Good server choice for new players (NA)?

[Nobleshield]

New player here. I haven't been able to find any information regarding server populations or which servers are decently populated... any resources or any just general knowledge of what servers have things going on at all levels of play? I have been burned in the past in other games (i.e. WoW) by rolling on a low pop server that didn't have much going on and had to pay to go elsewhere, so I'd like to just pick a good size server from the start. I had started on Lamia just because I picked it at random, but it seems a bit dead and there was literally no chat going on.

Just from the names/what I recall from other FF games, I'm looking at either Gilgamesh or Leviathan, but I'm not sure if either of those are good population. I am on the east coast of the US (EST timezone)

[Vladislav]

Balmung !! populated 24/7 , on NA primetime even que before logins :P

[Toranja]

I vote Leviathan. It seems to be always lively to me.

[Extreme]

hyperion is the way to go!

[Yoona]

hyperion is the way to go!

Definitely wouldn't recommend Hyperion. Almost as bad as the stuff I've seen on Balmung from 1.0, but I think Hyperion's taking the cake in ARR.

[Anova]

Here's some Census data on server populations. You'll probably want to focus on Total and location more than anything. Consider investigating the community by browsing the server forums and see what kind of FCs are there. It is admittedly a small fraction of the FC and community, but it should give you an idea for what the most active players are like.

Gilgamesh is the non-legacy RP server, so you will likely have some active people there. Its population is expanding, but it remains smaller than Leviathan. Balmung is the legacy RP server and is among the most populous. Some populated non-legacy servers of note are Exodus and Faerie, but I can't comment on the communities there.

I will however say that we have a couple linkshells on Leviathan specifically designed to help lowbies and newbies acquaint themselves with the game. If you find yourself on Leviathan, post here and I'll send you an invite. The majority of FCs I see seem to be operating on CST or EST with peak hours starting as early as 2pm PST to 8pm PST.

[Nobleshield]

I did end up picking Leviathan, mostly because I remembered the serpent guy from FF4 which was one of my favorite FF games of all time. Just kind of experimenting with things at the moment to see what I like the most