What’s in a Server
stargrace 
I’ve been playing on Argent Dawn (alliance side) for a number of years now, but even after the server merged I found it very quiet. On a whim I decided to join a friend over on Area 52 (screenshot above) and the two servers couldn’t be any more different. This time around I’m playing horde, and the server is constantly bustling – which makes me very happy to see.
I really dislike having servers at all. They separate your player base, they make it easier to quit because your friends are scattered to the wind, and they make it impossible for new players to figure out where the “good” place to be is. More games need to do away with these archaic things and implement an open world. I get tired of trying to figure out where all my friends are playing. Some are fans of PvP while others enjoy roleplaying. Some are EST and others are PST and then there are my EU friends who typically get sequestered off in some server that I can’t even access.
Frustrating.
When you’re starting a new game, how do you pick what server you’ll be playing on? Do you typically follow your friends? Immediately jump to the highest population? What about queues? What if new servers are added? There’s always a fear that if new servers are added to balance out the populations on the heavy servers, that those new servers will eventually become desolate as the population evens out down the road.
I don’t mind phased instances, and I don’t even mind instances themselves as a masked way of keeping the population in tow, but I really REALLY dislike constantly having to decide where it is I’m going to play. Especially since these days my friends never ever play just one game – and they’re never playing those games for long, either. One minute it’s WildStar and the next week it’s FFXIV, then the week after that it’s WoW. Having to figure out where everyone is going is just one headache that I don’t think gamers should have to deal with any more.
I know it’s not that easy, after all if it were wouldn’t we have already given up these systems by now? But still.. wishful thinking.