When given the option to create a new character, Blizzard offers you a list of realms which are marked with their population -- but a handful of them, instead of showing population, are simply marked as "Recommended." However, these are marked recommended for a reason -- because they're small realms in need of new players. In fact some players on the official forums say that the recommended realms are simply ghost towns: places you can never find a group to do quests or instances, where end-game raids are non-existent, and where the auction house is empty of interesting goods (after all, there's no one to put them there!). But on the other hand, the recommended realms aren't going to have queues or lag issues -- and should hopefully be growing as new and rerolling players pick the clearly marked "recommended" realms.
But what do you think? If you rerolled today, would a recommended realm catch your interest? Or would you pick a higher population realm that had plenty of players and an active economy?
Tags: recommended, recommended realm, recommended realms, RecommendedRealm, RecommendedRealms, world of warcraft, WorldOfWarcraft, wow
Filed under: Realm Status
Jul 4th 2007 at 2:16PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sargentd Jul 4th 2007 2:36PM
I would ignore the recommended realms, I know Blizz wants people to go there because they are Low pop. My favorite thing in the game is grouping with people for instances. Low pop = bad.
=j Jul 4th 2007 3:05PM
Every last one of my characters is on a RP realm. Blizzard always "recommends" a PvP realm. I think there is something wrong with the algorithm.
Donton Jul 4th 2007 2:44PM
I actually have a BE Hunter on Tortheldrin and I have to agree with the statement that these servers are ghost towns. I started the toon only a few days a go, and at lvl 18 I'm lucky to see two other players in the Ghostlands with me.
However, because there is a small population, there is little competition for quest items and kills so I've been able to level pretty quickly.
Haven't gotten to RFC or WC yet so I can't really comment to the lack of good groups but with the obviuous lack of players, I can see why finding a group would be a problem.
Donton Jul 4th 2007 2:44PM
O BTW names Rizz if anyone wnats to help the cause
Ahmanar Jul 4th 2007 2:53PM
I'm on the realm Maiev, and I have to say that end-game there a lot of people willing to group up and do PUGs. Also, my guild has about 30 members on at one time, and we do end game raiding.
Pingmeister Jul 4th 2007 3:01PM
If you an RPer I highly recommend joining a low-pop server. The communities grow pretty strong.
Baluki Jul 4th 2007 3:25PM
There isn't an algorithm that decides which realms are considered "Recommended". It's decided on by Blizz employees.
I would never make a character on a Recommended realm now. I think this game has pretty much reached its peak, meaning that the number of people playing isn't going to be going much higher any time soon. Anything labelled Recommended now is just going to wind up being merged with another low-pop server in a few months.
Actually, I wouldn't make a character on a server other than the one I've been on since the start (Draenor). I know too many people there, I know how things work, I know the AH, and so on.
rick gregory Jul 4th 2007 3:41PM
um... balancing server populations isn't my issue, it's Blizz's. If there are too few people on some realms, consolidate the realms - you must not need new ones then.
bruce Jul 4th 2007 4:00PM
When I started playing, I got a code from my friend for the free ten days, then they get a free month. I was automatically recommended to his realm. It was either a coincidence or there is more to recommended realms than population.
Scott Jul 4th 2007 4:05PM
I ran the top guild on Vashj for 4 months. We quit because we simply could not recruit enough people to get anywhere in SSC.
Roll high pop. You'll never regret it.
Gurei Jul 4th 2007 5:08PM
DONT ROLL ON A RECOMENDED REALM,YOULL BE LEAVING THAT TOON OR TRANSFERING IT!
Thats all i have to say,i rolled on a "new realm",when it was new but after the mass of rerolers,only few kept playing on it and it eventualy went so low pop that was recomended.
It was a hell,no grps,few guilds,hard to find thing sin ah(and usualy high prices for them)...it sucked.
Terrant Jul 4th 2007 7:38PM
If you like to group: No. You won't find people.
If you like to solo: Yes! Less competition for mobs and quest items.
If you only plan to play with your real-life friends: Yes! You'll never have to worry about queue times and the lack of other people won't bother you.
If you plan to RP: Yes, in a RP server, the lower population, the better.
Nyctanessa Jul 4th 2007 8:25PM
Greymane was once a recommended realm at around Christmastime. Even prior to all the new characters made from the winter break, Greymane was already at medium to high capacity. A lot of Greymane regulars wouldn't play during that time period simply because of all the lag caused by the rerolls, or took a free transfer to Bael'gun.
Recommended does not necessarily mean low-pop.
Iamnotalie Jul 4th 2007 8:48PM
Though a low population/recommended server has a lot of drawbacks, unless I'm trying to PuG I prefer it. I rerolled after getting tired of 1 hour login queues, and have never had to wait to play since.
It is much easier to find quest items/mobs, rare spawns, chests, mines, herbs, etc. The community tends to be much closer knit. It is also easier to make a widely known reputation for yourself as a good (or bad) player.
As far as claims of AH shortages, supply and demand are both affected the same by population, so there is not really much difference.
The biggest problem I've had, aside from groups, is the lack of players with rare trade recipes.
Tophy Jul 4th 2007 10:37PM
Part of me wishes I DID roll on one of those realms. I went to Destromath instead, which is full of 70s and their alts, and that is it. I would love to reroll on a new realm and start a guild and work my way up with some friends, teaching the new players and just being on a realm that ISN'T full of 70s for once. But, I know it will never happen.....
enkafiles Jul 5th 2007 1:31AM
I chose a balanced, medium-to-high-pop realm from WarcraftRealms.com the second time around...
the first time I just rolled on the server my sister was on...
Having an established economy and lots of high-level players really gives you a leg up because you can get a lot of cash even for low-level mats, and decent levelling gear is cheap.
There are also *a lot* of PvP twinks, so level 18 and 19 blues go for insane amounts...
It works for me.
Bill G Jul 5th 2007 1:37AM
Difficult situation for Blizzard.
Consolidate servers or more battlegroup and publicly admit things are slowing down, or do nothing and have more people leave [potentially the game not just their server] when their game experiences deteriorate because their servers are ghost towns.
I have played pretty much continously on Dalaran since release.
http://www.warcraftrealms.com/realmstats.php
It's relatively high population, but I have not had queue or other server problems for quite some time, more than 6 months.
Pandemona Jul 5th 2007 9:34AM
As most of my toons are on Aerie Peak,I find it interesting that, based on WarcraftRealms stats, Blizz still marks it as a recommended server - even though it's in the top 25 for population with around 25K players. Something doesn't add up properly.
The only benefit I can see for joining a massively low-pop server would be if it were PVP and you wanted to lvl easily with less chance of the gankfest that is STV...just a thought.
But honestly, something something is terribly wrong over at Blizz if there are servers with 3K players which get recommended after one with 25K.
Erica Olson Jul 5th 2007 10:20AM
"places you can never find a group to do quests or instances, where end-game raids are non-existent, and where the auction house is empty of interesting goods"
LOL - I'm on Dragonblight. Old server with high population but it's hard to find groups to do quests and instances. Can't get into end-game raids as you aren't the "proper/accepted class" and no one else need apply and the AH is full of tons of overpriced goods because of greedy people.
No server is perfect. You just do the best you can.