Guild Wars 2

So the game asked me to move to a different map because of population. I had 1/2 of Tier 2 night done and had 123% participation. When I moved because it asked me to I lost all that map progress and participation. Really? WTF? That feels like a punishment for doing something the game asked me to because of population. next time I will just say no.
Please fix this.

There’s nothing to fix beyond what you already identified. Just say ‘No’.

Just bear in mind that when that message appears, it is triggered by whatever algorithm anet uses to optimise the number of active map instances. No one has made any sort of qualitative judgement that it would be a good idea for you to switch. You have to do that. If you already have high participation or you can see the meta is progressing well, just hit ‘later’. You then have at least an hour before the map closes.

I do think that personal participation should remain if you switch map via the “This map has low population” prompt. Switching a map shouldn’t invalidate the work you have put in towards the meta

If you’re in a meta never leave unless you have a party anchor to bring you back. If you do have a party anchor, leave, take the buff, and go right back to the original map it wants to shut and then let your friend do the same thing.