@Ketsi Correct me if I have interpreted your message wrong but I think that your use of the word “population” doesn’t really apply here in NRFTW.
You use the word “population” in the sense of “server population” by hinting that higher-populated servers are symptoms of a healthier game, but this concept can’t be applied here because there will be no such thing in NRFTW since the maximum number of concurrent players in any given realm will be 4.
So, the idea that “a harder” realm setting will have “less population,” doesn’t make much sense.
Instead, the game’s player base will likely increase if the game can appeal to different kinds of players (players who want to slay monsters mindlessly, players who want to do pvp, players more interested in the survival aspect, etc), since the “healthiness” of the game will never be measured by a singular server population but by the sum of concurrent players spread across all realms (both multiplayer and singleplayer ones)
Thomas Mahler has said he isn’t making the game for everyone. But one he and his team wanted to play themselves. And that the game will find it’s audience.
So we’ll have to see. Hopefully there is no ezmode.
there is servers similar to dark souls where you can join and summon people to your realm (4 peope max) but if summoning or joining a realm gets hard then people will move places where its easier. in dark souls people limit their soul level so the population pool is higher for them to get a match, there will be pvp in nrftw what is driven by this.
hc realms will most likely be for solo people but there is some who want to take the challenge with friends, not everyone have friends so they have to rely on random people but if there is none to join with then they will move for the normal realm servers
I still don’t think this applies here. We are talking about more difficult settings, right?
Players who love to play in more demanding settings would never dump down to a more accessible realm. It is like players who play hardcore in other ARPG. People who play hardcore know by fact that the hardcore servers are less populated and accept it. I have been playing hardcore for a long time, and on different ARPGs, we usually do not open the realms to random players cause we know that if they play recklessly, they could kill us.
These entirely different player bases do not share common ground, if not the love for the same game. They play in different modes and are not interested in the other modes, so I still do not understand how you think “low population” could be a problem. It is not a problem it is a fact. These game modes are enjoyed by a lower player base, who is happy to play the game in their more demanding settings.