Thank you! Thank you! Thank you anet! I cannot express my gratitude for fixing my favourite map. You found the best possible solution(I think). Now I can finally run around the map like a lunatic without reading hateful comments.
Dwayna bless you!
You could do that before… it’s called turning off map chat. Which, honestly, I don’t know why everyone isn’t doing by default, because most of map chat is obnoxious nonsense.
Well anyway, now that the Queensdale train is no longer running, let’s take a moment to look back and analyze why people were doing it, and what possible implications Anet’s decision to destroy it may have:
Why do people do champ trains?
I would posit that the primary reason for the existence of the champ trains is the tendency of mob mentality to find and take the path of least resistance. But this does not explain why players were drawn to participate in them, rather than doing other, more engaging content. The reason for that, I think, is rather simple: GW2 in NA/EU is stale. Whether Anet likes it or not, without a clearly defined end-game, players are quickly getting bored when they reach max level. After all, if “the end-game starts at level 1” then you’ve likely experienced most of the content by the time you hit 80. And what’s to do then? You could make a new character, but you’ve already done most of the things in the game, and let’s face it, personal story is bland enough once through; doing it again is a mind-numbing chore. So, at a loss for exciting PvE content, but still yearning to have good loot for future play experiences, players found a way to invest their time into getting better gear / making money / leveling new characters, in preparation for the future, when there would hopefully be something else to do.
Also, daily / monthly achievements are usually most quickly accomplished via zerg.
Why Queensdale though?
The only reason I can imagine for the Queensdale train is ease of access, specifically to low-level characters. Before the April 15 update it was a very feasible way to supplement other activities like gathering and crafting for leveling up. After that update, the Queensdale train became much slower for progression, and now it is completely dead.
What does that mean for the zergers?
Well, if the players participating in the champ trains were indeed doing so out of sheer lack of compelling alternatives, then nerfing the champ trains seems a poor decision in the short term, without introducing substantial content to fill the gap that those players were filling with the zerg. Of course, Queensdale was perhaps a necessity; a starter zone really shouldn’t look like that, after all. But I am only left to wonder what those many players will do now, without that to occupy their play time? (once they finish the new LS, that is)
