How's Blue endgame now that it's almost side by side with Green?
 

When I started this game 4 years ago my only option was Blue. Furthest I got on it was 48... Never been to plains, never killed a dragon, never seen Sebilis or Trakanon or anything of Velious. I played super casually and mostly just messed around with low level alts because Project1999's raiding scene looked terrifying to me. I heard an obscene amount of gossip and drama and toxicity (something about Riot and AM and Tempest or whatever) so I decided to stay away.

By the time Green came out, I was familiar enough to be able to get 50 quickly, joined a small but competent guild called Lineage and then is when I became curious about raiding. I had a nice time with them, been to Hate and Sky etc. and when they disbanded around Kunark is when I continued my journey with Safe Space who I owe my Spear of Fate to. I'm happy to say I got to achieve my dreams of keying for Sebilis, farming Platehouse in Kael, doing Thurg shawl quest, killing dragons in west wastes, camping Lodi, all the fun stuff. This is when I realized the raiding scene (at least Green's) wasn't as rabidly putrid as I thought. While yes, Seal Team has caused a lot of drama, smaller guilds were still able to get a few pops, and I think as a total newcomer to EQ's post-50 I managed to achieve enough to quench my thirst.

All of that had me thinking. How's Blue's raid scene in comparison with Green? Is it more fair and contested? Or is it being dominated by one guild? Could I expect to get raid kills even if I join a medium 3rd rank guild of normal semi-casuals who don't shit in socks and piss in bottles for 30 hours straight waiting for batphone? Or should I just not touch Blue at all unless I'm gonna apply to the #1 guild? I'd love to hear opinions from people still playing on it.

vanquish and riot being crybabies to each other
people farming DKP for vulak
or people farming autistic amounts of plat

green
it's alright

It's autistic even 6 years after we won the game, hope that helps.

Raid scene on blue is autistic isn't technically incorrect its just a huge understatement.

Think of every major mental illness combined and add a healthy serving of narcissists on top and you basically have it.

As a former member of Fires of Heaven, Blood Guard, Azure Guard, and a current member of Riot - the raid scene is pretty fun. Riot has become a friend circle to me and a group I can always have fun with win or lose. The image of the "autistic screaming" of the top raid guilds is true if you read RnF and /ooc chat in those zones. And if 4 people are ranting in ooc out of 200+ in zone, that isn't really a good indicator of the guilds' attitudes at large.

Vanquish and Riot members get along fine for the most part. There's multiple anecdotal stories from each guild where the other has been ported/ressed/etc, by a member of our competition. I've got Vanquish members on my friends list that I can count on for CR help or xfers and the opposite is true of them. The salt I've seen tends to come from unresolved past issues and a sense of justice unserved, as well as your typical internet competition trashing in public chat which has been around for decades but again, the salt there is maybe a half dozen of over 200 people.

You don't have to poopsock to get kills or be logged in, staring at your monitor for 8 hours a day every day. It is possible to get kills in prime time play hours and off hours, and multitudes of ways that both guilds allow their members to accrue DKP/RAP to spend on high end/BiS loot. Some players are able to contribute more time than others, and this allows them to contribute more time and gain DKP faster, but by and large both guilds have members with families and lives outside of EQ that we enjoy discussing. In that same Discord, we also discuss our competition's strategies and what we each see working and not working and why.

What most of the "3rd rank guilds" probably realize is that they could compete with and win against any other guild for these targets, but asking their members to contribute 4-6 hours at a time to track, and be at their computers a majority of their week is asking a lot. The top guilds are able to recruit people who are ready to contribute this because that's what their recruits want.

Any individual willing to commit their play time to contributing in some way can have a shot at any piece of loot, and that includes attending the raid kill itself. You get DKP just for showing up in most cases because, again, the incentive is that you commit time and play the most optimal class you have available and familiarity with for each situation to the best of your abilities. Win or lose, both guilds need people ready and willing to log in, and the possibility of getting that loot combined with the possibility of increased currency used to get that loot either way ensures that their time isn't wasted.

tl;dr
Raid scene on blue is fine, there's more than 2 guilds you can join and still get high end gear. Most of us are really helpful and enjoy answering questions. Hope this helps!

Xulia is spot on, there's a very vocal, very dug-in batch in the high-end raid scene that clearly want to flamethrower each other. Of course drama happens, and you have to resolve it, but the majority of everyone is decent with each other.

I always try to rez/buff/port Riot members when approached, but there is certainly a gang mentality present at times. P99 would be a great case-study for somebody completing their PHD in psych or sociology.

Yeah just ignore the people who claim the raid scene is a dumpster fire. Honestly it's fine for the most part. You don't need to get involved in the drama if you don't want to. Just have fun and kill some mobs.

Judging by server player counts it seems fine

Player count is fine because the autists can't stop , hope that helps.