OOC: A Realm of Possiblies

I constantly see threads on my realm forums from people looking to potentially transfer that want information on the server that's easily obtainable via google. Their frequency is alarming, as is the fact that people would rather make an entire thread and wait on replies that are subject to opinion and trolling rather than just getting the hard facts right away. Now, don't get me wrong. Forums are all about discussion, and if you have a question about the server that promotes it like: "Is there a lot of Dwarf roleplay here? What kind Dwarf characters do you see being roleplayed and what do you think of them?" Then all the power to you.

If you want to find out more about the roleplay on a roleplay server your best bet is always just roll a character on that realm, run to a major city with any roleplay mods you use enabled and have a look around. You want the make the most of your investment, so finding out for yourself is guaranteed to be better than just waiting on people to tell you if they think a server is worth the twenty five bucks or not. Sadly, most of the posts I see are like the example I posted after the break.

Thread tittle: Hey guys, I'm lazy~!

Hey guys, I was thinking of transferring here. Could you answer some questions for me? My keyboard broke and can't google anything or type anything in. Oh, and my WoW isn't working so I can't roll a level one on this server and spend 5 minutes running it to a major city to ask questions in trade. I also can't go back and search for a topic just like this that has been made once a day, every day without fail since the server opened, lol.

• What is progression like here? If you can't tell from my knack for preparation and initiative, I'm anticipating serious raiding guilds to fight over who gets to have a player like me.
• What battlegroup is this server in anyways?
• Who wins the most battlegrounds here? I need to gain epics with as little effort on my part as possible. (See question number one.)
• What's the Alliance to Horde ratio like?
• Who are the top guilds?

Now that we've established there's a need, I'm going to show you how to research and pick the perfect realm for you.

Step one, what kind of server are you looking for?

For the sake of example, let's say I'm looking for a PvE roleplaying realm that's Central Standard Time. Warcraft realms has a handy list of all the servers, timezones and faction ratios and populations here. Using my trusty pen and paper, I make a brief list. Because I have foresight, I also make note of the faction ratio on each server as well. It goes without saying that this also answers our other question about the balance of Alliance to Horde. My list looks like this:

• 1.8:1 Farstriders
• 1.6:1 Kirin Tor
• 1.1:1 Moonguard
• 2.1:1 Scarlet Crusade
• 1:1.1 Sisters of Elune
  
• 1.2:1.4 Thorium Brotherhood

Hypothetically, I'm looking for a server with more Horde so Sisters of Elune and Thorium Brotherhood appeal to me. I also want something small, so Thorium Brotherhood is my choice as it's population is approximately 4,500. If you're stuck and can't decide between a realm or two, the next few steps will help with that.

Step two, what is progression like?

WoW Progression is a great site for this, and it's easier to navigate than your mom (sorry, couldn't resist). Moving ever forward, I look at the progression on Thorium Brotherhood. I now have a list of all the raiding guilds on my server of choice, what bosses they've killed and how often, what achievements they've gotten, if they're Horde or Alliance, links to their websites, and pretty much the answers to very raiding related question to the server and how it relates to other servers.

Step three, what battlegroup is this server in?

There is a very good list with a built in search function (for those of you still ignorant of the wonders of Ctrl + F) on the official WoW website. Have you noticed how much easier this is than typing out a post asking people to answer your questions for you? Knowledge is so empowering.

Step four, who wins the most battlegrounds?

We're back to Warcraftrealms again, this time looking over their Battleground stats. It's easy, I just select my prospective battlegroup 'Vengeance' from the drop down menu and select the bracket I'm most interested in (in this case, level 80). Now I can see when every battleground in that bracket that was played and who won, giving me a infinity clearer picture of what PvP is like with this battlegroup then someone posting "lol alliance always wins" ever could. Isn't that awesome?

Ta da!

There you have it, the answers to all your realm-seeking questions that aren't coloured by opinion. You can get them instantly, and without having to clutter up the forums of your prospective new home in the World of Warcraft. Looking to see what the roleplay is like? I maintain my stance from earlier: Roll a new character and poke around, you're going to learn more.