Guild Wars 2

Hey guys,

Although i haven’t had as much time to play these days as id like i just wanted to ask if the 45-60 level zones seem as dead to everyone else as they do to me? I’ve been finding myself doing a lot of dungeons mixed with my personal to gain my levels (which in all honesty i don’t mind, even though sometimes getting a group for a dungeon takes forever) but when I am running around the zones like Iron Marches or the zone south of Lions Arch (cant think of the name I’m too tired) i see almost nobody.

Even when there are dynamic events in these areas there seems to be no one around to do them. I was just posting to see if it is normal for the game to seem absolutely empty in certain zones.

I play on the server Fergason’s Crossing.

Hmmm, last I checked Ferguson’s Crossing wasn’t exactly one of the most populous servers, evident by the fact that your server is 3rd to last place in WvW rankings.
As you close in on lv80 I think you might start to see less and less people than you already are, sad as that may be.

Thanks for replying,

That’s honestly what i was thinking, i just haven’t checked. Is there a way to switch servers?!

I noticed it too leveling up, I think there are multiple factors:

Most players are not that high level. The people who care are already 80. A good number of the remaining people are in the WvW maps. And i’m sure a good number of people switch to alts during the off hours as well (especially if their server is getting murdered in the imbalanced overnight WvW battles)

I’d be curious to know what people will be doing further down the line.

I’d like to play one of each class to level 80 (and complete 100% map with at least 1 character), but looking at how much I play and progress, I think I’ll be starting my 8th & final class in about 10 months time. It’s hard to see the zones being very populous at that point – some some very deserted even now, 1 month after release date – I envisage doing a lot of DE & hearts on my own in 10 months time – guess I should plan classes to ensure the strongest solo is last :P

I actually like how Blizzard is dealing with this problem: they do temporary merges of specific zones based on population. So, for example, if a bunch of servers has OK population in the max level zones but has the middle level zones mostly unpopulated, it would keep the high level zones separate but “merge” the middle level zones across enough servers to get the combined population at a good level.

It would even work better on GW2 than it can ever work for WoW:

- In WoW there are potential name conflicts whenever that is done; in GW2, names are unique across the whole game, so there is no chance for a name conflict.

- WoW has a mostly seamless world, which can create strange effects when moving between merged and unmerged zones; GW2 doesn’t have this problem due to the zones being separate.

- Many WoW players are disliking the merged zones due to the fact players in WoW effectively compete for gathering nodes, mobs, quest items, etc; GW2 has little to no such competition.

The end effect would be to multiply the number of players at unpopular zones by up to the number of servers, as needed. Multiplying the number of players in each zone by over 20 should fix the problem with unpopulated zones

It’s the same way on more populated servers.

Everyone’s probably in Orr because they need crafting materials and/or enjoy spending half hour fighting a single enemy with more HP than their whole party combined and multiplied by 10.

Fireheart Rise on Aurora Glade (High population server) is pretty much dead.
No one is doing events there, Group event mobs have spawned days ago with no one bothering to kill them and every waypoint which can be contested permanently is.
The only thing that tells you that you are not completely alone in the area is the occasional “lfg CoF” in chat.

I agree that some zones are dead. I have played since headstart and you can almost see a general movement of the populated zones upwards as players level (and get bored or go to WvW/PvP).

Part of the general problem is that you can’t tell where a DE is unless you are nearby. Sometimes I see a notification pop up as I wander into the area, rush to the location and it is over.

So they need to implement a DE notification system AND possibly some kind of temporary server merge.

A DE notification system with waypoint link alone may be enough to make the deserted DEs feel more alive.