WoW Realms : Finding the Right Fit

One of the very first decisions that you will have to make as a new player is choosing a realm. There’s plenty of thoughts on what type of server offers the best gaming experience, but the truth is that only you can decide the right home for your new toon.

Don’t worry, we’re going to teach you how to make the decision as painless as possible.

The Many Types of Realms

There’s several different types of gameplay available, and each type of realm has its advantages and disadvantages.

PvE

This is the vanilla of the WoW world—it’s the safe flavor, the one that everyone reaches for because they know it won’t disappoint.

Player vs. Environment realms are a popular choice because you can never be forced into combat with other players. If players feel adventurous, they can flip their PvP flag so that the opposite faction can attack them, but this on a strictly voluntary basis.

If you prefer a safe daily grind and don’t care too much for player combat, PvE offers a nice comfort zone. If you change your mind later, you can always participate in battlegrounds.

PvP

It was named “World of Warcraft” for a reason! PvP realms are designed for Player vs. Player combat.

Don’t worry, new players can take it easy until they leave their starting zone. Your PvP flag will automatically be set so that other players won’t be able to attack you.

Once you leave your territory and begin to venture into enemy zones, however, your PvP flag will be reset and you become fair game.

This extra layer of spontaneity can break up the frustration and boredome of the daily grind. However, there are some things to keep in mind before you roll PvP :

• PvP is not dueling—fair fights are the exception, not the norm. You may be minding your own business hacking away at a mob when suddenly three players are hacking away at you.
• Red is dead. This is a phrase that you’ll hear a lot in game as someone is teabagging your corpse. You’ll notice pretty quickly that opposing faction members have red names. Expect level 60 players to kill you at level 10 if you turn your flag on. Most players won’t check or care about your level, they just see red and go for the kill.
• Rez camping happens to everyone. There will always be the dick that hangs around your body and waits until you ressurect so that he can kill you again. While this doesn’t happen too often, it’s always frustrating.

Don’t let the idea of being ganked or camped scare you away from the PvP experience.

The same players that are taunting you have probably been ganked a thousand times on the way up. The key to enjoying any server is to make friends, but it’s especially beneficial in the PvP environment. Have someone camping you? No problem if you have a few guildies willing to help you out.

RP

There’s no difference in gameplay mechanics between RP and PvE servers. This server type is, in theory, reserved for players that like to roleplay while gaming.

I say “in theory” because your mileage may vary depending on the individual server.

There are many non-RPers who choose to play on RP servers. This used to be because the community was perceived as being more friendly and mature, but the influx of non-RPers into these servers have blurred these lines considerably.

If you are planning on making a role play character, it’s particularly important to research your server before signing up and see if the RP community is active.

RP-PVP

Out of all the servers, the RP-PvP realms are the rarest and least populated. Despite what you would think, there’s still a fair amount of camping and ganking on these servers.

Making the Choice

Okay, so you know what type of realm you want—now how do you pick the right community? What makes one server better than the other?

The realm list has grown over the years along with the player base. Like the players themselves, some are very old while others are fresh off the shelves.

Old Realms

Old realms typically have a large playerbase of hardcore gamers. Elite raiding guilds are a dime a dozen and towns are overflowing with players trying to procrastinate. Many of the low level toons that you meet will be alt characters.

Here are a few things to consider when choosing aging realms :

• With a higher population comes a greater competition for game resources. If you’ve rolled PvP, this means a lot more ganking and camping at bottleneck quest spawns.
• It can be very frustrating to be a brand new player when everyone has maxed equipment and twinked toons.
• There are lots of highend raid groups. This is great because it gives you plenty of players to enjoy the 60+ levels with, but it also means that raid groups are much more selective. It can be hard to flesh out your first toon and get the equipment you need to be an attractive teammate.

New Realms

These realms are usually easier going for grinding out new toons. There’s going to be a lot of other new players, too, since they are close to the top of the server list. This means that you can experience the game with players with the same level of experience.

Here are some things to consider before rolling in a new realm:

• Less players generally means less money. Players in lower population realms are more stingy with their gold and playing the Auction House for gold can become less reliable.
• You will be able to find low-level dungeons easier than in older realms, but you will struggle more finding groups past 60.
• Less population also means less opportunities to meet with and play with new people. Sometimes it seems like everyone is doing their own thing and have no interest in socializing.

We’re almost there! Once you’ve decided on around what type of population numbers you’d like to see on your server, there’s still one more really important number to analyze.

Alliance vs. Horde Ratio

Do you like being the underdog?

One great way to get a feel for your server is by checking out its Alliance/Horde ratio. Depending on which side you play, you may find yourself sorely outnumbered.

For some players, this can be fun because it adds an extra layer of difficulty. You should be aware, however, that playing on the wrong side of a 93/7 server split can lead to anger issues.

Checking Out the Community

When you’ve narrowed your choices down to a manageable list, it’s time to do some last minute digging. The only real way you can get a feel for a community is by experiencing it, after all.

Your next stop is looking up the forums for your server where you can see what guilds are recruiting and all the latest server drama.

This is your brief glimpse into the daily life of a community—take a few minutes to see what you’re getting involved with. Do you want a mature community? A laid back community? Maybe you just want something like the WWF version of Days of Our Lives. There’s servers for that, too.

Time to Roll

This is a pretty lengthy list, and I’m willing to bet that not many made it all the way to the bottom. That’s OK, though, because in the end, the odds are in your favor that you will enjoy any realm you pick.

The last thing you want is to hit level 50 and suddenly realize that you really wanted to be on a PvP server, though.

Take a little bit of extra time now and you will find that you have much less regrets later on in the game. If all else fails—you can always roll again!