Hello, players of The Harbinger. I've very recently started playing SWTOR, and am still searching for a very strong, populated, and active server to play on for the duration of my time with the game. I have heard from multiple sources that this is the most populated of all the SWTOR servers, but my question to you is as follows:

From your experience on The Harbinger, whether it be from outright gameplay, data you've gathered, or online sources, does the Empire or the Republic have more players on The Harbinger? Thanks a lot, and I look forward to reading any feedback that you can give me.

You'll be able get in groups fast on either faction. Every planet has tons of people calling out heroics and GF queues are pretty good, even for a DPS (can be bad sometimes). As others have said non ranked PvP is usually a steam-roll one way or another. The best way to improve your odds is running premades with voice chat.

I agree with this for non ranked. In ranked I feel it's very Imp heavy. There are three primary guilds on both sides that tend to lead the PVP charge however I just feel that the Imp teams tend to queue quite a bit more for ranked. Not to mention the three top PVP guilds Imp side have shown far more willingness to combine resources to get teams together if anyone gets word of people in queue. I actually really wish the pub side would start doing this more. No reason the handful of regulars from Goof Troop can't go talk to a few people in Deadweight if they hear someone is queuing.

I agree with this for non ranked. In ranked I feel it's very Imp heavy. There are three primary guilds on both sides that tend to lead the PVP charge however I just feel that the Imp teams tend to queue quite a bit more for ranked. Not to mention the three top PVP guilds Imp side have shown far more willingness to combine resources to get teams together if anyone gets word of people in queue. I actually really wish the pub side would start doing this more. No reason the handful of regulars from Goof Troop can't go talk to a few people in Deadweight if they hear someone is queuing.

This has been one of my big issues so to speak lately. Besides the fact that I'm just not enjoying the bubble stun/smash environment of ranked at the moment, it really frustrates me when we come up on an all Ascendancy team, are very competitive, win / lose doesn't matter, then all of a sudden it's a mix of Ascendancy and FR/Cookiez/Tauntauns etc. You guys create dream teams at the drop of a dime, and it seems like we're stuck with whatever we have online.

We don't communicate at all with GT or Covenant (the only 2 rep guilds that we can really draw from). So yeah, while it's a good thing that you guys have such a huge talent pool to pull from, it's also frustrating for us knowing we're "stuck with what we have" if you know I mean. Cause there's been plenty of times where our team has beaten an Ascendancy line up a couple times, just to see the same team pop up with 3 new faces in it and then it just becomes too much for our comp to handle, and we don't have anyone to pull in to counter comp.

Oh well. Trust me, the talent is deeper on the imp side.

Since it now sounds like the Imperials are better for PvP, which faction tends to make more progress in PvE? Does anyone know?

Harbinger PVE Progression thread.

Harbinger PVE Progression thread.

From that thread, it appears that the Republic is farther along than the Imperials because they have more guilds on the list. However, I also don't really understand what the list is saying, as I'm very new to the game.

Would anyone mind looking at that list and helping me to decipher which faction has made more progress?

From that thread, it appears that the Republic is farther along than the Imperials because they have more guilds on the list. However, I also don't really understand what the list is saying, as I'm very new to the game.

 

Would anyone mind looking at that list and helping me to decipher which faction has made more progress?

There is roughly 5 more Repub guilds on that list, but imps have more in the high end. Green means boss is dead. Imp has 7 Keph kills and Repub have 3.

I really dont see how this helps you decide what server / faction to play.

I dunno, guess im a sucker for JUST PLAYING THE GAME....

No reason the handful of regulars from Goof Troop can't go talk to a few people in Deadweight if they hear someone is queuing.

Yeah because finding and inviting 4 more people, who I've never played a game with, is going to make an amazing ranked team.

Yeah because finding and inviting 4 more people, who I've never played a game with, is going to make an amazing ranked team.

Why not? How is it any different then us or TaunTaun's doing it? It just seems like Pub PVP guilds are far more content to just sit back in their four man premades and beat up on pugs all day then to actually reach out to a couple people so you can enjoy some actual competition. Also it's not like you don't know who these people are in other guilds. You know who the good players are and good players will play well no matter the team they're on. You might lose a little team synergy but at least your playing with and against the best the server has to offer.

The short answer is burnout.

I don't necessarily think I queue rateds for fun. Don't get me wrong, I have a great time, but if I wanted to have fun I'd spec telekinetics and queue regs since it's so much more fun than bubble spec. Rateds is a different kind of fun. It's a place to take the optimal spec with optimal gear in a team with a good comp to test the limits of what one can do. It's the only place to really see the best that you can do, and the only place to really improve as a player when you get to a certain skill level. This can be pretty stressful (in a good way, like learning a difficult song on an instrument) at times, especially in close games.

Couple this with the fact that some of our team, myself included, didn't go 24 hours without doing rateds for the first 3-4 months that they were out, and then 4-5 days a week up until christmas. After that there were DW teams, but I know that I personally took a month off and didn't do any rateds. Now only queuing 3 times a week when we can get most of our regular team together seems like the best way to play without getting back into burnout mode.