Guild Wars 2

I’ve noticed that the amount of players on higher maps have decreased to the point that anywhere from 50%-90% of points on the maps are constantly contested making it impossible in many cases for a solo player to complete maps. It’s gotten to a point that you are lucky to find 2 players in a group.

Basically since the new content, most higher level players don’t even bother with regular maps anymore. Players are looking at it this way, why do maps with poor drops when you can do other things that net you better items.

Needless to say, higher level maps from 70-80 need to have new content and and better drops added to bring players back to them.

As it stands now, this game is going down hill since newer player that want to complete maps and other things can’t, due to the lack of players to aid in certain areas. It’s going to get to the point where people are just going to give up, and when (not if) that happens, this game will die.

I’m not saying this because I’m low level, on the contrary, I have 3 characters all at level 80 and I have 100% map completion. I just see this as a growing problem that needs to be addressed. I like the game, but I see the player base dropping in these areas everyday.

Hopefully, at some point FotM is going to become a bore or people will obtain every item in there. Then they’ll start roaming around again. Though it would be helpful if Anet puts some new content in Orr and other zones to get some map activity.

I see this a bit during the week, but not all the time. Weekends usually fills up the DE’s again. At least on Tarnished Coast anyway. Though that schedule does make sense given the relative maturity level of the server.

Needless to say, higher level maps from 70-80 need to have new content and and better drops added to bring players back to them.

Better drops to counteract better drops? How is that a good idea?

Game going downhill because the old higher level zones are less populated? Why won’t these new players go for the newer content? Did WoW tank because Onyxia and Karazhan became irrelevant?

Strawmen in fields only scare crows.

While you are partially correct, the real problem is much more fundamental: Solo players can’t compete. The mobs are way too large against single characters.

Further, the few people who ARE there are just moving around, some being particularly dirty while doing it. I wish I had a gold for every player who, having risen chasing him, ran through my character so they would aggro me instead. It’s unbelievable that anybody would do that, but it is worse because it’s so common.

Part of me wants to respond in kind, but I’m just not that kind of player. But, the game REWARDS players for doing this to other players (they don’t have to repair their armor or teleport to rez). Thus, knowing human nature, it’s simply unavoidable.

I think there should be a severe penalty for leaving the aggro zone soon after pulling enemies to another character. It has to be a minimum of 3-4 silver to match what they would have to pay if they stuck around and then died.

Ojimaru.8970:

Needless to say, higher level maps from 70-80 need to have new content and and better drops added to bring players back to them.

Better drops to counteract better drops? How is that a good idea?

Game going downhill because the old higher level zones are less populated? Why won’t these new players go for the newer content? Did WoW tank because Onyxia and Karazhan became irrelevant?

Strawmen in fields only scare crows.

Not better drops to counteract the new ones, rather better drops to equal the new ones.

Besides, I’m not a WoW player, I tried it, and found it to be a sorry game, It’s basically a sorry knockoff of D&D, Ultima, BardsTale, and the other older games.

Ojimaru.8970:

Needless to say, higher level maps from 70-80 need to have new content and and better drops added to bring players back to them.

Better drops to counteract better drops? How is that a good idea?

Game going downhill because the old higher level zones are less populated? Why won’t these new players go for the newer content? Did WoW tank because Onyxia and Karazhan became irrelevant?

Strawmen in fields only scare crows.

Are you seriously trying to compare WoW’s obsolete raids with an open world zone?

KyleQuest.4639:

Hopefully, at some point FotM is going to become a bore or people will obtain every item in there. Then they’ll start roaming around again. Though it would be helpful if Anet puts some new content in Orr and other zones to get some map activity.

no…when they get bored of that and have everything they need, they will go pvp and occasionaly helping friends or leave the game.

Facepunch.5710:

Imagine youre sitting in room with 15 other people. Suddenly, the room starts to stink and pretty much everyone agrees it’s a terrible smell. One guy gets up and apologizes for kitten himself, and he goes to clean himself up. When you see him walking back, he’s opening windows and spraying air freshener. That’s when you say “Hey everyone, it really stinks in here!”

Yeah, that’s kinda what this post is.

i think you are getting the wrong idea. people want to be heard, want to see changes. this is what drives them. people should always express their opinions.

Read. The. AMA.

They’re on it

There is a really easy (and really obvious) fix for this. Make Ascended gear craftable and have different components drop in different maps/dungeons. This will get the 80 back out in to world PVE and help the lowbies with DE. It will also make the older dungeons relevant again. If Anet did this you’d see zones filling up again practically overnight.

I’m hoping they redirect some of the ingenuity and brilliant design from Fractals and turn that talent to Dynamic Events and Meta Events. Specifically Meta Events, how many Metas have people done since launch? I don’t think I have ever seen one completed on my server, I’ve seen the blue rings on the maps when they occurred but there was nobody doing them.

I want more reason to go into a side kicked zone besides farming or exploration. The world should be thriving with 80s in level 40 zones for example. But 80s wont go there without a reason. If Orichalcum and other T6 materials spawned world wide you might see more 80s and more events in other areas. Fractals fragmented the game (i still think they are brilliant) in that they are instanced, offer the best rewards and are randomised. This design would be far better in open world.

Ascended gear isn’t the only reason people are doing Fractals. They are also very well designed and fun to do. I just wish that instead of there being a portal in Lions Arch, they were portals that randomly appear across the world (like the halloween doorways)

I truly believe when they roll Ascended gear out across the world it will fix a large part of this.

Daddicus.6128:

While you are partially correct, the real problem is much more fundamental: Solo players can’t compete. The mobs are way too large against single characters.

Further, the few people who ARE there are just moving around, some being particularly dirty while doing it. I wish I had a gold for every player who, having risen chasing him, ran through my character so they would aggro me instead. It’s unbelievable that anybody would do that, but it is worse because it’s so common.

Part of me wants to respond in kind, but I’m just not that kind of player. But, the game REWARDS players for doing this to other players (they don’t have to repair their armor or teleport to rez). Thus, knowing human nature, it’s simply unavoidable.

I think there should be a severe penalty for leaving the aggro zone soon after pulling enemies to another character. It has to be a minimum of 3-4 silver to match what they would have to pay if they stuck around and then died.

Agree. This happens to me so many times I lost count after 1000. People sure love to grief other people. It’s all to common no matter where we go. I think once that player gets aggroed from whatever, the Beasties should lock on the person that aggroed them. So even if I use an AoE on the mob that is chaseing the person, that mob will still be locked on to the person trying to grief me.

This is effectively another WOW wanna be game instead of org and stormwind we have Lions Arch pretty soon they will have all their add ons LFG and recount and everything else they want and the zones will lay empty the same way they do in WOW and just like WOW the players that play will dwindle cuz they either have all the gear they want from dungeons and nothing to do or got bored Then they will think why play a knock off version of the game I ll just go back

Ojimaru.8970:

Did WoW tank

Ojimaru.8970:

Strawmen in fields only scare crows.

Ojimaru.8970:

Did WoW tank

Ojimaru.8970:

Strawmen in fields only scare crows.

Oh the irony…

Like it or not, WoW is fundamentally a different game.

You should probably not accuse someone of building a strawman right after you build one of your own.

The problem is all the good gear can just be crafted. There’s no real reason to go out in the world and hope something good drops because it’s not going to happen. All you have to do is run a zerg for a bit, cash in the loot, and buy the gear.

If some of that gear were only available in world drops and dungeon drops, then I think you’d see a lot more exploration going on.

One hour in Fractals – Bag full of goodies (maybe some rare)
One hour in Orr – Bones……….. One or two goodies

Go figure….

as for people getting bored with fractals when they have all the gear…. Not going for the gear, going for the drops, which are at least 50% higher (although kitten knows if I have ever proof, tell you what, do 1 hour of fractals, and put all those things to one side, and then do one hour of open map grinding…….)

And to be honest, every fractal is easier than crossing Orr these days

I brought this exact problem up during beta and got excuriated by everyone and now only 3 months later. People are complaining they cannot get through the game because the population has dropped off.

I was told that people would be leveling alts? Nope.

I was told after the initial zerg people would revist maps to “explore”. Not happening.

I was told there would be lots of new players to fill in the gaps. What a joke.

ANET needs to make the game solo friendly. Maybe they should look at GW1 for inspiration.

Kings X.5082:

I brought this exact problem up during beta and got excuriated by everyone and now only 3 months later. People are complaining they cannot get through the game because the population has dropped off.

I was told that people would be leveling alts? Nope.

I was told after the initial zerg people would revist maps to “explore”. Not happening.

I was told there would be lots of new players to fill in the gaps. What a joke.

ANET needs to make the game solo friendly. Maybe they should look at GW1 for inspiration.

KingsX, same with me, I held off buying for a few reasons and as you say… everyone thought these things wouldn’t be a problem. You can take things today and simply say “Three months ago did you foresee what today’s game is like?” You would have been laughed off the boards (and worse) suggesting what we have today, 3 months ago.

Elsewhere I had that post back then, they reassured me. I revived it late last week and no one wants to touch it now.

DevonPaul.7495:

One hour in Fractals – Bag full of goodies (maybe some rare)
One hour in Orr – Bones……….. One or two goodies

Go figure….

as for people getting bored with fractals when they have all the gear…. Not going for the gear, going for the drops, which are at least 50% higher (although kitten knows if I have ever proof, tell you what, do 1 hour of fractals, and put all those things to one side, and then do one hour of open map grinding…….)

And to be honest, every fractal is easier than crossing Orr these days

Too bad this thread has nothing to do with drops. It is about the lack of players pretty much everywhere in this game.

I love this game but every time i try to get on and play something i can never get a group for anything. Everywhere i go is completely dead. Have only been able to do story mode for 2 dungeons and haven’t been able to get a group for fractal and can’t find groups for anything else either. Sat in la for a good 2 hours trying to find a group for any dungeon and went to each dungeon entrance and didn’t see a single person sitting outside them. Something needs to be done about this, i don’t care if they piss off half the game’s population to do it.

Kings X.5082:

ANET needs to make the game solo friendly. Maybe they should look at GW1 for inspiration.

In what ways is GW2 NOT solo-friendly? I’ve had absolutely no issues playing through the game several times, alone. In fact, I was the first in my guild to get 100% completion BECAUSE I played solo. I’ll give you that playing with others make the game easier, but IMO it is incorrect to say that it’s not solo-friendly.

As for seeing less population in the high level areas, I suspect many of the people who were grinding Karma in Orr are now grinding FotM. Although I’m not denying that some of the recent changes may also be causing people to leave too.

Finaldeath.1059:

DevonPaul.7495:

One hour in Fractals – Bag full of goodies (maybe some rare)
One hour in Orr – Bones……….. One or two goodies

Go figure….

as for people getting bored with fractals when they have all the gear…. Not going for the gear, going for the drops, which are at least 50% higher (although kitten knows if I have ever proof, tell you what, do 1 hour of fractals, and put all those things to one side, and then do one hour of open map grinding…….)

And to be honest, every fractal is easier than crossing Orr these days

Too bad this thread has nothing to do with drops. It is about the lack of players pretty much everywhere in this game.

I love this game but every time i try to get on and play something i can never get a group for anything. Everywhere i go is completely dead. Have only been able to do story mode for 2 dungeons and haven’t been able to get a group for fractal and can’t find groups for anything else either. Sat in la for a good 2 hours trying to find a group for any dungeon and went to each dungeon entrance and didn’t see a single person sitting outside them. Something needs to be done about this, i don’t care if they piss off half the game’s population to do it.

You are right, but the OP asked why no one was in the world pve areas and the simple answer is LOOT. If I could get the same loot running around Orr or Frostgorge Sound, I would be out there, doing those Dynamic Events, filling up the world, but I play this game to enjoy myself, and being the only person being pulled from pillar to pst by bad mob mechanics in Orr, watching the other “lone gunman” trailing 4 mobs into me and running of, leaving me with busted armour.

The world zones are dead, because there is no incentive (money, loot etc…) to be there. Hell I can earn just as much Karma in a lower zone, repeating mindlessly simple events over and over again, why make it difficult for myself?

Enoch.1058:

Kings X.5082:

ANET needs to make the game solo friendly. Maybe they should look at GW1 for inspiration.

In what ways is GW2 NOT solo-friendly?

Dungeons.

Horrorscope.7632:

Enoch.1058:

Kings X.5082:

ANET needs to make the game solo friendly. Maybe they should look at GW1 for inspiration.

In what ways is GW2 NOT solo-friendly?

Dungeons.

Not just that, you also get better and more loot if you team up manually instead of just running with a DE group. It’s idiotic and it needs fixing, I’m not going to stop to team in a game that bragged about the ability of players to cooperate with each other without having to team. What happened?

Horrorscope.7632:

Enoch.1058:

Kings X.5082:

ANET needs to make the game solo friendly. Maybe they should look at GW1 for inspiration.

In what ways is GW2 NOT solo-friendly?

Dungeons.

I just don’t understand the mentality of people buying a game marketed as a massively multi-player online game and then complaining you can’t do everything solo.

Horrorscope.7632:

Kings X.5082:

I brought this exact problem up during beta and got excuriated by everyone and now only 3 months later. People are complaining they cannot get through the game because the population has dropped off.

I was told that people would be leveling alts? Nope.

I was told after the initial zerg people would revist maps to “explore”. Not happening.

I was told there would be lots of new players to fill in the gaps. What a joke.

ANET needs to make the game solo friendly. Maybe they should look at GW1 for inspiration.

KingsX, same with me, I held off buying for a few reasons and as you say… everyone thought these things wouldn’t be a problem. You can take things today and simply say “Three months ago did you foresee what today’s game is like?” You would have been laughed off the boards (and worse) suggesting what we have today, 3 months ago.

Elsewhere I had that post back then, they reassured me. I revived it late last week and no one wants to touch it now.

they need to look at the competition not what they did right. Pull GW1 off the table that was well done and survived for 7 years.

They need to look at direct competition right now so that means TOR, Warhammer,STO. Those are the direct competition .

WoW is way out of this games league.

I agree that they need to look at revamping and making the much more solo able for those leveling up especially if they continue to funnel everyone into dungeons and the new guild activities.

Yes raids are coming back in some way you heard it here first.

I do hope they decide that they want more people than just the dungeon grinders but I guess we wait and see.

Kings X.5082:

I was told that people would be leveling alts? Nope.

I was told after the initial zerg people would revist maps to “explore”. Not happening.

I was leveling alts. Until ArenaNet told me I’d need to spend 10 times more on my main to gear it with that ascended crap.

I revisited the old maps for 100% completion. Once. I don’t revisit them anymore because none of them drop T6 mats, they don’t drop often enough ecto valid stuff and don’t drop lodestone quality mats.

Such problems wouldn’t have happened in GW1 somehow, and you want me to believe vertical progression is better?

But the solutions are rather simple. Like making the T6 mats drop anywhere with the same rate as Orr as long as you are level 80 instead of linking the mat tier to the mob level only.

So, you won’t be able to get T1-T4 mats anymore? Who cares! And just add a mystic forge recipe to break one TX mat into 10 TX-1 if you want.

WoW, although it has its own problems, has the magic formula, or you could call it the “wheel”. Anet tried to re-invent the wheel, and ended up with a square. As they shave the corners down more and more, they will eventually end up with a wheel similar to WoW. Sad to say, but that is the essence of a successful mmo.

Shootsfoot.9276:

Horrorscope.7632:

Enoch.1058:

Kings X.5082:

ANET needs to make the game solo friendly. Maybe they should look at GW1 for inspiration.

In what ways is GW2 NOT solo-friendly?

Dungeons.

I just don’t understand the mentality of people buying a game marketed as a massively multi-player online game and then complaining you can’t do everything solo.

You can only call this MMO if there’s more than 1 player per zone for most zones. If they delete all the maps in PVE and keep Lion’s Arch only then yes, I agree it can be called MMO and you don’t have the need to do anything solo.

OP I agree with you that higher level maps are empty.
When I was leveling up my main I solo’d a lot of content simply because I could.
This is not the case anymore and I have to duo with my husband to complete maps on our alts.
I think that loot is indeed the issue. People are vanishing into fractals because it has the best loot drops in the game.
I don’t run fractals so meh.
The world will be revitalized when loot drops according to char lvl not map lvl, and adding incentive by giving lvl appropriate drops for champs and DE’s it is sad but that is the truth.
I don’t condone it but it would work.

You want to know why no one is in Orr?

Probably because it’s one of the worst spots to level or even to get equipment. High density, very strong monsters over there.

Most high level players are in 60-75 zones or in LA. No reason to deal with the headache that is “Orr”.

GlockworK.2954:

You want to know why no one is in Orr?

Probably because it’s one of the worst spots to level or even to get equipment. High density, very strong monsters over there.

Most high level players are in 60-75 zones or in LA. No reason to deal with the headache that is “Orr”.

While I agree that Orr is not for leveling, you must admit that Orr is fun- strong monsters, crazy cc, insane spawn times, no hearts and non stop DE everywhere…..
it is the Zombie Apocalypse!
Get your kitten together and mow some zombies
Seriously I love Orr.
for me personally LA was a no go zone even before Fractals.

thebugsy.9420:

Shootsfoot.9276:

Horrorscope.7632:

Enoch.1058:

Kings X.5082:

ANET needs to make the game solo friendly. Maybe they should look at GW1 for inspiration.

In what ways is GW2 NOT solo-friendly?

Dungeons.

I just don’t understand the mentality of people buying a game marketed as a massively multi-player online game and then complaining you can’t do everything solo.

You can only call this MMO if there’s more than 1 player per zone for most zones. If they delete all the maps in PVE and keep Lion’s Arch only then yes, I agree it can be called MMO and you don’t have the need to do anything solo.

This is an MMO. Doesn’t matter what you want to call it.

Your bitterness has nothing to do with the genre, sorry.

Asumita.2174:

WoW, although it has its own problems, has the magic formula, or you could call it the “wheel”. Anet tried to re-invent the wheel, and ended up with a square. As they shave the corners down more and more, they will eventually end up with a wheel similar to WoW. Sad to say, but that is the essence of a successful mmo.

For the most part WoW does have it problems left there in hopes of a game that favored keeping people out in the world seems that wont happen here headed back to WoW or Rift pay a flat subscription fee rather then get nickled and dimed to death here sounds pretty good right now

Its already been said but i’ll repeat it anyway.

People are not in those areas because they find the new dungeons fun. People have had that content for the last 3+ months. Something new is in the game thus people switch to it. Few people are in the coasts after the weekend because it is boring. I cant speak for everyone but i find the mists more fun than grinding karma in orr in a mindless zerg.

End point, people are still here…they’re just doing new things because theyr’e fun.
Only thing i agree is that the old content be reworked but they already said they plan to do that over the next few months.

Zinwrath.2049:

Its already been said but i’ll repeat it anyway.

People are not in those areas because they find the new dungeons fun. People have had that content for the last 3+ months. Something new is in the game thus people switch to it. Few people are in the coasts after the weekend because it is boring. I cant speak for everyone but i find the mists more fun than grinding karma in orr in a mindless zerg.

End point, people are still here…they’re just doing new things because theyr’e fun.
Only thing i agree is that the old content be reworked but they already said they plan to do that over the next few months.

Well-said.

I’m really hating the way GW2 is going. FotM is serving as the raid. Everyone just hangs out there, with good reason.
But at the cost of dead zones; it was dead before, it’s even more so now.
All of this is thanks to the loots. Don’t design your game to be based on better loots=win concept. It does provide players with progression but it breaks so many things as well…

playing since launch day. ranger level 80, world completion 100%, spvp rank 14, full exotic armor and weapon. first day since launch day i didnt log in. feel good….

Prinny.4653:

I’ve noticed that the amount of players on higher maps have decreased to the point that anywhere from 50%-90% of points on the maps are constantly contested making it impossible in many cases for a solo player to complete maps.

Welcome to player driven content at it’s prime! If you weren’t with the opening rush crowd, you’re literally left behind.

I think the problem is players are spread too thin rather than not having people actually playing. I have no need to go to Orr personally. I have my exotic armor. I still need map completion so I will go back to Orr one day. I just do sPvP or WvW whenever I play though.

Shootsfoot.9276:

Horrorscope.7632:

Enoch.1058:

Kings X.5082:

ANET needs to make the game solo friendly. Maybe they should look at GW1 for inspiration.

In what ways is GW2 NOT solo-friendly?

Dungeons.

I just don’t understand the mentality of people buying a game marketed as a massively multi-player online game and then complaining you can’t do everything solo.

Because the term multi-player only means that there are multiple players in the same environment.

The term that describes players participating in the same content to achieve the same goal is cooperative play.

The term that describes players cooperating at the same time and in the same virtual representation of space is synchronous play.

Rising Vengeance.2768:

KyleQuest.4639:

Hopefully, at some point FotM is going to become a bore or people will obtain every item in there. Then they’ll start roaming around again. Though it would be helpful if Anet puts some new content in Orr and other zones to get some map activity.

no…when they get bored of that and have everything they need, they will go pvp and occasionaly helping friends or leave the game.

No. What they will do is what they did. They will complain that there’s no longer anything to aim for and Anet will add a new tier of gear with higher stats and new content. This is how grindy games work.

@shootsfoot

YOU need to understand YOUR view is also irrelevant seeing what you tried to do to those two folks. YOU need to understand that MMO does not mean people have to group, it is a choice, the same goes for soloing. If you need your hand held because you are incapable of performing simple or complex tasks by yourself or the game has a certain group mechanic then that is your choice, do not ever state MMO means the game is all about grouping…it is not.

MMO means, and this is to educate you, a game with masses of people online doing what they enjoy…….not doing what you think they should shootsfoot.

The only thing that will bring people to any “dead” zone is gear and gold. If you build it, they will come.

However my server has been quite lively, so I dont know what is going on yours. shrugs

People are all playing Fractals because it’s less than two weeks old and contains a lot of new content & loot. It’s really new. People need to realise that the immediate effect of a content addition won’t be the same as it’s long-term impact.

What people are NOT doing is forsaking all non-Fractal content because of some mythical gear treadmill. I promise you, hardly anyone making groups will care one bit about the distinction between Exotic and Ascended. Hell, right now, the majority of group-formers don’t even mind a reasonable level-difference.

It’ll calm down. People will spread back out, and alts will probably be created with greater frequency. What we’re looking at is the immediate impact of a major content update, not a long-term trend.

People just don’t play the game for it full potential. They expect to much from the game.
The game always offer a lot and lot of fun content, they even do amazing event each month, and people still want more, the develloper work like crazy to make us happy and people still whine about the little things and problem that doesn’t matter.

Hm, I do feel like of late I’ve been doing more group-oriented content, rather than solo content (did most of my map completion solo). I certainly look upon that initial flurry of exploration fondly, and I wouldn’t want it to be something people miss out on. I mean, that is the GW2 world that is advertised.

Presumably the less-frequented maps have decent activity during weekends, so I doubt it’s an experience that’s completely gone, but it is certainly something the developers should want to keep alive; I think they’ve indicated that this is their intention and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of solutions they can come up with.

Henge of Denravi, which has felt like an under-populated server for some time, held both Dwayna and Lyssa at the same time yesterday. It can’t be that bad. My point being that server and time of day contribute a great deal to the perception of emptiness, or its opposite.

Shootsfoot.9276:

Horrorscope.7632:

Enoch.1058:

Kings X.5082:

ANET needs to make the game solo friendly. Maybe they should look at GW1 for inspiration.

In what ways is GW2 NOT solo-friendly?

Dungeons.

I just don’t understand the mentality of people buying a game marketed as a massively multi-player online game and then complaining you can’t do everything solo.

Someone asked what in GW2 isn’t solo friendly. I answered.

That said I prefer the dungeons to be duo or trio balanced myself. I also don’t need a mmo, but next to no one is making coop fantasy RPG’s.