Guild Wars 2

I support any of these suggestions or another solution ArenaNet might find.

I think Lion’s Arch is the most gorgeous, architecturally interesting, and culturally rich city in the game. It’s obvious that an incredible amount of work went into creating it. Many of us would love to take advantage of that with the many role-play opportunities the city offers.

I agree, this city is a great city, but the que times often make it impossible to role-play or do anything in. Some times it takes hours just to get in.

Agreed. I’ve made a similar suggestion in the past, but it went without reply.

ANet’s policy of not supporting RP is a major bummer in a game that just BEGS for RP. I know official support requires a lot of additional work and resources from ANet, but RPers are always going to be the most dedicated, long term players… They really need to rethink their position on this.

Besides, Overflow was meant to be an alternative to long queue times that other MMOs have. We’re nearly six months in, and we’re still seeing overflows. By standard MMO logic, those sorts of problems should be resolved by now.

The reason some servers have shorter queue times to get out of overflow is most of the population in LA is traffic.

*Exiting WvW takes you to LA
*Entering & exiting Fractals is done in LA
*Portal hub, many players use the Mists as a free shortcut to the portal hub city of LA

I don’t see how they could realistically increase the population limit in LA enough to accomodate your entire server…..maybe an alternative would be for TC to designate a server with faster queue times as a guesting option? Just an idea to try out

I’m not sure how doable option one would be… I don’t have much technical knowhow, but I imagine the population cap is set to what it is for some specific reason.

Options two and three however sound fantastic. The queues I think are largely due to the addition of FotM and option three sounds very similar to how GW1 worked, and it was fantastic. Getting to the world your friends were in was never an issue except sometimes during the really big events.

+1! :D

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

@Karizee, I wouldn’t ask for it to be increased for the entire server, but even just the other two options would greatly help accommodate roleplayers, I feel.

I fully support the options listed above and did not realize the addition of Fractals was an impetus behind the increased queue time. Changing the staging area for Fractals seems to make the most sense to me but I’d be open to whatever changes would help with this issue. LA is a beautiful city and a bustling hub for the various events anet stages but for roleplayers it’s virtually useless due to the queue times. It just sits there, beautifully taunting us.

So consider this as /signed or /supported or whatever!

Thanks!

I join this initiative!

People with slow and unstable internet connections can spend looong 10-20 minutes to get into the real LA, not the overflow one, EVERY time they got DCed. Then they spend another few more minutes with finding their teams in the other overflow as well…
All of the solutions mentioned above could greatly help the situation.

Thanks in advance!

I for one agree with this and believe two and three could really help the RP (or lack of) in LA. Ever since the first open world Beta and I got to see Lion’s Arch for the first time I have been in love with it. The look, feel, history and idea of the city is amazing and there are soooo many great RP spots in LA it feel like a shame to waste them. Please Anet, Help us help you.

/signed

Seriously, the overflow wait can be crazy during prime time. Anything that can be done to lessen this problem, even it is just to let us pick which overflow to travel to would be so helpful.

/signed

I agree with everything you’ve said, Halorin. For the Toast!

It already takes forever to load in to LA, let alone sit in frustration in an overflow queue. Please, please, read and thoroughly consider the options presented or contrive one that is more suitable. LA is neglected by many because of the issues brought forth by Halorin, and in assisting to fix these issues, you will see many return back to the port city and enrich the experience of so many others by promoting roleplay.

/signed and supported by your friendly neighborhood criminal,

Increasing Lion’s Arch’s population cap is, I suspect, not a solution in and of itself, as some others have pointed out here. For example:

Karizee.8076:

*Exiting WvW takes you to LA
*Entering & exiting Fractals is done in LA
*Portal hub, many players use the Mists as a free shortcut to the portal hub city of LA

In short, too much transitory traffic prevents increased caps from reliably being effective.

I don’t see a way to solve this problem without substantially reworking the instance/overflow system as a whole. With that in mind, the ideal situation (from where I stand) is the multiple-LA system (similar to those implemented in games with a single server – sometimes referred to as instanced zoning) – your third suggestion.

Every player would have access to his/her primary LA, as well as all overflows (which would be differentiated somehow – numbers, letters, etc). On zoning in, players would be prompted to select which LA they wish to join. Preferably an option to suppress the selection prompt would exist, in which case the game should automatically select either an instance with team/guildmates or contacts in it, or the lowest-population overflow. Additionally, a “change instance” function should exist beyond simply joining the ones that you have a teammate in, using the aforementioned enumeration system.

This would have the advantage of allowing people looking for teams to specifically route themselves to and between overflows.

Another important point in all of this is WvW crafting bonuses. Currently, players only benefit from these when in their home server LA. It seems the most thorough solution would be to have these apply regardless of overflow status, although I imagine there must be some technical barrier to this, given that it wasn’t in place from the start.

TL;DR: Currently there is to much pressure to be in your home server’s LA. Lessen that pressure where possible, and let players opt for and move throughout overflows for FotM/dungeon grouping.

Karizee.8076:

I don’t see how they could realistically increase the population limit in LA enough to accomodate your entire server…..maybe an alternative would be for TC to designate a server with faster queue times as a guesting option? Just an idea to try out

Not a bad idea on the face of it, but flawed for several reasons. First, much of TC’s population is on TC for the sake of roleplay, so designating a guesting alternate server would carry the same problems – the alternate server would become equally bloated. Second, more importantly, essentially the entire RP community is currently on TC. Using an alternate server for RP breaks the community into two pieces, and RP groups that commonly come into contact would no longer necessarily do so – in LA and elsewhere.

Thanks for all the replies, guys!

@Blueshield, that’s my third proposed solution entirely.

Halorin.1398:

Thanks for all the replies, guys!

@Blueshield, that’s my third proposed solution entirely.

Yes, I thought it was worth expanding upon some of the details, given that similar systems are already in use in some MMOs. I’ve edited my original post’s wording to make that more clear.

I can barely load LA or move about it as is… so I hardly use it for RP. I go back to Divinity/Queensdale for RP. If I had a better machine I would start RP in LA.

Good ideas by people here though.

To Captain “Bonny” Anne Reid, Captain’s Council

As a native to Lion’s Arch, I have always enjoyed returning to talk with old crewmates, get more customers for my firearms, or betting on a brawl in the taverns, or watching the hubbub of the harbour.

To see the ships sail out, even if there isn’t many due to the Orrian Raiders still lurking, is a promise of freedom.
The notion of a city resisting it’s own demise, rising despite of it, free of any chains always made me proud to have grown up here, and Lion’s Arch is, more than anything, home for me in Tyria.

Yet since the Consortium started their Southsun enterprise the tourists have simply made a visit to my beloved city a horror. There are queues everywhere, and I hardly can get a drink at my local tavern, without stepping on several asura. And the Lionguard have started stepping in when us locals try to show the tourists what’s what.

I understand full well that the Council’s making good coin on all the Tourists, I just hope none of you will forget who support your seats. This situation simply cannot be allowed to continue. Did I mention I could hardly get a drink?

Sincerely
Rohgal – Son of Red Raven, Gunsmith, Drunkard Skaald

If I were the RP community, I would look for another place or series of places to RP. RPing in the busiest place where everyone goes anyway seems counter productive to me, no matter how cool the place is. The game can’t take tons of more people in LA and overflow servers exist for a reason.

So what if there was an agreed upon rotation within the community of different RP days in different cities instead of sitting in the same city day after day. It would actually change the nature of RP, since with Asuran gate it makes sense people wouldn’t always be in LA. And since the other cities almost never have an overflow, it makes more sense.

Sure it would take time to set up and get people used to but it’ll still likely be faster than Anet being able to fix this problem.

I would love to use the city if it wasn’t so crowded and qued all the time.

@Troels,

@Vayne, Fair points, but Lion’s Arch was a viable solution before Fractals of the Mists. At least on Tarnished Coast, the release of FotM was a negative impact on an established RP routine that existed for months before.

Some guilds are based around themes and laced into the lore of the game. Guilds like these would not be served under your suggestion.

If ArenaNet posts here and says things will have to stay as they are, then so be it but I don’t see the harm in trying to have all segments of the community accommodated. I think an RP-oriented overflow would be fine and would sidestep the technical hurdles of increasing capacity or making a new map for FotM, but the suggestion has to first be posed, which is what I’m trying to do here.

I support your plight, I hope a solution is offered to you noble lot.

This is not just a problem for roleplayers it’s an issue for guilds in general as well. To be able to easily meet up in the same place whenever people are in Lion’s Arch or for guild events its impossible.

There are a lot of fun things that we could do as a guild in Lion’s Arch but queue times can take up to an hour or more. I like to be able to pop into Lion’s Arch for 10 minutes to craft or go to the bank and see my guildies, friends and ally guilds around to talk to and when I do get into non-overflow I never see that many people as OP said to warrant an overflow.

Which brings me to another pet peeve, the culling in cities. It breaks immersion so badly to not be able to see anyone until you are right on top of them for a few seconds. Anything two steps away from you disappears.

I can’t see people around me at all it’s horrible and one of the things that has really bothered me since launch. It should be more realistic where I can see people from a distance you’d be able to see them IRL.

I want to be able to see and be with my guildies and friends in cities at least. Please fix the overflow and the view distance.

I wish this could get some kind of reply, there are a lot of roleplayers in this game compared to other games.

I support this idea, for I love Lions Arch and its beautifull scenery.

And when it comes to is it worth it?

A normal purely PvE or PvP player, -might- hold his interest for longer, but it is more than likely that they get very easily bored and move to other games.
A roleplayer, sure, never as in big numbers, but are far more reliable. Many roleplayer, will stick with the game even when bugs/flaws of design scare these PvE and PvP centered players off. Because they invest much more and are less likely to just jump off.
More friendly your game is to roleplay, more of them flock to the game and take use of it, and at the side, of the thing that brings Anet its profit, the gemstore.

What will fixing overflows in LA help in this? It gives us the neutral hub back, it gives a logical place for many mercenary guilds in the community.
Most of all, it shows we are not just a footnote to be ignored, and that allways warms one’s heart.

Halorin.1398:

@Troels,

@Vayne, Fair points, but Lion’s Arch was a viable solution before Fractals of the Mists. At least on Tarnished Coast, the release of FotM was a negative impact on an established RP routine that existed for months before.

Some guilds are based around themes and laced into the lore of the game. Guilds like these would not be served under your suggestion.

If ArenaNet posts here and says things will have to stay as they are, then so be it but I don’t see the harm in trying to have all segments of the community accommodated. I think an RP-oriented overflow would be fine and would sidestep the technical hurdles of increasing capacity or making a new map for FotM, but the suggestion has to first be posed, which is what I’m trying to do here.

Even if Anet agreed to this, it would take many months to implement. They can’t just do things like this willy nilly. During that time, RPing could be going on the way I suggested.

Sure you can pose the question and wait for a response. But I’m pretty sure that you’ve got a long wait on your hands. If the RP community wants to wait to play the way they want, all well and good.

If not, they might look for something they can do themselves. And I’m not anti-RP by any means. I just think that waiting for Anet to take action on this is going to affect the RP segment of the population a lot more than figuring out another solution.

Vayne.8563:

Halorin.1398:

@Troels,

@Vayne, Fair points, but Lion’s Arch was a viable solution before Fractals of the Mists. At least on Tarnished Coast, the release of FotM was a negative impact on an established RP routine that existed for months before.

Some guilds are based around themes and laced into the lore of the game. Guilds like these would not be served under your suggestion.

If ArenaNet posts here and says things will have to stay as they are, then so be it but I don’t see the harm in trying to have all segments of the community accommodated. I think an RP-oriented overflow would be fine and would sidestep the technical hurdles of increasing capacity or making a new map for FotM, but the suggestion has to first be posed, which is what I’m trying to do here.

Even if Anet agreed to this, it would take many months to implement. They can’t just do things like this willy nilly. During that time, RPing could be going on the way I suggested.

Sure you can pose the question and wait for a response. But I’m pretty sure that you’ve got a long wait on your hands. If the RP community wants to wait to play the way they want, all well and good.

If not, they might look for something they can do themselves. And I’m not anti-RP by any means. I just think that waiting for Anet to take action on this is going to affect the RP segment of the population a lot more than figuring out another solution.

Hi! I’m a RPer myself, and I’d like to say that I don’t believe any of us here expected changes to come at the snap of our fingers. We understand that ANet has other things that have priority over features for role players. This is a MMORPG, after all, and as such the developers will be constantly working to enhance the game’s content, balance, and mechanics. That being said, I think all we’re trying to say here is that we truly love this game’s cities and it’s lore, and we would like to utilize it more. The RP community is fairly large, and it is important for the developers to keep us in mind.

They have tasks and priorities just like every other person who works a real job, so I think I speak for everybody when I say we understand the amount of hard work that goes into this game. Changes don’t happen instantaneously, of course, but Halorin is very smart to bring up these suggestions and thoughts so that ANet might have an idea as to what some of us role players would enjoy seeing changed.

As to you, Halorin, I’d have to say the second and third suggestion combined would create a lot less stress on the servers, I believe. Great ideas, and I hope ANet reads this thread!

I’m not an RPer, but I just want to say this was put together well! And I hope it’s implemented for you guys

Anet said they won’t support RP, I am on Tarnished Coast also.

I don’t really understand the whole RP deal, but whatever blows your skirt up.

I will however mention that 2 features that I hope are currently in the work, should aid you in your goal.

Guild halls and a proper lfg tool/function

Those should in theory reduce the numbers in LA.

Vayne.8563:

Even if Anet agreed to this, it would take many months to implement. They can’t just do things like this willy nilly. During that time, RPing could be going on the way I suggested.

Sure you can pose the question and wait for a response. But I’m pretty sure that you’ve got a long wait on your hands. If the RP community wants to wait to play the way they want, all well and good.

If not, they might look for something they can do themselves. And I’m not anti-RP by any means. I just think that waiting for Anet to take action on this is going to affect the RP segment of the population a lot more than figuring out another solution.

I don’t know that it’s necessary to point out the obvious nature of development and the rights afforded to me as a user on the forum. The post I’ve written has not at all implied that the RP community is not making due with what’s available to us right now.

I’m aware of the potential outcomes of this. I’m pretty sure everyone is. Hopefully the developers offer some insight on how important they find this issue to be for not just RPers but players in general that would want to see the overflow concern address. If not, we’ll make due with what we have.

Lion’s Arch limit has been increased since the patch, I hope you thank Anet!

I noticed!!