The health of server populations in Season of Discovery (SoD) is a crucial topic for players. Currently, servers like Chaos Bolt and Lava Lash are labeled as Medium Population, but their actual size is significantly smaller, approximately 10% of the Full Population servers in SoD. While these medium pop servers are currently comparable in size to original Vanilla and Burning Crusade Classic servers, hosting around 4,000 active raiders each, concerns arise when considering the typical player trends in World of Warcraft.
World of Warcraft, in general, experiences a player base that peaks at the launch of a new version or season, naturally declining afterwards. Season of Discovery is likely following this pattern, having already reached its maximum player count. This population decrease poses a greater risk to medium population servers compared to their full counterparts. Full servers, boasting over 50,000 raiders and requiring multiple layers even during off-peak hours, possess a buffer against population decline. Even with a significant drop to, say, 10,000 players by Phase 4, these servers would still maintain a healthy and active environment.
However, medium population servers like Chaos Bolt and Lava Lash face a different trajectory. If their current 4,000 to 6,000 player base represents their peak, continued population decline through the phases of Season of Discovery could lead to server populations dwindling to below a thousand players by level 60. This raises valid concerns for players heavily invested in these servers about the long-term server health and their gameplay experience.
Historically, servers like Chaos Bolt were created as a response to overwhelming demand on launch day, specifically when Crusader Strike experienced login queues. While Chaos Bolt was intended to alleviate pressure, the server lock on Crusader Strike was short-lived, limiting Chaos Bolt’s ability to attract a larger population from the outset.
For players currently enjoying their time on medium population servers, the advice is to continue playing there in the short term. However, it would be prudent to consider creating an alternative character on one of the Full Population SoD servers as a contingency plan. Utilizing the time before Phase 2 to level an alt to 25, and subsequently to 40 before Phase 3, provides a backup option. This ensures that if the medium population server declines significantly by Phase 4, players have a leveled character ready on a more stable, full population server.
Realistically, server merges for Season of Discovery are unlikely due to the seasonal nature of the content. This means medium population servers could potentially face population issues as the season progresses, and players might find their characters on servers with significantly reduced activity levels later in Season of Discovery.
