Guild Wars 2

With free server transfers coming to an end, nobody seems to be concerned about its possible impact on WvW. From what I’ve noticed, when servers loose in WvW and drop a tier or two, people seem to find quitting easier than admitting defeat. When people start to quit fighting in WvW it reflects clearly as the server starts to drop through the tiers and WvW-focused guilds disappear from the activity.

Since the start of GW2 guilds which focus on WvW and have a passion for the activity tend to jump their sinking ships and move to servers in higher tiers in hope of finding more competition. But now that free transfers are ending, I doubt guilds are going to be able to easily jump servers if their world starts to loose interest in WvW.

My greatest concern is what I’ve been observing the past week since the announce that free transfers will be ending. Many guilds from lower tiers have been quickly transferring to tier 1 and tier 2 servers since they want to be stuck in good competition. Many WvW guilds have hopped to Jade Quarry particularly, as well as a few to Sea of Sorrows and Blackgate. As Stormbluff Isle fell from tier 1 in the last few weeks, many of its powerhouse WvW guilds have transferred over to Sanctum of Rall, joining their numerous guilds already there.

Once paid transfers are bought into play, the location of these WvW guilds will be set in stone. Sanctum of Rall is going to remain with the combined forces of Stormbluff Isle and Sanctum of Rall, as will all the other servers with their guilds transfers.

This frightens me because by the look of things, within the next few weeks its possible that Blackgate will fall from tier 1 and be replaced by SoR. If that happens, its possible that some of our smaller guilds might loose motivation and drop in activity. Same with other guilds in the same situation in other tiers. If activity drops, it sets off a chain reaction and the rest of the server suffers with it.

My concern also lies with lower tiered servers. If most players on the server are PvE focused, and WvW guilds can’t jump to their server, then it will remain a dead activity for them. As well, if it’s just one guild in WvW fighting every week and they keep getting defeated, not many new players will have motivation to join them.

In the past these guilds who have no place for WvW on their server would simply jump ship to a new world which enjoys the activity. For NA, this may only be the top two or three tiers (6 – 9 servers). If players in lower tiers can’t move themselves or their guild to these few servers with a passion for WvW, they really have no hope at all. As time progresses, it may narrow down to the point where the three top servers are still motivated, and WvW will probably loose all motivation on other servers as they stand no chance of every moving up.

I think something definitely needs to be done about this. All of what I’ve said is just my opinion, but from what I’ve seen in the past 6 or 7 months since the start of GW2 the removal of free transfers may have a huge negative impact on WvW.

I don’t really know how to counter this, but something like a “Guild Transfer” feature may be a simple solution. Basically if the guild wanted to jump servers they would pay a fee of maybe 50 – 100 gold, and for an entire week players in that guild would be able to freely move to the designated server without each member having to spend real money on purchasing gems.

That’s just one idea, but I really think more thought needs to be put into this updates possible impact on WvW.