Guild Wars 2

Make it so low populated zones actually force you to a “Low pop zone overflow” which joins everyone at a minimum set number of players. Maybe that “low pop zone overflow” can actually be a server that has low population altogether.

To elaborate on this idea say there are 300 ppl active on a server at one given time and out of those 300, 3 are actually on lets say iron marches. Send them over to the “low pop zone” until like 50 people are in iron marches from same server instance and pop them out to their home instance.

Low pop zone overflow would definitely need to be a server instance to allow meta events to trigger. (this would require you to name your server zones to better identify timers for apps).

I know this is a bit complicated but it would solve alot of issues with low population and really make the game feel more alive.

That would just kill the main server instance. You have two solutions on this. Guesting or transfer. ANet will not “kill” their own servers in favour for a system like this.
It would not work.

It’s not “killing” because it places ppl back to their home instance once a set number of ppl are active in it.

If there are already more than say 30 + already in the home it just sends you there.

Most people refer to this as “underflow”

It will not work, as different servers will have different event progress. You would have to adapt all the events of the underflow to the actual server without all the people from the other servers. Most events will fail, and I am not even sure if the game engine can do the transfer for events.
You would get kicked out of mixed groups and lose progress on events. That would be annoying as kitten.

Why would ANet want a system like that?

The event system would not have to change, that is tied to the actual instance your in. When you guest your meta events are tied to the server you guested in. Same concept only automatic.

Why would they want it ? To improve player experience..

And as stated the “underflow” can be a low populated server instance that is on its timer. When you pop you can opt to stay in the current instance or go to home.

Who would opt for the home server with the risk that no other would go there? Most players would just stay on the underflow. Or if they just want to finish an event chain on the underflow. They will miss the opt out on time for the meta.

This system is flawed, that is why we don’t have it in game.

Do you realize what you just said? If they are on an event chain they are playing what they want for the zone..

If the home server pops and the meta is not going on in the current underflow when you go to home you know that it will be populated at least to the minimum.

The reason alot of things arent in the game is not because its “flawed” its because it hasn’t been developed yet… they have not thought of everything just yet… :p

No, I explain it a last time:

Why would players leave the save haven of the underflow for a possibly still emty home server instance?
There would be no winning for the player in this move. He might be the only person going back to the home instance, than what was the underflow good for?
He might be forced by the technical solution, but this might kick him out of a group with players from other servers, would that be fun?

The only solution to populate the home instance to the “minimum” would be to force the players to go back, which would make the players unhappy.

So no underflow.

Btw, if you do not understand what I am trying to explain, read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma

Kaiyanwan.8521:

No, I explain it a last time:

Why would players leave the save haven of the underflow for a possibly still emty home server instance?
There would be no winning for the player in this move. He might be the only person going back to the home instance, than what was the underflow good for?
He might be forced by the technical solution, but this might kick him out of a group with players from other servers, would that be fun?

The only solution to populate the home instance to the “minimum” would be to force the players to go back, which would make the players unhappy.

So no underflow.

Well, no underflow as described. You could still get rid of dedicated servers in PvE and just use a smart district system that would assign each district of a map a rating based on how many people from your server, guild, or friends list are present, as well as the need to balance population. If you don’t select a specific district, it uses that rating to pick one for you.

There would still be the issue of how to grant bonuses to servers based on DE status, but effects any larger than a map are currently few and far between. Anyway, it could either be weighted based on the status of districts hosting the server’s players, or changed to something related to player action.

Anyway, it’s a problem they need to address. It seems like one factor guiding their design decisions, especially regarding LS/LW content, is avoiding spreading the player base out too thin (and that’s a good thing — GW2 is an MMO). But I strongly suspect the single largest contributing factor to player dispersion is the use of assigned servers in PvE.

Server bonuses should be account based imo, that is, follow you around regardless of which instance/zone your in.

And I agree it’s definitely something that should be addressed in zones that don’t get any attention due to LS or any other reason.

Making it so it’s automatically done and the player having the “option” to go to home instance gives a user a sense of control. Even if they don’t go to their home instance the player will have a better experience because he’s not alone in an MMO that is focused on group content. If they go to their home instance and ppl dont chose to go to it you can set the logic to funnel users to that zone automatically designate it as an “underflow” server. Doing this populates a set of instances improves player experience, could potentially (if used correctly) improves server performance (based on architecture).

perilisk.1874:

Well, no underflow as described. You could still get rid of dedicated servers in PvE and just use a smart district system that would assign each district of a map a rating based on how many people from your server, guild, or friends list are present, as well as the need to balance population. If you don’t select a specific district, it uses that rating to pick one for you.

Don’t forget the language problem in Europe. We have English, German, French, Spain, Polish, Russian and even more languages here and most people prefer using their native language in the chat instead of speaking english all the time.

Beldin.5498:

Don’t forget the language problem in Europe. We have English, German, French, Spain, Polish, Russian and even more languages here and most people prefer using their native language in the chat instead of speaking english all the time.

Generally EU, and US servers are probably set up so they do limited interaction in the current overflow make up cause latency across continents can pose some issues.

Are EU servers based on languages?

Rallar.2986:

Are EU servers based on languages?

We have at least German, French, Spanish and UK Servers and some multi lingual.

1. Though it seems a bit odd, what if someone LIKES being on a low population server? I have seen a post in another thread that someone likes not having annoying chat and better FPS due to events having less people. Therefore making the assumption that everyone wants to be moved to an underflow may be somewhat flawed.
2. For this to work, wouldn’t all servers have to have all events at the same point? otherwise when you go to the underflow the event may be at a completely different spot.

Just food for thought.

1. You wouldnt max out the “underflow” only have a minimum number of players. This would allow people to interact but still not be in a high populated zone. I agree that there are some people that enjoy doing stuff solo “myself included” you can still do solo stuff in high populated zones you will just run into more ppl now and again.

2. Servers don’t have to change how events work. This mechanic would be “invisible” to the player they would just zone in to an instance that is not their home instance like the current overflow mechanic and the event timing will be based on that instance. If you notice when you are in an overflow and you zone in to your home instance events are at different spots..