if population is any determination it will be mid, somehow we have gotten all the mongo random guilds + pve heroes rolled in Mid. Just my personal observation as I have been playing only mid since beta started. Hib and Albs typically have stronger zergs and more consistent 8 mans roaming around. Mid will just get picked apart, nothing to do with patch level just the people playing currently.
With the realm timer being only 12 hours I think you may see a lot of swopping about of guilds, especially if they don't do well on a given realm, or there is not enough competition for them.
I don't know how accurate for the masses but just to comment regarding the above pop comment, everyone I know personally is purposely playing a diff realm than they intend to on launch.
It is very difficult to say for sure as population will be a factor, but straight out of the patch note 1.65 I would presume hibs as there wern't a lot of changes to them that helped them much. Albs got very strong changes, as the minstrel was heavily buffed (two new shouts) as well as sorc getting a L50 baseline lifetap. Clerics got their baseline single target stun changed to 1500 range (was 1000 before if I remember correct). Skalds got the same treatment as the minstrel and got two instant shouts, as well as the savage being reworked a bit in terms of how tripple and quad hits applies and buff management in terms of consuming health. Also taken in to consideration is the increased growth for LA line and proc rate, making zerkers and sb's hit a lot harder with their LA style.
Hibs got nothing, or well they changed Nature's revenge to 1500 but thats about it.
But here is the thing, Phoenix is not 100% 1.65, it is based on 1.65 which means a LOT of the changes here are redundant as the developing team has done so much changes that it is hard for us to tell you which one is being the most underpowered.
I chose hibernia because I have been an Alb player on live since the very beginning of Daoc trough SI, TOA, Cata, DR and Laby and wanted some change.
i think a lot of changes are buffing mid and hib too, i post my view of things and my information only from playing 8vs8 mainly.
first mid: - skald det9 - 8 endubuffs on shaman are not used because of the pots+regsystem (more buffs) i think the changes effect midgrps huge because a skald isnt useless anymore and in good hands a pain in the ass.
hib: - realm of the NAT´s - what makes 5 Nats+3 tanks so strong? actually differnt things: + heals are less mana intensive (bard,warden,druids) + det on warden + single and groupinstant almost rdy every fight + bards can skill "MOC" now, like what? + 2-3grp purges+single purges depending on setup - hard to cc anyways + 2 bards in grp dont even need to swap between songs + 1-2 pets (nature pets stuns you without giving you any kind of imunity)
if you play hib, that setup is pain in the ass to play against. but u can also play hybrid setups since warden has det too now.
alb:
- minstrel buffs/nerfs, minstrel cant even hold a yellow pet without resists (even tho its 1%), not to mention orange-purple if you lose the pet because of a resist, the pet will attack your teammates (cleric aggro for healing) - theurg seems kinda useless at the moment, pets dies from every shit aoe nuke, 5nat3tanker setups just sticking you dead with pets but still solid in some situations. - friar gets det, but that makes him not worth playing, hes dealing no dmg(44stuff spec), he has a 27 sec peel, but its a sidestyle, no backstyle/no stun. he has no ns heal (like in alpha) and the only grp u can build with him are tankstick setups on alb but even then a merc/arms/reaver has more value in my opinion. + cleric stun but thats not a huge + for me - clerics cant anything but healing
what makes alb strong is SOS + bof on clerics but a lot of shit is good against albgrps at the moment.
so if you ask me, the heal/buff/ra/instant heals/det/reg changes are buffing mainly hib and mid
classchanges like skald/warden det makes them even more viable in grp then before. the friar in alb is useless, u dont need a 3rd healer mixed shit, who isnt good in anything.
that is my opinion and my informations about the current 8vs8 situation.