Guild Wars 2

tl;dr summary: expand the game world, merge servers if you need to keep population density high!

When I first heard about the living story, I was intrigued. A world where everything keeps changing sounded exciting, and meant unlimited replayability! Then I learned that change meant content could also be removed. I’ve seen the question asked on these forums numerous times: why would Arena Net spend money to develop content only to remove it from the game after a week, or a month?

The only rationale I could come up with was population density.

I think many game developers are aware of the caveat “don’t split your customer base”, and for good reason. I’ve seen game companies sell PvP maps that no one could play, because not enough people had purchased them. I think this is the reason Anet has suggested it may never sell a traditional expansion for GW2, because it divides their player pool between those who purchased the expansion and those who haven’t.

But it appears that Anet has also interpretted this concept to mean “don’t allow your player base to spread itself thin of its own accord”. I mean playing in a huge group is what makes the game fun, right? …right?

It’s the reason they haven’t added any additional PvP modes, and I presume the reason they

1. added but then removed the Molten Weapon Facility and Aetherblade dungeons,
2. added a new permanent path to Twilight Arbor only to remove one of the original explorable paths,
3. have not released a new permanent zone other than Southsun Cove
4. seem to focus on content that funnels people into certain areas (Scarlett invasions, Queen’s Jubilee)

I believe the fear is that if the game gets bigger, people will spread out and the population density will shrinking, making it

• appear as though not many people are playing GW2, and
• harder to find other people willing to do the same particular content you want to do (because there are now more options).

Apparently, keeping us all corralled to stave off loneliness is more important than giving us more options and the freedom to play how we want. I don’t think this is how everyone feels, otherwise single player RPGs would have died off a long time ago. But GW2 is an MMORPG, so perhaps a balance should be struck?

Someone on these forums (sorry, I didn’t pay attention as to who) once said that no Guild Wars 1 player will be satisfied staying in Tyria. We want to go to Cantha and Elona, since we had that in the first game. I believe there is truth to this. Heck, we haven’t even been to all of Tyria: the Far Shiverpeaks, Maguuma Wastes, Fire Island Chain, Crystal Desert, etc. I, personally, don’t think retreading the same ground, no matter how much it changes, is as interesting as exploring new ground. Centaurs taking Fort Salma or Shaemoor is as much a loss as your server losing control of Stonemist Castle in WvW.

So how do we counteract lower population density if we expand the game?

The new Looking For Group tool helps. If you can’t find a group doing the dungeon you had hoped to do, you can post it on the LFG tool, or at least browse the other listings to see what else might be going on.

But I think there’s a simple solution (at least in concept): start merging servers. If you double the area of the world, halve the number of servers so the average density remains the same. Merge the most populated server with the least populated, the second most populated with the second least populated, etc.

Then to account for when everyone wants to be in the same place (e.g., Lion’s Arch during Dragon Bash), adopt the District system from GW1. Have numbered Districts/Overflows so that people can rejoin the same Overflow they were in if they got disconnected, or want to meet up with friends who aren’t in the same party.

Without expanding the world, however, I fear the population density is going to fall anyways, as players get bored and join a mass exodus!

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

I agree with your assessment but not your conclusions.

For many people, maybe even most, the freedom to play how you want is not what they want. Most people seem to want to be led around by the nose. In fact, many of the complaints about this game is that it’s not more pathed.

I think that those who want to do whatever they want are a pretty small minority, and that most people can’t entertain themselves and end up losing interest. It’s possibly to do with the fact that there are so many other games, people will do what it’s obvious to do, believe they’re finished everything and move onto the next thing.

The problem is, since most people seem to play that way (that’s my opinion not a fact) but allowing the playerbase to divide further, those people won’t see people playing the game, won’t have the same things to do, and they’ll stop playing, much like happened back in November.

At which point, Anet doesn’t have the same money to keep developing stuff and the game eventually goes into a very slow long downward spiral because for a lot of people, a lot of people playing is mostly what matters.

You see it on the forums all the time. How many people are playing? Are there still players? And because MMOs for a lot of people are social, without those players, the game dies.

So yeah, I think Anet’s head is in the right place, even though it’s not perfect for players like you and me.

keep servers for WvW purposes.

merge all PvE non cities explorable overflows together, introduce districts.

everyone is happy.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

keep servers for WvW purposes.

merge all PvE non cities explorable overflows together, introduce districts.

everyone is happy.

This really would be the best solution. I’m not sure how hard it would be to implement though.