Guild Wars 2

Shorok.9706:

I have played several MMO’s, and played games that implemented the Shard/mega server idea. Yes, it builds and creates a stronger community of players.

Agree to disagree on that front.
Quantity does not equal quality, nor strength.

So, yesterday, I tried to RP with someone. Not in one of my guild nor in my friendlist.

We discussed for an hour and the afkkick did its job (without warning, as usual). I relogged, and I … couln’t see the one I was talking with.
I was on other shard of megaserver …

Add friend … party … join megaserver …

Great. Still not working.

I bought this game purely to RP. The PvE content is a nice distraction once in a while, but the lure & hook that brought me to GW2 was the RP community ( I speak of the PS, EU side). And here I am, after the April “Feature” pack feeling as if I have done little but waste my money and time on this game. Yes, RP on MMOs usually fades over time. It did in my past RP haunts, but GW2 is the exception: As I see it, the devs changed the core mechanics of the game to such an extent as to prematurely hasten that demise.

In my opinion they did it, knowing the conclusion. It’s been over three months, with only the famous “Guild up” response – I too don’t really count the “We are working on it” posts as they really provide precious little to assuage the fears of most RPers.

Frankly, after these past (nearly) three months, I’m finding myself logging on. Finding no RPer’s around, and logging off. I understand there are no subscription fees for this game, but this was not the game I paid for last year. Yes, the RP is still alive in smaller pockets, but the changes have rendered the core game somewhat untenable for RP on many levels (This being the same reason I avoided buying ESO) and the devs attitude to our eloquently raised concerns and troubles has been disheartening at best, disregarding at worst.

I know this post likely adds very little to the debate or the issues, but I honestly feel ripped off and betrayed by Anet, and felt the need to express my frustrations and sadness here.

And now, they started deleting my posts, so I rest my case. I can obviously tell now that i’m fighting for a lost cause, and being ignored for months probably made me a bit bitter.

We’ve all been in the same shoes since April. We all share the same frustrations and issues. People repeat the same things again and again, and again, and again over the last three months now… What’s been done to fix the issues? Absolutely nothing. The game moves on as if nothing has happened, so i suppose they’re happy. It doesn’t matter if we aren’t.

This will be my last post on these forums. I’ve wasted enough of my time trying to yell through a soundproof glass door. I wish you guys good luck with this struggle.

Have a nice day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIgyr1_Z_qA

I would like to add something of concern to this thread.
Two days ago, I wrote a ticket to support in regards to a flaw in the Megaserver’s “sorting AI”, so to call it. The GM’s who answered, suggested I best post on the forum, as developers often read these topics (even if silently).

So here goes nothing…
There is a Polish roleplaying guild from Blacktide, who are constantly sorted into the same shard as Piken Square (role)players. They have a lovely concept and are incredibly friendly, but they roleplay exclusively in Polish.

Formerly, they had the entirety of the Blacktide server to roleplay on. Nowadays, I am unable to move so much as three steps outside of the capital cities without encountering these people. Due to the language barrier, interaction on the IC level is not possible.

The few times I spoke to them, they expressed a desire to return to their own server. For them. And for us. So that we can all carry on doing what we love the most without interfering with others.

So my issue is as follows:
The Megaservers should prioritise the “home” servers more than anything. Currently, they do not. They sort people by guild and party correctly, but grab “fillers” from all over the place; different servers, different playstyles, different languages.

Additionally, I (and so many others) would most appreciate it if Piken Square and Tarnished Coast were finally recognised as the roleplaying servers that they are. There have been developers who have formerly expressed a desire to officially label these servers as such, and what better time is there than now?

There are the megaservers, which have the coding to sort individual players into shards to suit their needs. Why not let us choose our “preferred playstyle” in the character select menu, so that the game can more easily put us with likeminded individuals? Let us set preferred language, too. It’d solve a lot of issues.

All in all, I can honestly say that currently, the Guild Wars 2 megaservers are in a stage so primitive compared to its original counterpart in Guild Wars (where we could manually choose which channel to be in, by language and region) that it feels as if we’re back in the Guild Wars 2 beta stage.

These megaservers have so much potential, and it’s all going to waste!
Still hoping for an update soon. Fingers crossed…

Auruan.2837:

So my issue is as follows:
The Megaservers should prioritise the “home” servers more than anything. Currently, they do not. They sort people by guild and party correctly, but grab “fillers” from all over the place; different servers, different playstyles, different languages.

Since when do Megaservers sort correctly by guild? Are we somehow playing different games? Up to this day I didn’t have a SINGLE guild-mission where all of us ended up on the same map (about 30 people). We were all from the same server, representing the same guild and everyone has some of the other members on his friendlist.

Even when playing in smaller groups the problem is still present: Yesterday we were 6 people running around in 2 groups. Everyone in the same guild, on the same server, having the others on his fl and we still ended up on different maps.

At least the groups don’t get split anymore. If I run a dungeon with random ppl from all over the world we can be sure that everyone is on the same map after leaving the dungeon to start the next path…

I’m praying they do something about this soon, I came back because I missed all the people I RP’d with, only to find out that the chances of seeing them again in the usual hangouts are Nil.

Devs
Would you give us a heads up about Guild System representing cross servers in order to provide bonuses for all represent players.

Update with some info would be nice some dates also.
Waiting for this since beta…

This topic is old but I have a suggestion that I hope would benefit both RP players and WvW players.

Enable Team Chat in pve maps. Only your server can read team chat. This allows all the RP in team chat and secondly, I can go to pve maps to recruit people to wvw without dissembling information to possible enemy servers.

Thank you for your consideration.

While that will help with your WvW issue, it will do little for the RP situation and absolutely nothing for the megaserver splitting servers up issue that is the focus of this thread.

RP isn’t done in mass groups of hundreds of people. It’s done situationally in the local setting and preferably only those in realistic hearing/seeing distance of the action will be involved. Get as many as 20 people in for a party/wedding/adventure RP and the spam becomes very hard to process; it won’t work with hundreds all posting as fast as they can. So a server-wide team chat would work to coordinate RP, maybe, letting people hook up with others wanting to do a scene, but would fail miserably as a storytelling medium.

Which assumes you’re in a server instance that has enough RPers in it to survive the trolls and griefers anyway.

Still running into non-TCers that troll RP when they see it.

Anet’s silence makes it clear they don’t care at all about their most dedicated section of players.

I didn’t read the whole discussion. I am just one of many who left GW2 after introduction of the Megaservers and who feels bad about it – because this used to be a very good game. And while the whole idea of grouping players together is good at its core, the implementation – for those who love to RP – is just horrible. I was hoping something has changed since April, but I can see here that nothing has been done… or am I wrong? Were there any improvements at all?

Without patch notes or dev comments it’s hard to say, but I have noticed a lot more RP in cities than right after the megaserver, and a greater likelihood that I’ll be in the same server as my guild members when we assemble for a gathering.

Here’s what weirds me out: RPers are likely to spend money in the cash store, at least from my experience.

So why is ANet dismissive of RPers?

They gave "GvG"ers a special place. Why not RPers?

balticdragon, there’s been absolutely no improvement whatsoever since April. Megaservers are still absolutely broken, confusing and unfriendly, and a severe nuisance to not only roleplayers, but anyone who wants to organize a large-scale event (including guilds). We have yet to hear word from ArenaNet on the matter.

Well. I bought this game with the intent of RPing a while back and had some of the best times meeting with random RPers in the bustling town squares of Divinity’s Reach and it’s many streets. To see the taverns alive with chatter and the streets with stories unfolding all around. It truly was an amazing living community that matched Guild Wars ever evolving world so well. We from the Tarnished Coast had built a story within that world, breathed life into the lore you gave us…for what? Now, with the megaserver, the streets are empty, the taverns silent. The great cities of each race now but hollow shells when once they were filled with some of your most loyal fans, and as such- customers.

I really hope we do in fact see something done about this. The hardcore players and PvPers are not good company for a RPer trying to immerse themself in the world when they go out of their way to mock and troll the RPers. The servers worked. Perhaps a little culling was in order, but for the most part, we sought out what we wanted from the game and found our homes accordingly….

— Just returned from a small break, but no longer sure how long I’ll be staying. Sorry Guild Wars. Maybe when the servers have returned or the RPers are all in one phase. But until then.

They still havent said anything on this yet?

I mean, server instanced cities seems like a perfectly good compromise for most people. I dont even see how Anet can argue against that or fail to see the logic.

Open world problems is a little trickier, sure… but again, a good compromise is to at least note which server a player is from – chat color maybe, server tag, something.
The placement system can surely be improved but since it took them like a year or something to fix simple wvw queues (or was it longer) I wouldnt hold my breath.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Server instanced cities would also solve some current Guild and WvW recruiting issues so they would not just be an improvement for better RPing. My thoughts as to why Anet does not want to do this still make me think MegaServer has some yet un-revealed reasons FAR beyond filling up maps.

Of course it has. Its cheaper to run. 20 servers running at 25% capacity each or 5 servers running at 100% capacity, what do you think is cheaper? Aint more complicated than that. Megaservers free up unused resources, plain and simple.

This isnt exactly bad, but obviously Anet has a motive for not adding server specific cities back in, for example.

Anet needs to allow us to choose our “districts” in GW2 as we could in GW1 and with that, have a district labeled “RP”. Everyone wins some.

A couple of nights ago my warband went on patrol. Had a decent turnout, seven or eight of us showed up to march along the roads of Ascalon. All in the same guild, of course.

Because there were more than the pathetically small party limit of 5, we were split into two parties.

Every time we zoned, we were MegaServed. Every. Single. Time.

So much for ‘guild up’.

I’m usually an RPer who just guests over onto TC. Recently, though, I noticed that TC is now completely full which makes RP even harder to find than when megaservers were implemented. I’m wondering, though, if perhaps RP has spilled over onto another server. If anyone has seen that or maybe heard some rumors about it I would love to know! Most likely it has not, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

RP organization in my guild is fine as is, no complaints here. But actually doing RP actions is awkward and unfitting for whatever situation we set up. Fights, meetings, patrols, you name it, whatever emotes or dialogue we generate, the game does nothing to compliment it. The current list of emotes is extensive already, but I think it needs a much larger variety of animations. Maybe I want my female to not jut her legs out to the left when she sits, maybe I want my male to not bow his head when he kneels, maybe I want my Norn to not do the Carlton when I type in /dance(please don’t kill me).

I guess I just want greater customization when it comes to the little things. So… there.

Hi!
Sorry the “bothering” you, i speak a little bit in english.
This multiserver is wrong to me. Too mutch people in a few events, lots of people in one events. This is boring, but not bug:).
Thanks the game, it was great.
Bye

Inguiomerus.1504:

RP organization in my guild is fine as is, no complaints here. But actually doing RP actions is awkward and unfitting for whatever situation we set up. Fights, meetings, patrols, you name it, whatever emotes or dialogue we generate, the game does nothing to compliment it. The current list of emotes is extensive already, but I think it needs a much larger variety of animations. Maybe I want my female to not jut her legs out to the left when she sits, maybe I want my male to not bow his head when he kneels, maybe I want my Norn to not do the Carlton when I type in /dance(please don’t kill me).

I guess I just want greater customization when it comes to the little things. So… there.

<— basically most of that.

My norn also dislikes dancing the Carlton…

Still hoping for furniture I can interact with, without becoming onewiththecouch.

ColinJohanson.2394:

To maximize your odds of running into other RP players more often, you’ll want to make sure you’re on the same world (generally TC and Piken are viewed as the RP worlds), and in guilds with other RP members also on that same world. For example, everyone from TC currently will be set to high priority to sort together, same thing goes with people who are all a part of the same guild (so guild up RP folks!)

We’ll continue to monitor, adapt and update the system as we go forward as well, for now I’d suggest seeing how it works once we enable the mega server system across all maps and then giving comments and feedback when you see it in action!

(edited to add Piken!)

Wouldn’t it be fairly simple to just have an option in the menu to be sorted with certain types of players, and have this option taken into account when putting players together? An obvious option would be Roleplayers, but I could imagine others too, like preferring to be sorted with casual players, or more dedicated/hardcore players, etc.

New ‘update’ on the state of Megaservers.. No mention of our suggestions, gripes or concerns.

No replies here since the first day.

“We are always listening for your feedback, as it is very important for us to make the best possible game for you.” .. Quite.

If you can sort & group people by spoken language… then you can just add “RP” to that language, and there you go. Just like we’ve been saying all along.

Oh, you -can- do that, but decided not to even give us the option?

… that’s not really listening, is it.

The fact that the devs aren’t listening is truly a shame. It’s abundantly clear that, despite all efforts, RP really is beginning to suffer with how hard it is to even group with guildmates properly, let alone find immersive standalone RP. That, and the griefers are worse than ever. All of these things have been pointed out, and megaserver supporters handwaved them. It’s not so sweet to be proven right.

Sadly, I have to cringe nearly every time I go to Black Citadel, now. There’s usually some group saying/emoting things that are just uncomfortable, and allegedly RP. I really don’t need to know what Teehee Kitty Cub is doing with her favorite dagger…

For the sake of us all, please lower the /say and /emote range. It’ll lead to less trolling in the long run.

Also, can we get a clickable name on emote lines? It’d be great to take action on /sit/dance spammers or people using emotes to say things against the TOS.

Put our hands over our eyes and wait for the discussion to go away seems to sum up their stance on this issue.

So, I’d like to see what Anet thinks of all this.

Or are you going to continue to snub one of your most loyal and might I add, profitable, userbases?

You know the RP community is the reason games like, oh, idk, Everquest 2 stayed alive long after it should have died? If you help cultivate your RP community Anet, you’ll see more positive figures in your bank accounts. Just saying. I really don’t see why they have such a beef with us.

Did the RP community kick your dog or something, Anet? Why do you dislike us so much? It’s not even open hatred. You just patronize us all the time when you do deign to respond to us.

Thank you again Anet, for not only ignoring these complaints, but also for changing the emote system, to something far less immersive, more obtrustive and simply slapping us in the face.

Wow. It’s true. That’s just…unbelievable.

This update overall is good. And this thing isn’t really that big of a deal.
But please fix it, Please just take away the second name in player made emotes.

We don’t want to hate your changes anymore. Just fix it and all will be sunshine and rainbow. Thanks for allowing us to mute people emotes, but don’t do things half way in.

The Arenanet’s department of redundancies department is hard at work.

PLEASE revert the /e change. Everything else about the patch is absolutely fantastic. (Thank you for the Longbow buffs for Rangers!) But as an avid roleplayer i find that extremely irritating and also extremely reduntant, and very irritating.

I’m glad to see they fixed the /me doubling… now can we get on the range of emotes?

And providing a way for the Megaserver to gather like-minded people together?

Bumpity bump. So how are people finding the megaserver since the Sept Patch? Is it getting any easier to group as they’ve been tweaking the algorithm?

I’m not an RPer but I sympathize with their (and everyone else s) complaints about megaservers. On my server of Borlis Pass we used to have a very strong server community. We had a tight-nit wvw group, organized PvE events (that people guested for even), and you saw familiar faces everywhere. One of the very best parts was Lions Arch though, it always felt like and episode of Cheers when mapping in, it was “where everybody knows your name”. We would chat, laugh, play games, organize events, and recruit people to wvw. That all changed when the fire nati….sorry….when megaservers were implemented. Now sadly the only bit of community we have left on Borlis Pass is our wvw community and it has struggled through hard times for a while now. I understand that there isn’t really any way you can go back on megaservers (easily) but if you could just make cities server bound instead of megaserver bound I believe that could fix most of our problems. It would allow us a sense of community again, we could chat outside of wvw, and we could even recruit newer players to wvw and joke around a play games. Of course those are just the benefits that I could immediately think of for my server but there are more! I’ve talked with many players about it and one of the biggest complaints I hear is how many of them have computers that struggle with or just plain can’t handle the mass amount of players in cities. I know RPers would also greatly appreciate this because it would allow them to play how they like to without being trolled and it would allow me to see my many server mates again all in one place. There is just no incentive to go to places like Lion’s Arch anymore since it takes longer to load (all the people), and it is unfamiliar faces every time I arrive (there is also the issue of Lion’s Arch still being destroyed but that is an issue for another post). I would really appreciate hearing a developer response as it is important to me and many others. Hope to hear from you!

Autumnmane.3574:

Bumpity bump. So how are people finding the megaserver since the Sept Patch? Is it getting any easier to group as they’ve been tweaking the algorithm?

The first guild bounty we did after the September patch, I ended up in a different map to my group, squad, guild AND friends list, so I’m guessing the algorithm still needs work.

I don’t know if the temples/world bosses/major events are still being massively overcrowded as haven’t attempted since the first week post megaserver

I don’t mind the megaservers. I enjoy going through PvE content and actually seeing a lot of people.

However, I can see the flaws behind it and the problems people have with it. I don’t understand why they didn’t just implement the same system as in GW1 where you have a drop-down menu where you can pick which shard you wish to connect to… Heck, to make it even easier, assign a particular shard for RP’ers (that is always there).

I used to think doing a roleplay would be fun, and have done so in one group, only to find out light ERP was involved. Also found out by word of mouth a lot of rpg groups are ERP. Needless to say I don’t roleplay online any longer… just happy to explore, do dungeons, world bosses and level. To be honest, going to Rata Sum and Black Citadel sickens me from hearing suggestive content being /me ‘stated’ or ‘emoted’. I avoid those areas now. I wish there was a way to remove such activity altogether.

Emiko.3217:

I used to think doing a roleplay would be fun, and have done so in one group, only to find out light ERP was involved. Also found out by word of mouth a lot of rpg groups are ERP. Needless to say I don’t roleplay online any longer… just happy to explore, do dungeons, world bosses and level. To be honest, going to Rata Sum and Black Citadel sickens me from hearing suggestive content being /me ‘stated’ or ‘emoted’. I avoid those areas now. I wish there was a way to remove such activity altogether.

Yeeeah. There’s some of this. Depending on what shard I get shunted to, my time in Rata Sum or Black Citadel gets really uncomfortable. Thank Six for blocking user emotes, as that was long overdue.

It’s nominally less awkward when I see RP coming out of non-lore-appropriate names. Like, why bother? >_>

And that’s really sad to me, because elsewhere, I’m a very active RPer (running a game tonight, even :P), but all I find because of Megaserver is awkward conversations where I need an adult, or a jug of chloroform.

Where is all this ERP? I got involved in a personal RP with one person who seemed to want ERP, and I said no. Thats all I have experienced since I started GW2.

I’ve never had any real issues.

I’m with GuzziHero on this (hi by the way! ^ ^) – There is little to no ERP in Piken Square, at least public ERP anyway. People here know that ERP has to be done in private, and only between consenting adults, over 18. Anything other than that is a big no-no.

Most Roleplayers on Piken are a mature bunch, and do it strictly for Roleplay, not ERP! I don’t know about the other RP servers, but Piken is clean (and the best <3 )

As for Megaservers and RP – my personal opinion is that whilst it is a little harder to find ‘Walk-up’ RP, Guild RP has improved dramatically. When my guild does our regular RP events outside the city, we are starting to see more and more people RP in groups away from Divinity’s Reach, and outside of bars instead of in them!

If anything, megaservers as a whole have IMPROVED RP if you look at the bigger picture, because I’m also seeing people from other servers getting into RP, not just Piken Square people.

/endbigupofpikensquare