Guild Wars 2

I played this game the day it was released.

People where everywhere, events popped up all over the place. I took a break after investing alot of time in it and yesterday i reinstalled and logged in again, with a new character.

I was shocked, on my server Gandara, for both Sylvari and human it seemed i was the only one in the first zone.
There was chat going on and people in the city, but no one in the actual playfields?

Whats going on?
I was about to get my friend to buy this game since it is amazing.
But with no people in the beginner areas (and probably further along the way) the things that made GW2 so awesome (all the events and such) will be few and far between.

Is it just my server?
Where is everybody?

I want to play again and partake in all the cool stuff, but like this?

Halp!

unless its a champ train or for an event like scarlet, no one really goes to low level areas and the mid level areas as well.

Guest to a busier server…but seriously what did you expect. Everyone to sit around in zone one for a year.

There are a lot of reasons for people not to be in the first zone. However, on the busiest servers, you’ll still find traffic…particularly in Queensdale, but also in Wayfarers and Caledon Forest.

On the slower servers, probably not so much.

One change from the earlier days is guesting where you can play for free on any server ( you can pick 2 per day to guest to), and play there.

Try guesting to Tarnished Coast and see if people are playing.

But why would you expect people to be playing in 1-15 zones when there’s a whole world to explore. Particularly on the days a new living world story comes out that’s set in Bloodtide Coast and Lornar’s Pass.

Those two zones are packed.

The rather lame and minimal new content that periodically gets released in this game universally focuses all the players into one or at least a very few locations. Outside of that, nothing new ever occurs in the lower zones and most players by now have little reason to go to the lower zones unless they’re farming for mats. This game probably has the most poorly conceived approach to end game content I’ve ever played. Get used to it because ANet has already gone on record as saying they plan to stick with the plan.

I don’t know I was leveling in Queensdale yesterday (on Gandara) and was packed full of people, can’t get busier than that. Are you sure you were on Gandara? lol

Guesting, or transferring to another server is the answer if yours is empty. Tarnished Coast would be a good one to try first. Every time I’m in a starting zone or lower level area I find it well populated.

Thank you all for the replies, most insightful.

I do want to add this though:

seriously what did you expect. Everyone to sit around in zone one for a year.

I don’t consider this such a strong argument.

There’s so many games out there, ages older than GW2 that at least have some people in the starter zones (after the first boss thingy).
I was by myself completely and was surprised based on experiences from other, older games.

But I’ll postpone telling my friend to buy the game until i’ve played a few more times to see what timeframes and/or servers are more active (i will follow the tips given by all of you) and I’ve found a place we can start in together.

OP, sorry if you felt my reply was strong. I’ve played many games and found many of them had empty starting zones, particularly games that still had a lot of servers. If you were on a popular server on Rift, you had no trouble seeing people in starter zones. If you were on a dead server in Rift (I was on Corthana) you were lucky to see yourself.

Even WoW has dead zones on slow servers, though not in the starting zones.

Every game has areas where players congregate and in Guild Wars 2 that’s usually Queensdale, Frostgorge and Lion’s Arch. All the other places have less players.

And of course, the bigger the world, the more likely it is that people will be more scattered.

When the game launched everyone was in starter zones because it’s where you start, but very few people were running dungeons back then, there were no fractals to take them out of starter areas, and there were no living stories.

The problem with all MMOs has always been traffic flow. More recent MMOs, like Rift and now Guild Wars 2 are trying to alleviate that by making different zones more appealing during specific events.

Sorry if I came off strong. But in my experience, there are plenty of empty zones in plenty of MMOs, particularly ones that use events to control traffic.

Gandara IS already a pretty full server (my home server since headstart), but it’s normal that starter zones are emtpy after a while. Just get used to it. The only places where people are now is the actual living story events and some champ trains. Sad but true.

they’re probably just in a champ train in queensdale. until anet gets rid of that…exploit? can we call it that? well anyway, until they get rid of it, standard playfield levelling will be ignored.

O thats alright, I didnt take it badly

I merely shared how I’ve experienced other games, and how i felt almost sad when I look back at the kickstart of GW2 – but all in all i am happy that activity is still very much there.

Question about server swaps tho: can i make a new character on a different server or does that require payment? (at work so cant check in game)

“But why would you expect people to be playing in 1-15 zones when there’s a whole world to explore.”

For the same reason I would expect people to be playing in 16-30 areas or 31-45…because they are part of the whole world to explore.

Personally I find the content, event trains, etc, and visuals in higher level zones to be more interesting.

Funkybacon.2635:

I played this game the day it was released.

People where everywhere, events popped up all over the place. I took a break after investing alot of time in it and yesterday i reinstalled and logged in again, with a new character.

I was shocked, on my server Gandara, for both Sylvari and human it seemed i was the only one in the first zone.
There was chat going on and people in the city, but no one in the actual playfields?

Whats going on?
I was about to get my friend to buy this game since it is amazing.
But with no people in the beginner areas (and probably further along the way) the things that made GW2 so awesome (all the events and such) will be few and far between.

Is it just my server?
Where is everybody?

I want to play again and partake in all the cool stuff, but like this?

Halp!

Game is one year and a half old, it’s kind of natural that people goes where “end game” content is… Even if a lot of people will says differently, GW2 is exactly as every other MMO out there.
You may try and check on the most populated servers, since it as been claimed that the game is having a constant flux of new player, most likely you will find them hanging around in the starting zones… But most probably not.

people are just lvl80. Tell me how many people are still low level after a year unless it’s an alt.

Funkybacon.2635:

O thats alright, I didnt take it badly

I merely shared how I’ve experienced other games, and how i felt almost sad when I look back at the kickstart of GW2 – but all in all i am happy that activity is still very much there.

Question about server swaps tho: can i make a new character on a different server or does that require payment? (at work so cant check in game)

There are two ways to transfer. One way is to delete every single character, and then you can rechoose your server for free. You’ll keep everything in your bank and you’ll keep all the gold in your account wallet (and all the tokens and stuff).

Otherwise, you’d have to pay gems to transfer. Remember, in Guild Wars 2, all characters are on the same server, due to WvW. So you have to delete them all to move them, or pay to transfer them.

If you don’t have particular attachment to a character, and you don’t have a ton of expensive soulbound equiptment on him, and you’re going to be playing with a friend, you might want to reroll.

The other thing is, if you have soulbound equipment you can always salvage it and deposit the mats in your bank so they’ll be there for your next character.

laokoko.7403:

people are just lvl80. Tell me how many people are still low level after a year unless it’s an alt.

Seriously. this has been covered in previous posts.

Funkybacon.2635:

There’s so many games out there, ages older than GW2 that at least have some people in the starter zones (after the first boss thingy).
I was by myself completely and was surprised based on experiences from other, older games.

These games have maybe also only 1 or 2 starter zones. GW2 has 5 and at least in Queensdale and Wayfarer Foothills i normally always see some people.

Funkybacon.2635:

I do want to add this though:

seriously what did you expect. Everyone to sit around in zone one for a year.

I don’t consider this such a strong argument.

There’s so many games out there, ages older than GW2 that at least have some people in the starter zones (after the first boss thingy).

No reason to not encourage your friends to get the game, GW2 is still amazing when you’re playing through the first times. And with 6 or 7 characters to my name and a few deleted alts, I have yet to experience what you say yourself, I’ve always found all zones I’ve been playing in to at least have a few players in near vicinity.

Remember GW2 has been out for a year and a half, most people are high-level by now except for new signups, and there hasn’t been any server merges so given that the game has lost some of its population from the peak, there will be fewer people in the less “central” zones at times. If that happens; just try guesting to another high pop server, i.e. for EU go to SFR and US go to Blackgate/TC/SoS, I guess?

Good luck and enjoy your time back in the game!

Funkybacon.2635:

laokoko.7403:

people are just lvl80. Tell me how many people are still low level after a year unless it’s an alt.

Seriously. this has been covered in previous posts.

Well you can follow the queensdale train if you really want to play with people.

I dont’ even know why you want to group with people doing map completion. You can level up to 30+ and do dungeon if you really want to play with people that much.

You can come to Tarnished Coast and play with me sometimes. I often run low level content.

There is no reason to go to most low and mid level maps after you finished them once.
Anet seems to be trying to change that. They changed kessex, added events and special mechanics to it. Now, at least on my server there are many people all the time. Not “queensdale many” but enough to enjoy the map with all events.

I’m always in starting zones because I’m always running new alts through the game. Or I’m just doing the odd daily in an easy zone on a higher level character. Some of the starting zones (and other lower level zones) are also huge, which spreads people out a lot … sometimes a quick shout out in map chat that an event is starting and does anyone want to join in brings people running.

Also, time of day and how close we are to a patch release makes a huge difference in terms of where you’ll find everybody. Sometimes I’ll log in early on the weekend and there’ll be nobody around so I’ll trot about, slowly getting my daily, then in an hour the place is packed. And right now, everybody is in Bloodtide Coast or Lornar’s Pass because of the Living Story update.

laokoko.7403:

I dont’ even know why you want to group with people doing map completion. You can level up to 30+ and do dungeon if you really want to play with people that much.

Where did I once say I wanted to group for map completion?
I’d simply enjoy to play an MMO with other people.
If I had no intentions to play with other people I’d be doing single player games.
Makes sense right?

Seriously. I appreciate all the kind advice i’ve been given but if you havent even read my posts properly enough to know what i’m actually asking, either read those posts or dont reply.

Thank you.

So to summarize the thread; there is plenty of activity.
Although not immediately apparent due to events, new content (living story) and the sizable maps i will surely run into some people around my level to do the events with and enjoy the MMO aspect (with my friend in the nearby future as well ofcourse)

Server transfer costs me, unless i delete all chars and pick a new one (I do retain w/e is in my bank – right?)

So all in all, all i need to do is just play, i’ll for certain run into the packed areas and if that doesnt happen in the lower levels, getting levelled up will definately fix this.

Is that a proper summary?

It is. One thing I don’t know was mentioned (and I don’t want to reread it all again because it’s after 1am here) is that if you’re in a zone, and you come across a group event, or something you can’t handle…try talking in map chat.

A lot of times, particularly for champions, if you say in map chat that a specific champ is up and link a waypoint, someone will come.

Again, guesting to a busier server, like Tarnished Coast or Blackgate, which is easy and free will likely get you more of a response if you do that.

Roger that. I think i will scrap my char and restart – after a year’s break starting over really isn’t a problem for me.
I still have all stuff in my collectibles, PvP locker and such.

My very very final question – WvW, how is that nowadays? do low levels still have a place?

Most everything revolves around the zerg. Find the zerg and you should be good.

In PvE, Queensdale and Frostgorge champion trains.

In WvW, join the server VoIP if they have one and follow the commander if you’re up leveled. Depending on who your server if facing, you might get rolled, but that’s just design.

Have fun.

Low level characters are pretty much canon fodder in WvW….once you start getting up a bit higher, it’s fine to run with a zerg…but expect more deaths. Obviously you wouldn’t want to roam with low level characters.

How it is is very different depending on who you ask. Some people hate it, some people love it. It also depends a lot on what server you’re on.

Me, I’m a PvE guy primarily, but I dabble in WvW and quite like it when I do. My problem is I need some lore/story/motivation to do something and WvW doesn’t really give that to me. I don’t enjoy killing to kill.

There’s a new WvW entrance map called Edge of the Mists coming soon (the beta just came to a close) that is pretty interesting as well.

There are also now levels in WvW…WvW levels that allow you to specialize. There are changes being made to that too, as soon they’ll be account bound levels, where right now, each character has to be leveled separately.

Vayne.8563:

There are also now levels in WvW…WvW levels that allow you to specialize. There are changes being made to that too, as soon they’ll be account bound levels, where right now, each character has to be leveled separately.

Pondering: If one deletes char(s) (possibly with the intention of moving server), will their wvw ranks count when the account wide wvw rank is finally calculated? Personally, I doubt it, I expect any ranks gained on deleted chars will be lost.

But yes, low levels are cannon fodder. Although I’ve had huge fun as low level in wvw. It was an amazing way to learn damage avoidance and how to get the best from my characters skills.

If low levels could have large stores of supplies on them, they would become something for the zerg to protect. Like a pack horse, lol. Easily killed but valuable. The apprentices do all the dirty work? (kidding, kidding)

You’d definitely lose WvW ranks, because they’re not tied to an account at this time, they’re tied to a character. No one can say what will happen after they become account bound.

The reality is – GW2 does indeed have less players since you left.

Not sure why everyone is so afraid to admit that.

The lack of any real content being released and a LS which has the player base split that some “like” it and some “hate” it. It’s not really any wonder.

Add into the fact after a 6 week break from any patches and all we receive are 2 poorly designed bosses and some reskins and yes – people will continue to leave.

The reason I am being so harsh on GW2 is because I do like this game, but they are drowning as shown by NCsofts q3 profit reports due to very poor development decisions.

Many people are giving the until the next “large update” patch which is suppose to be in april. If they once again screw that one up – I don’t think there will be much hope in store for gw2.

Azreell.1568:

The reality is – GW2 does indeed have less players since you left.

Not sure why everyone is so afraid to admit that.

The lack of any real content being released and a LS which has the player base split that some “like” it and some “hate” it. It’s not really any wonder.

Add into the fact after a 6 week break from any patches and all we receive are 2 poorly designed bosses and some reskins and yes – people will continue to leave.

The reason I am being so harsh on GW2 is because I do like this game, but they are drowning as shown by NCsofts q3 profit reports due to very poor development decisions.

Many people are giving the until the next “large update” patch which is suppose to be in april. If they once again screw that one up – I don’t think there will be much hope in store for gw2.

The reality is, you have zero actual evidence to support this. That’s the reality.

One group of people and one alone knows if business is better or worse.

I remember a huge downturn of people in November after release. There certainly seem to be, to me, more people now than then.

But it doesn’t matter what it seems to me, because that’s pretty much as anecdotal as what you’re saying. I could be wrong. You could be wrong.

No one really knows but Anet.

Vayne.8563:

Azreell.1568:

The reality is – GW2 does indeed have less players since you left.

Not sure why everyone is so afraid to admit that.

The lack of any real content being released and a LS which has the player base split that some “like” it and some “hate” it. It’s not really any wonder.

Add into the fact after a 6 week break from any patches and all we receive are 2 poorly designed bosses and some reskins and yes – people will continue to leave.

The reason I am being so harsh on GW2 is because I do like this game, but they are drowning as shown by NCsofts q3 profit reports due to very poor development decisions.

Many people are giving the until the next “large update” patch which is suppose to be in april. If they once again screw that one up – I don’t think there will be much hope in store for gw2.

The reality is, you have zero actual evidence to support this. That’s the reality.

One group of people and one alone knows if business is better or worse.

I remember a huge downturn of people in November after release. There certainly seem to be, to me, more people now than then.

But it doesn’t matter what it seems to me, because that’s pretty much as anecdotal as what you’re saying. I could be wrong. You could be wrong.

No one really knows but Anet.

Google is an amazing invention.

It’s not very difficult to check my above statement for truth.

Anyone can look up Ncsofts financial records for q3.

I suggest before posting again you do just that.

[Back after a year and surprised]… that there is nothing new. o-O

Azreell.1568:

The reality is – GW2 does indeed have less players since you left.

Not sure why everyone is so afraid to admit that.

The lack of any real content being released and a LS which has the player base split that some “like” it and some “hate” it. It’s not really any wonder.

Add into the fact after a 6 week break from any patches and all we receive are 2 poorly designed bosses and some reskins and yes – people will continue to leave.

The reason I am being so harsh on GW2 is because I do like this game, but they are drowning as shown by NCsofts q3 profit reports due to very poor development decisions.

Many people are giving the until the next “large update” patch which is suppose to be in april. If they once again screw that one up – I don’t think there will be much hope in store for gw2.

First off, yes there are less players since release. That happens in any MMO. All games have a huge rush in release and then it tapers down. The good thing, and I believe Colin/Mikez 100%, is that the playerbase is growing.

2nd, anyone with expertise in financials would recognize that just because earnings are down, doesn’t mean the company is doing bad.

NCSoft has several others games and their Q3 earnings were hit by such expenses such as the development of B & S, Wildstar and even the China release. There are also other extraordinary expenses (accounting term) such as a relocation of their offices.

Now on GW2 side, obviously they are making less money. As mentioned again, the boxed sales will always trend downward no matter what. Investors realize this, management realize this, the stock market realize this. What is not available in these reports and is probably only available internally, is the percentage of sales generated from boxed sales, gemstore items, and other materials (merchandise).

This is where you look beyond the numbers. Let’s say total sales have fallen by 30%. The average user will scream “THIS GAME IS FAILING OMFGZ”.

But the analysts and investors will ask, what is the TY vs LY figures for boxed sales and gemstore items? The figures could show that boxed sales have dropped 70% (which is expected), but gem store figures are up by 60%, which is pretty good.

Then you have thorough investors who will ask far more pertinent questions. How is the trend looking, week by week for the quarter? Is it going up? How exactly are people spending money? Is the average purchases per customer rising, or decreasing? Are sales up because more people are spending or because people are spending larger amounts? There are so many questions and metrics that you can analyze that give you a better picture. It’s part of my job, so I’m aware of it. But many times, the average users or even the media (aside from business media like financialpost or bloomberg) fail to understand finance.

Azreell.1568:

Google is an amazing invention.

It’s not very difficult to check my above statement for truth.

Anyone can look up Ncsofts financial records for q3.

I suggest before posting again you do just that.

Only that that says nothing about population at all. Its normal that sell of boxes go down after release, since we don’t have to rebuy the game every month, and of course the number of newcomers will also go down when the game gets older.

What i can say however is that my server went from medium to high in December.

Vol.7601:

Azreell.1568:

The reality is – GW2 does indeed have less players since you left.

Not sure why everyone is so afraid to admit that.

The lack of any real content being released and a LS which has the player base split that some “like” it and some “hate” it. It’s not really any wonder.

Add into the fact after a 6 week break from any patches and all we receive are 2 poorly designed bosses and some reskins and yes – people will continue to leave.

The reason I am being so harsh on GW2 is because I do like this game, but they are drowning as shown by NCsofts q3 profit reports due to very poor development decisions.

Many people are giving the until the next “large update” patch which is suppose to be in april. If they once again screw that one up – I don’t think there will be much hope in store for gw2.

First off, yes there are less players since release. That happens in any MMO. All games have a huge rush in release and then it tapers down. The good thing, and I believe Colin/Mikez 100%, is that the playerbase is growing.

2nd, anyone with expertise in financials would recognize that just because earnings are down, doesn’t mean the company is doing bad.

NCSoft has several others games and their Q3 earnings were hit by such expenses such as the development of B & S, Wildstar and even the China release. There are also other extraordinary expenses (accounting term) such as a relocation of their offices.

Now on GW2 side, obviously they are making less money. As mentioned again, the boxed sales will always trend downward no matter what. Investors realize this, management realize this, the stock market realize this. What is not available in these reports and is probably only available internally, is the percentage of sales generated from boxed sales, gemstore items, and other materials (merchandise).

This is where you look beyond the numbers. Let’s say total sales have fallen by 30%. The average user will scream “THIS GAME IS FAILING OMFGZ”.

But the analysts and investors will ask, what is the TY vs LY figures for boxed sales and gemstore items? The figures could show that boxed sales have dropped 70% (which is expected), but gem store figures are up by 60%, which is pretty good.

Then you have thorough investors who will ask far more pertinent questions. How is the trend looking, week by week for the quarter? Is it going up? How exactly are people spending money? Is the average purchases per customer rising, or decreasing? Are sales up because more people are spending or because people are spending larger amounts? There are so many questions and metrics that you can analyze that give you a better picture. It’s part of my job, so I’m aware of it. But many times, the average users or even the media (aside from business media like financialpost or bloomberg) fail to understand finance.

Box sales and gem store sales are both down.

I would agree box store sales being down after the game is a year old would make sense as the market penetration already took it’s greatest hold during that initial year.

But, the gem store sales are what interest me the most. Since that is now what basically sustains gw2 or any f2p game at this point.

Since both sales brackets are down – one could argue the trend would be less players logging on which would directly impact the sales branch of the game.

But many times, the average users or even the media fail to understand finance.

On a side note LoL, Wow and SwTor are placed in the top 10 of in game revenue for 2013.

GW2 didn’t even make the list or come remotely close.

Where did you see gem store sales are down? All I see is consolidated sales. They do not include any sort of detail.

Now, assuming gem store sales are down, an analyst would investigate why. We know the game released in 2nd/3rd quarter of 2012. So we are comparing two periods with different player populations. That could be the prime culprit as to why sales are down. If gem store sales were up, I would consider that an impressive feat.

edit2: You cannot compare the total sales $ across games. Some of those games aren’t even in the same genre. It’s like comparing General Motors with Harley Davidson and Tesla. Different company sizes, different industries. Irrelevant.