Does anyone seriously think enough 'hardcore' people play EQ to devote an entire server to them? At the start of Phinny there was enough players to make 2 hardcore guilds. Now, there's barely enough to fill 1 guild. Yes each guild has those couple of guys that play 18 hours a day, but really, this server is going dead on arrival. What population numbers do people predict for the hardcore server? My guess is around 80-100 people day 1, 40 ish left after 3 months. What's the point? No one is showing any interest on these forums, it's all about the casual server.
I think it will depend on the rule set. If the hardcore sever doesn't have AoC then you are probably right but if it does have AoC(which really doesn't make it hardcore imo) then the casual server will probably be the lower populated server. Most people can/will deal with something a little more challenging but with the exception of 1 or 2 guilds they don't want to deal with racing to open world content.
100% If its some fairly interesting or unique event server, it might do alright. Otherwise, the casual server is going to absorb most of the population due to lower XP requirements.
I think peeps are getting Hardcore server confused with a hard core raiding guild server. They have said nothing about making a hardcore raiding server. Hardcore server would be a harder game. Corpse runs, harder mobs, no pics, no AoC, Longer content unlocks, etc, etc
