Guild Wars 2

Everyone is in Lions Arch and in Lions Arch only.

If you are exploring and want to go pick up some stuff at the TP, you go to the mists, enter Lions Arch and teleport to the TP. There is no point in teleporting to the portals, enter different city and teleport to TP there. Those are two unnecessary steps that just consume time and dont bring any value.

The Grove, Rata Sum and Divinitys Reach are only used during first parts of the story quest line. Other than that they are dead and useless.

I play asura and honestly I love the layout of Rata Sum. I would be there. But why would I waste time getting there when I have everything in LA already (and im certainly not gonna spend any money on getting there directly)

Solution?

Introduce something like heartstones in WoW. One portal to one of the waypoints in the cities for free. It can be on cooldown. But for me, I would make that “home waypoint” in Rata Sum. Im quite sure there are other players that would like to have their racial city as their home.

Please think about this.
Regards,
Looria

EDIT: There is a lot of constructive feedback in this thread. I will try to sum em up in the OP so we have them all in one place.

How to make transport to other cities efficient ppl actually use them as hubs?

0.) Add item (like to HoM) that teleports you to one of the cities that you choose for free
1.) Add portals to different cities in the mists.
2.) Waypoint to your home city for free
3.) Free teleport between Mists and all other cities
4.) Add a racial, 1h cooldown, teleport to your home city (or just free to waypoint there from the outside)
- If we have the population spread across all cities, for better communication and community it would require “all cities chat” so you can bee looking for group throughout all cities.

Add incentive to all cities to make players want to go there:
First idea:
Black Citadel Halloween — ghosts and bleak landscapes abound here
Hoelbrak Wintersday — no brainer – snow everywhere
Divinity’s Reach Wintersday in July or St. Pats? — they got confetti everywhere :P
The Grove Easter — the whole place is eternally in Spring
Rata Sum not sure on this one…Thanksgiving doesn’t fit all that well :/
Lion’s Arch GW2 Anniversary Day — kinda has to be here I would think

Second idea:
Black Citadel – 1v1 arenas
The Grove – Pet battles
Rata Sum – Poly-mock / rock-em-sock-em golems / that weird golem chess game pvp.
Divinities Reach – Moa races

I also loved this idea Actracts posted that would definitely make players want to go to their racial home cities:
- Maybe if I get a ‘home town’ advantage, I would visit Divinity’s Reach more often. Things like discounts on certain crafting materials, more exp gain in crafting in my home area, better sell rates, maybe even a small bonus stat for for a set time depending on how long I stay or what I accomplished in my area with a max cap (IE +2 for all stat for 15 minutes if I meet X amount of requirement in my home area – sell/buying items, crafting, killing things, completing DEs).

I will update this list with more ideas as they come.

Cheers
Loo

Maybe they could just add portals to the different cities in the mists. But I do agree there’s no incentive to go to another city when LA is free via the mists and has it all.

There really is no need to return to your home town other then to use the bank. There are plenty of vendors and trade posts through out the world.

But I get to visit Shashoo! if I go to my home instance

Soulwatcher.2604:

There really is no need to return to your home town other then to use the bank. There are plenty of vendors and trade posts through out the world.

Which is sad imo. Those cities are amazingly stunning and im sure the devs spent huge amount of time building them. Its a shame there is absolutely no need for us to ever get back there.

You should be able to waypoint to your home city for free. That provides at least some small incentive to return there now and again. Unless you need the Mystic Forge, you might as well take the free trip. And it would be faster than detouring through the Mists.

I go to the Grove if I want peace and quiet while crafting or just using the TP sometimes. Lion’s Arch is pretty hectic and can sometimes stress me out, believe it or not. It is really simple to get to your home city (for free) from LA as well.

That being said, sometimes I prefer LA just because I want to feel like the game has life and ironically enough, you don’t really feel that in the Grove, even though everything is technically alive there.

In conclusion, it is nice for people who want to get away from LA to have their home cities but also have the choice of going to LA to interact with others as well.

I am level 80 and I spend a lot of time in Divinty’s Reach- it is my favorite crafting city so I go there everyday- I much prefer it over Lion’s Arch.
It would be great it you had a free way point though, since it normally costs me around 6 silver round trip.
but meh, I love DR so I go there silver or not

Why not just get there free via lions arch Morrigan? Or is that one too many load screens :P

Swagman.9013:

Why not just get there free via lions arch Morrigan? Or is that one too many load screens :P

As Anet stated, since this is not subscription based MMO, there is no need for time sinks. Thats why there are waypoints. They dont want ppl spending too much time doing something else than what they logged in for.

Taking aditional two portals and few more loading screens would be unnecessary time sink.

“Time is money, friend”

Last time I was at Rata Sum there was literally nobody there, not a living soul. It sort of killed the atmosphere for a buzzing city. I think they should put in unique events for each city, events that promise long term enjoyment. Then people might visit the cities once in a while.

Well when your alternative is literally costing you money then I guess you gotta breakdown the cost of load screen vs silver spent.

Thats not true actually.

You have 3 choices right now.
1.) go to LA and stay there. It costs you no money and its the fastest way. Which ultimately makes it the best choice.
2.) got to LA, take portal to another city and teleport again within that city. It costs you no money, but it takes more time.
3.) go directly to one of the other cities. Its pretty much as fast as going to LA, but it costs you quite a lot of money.

The choice is easy and in most cases 1.) wins. And thats why I made this thread…Id like this to change.

Altair.7560:

Last time I was at Rata Sum there was literally nobody there, not a living soul. It sort of killed the atmosphere for a buzzing city. I think they should put in unique events for each city, events that promise long term enjoyment. Then people might visit the cities once in a while.

You know I will give wow a pat on the back for Dalaran because they really did pack a lot of neat fluff in that city to keep you occupied. Fishing fountain/sewers, finding potion that turned you into random stuff, hunting down magical books, toy store, tracking down the npc that sells you a sparkle wand.

Sadly they did away with all of that fun fluff in cata but that’s beside the point. It would be cool to add fun fluff stuff in the main cities (not LA) to draw us to congregate there.

I think you misunderstood me Looria (are you a quaggan btw?!) but I understand your point.

Yeh the cities are amazing places but there’s no reason to go there. It also makes little sense to create more than one hub, because people wanna go where they can talk to the most people. LA has everything except cultural armour vendors but since not everybody likes those and when you do it doesn’t take long to buy them, why spend any time there at all?

Still, they are beautifully crafted so I wouldn’t want them to be taken away. But also why would you want to separate people by forcing them to spread out to other cities?

Admittedly, a Winter’s Day celebration as we know from GW1 would probably be nicer in Hoelbrak…

Gehenna.3625:

Yeh the cities are amazing places but there’s no reason to go there. It also makes little sense to create more than one hub, because people wanna go where they can talk to the most people. LA has everything except cultural armour vendors but since not everybody likes those and when you do it doesn’t take long to buy them, why spend any time there at all?

Still, they are beautifully crafted so I wouldn’t want them to be taken away. But also why would you want to separate people by forcing them to spread out to other cities?

Admittedly, a Winter’s Day celebration as we know from GW1 would probably be nicer in Hoelbrak…

Easy fix, make a chat thats connected through all cities. You will be able to be in any city and still see whats going on in all of them.

Home cities will never be as popular as Lions Arch. It is clearly designed to replace your “home city” when you hit 30+ and go beyond your home storyline and onto LA stuff like Defense of Lions arch. Even is people started to use a main city they would only use 1/5 of the main cities.

But a cross chat channel between all cities would be nice.

But still, even 1/5 means being in the city which matches the culture of my race. One of the reasons I started playing Asura was because I loved their architecture and their main city.

Looria.8019:

Gehenna.3625:

Yeh the cities are amazing places but there’s no reason to go there. It also makes little sense to create more than one hub, because people wanna go where they can talk to the most people. LA has everything except cultural armour vendors but since not everybody likes those and when you do it doesn’t take long to buy them, why spend any time there at all?

Still, they are beautifully crafted so I wouldn’t want them to be taken away. But also why would you want to separate people by forcing them to spread out to other cities?

Admittedly, a Winter’s Day celebration as we know from GW1 would probably be nicer in Hoelbrak…

Easy fix, make a chat thats connected through all cities. You will be able to be in any city and still see whats going on in all of them.

Yeah I actually think that would be a great idea.

It’s simple, if you’re in the Mists or any city, you should be able to port to any waypoint in any other city for free.

All it does it cut out the step of physically walking through an Asura gate.

@Beltaine yea having in Mists portal to all cities would work too. I think we should have the same access to all capital cities. Not just LA and the rest through LA.

I think that they could add a lot more to the cities. A couple of ideas that have been brought up in the suggestions forum that would increase city traffic is mini-pet tournaments, individualized home instances, and random events that would require you do something in your home city.

I go to Rata Sum because all the crafters, TP, bank, merchant, guild bank are all in a small area. paying 2 silvers to get there is nothing.. the TP in LA is too far from the waypoint.

MMO players congregating in the most centralized city in the game? Say it isn’t so!

Remember Darnassus and whatever the Blood Elf capital were? This isn’t going to change, no matter how beautiful the city is. I love the Grove, but there’s a reason it’s empty – and there’s nothing that can be done to fill the city permanently.

Quite frankly I can´t stand LA.
The performance is abysmal, the occlusion culling errors are rampant and IMHO it lacks quite a bit of the “epicness” Rata Sum, The Grove, or DR exude.

I really wish everybody would get a “Home-port Stone” similar to the one sold by the pirates in LA that lets you visit the Hall of Monuments whenever you like.

Or maybe let the gate in the Hall spit you out back home instead?

A hearthstone would be awesome, even if it has a ridiculous cooldown.

Yeah I have to agree with the OP, it’s not that I don’t see a point to those cities, it’s just that it’s such a pain to go through the load screens to get to the Grove, for example. I use the Mysts method usually and it’s just too much loading to get all the way home.

Would be nice if there was just a portal to all home cities from the mysts.

I just like looking at and strolling thru DR. Its an amazing city concept. The artwork is fantastic. If ever a city was designed with RP in mind, Divinity’s Reach is it.

I’m hoping that the cities will be used much more as a Festivities hot spot throughout the year – and this could lead to a more permanent position in the community with ongoing ‘fluff’ activities – similar to the beer-brawling in Hoelbrak!

Blacklight.2871:

You should be able to waypoint to your home city for free. That provides at least some small incentive to return there now and again. Unless you need the Mystic Forge, you might as well take the free trip. And it would be faster than detouring through the Mists.

Correct. Yet another fundamental innovation ArenaNet missed out on. Additionally, it should have at most a 1 minute re-use timer.

On the plus side, it could be added at any time. The problem is, because of their horribly shortsighted and limited UI, they would have to add either another button or another tab or another panel in order to have this functionality.

I would love a racial port-to-home-city ability. It would reduce the lag/load in Lions Arch, and provide real value in having those other cities. As it is now, the cities are empty, pointless, and ultimately a complete waste of content. A real shame.

I agree with the port home ,map what have you, I was kinda taken back that they didnt have it already it usually common practice in mmo’s nowdays, but it is not uncommon for one place to be the hangout,hub for most players its bound to happen eventually.As for having a major event per city is a good idea , and if that event failed then your city is now taken over until it is won which may force wanted team play and the idea is cool imho.

Indeed.
The Yule Snowball-War of Hoelbrak, choose your favorite Spirit and help win ALL of Hoelbrak for it! Merry Spirits (iceballs are for Son´s of Svanir)!
Or the Spring Carnival of DR, the Summer Jungle races of Rata Sum.
The Fall fall in the Grove, who rides his flying leaf the smartest?

Possibilities are endless, though I really hope we get the teleport back home option.

Dead.7385:

Home cities will never be as popular as Lions Arch. It is clearly designed to replace your “home city” when you hit 30+ and go beyond your home storyline and onto LA stuff like Defense of Lions arch. Even is people started to use a main city they would only use 1/5 of the main cities.

But a cross chat channel between all cities would be nice.

That’s true about the popularity of the home cities.

How about instituting a racial benefit in each home city, that equates to 10% off every transaction that takes place there, that involves an NPC. Crafting mats, weapons, armor, salvage kits, various other supplies, are all cheaper in your home city. Likewise, vendors pay you an extra 10% for anything you dump off on them, so long as you’re in your home city. That might tend to get people to spend time in their cities because of the tangible benefit, while also populating them with the races who should reasonably be expected to congregate there.

However, given how the changes to the game mostly seem to be taking things away or making things harder on players, I doubt this would fly.

If I recall correctly there are stuff similar to the Barrel tournament in Hoelbrak for each city. (believe asura will get the Polymock tournament… a pokemon style battle mini game).

Devs know that cities need stuff to encourage people to go there, sadly it seems that stuff was cut out (to someday hopefully be added) to rush the game out.

Dead.7385:

But a cross chat channel between all cities would be nice.

This right here, if they don’t add a hearthstone or a portal to every major city in the mists this would be the next best thing.

I actully don’t mind paying the extra fee to RS, but as others have said, it’s lifeless as everyone is in LA becasue it’s quicker and free.

So anet, at the very least cross town chat please.

It should be free to waypoint to any location that can be reached free via portals. This would include all major cities.

This seems like such an obvious oversight that I can’t help but wonder what I’m missing. Arenanet doesn’t employ idiots. What CAN their reasoning be here?

I have an idea for the cities…

Waypoint costs were designed as a gold sink and as an anti-farming measure. As far as I know there isn’t much reason to charge for inter-city travel when it comes to farming. Make the Mists portal in LA free from anywhere, not just the Mists. Additionally, make intra-city waypoint travel(going from spot to spot within the same city) half the normal cost…enough to keep some running but also encourage some with larger pockets to fast travel. This way, the amazing landscape should still be seen by many, without forcing it.

Idea #2: Holidays. Have each major city represent one major holiday celebration based on how each city is portrayed:

Black Citadel Halloween — ghosts and bleak landscapes abound here
Hoelbrak Wintersday — no brainer – snow everywhere
Divinity’s Reach Wintersday in July or St. Pats? — they got confetti everywhere :P
The Grove Easter — the whole place is eternally in Spring
Rata Sum not sure on this one…Thanksgiving doesn’t fit all that well :/
Lion’s Arch GW2 Anniversary Day — kinda has to be here I would think

thoughts?

The mists->LA travel we do now is an unnecessary time sink. Just forces you to load extra zones and waste time. Should simply be free to teleport to LA from anywhere

I would extend that to free travel to any major city, because the option is there already with the Azura gates (Mists->LA->Azura Gate to city of choice). This is how people travel who want to save money atm. Its a time sink though thats not really adding anything to the game imo

I don’t really like LA personally due to some annoying NPC dialogues, and cities like Divinity’s Reach have shorter distances from bank to TP

I think it would be best to have free waypoint travel to all major cities, because Lion’s Arch is just always so full. I can’t remember when I was not placed on an overflow map in LA and it will never go away because it is the game hub.

Hoelbrak at least has Keg Brawl and Rata Sum will have Polymok.The Grove has the shortest waypoint cost to Orr, which I don’t use because I do not like Orr.

So most cities are just useless.

Good suggestions. I’d agree that it would be nice if there were some more incentive to re-visit your home towns, or more ease (“hearthstone”) of travelling between them, or some chat connection. I was reminded of this when visiting the Grove recently – it’s such a beautiful place, but very few players there.

I doubt there will ever be enough people to make all 6 cities lively, especially with how huge some of them are. I don’t think we really need it to be like that right now anyway, as the community is still young and needs to be around each other for social reasons.

Remember we have plenty of patches and expansions to look forward to with 5? dragons doing god-knows-what right now. I’m sure we’ll find plenty of reasons to spend time in these cities sooner or later. Maybe something like a trick-or-treat halloween event in divinity’s reach? It would be the perfect place for it.

You can scratch Rata Sum off this list. I often go to Rata Sum to craft because it’s layout is much more convienent than Lions Arch.

Looria.8019:

Easy fix, make a chat thats connected through all cities. You will be able to be in any city and still see whats going on in all of them.

I love that idea! I also like the OP’s idea of introducing a skill that lets us return back to our home city. But on top of that I think we need to give people a reason to hang out in other cities aside from Lion’s Arch. All of the cities are beatiful and well designed and it would be really nice if they were all a decently crowded hang out spot (not to mention it would alleviate some of the issues with having so many people in one small spot of Lion’s Arch).

People are really so cheap that they only use lions arch because of the mists? C’mon now.. how often do you go back to lions arch? Every 5 minutes or something?

I prefer to use rata sum and the grove because the crafting area is right next to the bank/black lion guys..

It’s not hard to make money in this game.. and there is hardly anything that even costs much gold, so you are making this money and have very few things to spend it on, whats the big deal? :P

The big deal is, you can get to both (LA and other cities) in about the same time and 1 is free and the other isn’t. Sure it’s not a massive price to go to other cities BUT over time the cost builds up. Sure it’s not that hard to make money in this game BUT at lot of players think “why spend money when you can do the same for free?”.

Simply put, at the moment going to LA is cheaper and just as easy to go to than any other city and as such most people are in LA, this in turn makes the other cities less populated (in some cities unpopulated)- hence the need for cross city chat (why this is missing is beyond me) and/or hearthstones.

I always go to Divinitys Reach because in LA there is too much lag because “that’s where everyone is”.

I guess it’s just a case of people doing what is optimal.. even when there is no need or reason to do it

I make my money from doing dungeons mostly. So I go to LA and do all of my crafting/trading stuff while looking for dungeon groups.

This is directly because of waypoint costs. If I want to do Twilight Arbor, but then get there and find it difficult to form a group for the paths I need, I would decide to maybe go to Ascalon Catacombs and try there…well I have just wasted nearly the entire silver reward I am going to get from eventually clearing a path on waypoint travel before I have even found a group.

It’s just easier and cheaper to occupy myself in LA until I see someone looking for people for one of the dungeons I feel like doing. Then waypointing to the entrance when the group is full. Even if I had the option to go to other capitals for free, it wouldn’t really serve that need.

Edit: I know a good number of players travel to Hoelbrek to do Keg-brawl. Maybe if other events or games were added to each city that had similar appeal and re-playability, then they would see similar traffic.

Black Citadel – 1v1 arenas
The Grove – Pet battles
Rata Sum – Poly-mock / rock-em-sock-em golems / that weird golem chess game pvp.
Divinities Reach – Moa races

Gimmicks like that will keep players coming back and forth fro mthe cities for different reasons for the life of the game.

Yea… well, you would have to give people an incentive to visit these places outside of personal story reasons, optimally in random regular intervals.
If there was code in the game that made some Racial city vendors give discounts to certain players once a day at random, you could keep these places populated. I fear that one mini game per city isn’t going to cut it.

I agree the cities need more love.

As a Human, i was blown away by Divinity’s Reach. Such a beautiful city, wish it had as much activity as LA