Guild Wars 2

To be honest I like most of what is coming out with the patch on April 15th but I have a strong dislike for the megaserver system and it’s implementation. The inability to see waypoints on the map, the inability to find out which servers have dungeons open, the inability to guarantee that I’ll be able to access my guild bank are some of the many problems I have with this system.

Thinking about the problem and how it affects many parts of the gaming community I wondered how (besides not implementing it in the first place (the best option)) to fix the problem. Here is the suggestion I came up with:

Megaserver select UI panel.

This panel could be either a single checklist where we (the players) get to decided which criteria we want the game to sort us by when we enter a megaserver zone. A second option would be to give us 3 “priority windows” drop down selectable menus to choose the top 3 choices that we could rank in the order we want.

Why hidden in the UI? I’ve read most of the concerns that RPers have and while I don’t RP I feel they should have the ability to meet others that enjoy that gaming experience. Some have suggested a tag for being a RP and this has lead some to worry about griefing from non-RPers. The nice thing about a hidden UI selection is that no one can see that you have selected RP as your main sort criteria and therefore this would lessen the amount of griefing a player would receive.

For the selections I’ve come up with a list of things I thought would cover most (but probably not all) criteria a player would need. The list is in no particular order of preference:

1) Server – The ability to select your server shards can be very important to people as most of us have built communities on the various servers and a lot of people want to take part in the game with those people. While this is of major importance for the EU and NA RP communities (see below) each server has a different identity and we should be forced some where else.

2) Guild – We joined a guild for a reason and having the ability to make sure we’re sent to the same Megaserver as other guild members is especially important for guild events and activities.

3) Language – This is a must for the multiple language EU servers but even NA could benefit if ANET ever decides to give our South American players the ability to have Spanish and Portuguese Servers.

4) Party – It’s always annoying to be in a party and constantly have the party split due to different servers, guilds, overflows.

5) RP – Give the RP community the ability to get together with more people who enjoy playing the game the same way. They shouldn’t have to be forced to join into the same guild (especially with the low guild cap of 500). Some have posted that the biggest thing is the ability to run into another RP that you don’t know. This would also allow the new or curios to find out more about kitten community by selecting this option.

6) High Population – Some people just want others to play with/be around and this would allow them to be sent to the highest population world they can join.

7) Low Population – Some people don’t want to be with others. This would give them the option to be sent to a low population megaserver (what constitutes “low” would have to be decided by ANET) hoping for maybe just a few people on the map.

8) Dungeons – When entering a zone with a dungeon entrance it will choose a server with either the event open or in progress. This would also have the side effect of giving you the option of more people to do a dungeon with as some don’t like to use the lfg tool.

9) World event – This one is hard as there are many other criteria that fit this (guild for TTS), high population for Jormag and other dragons, etc). I’m not sure of the best way to “sort” this option but for those who enjoy doing the world boss train this one needs to be in there. Hopefully this would be discussed with the community to find out what they want in a world event choice.

I’m sure there is an option I’ve missed but more choices can always be added to the list in the future. The goal here is to give us (the players) a choice on how we are sorted by the megaserver system.

Let’s give ANET feedback they can use to implement this (or a similar system) way to allow us to make a choice on the megaserver sorting.

To the mods: I didn’t put this in one of the other megaserver discussions as this actually has parts that touch on each of the other discussions going on.

I think the issue is that ANET is not willing to take part in this sort of discussion. It’s been over a week since they’ve responded in any of the threads, as far as I know, and up to two weeks in some. People have given constructive feedback already. ANET has given the community the cold shoulder. This is going to be implemented as-is, come Tuesday.

All I really want is an option to be on my own server with the people I have been playing with since beta.

I really really dislike the mega server idea- in fact it made me so angry that I didn’t log in for a week.

This should be optional- the people who have complained that they are alone- playing in dead servers etc can opt in.

The rest of us who are quite happy with our server communities that we worked very hard to create should have an option to opt out.

There is no way that I would ever choose to play with random people just for the sake of warm bodies

As a non-RPer who resides on an RP server (Piken Square) for the immersion it offers, I’m also deeply concerned about this megaserver implementation. I am part of my own guild (just me and my alts – it was the only way to stop the guild invite spam) and see no reason to join another guild just in the hope that somehow it will be enough to ensure I will still be around RPers when I go off adventuring – besides, I would be denying an actual RPer a place on that guild.

PS is a friendly server in general from my experience, but I have guested to other servers over the last week or so to check out the different communities on them. One in particular was highly toxic, and that was just in Queensdale – bad language, casual racism and homophobia being par for the course. I don’t want to waste my free time with a “community” like that.

Unless a system is in place where you can set a priority flag (i.e. RP, Server name), then I can see this ending up being one big mess from tomorrow.

What you’re asking for OP, is not reasonable. The idea of a megaserver is to control the population. Giving a people a choice to not be a part of a solution to several problems in the game is not really an option.

Some changes are made for the good of the game whether individual players like those changes or not. Allowing them to opt out of something that’s good for the game isn’t really an option.

The amount of servers that Anet now spawns and maintains to maintain the entire population takes server processor power. The more servers, the more the whole system has to handle. By using something like the megaserver system, less servers over all will be spawned.

That means that the system will run more smoothly (in theory anyway).

But people who say they don’t like the new system have never tried the new system in the first place. My prediction is is that most people will adjust to it and enjoy it.

Bottom line is, it’s not reasonable for Anet to make changes to the game on this level and still maintain the old system, because it would defeat at least part of the purpose for the change.

Nage.1520:

What you’re asking for OP, is not reasonable. The idea of a megaserver is to control the population. Giving a people a choice to not be a part of a solution to several problems in the game is not really an option.

Some changes are made for the good of the game whether individual players like those changes or not. Allowing them to opt out of something that’s good for the game isn’t really an option.

The amount of servers that Anet now spawns and maintains to maintain the entire population takes server processor power. The more servers, the more the whole system has to handle. By using something like the megaserver system, less servers over all will be spawned.

That means that the system will run more smoothly (in theory anyway).

But people who say they don’t like the new system have never tried the new system in the first place. My prediction is is that most people will adjust to it and enjoy it.

Bottom line is, it’s not reasonable for Anet to make changes to the game on this level and still maintain the old system, because it would defeat at least part of the purpose for the change.

And yet the system we have now has been put in place by them and sustained for almost 2 years.

Don’t tell me it is good for the game.

The mega server is not something I have ever seen people asking for.
Underflows yes (and like overflows you can still be in your map server)

It is not reasonable fostering server identities for 2 years and then taking that away for the sake of what?
Even the name megaserver makes me shudder.

edit: btw not a single person I have spoken to on my server likes it- they all feel it is a very bad mistake.
Not that I have spoken to every single person obviously but the feeling is definitely there.

Morrigan.2809:

Nage.1520:

What you’re asking for OP, is not reasonable. The idea of a megaserver is to control the population. Giving a people a choice to not be a part of a solution to several problems in the game is not really an option.

Some changes are made for the good of the game whether individual players like those changes or not. Allowing them to opt out of something that’s good for the game isn’t really an option.

The amount of servers that Anet now spawns and maintains to maintain the entire population takes server processor power. The more servers, the more the whole system has to handle. By using something like the megaserver system, less servers over all will be spawned.

That means that the system will run more smoothly (in theory anyway).

But people who say they don’t like the new system have never tried the new system in the first place. My prediction is is that most people will adjust to it and enjoy it.

Bottom line is, it’s not reasonable for Anet to make changes to the game on this level and still maintain the old system, because it would defeat at least part of the purpose for the change.

And yet the system we have now has been put in place by them and sustained for almost 2 years.

Don’t tell me it is good for the game.

The mega server is not something I have ever seen people asking for.
Underflows yes (and like overflows you can still be in your map server)

It is not reasonable fostering server identities for 2 years and then taking that away for the sake of what?
Even the name megaserver makes me shudder.

I’m telling you it is good for the game. If it wasn’t good for the game Anet wouldnt’ be doing it.

You’ve tried it? You have evidence it’s not good for the game?

As for people not asking for it, well, a lot of people HAVE asked for this. There’ve been suggestions about this sort of thing for over a year now.

Sorry that you don’t personally like it, but that doesn’t mean that many or most people don’t.

I was under the impression an overflow put people from any number of servers together, just as an ‘underflow’ would. I don’t see much difference with the MegaServer. It is just underflow maps when needed. Except now, when the need to create an underflow/overflow (MegaServer) map, it places you with the people you were most likely to have played with before.

Nage.1520:

Morrigan.2809:

Nage.1520:

What you’re asking for OP, is not reasonable. The idea of a megaserver is to control the population. Giving a people a choice to not be a part of a solution to several problems in the game is not really an option.

Some changes are made for the good of the game whether individual players like those changes or not. Allowing them to opt out of something that’s good for the game isn’t really an option.

The amount of servers that Anet now spawns and maintains to maintain the entire population takes server processor power. The more servers, the more the whole system has to handle. By using something like the megaserver system, less servers over all will be spawned.

That means that the system will run more smoothly (in theory anyway).

But people who say they don’t like the new system have never tried the new system in the first place. My prediction is is that most people will adjust to it and enjoy it.

Bottom line is, it’s not reasonable for Anet to make changes to the game on this level and still maintain the old system, because it would defeat at least part of the purpose for the change.

And yet the system we have now has been put in place by them and sustained for almost 2 years.

Don’t tell me it is good for the game.

The mega server is not something I have ever seen people asking for.
Underflows yes (and like overflows you can still be in your map server)

It is not reasonable fostering server identities for 2 years and then taking that away for the sake of what?
Even the name megaserver makes me shudder.

I’m telling you it is good for the game. If it wasn’t good for the game Anet wouldnt’ be doing it.

You’ve tried it? You have evidence it’s not good for the game?

As for people not asking for it, well, a lot of people HAVE asked for this. There’ve been suggestions about this sort of thing for over a year now.

Sorry that you don’t personally like it, but that doesn’t mean that many or most people don’t.

you haven’t tried it either

people have been asking for a solution to empty maps ( i.e underflows)
they did not ask for their servers to be destroyed.

Are you going to pretend to me that come tomorrow it will not be meaningless that I rolled on GH in beta?

That I will not now be lumped together with whatever the mega server decides is good for me- without being able to choose myself?

That whatever criteria the server system uses would be like my own?

no?
thought not.

How is this good for the game exactly?

I tell you now- if it is half as bad as I suspect I cannot see myself playing much if at all, and I love this game make no mistake.
I will not sit by and watch my world being taken over by Wallmart, or whatever generic bulk is better philosophy spawned this idea.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I was under the impression an overflow put people from any number of servers together, just as an ‘underflow’ would. I don’t see much difference with the MegaServer. It is just underflow maps when needed. Except now, when the need to create an underflow/overflow (MegaServer) map, it places you with the people you were most likely to have played with before.

In an overflow you have the option to return to your main map or stay in the overflow.
Mega server has no such option

Morrigan.2809:

Nage.1520:

Morrigan.2809:

Nage.1520:

What you’re asking for OP, is not reasonable. The idea of a megaserver is to control the population. Giving a people a choice to not be a part of a solution to several problems in the game is not really an option.

Some changes are made for the good of the game whether individual players like those changes or not. Allowing them to opt out of something that’s good for the game isn’t really an option.

The amount of servers that Anet now spawns and maintains to maintain the entire population takes server processor power. The more servers, the more the whole system has to handle. By using something like the megaserver system, less servers over all will be spawned.

That means that the system will run more smoothly (in theory anyway).

But people who say they don’t like the new system have never tried the new system in the first place. My prediction is is that most people will adjust to it and enjoy it.

Bottom line is, it’s not reasonable for Anet to make changes to the game on this level and still maintain the old system, because it would defeat at least part of the purpose for the change.

And yet the system we have now has been put in place by them and sustained for almost 2 years.

Don’t tell me it is good for the game.

The mega server is not something I have ever seen people asking for.
Underflows yes (and like overflows you can still be in your map server)

It is not reasonable fostering server identities for 2 years and then taking that away for the sake of what?
Even the name megaserver makes me shudder.

I’m telling you it is good for the game. If it wasn’t good for the game Anet wouldnt’ be doing it.

You’ve tried it? You have evidence it’s not good for the game?

As for people not asking for it, well, a lot of people HAVE asked for this. There’ve been suggestions about this sort of thing for over a year now.

Sorry that you don’t personally like it, but that doesn’t mean that many or most people don’t.

you haven’t tried it either

people have been asking for a solution to empty maps ( i.e underflows)
they did not ask for their servers to be destroyed.

Are you going to pretend to me that come tomorrow it will not be meaningless that I rolled on GH in beta?

That I will not now be lumped together with whatever the mega server decides is good for me- without being able to choose myself?

That whatever criteria the server system uses would be like my own?

no?
thought not.

How is this good for the game exactly?

I tell you now- if it is half as bad as I suspect I cannot see myself playing much if at all, and I love this game make no mistake.
I will not sit by and watch my world being taken over by Wallmart, or whatever generic bulk is better philosophy spawned this idea.

I’m telling you that I’m on TC and during the Marionette I couldn’t get on my home server for days on end and it made me feel like crap. And you know, there may very well have been just as many TC guys in my overflow, but it had the word overflow on it and guess what. People complained. This is one of the complaints that this sort of change will fix.

I haven’t tried the new system (and if I had I couldn’t tell you…but I haven’t). But logically, from a programming point of view it has to be better for the servers. There’s no way I can think that it would be worse for the servers.

It MAY be bad for a small percentage of players that OMG love their server. However, I played Guild Wars 1 for a long long time and never had a server.

We built a global community instead.

That’s what should have been here from the beginning.

Morrigan.2809:

Nage.1520:

Morrigan.2809:

Nage.1520:

What you’re asking for OP, is not reasonable. The idea of a megaserver is to control the population. Giving a people a choice to not be a part of a solution to several problems in the game is not really an option.

Some changes are made for the good of the game whether individual players like those changes or not. Allowing them to opt out of something that’s good for the game isn’t really an option.

The amount of servers that Anet now spawns and maintains to maintain the entire population takes server processor power. The more servers, the more the whole system has to handle. By using something like the megaserver system, less servers over all will be spawned.

That means that the system will run more smoothly (in theory anyway).

But people who say they don’t like the new system have never tried the new system in the first place. My prediction is is that most people will adjust to it and enjoy it.

Bottom line is, it’s not reasonable for Anet to make changes to the game on this level and still maintain the old system, because it would defeat at least part of the purpose for the change.

And yet the system we have now has been put in place by them and sustained for almost 2 years.

Don’t tell me it is good for the game.

The mega server is not something I have ever seen people asking for.
Underflows yes (and like overflows you can still be in your map server)

It is not reasonable fostering server identities for 2 years and then taking that away for the sake of what?
Even the name megaserver makes me shudder.

I’m telling you it is good for the game. If it wasn’t good for the game Anet wouldnt’ be doing it.

You’ve tried it? You have evidence it’s not good for the game?

As for people not asking for it, well, a lot of people HAVE asked for this. There’ve been suggestions about this sort of thing for over a year now.

Sorry that you don’t personally like it, but that doesn’t mean that many or most people don’t.

you haven’t tried it either

people have been asking for a solution to empty maps ( i.e underflows)
they did not ask for their servers to be destroyed.

Are you going to pretend to me that come tomorrow it will not be meaningless that I rolled on GH in beta?

That I will not now be lumped together with whatever the mega server decides is good for me- without being able to choose myself?

That whatever criteria the server system uses would be like my own?

no?
thought not.

How is this good for the game exactly?

I tell you now- if it is half as bad as I suspect I cannot see myself playing much if at all, and I love this game make no mistake.
I will not sit by and watch my world being taken over by Wallmart, or whatever generic bulk is better philosophy spawned this idea.

Come tomorrow you will see no difference unless you join the PvP Lobby, or usually visit low-population zones, such as (possibly) SouthSun. And if you are accustomed to spending most of your time in places like SouthSun, then you probably didn’t see many of your server-mates, anyway, as the initial roll-out will only be to maps that have few visitors.

Nage.1520:

I’m telling you that I’m on TC and during the Marionette I couldn’t get on my home server for days on end and it made me feel like crap.

Well Vayne, I can tell ou will have TC all to your self because so many will leave the game after megaserver hits.

Feeling better now??

Nage.1520:

Morrigan.2809:

Nage.1520:

Morrigan.2809:

Nage.1520:

What you’re asking for OP, is not reasonable. The idea of a megaserver is to control the population. Giving a people a choice to not be a part of a solution to several problems in the game is not really an option.

Some changes are made for the good of the game whether individual players like those changes or not. Allowing them to opt out of something that’s good for the game isn’t really an option.

The amount of servers that Anet now spawns and maintains to maintain the entire population takes server processor power. The more servers, the more the whole system has to handle. By using something like the megaserver system, less servers over all will be spawned.

That means that the system will run more smoothly (in theory anyway).

But people who say they don’t like the new system have never tried the new system in the first place. My prediction is is that most people will adjust to it and enjoy it.

Bottom line is, it’s not reasonable for Anet to make changes to the game on this level and still maintain the old system, because it would defeat at least part of the purpose for the change.

And yet the system we have now has been put in place by them and sustained for almost 2 years.

Don’t tell me it is good for the game.

The mega server is not something I have ever seen people asking for.
Underflows yes (and like overflows you can still be in your map server)

It is not reasonable fostering server identities for 2 years and then taking that away for the sake of what?
Even the name megaserver makes me shudder.

I’m telling you it is good for the game. If it wasn’t good for the game Anet wouldnt’ be doing it.

You’ve tried it? You have evidence it’s not good for the game?

As for people not asking for it, well, a lot of people HAVE asked for this. There’ve been suggestions about this sort of thing for over a year now.

Sorry that you don’t personally like it, but that doesn’t mean that many or most people don’t.

you haven’t tried it either

people have been asking for a solution to empty maps ( i.e underflows)
they did not ask for their servers to be destroyed.

Are you going to pretend to me that come tomorrow it will not be meaningless that I rolled on GH in beta?

That I will not now be lumped together with whatever the mega server decides is good for me- without being able to choose myself?

That whatever criteria the server system uses would be like my own?

no?
thought not.

How is this good for the game exactly?

I tell you now- if it is half as bad as I suspect I cannot see myself playing much if at all, and I love this game make no mistake.
I will not sit by and watch my world being taken over by Wallmart, or whatever generic bulk is better philosophy spawned this idea.

I’m telling you that I’m on TC and during the Marionette I couldn’t get on my home server for days on end and it made me feel like crap. And you know, there may very well have been just as many TC guys in my overflow, but it had the word overflow on it and guess what. People complained. This is one of the complaints that this sort of change will fix.

I haven’t tried the new system (and if I had I couldn’t tell you…but I haven’t). But logically, from a programming point of view it has to be better for the servers. There’s no way I can think that it would be worse for the servers.

It MAY be bad for a small percentage of players that OMG love their server. However, I played Guild Wars 1 for a long long time and never had a server.

We built a global community instead.

That’s what should have been here from the beginning.

People are very fixed on being part of a group. It does not matter that it is an artificial group of complete strangers, since you are one of them they are better than other artificially created groups. One of the more manipulated aspect of human nature.

@Nage: Except, what we’re getting isn’t a global server. I can’t play alongside US players from an EU server. In GW1 I could switch between regions at will and this is not what’s being offered here.

uknortherner.2670:

@Nage: Except, what we’re getting isn’t a global server. I can’t play alongside US players from an EU server. In GW1 I could switch between regions at will and this is not what’s being offered here.

That’s true and that would be an improvement, but according to what’s been said by the devs in the past, it’s not possible due to the server park architecture. However that still doesn’t mean this won’t be an improvement.

Yargesh.4965:

People are very fixed on being part of a group. It does not matter that it is an artificial group of complete strangers, since you are one of them they are better than other artificially created groups. One of the more manipulated aspect of human nature.

Of course it is- this is an MMO, as such self appointed identities/ groups are even more important, because the whole idea is so bizarre.
Anyway our trolls have been disciplined ages ago why should I now have to deal with other people’s unwashed/ stranger trolls :P

Seriously though in GW2 we have a bit of a disconnection from our characters and the world as it is- our servers were really the only thing you could identify with.
Now that is gone
It just feels very alienating to me

bri.2359:

Nage.1520:

I’m telling you that I’m on TC and during the Marionette I couldn’t get on my home server for days on end and it made me feel like crap.

Well Vayne, I can tell ou will have TC all to your self because so many will leave the game after megaserver hits.

Feeling better now??

First, it entertains me no end that so many people think I’m Vayne.

And you know, the sky is always falling, but it hasn’t fallen yet and this update is certainly not going to be the thing to make it fall. You’ll see.

Morrigan.2809:

Yargesh.4965:

People are very fixed on being part of a group. It does not matter that it is an artificial group of complete strangers, since you are one of them they are better than other artificially created groups. One of the more manipulated aspect of human nature.

Of course it is- this is an MMO, as such self appointed identities/ groups are even more important, because the whole idea is so bizarre.
Anyway our trolls have been disciplined ages ago why should I now have to deal with other people’s unwashed/ stranger trolls :P

Seriously though in GW2 we have a bit of a disconnection from our characters and the world as it is- our servers were really the only thing you could identify with.
Now that is gone
It just feels very alienating to me

I don’t think people on TC will see much of a difference. At least give it a chance before you decide that it’s not good.

Said it before many times on related threads and will again. Try it first, THEN give feedback. The whole point of feedback is to do it AFTER something, not pre emptive. If indeed the system has its flaws then they will be shown and they can be improved. They will be only implemented in PvP and a few select zones first to test it anyway.

Relax.

Direksone.3867:

Said it before many times on related threads and will again. Try it first, THEN give feedback. The whole point of feedback is to do it AFTER something, not pre emptive. If indeed the system has its flaws then they will be shown and they can be improved. They will be only implemented in PvP and a few select zones first to test it anyway.

Relax.

While that is normally good advice can you honestly say they ever reversed some of the things that in retrospect might not have been such a good idea?

For a change of this magnitude they should really have put up a feedback thread before- so people could voice their concerns- not say oh btw come patch this will happen.

basically they do not seem interested in feedback- not really

@Nage – I play on Gunnar’s Hold

I do not fear this patch at all, if anything it will be a positive boost. Other games have megaservers too (I played DCUO whilst it had one) and never had any problems with not being able to play with people I wanted to play with. I personally haven’t heard anything about ESO’s megaservers yet so I can’t comment on that.

Also if they made such a thread they could not build up a hype, it would spoil the surprise. Let’s first see how their implementation does in the low level maps, if indeed it is difficult to play with your guildies/friends then let’s come back here and see if we can come up with solutions, until then I have my hopes high.

Morrigan.2809:

Direksone.3867:

Said it before many times on related threads and will again. Try it first, THEN give feedback. The whole point of feedback is to do it AFTER something, not pre emptive. If indeed the system has its flaws then they will be shown and they can be improved. They will be only implemented in PvP and a few select zones first to test it anyway.

Relax.

While that is normally good advice can you honestly say they ever reversed some of the things that in retrospect might not have been such a good idea?

For a change of this magnitude they should really have put up a feedback thread before- so people could voice their concerns- not say oh btw come patch this will happen.

basically they do not seem interested in feedback- not really

@Nage – I play on Gunnar’s Hold

There is a reason to why they released information about the feture update in chunks instead of all at once and my guess is that was to be able to get feedback for one chunk at a time. And due to our feedback they have changed their approach on Megaservers already.

I also play on GH and it realy needs MegaServers and I bet that we will not be affected by this at all since we are quite low pop server. Most all players from our server will be put on the same maps anyhow, the difference is that there will be more players on the maps from other servers.

The only negative playerbase I support about megaservers atm is WvW players since their reqruitments and Strategyplans can get difficult.

We have adept to what we have now and overflows, as Nage says this sounds to be better for servers and it may be a good sulution we just has to adapt and find new ways of reqruiting and plan our strategies. I though hope and have suggested about a global chat.

The megaserver is probably the best feature Anet has ever added to the game. Its absolutely necessary to bring liveliness to the game from drastically improving the population. The game is an MMO, and there should be a lot of people around you who give the game a community feeling.

Especially for gw2, a game that strives to have a living world, and has Dynamic events in each zone, having a lot of players is crucial. Because dynamic events alone dont give a world the living feeling, but the players actively participating in these events, through these chains, are what give it this feeling.

As soon as I read about the mega servers I got excited. YEEHAAA soon there will be people to play with again. Nothing makes me happier than having lots of people running around on a map for me to interact with. Of late the maps on GW2 have almost felt like I am in a solo instance.I guess we have a few options they either do server merges or we have mega servers and Im all for the mega server

+1 to the two posts above. I too am excited about actually leveling another new toon.

Bunter.3795:

..the inability to guarantee that I’ll be able to access my guild bank..

Why would that be?

I’m fairly certain we could access guild bank from LA overflows, why would this be any different? the guild features, such as the vault, are tied to your home server.. you home server doesn’t change because you’re on a different instance, only if you transfer or guest.

Jazzabelle.6531:

As soon as I read about the mega servers I got excited. YEEHAAA soon there will be people to play with again. Nothing makes me happier than having lots of people running around on a map for me to interact with. Of late the maps on GW2 have almost felt like I am in a solo instance.I guess we have a few options they either do server merges or we have mega servers and Im all for the mega server

Why do you think this will magically populate the maps?
You know the maps that are busy now are still the only ones that will be. Not much is going to be different.
If theres 6 people on Brisban Wildlands across all 20 servers, all it does is put those 6 people together. Wow, super population. There’s still no reason to be in dead maps.
PvE dead zones are dead because theres nothing to do. Megaserver is just creating an illusion of population and not fixing any real problem.
All youre going to have now is multiple versions of the popular maps at boss time. That’s it. This will not magically populate all maps from being dead zones.

And in my opinion, its a sad state of a game that must merge 15~20 servers to try and create the illusion they have a big population base.
Know what would fix dead zones better? Adding content that makes a purpose to be there. Almost every zone is exactly the same way it was a year ago.

Alot of people are falling under the spell of the illusion of population when this doesn’t fix any of the actual problems and rather points them out and highlights them.

OP has a really good point. Some kind of survey of opinions is absolutely needed here. Implementing such a game changing feature that really turns around the social and event aspects of the game without a lot of notice and without asking the playerbase, and with so many people against it, it would be a sign of good will and willingness to listen to your consumers if we are given a choice.
I bet many people would only choose MegaServer for it’s only positive aspect: the underflow idea on low-pop maps; otherwise it is not needed. And from the discussions in my guilds and the feedback here on the forums, I don’t see that anyone is happy with the event timetable.

MegaServer is essentially about taking away the choice: the choice of community, the choice of playing in an actual place instead of random cloud of overflows, the choice of doing the “dynamic” events when and how we want.
= exact opposite of the announced “social play”
Dynamic events are on a timetable and thus no longer “dynamic” and this breaks the game as we new it, which was one of the main selling points for GW2. Long established communities will also be gone – players need to come from somewhere and our communities will be torn apart – UI cannot choose for us!

Personally, I will stop playing once MegaServer system is fully implemented because this is not the game I signed up for. I would like to keep playing GW2 as it is now though and I’m disappointed that it is being taken away from us.
Giving us some sort of choice in this would go a long way for the community to re-gain faith in you, ArenaNet.

SkylightMoon.1980:

and has Dynamic events in each zone, having a lot of players is crucial. Because dynamic events alone dont give a world the living feeling, but the players actively participating in these events, through these chains, are what give it this feeling.

It is silly to see that people think that this will bring liveliness to the game. Think about it, zones are empty because there is no decent content, that’s why nobody goes to Snwoden or Timberline. Megaserver is not likely to change this – majority of players that farm world bosses etc will still be in their boss-chain trains, only waiting and zerging from one to the other with even more brainlessness and even less communication. And all this comes at the great expense of the waypointing system becoming broken, Orr immersion and story going to waste and Megaboss communities having much lower chance at doing their raids due to awkward spawn windows (Anet, 6pm is when ppl come home from work!). Who knows how expensive guild spawn will be, and why should we need them?!? We did this Teq/Wurm as a server community!

hedix.1986:

OP has a really good point. Some kind of survey of opinions is absolutely needed here. Implementing such a game changing feature that really turns around the social and event aspects of the game without a lot of notice and without asking the playerbase, and with so many people against it, it would be a sign of good will and willingness to listen to your consumers if we are given a choice.
I bet many people would only choose MegaServer for it’s only positive aspect: the underflow idea on low-pop maps; otherwise it is not needed. And from the discussions in my guilds and the feedback here on the forums, I don’t see that anyone is happy with the event timetable.

MegaServer is essentially about taking away the choice: the choice of community, the choice of playing in an actual place instead of random cloud of overflows, the choice of doing the “dynamic” events when and how we want.
= exact opposite of the announced “social play”
Dynamic events are on a timetable and thus no longer “dynamic” and this breaks the game as we new it, which was one of the main selling points for GW2. Long established communities will also be gone – players need to come from somewhere and our communities will be torn apart – UI cannot choose for us!

Personally, I will stop playing once MegaServer system is fully implemented because this is not the game I signed up for. I would like to keep playing GW2 as it is now though and I’m disappointed that it is being taken away from us.
Giving us some sort of choice in this would go a long way for the community to re-gain faith in you, ArenaNet.

SkylightMoon.1980:

and has Dynamic events in each zone, having a lot of players is crucial. Because dynamic events alone dont give a world the living feeling, but the players actively participating in these events, through these chains, are what give it this feeling.

It is silly to see that people think that this will bring liveliness to the game. Think about it, zones are empty because there is no decent content, that’s why nobody goes to Snwoden or Timberline. Megaserver is not likely to change this – majority of players that farm world bosses etc will still be in their boss-chain trains, only waiting and zerging from one to the other with even more brainlessness and even less communication. And all this comes at the great expense of the waypointing system becoming broken, Orr immersion and story going to waste and Megaboss communities having much lower chance at doing their raids due to awkward spawn windows (Anet, 6pm is when ppl come home from work!). Who knows how expensive guild spawn will be, and why should we need them?!? We did this Teq/Wurm as a server community!

And, if anything, the Megaserver makes the game less dynamic and living. With the Megaserver and its finely tuned schedule of bosses, the games open world PvE is reduced to a scheduled boss checklist with player herded to certain maps at certain times. Yes, this is worse than the current scenario, because at least they have some sense of dynamics with pre-events and a degree of randomness. It makes the world seem far less living.
Maps like Queensdale are usually always full of people. Because it has a champ train. Its not the most ideal thing…but it has something to do on it.
A map like Wayfarer is dead, except at Frozen Maw time. I would really like to see why anyone thinks this Megaserver fixes that in any way. Megaserver is just a fancy name for a server merger due to declining population and no content, without actually calling it that. I really believe this is living story coming back to kick them in the kitten . A year later and the game looks like it hasn’t changed much. Sure you can point out things like the wallet, which were good, but still gives nothing new to do. After more than a year thre is still very little in the way of new content for people to be involved in. Thats what will populate maps, rather than the deceitful illusion of merging low populations together and spinning it as some magical solution to dead zones.

Frankly, I have no interest in the PvE that they’re introducing. A world that feel very mch the opposite of a living world and rather set on a schedule with people herded to the same spots just doesn’t sound appealing at all. Add in the reliance on the Megaserver system to choose who I want to play with and it’s even worse. Relying on luck of the draw for whether I’m with my friends or with my guild or if I’d rather do a boss with a low pop count so I can actually see it and not a sea of people mashed up with particle effects – and I prefer doing many bosses with very few people as they scale and its more fun.

Morrigan.2809:

The mega server is not something I have ever seen people asking for.

The mega server feature is something people have been asking for since beta. Those of us begging for this since then just haven’t referred to it as “mega server”, it is usually referred to as “districts” like the first guild wars game. Mega servers are not exactly what we have been asking for, but they are something that is a solution for a major problem that has been around since launch which is population. This system is made so that instead of having a bunch of near dead versions of the same map that can’t complete anything due to low population it instead puts all those players into a single full map then starts another version when needed.

Yes, some servers don’t need this for some zones, but most of them do. Even the max population servers have this problem in most maps. I have yet to see a single server that has a healthy population of players in more than 1 or 2 zones at a time. If you hate this system that many have been begging for that will bring back many players and most importantly make a huge chunk of the game finally playable on more than 1 or 2 servers, then do us all a favor and quit playing entirely. This need to be done whether you like it or not and has been needing to be done since launch.

Finaldeath.1059:

This system is made so that instead of having a bunch of near dead versions of the same map that can’t complete anything due to low population it instead puts all those players into a single full map then starts another version when needed.

Explain how this fixes population.
Dead map is still dead when merged with 20 other dead versions. It does not in any way fix the inherent problem that there is still no reason to be on those maps. They are dead for a reason. So instead of 1 person on the map, you might have 8 or 9. Yeah, that doesnt sound like a fix, but rather a quick-patch that looks like its doing something its not.

MrRuin.9740:

Finaldeath.1059:

This system is made so that instead of having a bunch of near dead versions of the same map that can’t complete anything due to low population it instead puts all those players into a single full map then starts another version when needed.

Explain how this fixes population.
Dead map is still dead when merged with 20 other dead versions. It does not in any way fix the inherent problem that there is still no reason to be on those maps. They are dead for a reason. So instead of 1 person on the map, you might have 8 or 9. Yeah, that doesnt sound like a fix, but rather a quick-patch that looks like its doing something its not.

I question the validity of your numbers and find your assertion that megaservers will do nothing to address any zone population problems completely baseless and unreasonable.

MrRuin.9740:

Finaldeath.1059:

This system is made so that instead of having a bunch of near dead versions of the same map that can’t complete anything due to low population it instead puts all those players into a single full map then starts another version when needed.

Explain how this fixes population.
Dead map is still dead when merged with 20 other dead versions. It does not in any way fix the inherent problem that there is still no reason to be on those maps. They are dead for a reason. So instead of 1 person on the map, you might have 8 or 9. Yeah, that doesnt sound like a fix, but rather a quick-patch that looks like its doing something its not.

Because almost no zone is 100% dead on every server. NA has 24 servers, if each of those servers has at least 1-2 people at any given time that would mean when combined there would be 24-48 people which is enough so that you would start seeing people around doing stuff. Then you factor in the fact that nearly every zone is fairly active on at least 1 server, so when those 1-2 people on other servers are added to the server that has the semi active version of the zone it becomes playable for everyone not just those on that server. For example the Orr zones, they are completely dead on pretty much every server except for 1 or 2 where many people from all servers accumulate to do the content.

With the megaserver system we don’t have to bookmark a dozen sites to find out what server actively does the content we want to do, instead we just go there and do the content. There is also the fact that we can only guest on so many servers at any one time before we have to wait for them to reset, if i want to play a little bit of a bunch of different things in a 24 hour period that only have 1 or 2 servers that actively do them i can’t. I have never personally had this issue with guesting but i am sure there are people who have.

Finaldeath.1059:

Morrigan.2809:

The mega server is not something I have ever seen people asking for.

The mega server feature is something people have been asking for since beta. Those of us begging for this since then just haven’t referred to it as “mega server”, it is usually referred to as “districts” like the first guild wars game. Mega servers are not exactly what we have been asking for, but they are something that is a solution for a major problem that has been around since launch which is population. This system is made so that instead of having a bunch of near dead versions of the same map that can’t complete anything due to low population it instead puts all those players into a single full map then starts another version when needed.

Yes, some servers don’t need this for some zones, but most of them do. Even the max population servers have this problem in most maps. I have yet to see a single server that has a healthy population of players in more than 1 or 2 zones at a time. If you hate this system that many have been begging for that will bring back many players and most importantly make a huge chunk of the game finally playable on more than 1 or 2 servers, then do us all a favor and quit playing entirely. This need to be done whether you like it or not and has been needing to be done since launch.

I have been around since beta- I have never seen people ask for this.
Some people have said that they are lonely- sure and more have claimed maps are empty because they sky is falling yada-yada.

The solution has been guesting for most- some have suggested creating underflows on low pop maps.
Nowhere and by no-one has there ever been a suggestion that they do away with servers, to create an illusion of life.

Keep in mind that there where still people running events on unpopular maps because they enjoy the dynamic events.
Now of course event rewards get nerfed and contrary to popular belief this will do nothing to champ trains but it will kill Dynamic events.

So mega server does nothing.

If you are not rewarded and have no incentive to run around in the world why would you?
If you were not already doing it – you won’t be doing it now because much as I love those zones- they are largely exactly the same since launch.
Nevermind the boss timers and the fact that communities are being destroyed.

I am not even on a high pop server and I have never ever had an issue with finding people to do stuff with

But glad you like it so much that you feel free to tell me what to do with my time.

MrRuin.9740:

Finaldeath.1059:

This system is made so that instead of having a bunch of near dead versions of the same map that can’t complete anything due to low population it instead puts all those players into a single full map then starts another version when needed.

Explain how this fixes population.
Dead map is still dead when merged with 20 other dead versions. It does not in any way fix the inherent problem that there is still no reason to be on those maps. They are dead for a reason. So instead of 1 person on the map, you might have 8 or 9. Yeah, that doesnt sound like a fix, but rather a quick-patch that looks like its doing something its not.

I think I play on a medium server (Gunnars Hold) and I am usually doing exploring while doing my daily or playing with friends and I do play on low pop maps alot and almost every time I see 2-4 players during 10 min playtime there. If I where to play with numbers … In EU servers there are 14? English speaking servers and multiply them with 2-5 (= 28-70 players on one map) and that is quite a good amount of players on one low-pop map compaired to now.

Edit: @Morrigan; I have been active since 3-days headstart and I have seen topics asking to fix the overflows and the low-pop maps. Also I have complained about this, not on forums though but on map-chat and in the guild.

Nage.1520:

I’m telling you that I’m on TC and during the Marionette I couldn’t get on my home server for days on end and it made me feel like crap. And you know, there may very well have been just as many TC guys in my overflow, but it had the word overflow on it and guess what. People complained. This is one of the complaints that this sort of change will fix.

How exactly does it fix that? By having no home server no one can complain they aren’t on it? Wow… that’s not a fix, that’s a “this is why we can’t have nice things” situation.

Yes, they’ll have a little less server strain as there will ideally only be one not full option for any server zone. But a similar amount of strain could have been releaved in many many different ways that didn’t destroy server communities.

The change will be nice for all the people complaining about low populations. But it destroys server communities while it happens. It’s hardly seems like the best option.

Until the system has been in a few weeks, no one, on either side, can definitively say what the real repercussions of the system will be. On one hand, we have the doomsayers, who proclaim the end is nigh, repent, for the end has come etc. On the other, we have the jolly chappies who themselves completely guarantee (tho how they have the knowledge/foresight to do that is beyond me) that no downsides can occur from this. What we have until tomorrow and beyond, is conjecture, and educated guesses at best. And depending on viewpoint, those lean one way or the other.

Personally, while I believe that the megaserver system can solve some issues, I do not believe in its current format that it will not create some new ones.

I come at this issue as a roleplayer, and someone who has found a fantastic IC and OOC community in my GW2 home, Piken Square. Rpers raised the issue of potential community breakdown. Anets response was simply to say guild up, neglecting the nature of RP as an inter-guild experience as well as an open and spontaneous one. Indeed, they didn’t acknowledge that EU had a RP server as well (Piken Square), and still hasn’t acknowledged there are large gatherings of RPers in other language servers as well. As an RPer, such at best ignorance of a substantial (but by no means majority) community is not heartening, and raises doubts as to what thought we were given in designing this system. While, for the sake of plucking numbers out of the bum, 90% of the time we’ll still be grouped with RPers, we can’t guarantee it, and it is possible that our map population may be distributed to prop up the other servers from time to time. That makes our little enterprise harder. At the core, we have no guarantees that a community that has existed in game since launch, and existed as a collective even before the release of GW2, can be reliably sustained at all times. That is troubling, and is against the basic idea behind an MMO, social and co-operative gameplay. While that may not in reality be such an issue that will have a large impact, again we have no guarantees, and no player-based ones, by their nature, hold water. It is disappointing that Anet has not responded more to those concerns, as they have been persistent since the announcement, and are valid concerns at this stage. Just because one player will not be adversely affected does not mean others won’t be. It is a question of context.

As for megaservers being desired, well, not accurate, and has been pointed out, were referred to as Districts, in reference to the GW1 system. There is a fundamental difference between the District system and the Megaserver one. One that goes to the heart of the title of this thread, choice. We could choose what district we could enter.

“Let’s meet up in Kamadan, I’ll see you in America District 3”

I doubt at any point the desire was for a completely autonomous system without active player input. This system is halfway there, but is not the same, and with the absence of choice potentially does not give the flexibility to co-ordinate in that way.

An anonymous tag system at least gives some form of active player choice in the sorting of people. Apparantly, and if I read Anet’s announcements rightly, it will become a “smart” system whereby you are also sorted by what you do. If you dungeon, you’ll find yourself with more dungeoners etc. Fair enough, but what if you decide to try something different? At the extreme end of the system possibilities, you’ll find it harder to connect with people on the new activity. Some sort of player choice and tagging system removes that completely by allowing free choice. For those saying the technical challenge of such a system are too great, I would respond by saying that Anet have already met a huge challenge by creating the system as it seems to be at point of release tomorrow. Surely an extra feature to return choice to players, while perhaps prolonging the system’s development, is not prohibitively unreasonable.

As a player, I don’t like choice being taken from me, and I wonder what makes Anet and this system think it can make decisions about where I want to play better than I can. Especially when there is no evidence that this system can or will recognise, much less take into account, some of my preferred styles of gameplay and activities to engage in.

Jerus.4350:

Nage.1520:

I’m telling you that I’m on TC and during the Marionette I couldn’t get on my home server for days on end and it made me feel like crap. And you know, there may very well have been just as many TC guys in my overflow, but it had the word overflow on it and guess what. People complained. This is one of the complaints that this sort of change will fix.

How exactly does it fix that? By having no home server no one can complain they aren’t on it? Wow… that’s not a fix, that’s a “this is why we can’t have nice things” situation.

Yes, they’ll have a little less server strain as there will ideally only be one not full option for any server zone. But a similar amount of strain could have been releaved in many many different ways that didn’t destroy server communities.

The change will be nice for all the people complaining about low populations. But it destroys server communities while it happens. It’s hardly seems like the best option.

Hard to destroy server communities on the many servers that didn’t have one due to low population. Name off a few ways they could fix server population for all servers in all zones without making us play server hopscotch whenever we want to play the game. The way i see it, megaservers or another system similar to it is the only way to fix the low population issue most servers have.

I admit that a lot of those fears are more towards the worst case scenario, and in practice may not be as drastic as they appear. But those concerns are valid, and I think should be heard and considered, and be seen to have been considered. To some extent Anet has responded, by changing the system to start in some of the least populated maps rather than the most, thereby being able to monitor the system as it develops and adapt it to feedback and results as the system is widened to the entire world. But even there, I see no reason to believe it will include RPers at all without some form of tag or active player participation.

At the end of the day, my view is the new system is a good one, and possibly needed, but is a little half-baked. It still cannot guarantee the complete preservation of communities, whether RP, activity led or servers as a whole. Revisions will hopefully address those, but at the core is players like choice, and don’t like choice taken away. I hope Anet revise and update the system as it is widened to meet those needs, and eventually allows that choice. I don’t think it is unreasonable for players to have choice, and not have choice removed from them.

A lot of people said this the first day the news came out.

Anet isnt taking suggestions on this until after the patch hits apparently. But dont worry, in a year we’ll probably see these changes.

I love how the ones against the mega-server system don’t like the change, and would prefer something like an Underflow. This is basically what they are doing. They are essentially implementing an underflow system. Do you guys just not like the name Megaserver?

Did I miss a post that said every zone you enter will just be a mish-mash of random players and you won’t be able to play with your friends on the same server you are on?

I believe it works like this: you and your friends enter Metrica Province. There’s only 10 people in the zone. So on a different server, someone and his friends enter Metrica Province. Now him and his friends are with you and your friends, and there is 20 people in the zone. Now someone else from a low-pop server and his friends join Metrica, now they join in with you and your friends and the other dude and his friends. now there are 30 people in the zone.

The only change you should see is more people in general.

Plus, has anyone mentioned that they are running a test on April 15th with certain zones to see how it goes? Does everyone think this is going completely live on the 15th?

I mean, to the guy that got so mad he quit for a week. Like. You know. Over-reaction much?

Draknar.5748:

I love how the ones against the mega-server system don’t like the change, and would prefer something like an Underflow. This is basically what they are doing. They are essentially implementing an underflow system. Do you guys just not like the name Megaserver?

Did I miss a post that said every zone you enter will just be a mish-mash of random players and you won’t be able to play with your friends on the same server you are on?

I believe it works like this: you and your friends enter Metrica Province. There’s only 10 people in the zone. So on a different server, someone and his friends enter Metrica Province. Now him and his friends are with you and your friends, and there is 20 people in the zone. Now someone else from a low-pop server and his friends join Metrica, now they join in with you and your friends and the other dude and his friends. now there are 30 people in the zone.

The only change you should see is more people in general.

Plus, has anyone mentioned that they are running a test on April 15th with certain zones to see how it goes? Does everyone think this is going completely live on the 15th?

I mean, to the guy that got so mad he quit for a week. Like. You know. Over-reaction much?

I think it is not so much the name, but how it has been described by Anet. there hasn’t been a great assurance that the communities will still be as before. The RP and Megeserver thread simply yielded the response to guild up. Not encouraging to those who enjoy spontaneous RP. If guilding up is the advice, that lends to the view that not being in a guild means a lot less certainty about who you meet. Sure you’ll see more people, but not necessarily of the same world or interests. More people like that is not an issue at all, but the idea that those familiar faces from your world are potentally less likely to be in the same instance is a concern. Just because there are more people doesn’t mean it is the same community.

The mish-mash idea comes from how Anet have presented it, saying that the maps will be filled by essentially an adaptable merger. That is fine and dandy if it only takes one merged map for the entire region, but if it goes to multiple, it is possible that some worlds will have their population split between two, to bring two megamaps to their cap. There has been no guarantee from Anet that it will only be an addition of multiple worlds rather than splitting the odd one. The system takes homeworld into consideration, but we haven’t been fully told of how. If it is the case that a homeworld will not be split up, and would instead just be fully joined to another world, then there wouldn’t be an issue. But there has been no definitive statement from Anet saying that, as far as others and myself are aware of. If there is one out there, linking will soon have most concerns gone.

I know I mentioned in my previous post that it was only certain low population maps and the pvp lobby being done first, and applauded that it was changed to that from the high population zones. I also said I hope that Anet do adapt the system in response to how it pans out, and also from feedback.

The big thing is still a lot of uncertainty as to how the system will work, the lack of player choice if it has the potential to split worlds up, and on a roleplayer’s note, how in responding to concerns about the system, Anet showed a complete lack of knowledge and understanding of a not insubstantial sub-community of the game. That doesn’t fill some with confidence about being considered or counted in Anet’s rationale for such changes.

My TL;DR of the thread…
Half of the posters say, “Community is the most important part of this game to me. How dare Anet expand the sense of community!”
The other half says, “Community is the most important part of this game to me. Why would you complain about Anet expanding the sense of community in the game?”

Edit: The only arguments I can agree with are those of RP players. I can understand where they’re coming from, and wonder how Anet will handle that situation.

viralthefrog.6130:

My TL;DR of the thread…
Half of the posters say, “Community is the most important part of this game to me. How dare Anet expand the sense of community!”
The other half says, “Community is the most important part of this game to me. Why would you complain about Anet expanding the sense of community in the game?”

Edit: The only arguments I can agree with are those of RP players. I can understand where they’re coming from, and wonder how Anet will handle that situation.

There isn’t much if anything anet needs to add for the rpers. Anet already said anyone you see on your server now will be the ones the system will prioritize putting you with in the new system. It should be exactly how it is now for the rpers.

As a WvW player this seems like an awful idea, for one i’m sure there has been many guilds or players that have left a certain server for their awful hate towards them and this update is just a chance to bring them back together and bring more arguments within map chat. Secondly some of us in a sense have a certain pride towards our server and rather stay isolated in our own server. lastly, how many performance issues will there be in the first day? With the constant build after build after build. Surely it would get annoying. Well who knows. I’m one of the many that isn’t looking up to this megaserver update.

Finaldeath.1059:

viralthefrog.6130:

My TL;DR of the thread…
Half of the posters say, “Community is the most important part of this game to me. How dare Anet expand the sense of community!”
The other half says, “Community is the most important part of this game to me. Why would you complain about Anet expanding the sense of community in the game?”

Edit: The only arguments I can agree with are those of RP players. I can understand where they’re coming from, and wonder how Anet will handle that situation.

There isn’t much if anything anet needs to add for the rpers. Anet already said anyone you see on your server now will be the ones the system will prioritize putting you with in the new system. It should be exactly how it is now for the rpers.

Prioritize but that isn’t necessarily a guarantee. That is not helped by Anets assertion that to make sure, you guild up. If server was a guarantee, they wouldn’t need that bit. It shows a failure to understand what it is to RP, which is a little disappointing considering they made some positive noises at the start of this game’s life. More than that, the issue is the algorithm/system they use to sort those priorities, one of which is past actions. RP is a regular and not miniscule aspect of how a fair number of people play. Considering they haven’t demonstrated a good understanding of what RP is and how it is conducted, coupled with the fact that, due to it’s nature, it can’t be easily quantified in such a system, it raises concerns about what will happen. That is to say nothing of those who main on a realm, say for WvW purposes, but regularly guest on an RP world for their RP enjoyment.

RPers do have valid concerns, as do others. I don’t believe Anet are setting out to ruin these communities, and I understand that a new system needs time to identify and iron out teething issues, and a lot of that can’t be done until it is actually live. The important thing for many is not to say “this is a bad system, don’t do it!”. The point is to keep raising concerns to inform the direction of this feature, to ensure it is shaped into something that we can all use and get the most out of. This is part of what that is. What goes out tomorrow is not a finished product, so it is important we speak loud and clear in the hope that an issue is considered before it becomes potentially debilitating to a community. Still some doubts as to how it will be, and what it will become, so people try to ensure it shapes into a positive thing.

GW1 District System pls

Kirito.7893:

As a WvW player this seems like an awful idea, for one i’m sure there has been many guilds or players that have left a certain server for their awful hate towards them and this update is just a chance to bring them back together and bring more arguments within map chat. Secondly some of us in a sense have a certain pride towards our server and rather stay isolated in our own server. lastly, how many performance issues will there be in the first day? With the constant build after build after build. Surely it would get annoying. Well who knows. I’m one of the many that isn’t looking up to this megaserver update.

I have never. Repeat. Never- seen server bickering in any PvE maps. In all the overflows I’ve been in, not once has anyone started having WvW server squabbles.

This sounds like a made-up issue that doesn’t currently exist. I mean. When you go to Caledon Forest and you see someone next to you, are you going to ask them what server they are on, just so you can bash it?

How can you have a sense of pride in your server outside of WvW? There is no competition at all. Anywhere. I could see you being proud of your server in WvW (many are—well, the winningest servers anyway), but this Megaserver does not affect your home server. So when you WvW you will always be with your server-mates ONLY.

What scenario could possibly arise where pride for your server could come into question, or need to be exercised? You wouldn’t know one way or the other, all you will notice is that there are a lot more players in your zone.

The RPers are the only ones with room to complain because it would break their immersion playing with non-RP players, but in the end, there are no RP servers. There are servers that are unofficially designated as RP, but at no point are you required to RP. So the same outcome would happen if there was just a surge of players on the unofficial RP server. They would run the same risk of getting non-RPers with the Megaserver system or without.

Ultimately more players = better. RPers be darned.

I like to RP so I will make sure not to break any immersion. The easiest for RPers would be to turn off /map chat. Most people won’t be jerks directly to you, they want to be jerks in front of an audience for the lawlz.

Finaldeath.1059:

Because almost no zone is 100% dead on every server. NA has 24 servers, if each of those servers has at least 1-2 people at any given time that would mean when combined there would be 24-48 people which is enough so that you would start seeing people around doing stuff. Then you factor in the fact that nearly every zone is fairly active on at least 1 server, so when those 1-2 people on other servers are added to the server that has the semi active version of the zone it becomes playable for everyone not just those on that server. For example the Orr zones, they are completely dead on pretty much every server except for 1 or 2 where many people from all servers accumulate to do the content.

With the megaserver system we don’t have to bookmark a dozen sites to find out what server actively does the content we want to do, instead we just go there and do the content. There is also the fact that we can only guest on so many servers at any one time before we have to wait for them to reset, if i want to play a little bit of a bunch of different things in a 24 hour period that only have 1 or 2 servers that actively do them i can’t. I have never personally had this issue with guesting but i am sure there are people who have.

You only highlighted and agreed with what I said. These zones are dead for a reason. Its not populating them any more than they were. Its just congesting the tiny portion of the playerbase that are actually there into one spot. There is still no reason or incentive for people to be there, while the already congested maps become moreso as people from all servers are thrust together in who knows how many overflows as new maps are created (not to mention higher limits means stupid size zergs in Queensdale and the likes. Just wait for the holy crap lag topics that will appear).
They are creating the illusion of population. If xx zone is dead and takes merging 24 different servers into one to make a population count of around 30 people…that says a lot about the content of said zone.

Draknar.5748:

I have never. Repeat. Never- seen server bickering in any PvE maps. In all the overflows I’ve been in, not once has anyone started having WvW server squabbles.

This sounds like a made-up issue that doesn’t currently exist. I mean. When you go to Caledon Forest and you see someone next to you, are you going to ask them what server they are on, just so you can bash it?

I see worse and more bickering and fighting on PvE maps than I do in WvW and EotM.
People “stealing” champs. People finishing events before others want. People not helping with pre’s (SB is a good example of this).
Its not home server pride, it’s just what happens when you cram that many people into one spot.