also gonna chime in and say, i give no shits about pvp and the red server's tons of fun to me. and there's many others on the server who feel the same way. hell there's two guilds on the server for that.
the server isn't "empty" and you shouldn't have trouble finding groups if you join <thunderdome> leveling. unless you'e in some weird ass timezone. while the population's low, the tight knit community and global chat facilitate grouping beyond just the benefits from the exp bonus. the server has a huge bias towards US primetime hours, but there is a pretty decent euro and aus community as well. you may just be limited in choice of guilds if you're one of those timezones, come time to raid.
there are twinks on the server, but it's not nearly as bad as it used to be. almost all of the really bad ones are retired deleted etc these days. it can be a bit rough when you have to deal with them as a new player with no gear, but if you're a good player you'll quickly learn strategies that will help you survive and escape no matter what gear or buffs the twink has. and those skills will stick with you to the endgame and make you a formidable player. pumice their buffs off, and debuffs off yourself. worst case scenario run to a zoneline, log out for 15 minutes and they've gotten bored and left.
on the red server, you can actually crawl through a dungeon, instead of just running through an already-cleared zone to your 1 camp. you can pull whatever your group can handle. often times nameds are already up when you first get there. you level and progress in gear quicker as a result (and the exp bonus) but by no means is red everquest on "easy mode," as certain red exclusive mechanics make the game more difficult than on blue.
on the blue server you wait in lines for named camps. not to mention all the petitions over them. getting griefed by fake petitions, etc. the raid scene on red isn't nearly the mess it is on blue either, but it's very 1 guild dominated.
it's hard to get started and make it from nothing on the red server but a lot of us on the server had to do it, and there are more people sympathetic to new players who will help, than people who will gank you on their twink. most players you will encounter leveling are new players with no gear, or people's alts with basic not-very-twinked starter gear.
play the blue server if you just want to casually level 1-60 without being bothered, but pick red if you want to play for the endgame. your character's progress actually means something beyond showing off in the EC tunnel because of the pvp element, and the pve is more challenging due to no item recharging, threats of pvp, etc. it keeps the game fun and challenging. red's a tougher road to start new on, but more rewarding in the end. there's reasons to like both servers, pick the one that you think fits what you're looking for better.
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