Guild Wars 2

Just joined GW2 a couple days ago and have been leveling a Mesmer 100% solo thus far. Have seen a few players here and there, but no real party invites and can’t for the life of me sort out the “beta” LFG interface. Does anyone group in this game? Last time I played an MMO was back in the WoW days years back and I wanted to see what this game was all about. Love the combat system and graphics but so far I feel like I’m playing a single player game. Where’s the community? Is GW2 so old that everyone’s in end-game content these days? It’s fun but I feel like I’m missing the boat somehow…

It depends much on the server you are on and the race your char is. If it’s a low population server, that would explain the few people you meet. If your char is anything other than human or norn, then you will barely find any other players on your starting area. Tons of players in Queensdale and some in Wayfarer Foothills, though.

Your best bet is to just ask on map chat that you are looking for a partner for [insert what you want to do here]. Most of the times you will find people. If there are few or no replies, go to Lion’s Arch and repeat the process. Joining a guild would also help a lot with this.

The LFG tool is used mostly for dungeons and other instanced stuff. There is an Open World section, I think, but I don’t know how much it is used.

The grouping is mainly for things like doing the dungeons and playing in WvW. It’s pretty rare that you will get a group invite for PvE unless someone really needs your help. Having said that you really don’t need to be in a group for most of the PvE. But if that floats your boat there are things that you can do to get that happening. You could join a guild that likes to PvE party to explore etc or you could just say in map chat that you are looking for a group to explore or whatever. If you are lucky you may get some interest there. You could also try the LFG system but tbh I think you would get even less response there than you would just asking in map chat.

With regards to where the community is, I guess most are doing what they enjoy the most which would be one of these:

WvW or sPvP – meaning you wont seem them unless you go there.

Running Dungeons/Fractals – again you wont see unless you keep your eyes on LFG.

Running champ trains – To see these people go to Queensdale/Frostgorge.

Exploring/roaming for the fun/achievements – you will see these people from time to time in various maps, but I would say they are by far the smallest part of the current community.

Anywho welcome to GW2 and good luck finding your party!

Thanks for your replies. The server is a US server that said High Population when I joined… Starts with an “A”, I think. I do try to help people in combat when I see them, but that’s all the action I get. I went Sylvari and have just now branched out into the gnome/frog territory. Only level 13.

Sylvari is one of the least populated starting areas. As you get up to the upper levels into the more ‘common’ maps, like Lion’s Arch… you’ll run into a whole lot more. This game has been out a while so most people have mid/upper leveled characters.

Don’t lose hope, just relax, and if you REALLY want to meet people early on, go to the human starting area of Queensdale… that said, map chat there tends to get like the old WoW Barren’s chat, pretty terrible.

Just a note on the LFG tool – groups form almost instantly so hit the Refresh button often!

You need to be at least level 30 to enter the first dungeon. Make sure to read the listing so that you don’t accidentally join a group that is looking for lvl 80s only. For your first dungeon forays I really recommend joining a PvE or PvX guild that does dungeons and is willing to take newbies under their wings and show them how to do them – they are a very different experience than what you are used to and most new players find them extremely challenging.

Welcome to the party

Lots to take in with this game, for sure. Pretty deep and complex for an MMO, but I’m digging it. Just scratching the surface of crafting… oy. Thanks again. I’ll set my sights on 30 and this Lion’s Arch place.

PS: Why do people avoid the lesser races?

A lot of people run human because it’s what they’re used to and just, aesthetically, prefer. Armors are really designed around human models.

As a Sylvari, you are still able to hang out in other starting areas, including the human one, so you can just take your sylvari over there. Another reason more people are in Queensdale is because of this thing called a champion train. It’s basically a Sea of people running around monotonously killing champions for loot and karma.

I recommend going tom LA and looking for a good starter guild. They can help teach you the ropes.

Also, if I you are on Anvil Rock, that’s a pvp server, iirc, so that may also be why you aren’t seeing all that many people in pve zones.

One way to look at it is that, as GW2’s open world is fairly fluid, anyone in the same map as you is a potential group-mate/party member. With or without setting up a party itself you can always come together for content and split back up as needed. Since the game avoids a typical mob tagging system, no one loses out in impromptu collaboration.

I will chime in that the dungeon finder has been a nice addition. Previously, a large amount of dungeon group forming was facilitated by a third-party website, but now that the game has its own means of enabling grouping it’s pretty easy to get into dungeons whenever you’re itching for some fun. So keep that in mind for when you level a bit more.

It does appear to be true that most of us aren’t milling about in lower-level areas like we all did back in the first months. By now many of us have several max level characters and/or have done all the world exploring already. Much like how the majority of WoW’s server population is often found inside the main capital or running raids/PvP, Lion’s Arch is usually the most full of people when we aren’t running a boss train, playing activities, or meeting others in battle in PvP or WvW. That said, there are likely people still in each map zone, even if you might not see them all or they might not be saying much in chat.

Keep in mind that you can join WvW at a low level; your character will be "upscaled" to 80. You will still be a lot easier to kill than an actual level 80 character, but if you can find your server’s large group (zerg), you can often run with them to capture towers and camps on the maps, leveling in the process. It’s another idea for times when you feel particularly alone or the like.

I’m on a PvP server!? Argh… that probably has a lot to do with it. Can I move my character to a new server? Maybe I oughtta look for PvE and a fairly new server, if there are any. Any idea what the more recent/new PvE servers are?

You can move your character to another server if you pay a fee. You can move your account for free if you delete all characters. (You would still keep everything in your bank.)

You can also guest on other servers for free. You can pick two every 24 hours. Then you can pick again, either the same or different ones. Only thing you cannot do guesting is WvW. That would return you to home server.

Eh, I can probably get to 13 fairly quickly again. Just gotta figure out which server is most likely to have PvE newbs like me

There are no pvp servers. All pvp in gw2 is in special areas that you cannot really just wander into.

If you want to find a server that is active in pve, go here: http://www.gw2state.com/events.html#

Search through the US servers and find the one with the most events completed (bottom of the page), pick any area you like and compare it against the same area on other servers. This will give an INDICATION of how active the server is for PvE. There is no proper way to do it, but this has helped me find busy servers for guesting.

What I meant by pvp server is that anvil rock is the unofficial pvp server (most people who play on it participate heavily in pvp and not pve)

Good pve servers are: tarnished coast, Blackgate, Jade quarry. They also have pretty a heavy wvw followings

I think the best servers for pve is Blackgate and Tarnished Coast. Blackgate is full right now, so you cant transfer to it. Tarnished Coast is the unoficial roleplay server.

Lilith Ajit.6173:

What I meant by pvp server is that anvil rock is the unofficial pvp server (most people who play on it participate heavily in pvp and not pve)

Good pve servers are: tarnished coast, Blackgate, Jade quarry. They also have pretty a heavy wvw followings

And speaking of “unofficial” server types, Tarnished Coast is the unofficial Role Playing server.
If you enjoy RP, thats the place to go.

wolvenra.9617:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

What I meant by pvp server is that anvil rock is the unofficial pvp server (most people who play on it participate heavily in pvp and not pve)

Good pve servers are: tarnished coast, Blackgate, Jade quarry. They also have pretty a heavy wvw followings

And speaking of “unofficial” server types, Tarnished Coast is the unofficial Role Playing server.
If you enjoy RP, thats the place to go.

This

Ooh, RP would be awesome. Thanks y’all!

PS: Thanks for your PMs (you know who you are). I’ll add y’all once I get my new char set up on Tarnished Coast.

Aetherium.4087:

PS: Why do people avoid the lesser races?

It’s more that the masses ignore the maps more than the races. The Sylvari and asura can be off-putting to some people because they are not as open, so moving around can be a little bit more tricky. Add to that the horrible looking mini maps for those maps and it just all adds up to avoid, avoid, avoid.

Aetherium.4087:

PS: Thanks for your PMs (you know who you are). I’ll add y’all once I get my new char set up on Tarnished Coast.

If you like scantly clad women with little morals and booze. Go Dragonbrand for sure.

Haha, I do! But I went TC on advise of others here… Back to ground zero. And, I may have to find me a hairstyle kit pronto (oops).

Apparently I can’t PM anyone here b/c the site thinks it’s spam… technology. Anyway, if there are any lowbies out there on TC, feel free to look me up! Character name is Sjif (seef).