Numerical difference between old and new

Yesterday evening, during prime time, I ran the Census+ program on both the old Runetotem server (Horde), and the new Bronzebeard server (Alliance). Curiously the Runetotem server had an official "Full" tag, but was easy to get into, while the Bronzebeard server had an official "Recommended" tag, but already had a small waiting queue.

The total number of players on the Runetotem Horde side was 816, slightly lower than the 900+ observed earlier this year. The Bronzebeard Alliance was 1342 players strong. But the real difference was in the level distribution: On Runetotem nearly half the players, 380 out of 816, were level 60. On Bronzebeard only 5 players of level 60 were seen.

I am playing on Bronzebeard, because it is easier to find a low-level group. On Bronzebeard there were 45 players of level 20 online, to take an example. On Runetotem there were only 7 players of level 20. So statistically it is about 6 times easier to find a level 20 group on Bronzebeard than on Runetotem.

Another major difference was class distribution. On Bronzebeard it seems that everybody is playing what he wants to play. There are lots of hunters (19%), but very few priests (6%). On Runetotem a similar distribution was observed earlier in the game, but now among the level 60 the distribution is more or less even. It seems that some people play a character "for the guild", like a priest, because these are simply necessary for the more challenging high-level encounters. Well, I'm not planning on going raiding with my new character later, so I don't care that I'm part of the most numerous, and least popular for groups, class.
- posted by Tobold @ 8:34 AM Permanent Link