Virtue and Freedom are the two most active servers.
Virtue is the unofficial roleplay server. We mostly Roleplay, but you don't have to. Virtue also has a helpful community. Of course it has drama queens and all that jazz, but that's in any game.
Short answer: Virtue.
"People who take offense to IC actions OOCly need to learn to differentiate between the two... Or change their damn meds."
I play mostly on Virtue and Guardian, but I have found all the servers to be populated by friendly, helpful people.
If you mostly like to solo, it doesn't really matter which server you play on. If you prefer to team, pick one of the busier servers (server list runs from top to bottom as follows: Top - last server visited, Next - least busy server, down to Last - busiest server).
Another thing to keep in mind, Guardian is the "Unofficial West Coast server," so that might be a good one to join if you're in Vancouver or something.
(Sometimes, I wish there could be a Dev thumbs up button for quality posts, because you pretty much nailed it.) -- Ghost Falcon
I've found that it really doesn't matter which server you play on. Myself, I play on pretty much all of them at one time or another. While the "high-population" servers have more people running around and can be easier to throw together a group on, with a little looking you can find a group for almost anything on any of the servers. Using global channels makes a huge difference, regardless of the server you choose.
Since the game is heavily instanced (i.e. most people are inside missions most of the time and therefore can't see broadcast 'yells' and may not necessarily show up on searches (many people run in hidden status to avoid being bothered by spammers). On a global channel you can reach a large portion of the active playerbase on the server you're on, even if they happen to be playing the other faction or on another server at the moment. Definately the best option.
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server
They call virtue the RP server but the RP has decreased lately. I don't RP so I kinda don't mind that. Anyway, it is active and has a more friendly crowd than Freedom. I think the attitude is also a bit more mature on Virtue than Freedom.
Also, try and join global channels so you can easily find teams. Many people post on there when looking to team up etc.
Oh and another thing - we have a double XP weekend coming up. Virtue and Freedom have been notoriusly difficult to log onto during double XP weekends. With the general uptick in population lately, I'm betting it's going to be especially tough to get on those two servers this weekend, especially during the busiest hours.
You might want to start some toons on a less busy server right now and pay to transfer them to Virtue next Monday or Tuesday.
(Sometimes, I wish there could be a Dev thumbs up button for quality posts, because you pretty much nailed it.) -- Ghost Falcon
...Am I the only one that finds it amusing that this question was posted on the Virtue sub-forum? It gave me a chuckle.
Anyway, my two cents? Start out on Virtue. I've met a lot of nice folks here. Go to Freedom if PvP interests you, since that seems to have the higher PvPer population. And, if your computer isn't the best, keep an alt or two on a less used server. I've got a couple over on Victory that I play when Virtue gets packed.
Hi i'm just new to CoH (started today) and am wondering which server would be best for a newbie like myself, or does it really matter which one that one plays on? I chose this one as it seemed to have the most post activity of all the non european servers (I'm from Canada)
any help would be appreciated & thank you in advance