Guild Wars 2

Well ive returned to this game after a few years. I could’nt remember my log in details to my old account so that was sad. In any case tho i had to buy the game again so i did got my heart of thorns lvl 80 boost. As i was exploring the silver wastes i noticed that the map was pretty dead. Actually most maps seemed pretty empty. Then i went to Lions Arch thats all changes now. The mad king event is the same as it was 4 years ago. Kinda just feel like i wasted money on repurchasing the game. Everything seems the same. Only things are empty now? I could be very wrong i will jump back on tomorrow.

You are wrong. The point here is that a lot has changed. The megaserver system makes sure there is no “empty maps” but there are empty map instances. If you want a populated map, you should open a “looking for group” tool, select content or map you want to do, and look for something like “event map party/squad”. Join it. Click on someone from that party/squad and join them in their map instance.

There is always someone doing some events almost on every map.
As for mad king event. Sure, its time gated event that occurs once a year, surely a lot of people want to do them achievements or/and farm a bit.
You should check new maps like heart of maguuma, bloodstone fen, ember bay, they are quite fun and have a lot of going on.

In a way, Halloween is a bad time to judge how busy the maps are, since many people enjoy the halloween maps, most notably the Mad King’s Library for the limited time they’re available.

The game is however far from empty. It is pretty huge by now. There have been 7 additional maps released over the years, and especially the HoT maps are pretty extensive and people can get lost in a full map. Silverwastes is probably not the best to judge the population, since it can be hit and miss depending on whether the map is going for meta event progression or just has people wandering around aimlessly.

I take it you’ve gone to the Silverwastes to check out the lvl 80 boost? If so, you might have better luck getting back into the game by starting a new character. The low-level zones are still pretty much as busy as the highlevel ones, and it’ll make it easier to get back into the game since you won’t stumble into complex meta events where people just expect you to know what to do (Silverwastes is especially guilty of this since the meta depends on people cooperating across large parts of the map).

Or jump into the Heart of Thorns story (you’ll find the story journal in the hero panel of your lvl 80 character and can activate the HoT storyline there) and check out the new maps. Verdant Brink is quite a bit easier to get into solo than the Silverwastes.

One thing for sure: Things are far from empty, nor are they remotely the same as they were four years ago. Just take your time and explore the game again, there is so much to do you’ll surely be busy for a long time if you want to .

Soulknight beat me to it. Yes, the megaserver system allows you to find a populated map – with “meta” maps (ie maps requiring a lot of players) you often have to use lfg to find one you can hop into that is active.

Generally though, players are farming the labyrinth for money atm and possibly doing the 2 recent maps added. The game is very different from 4 years ago and is still highly populated.