Guild Wars 2

As an introvert, I like playing with and around people, but I don’t come to MMOs to make friends or join guilds. I’m very comfortable with this way of play, and I am certainly not alone in wanting it.

I was inspired by the poster here to the idea of playing “serverless” characters. I recognise the desire to play in areas with lots of other players, no matter the server, and for some players I’m sure would want fewer players (maybe those who want the challenge of taking on events single-handedly).

My suggestion is for a way of choosing in the options to always be able to join any of the most populated servers or any of the least populated servers, and have this decision made automatically for me each time I change instance.

I’m likely showing my ignorance when it comes to server, data, and character management, but my intent is to suggest an option that could be quite desirable for half the playerbase. That is, those who tend towards introverted pasttiming rather than extraverted activities, even if it means being near, around, or with other players, but alone or unpartied. I mean to put forward a way for players to get the social interactivity they like when you take away the assumption that lasting relationships and guild membership is what everyone has a the top of their social agenda.

When you select a server, your characters are stored on that server and linked to the fragments that make up the world. Shifting servers takes time and a shifting of all of your collected data for the entire account. Your suggestion, while it would provide a way for people to remain on high pop or low pop at their choice, doesn’t work with the way your account information is stored.

I’m confused here. You’re not actually suggesting anything that isn’t already present. Even on my completely full, hard as heck to get on server because of said fullness, the leveling zones are pretty quiet. Unless you’re in a starter zone, you can avoid running into people really easily.

That is, those who tend towards introverted pasttiming rather than extraverted activities, even if it means being near, around, or with other players, but alone or unpartied.

This is present right now. I do it all the time. I run around unpartied most of the time and rarely talk to those I run into while roaming the world. There is no need for a new system to allow what the game already has. Also, half the playerbase? That’s a big number to pull out without proof. I am introverted yet I still have a guild.

What you’re suggesting here could be acchieved by simply changing servers. Want less people? Go to a less populated one. Want more people? Camp a full one at 4 am and hope you can get in. If my full server can have sparse zones, a medium or low pop one would be dead.

If you want "floating" characters, the entire structure of how the game handles the character data would have to be revised. This requires a lot of code work, a lot more testing, and then downtime to implement.

I am not trying to sound insulting, but you bought a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. :-P

-Hate