EQ2: On Census and Merges

February 9, 2006 on 10:34 am | In MMO (Live), WoW, EQ2

The phenomena that is World of Warcraft has resulted in a very broad array of people looking at the game, and at the genre. One of the more interesting groups is the folks at PARC who, for awhile now, have been gathering and reporting all sorts of interesting data at their PlayOn blog.

WoW is one of the most culturally relevant MMORPGs out there right now due mostly to its appeal both globally and in individual markets. As such, the support data collection and reporting gets is more broad, and more covered.

But even lesser-played games like Everquest 2 provide some interesting insights into players and their preferences. It's just a question of finding out who's collecting that data. For EQ2, one such place is eq2census. And it's interesting to look at this data at a time when the servers are merging.

Like the data at Warcraft Realms, EQ2 Census data can be used to understand a number of interesting things. Conducting a small number of searches, I built the following Excel spreadsheet:

eq2census Data and Charts

Within, you'll find three tabs. The below graphs and thoughts were a result of this data.

Population

Beginning this week, 34 EQ2 servers were being reduced to 24, with 20 lower population servers being combined. The process has gotten off to a rocky start, but each merge will go smoother as they learn things from the prior one.

The two charts below show the data collected pre-merge and my own simple calculations of what will be the case post merge.

Seems pretty straight forward. The result will be eight servers with a total population in excess of the most popular server of Antonia Bayle. Unfortunately, the completion of the first and second merge has also exposed some stability issues that occur when servers reach a certain population level. For as long as these playability issues remain, almost every server that has been merged could experience the same issues.

Population by Level

This chart is interesting. The general trend, as expected, matches those in other level-based experiences. However, unlike WoW, there are many more people in the low levels than those at level 60. As discussed often, hitting level 60 is much easier than hitting the level cap in almost all other MMORPGs (Guild Wars excluded).

This is something I consider a driver to their success insofar the game is so easy to level up in, the casual/diversional gamer isn't specifically focused on it. As such, there's less compulsion to grind just to have any sense of advancement in a game like there is in older titles.

EQ2 does show a rising spike at the level 60 mark. But for a game that has been out a few weeks longer than WoW, it is interesting to see that those in the early game are still much more numerous than those in the late one. There's a lot of content to experience in both games. To see "all" of the game seems to just take longer in EQ2.

Conclusion

The impending merging of these servers could potentially introduce stability and playability issues for a large percentage of the EQ2 playerbase in the coming weeks. However, given that the majority of the population is still within the early and mid-game levels, the goal of these merges could also be fulfilled very well. Simply having more people around can be motivation to stick around (a reverse on the stated implication that less people will drive people to boredom and cancellation faster), and with these merges, that could be achieved.