Sarlona Still Busy

[Dex_Blackheart]

I am a returning player from about 2-3 years ago and was wondering is Sarlona still a busy server or is the pop down?

[djl]

Population is down across every server.

[Alaunra2010]

For the 9PM-10PM Central time slot, the Sarlona population does not appear to be down significantly in the past 9 months. It maintains 900-1000 concurrent players during that time.

How it looks during other time periods, or how it compares to the population 2-3 years ago, I could not say.

[Fhauvial]

I'd say population is down from a few months ago, but it's not completely dead if that's what you're asking.

[akash]

I am a returning player from about 2-3 years ago and was wondering is Sarlona still a busy server or is the pop down?

2-3 years ago there was not many guilds or chat channels, so you probably used to see a lot of LFMs. However, the situation is different now, and most people form groups through guilds or chat channels and rarely publish LFM. So, if you are judging the server population by LFMs, yes the number of LFMs decreased drastically.

[Qaliya]

Where are these mythical channels? I'm on a casual chat channel run by the Defense guild, which I enjoy, but it's pretty quiet. Are there active channels where groups actually are formed? What's the key to getting invited to one of these?

(Yeah, I know, if I have to ask... )

And yeah, the LFM panel IMO is down *significantly* from even a few weeks ago, especially for the level range where I am now (16).

[Ilindith]

Where are these mythical channels? I'm on a casual chat channel run by the Defense guild, which I enjoy, but it's pretty quiet. Are there active channels where groups actually are formed? What's the key to getting invited to one of these?

(Yeah, I know, if I have to ask... )

And yeah, the LFM panel IMO is down *significantly* from even a few weeks ago, especially for the level range where I am now (16).

Been running low level stuff daily and advertising on Defense if you have anyone 7-8 or lower.

[Dexxaan]

Where are these mythical channels? I'm on a casual chat channel run by the Defense guild, which I enjoy, but it's pretty quiet. Are there active channels where groups actually are formed? What's the key to getting invited to one of these?

(Yeah, I know, if I have to ask... )

Channels, Guilds, static groups and with how easy it is to solo a quest....... LFM Ststistics will reflect a lower number.

Actual players at different times.... better be said by those who monitor these things, and care.

.

[Beethoven]

I am a returning player from about 2-3 years ago and was wondering is Sarlona still a busy server or is the pop down?

Sarlona's status has remained relatively unchanged to 2-3 years ago; it neither is the largest server or the smallest. Generally, number of lfm's and number of guilds is larger than it was 2 years ago.

What changed though is that Turbine added more content so lfm's are more spread out (which some interpret as things have gotten less busy). So, since there are more leveling options than Marketplace -> 5 mid-level quests -> GH -> Vale you will see less GH/Vale lfms than in the past, and since there is more endgame than just Shroud you won't see a dozen Shroud lfms up at all times. However, that not necessarily means the total amount of lfm's is less (ie: looking at the Sarlona lfm panel and I count 46 groups up currently).

There are also a few new systems (such as Bravery Bonus) which make many people stay away from lfm's and stick with leveling groups, solo-play and friends instead of bothering with pugging.

[GrampaBill]

Sarlona's status has remained relatively unchanged to 2-3 years ago; it neither is the largest server or the smallest. Generally, number of lfm's and number of guilds is larger than it was 2 years ago.

What changed though is that Turbine added more content so lfm's are more spread out (which some interpret as things have gotten less busy). . . There are also a few new systems (such as Bravery Bonus) which make many people stay away from lfm's and stick with leveling groups, solo-play and friends instead of bothering with pugging.

I have to disagree with this. There are times when there's only one or two Epic level listings on the LFM panel. What I'm seeing a large number of lately are TOR scale runs, Casual DD runs and an odd assortment of Reaver's Refuge combinations. For some reason the listings for U14 are quite rare, I ended up soloing everything just to get flagged for Eveningstar.

[GrampaBill]

There are times when there's only one or two Epic level listings on the LFM panel. What I'm seeing a large number of lately are TOR scale runs, Casual DD runs and an odd assortment of Reaver's Refuge combinations.

And of course, once I wrote this I log on Sunday and the LFMs are packed.

[Tobril]

Where are these mythical channels? I'm on a casual chat channel run by the Defense guild, which I enjoy, but it's pretty quiet. Are there active channels where groups actually are formed? What's the key to getting invited to one of these?

(Yeah, I know, if I have to ask... )

And yeah, the LFM panel IMO is down *significantly* from even a few weeks ago, especially for the level range where I am now (16).

Other channels are just like Defense mechanically.
(how you use the UI to operate them)

They tend to be exclusive places for friends, special purposes,
guild alliances, etc. Most are not advertised, Defense was created
as an open channel to help new people "break into the scene" as
well as replenish various groups who have lost members.


LFM's are way up from a few years ago. Since epics are now easy to
solo the amount of those lfm's has declined for the older ones, but I
see eveningstar, challenges, farming, raids, etc up all the time.

[Postumus]

Sarlona's status has remained relatively unchanged to 2-3 years ago; it neither is the largest server or the smallest. Generally, number of lfm's and number of guilds is larger than it was 2 years ago.

I disagree with the last sentence. My experience has been a gradual decline in the number of PUGs over the last two years on Sarlona. Last year I saw about half as many PUGs as I did two years ago at any given time. This year I see about half of that (so about a 1/4 of the PUGs I saw two years ago).

[moops]

I have to disagree with this. There are times when there's only one or two Epic level listings on the LFM panel. What I'm seeing a large number of lately are TOR scale runs, Casual DD runs and an odd assortment of Reaver's Refuge combinations. For some reason the listings for U14 are quite rare, I ended up soloing everything just to get flagged for Eveningstar.

You must play at the strangest time.

I pug u14 constantly, both as a leader and a joiner.
And I just leveled a Dbl TR thru mostly pugs.
Yes the LFMs are spread out, but I've found that there is always something to do.

[Beethoven]

I disagree with the last sentence. My experience has been a gradual decline in the number of PUGs over the last two years on Sarlona. Last year I saw about half as many PUGs as I did two years ago at any given time. This year I see about half of that (so about a 1/4 of the PUGs I saw two years ago).

I don't know, as said, on average I usually see 30+ lfm's during (my) off times and 40+ during peak times. I cannot recall to ever having seen 120+ lfms during off times and 160+ during peak times (which your numbers imply).

My recollection of how the lfm panel looked like in 2010 is more like this:



That's not larger than it looks today and most certainly not by a factor four.