Ask WoW Insider: Best way to find a new server?
by Barb Dybwad 
Oct 5th 2007 at 4:30PM
Welcome everyone to Ask WoW Insider, where we publish one of your questions every Friday (feed us new questions at ask AT wowinsider DOT com!). Last week we looked at how to level a character far from home in another race's starting zone. This week we look at solutions to a common problem: finding a new server. MrRaist writes: This week's question is: What is the best way about moving on, and finding a new server to play on? WoW has so many possibilities when it comes to servers, but what's the best way to find a good one? I play on a US PVE server (won't say the name to protect the lousy players) and I've reached a point where the server doesn't do anything for me anymore. The economy is terrible, the players are terrible, and finding a decent group of players to do anything is just this side of impossible. So how do I move on? Read the forums? Ask WoW Insider? Just take a random stab in the dark with a new toon and then move my old ones over to the new server when I get a feel for the new one? I have 4 toons I want to move, so I'm looking at $100 to move them. I want to be sure before I move any of them to a new home.We've looked at correlated issues before, particularly how to find a good guild, but switching servers en masse presents a different set of problems as well. How would you go about finding a new home for your toons, or do you have experiences to relate about having gone through the process?
What do you think?
LFG KZ has had some ideas on this topic, and of course before you make the leap you'll want to know the best way to /gquit (does anyone else feel a mashup coming on?). Let us know your tried and true methods for finding the best server for you in the comments, and send us your questions for next week to ask AT wowinsider DOT com.
Filed under: Guilds, Ask WoW Insider
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Byron Oct 5th 2007 4:45PM
1. Hang out on your class forums (or the class you want to reroll to), get to know who some of the most knowledgeable and best players are, take note of their servers.
2. Find out which servers have been around a while, are high pop (or at least medium), they usually have more people who know what they're doing.
3. Observe which servers the top arena teams come from.
4. Visit the realm forums for the servers you've observed in 1-3, spend a few weeks lurking, getting a feel for the issues and happenings on that realm, post some questions you may have.
5. Check out the AH - create a toon and run him straight to the nearest city, do some AH research. How many total listings, what are the prices of some standard items and commodities. Compare to your other realms. Best if done over a period of several weeks at least, since prices sometimes fluctuate. Use Auctioneer (http://auctioneeraddon.com/) to automate some of that. If you want to pay for better data, check out http://wowecon.com/
6. Do your research on faction and class balance at http://www.warcraftrealms.com/
Seperioth Oct 5th 2007 4:46PM
Research a guild.. find out the progression.. talk to the guild leader and make sure you got a spot.. make sure there is more then 1 good guild on the server just incase the first one doesn't work out.
The one i'm looking at moving too.. has some old friends who transferred.. they are just entering mt. hyjal and they are in desperate need of my class and spec.. which means phat lootz for me all the time woot!
BUT.. i got alot of friends on the server i'm on now.. and i dont want to up and leave. So i'm making sure my mage hits 70 before i do.
Baluki Oct 5th 2007 5:20PM
All servers are basically the same. You may think that most people are idiots on your server, but that's the way it is everywhere. You can't change servers and find a radically different atmosphere.
The best way to find a new server is just to pick one at random. You can't get away from the idiots, because idiocy is part of gaming culture.
cutegal2402 May 10th 2008 5:15PM
I agree with baluki. I have tried many servers and I have tried all kinds of methods given by others on this page. But they are all the same. A lot of people who think they know how to play but will be bad once you get into a game. It's also the way you look at the way a player plays. I have seen people criticize other players for a method they used, but they are not that bad, people have different ways of playinga toon and this brings diversity and what's a raid without a few wipes. It would be boering if uyou one shotted everything.
klink-o Oct 5th 2007 5:42PM
@3
Agreed. I've played on serveral servers (I got a few friends who are chronic rerollers and they always drag me along for the journey) and they're all pretty much the same, at least in terms of the people you meet (horde/alliance- it don't matter). Focus on finding a server with a large population, serveral guilds at all levels of progression, and a healthy economy. And above all else, don't go in to town and yell in the trade channel "I'm new, is this server cool?". All you'll attract is idiots.
Matthew Oct 5th 2007 5:45PM
@#3, you might think that's the case, but servers do vary *radically* in terms of population. I can play pretty much anywhere if I can buy and sell items on the AH, but that's almost impossible to do on low-pop servers. Try rolling a char on Coilfang Alliance sometime. Just sad.
I would personally just go to the highest-populated realm you can find. The more people there are, the better the economy will be, and the more chances you'll have to find a decent guild. That's my philosophy, anyway. I just moved a warrior from Zangarmarsh (expansion realm) to Proudmoore (launch server) and couldn't be happier.
Gazoo Oct 5th 2007 6:55PM
@3 I wish servers were not different, as you say, but that si simply not the case. I transferred back when the cooldown was 6 months to a friends server (their guild needed a priest badly) and it was horrible. There was a completely different mindset from my normal server, players were much ruder usually, the guilds were organized differently, and the worst part was they called FD and BD Strat, "Undead Strat" and "Living Strat"...;-)
The atmosphere was completely different.. on my current server you can ask a question in Trade or General and get an answer (albeit it can take awhile), but on the other server you just got called a noob and told to shutup.
The differences were night and day...so I have to disagree with you.
Lukk Oct 5th 2007 6:22PM
@1.
Our server formum is the last place to find out about our server unfortunately... Its populated mostly from trolls who left the server long ago, but have nothing better to do (including playing on there new servers) ? :(
Paul Oct 5th 2007 6:22PM
The chance that it just happens that all the idiots in wow are on your server are very small.
Now, i'm not making any assumptions because i don't know the question asker at all, but he/she wrote, "the server doesn't do anything for me anymore".
That forces me to point out that it may be the question asker who is the problem and not everyone else. Maybe you are too inflexible when it comes to finding groups, etc?
Just a thought, and before i get flamed, I want to reiterate that it's a possibility, not something I have knowledge of either way.
big_a88 Oct 5th 2007 6:33PM
This may seem completely random, but I'd begin narrowing my search down by looking at the realms whose server time matches my own time zone. It still frustrates me that I didn't think about the importance of this when I was a newb rolling my first toon to play with my friends.
Now, of course, I belong to a great guild and would never want to leave, but it does create some frustration that many of them are on the West Coast and I live on the East Coast. (Granted, this type of situation will always occur, but...meh. What can you do?)
Here's to wishing Blizz would let you know such things when you're selecting realms for the first time...grrr...
Byron Oct 5th 2007 7:18PM
@6 Sorry to hear that, but I have a pve 70, pvp 70, and a 59 all on different realms, and I find the realm forums to be useful in finding out what's going on the server. You don't find out *everything* of course, but every bit helps.
FireStar Oct 5th 2007 11:20PM
I dont have too many probs with noobs on Illidan (pvp). i would guess pvp servers have better overall players, but i don't know how significantly. on pvp server you have to pay attention more, so levelling up you learn how to pay attention and dont suck as bad in groups either then
babamucha Oct 6th 2007 5:52AM
Check bosskillers for Guilds and Realm progress.
Of course this site is in delayed progress, I think its scanning wow armory listing to calculate the progress.
However for my recommendation, I think its time for you to take a break off from any wow stuff. Get back in a month or so. You should have a more cleared mind.
Kabira-Fenris Oct 6th 2007 9:09AM
Whatever you do, DON'T blindly follow your guild master to a fresh new server just a few months before the new expansion whose name is Fenris. A) the name sucked and I had a bad feeling about it and B) they directed all the brand new trial account players to this particular server and ever since there has been a real noob vibe. It was just like starting out at release all over again - "lol u durid u heal" "lol pallys no tankin" "lol were is SW keep"
ThatNikka Oct 6th 2007 12:37PM
Stay away from Mal'Ganis.
They are the least friendly realm for transfers.
(I have endgame toons on over 10 of the most popular realms, i get around)
Ben Oct 6th 2007 9:30PM
3,4, and 5 have the right of it. Most servers are roughly interchangable, and when it comes to player ability, ease of getting groups, and general server culture, they ARE interchangable. The problems this player describes aren't specific to his server. They're universal, the result of a combination of factors too numerous (and debatable) to cover in a reply.
The bottom line is this: active instance runs are scarce, GOOD instance runs are almost an impossibility. We're well into the fourth or fifth generation of WoW players. No insult intended, but most of the serious gaming community was on at launch or shortly thereafter, and most of them have quit (and those who haven't linger on in hopes of a resurgence or want of a replacement game).
The overwhelming majority of current WoW players have NOT been gamers for long and that does have a direct bearing on average skill level and understanding of group dynamics. Here's a fun poll: ask who's heard of Tribes (not played, just heard of) and who's played Bejewelled. I promise you that the percentages are different than they were even a year ago.
Your best bet is the advice that's already been given. Play the numbers: more players, more skilled players (even if the percentage remains low).
MartinC Oct 8th 2007 6:36AM
@3: No, no, and NO. All servers are NOT the same. The best way to find a new server is NOT to just pick one at random. Spreading misinformation like this just hurts everyone that is looking for useful advice.
The suggestions given by #1 are very good. Of course, if you aren't looking for PVE, you can ignore things like raid progression. Conversely, if you aren't looking to PVP, you can ignore things like top arena teams.
I would say the most important things to consider are how long the server has been around, and the current population. Servers that have been around the longest, and are still the highest population, are a pretty safe bet.