Yes, on aggregate, people always gravitate towards other people sharing their hobby.
I am saying that this was the most important reason, yes. Because, again, this is just how people work. As I said a number of times, it happened for pretty much all other activities in the game. These other activities in the game did not have “evil OOCers” playing any role.
I agree, in general, however it depends what the hobby is and whether the hobby lends itself towards always benefitting from “more”.
I’d say in RP’s case, this isn’t necessarily always true. Whilst, yes, it does benefit one to have a larger pool to Rpers to access should the need arise, I don’t think this is motivation enough to explain all of the moves to AD, because for many individuals whom RP, so long as their “current” RP is satisfactory, hypothetical “potential RP” isn’t really relevant.
So for me, the fact that the “hypothetical RP” became more important tells me something was up with their current RP to prompt that.
If i’m on a server and I log in every day in an RP guild and not only that, but I can go to hubs where I may encounter a fairly wide variety of different Rp characters, it doesn’t seem likely i’d move just because I may experience “slightly more, possibly” of the variety chars on AD. Now if there’s something up with my current RP, so maybe it gets reduced in variety and I only end up in my guild RP, then that may prompt me to move.
I’m not saying the principle is outright inapplicable in this case, but I don’t think it covers it entirely in a tidy fashion. Some would move for that reason absolutely, but I don’t think all would unless they felt compelled to for some other reason. And what we do know is that servers like DB and DMF etc did have enough RPers in their communities early on to make my above example a reasonably accurate description of the amount of Rp available. Even if AD had “more”, all the others were “fully functioning”.
To suggest they’d all move is like suggesting everyone who is offered a medium meal or a large meal will always go for the large meal. For many, the medium will suffice is is perfectly suitable for their needs. Now if the choice comes down to a small meal or a large meal, i’d probably say more will go for the larger one.
The question is why was their meal now small? You’re saying the desire for a larger meal in-itself prompted the change to cause people to swap their meal choice, i believe that other factors reduced their meals to “small” which makes the large one now more desirable to them.
To be clear, i’m not saying OOCers are the only reason. Some people may have quit RP altogether and reduced the size of the pool, or quit warcraft. etc. I simply think that all the anecdotes don’t add up to nothing and that OOC behaviour played a significant (if not the most) in prompting many of the initial moves and then the rest followed. So the OOC behaviour was the “match” that lit the fuse as it were.
What happens is this - no, people don’t randomly decide to move to AD because AD is bigger out of the blue - it’s just that one day they want to RP and something goes wrong (maybe their friends are busy with work, or maybe their guild went raiding and they have to play with others, etc) and they cannot RP “well enough” for some reason. This happens to everyone, whatever the activity. So, this happens a couple of times, and if they are not in the de-facto center of the activity, they begin thinking “hmmm, maybe I should move to the center = AD, this should make things better”. And they are right, this is making things better. The next such guy, however, has even more reasons to move to the center. In the end, most people end up in the center.
With RP, since it is being practiced by not many people, this center in EU consists of a single server = AD.
I can’t say I disagree with this, as said above I think the initial trigger may well have been such (I believe OOC stuff was relevant however) but thereafter yes a lot of it is simply mechanics like water draining, once the flow starts the rest follows.
If that is the case isn’t that specifically because of guys like you? 
I just don’t get this mentality some of you guys have that you have to play on an RP server when you have no interest in RP.
I’ve read your arguments, but none of them make sense to me.
That’s like rolling a character on a PvP server back in the day if you have absolutely no interest to participate in World PvP.
It’s counter-intuitive.
I am on AD and I don’t RP, so if you mean that I am increasing the ratio of non-RP / RP characters, then yes, you are correct.
If we are talking about me, however, I rolled my character with an intention to RP. It’s just that I found it’s not my thing.
I also would transfer away from the server if the transfer was free. Not because I agree that the server is strictly for RPers, it’s not, but rather because the cons of the server outweigh the pros for me. In particular, the amount of drama is unreal.
Personally I would make a new character on a different server in that case or just pay for the transfer if I had to use that character.
But most likely I’d just make a new character… It’s a new expansion, so there’s never a better time to switch mains, because you won’t lag behind anyone in terms of gear or rep as everyone will have to gear up and grind rep all over again anyway.
If RP is not enforced ingame by blizzard then all the rules mentioned are made up by players so they just don’t matter, if players that aren’t on AD to RP, aren’t avoiding rules in place for an RP server by some clever gameplay, then they are as welcome to an RP server as any other.
I personally would definitely be up for some enforcement of RP on an RP server, but there’s none, as such I can’t tell people what to do.
Also how am I a hypocrite?
This is rather famously known.
So why try to sabotage the RP Realm? Hm?
Well, you would know, you do seem to stir the pot every few weeks here and cause it. Have you ever considered the power of just not doing so?
Fortunately we have been told how to report behaviour that disrupts in any way by a GM, who is keenly aware of the problem that RP realms faced, You would be amazed at the things people can be reported for that they will action (And have in the past, thankfully)
I do not understand how the OP, with a track record of disliking RP, and with a certain…reputation… can try to encourage people to go to a realm which probably won’t be that happy to see people with no intention to RP, Isn’t that a bit of an unkind action? Why would you do that to people on the forums?
I’d also add that their supporters in some cases are the same Goldshire folks who give games a bad name, yet strangely, because they support them, they do not separate themselves from those views, so presumably are OK with them.
So Sure, listen to the Goldshire person, or the person who is fine with Goldshire antics (Just reminding you many of these are illegal in just about every EU Country).
They -Certainly- sound like a moral barometer…
And sure listen to a person who is endorsed by members of a Guild who break EU Law by whispering graphic material to minors. That isn’t a good look.
And for those of you thinking “Gawd, these RP’ers sound vicious, may I remind you of the quote”
“This animal is very savage, when attacked, it defends itself!”
Maybe don’t listen to drama pot stirrers like the OP, eh?
I don’t do that.
Frankly, you are just utterly uninteresting to talk to. You write awfully long posts, but these posts are mostly empty talk. You tried to play analogies, but failed. You tried talking about game mechanics and failed there as well because you didn’t pay attention to what I was actually saying. Now you are reduced to basically writing some nonsense regarding me “sabotaging the realm”. How exactly am I doing it? Right, nohow. The drama on AD forum comes not from me, I barely post there, but rather from a couple of forum toxics who pretend to be the defenders of RP while merely using that as an excuse to yell at others. This can be seen quite easily any day. Yesterday there was a big thread where they waged their report wars, thankfully only to be put down by the mods.
Stop writing walls of empty text. Concentrate on making sense.
Being on a RP server, I feel like it’s more the individual than the place you’re at.
If YOU are social - the place will feel social.
Same goes for IRL events.
I have two sides, one where I have social anxiety – and one where I have no problem talking about things. (Its very odd, hard to explain, too much to say here).
When I go into my “retreat” mode, crawl into my own shell and sit in a corner or avoid even going to places in the first place - of course it will be “anti-social”.
But the times I do try talk to people, might be that he/she has a shirt with some game character I recognize, or he/she looks like they are being treated like an outsider; I tend to just say hi and ask if they are ok, talk about some nerd topic or so etc.
I also find it that even if you are a social person and try talk to others, others might not be so friendly back - or might just be … “bad personality matches”. 
This is, as I said, less so about server and more so just about individuals.
Just keep trying to talk to others, join groups/content with people, dare to say something at random - like “HEY GUYS! Did you know that if you do /dance together with 3 others in a rare mushroom circle in Ardenweld, you spawn a rare? :D”
Just anything, anywhere, dare to do it if you have the energy and will to talk to others!
You have no idea, you are just trying to appear clever. I have not spoken to you.
I am afraid I am neither your parent, or schoolteacher, so your fear of long words are not my concern or responsibility.
You have had this explained to you multiple times in this thread, and you do not listen, so I may well be wasting my time, but essentially, by encouraging people to come to the realm for aspects that it is not specified for, you are doing so.
But you have has this explained to you many times, and editing your post whilst I make mine does not alter the fact that you are rather famed for your stance.
So you started off trying to make a vague insult based on no conversation we have ever had, then admit that you do not like long posts, then admitted that you don’t like people using your own analogies -you- introduced into the matter, and I think you’ll find you do post rather a lot on the AD Forum…always with the same message…
I think it is rather apparently plain to us all now, that you have no sincere intent here, and the rather shadiest of people vouching for you, which I would say I am surprised you are not embarrassed about, but then, I think we knew, you have no shame, and will make common cause with those who have some…interestingly legally viewed tendencies with regards minors.
Not sure I would shackle my cause to such people, but you seem content to do so, so I will indeed judge you by the company you keep.
By all means, if you -want- that reputation, then crack on. I just do not think it would be a healthy thing for you to advise other people to follow suite on.
The realm is for all aspects of the game. That it is “specified for RP” is your weird headcanon. The label of “RP” merely means that if you RP, you will likely have a better chance finding partners on this realm. That’s it. This has been explained to you multiple times, and you don’t listen.
Bla-bla-bla about me somehow having “no sincere intent” and being “shadiest” whatever ignored, you have no argument and are reduced to calling me names. As usual.
He’s not calling you names, he’s just indicating that insincere people might have an easier time agreeing with you. That’s how this works right? Labels are just mear indicitive suggestions, nothing concrete or meaningful.
@Mellinora: Problem is that this is not even remotely true. I am sure you are well aware of the numerous complaints about WoW not supporting large localized crowds, especially combatwise. Based on rough numbers available, it only takes about 3,3% change (or in absolute numbers, about 200 additional people) of realm internal balance in small locale (such as Stormwind’s trade district or the Cathedral square) to cause massive problems without sharding. With Argent Dawn having a current estimated active player base of over 26 300 (estimate mine, based on WRP and other public data) people, it is not difficult to create a 200 people strong location shift, especially on the alliance side, which appears to form almost 75% of overall numbers. It is also worth noting that such a localized shift actually does not require any increase in the total numbers, because they are already so high (AD is in the top five of alliance numbers, even when including Russian realms, source: WRP).
@All: On an additional note… Based on the number above, there are far more than 1% of roleplayers on AD. Considering the fact that I have personally seen individual events that did not fit into two shards, the absolute minimum possible number runs in several hundreds and is extremely likely to be much higher. Are RPers an absolute majority on AD? To be honest, probably not. However, as people have noted, AD has turned into the last bastion of RPers, which saddens me.
@Brigante: Since you know AD much better than I do, would you care to offer me some of your insights regarding possible numbers of currently active RPers on both factions? Having done some reverse engineering of my own, I would put the numbers at around 1 600+ for alliance and at least 800+ for horde. I know you are fond of long replies, but for my purposes a few sentences would suffice. Thank you in advance! 
You should really not listen to Mellinora. He is pulling numbers and percentages out of his backside and is not a representative or a member of the RP community. Mellinora is on a crusade (of sorts) against the RP community because he disagrees with some vocal members on the AD forums. Just ignore him and his nonsense claims.
It is much larger than 1%, and contrary to what Mellinora is claiming, we do RP everywhere.
Some organizers of RP events claim that the max number of participants can be between 300-500 players in total.
No, roleplayers have never been an absolute majority, but a substantial amount of people have roleplay addons and are somehow involved in roleplay. I’d guess the percentage is about 40% or so. Keep in mind that roleplayers aren’t always IC so percentages may differ some.
Given that you are a MVP, perhaps you can help us with maintaining the server as a last bastion of RP by reminding Blizzard that sharding is supposed to be off in not-current expansion areas? It does not have to be disabled immediately, but the people of AD do want to get back into roleplaying soon. And sharding does not help the slightest with that. You can’t RP when you can’t see each other after all.
https://media1.tenor.com/images/4ca77e63e54c5775c4d7587c1f51c234/tenor.gif?itemid=11419190
You are mine today hero well done.
You are saying it does not take a lot of people to overwhelm, say, Stormwind. My point was that the number that actually came was a lot more than is needed to overwhelm because the probability of that number being just enough to overwhelm is tiny. We are not disagreeing.
On a bigger topic of the ratio of RP people to non-RP people on AD. Your estimate for overall is 26,300 people (I presume that’s ‘players active in some period of time’ = a sound measure, correct me if that’s something else). Your estimate for the lower bound on the number of RP people is 1,600+800 = 2,400. Let’s just double it and say the number of RP people is 5,000. That’s about what I was thinking - the RP people being a minority, something of the scale of 10-30% of all players, and that’s including people who only RP once a month or so.
(Just to be clear, when I was talking about the server being / feeling 99% like any other server, I did not mean that only 1% of the people ever RP. I meant merely that if someone is playing ‘regularly’, without specifically looking for RP, the server will feel 99% like all other servers, meaning RP will be seen that rarely. This does not mean that only 1% people ever RP because people don’t RP 100% of the time.)
I’d say both are slightly higher, probably closer to 2,000 or so on Alliance and 1,000 on Horde. You’re looking at people who RP a lot there, the numbers would increase if you added those who do RP “Now and then” Horde is outnumbered, but the RP scene has picked up there recently.
That is of course, just Empirical Evidence.
I would be careful where you place your hero worship, but I understand it is hard for the easily impressionable…
Are you going to be OK?
You keep posting and editing a vast string of letters and numbers that make no coherent sense, then doing it again?
Do you know what, I think I will do just fine without your approval, thanks…