort.
