Is this site accurate about Realm status?

[Mike S.]

Is the site linked below accurate about population density on specific
Realms? According to this site, the realm I play on is low population.
That concerns me because even though I rarely group up with other
players, I still want to exist in a world where I can see other people
running around doing their own thing. -->

https://wowanalytica.com/statistics/region/us

[Peter T.]

Post by Mike S.
Is the site linked below accurate about population density on specific
Realms? According to this site, the realm I play on is low population.
That concerns me because even though I rarely group up with other
players, I still want to exist in a world where I can see other people
running around doing their own thing. -->
https://wowanalytica.com/statistics/region/us

Good question. I haven't played the game for over a year, but I'm gonna
buy the new expansion tonight.

At the bottom of the page it says:

--
©2021 wowanalytica.com. All rights reserved.

©2021 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks
referenced herein are the properties of their respective owners.
--

So it looks like an official Blizzard page. But I doubt as Blizzard
keeps the numbers close. I did a quick search:

<https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/is-there-a-website-that-shows-an-accurate-server-population/1137135>

<https://old.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/q6viby/is_wowanalytica_a_legit_resource/>

So I guess the numbers are fairly accurate. But only Blizzard knows the
real numbers.

[Mike S.]

Post by Peter T.
So I guess the numbers are fairly accurate. But only Blizzard knows the
real numbers.

Thank you for replying.

[Catriona R]

Post by Mike S.
Is the site linked below accurate about population density on specific
Realms? According to this site, the realm I play on is low population.
That concerns me because even though I rarely group up with other
players, I still want to exist in a world where I can see other people
running around doing their own thing. -->
https://wowanalytica.com/statistics/region/us

I think all the population sites are inaccurate, as there's no
reliable way to gather the data. I've been using
https://www.wowrealmpopulation.com/ lately, which seems tocount more
than only raiders (most others have smaller totals and are
raid-orientated), but it disagrees with the rest on how high
population my realm is (most have mine 1st or 2nd in Europe, while
this one says 11th). Who's right, who knows, but I'm just delighted to
not be getting peak time queues, which used to be several hours long
at expansion launch, so if it's gone down, great!

As far as low population goes, it only really matters if you notice a
lack of people or want to join large guilds etc; for open world play
the lower population realms are crossrealmed with other realms (and
some have been permanently merged with other realms, which not all the
population websites allow for), so will still have players around.
Also sharding to spread players out is quite aggressive at expansion
launch so even on a high population realm I'm getting some reasonable
peace to quest without fighting for tags, much appreciated.

[Mike S.]

On Mon, 05 Dec 2022 22:50:52 +0000, Catriona R

Post by Catriona R
As far as low population goes, it only really matters if you notice a
lack of people or want to join large guilds etc; for open world play
the lower population realms are crossrealmed with other realms (and
some have been permanently merged with other realms, which not all the
population websites allow for), so will still have players around.

I actually forgot about this. Thank you for the reminder of how
Blizzard servers work.

What about the Auction House? Will I notice a difference in activity
between a high pop and a low pop server?

[Catriona R]

Post by Mike S.
On Mon, 05 Dec 2022 22:50:52 +0000, Catriona R

Post by Catriona R
As far as low population goes, it only really matters if you notice a
lack of people or want to join large guilds etc; for open world play
the lower population realms are crossrealmed with other realms (and
some have been permanently merged with other realms, which not all the
population websites allow for), so will still have players around.

I actually forgot about this. Thank you for the reminder of how
Blizzard servers work.
What about the Auction House? Will I notice a difference in activity
between a high pop and a low pop server?

On *some* items, the AH is now region-wide, I think it's stackable
items like trade goods, comsumables etc. On others, like armour, it's
not, so you'll notice that more, but for getting rid of or buying
crafting mats, it's the same for everyone now.

(And it's very annoying too when you're trying to buy something
popular at peak time and it's instantly gone because the whole region
is trying to buy the same things... this is the first expansion launch
since that change and it's showing its flaws a little when demand is
so high)

[Tim Merrigan]

On Tue, 06 Dec 2022 01:28:03 +0000, Catriona R

Post by Catriona R

Post by Mike S.
On Mon, 05 Dec 2022 22:50:52 +0000, Catriona R

Post by Catriona R
As far as low population goes, it only really matters if you notice a
lack of people or want to join large guilds etc; for open world play
the lower population realms are crossrealmed with other realms (and
some have been permanently merged with other realms, which not all the
population websites allow for), so will still have players around.

I actually forgot about this. Thank you for the reminder of how
Blizzard servers work.
What about the Auction House? Will I notice a difference in activity
between a high pop and a low pop server?

On *some* items, the AH is now region-wide, I think it's stackable
items like trade goods, comsumables etc. On others, like armour, it's
not, so you'll notice that more, but for getting rid of or buying
crafting mats, it's the same for everyone now.
(And it's very annoying too when you're trying to buy something
popular at peak time and it's instantly gone because the whole region
is trying to buy the same things... this is the first expansion launch
since that change and it's showing its flaws a little when demand is
so high)

Slight change of topic, and I can only talk of Garona, in the U.S.
realms. I accidentally noticed that gold can now be transferred
between factions.

I have, for years, given all the gold I have in the faction to the alt
I'm currently playing (I don't have a main, per se). Now I can
transfer all my gold to the alt I'm currently playing.

P.S. Catriona, what do you mean by "region"?

[Catriona R]

Post by Tim Merrigan
Slight change of topic, and I can only talk of Garona, in the U.S.
realms. I accidentally noticed that gold can now be transferred
between factions.
I have, for years, given all the gold I have in the faction to the alt
I'm currently playing (I don't have a main, per se). Now I can
transfer all my gold to the alt I'm currently playing.

Yep, also a good recent change, can send items too (any BoE/unbound,
not only BoA as it was before) - I think that changed when they
allowed limited cross-faction grouping?

Post by Tim Merrigan
P.S. Catriona, what do you mean by "region"?

Europe, or North America (or China, Taiwan, whatever the other Asian
server groupings are) - basically when you open the realm list, ALL of
those realms, including those on other language tabs (I think).