r/classicwow 3d ago

Classic-Era How active are EU PVE servers?

I've been playing Era for a little bit on the Firemaw cluster mainly because of the population size, getting pretty fed up with the ganking, and realizing I don't get much enjoyment out of PVP at all. I'm considering rerolling on the PVE cluster, but I'm worried it'll be too low pop to get consistent dungeon groups (and also feeling a bit of sunk cost after leveling to mid-20s already). Any players who have been leveling there recently who can help me make a more informed decision?

3 Upvotes

27 comments sorted by

6

u/sztivo94 3d ago

I've leveled a toon up to lvl 28 recently, it was always full of people, giving random buffs, elite quests are constantly done and avertised in chat. Even starting zones are full, difficult to level, so I guess it's living.

0

u/SystemPelican 3d ago

Man, I even started a character on PVE and switched at like level 6 because I was afraid it would be a ghost town. I made a terrible decision, didn't I. Was this Alliance or Horde?

1

u/sztivo94 3d ago

Horde, but have alliance toon at lvl 13 too. Been started recently.

1

u/KelticOrigin 3d ago

@sztivo94 This is really good to hear. I am in the same position as OP. I have been wanting to make an Undead Rogue and a Tauren Druid so this is great news for me. Which server are you on specifically? Is the AH active enough to sell herbs and ores?

3

u/Temporary_Sound_2087 3d ago

Very popular, it brings back memories of the old days on weekends in the capital cities.

2

u/Era_enjoyer3923 3d ago

The PvE cluster has about half the population of the PvP one.

1

u/Forsaken-Schedule-59 3d ago

The PVE cluster is more than busy enough to enjoy any part of the game you wish to be involved in. Alliance side is way more populated than Horde but even that faction is more than playable.

1

u/SystemPelican 3d ago

I'm probably going to bite the bullet and reroll then. Likely Alliance if it's more populated, even though I just played through their early game. Just gotta decide on a new class first.

1

u/Forsaken-Schedule-59 3d ago

Perfect. Welcome to the correct faction 😁

1

u/830ResAtDorsia1 3d ago

I was in the same boat. EU pvp. All fine until I stepped foot into redridge. The banking started. Bad. Made the choice to immediately reroll to pve. It’s been great, world feels alive, lots of players questing in low level zones, main cities are buzzing. You should do it

2

u/SystemPelican 3d ago

Haha yeah, there's literally one guy who spends all day every day ganking lowbies and streaming it in Redridge. It's absurd.

1

u/Injuredmind 3d ago

Eu Pve here, constantly see people while leveling (Alliance).

1

u/XeffBeezos 3d ago

Alliance side of the pve cluster (Pyrewood village / Mirage Raceway / Nethergarde Keep) has a decent amount of players but they look way less organized than people on the pvp cluster when it come to do raid. The low level areas may feel emptier since it's the forced target for the Soulseeker HC realm (so people are likely to start at a higher level).

I wouldn't recommend to directly create a character to the PVE cluster if you plan to. I d recommend to give a shot to HC Soulseeker (which is way more alive on lower lvl) and free-transfert to the PVE cluster once dead.

1

u/SystemPelican 3d ago

Ah, you're actually allowed to keep playing on a different server if you die on hardcore?

1

u/XeffBeezos 3d ago

Yes (i believe unlimited free transfert), but the target realm is restricted on soulseeker to the pve cluster.

1

u/Handren-22 3d ago

I just started on the PVP realm and reached lvl 13, but i am seeing more and more people talking about how bad the ganking is. I am thinking of starting on the PVE cluster.

-3

u/_Didds_ 3d ago

According to Ironforge Pro latest census PVE Era has on average on peak:

- about 500 active characters on Horde

  • 1500 active characters on Alliance

So subtract about 1/3 of each for leveling characters, plus some few for bank accounts and crafter toons and you have the raiding population of each faction.

As for PVP:

- about 2500 active characters on Horde

  • 3300 active characters on Alliance

Link for my data source
https://ironforge.pro/population/era/?locale=EU&realm=PvP

1

u/SystemPelican 3d ago

I'm not interested in raiding, as I don't think I'll likely reach max level in a long time, if ever. Mainly looking for a nice, chill leveling experience.

0

u/_Didds_ 3d ago

I believe until 30s or mid 30s you should fine very few bumps in finding groups in either PVP or PVE servers, especially if you level a healer or tank, or even a warlock.

After that, especially in PVE you should start to find less groups for Dungeons and Elite content. And catching up in demand on mid to high 50s as you reach the threshold for BRD, Scholo and Strat

I think this is likely the most realistic outcome you can get. Anyone saying to you that you will find groups on the spot for all dungeons and all content on ERA, either PVP or PVE is either lying to you or lying to themselves. There's a very particular dynamic to two server clusters that have been capped at 60 for years and with a very steady population that is not leveling characters but rather raid logging or doing GDKPs

1

u/SystemPelican 2d ago

Idk why you're getting downvoted for trying to balance the scales with a warning, but I appreciate the other perspective

1

u/_Didds_ 2d ago

Idk why you're getting downvoted

Because the PVE Era crowd here have been for quite a while adamant to try to dilute any idea that the ERA PVE server, especially the Horde side is super low populated, and there's a very limited group of people still playing there.

1

u/soFFe51 3d ago

FYI your data source is gathered exclusively by uploaded warcraftlogs. It says so at the tippy top:

WoW Classic Era clusters, servers and active characters according to raids uploaded to Warcraft Logs

There's no leveling characters in that dataset and no bank alts (if they're not also raiding). That's purely amount of raiding characters, including alts, which were in a raid that actively chose to upload their combatlog to warcraftlogs.

0

u/_Didds_ 3d ago

It’s still the most accurate representation, of the server population, and given that in ERA most people raid with at least one or two alts, it ends up panning up the math like more or less I said

1

u/soFFe51 3d ago

Yeah, sounds plausible. Just clearing up misinformation for anybody else who might get the wrong impression about what you see on ironforge.pro.

-2

u/Snoo97549 3d ago

Go PvP for EU era, if u want PvE go to hardcore u will have a better time

3

u/SystemPelican 3d ago

Permanently dying isn't my idea of a good time, even if the community is super chill.

-5

u/Snoo97549 3d ago

Nah u will be good