Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone,

I’m sure that I am not the only one who has been having an issue with certain servers being full. Before all the trolls flood this I’m going to state that, 1 I am not trying to transfer to be on a better WvW server, 2 I do not hop servers everytime that I possibly can.

The server I’ve been trying to get onto is Tarnished Coast, this is where my guild [HOPE] is. It would be too difficult to try to transfer the entire guild to a lower populated server and would most likely break up the guild. I’ve been sitting at the character selection screen for the last 2 1/2 days refreshing the world selection every 30 seconds or so. Both nights I stay up till the server population was supposed to drop, 2-4am, but no luck.

Is there no way to transfer to full servers without getting lucky and checking when one other person changes their home server? Am I to sit at character selection checking with only a small chance of success.

If so than this is a problem. I as a player shouldn’t have to struggle to get onto a server with my fellow guildmates. There are overflows for major cities and queue times for WvW maps, so I can’t get my head around why server population being “full” is such a big deal when they have these systems in place to prevent too many people from being in one place anyway. I don’t understand why the server population is constantly full and how I am unable to transfer.

ANet has steadily expanded server capacity since launch.

The queue times for WvW are biggest reason not to increase server caps any more than they already are. As you may be aware, only 2,000 players from each server may participate in WvW at any given time and some servers have very long queues, especially after WvW resets on Friday evening.

Just this last Sunday I queued up for WvW and it took 1 1/2hours to get in. Increasing server capacity would only compound this issue.

I understand your distress but many people have tried to get on Full servers and succeeded, just keep trying – generally very late night, very early morning are the best times to try to get in.

Wishing you Good luck!

I agree that this is a serious problem. My guild is in the process of attempting to transfer to TC, and our luck has been horrendous. Many of us work during US working hours, and those who do not have reported that even at what should be extreme-low population times of day (5AM Eastern, 9AM Eastern, Noon Eastern, etc…) the server reports “Full.”

It’s a serious problem, because at very random times, sometimes even during peak hours, a member will find that TC is reporting as “High” and transfer over immediately. Our active players are now split halfway between two servers.

This obviously needs to be addressed – players shouldn’t have to forgo sleeping or working in order to execute a server swap.

Karizee.8076:

ANet has steadily expanded server capacity since launch.

The queue times for WvW are biggest reason not to increase server caps any more than they already are. As you may be aware, only 2,000 players from each server may participate in WvW at any given time and some servers have very long queues, especially after WvW resets on Friday evening.

It’s 2000 players from all 3 servers, just 500 total per map.

And they sold over 2 million accounts for 52 servers, so there’s an average 40,000 accounts per server.

mulch.2586:

It’s 2000 players from all 3 servers, just 500 total per map.

How do they divide 500 by 3?

mulch.2586:

Karizee.8076:

ANet has steadily expanded server capacity since launch.

The queue times for WvW are biggest reason not to increase server caps any more than they already are. As you may be aware, only 2,000 players from each server may participate in WvW at any given time and some servers have very long queues, especially after WvW resets on Friday evening.

It’s 2000 players from all 3 servers, just 500 total per map.

And they sold over 2 million accounts for 52 servers, so there’s an average 40,000 accounts per server.

If they even had 20k per server now I would be very surprised. Maybe on the t1 servers.

Either way, 100% of the American servers are reporting at “High” or “Full” population essentially all the time. In the past 48 hours of checking regularly I have yet to see any of them drop to medium. Their hardware limits are throttling what players can and can’t do – in this case, disallowing a guild member from playing with his guild. That’s a situation which needs to be resolved somehow.

Blueshield.6291:

I agree that this is a serious problem. My guild is in the process of attempting to transfer to TC, and our luck has been horrendous. Many of us work during US working hours, and those who do not have reported that even at what should be extreme-low population times of day (5AM Eastern, 9AM Eastern, Noon Eastern, etc…) the server reports “Full.”

It’s a serious problem, because at very random times, sometimes even during peak hours, a member will find that TC is reporting as “High” and transfer over immediately. Our active players are now split halfway between two servers.

This obviously needs to be addressed – players shouldn’t have to forgo sleeping or working in order to execute a server swap.

Why is your guild picking TC when you know it’s already a full server? Pick a different one, have your split guild members already on TC transfer to it so you can all be together again. Problem solved.

According to this:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Server-Populations/first

Connor, when you see a server FULL means that the people who’ve chosen that server as theirs, or players who have moved to that particular server, have reached the cap, independently of where did they create their accounts.

Looks like your only way to get into TC is hope that an active player from TC transfer out so that you can grab their spot (if they were planning to transfer out temporarily and then back in, then tough luck for them).

The problem is actually bigger then that. Originally there wasn’t supposed to be server separation problems like this because of a technology called guesting. It was supposed to be introduced just after launch. STILL have not seen a single thing.

Basically it was to allow you to go to the zone in which your guild mates where located or go to the dungeon where they were located simply by being in a group and clicking on the join option.

I have yet to see anything about this and yes they need to tell us what’s going on. Surely that part of the game can’t be that difficult to turn on since all it really deals with is the connection between servers at any given time and they have this system in place already when it connects to overflow servers.

So to the devs, can we get an answer on guesting so this is no longer an issue for our guild mates please? Because there was no room for this question in the recent AMA due to the immense concerns over the game’s future.

Gilandred.9870:

Why is your guild picking TC when you know it’s already a full server? Pick a different one, have your split guild members already on TC transfer to it so you can all be together again. Problem solved.

TC is the only American server with a significant RP community, and we shouldn’t be forced to not pick servers based on arbitrary factors like the current non-overflow population. Additionally, guild members already on TC would have to either wait a week until they can transfer again free of charge or spend money to do so.

Ignoring the symptoms is not solving the problem.

tigirius.9014:

The problem is actually bigger then that. Originally there wasn’t supposed to be server separation problems like this because of a technology called guesting. It was supposed to be introduced just after launch. STILL have not seen a single thing.

Guesting is in, but it is only applicable in the case of dungeons. If you wanted to do this with a friend on another server, try it – it works. However, for people actively leveling, running story content, doing events, participating in WvW, and RPing, guesting is useless.

tigirius.9014:

Surely that part of the game can’t be that difficult to turn on since all it really deals with is the connection between servers at any given time and they have this system in place already when it connects to overflow servers.

If it was as easy as flipping a switch it would have been in on release.

Blueshield.6291:

TC is the only American server with a significant RP community, and we shouldn’t be forced to not pick servers based on arbitrary factors like the current non-overflow population. Additionally, guild members already on TC would have to either wait a week until they can transfer again free of charge or spend money to do so.

Ignoring the symptoms is not solving the problem.

I understand you wanting to be on an RP server, but think about it in terms of your hard drive. Once you fill it up, you can’t save anymore data to it. You can only add more hard drives. Those other hard drives, in Anet terms, are called servers. I don’t know what you expect them to do.

PS. And before you say get a bigger hard drive, how do we know they don’t have the biggest one current technology offers?

Gilandred.9870:

I understand you wanting to be on an RP server, but think about it in terms of your hard drive. Once you fill it up, you can’t save anymore data to it. You can only add more hard drives. Those other hard drives, in Anet terms, are called servers. I don’t know what you expect them to do.

PS. And before you say get a bigger hard drive, how do we know they don’t have the biggest one current technology offers?

Please don’t be patronizing, I understand how server population works.

Currently, when a server is listed as “Full” on the transfer menu, it still allows players already bound to the server to log in and play through the use of overflow hardware. Therefore one possible solution would be allowing people to transfer servers even when overflow is in use. However, let’s assume that the current “Full” system is in place specifically in order to throttle population levels. In that case, a possible solution would be to implement a server transfer “queue” whereby the game automatically attempts to transfer you at such a time as the server is no longer “Full.”

As for finding a bigger hard drive, that’s not how servers work. If one box is at capacity (and is the best that current technology offers), you don’t have to swap the first box for a second, bigger one. Instead you can add a second running in parallel. This is presumably how they already handle overflow.

There are ways around this issue. Hypothesizing that there aren’t isn’t helpful.

Blueshield.6291:

Please don’t be patronizing, I understand how server population works.

Currently, when a server is listed as “Full” on the transfer menu, it still allows players already bound to the server to log in and play through the use of overflow hardware. Therefore one possible solution would be allowing people to transfer servers even when overflow is in use. However, let’s assume that the current “Full” system is in place specifically in order to throttle population levels. In that case, a possible solution would be to implement a server transfer “queue” whereby the game automatically attempts to transfer you at such a time as the server is no longer “Full.”

As for finding a bigger hard drive, that’s not how servers work. If one box is at capacity (and is the best that current technology offers), you don’t have to swap the first box for a second, bigger one. Instead you can add a second running in parallel. This is presumably how they already handle overflow.

There are ways around this issue. Hypothesizing that there aren’t isn’t helpful.

You cannot cram an infinite number of people onto the same server and provide a quality experience. Creating more overflows just inconveniences those that are already on the server. TC is no longer TC if everytime you log in you get put on an overflow. If you think I’m being patronizing toward you, what do you think you are being towards Anet’s network engineers?

Gilandred.9870:

You cannot cram an infinite number of people onto the same server and provide a quality experience. Creating more overflows just inconveniences those that are already on the server. TC is no longer TC if everytime you log in you get put on an overflow. If you think I’m being patronizing toward you, what do you think you are being towards Anet’s network engineers?

Nobody’s proposing cramming infinite numbers of people into the same server. Let’s re-examine the issue, shall we?

According to the server transfer menu, all of the American servers are consistently reading at “High” or “Full” population, all the time, regardless of peak hours. Some of the “Full” ones drop to “High,” but this is largely the extent of the variation. Therefore, the current server system as it is implemented is insufficient to accommodate the total population of the game.

Currently, players are being forced to take unreasonable means to attain access to certain types of content. That content might consist of server-specific community factors, such as Tarnished Coast being the unofficial RP server, or Sea of Sorrows having earned the top rating in WvW for the prior bracket. That content might also consist of team play – this thread was created by a player who cannot play GW2 with a friend due to population throttling.

It isn’t patronizing or unreasonable to ask that ANet address this, because it is an issue when players are barred from content arbitrarily. I’ve suggested a workaround which shouldn’t cause the population to run rampant on the highest servers – but if all of the servers are as full as the transfer menu indicates, then yes, it’s probably time for ANet to consider hardware optimization or acquisition.

I think they should have separated the servers by Lions Arch. That’s like the only place that is always full. Every other zone should be thrown in a server until it’s full then another one starts to fill.

So every single zone will appear to be full at all times.

So basically if your from Gates of Madness and I’m from Jade Quarry and we both go to Gendarrin Fields we end up in the same server if no one in the entire game is playing in that zone. As more people come in they all get added to our server as it fills. Solves so many problems. When we go to Lions Arch which is the typical gather place for LFG WvW FotM and most likely every future event (except Wintersday, sort of), we once again enter our own servers.

This would make the game appear full at ALL times. I mean not only is that smarter, but on their end it would save them money.

Volomon.9147:

I think they should have separated the servers by Lions Arch. That’s like the only place that is always full. Every other zone should be thrown in a server until it’s full then another one starts to fill.

So every single zone will appear to be full at all times.

So basically if your from Gates of Madness and I’m from Jade Quarry and we both go to Gendarrin Fields we end up in the same server if no one in the entire game is playing in that zone. As more people come in they all get added to our server as it fills. Solves so many problems. When we go to Lions Arch which is the typical gather place for LFG WvW FotM and most likely every future event (except Wintersday, sort of).

This would make the game appear full at ALL times.

So in other words, essentially have the game be mostly instance-based rather than server-based? I could see how it would cause some problems for WvW – that player you teamed with for a random dungeon or world event would never be able to join you in WvW – but it would certainly address a lot of issues, not the least of which is how dead PvE zones feel on some servers. The market’s already cross-servers, so you wouldn’t even have to worry much about economic ramifications.

An interesting thought, but unfortunately it seems like far too radical a change from the system currently in place to be seriously considered. Which is a shame.

Blueshield.6291:

Volomon.9147:

I think they should have separated the servers by Lions Arch. That’s like the only place that is always full. Every other zone should be thrown in a server until it’s full then another one starts to fill.

So every single zone will appear to be full at all times.

So basically if your from Gates of Madness and I’m from Jade Quarry and we both go to Gendarrin Fields we end up in the same server if no one in the entire game is playing in that zone. As more people come in they all get added to our server as it fills. Solves so many problems. When we go to Lions Arch which is the typical gather place for LFG WvW FotM and most likely every future event (except Wintersday, sort of).

This would make the game appear full at ALL times.

So in other words, essentially have the game be mostly instance-based rather than server-based? I could see how it would cause some problems for WvW – that player you teamed with for a random dungeon or world event would never be able to join you in WvW – but it would certainly address a lot of issues, not the least of which is how dead PvE zones feel on some servers. The market’s already cross-servers, so you wouldn’t even have to worry much about economic ramifications.

An interesting thought, but unfortunately it seems like far too radical a change from the system currently in place to be seriously considered. Which is a shame.

Well there are similar systems, and WoW recently started doing something similar to this after years of using the standard server set up. This could also be a great point in time to implement the guest passes that Anet was talking about so maybe that random person in your group could join you fro WvW.

Over the next few days, as per the cycle, ALL servers will have their population adjusted to ‘High’ so you should be able to transfer to Tarnished Coasst then.

EDIT: Having said that, I think Tarnished Coast is popular so when it is available you better transfer ASAP or it will become ‘Full’ quickly again.

Blueshield.6291:

Gilandred.9870:

Why is your guild picking TC when you know it’s already a full server? Pick a different one, have your split guild members already on TC transfer to it so you can all be together again. Problem solved.

TC is the only American server with a significant RP community, and we shouldn’t be forced to not pick servers based on arbitrary factors like the current non-overflow population. Additionally, guild members already on TC would have to either wait a week until they can transfer again free of charge or spend money to do so.

Ignoring the symptoms is not solving the problem.

tigirius.9014:

The problem is actually bigger then that. Originally there wasn’t supposed to be server separation problems like this because of a technology called guesting. It was supposed to be introduced just after launch. STILL have not seen a single thing.

Guesting is in, but it is only applicable in the case of dungeons. If you wanted to do this with a friend on another server, try it – it works. However, for people actively leveling, running story content, doing events, participating in WvW, and RPing, guesting is useless.

That’s the thing it was supposed to be on for EVERYTHING.

When I first started playing at launch, I moved around servers a lot because I had friends on three different servers. I took a break for a couple of months, ending up on Sanctum of Rall. Now that I’ve come back, the people I want to play with are all on Tarnished Coast. I’ve been trying to change servers so I can play with my friends for a few weeks now, it seems like Tarnished Coast (alongside 3-7 other servers) is full at all hours of the day. It would be nice if guesting was made more functional, or if there was some opportunity for me to switch there. It sucks being stuck on a server alone while all my friends are on another.

Hey, ANet,

You should introduce AUCTIONING of a player spot on these “Full” servers (ie: BG, JQ, and TC)… so a player on one of these T1 servers might be enticed to move to a lower tier server in exchange for some gold or gems…

That, or idle out some of the players that no longer actually play GW2 (I know of 3 that have been gone for 4+ months now).

That way, my son and I can play together (in WvW).

~DuMarque

I’m wondering why Tequalt event has been so empty if you arrive at late. If 150 players can be in instance, why I see only 10-20 people most of the time?

Players use taxis (party or LFG) to join from different servers, without guesting.
Those RP players could join that way too.

For those still trying to transfer, just be persistent. It was full at 5 am when I tried this morning but was able to transfer today around 2 pm after 3 days of trying 5-6 times per day.

i just bought this game to play with my friend and the server is full.. what am i supose to do get a refund!!!

Volomon.9147:

~Snip~

This would make the game appear full at ALL times. I mean not only is that smarter, but on their end it would save them money.

Exactly how does it save money when you’re using equipment, in this case servers, that are owned by NCSoft? Oh, I’m sure there might be a nominal charge from NCSoft to use the servers, but the DC’s do belong to NCSoft so your suggestion doesn’t necessarily save money.

saicho.7219:

i just bought this game to play with my friend and the server is full.. what am i supose to do get a refund!!!

I think you’re out of luck on that one, there’s no legitimate business reason to give you a refund for a full server, you bought the game to play it. playing with a friend is not guaranteed. You can however submit a ticket to CS in the hopes they’ll issue a refund.
Or, you can join a open server and then keep trying to transfer to the server your friend is on.

HOLY NECRO BATMAN!
LOL!
Don´t start debating peoples arguments from 2 years ago!

We have a SUPERSERVER now, pretty much the whole discussion here is moot.

Zaklex.6308:

Or, you can join a open server and then keep trying to transfer to the server your friend is on.

Which would cost gems though!

There’s no “official” RP server, so I can’t see ANet stepping in to “fix” a problem that they didn’t create. Besides, outside of WvW or the EU/NA divide, choice of server has no impact, not for PvE and not for PvP. Unless [HOPE] is substantially an RPing WvW guild, I’m not sure why it matters to the OP that they end up on TC.

That said, I see room for improvement.

From a strict economic sense, ANet has priced server moves too high for low-pop ones and too low for high pop. From a customer service perspective, I can’t see ANet getting away with charging 4,000 gems for some server moves and only 100 gems to others. Maybe ANet could offer incentives to folks for moving, to encourage non-WvWers to move.

Outside of ANet, there are things that the community could do. For example, why do RPers continue to insist on using TC as the only world? Would it make more sense for larger groups to encourage new members to start on a second world (and for some of the vets to move there, to help establish it)? There’s enough of an RP pop to spread out over two worlds and, due to megaserver, there’s no real problem getting together.

tl;dr full servers only affect people who WvW with their guild. ANet probably could do more to rebalance populations, but until they do, there are some things that the community could do without ANet’s help.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

There’s no “official” RP server, so I can’t see ANet stepping in to “fix” a problem that they didn’t create. Besides, outside of WvW or the EU/NA divide, choice of server has no impact, not for PvE and not for PvP. Unless [HOPE] is substantially an RPing WvW guild, I’m not sure why it matters to the OP that they end up on TC.

That said, I see room for improvement.

From a strict economic sense, ANet has priced server moves too high for low-pop ones and too low for high pop. From a customer service perspective, I can’t see ANet getting away with charging 4,000 gems for some server moves and only 100 gems to others. Maybe ANet could offer incentives to folks for moving, to encourage non-WvWers to move.

Outside of ANet, there are things that the community could do. For example, why do RPers continue to insist on using TC as the only world? Would it make more sense for larger groups to encourage new members to start on a second world (and for some of the vets to move there, to help establish it)? There’s enough of an RP pop to spread out over two worlds and, due to megaserver, there’s no real problem getting together.

tl;dr full servers only affect people who WvW with their guild. ANet probably could do more to rebalance populations, but until they do, there are some things that the community could do without ANet’s help.

You are aware the OP wrote this over 2 years ago, yes?

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

You are aware the OP wrote this over 2 years ago, yes?

[/quote]

Erm, no, I was responding to one of the new posts — I didn’t see the date on the original (nor someone questioning why someone was resurrecting an ancient post). Sorry about that.

New necro Elite Specialization = EazzyTarget

saicho.7219:

i just bought this game to play with my friend and the server is full.. what am i supose to do get a refund!!!

It only matters for wvw, which doesn’t matter for most players. Your friend may play wvw though, or did… my guess, since full servers are usually servers that had a high ranking in wvw early on (like mine being fort aspenwood) and so all these people transfered to these servers when transfers became an option thus the servers imbalanced on populations and locked full. Then even though 80% of players (my random guess) left the game, they still total as part of the locked population.

But like I said, doesn’t matter unless you only got the game to play wvw with your friend, which is unlikely other than a casual interest since you got the game so late. All you do is party up with your friend, click on his portrait and select that option to join him on his map. The statistics anet gave with population is that around 8% of players play on the same map as other players on their home server.

This is the new system, the old system was to guest to a different server, so hasn’t really been an issue for years. For the new system, I’d like to see improvement. I don’t like going to a world boss event and find the total of the population being a huge guild running guild missions. It falls short… and in a year… I dunno, I’ll predict that they will fine tune it a little more, but still it’ll take friend contacts and/or guildies to sometimes taxi you to the content you want to participate in with players doing the same stuff.

ps and yes I know it’s a necroed thread, just replying to a newbie post that is recent.

IMO the problem with a full Db should be looked at. 300+ players transferred off last month or so and its is still full.

saicho.7219:

i just bought this game to play with my friend and the server is full.. what am i supose to do get a refund!!!

This discussion is old and the server tech has changed. If your friend is on an NA server, then pick any NA server you want and you will be able to play with them. The only exception is WvW which does require that you be on the same server.

P.S. Starting your own thread would be more effective at getting an answer than resurrecting an ancient one.