Is Virtue truly the biggest population server?

A number of signs seem to indicate that Virtue has bypassed Freedom as the largest server in the game.

I'm curious to know how that could have happened. Could the changes in AE made Freedom less popular? Have people just been joining Virtue due to it's good reputation for teaming, and conversely, Freedom's somewhat undeserved reputation for being a server full of PLers, PvPers and other undesirables (*being a bit sarcastic on this last part*).

With Virtue being #1, I'm a little worried that people will join Virtue just because it's the biggest. In the past, I thought that people who joined this server did so with a bit of foresight. They were looking for a slightly different CoH experience.

I remember when I joined this server for the first time back in 2005, invited by Snipefu (who now resides in WoW), I was amazed to see a server where people actually filled out their bios, had well designed costumes and spoke in parentheses. It was different and I liked it, even if I wasn't a RPer per se.

Change, for better or for ill, happens and it appears my corner of the CoH gaming experience has been "discovered" by the rest of the community. I just hope that the general character of this server can somewhat stay the same.

I actually heard this from a few people, too. Apparently a few new players, upon their initial login, saw Virtue at 2 dots and Freedom at 1. I have to admit I share the same concerns you do, but hopefully it'll work itself out.

Or maybe it'll go the other way. The newcomers might pick up on the better habits of Virtue players. Or they'll all become ERPers. Either way, good times.

I hope they all become ERPers myself.

What other server could have an entire Task Force busy afk?

I think Freedom took something of a population hit with the AE fix, (I refuse to call it a nerf) but I don't think they would have dropped so far that the population is now below Virtue's. They were anecdotally pretty far ahead of us, nearly as far ahead as we are from Justice or Infinity. Even a large scale drop would probably just move us to a more even population.

Also remember that while load and population correspond, the two aren't equal. Freedom received some hardware upgrades that the other servers haven't yet and that would mean they can handle larger numbers better than Virtue can right now. When Virtue gets its upgrade we'll probably drop back down to our usual number two spot.

In my opinion Virtue is also more likely to have people who do things that create greater load for the server. Gathering a large number of people in one place is rougher on the server than that same number divided into teams and scattered into instanced missions. Pocket D here is never really empty and Atlas Park wasn't filled up with people just because of the AE building. Pocket D crowds in particular are unique to Virtue in my experience.

Every server raids the mothership and we're no exception. That's a large load and we hit the Rikti pretty frequently. I think we're the only server with regular Hamidon raids and while those aren't a continuous thing they impact load whenever they take place.

So while I think that Freedom's load is more or less based entirely on population, Virtue seems to go out of it's way to hold large, load generating gatherings. Clearly we need to be less friendly and talkative if we want to regain the number two spot.

If it is true, I suspect it's because roleplayers care a heck of a lot more about pretty power colors than the people on Freedom do. To some of the complainers I heard, i16 is a waste of an issue for people who wanted new content. Over here on Virtue, we're enjoying our green fire.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

Yes, i16 is a wonderful thing. I sorry for those who aren't enjoying as of I am!!!

Hello Virtue-nites!

I play only on Champion and a few months back a very large mob of SG's left to go to Virtue.
Now idk if that would make a massive difference but personally if i was to move servers i would go to Virtue.
Freedom has too many players that "work" instead of play the game and all the other server's have too small of a population to make teaming viable.

Im sure there are others that think the same.

Your RP'ing rep would pull in a lot of peoples
Freedom's fulla "undesirables"
And the rest just arnt big enough for some peoples tastes.


/2inf

Member of the Stoned Templars

{|-|} Easy Kills {|-|} A&TC {|-|}

A random thought just came to me. I guess folks finally took the "<------ Virtue" auto-response seriously.

I'm not sure that this is necessarily a good thing. Freedom Server has acted as kind of a filter for the rest of us, Virtue included. If Virtue takes the top spot, we'll be absorbing a lot more of the people who just click on the top server in the list without bothering to learn anything about it first. It's kind of like the difference between Atlas Park and Galaxy City. I really prefer Virtue to maintain a solid 2nd place spot because people have been deliberately seeking it out, rather than 1st because it's just where people get funneled by the interface.

I have faith that Virtue's current identity will remain. That being said, would be nice to create, attend, and support more community events. The holidays are around the corner. Best time of year.

Server status measures server load, not population.
And who do you figure has first dibs on hardware upgrades?

My unscientific survey (logging in various characters to check the markets every day) hasn't indicated any noticeable decline in Freedoms or increase in Virtue's population.

Well I will add this. The DOTS show load not population, but I think the ORDER does show (reversely) population. I have seen Virtue at two dots with Freedom at 1 on a couple occasions. I play exclusively on Virtue, so its always at the top for me, but I accidently clicked on another server once and when i went back to the server select screen, Virtue was on the very bottom, with Freedom second, not the other way around it has always been. I took notice, so maybe there is something to this after all.

Anyway, I started on Virtue a couple months into the game. Had lots of friends come and fill up thier slots and move to other servers, but after trying to leave and start over once, I gave up and am only virtue for life.

I just hope we get more catgirls
RAWR!!!

Well from my recent experience, something is going on, as when I was filling in for Posthaste Friday night, I had 2 new people show up who were trolling the crowd around me. From being paitent after my show I come to find out they normally play on Freedom, but were bored over there so they cam eover to pick on us "RPers" (for those that remember the furrsecution characters they were trying the same thing only in a reporter type vein).

Whether this means that Freedom is less populated IDK, but it is interesting none the less.

(And yes, they got the IC Shecky is a degenerate treatment once I saw that they were trolling)

Initially I came to Virtue due to it having more people on it than my original server Infinity and I haven't regreted it since.

I roleplay on and off when the mood hits me and find that most people on this server are pretty kool overall which is the main reason I stayed.