Ideal split

[Gunnis]

I feel that and ideal split between the fractions should be a focus by GMs and community, so therefor this thread.

How would one make sure that Alliance and Horde stay close to 50 / 50 in the playerbase?
I am an ally fanboy and therefor I don't feel interested in playing Horde. No logic just the way I am.
But I would love it if there was a way to make sure that both sides have enough players.

Some ideas(granted rather bad ideas):

1. Lock the side that has 25-50 more players on a daily basis
2. Offer the side that has fewer players some minor perks, nothing game changing ofc.
3. Current community builds up an open and honest forum topic, "where to join side" to help the balance. (Say if Horde needs players, we would bump this up on the forums and keep it up until its the problem is fixed)
4. We hope that it goes well and we don't do anything either way.
5. Free transfers from A < - > B.

[Osiris]

Such intrusions usually piss of a lot of people, unfortunately. So I think that there will be a minor imbalance at first (as "elite" Horde guild tend to join in packs and rush the content) but it will flatten out eventually. At least that's what I've seen happening two or three times. So don't worry.

The more important question is, how to keep a healthy and nice community? By that I mean, how to keep away special snowflakes that only cause trouble (on purpose). But this is something that the community has to work out on it's own, without GMs (except a little world chat moderation). Although I think that Nostalrius will rather attract more good people, as it seems to be rather unnoticed compared to Kronos(where the masses will go first to, but this also includes more idiots).

[Ahuna]

Let it work itself out.

I'm sure it will be fine.

[Drain]

There isn't much they can do about it without breaking the game.
1. Big no no. You do not want a queue for any reason unless the server simply can't handle the load. Locking players out simply because the side they want is bigger will ruin a lot of scheduling on that faction, along with encouraging players to leave as much as switch. A queue is something you do not want at all if it can be helped.
2. Nope. Unless it's some kind of pet; there is no such thing as a "non game changing" perk. Were it a retail server with 15k player logins at once, queue skipping could be the perfect perk, but it'll never get overloaded like that.
3. This is actually the best solution. The server should post automatic population numbers on the server's front page and keep a general census. Most servers do this right on the front page, updating hourly. Knowing which faction is smaller can encourage players to roll on it. But don't punish them for not doing it.
4. You don't really have to do anything about it. Even if 1 is smaller, it's not really a problem. I've played on both bigger and smaller sides before. It never affected me very much. The main differences are the number of friends/enemies you run into in the field, and BG times. The smaller faction is the better choice in both cases if you want to PvP, more enemies in zones, and no BG queues. The bigger faction is the better choice if you want to level while avoiding PvP as much as possible. Again, post census and let players decide what they want. Many players pick smaller factions to ensure more PvP combat and to never have to wait in line for BGs. If your faction is half as big as the other faction(ie 1A:2H), that basically means you can enter every BG that pops while they have to sit every other game out waiting for slots.
5. This is a possibility, if they want to do that sort of thing. It could make for a great paid feature. The server eventually needs to make money, unless some rich frenchie is footing all the bills and shrugging it off every month(I wish I could do that, I'd fund my own server). Servers can make some extra money off selling model resets, gender changes, or race changes. They could also sell mounts and pets, as there are rare ones in game that players might want but never be able to obtain(ie Rivendare horse). None of these affect combat.

[Haeryung]

Such intrusions usually piss of a lot of people, unfortunately. So I think that there will be a minor imbalance at first (as "elite" Horde guild tend to join in packs and rush the content) but it will flatten out eventually. At least that's what I've seen happening two or three times. So don't worry.

The more important question is, how to keep a healthy and nice community? By that I mean, how to keep away special snowflakes that only cause trouble (on purpose). But this is something that the community has to work out on it's own, without GMs (except a little world chat moderation). Although I think that Nostalrius will rather attract more good people, as it seems to be rather unnoticed compared to Kronos(where the masses will go first to, but this also includes more idiots).

The best way you can support a server is to be very friendly and respectful and active with others ingame. That makes the "bad flakes" less affecting the overall experiance. Balance it out. And that is up to us as players.

[Hatson]

Not to be a drag or anything, but Gunnis. From all the suggestions and ideas you've posted here, I find myself agreeing with fewer and fewer.
Just because it might sound like a neat idea, doesn't mean it's needed and most definitely means that a lot of people won't like it, no matter what that idea is.
I don't think this idea would help, especially as there is currently nothing to "fix" or "solve" population or Horde/Alliance ratio wise as the server isn't even live yet and there are no estimations to be made yet.

And I have played on countless servers and none of them have ever needed anything like this. Even if the ratio turns out to be 6:4 - Then just let it be. It "solves" itself naturally over time usually with enough active players.
I'd even argue that there is nothing to solve. This shouldn't be tampered with, as it has never been an issue on the privates I've played on, and will only serve to agitate people that want to keep things blizzlike. F.ex. I absolutely refuse the idea of faction transfers.

[Letalis]

Such intrusions usually piss of a lot of people, unfortunately. So I think that there will be a minor imbalance at first (as "elite" Horde guild tend to join in packs and rush the content) but it will flatten out eventually. At least that's what I've seen happening two or three times. So don't worry.

The more important question is, how to keep a healthy and nice community? By that I mean, how to keep away special snowflakes that only cause trouble (on purpose). But this is something that the community has to work out on it's own, without GMs (except a little world chat moderation). Although I think that Nostalrius will rather attract more good people, as it seems to be rather unnoticed compared to Kronos(where the masses will go first to, but this also includes more idiots).

The best way you can support a server is to be very friendly and respectful and active with others ingame. That makes the "bad flakes" less affecting the overall experiance. Balance it out. And that is up to us as players.

Mhm. *nod* *nod* This! +1

Letalis' Seal of Approval

Let

[Magnifican]

Such intrusions usually piss of a lot of people, unfortunately. So I think that there will be a minor imbalance at first (as "elite" Horde guild tend to join in packs and rush the content) but it will flatten out eventually. At least that's what I've seen happening two or three times. So don't worry.

The more important question is, how to keep a healthy and nice community? By that I mean, how to keep away special snowflakes that only cause trouble (on purpose). But this is something that the community has to work out on it's own, without GMs (except a little world chat moderation). Although I think that Nostalrius will rather attract more good people, as it seems to be rather unnoticed compared to Kronos(where the masses will go first to, but this also includes more idiots).

The best way you can support a server is to be very friendly and respectful and active with others ingame. That makes the "bad flakes" less affecting the overall experiance. Balance it out. And that is up to us as players.

Mhm. *nod* *nod* This! +1

Letalis' Seal of Approval

Let

As much as I agree on this as well, that a good community is everything, there still are some valid worries in here as well. If you look at some wow servers on retail, If one server start to get overpopulated, even less new players tends to join the underpopulated server because maybe there is less activity, less progression and less pvp there and so on. Servers like Silvermoon, Sylvanas and Outland that are fully populated and are 90%+ alliance dominated, and Stormscale, Kazzak and Draenor that are full and 90% horde dominated servers. If this happens then we have a problem. I really do hope this can be avoided but I have absolutly no idea how to prevent it.

[bonorenof]

I agree with Magnifican argument.
There's actually much ppl who choose a faction more populated thinking that there will be more activity and so more profits in joining it.
To avoir such a situation, the best would be to hide the percentage of population between alliance and horde to avoid such a mass movement to happen. Only this would be enough, there's no reason afterwards to not have a 50/50 proportion between them.