How large is the raider population in the Lord of the Rings Online?

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ 3% ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Actually less than 3% but we’ll round up ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ How did I get this number? ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ I’m gonna quote a former Turbine community manager ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ /laughs

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Yep! Any LOTRO player reading this knows exactly who I’m talking about. The man needs no introduction ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘  /glances at comment section

<EVIL> tells you, ‘  Pfft. There’s always an exception ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ I’m referring to Sapience, former Turbine community manager, who became famous or infamous (depending on who you ask) among the LOTRO community when he said the following ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ /rabbit ears “Raiders comprise the smallest, by far, group in our game. PVMP players are far larger and even they are small. In fact together the two groups wouldn’t comprise 10% of the total player base and never have (this is important. it’s not a new thing, it’s a long standing historical fact).” ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ The hardcore cupcakes were so pissed at him. Some of them still haven’t forgiven him ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ I will say this about Sapience: he’s a real man ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘  He went in raw ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ /cough

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Anyways. What does this tell us? ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Hardcore players are less than 10% of the population ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Pfft. I could have told you that. Hardcore players are always a minority, except in hardcore mmos like Wildstar and WoW: Legion ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ It tells us. . . Raiders + PVMP players < 10% ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ According to Sapience, “PVMP players are far larger” than raiders so lets assume PVMP players are double the size of raiders ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ We’ll substitute ‘x’ for raiders ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Ugh. . . Math ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ The horrors D: ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ x + PVMP players < 10% ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ You see where this is going ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ x + 2x < 10% ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ 3x < 10% ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ I hope I’m getting this right ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ x < (10% /3 ) ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ x < 3 1/3 ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ But, that’s not where I got the 3% from ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Some time later. . . ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Another former Turbine employee posted on a LOTRO community forum ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ It made the news ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Some people weren’t too happy about it ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ This former employee said many things. One was: ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘/rabbit ears “. . . that passion did give the PvMP community a much louder voice than its numbers would suggest. At its height, the Moors saw maybe 7% participation. . . we’re talking just a few percent of the LOTRO population.” ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ You know where this is going!!! ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ BEHOLD THE POWER OF MATH!!! ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Raiders + PVMP players < 10% ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ x + 7% < 10% ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ x < 3% ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Hmm ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ The hardcore cupcakes got super pissy when Sapience said they were less than 10%. I wonder how they’d feel about being less than 3%? ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Less than 3% . . . ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ That’s less than a discount :L ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ But, the Sapience quote is from July 2014??? And, the second quote came some time after that. So . . . ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ This stuff is old. Things could have changed from then and now ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ . . . ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ PFFT!!! Yeah right. Not likely. Raiders are still probably less than 3% of the population ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Lets say their numbers did increase ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Despite the poor raids from the Riders of Rohan expansion ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Despite the ~2 year raid drought that followed ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Lets say their numbers did increase ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ What are they now? ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ 4% of the population? ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Maybe 5%?! D: ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ . . . ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ They’re still a minority. Always will be ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Eh. They can’t complain too much. They got a new raid last year, and there’s another raid coming this year??? next year??? ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ What did everyone else get? ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ What did the other 97% get? ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Flower picking ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ Pfft ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ /picks up trowel ‘

<EVIL> tells you, ‘ There’s horticulture work that needs doin’ here! Get to work, you weed-pickers!!! ‘