WotLK Choosing the right server

[RivMP]

Hey, guys,

I already introduced myself (https://forum.warmane.com/showthread.php?t=484364), but tl; dr: EU, Spain, 90s kid familiar with W1, 2 and 3 who had to watch WoW unfold from the sidelines when it came out. I once tried a priv. serv. back in the days, reaching 40 before getting bored. Long after that, on December 2024, I subscribed to play the back then fresh Classic server in hopes of experiencing what I would've in 2005 at a similar rate, getting all the expansions and stuff.

Unfortunately, the fact that I had little time and that it was subscription based ruined the fun for me. I managed to do so little it felt like a waste, and the excessive old-school time-gated design of certain quests made me consider whether certain quests were designed to just keep me there and burn sub time.

That said, I'm still in love with W1, W2, W3 and the W universe and lore. That's what I mostly care about: PvE, exploring and experiencing familiar places from a different perspective and getting to know new people to have an awesome noon with in difficult endgame content every now and then.

At the time of speaking, I beat W1 and W2, read the lore in W1, W2 and W3 manuals and I'm currently beating the reforged version of W3 (sitting at Terror of the Tides).

The plan is to finish W3 and read the WoW lore in the manual before starting on Warmane.

Question: I really, really don't know whether to go for Lordaeron, Icecrown or Onyxia.

I read a bit on the forums.

I know that Lordaeron is the purest of experiences, but locked on WotLK, more hardcore and less populated. Better community though, they say.

I know that Icecrown is the fastest experience, locked on WotLK also, but also less forgiving and empathetic for new players, as it's more for experienced players that want to get to endgame content quickly than for people like me. And yet, it's so populated that it's tempting. I don't know about queueing, though. Seems so full that it may suck in that regard. How's that? I also know that you can lower rates to match Lordaeron, which is cool.

Onyxia seems to strike a happy medium, but I guess its relevance comes from the fact that it's progressive, right? It's not locked to WotLK. Given that Icecrown allows you to adjust the rates, the only reasons why I'd choose Onyxia over IC are (1) experiencing the different expansions and stories; and (2) good numbers, but less crowded, so... less queueing?

What do you guys think? Did I get things right?

Thanks in advance.

[Shred]

You can skip the queue of Icecrown by becoming premium.

[RivMP]

You can skip the queue of Icecrown by becoming premium.

Thanks. Looking into it.

Will Onyxia ever go beyond WotLK and into MoP and stuff? Or does progressive mean Retail-BC-WotLK-Reset-Retail-BC-WotLK-Repeat?

[Mitzen]

Thanks. Looking into it.

Will Onyxia ever go beyond WotLK and into MoP and stuff? Or does progressive mean Retail-BC-WotLK-Reset-Retail-BC-WotLK-Repeat?

Ends with WotLK.

Whether Onyxia round two happens remains to be seen.

[RivMP]

Ends with WotLK.

Whether Onyxia round two happens remains to be seen.

Thank you. The reset risk makes it down to Lordaeron or IC.

[Mitzen]

Thank you. The reset risk makes it down to Lordaeron or IC.

Once Onyxia ends you can transfer characters you want to keep to Icecrown.

[RivMP]

Once Onyxia ends you can transfer characters you want to keep to Icecrown.

Oh. That's cool! Then I can only hope I get surprised by an Onyxia reset to start fresh there. But since I don't think I'm going to be that lucky, I guess IC's numbers paired with rate control will call more than Lordaeron's purity.