If the question is about the health of the server, Bristle is a fine choice. Plenty of guild options for players of all types, arguably the biggest server that isn't FV or a TLP. If the question is more related to the game as a whole, that's up to you. It's pretty much in the same state it's been in for at least a half a decade.
Game is as much about what you want to put into it as it is about what you can expect to get out of it. The key thing is that who you play with & how you play with them has much more bearing on your enjoyment of the game than details like how expensive the Bazaar is, you don't need to spend tons of plat or krono to be effective, Bazaar purchases are just one option available to you, there are plenty of alternatives to that. Bristlebane is among the highest population live-servers but as with any of them almost everyone is at the top end of the game, so creating characters there is about what you expect to be doing while you catch up, I recommend joining a guild for the social aspects as much as guidance, advice and help as you will want to be building a rapport with the other players and that's far easier to do in a guild than free-wheeling around without one. Only way you are really going to find out is just do it & see how it goes.
BB is THE BEST server there is. Started on it and never moved.If you didnt start here, The rest of you are refugees heh.
