Since it looks like SBI is going to be tumbling down to Silver, I figured I would start the discussion of what this crapfest of a league will look like. I honestly feel bad for the other servers in Silver league, and also hope that nobody transfers to SBI for an easy win in Silver. Please look to mid-tier silver league servers so we can get some better competition.
With that said, here is my analysis of the servers.
The lineup as of 10/16:
7. Stormbluff Isle My home server. Currently stacked (by silver league standards) with transfers, and probably the favorite to win the Silver League but lacks reliable guilds for off hour coverage. Exceptionally weak EU coverage. Stormbluff Isle will undoubtedly suffer from PvE players and fairweathers packing into the server at all hours of the day, most of whom will not be interested in being team players or getting on teamspeak. This should result in an extremely volatile level of skill from SBI, but the sheer numbers will likely discourage opposition.
8. Fort Aspenwood Former T2 server that lost some guilds. It remains to be seen whether or not they can steady the ship. The recent SBI-Mag-FA matchup showed remnants of well rounded coverage, but with visible holes left from the guilds who transferred off. Some easy match-ups could bring out their fairweathers and rejuvenate their base.
9. Dragonbrand Another former T2 server that lost many guilds to T1 recruiters. From what I understand, they maintain a reasonably strong OCX/SEA coverage base, but many of their NA guilds have left the server. Some more reasonable match-ups for seven weeks straight could allow them to re-build their base and possibly even attract badly needed NA transfers to compete for the top of the league.
10. Ehmry Bay From what I understand Ehrmy Bay has very strong NA, but almost non-existent off hour coverage. It is also rumored they lost a few guilds to T1, but someone would need to verify this for me. They could be strong competitors in NA prime and with a bit of support from their PvE off hour community may contend for the top of the league.
11. Borlis Pass From what I understand they lost some guilds, but also picked up a badly needed Oceanic guild as well as a few other NA guilds. The attitude on their server forums seems upbeat with many of their community leaders believing they can compete for the top spot in the silver league. It remains to be seen just how strong BP has gotten from their transfers and how much their PvE community comes out to support them during the season.
12. Yak’s Bend Stable community that hasn’t really seen any guilds come or go (from my understanding). They have pretty reasonable coverage for this tier at all hours, but not enough in any one area to be serious competitors for the top spots in the league. With some transfer love they may be able to make a push late, but as they stand now they don’t have the firepower to compete with the upper echelon of the silver league.
13. Crystal Desert Kind of a Wild Card. From what I understand they have a fairly robust OCX/SEA coverage base, but many members on their server are disgruntled with the server community. If their PvE and fairweather crowd show up to supplement their NA coverage and their off hour coverage is strong they could probably compete with anybody in this league. An added bonus for them is having many months experience fighting T2 and T3 opponents.
14. Isle of Janthir The server was rivaling SBI in quantity of guild transfers for a while, but the wheels seem to be coming off with major guilds such as [SE] and [SIC] leaving the server for greener pastures. This will inevitably drive a stake into an already fragile community that was largely built up on transfers. They do supposedly have a strong Oceanic presence, but I believe that this OCX presence is composed primarily of fairweather players who won’t come out in tough matches.
15. Northern Shiverpeaks Man, I just feel bad this server is even lumped into this tier. They have some excellent roamers like [XOXO], but have no business fighting in Silver League. Their off hour-coverage is non-existent, and any NA presence lives and dies with the [Os] guild who can only be on one map at any given time. They need much more firepower to compete in this league, and being at the bottom of Silver League makes it unlikely their PvE players will be very interested in stepping their toes into WvW.
[KEK]
(edited by Radioactive.1248)