Given the fact that we can only really collect character data over time rather than account data and the huge variation in number of submissions per server it's kind of hard to get an idea of the size of servers. Blizzards server status page doesn't help much either, not enough detail and on top of that it tends to even get that data wrong a lot of the time.
The list with number of characters seen gives an idea but being a numbers nerd I wasted some time trying to get the highest concurrent number of players playing on a certain server. Naturally this data is in no way exact, number of entries on some servers are very small and of course we can't tell weekday/weekend data etc. but it still gives an idea.
What struck me about this list is how close in population most servers really are, at least during prime time.
Here goes (and hope cut'n'paste is nice to the data)
Server ServerType Alliance Horde Ratio Total concurrent Max Notes:
Warsong PVP 1846 1460 1.3 : 1 3306
Frostwolf PVP 1949 1197 1.6 : 1 3146
Archimonde PVP 1484 1660 1:1.1 3144
Argent Dawn RP 2381 752 3.2 : 1 3133
Tichondrius PVP 1570 1499 1:1 3069
Kil'Jaeden PVP 1714 1236 1.4 : 1 2950
Earthen Ring RP 2066 871 2.4 : 1 2937
Ner'zhul PVP 1498 1430 1:1 2928
Proudmoore PVE 2145 778 2.8 : 1 2923
Arthas PVP 1902 1020 1.9 : 1 2922
Gurubashi PVP 1232 1681 1:1.4 2913
Icecrown PVE 2094 810 2.6 : 1 2904
Skullcrusher PVP 1667 1235 1.4 : 1 2902
Doomhammer PVE 1909 957 2:1 2866
Stormrage PVE 2091 695 3:1 2786 poor data
Kilrogg PVE 1833 949 1.9 : 1 2782
Silver Hand RP 2038 726 2.8 : 1 2764
Kel'Thuzad PVP 1615 1142 1.4 : 1 2757
Sargeras PVP 1449 1290 1.1 : 1 2739 poor data
Azjol-Nerub PVE 1900 819 2.3 : 1 2719
Zul'jin PVE 1657 1037 1.6 : 1 2694
Burning Legion PVP 1516 1175 1.3 : 1 2691
Azgalor PVP 1516 1174 1.3 : 1 2690
Illidan PVP 1257 1414 1:1.1 2671
Uther PVE 1934 733 2.6 : 1 2667
Bleeding Hollow PVP 1493 1170 1.3 : 1 2663
Eonar PVE 1909 726 2.6 : 1 2635
Mannoroth PVP 1383 1240 1.1 : 1 2623
Blackhand PVE 1630 961 1.7 : 1 2591 poor data
Khadgar PVE 1768 821 2.2 : 1 2589
Suramar PVE 1860 711 2.6 : 1 2571
Thunderhorn PVE 1813 752 2.4 : 1 2565
Feathermoon RP 1842 715 2.6 : 1 2557
Windrunner PVE 1829 726 2.5 : 1 2555
Shadow Council RP 1606 942 1.7 : 1 2548
Aggramar PVE 1877 666 2.8 : 1 2543
Alleria PVE 1891 652 2.9 : 1 2543
Uldum PVE 1876 667 2.8 : 1 2543
Medivh PVE 1804 735 2.5 : 1 2539
Kargath PVE 1801 730 2.5 : 1 2531
Llane PVE 1769 756 2.3 : 1 2525
Elune PVE 1808 716 2.5 : 1 2524
Cenarius PVE 1834 688 2.7 : 1 2522
Perenolde PVE 1829 686 2.7 : 1 2515
Burning Blade PVP 1472 1034 1.4 : 1 2506 poor data
Bronzebeard PVE 1773 730 2.4 : 1 2503
Eldre'Thalas PVE 1728 767 2.3 : 1 2495
Silvermoon PVE 1797 698 2.6 : 1 2495 poor data
Lightning's Blade PVP 1502 982 1.5 : 1 2484
Shadowsong PVE 1801 671 2.7 : 1 2472
Hyjal PVE 1708 756 2.3 : 1 2464
Cenarion Circle RP 1800 663 2.7 : 1 2463
Skywall PVE 1527 925 1.7 : 1 2452
Laughing Skull PVP 1280 1168 1.1 : 1 2448
Gilneas PVE 1732 713 2.4 : 1 2445
Dragonblight PVE 1679 746 2.3 : 1 2425
Thunderlord PVP 1534 879 1.7 : 1 2413
Stormreaver PVP 1458 953 1.5 : 1 2411 poor data
Malygos PVE 1748 660 2.6 : 1 2408
Draenor PVE 1725 682 2.5 : 1 2407
Scarlet Crusade RP 1696 709 2.4 : 1 2405
Shattered Hand PVP 1553 849 1.8 : 1 2402
Whisperwind PVE 1825 568 3.2 : 1 2393 poor data
Mal'Ganis PVP 995 1397 1:1.4 2392
Magtheridon PVP 1455 925 1.6 : 1 2380
Dalaran PVE 1668 703 2.4 : 1 2371 poor data
Durotan PVE 1656 704 2.4 : 1 2360
Lothar PVE 1563 766 2:1 2329
Destromath PVP 1313 948 1.4 : 1 2261 poor data
Smolderthorn PVP 1042 1216 1:1.2 2258
Bloodhoof PVE 1396 851 1.6 : 1 2247 poor data
Terenas PVE 1559 684 2.3 : 1 2243 poor data
Stonemaul PVP 1306 915 1.4 : 1 2221
Gorefiend PVP 1188 1008 1.2 : 1 2196
Bonechewer PVP 1190 996 1.2 : 1 2186
Eredar PVP 1314 837 1.6 : 1 2151
Garona PVE 1469 666 2.2 : 1 2135 poor data
Bloodscalp PVP 1049 1080 1:1 2129
Daggerspine PVP 1135 921 1.2 : 1 2056
Spinebreaker PVP 1094 938 1.2 : 1 2032 poor data
Stormscale PVP 1192 822 1.4 : 1 2014
Darkspear PVP 1116 881 1.3 : 1 1997
Nathrezim PVP 1087 836 1.3 : 1 1923 poor data
Gorgonnash PVP 1119 798 1.4 : 1 1917
Crushridge PVP 1111 782 1.4 : 1 1893
Frostmane PVP 941 928 1869
Boulderfist PVP 1073 792 1.4 : 1 1865
Spirestone PVP 882 960 1:1.1 1842
Dethecus PVP 1047 768 1.4 : 1 1815
Dunemaul PVP 865 774 1.1 : 1 1639
Blackrock PVP 0 approximately 3000
Deathwing PVP 0 approximately 2800
Dragonmaw PVP 0 approximately 2000
Firetree PVP 0 approximately 2000
Hellscream PVE 0 approximately 2600
Lightbringer PVE 0 approximately 2500
Shadow Moon PVP 0 approximately 2200
Largest population realms
I have noticed some of the same thing.
One thing to note though, I do have activity data broken down by date now, I just haven't found a way to present the data that I am happy with yet.
Not only by date, but also by class! I really need to put some additional effort into producing this output. Have any good ideas on how to display this? Realize that just a simple timeline graph isn't always all that great due to not getting data in every hour of every day.
One thing to note though, I do have activity data broken down by date now, I just haven't found a way to present the data that I am happy with yet.
Not only by date, but also by class! I really need to put some additional effort into producing this output. Have any good ideas on how to display this? Realize that just a simple timeline graph isn't always all that great due to not getting data in every hour of every day.
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Alanthus
I would be very interested to see this, and I very much realize that it's hard to display in a good way... There is a reason why I did this collection by hand :/
I had to go through all of these and essentially pick the best hour to use manually and even then there are some that simply don't have any useful data. Trying to do this for less active times (australian playing hours for instance) would be even harder.
Trying to do this in an automatic fashion is going to require quite a bit of tweaking before output is useful in any way. Maybe a start would be to do this only for servers with a certain amount of contributions for both factions, that would make the information actually displayed better even if it would only deal with a subset of servers?
I had to go through all of these and essentially pick the best hour to use manually and even then there are some that simply don't have any useful data. Trying to do this for less active times (australian playing hours for instance) would be even harder.
Trying to do this in an automatic fashion is going to require quite a bit of tweaking before output is useful in any way. Maybe a start would be to do this only for servers with a certain amount of contributions for both factions, that would make the information actually displayed better even if it would only deal with a subset of servers?