Quote Originally Posted by Urthdigger View Post
So, in talking to people and browsing the new player forums, it seems there are about 5 populated servers, and the rest are barren wastelands, devoid of anyone except the occasional unfortunate soul who made a character without checking the forum first.

Take a look at any thread on servers, and you'll see everyone wants to be on the bigger server. No exceptions. They don't care if they have to wait until 4 AM to log in, they want those server numbers.

If everyone is just going to cram into the highest population server anyway, why bother having other servers?
Well, I've made the suggestion in the past (more than once) that SE allow

1. Guesting on to other servers
2. Cross server /tells
3. Cross server party finders.

etc. Basically, let people play with their friends even if on a different server.

However, despite the DF being cross server, we are stuck with an archaic server model and the only way to play with people you know is to be on the same server. Participation with other populations is near impossible, and where possible, completely random.

So, here we are. Even without friends specifically, the high population servers are like living in the upbeat parts of a city. Lots of people to meet, lots of activities to attend, and so on.