Guild Wars 2

Eladriel.7295:

Sleek.9201:

So I took a break from GW2 because of school but now I want to play again… Boy, things have changed. First of all, where is everyone? The lack of population is slightly disappointing…. I checked out WvW, and it doesn’t have the hoards of people I remembered. I went to heart of the mists and again…. no one. I see some large groups of people just standing around in the cities but I can’t really see anyone doing much… So really… what is everyone doing now?

Lack of people, really? I haven’t noticed.. Since I had guested over on Tarnished Coast with a big red word “Full” . Then 2 hours later went back to my “High” populated server.. I see people everywhere including the higher lvl areas.. Everytime I do the Shadow Behemoth it is packed… Everytime I do Maw it is packed so full you barely even get a freakin hit on the shaman before he is dead.. Even the dragon events are full. Even the small events have people doing them.. How is it you people don’t see that? What the heck are you people on or smoking? Maybe you need to stop smoking what ever it is and take off your blinders cause it’s affecting your senses… The game isn’t dying nor is it lacking in population.

Ahh the ad hominem attacks. Gotta love em.

I find it amusing people always reference the world boss chest events to promote how populated the rest of the world and all servers are. Speaking of blinders, this seems to fit nicely.

Ordika.9513:

killcannon.2576:

Ordika.9513:

killcannon.2576:

New Character Yo.6487:

I agree with Vayne. The population may SEEM lower, because before everyone was hanging out in LA waiting for groups for dungeons since that was what most people did for money and loot. Now since Anet has added boss chest rares, most of the population has moved to those areas. Anet also added WvW progression which helped PvE servers (like GoM, the one i’m in), because our players finally started entering WvW!
The population has spread out more across the game, as opposed to being condensed in LA. Just find a good guild OP. I’m in a good one that has around 35-50 online at peak hours, so we always have something to do .

Do you not see that as the problem though? “Most of the population is at the world event bosses farming” What is the impression new players get? The world is dead. They don’t know about farming, they just want to experience the world. Too bad for them I suppose.

Wayfarer Foothills – Maw
Queensdale – Shadow Behemoth
Metric Provence – Flame Elemental
Caledon Forest – Wurm

Starter zones for every race save Charr with a big world event that is always insanely populate. That means a new player for every race save Charr will see a ton of chatter in their starter zone they can use to get connected.

Starter zones are usually well populated as has been said many times in previous posts. World events, and people looking for easy daily completion.

How would a new player get the impression the world is dead (your words from the post i originally quoted) when you and I and everyone else agree that the places they start out in are densely populated.

As stated, and restated and restated (why do people not read the threads?) Zones past the starter areas are the one encountering the problems. Once a new player leaves the starter zones and starts going to the 20 to 60 level areas on some servers there’s a perceived lack of population to the world.

killcannon.2576:

Kichwas.7152:

laokoko.7403:

killcannon.2576:

I complain more about the general lack of activity in the middle, leveling zones.

Most people leveling just skip the mid level zone. Even if you try to play normally, you’ll out level the zone, and mid level zone is the one people usually skip.

Spent a crowded day in Lonar’s Pass recently.

Yep, level 35-45 zone. Find cave, hide, get people showing all up in my business.

I go to Harathi Highlands. Same thing. In fact there I get crowds of them like flash mobs running through and calling out events.

That zone just south of Lion’s Arch. There’s one event there with two drunk passed out norn, half the times I’ve been near it its been mobbed by players.

What level, specially, is ‘mid’ limited to?

Because I’ve yet to find the empty spot.

And for every person that says this there is another who says those zones are empty or lightly populated. As mentioned in previous posts, not all servers are created equally or have the same pop.

And as mentioned in previous posts, it’s the same as any other MMO with ONE difference.

On this one you CAN guest for free. In most other MMOs you can’t. If you want to play on a more populated server, you’d have to pay a transfer fee.

So if you want to play open world content, what’s really the downside to guesting. In your thought process, low pop servers in the open world become even more low pop. I’m not sure if you’re aware but there are people who prefer low pop servers and seek them out. Now they have a place to play too.

Every single MMO has the same problem. You’re never going to have the crowd you have at launch all in the same zone doing the same things. Let’s pretend Anet did away with guesting and everyone just played on their server. And let’s pretend they made it so you can get your T5-6 mats in any zone based on your level. That you could play anywhere and make the same money and get the same rewards.

Do you know what would happen.

The pockets of population that exist now would spread out across all maps at all different times…and the world would STILL feel empty.

The only reason that any MMO feels like it has players is because of events or great drops that exist in one place. You take a reasonably sized MMO world and let everyone go where they want and you’d see even MORE complaints about the world being empty.

Or you could just guest to a busier server, for free, and play the game.

Vayne.8563:

killcannon.2576:

Kichwas.7152:

laokoko.7403:

killcannon.2576:

I complain more about the general lack of activity in the middle, leveling zones.

Most people leveling just skip the mid level zone. Even if you try to play normally, you’ll out level the zone, and mid level zone is the one people usually skip.

Spent a crowded day in Lonar’s Pass recently.

Yep, level 35-45 zone. Find cave, hide, get people showing all up in my business.

I go to Harathi Highlands. Same thing. In fact there I get crowds of them like flash mobs running through and calling out events.

That zone just south of Lion’s Arch. There’s one event there with two drunk passed out norn, half the times I’ve been near it its been mobbed by players.

What level, specially, is ‘mid’ limited to?

Because I’ve yet to find the empty spot.

And for every person that says this there is another who says those zones are empty or lightly populated. As mentioned in previous posts, not all servers are created equally or have the same pop.

And as mentioned in previous posts, it’s the same as any other MMO with ONE difference.

On this one you CAN guest for free. In most other MMOs you can’t. If you want to play on a more populated server, you’d have to pay a transfer fee.

So if you want to play open world content, what’s really the downside to guesting. In your thought process, low pop servers in the open world become even more low pop. I’m not sure if you’re aware but there are people who prefer low pop servers and seek them out. Now they have a place to play too.

Every single MMO has the same problem. You’re never going to have the crowd you have at launch all in the same zone doing the same things. Let’s pretend Anet did away with guesting and everyone just played on their server. And let’s pretend they made it so you can get your T5-6 mats in any zone based on your level. That you could play anywhere and make the same money and get the same rewards.

Do you know what would happen.

The pockets of population that exist now would spread out across all maps at all different times…and the world would STILL feel empty.

The only reason that any MMO feels like it has players is because of events or great drops that exist in one place. You take a reasonably sized MMO world and let everyone go where they want and you’d see even MORE complaints about the world being empty.

Or you could just guest to a busier server, for free, and play the game.

Only bothered to read the first couple sentences, since you obviously don’t bother to read mine and I’m sure it’s the same thing you’ve been saying anyway. Guesting makes the problem worse for the servers already having any perceived lack of population, while not addressing any problems. As stated before, if there is a need to guest like you believe, then there is indeed a lack of perceived population.

There’s actually a big difference between this game and other mmo’s and that’s down leveling. This mechanic, if implemented correctly and as was advertised and still advertised as a core feature, allows all zones to be relevant to a max level player. Again, read back over various posts how they could institute ways to make all levels more relevant and reduce or remove clumping.

Ordika.9513:

killcannon.2576:

New Character Yo.6487:

I agree with Vayne. The population may SEEM lower, because before everyone was hanging out in LA waiting for groups for dungeons since that was what most people did for money and loot. Now since Anet has added boss chest rares, most of the population has moved to those areas. Anet also added WvW progression which helped PvE servers (like GoM, the one i’m in), because our players finally started entering WvW!
The population has spread out more across the game, as opposed to being condensed in LA. Just find a good guild OP. I’m in a good one that has around 35-50 online at peak hours, so we always have something to do .

Do you not see that as the problem though? “Most of the population is at the world event bosses farming” What is the impression new players get? The world is dead. They don’t know about farming, they just want to experience the world. Too bad for them I suppose.

Wayfarer Foothills – Maw
Queensdale – Shadow Behemoth
Metric Provence – Flame Elemental
Caledon Forest – Wurm

Starter zones for every race save Charr with a big world event that is always insanely populate. That means a new player for every race save Charr will see a ton of chatter in their starter zone they can use to get connected.

No they are only insanely populated for about 15mins then they are all gone again for 2 hours..

The only high pop lowbie zone is Queensdale because it reminds players of GW1 has more events going and the drop rates there are strangely better, at least it was for me.

Dante.1508:

No they are only insanely populated for about 15mins then they are all gone again for 2 hours..

The only high pop lowbie zone is Queensdale because it reminds players of GW1 has more events going and the drop rates there are strangely better, at least it was for me.

The zone that I always level my alts on is Metrica Providence. I didn’t run in to any problems trying to get people to do events with me.
Most new people that ask for help I tend to see in Wayfarer Hills.
So I wouldn’t say that the only place to find people while leveling is Queensdale. In my opinion Queensdale is just a really bad place to level, because half way trough the zone it suddenly jumps in levels and you end up vastly underleveled.

I always guest to jade query if I want to play with people.

If you still find jade query empty nothing I can do.

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

killcannon.2576:

Kichwas.7152:

laokoko.7403:

killcannon.2576:

I complain more about the general lack of activity in the middle, leveling zones.

Most people leveling just skip the mid level zone. Even if you try to play normally, you’ll out level the zone, and mid level zone is the one people usually skip.

Spent a crowded day in Lonar’s Pass recently.

Yep, level 35-45 zone. Find cave, hide, get people showing all up in my business.

I go to Harathi Highlands. Same thing. In fact there I get crowds of them like flash mobs running through and calling out events.

That zone just south of Lion’s Arch. There’s one event there with two drunk passed out norn, half the times I’ve been near it its been mobbed by players.

What level, specially, is ‘mid’ limited to?

Because I’ve yet to find the empty spot.

And for every person that says this there is another who says those zones are empty or lightly populated. As mentioned in previous posts, not all servers are created equally or have the same pop.

And as mentioned in previous posts, it’s the same as any other MMO with ONE difference.

On this one you CAN guest for free. In most other MMOs you can’t. If you want to play on a more populated server, you’d have to pay a transfer fee.

So if you want to play open world content, what’s really the downside to guesting. In your thought process, low pop servers in the open world become even more low pop. I’m not sure if you’re aware but there are people who prefer low pop servers and seek them out. Now they have a place to play too.

Every single MMO has the same problem. You’re never going to have the crowd you have at launch all in the same zone doing the same things. Let’s pretend Anet did away with guesting and everyone just played on their server. And let’s pretend they made it so you can get your T5-6 mats in any zone based on your level. That you could play anywhere and make the same money and get the same rewards.

Do you know what would happen.

The pockets of population that exist now would spread out across all maps at all different times…and the world would STILL feel empty.

The only reason that any MMO feels like it has players is because of events or great drops that exist in one place. You take a reasonably sized MMO world and let everyone go where they want and you’d see even MORE complaints about the world being empty.

Or you could just guest to a busier server, for free, and play the game.

Only bothered to read the first couple sentences, since you obviously don’t bother to read mine and I’m sure it’s the same thing you’ve been saying anyway. Guesting makes the problem worse for the servers already having any perceived lack of population, while not addressing any problems. As stated before, if there is a need to guest like you believe, then there is indeed a lack of perceived population.

There’s actually a big difference between this game and other mmo’s and that’s down leveling. This mechanic, if implemented correctly and as was advertised and still advertised as a core feature, allows all zones to be relevant to a max level player. Again, read back over various posts how they could institute ways to make all levels more relevant and reduce or remove clumping.

Since you didn’t read my post, you don’t see why I said what you’re suggesting won’t work. It’s okay though. Other people will have read it and that’s fine.

Eladriel.7295:

Sleek.9201:

So I took a break from GW2 because of school but now I want to play again… Boy, things have changed. First of all, where is everyone? The lack of population is slightly disappointing…. I checked out WvW, and it doesn’t have the hoards of people I remembered. I went to heart of the mists and again…. no one. I see some large groups of people just standing around in the cities but I can’t really see anyone doing much… So really… what is everyone doing now?

Lack of people, really? I haven’t noticed.. Since I had guested over on Tarnished Coast with a big red word “Full” . Then 2 hours later went back to my “High” populated server.. I see people everywhere including the higher lvl areas.. Everytime I do the Shadow Behemoth it is packed… Everytime I do Maw it is packed so full you barely even get a freakin hit on the shaman before he is dead.. Even the dragon events are full. Even the small events have people doing them.. How is it you people don’t see that? What the heck are you people on or smoking? Maybe you need to stop smoking what ever it is and take off your blinders cause it’s affecting your senses… The game isn’t dying nor is it lacking in population.

Maybe you need to stop accusing people of smoking certain kind of things when they are just being honest.Not everyone plays on the same server . . I see the same thing happening on FSP,WvWv is losing players everyday.Why the hell do you even try to tell him he is wrong for seeing what he sees,and according to you he is making it up or is just imagining it..? The game is losing players,people are not happy with the recent patches an upcoming patches,alot of people are dissapointed in the way anet is doing things.Maybe youre to blind to see it happening ?

Keg Brawl, and WvW.

killcannon.2576:

Ordika.9513:

killcannon.2576:

Ordika.9513:

killcannon.2576:

New Character Yo.6487:

I agree with Vayne. The population may SEEM lower, because before everyone was hanging out in LA waiting for groups for dungeons since that was what most people did for money and loot. Now since Anet has added boss chest rares, most of the population has moved to those areas. Anet also added WvW progression which helped PvE servers (like GoM, the one i’m in), because our players finally started entering WvW!
The population has spread out more across the game, as opposed to being condensed in LA. Just find a good guild OP. I’m in a good one that has around 35-50 online at peak hours, so we always have something to do .

Do you not see that as the problem though? “Most of the population is at the world event bosses farming” What is the impression new players get? The world is dead. They don’t know about farming, they just want to experience the world. Too bad for them I suppose.

Wayfarer Foothills – Maw
Queensdale – Shadow Behemoth
Metric Provence – Flame Elemental
Caledon Forest – Wurm

Starter zones for every race save Charr with a big world event that is always insanely populate. That means a new player for every race save Charr will see a ton of chatter in their starter zone they can use to get connected.

Starter zones are usually well populated as has been said many times in previous posts. World events, and people looking for easy daily completion.

How would a new player get the impression the world is dead (your words from the post i originally quoted) when you and I and everyone else agree that the places they start out in are densely populated.

As stated, and restated and restated (why do people not read the threads?) Zones past the starter areas are the one encountering the problems. Once a new player leaves the starter zones and starts going to the 20 to 60 level areas on some servers there’s a perceived lack of population to the world.

Make friends and join a guild in the densely populated starter zone, and have them quest with you in the later zones, problem solved.

However I will say this, although those people state such things, from my own experience I have never failed to find at least 10 people in various zones as I take my Warrior back to get 100% completion. Anecdotal is anecdotal, but if your worried about new people focus only on the starter areas as that is the first impression they will get (hence why they all have big events).

I cannot speak to every ones thought process, but if you are worried about the 20-60 level zones giving a bad impression, then what impression does the starter zone make?

How is that impression ruined by the 20-60 zones? 61-80?

Is a person who hasn’t gotten themselves connected by the time they hit level 20 really going to be worried about the perceived lack of people in the 20-60 leveling?

Sleek.9201:

tigirius.9014:

Welcome back. DR FotM and PVE imbalance happened.

I don’t quite know what those acronyms mean… except for PVE :P

DR is diminished returns specifically on loot, loot just stops after a period of time, supposed to be to keep bots at bay but it’s caused a lopsided loot ratio and it’s been harming players since November 2012.

FotM was their dungeon and their new focus in November 2012, to keep the more hardcore players. It’s been said that it’s really the only place for some to get any kind of loot that’s worth any gold, so people run this and 1 other dungeon called COF1. Even without the loot problems this game faces, the promise of all open world content and never having to step into a dungeon for anything even loot was what made many people leave the game last year in disgust because it was gated content, something their prelaunch interviews all stated would never happen because as gamers they understood the mundanity of running endless dungeons and prevent some players from actually seeing some content because of the gear restraints casuals face.

Irony is the same people complaining will go to the next game they just cant wait for and within two months be posting the same stuff.

Honestly, the main thing wrong in this thread is that people keep bumping this stuff.

Ordika.9513:

However I will say this, although those people state such things, from my own experience I have never failed to find at least 10 people in various zones as I take my Warrior back to get 100% completion. Anecdotal is anecdotal, but if your worried about new people focus only on the starter areas as that is the first impression they will get (hence why they all have big events).

This is my experience as well, and from what I have seen it’s a common experience in MMOs. Those who play from the beginning rush through each zone together and gather in the end zones, then six months later you get bored and create an alt and there are fewer people than you remember because, well, the majority of players are in the high level zones. But no zone is completely empty, and there are a good number of people in the lower zones – new players, experienced players with new alts, casuals who log in a couple times a month and don’t care how fast they go through the game…

This has been my experience in three different MMOs, and from what I’ve read it even happens in WoW. Complaining about it or expecting the devs to make hundreds of players magically appear in any zone you’re in is naive at best. I see it as just complaining for the sake of complaining. In GW2 they at least attempt to address the issue by hosting events in lower level areas, and the Living World stories can shift the focus to any zone. They don’t just say “hey, here’s a new raid dungeon where you and your friends can go to remove yourself from the game world for several hours instead of interacting with the game population as a whole.” They can’t make the horses drink, but at least they’re pointing out the streams.

People farm for legendaries. I blame legendaries for everything that is bad.

tolunart.2095:

Ordika.9513:

However I will say this, although those people state such things, from my own experience I have never failed to find at least 10 people in various zones as I take my Warrior back to get 100% completion. Anecdotal is anecdotal, but if your worried about new people focus only on the starter areas as that is the first impression they will get (hence why they all have big events).

This is my experience as well, and from what I have seen it’s a common experience in MMOs. Those who play from the beginning rush through each zone together and gather in the end zones, then six months later you get bored and create an alt and there are fewer people than you remember because, well, the majority of players are in the high level zones. But no zone is completely empty, and there are a good number of people in the lower zones – new players, experienced players with new alts, casuals who log in a couple times a month and don’t care how fast they go through the game…

This has been my experience in three different MMOs, and from what I’ve read it even happens in WoW. Complaining about it or expecting the devs to make hundreds of players magically appear in any zone you’re in is naive at best. I see it as just complaining for the sake of complaining. In GW2 they at least attempt to address the issue by hosting events in lower level areas, and the Living World stories can shift the focus to any zone. They don’t just say “hey, here’s a new raid dungeon where you and your friends can go to remove yourself from the game world for several hours instead of interacting with the game population as a whole.” They can’t make the horses drink, but at least they’re pointing out the streams.

And the Living Stories are a great way to expand people into mid level zones.

They increased the server capacity, and now servers are hitting full again. There’s no population problem.

Lions Arch on Tarnished Coast is absolutely packed with people.

I’ve been playing since launch and I haven’t run out of fun things to do yet.

Lots of options for PvE.
Several options for PvP.
WvW is still a ton of fun.
Fractals are fun. I’m burned out on them, but I got to lvl 43 before that happened.

alfista.6094:

I had to wait in a queue for WvW last night so i really don’t know what everyone’s talking about. Maybe things are different on NA servers, i dunno..

Pretty sure WvW population caps have been drastically reduced since launch. I think at launch they were like 150, 160 per team per map, something like that and now are about half of that.

So this may not be telling us much about population vs say 4 months ago.

Hickeroar.9734:

They increased the server capacity, and now servers are hitting full again. There’s no population problem.

Lions Arch on Tarnished Coast is absolutely packed with people.

I’ve been playing since launch and I haven’t run out of fun things to do yet.

Lots of options for PvE.
Several options for PvP.
WvW is still a ton of fun.
Fractals are fun. I’m burned out on them, but I got to lvl 43 before that happened.

Server capacity does not track current populations on servers, only accounts made and at home on that server. Example: There could be 5000 accounts made on a server with a total capacity of 5000 and the server would show as full, with only half of those people actually playing. So the server would actually be only half full. One reason one of the suggestions was to accurately track server load by people actually playing on that server, not by accounts made so new players and people wanting to transfer can have a accurate idea of where they may wish to play.

Also TC is currently one of the most popular servers so does not give an accurate representation of all servers.

Vayne.8563:

Insidious.3720:

In before all the people telling you that you just aren’t playing the game right or in the right area to see people because, based off their experiences, people are everywhere and you are wrong.

Ok then, the population has dropped fairly significantly. There’s just no other way to say it or sugar coat it. You can try switching to a higher pop server, i.e. a server in the top 5 for wvw. Personally, I am just killing time until FFXIV is re-released. After that, I’m Outtie 5000 again.

You have zero evidence of this. It’s literally unprovable. And there are always trolls on forums (not suggesting that you are one of them), that love to come in and say how bad any game is doing.

But it doesn’t make it true.

Just because you say the game has not lost population, does not make it true.

2 way street.

The reason why there aren’t a lot of people the same place in Guild Wars 2, is because you have more then one way to level up. In other MMOs, you have a streamlined story quest, which you need to do to level up. This means that everyone are running the same places. In Guild Wars 2, you can level up from doing events all over the world, you can level up by crafting, you can level up from play WvW, or you can just play sPvP. This means that the player population of Guild Wars 2 is spread all over the place.

Kasama.8941:

The reason why there aren’t a lot of people the same place in Guild Wars 2, is because you have more then one way to level up. In other MMOs, you have a streamlined story quest, which you need to do to level up. This means that everyone are running the same places. In Guild Wars 2, you can level up from doing events all over the world, you can level up by crafting, you can level up from play WvW, or you can just play sPvP. This means that the player population of Guild Wars 2 is spread all over the place.

It’s not “spread all over the place”. It’s clumped in certain areas. World events bosses for the chests, pent/shelt for farming, starter areas for easier daily completion.

One of the reasons people are turning to different ways to level is simply because they don’t want to go through the world again when they know there aren’t as many people out there in the leveling zones.

laokoko.7403:

I’m trying to get my dungeon master and maybe try to get into high level fotm.

That being said, pretty much every mmorpg in recent history suffer from huge population decline after it’s initial release.

I actually think GW2 is one of the few that have a stable population. Being B2P probably is the one crucial reason why GW2 is still holding on it’s player.

AFTER IT IS INITIAL RELEASE
STILL HOLDING ON IT IS PLAYER

killcannon.2576:

Kasama.8941:

The reason why there aren’t a lot of people the same place in Guild Wars 2, is because you have more then one way to level up. In other MMOs, you have a streamlined story quest, which you need to do to level up. This means that everyone are running the same places. In Guild Wars 2, you can level up from doing events all over the world, you can level up by crafting, you can level up from play WvW, or you can just play sPvP. This means that the player population of Guild Wars 2 is spread all over the place.

It’s not “spread all over the place”. It’s clumped in certain areas. World events bosses for the chests, pent/shelt for farming, starter areas for easier daily completion.

One of the reasons people are turning to different ways to level is simply because they don’t want to go through the world again when they know there aren’t as many people out there in the leveling zones.

Not trying to pick a fight here but this is baseless opinion. Do you have polls stating where players are and why they are there?

People have always leveled through the various means (I think the first 80 did it solely through crafting), so saying they are only turning to it now without stats is baseless speculation. Made even worse by the fact that you attempt to give a reason based on information you can’t possibly know.

Ordika.9513:

killcannon.2576:

Kasama.8941:

The reason why there aren’t a lot of people the same place in Guild Wars 2, is because you have more then one way to level up. In other MMOs, you have a streamlined story quest, which you need to do to level up. This means that everyone are running the same places. In Guild Wars 2, you can level up from doing events all over the world, you can level up by crafting, you can level up from play WvW, or you can just play sPvP. This means that the player population of Guild Wars 2 is spread all over the place.

It’s not “spread all over the place”. It’s clumped in certain areas. World events bosses for the chests, pent/shelt for farming, starter areas for easier daily completion.

One of the reasons people are turning to different ways to level is simply because they don’t want to go through the world again when they know there aren’t as many people out there in the leveling zones.

Not trying to pick a fight here but this is baseless opinion. Do you have polls stating where players are and why they are there?

People have always leveled through the various means (I think the first 80 did it solely through crafting), so saying they are only turning to it now without stats is baseless speculation. Made even worse by the fact that you attempt to give a reason based on information you can’t possibly know.

He don’t need stats. It’s called common sense.

Ordika.9513:

killcannon.2576:

Kasama.8941:

The reason why there aren’t a lot of people the same place in Guild Wars 2, is because you have more then one way to level up. In other MMOs, you have a streamlined story quest, which you need to do to level up. This means that everyone are running the same places. In Guild Wars 2, you can level up from doing events all over the world, you can level up by crafting, you can level up from play WvW, or you can just play sPvP. This means that the player population of Guild Wars 2 is spread all over the place.

It’s not “spread all over the place”. It’s clumped in certain areas. World events bosses for the chests, pent/shelt for farming, starter areas for easier daily completion.

One of the reasons people are turning to different ways to level is simply because they don’t want to go through the world again when they know there aren’t as many people out there in the leveling zones.

Not trying to pick a fight here but this is baseless opinion. Do you have polls stating where players are and why they are there?

People have always leveled through the various means (I think the first 80 did it solely through crafting), so saying they are only turning to it now without stats is baseless speculation. Made even worse by the fact that you attempt to give a reason based on information you can’t possibly know.

Let me ask you this: Is it a bad idea to remove these clumps in the game? Is it a bad idea to try to get the open world more populated? Is it a bad idea to spread out the reward system to the whole world? Is it a bad idea to have some form of guaranteed drop on champs and vets so they won’t all be avoided? Is it wrong of me to want to give all the servers the same kind of play experience that TC has (population, not the rp thing)? Is it a bad idea to tie the big boss events to metas that cover the entire zone instead of small areas? Is it a bad idea to give every zone the same kind of events that draw people to certain zones over others?

I’m under the impression that you think I’m arguing that the world is dying, when I am actually saying that I want people to have a better experience in the open world and to not have to farm the same boring events day after day after day. I want everyone to experience all of the world of Tyria and the ideas that have been created and formed in this topic help that. I’m saying that guesting (while a good idea for playing with friends, it’s original intent) is a horrible idea for fixing perceived population decrease. I’m saying there are tools available to stop clumping and that for this game clumping isn’t necessary.

You know there are less people claiming the world is empy now compare to a few month ago. Because of the few open world meta event giving chest now.

The more you spread out the population, the less people you’ll see.

Anet dont’ want to reward people for every activety they do. Primely because they want to push the gem store. People either need to do those tedious cof path 1 farm, world chest, or orr farming. Or pay cash to enjoy the game how it is intended.

Take for example if you try the new patch today and go to southsun you see world is full of people right?

killcannon.2576:

Kichwas.7152:

Because I’ve yet to find the empty spot.

And for every person that says this there is another who says those zones are empty or lightly populated. As mentioned in previous posts, not all servers are created equally or have the same pop.

Well I guess ya’ll can just follow me EVERYWHERE then since empty areas never happen to me.

Its a bit proof of point though that the game isn’t emptying out if my experience exists. If the game was emptying out it’d be low population for everyone.

laokoko.7403:

You know there are less people claiming the world is empy now compare to a few month ago. Because of the few open world meta event giving chest now.

I almost never do those events. BUT I have been doing living story – in which I often get tossed to overflow. I see people in any zone.

Kichwas.7152:

I almost never do those events. BUT I have been doing living story – in which I often get tossed to overflow. I see people in any zone.

That is exactly why right? because everyone gather in the zone to do the new event.

If you spread out the event in every zone, it become harder to find people. Same idea as people guesting to the populated server. If you try the less popular server and go to the lesser visited zone, I assure you it is harder to find people.

r z.7261:

Vayne.8563:

Insidious.3720:

In before all the people telling you that you just aren’t playing the game right or in the right area to see people because, based off their experiences, people are everywhere and you are wrong.

Ok then, the population has dropped fairly significantly. There’s just no other way to say it or sugar coat it. You can try switching to a higher pop server, i.e. a server in the top 5 for wvw. Personally, I am just killing time until FFXIV is re-released. After that, I’m Outtie 5000 again.

You have zero evidence of this. It’s literally unprovable. And there are always trolls on forums (not suggesting that you are one of them), that love to come in and say how bad any game is doing.

But it doesn’t make it true.

Just because you say the game has not lost population, does not make it true.

2 way street.

I’m not saying the game hasn’t lost population. I’m only pointing out that saying it has is just an assumption and nothing more. The game MAY have lost population, but you don’t know.

On the losing population thing, if it has why did I spend 2 hours in overflow last night when I went to Southsun Cove? Never got into Southsun Cove on my server…just overflow…

Also, in the peak overtime, in the evening or at weekends why do I always after queue for WvW maps?

If the game is losing population then it needs to lose a lot more so I am not always put into overflow or queueing ALL the time…

In all fairness, this game IS losing players. I know this for a fact. I’ve met people who used to play who no longer play. Ergo this game is losing players.

However, this game is also gaining players. There are plenty of new players in game, I know this from guild recruiting. Just yesterday, a guy joined our guild who has been playing the game for one week.

And I know for a fact people have come back to the game and are now playing it, even some who said that they’d never play the game again.

No one but Anet knows whether more people have left than are currently joining. So people should say they’re speculating when they’re speculating, so I could stop refuting them. lol

Meglobob.8620:

On the losing population thing, if it has why did I spend 2 hours in overflow last night when I went to Southsun Cove? Never got into Southsun Cove on my server…just overflow…

Also, in the peak overtime, in the evening or at weekends why do I always after queue for WvW maps?

If the game is losing population then it needs to lose a lot more so I am not always put into overflow or queueing ALL the time…

There is no way to prove anything. It’s like people say wvw is always full. Even if every server have 1000 people doing wvw, with 40 server that is 40,000 people. That is very far away from 3 million.

Only thing you can say is you don’t have a problem finding people to play with. The reality is no one knows how many people still logon monthly unless you work for Anet.

It could be anything from 500k to 2.5 million. It is practically impossible to make a good estimation on the retention.

At least in DB, I have been watching the server grow for the past couple months, definitely not shrinking in any way.

Vayne.8563:

r z.7261:

Vayne.8563:

Insidious.3720:

In before all the people telling you that you just aren’t playing the game right or in the right area to see people because, based off their experiences, people are everywhere and you are wrong.

Ok then, the population has dropped fairly significantly. There’s just no other way to say it or sugar coat it. You can try switching to a higher pop server, i.e. a server in the top 5 for wvw. Personally, I am just killing time until FFXIV is re-released. After that, I’m Outtie 5000 again.

You have zero evidence of this. It’s literally unprovable. And there are always trolls on forums (not suggesting that you are one of them), that love to come in and say how bad any game is doing.

But it doesn’t make it true.

Just because you say the game has not lost population, does not make it true.

2 way street.

I’m not saying the game hasn’t lost population. I’m only pointing out that saying it has is just an assumption and nothing more. The game MAY have lost population, but you don’t know.

Vayne is right. There is no way to tell. I don’t think the game has lost population either. It’s just that the population is clumped in certain areas making it seem that there are far fewer players than there actually are. And mostly it’s not because most players want to be in those areas farming the same place day after day.

I’m sure that most players would like to be able to experience whatever part of the game they like and still get the same rewards as they would as if they spent that time farming pent/shelt or running world events. Truth is, they can’t. It’s why they are drawn to those events and areas in the first place.

I finished the living story for May today in Southsun and walked away with about 6 or so rares, two nice back pieces, a couple gold, and a very entertaining time for about two hours running around just doing stuff that was fun. Didn’t have to stop to farm or wait for boss respawns once. There were plenty of people there and all the events had plenty of participants.

But, I don’t get that experience in the rest of the world. I could have spent two hours in Ascalon where I went to finish my daily and maybe have gotten a rare, two tops if I’m running MF gear and food, been lucky to run into ten people, never get more than one or two at an event that doesn’t offer a chest, not get any gear related to the zone, and generally want to end my time there asap because it just isn’t as fun to play a mmo alone as it is with groups of people. And this is what new players are going to experience, regardless of how they level if they want to complete zones, or want to see the entire game.

And even without the stuff going on in Southsun, it would have been like that. Because the game itself is set up to clump people together. The rewards system concentrates players into doing certain events or certain areas. Meanwhile it discourages players, especially new ones, with obscure labeling systems on it’s servers so they don’t know at first glance which server actually has active players and which ones don’t, with systems that can leave leveling areas feeling devoid of players, and hiding the best content behind a Guilds system that punishes or entirely negates some small and medium guilds.

OP from another game ? well, basically in this game people farm skins… that’s the legacy from GW1…people farm skins mostly….

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

r z.7261:

Vayne.8563:

Insidious.3720:

In before all the people telling you that you just aren’t playing the game right or in the right area to see people because, based off their experiences, people are everywhere and you are wrong.

Ok then, the population has dropped fairly significantly. There’s just no other way to say it or sugar coat it. You can try switching to a higher pop server, i.e. a server in the top 5 for wvw. Personally, I am just killing time until FFXIV is re-released. After that, I’m Outtie 5000 again.

You have zero evidence of this. It’s literally unprovable. And there are always trolls on forums (not suggesting that you are one of them), that love to come in and say how bad any game is doing.

But it doesn’t make it true.

Just because you say the game has not lost population, does not make it true.

2 way street.

I’m not saying the game hasn’t lost population. I’m only pointing out that saying it has is just an assumption and nothing more. The game MAY have lost population, but you don’t know.

Vayne is right. There is no way to tell. I don’t think the game has lost population either. It’s just that the population is clumped in certain areas making it seem that there are far fewer players than there actually are. And mostly it’s not because most players want to be in those areas farming the same place day after day.

I’m sure that most players would like to be able to experience whatever part of the game they like and still get the same rewards as they would as if they spent that time farming pent/shelt or running world events. Truth is, they can’t. It’s why they are drawn to those events and areas in the first place.

I finished the living story for May today in Southsun and walked away with about 6 or so rares, two nice back pieces, a couple gold, and a very entertaining time for about two hours running around just doing stuff that was fun. Didn’t have to stop to farm or wait for boss respawns once. There were plenty of people there and all the events had plenty of participants.

But, I don’t get that experience in the rest of the world. I could have spent two hours in Ascalon where I went to finish my daily and maybe have gotten a rare, two tops if I’m running MF gear and food, been lucky to run into ten people, never get more than one or two at an event that doesn’t offer a chest, not get any gear related to the zone, and generally want to end my time there asap because it just isn’t as fun to play a mmo alone as it is with groups of people. And this is what new players are going to experience, regardless of how they level if they want to complete zones, or want to see the entire game.

And even without the stuff going on in Southsun, it would have been like that. Because the game itself is set up to clump people together. The rewards system concentrates players into doing certain events or certain areas. Meanwhile it discourages players, especially new ones, with obscure labeling systems on it’s servers so they don’t know at first glance which server actually has active players and which ones don’t, with systems that can leave leveling areas feeling devoid of players, and hiding the best content behind a Guilds system that punishes or entirely negates some small and medium guilds.

And as I’ve said before, numerous times now, if you didn’t have the game set to clump people together, if you made every zone equally rewarding so anyone could go anywhere they wanted…

there wouldn’t be enough people to fill each zone on each server. Instead of guys like you not having people around you’d have EVERYONE not having people around.

The game world is simply too large for that to work. How many people do you really think are in each server, playing at the same time at any given point in time?

And what about the people who play at off hours. Without this “clumping” mechanic, they’d have no one to play with, because there are so many less people playing at those hours, then spread all over the world.

I understand what you want in theory. I’m simply saying that I don’t believe that if everything was equally rewarding it would solve your problem. It would just create a much bigger problem in my opinion. Everyone would think the world is empty because we’d all be too scattered.

And if you were around in any of the charr starting zones for the last two months, you’d have seen tons of people there, because that’s where the last Living Story installments were set.

laokoko.7403:

Meglobob.8620:

On the losing population thing, if it has why did I spend 2 hours in overflow last night when I went to Southsun Cove? Never got into Southsun Cove on my server…just overflow…

Also, in the peak overtime, in the evening or at weekends why do I always after queue for WvW maps?

If the game is losing population then it needs to lose a lot more so I am not always put into overflow or queueing ALL the time…

There is no way to prove anything. It’s like people say wvw is always full. Even if every server have 1000 people doing wvw, with 40 server that is 40,000 people. That is very far away from 3 million.

Only thing you can say is you don’t have a problem finding people to play with. The reality is no one knows how many people still logon monthly unless you work for Anet.

It could be anything from 500k to 2.5 million. It is practically impossible to make a good estimation on the retention.

Your right it doesn’t prove anything…

But still, I played an hour on Southsun Cove this morning at 6am, 0600 hrs and I am still on overflow! wtf…

Seafarers Rest (Europe) is my server and the only population problem we got is TOO MANY people…

Insidious.3720:

In before all the people telling you that you just aren’t playing the game right or in the right area to see people because, based off their experiences, people are everywhere and you are wrong.

Ok then, the population has dropped fairly significantly. There’s just no other way to say it or sugar coat it. You can try switching to a higher pop server, i.e. a server in the top 5 for wvw. Personally, I am just killing time until FFXIV is re-released. After that, I’m Outtie 5000 again.

I am with u on the FFXIV release, as well as ESO and EQ Next

But i am also thinking bout returning to GW2 for now..but not sure anymore…

Vayne:

As has been stated before…numerously.

Merge servers- according to you there are not enough people per server to make it seem busy, it was one of the suggestions

Also, as you like to point out- you have no idea if removing clumps would make it seem more lively or not, because there is no way to track populations except by looking at them in the clumps

Another thing I would like to mention is that five or six months ago before the drastic changes to world event chests, the world was much busier. So the choices are either;
A: The population has stayed the same or grown and has moved to farming
B: The population has decreased and has still moved to farming
Either of these leads to solutions stated within this thread. If A is true, then removing clumps and equalizing rewards across all zones and play styles would stabilize the population. If B is true, then merging servers and again removing clumps would stabilize the population. In either situation, having more players in the open world, even if only ten or twenty per zone, would increase the amount of players seen, increase the idea of a living world, make zones more enjoyable for everyone.

By making zero changes, as you keep wanting, no one benefits and eventually new players will become more and more frustrated with a lack of a populated world, old players continue to clump up more and more in only certain areas, and the game dies from attrition.

Even WoW understood this, and made substantial changes to it’s leveling areas in order to pull people back into beginning and leveling areas. This game has even better core mechanics to accomplish this task. If it continues this trend, it will have the same layout as any other MMO, despite any kind of mechanic that may be new or interesting: Players in starter areas, a wasteland in the middle, and farming/new content at the end. It’s fine if you enjoy that, but I can get it anywhere.

I appreciate your attempts to do whatever it is you think you’re doing. I’m sure you think you’re being helpful in some way. I know you care about this game, and the community. But essentially the impression you give me is of an individual throwing their hands up in the air and saying “Oh well, what can you do!! Let’s not do anything!”
Put that mind of yours to work and add something useful to the discussion like some others have done, that’s what the forums are here for. I want it to succeed, so I’m trying, why won’t you help me?

PS: And even regardless of any other situation, equalizing rewards and giving vets and champs significant rewards, and making reward=effort involved is just a plain good idea for the game.

post post script: And this isn’t even about “Guys like me”, it’s about new posters and players wondering why the game seems empty. I have already “been there done that”

Basically it is impossible to fill every zone of every server, there simply isn’t that many players.

And Anet can only reward people for doing tedious boring grind (which farming is). Else everyone would be millionaire and there isn’t even much use for gold in this game.

And the reality is anet dont’ mind 1% of the players get rich from flipping, or 10% of the player get rich from farming. As long as they have the other 90% poor so they might use the gem store.

The reality is if you look at your friend or guild list, most of the people isn’t even farming. And no removing clumps won’t make the world more lively because if you look at your friend/guild list most people arn’t even clumping.

Regardless it is impossible to fill every zone of every server.

killcannon.2576:

Vayne:

As has been stated before…numerously.

Merge servers- according to you there are not enough people per server to make it seem busy, it was one of the suggestions

Also, as you like to point out- you have no idea if removing clumps would make it seem more lively or not, because there is no way to track populations except by looking at them in the clumps

Another thing I would like to mention is that five or six months ago before the drastic changes to world event chests, the world was much busier. So the choices are either;
A: The population has stayed the same or grown and has moved to farming
B: The population has decreased and has still moved to farming
Either of these leads to solutions stated within this thread. If A is true, then removing clumps and equalizing rewards across all zones and play styles would stabilize the population. If B is true, then merging servers and again removing clumps would stabilize the population. In either situation, having more players in the open world, even if only ten or twenty per zone, would increase the amount of players seen, increase the idea of a living world, make zones more enjoyable for everyone.

By making zero changes, as you keep wanting, no one benefits and eventually new players will become more and more frustrated with a lack of a populated world, old players continue to clump up more and more in only certain areas, and the game dies from attrition.

Even WoW understood this, and made substantial changes to it’s leveling areas in order to pull people back into beginning and leveling areas. This game has even better core mechanics to accomplish this task. If it continues this trend, it will have the same layout as any other MMO, despite any kind of mechanic that may be new or interesting: Players in starter areas, a wasteland in the middle, and farming/new content at the end. It’s fine if you enjoy that, but I can get it anywhere.

I appreciate your attempts to do whatever it is you think you’re doing. I’m sure you think you’re being helpful in some way. I know you care about this game, and the community. But essentially the impression you give me is of an individual throwing their hands up in the air and saying “Oh well, what can you do!! Let’s not do anything!”
Put that mind of yours to work and add something useful to the discussion like some others have done, that’s what the forums are here for. I want it to succeed, so I’m trying, why won’t you help me?

I don’t believe the world was much busier before the world events became must do. As I recall there have always been these world is empty posts.

Orr, however, was busy as hell. Before this all happened, everyone was farming Orr, instead of spread out in multiple zones. I think the world is either busier now (at least on my server) or around the same. I’m certain it wasn’t busier back then.

But then, back then guesting wasn’t available and people couldn’t guest, so maybe its’ guesting that’s the problem and not these events.

Merging the servers is replete with problems too. For one thing, for the purposes of WvW servers must be in multiples of 3. That means merging at least 6 servers, because people don’t want to guest.

The solution is in game to go to busier worlds. It’s not hurting anything for anyone to do so. Instead you propose a solution that may or may not solve the problem anyway, particularly if guesting is the problem.

Vayne.8563:

Insidious.3720:

In before all the people telling you that you just aren’t playing the game right or in the right area to see people because, based off their experiences, people are everywhere and you are wrong.

Ok then, the population has dropped fairly significantly. There’s just no other way to say it or sugar coat it. You can try switching to a higher pop server, i.e. a server in the top 5 for wvw. Personally, I am just killing time until FFXIV is re-released. After that, I’m Outtie 5000 again.

You have zero evidence of this. It’s literally unprovable. And there are always trolls on forums (not suggesting that you are one of them), that love to come in and say how bad any game is doing.

But it doesn’t make it true.

Anet has the figures. There is 0 evidence. Why? Blizzard tells people how many subscribers they have. Anet thinks its better not to give this kind of information out for GW2. Why do you think that is?

sostronk.8167:

Vayne.8563:

Insidious.3720:

In before all the people telling you that you just aren’t playing the game right or in the right area to see people because, based off their experiences, people are everywhere and you are wrong.

Ok then, the population has dropped fairly significantly. There’s just no other way to say it or sugar coat it. You can try switching to a higher pop server, i.e. a server in the top 5 for wvw. Personally, I am just killing time until FFXIV is re-released. After that, I’m Outtie 5000 again.

You have zero evidence of this. It’s literally unprovable. And there are always trolls on forums (not suggesting that you are one of them), that love to come in and say how bad any game is doing.

But it doesn’t make it true.

Anet has the figures. There is 0 evidence. Why? Blizzard tells people how many subscribers they have. Anet thinks its better not to give this kind of information out for GW2. Why do you think that is?

Anet has said how many people bought the game at the three million mark. Both Blizzard and NCsoft are public companies and they have to report stuff to stockholders. That’s why Blizzard does it.

But Anet has no subscribers, because there’s no subscription fee. So Anet has zero subscribers. I can guarantee that Blizzard will always have more subscribers than Anet because Anet has none.

Blizzard is bleeding subscribers. It’s not about how many they have, so much as how many they’re losing…and it’s a bad look. They were down to 9.1 million subs (from a high of 12.4 million) before the launch of MoP. It went up briefliy but now they’re down to 8.3. That may seem like a lot of subscribers to you, but it’s showing a downward trend. I promise you Blizzard isn’t annoucing this downward trend to brag.

Arenanet’s profitability isn’t dependent on subscriber numbers, so they just report income, which is a matter of public record. It has to be because NcSoft (which owns Anet) is a public company.

Last we heard the game has broken the 3 million sales mark. I assume we’ll hear about it when we break 4 million. It’s probably getting close.

The biggest investment firm that gives odds on things predicted that Guild Wars 2 would sell 3.2 million copies in the first year. Well it’s not a year yet and we’re pretty sure that number has been beaten….meaning that game is successful from a stock holder point of view.

Vayne.8563:

killcannon.2576:

Vayne:

As has been stated before…numerously.

Merge servers- according to you there are not enough people per server to make it seem busy, it was one of the suggestions

Also, as you like to point out- you have no idea if removing clumps would make it seem more lively or not, because there is no way to track populations except by looking at them in the clumps

Another thing I would like to mention is that five or six months ago before the drastic changes to world event chests, the world was much busier. So the choices are either;
A: The population has stayed the same or grown and has moved to farming
B: The population has decreased and has still moved to farming
Either of these leads to solutions stated within this thread. If A is true, then removing clumps and equalizing rewards across all zones and play styles would stabilize the population. If B is true, then merging servers and again removing clumps would stabilize the population. In either situation, having more players in the open world, even if only ten or twenty per zone, would increase the amount of players seen, increase the idea of a living world, make zones more enjoyable for everyone.

By making zero changes, as you keep wanting, no one benefits and eventually new players will become more and more frustrated with a lack of a populated world, old players continue to clump up more and more in only certain areas, and the game dies from attrition.

Even WoW understood this, and made substantial changes to it’s leveling areas in order to pull people back into beginning and leveling areas. This game has even better core mechanics to accomplish this task. If it continues this trend, it will have the same layout as any other MMO, despite any kind of mechanic that may be new or interesting: Players in starter areas, a wasteland in the middle, and farming/new content at the end. It’s fine if you enjoy that, but I can get it anywhere.

I appreciate your attempts to do whatever it is you think you’re doing. I’m sure you think you’re being helpful in some way. I know you care about this game, and the community. But essentially the impression you give me is of an individual throwing their hands up in the air and saying “Oh well, what can you do!! Let’s not do anything!”
Put that mind of yours to work and add something useful to the discussion like some others have done, that’s what the forums are here for. I want it to succeed, so I’m trying, why won’t you help me?

I don’t believe the world was much busier before the world events became must do. As I recall there have always been these world is empty posts.

Orr, however, was busy as hell. Before this all happened, everyone was farming Orr, instead of spread out in multiple zones. I think the world is either busier now (at least on my server) or around the same. I’m certain it wasn’t busier back then.

But then, back then guesting wasn’t available and people couldn’t guest, so maybe its’ guesting that’s the problem and not these events.

Merging the servers is replete with problems too. For one thing, for the purposes of WvW servers must be in multiples of 3. That means merging at least 6 servers, because people don’t want to guest.

The solution is in game to go to busier worlds. It’s not hurting anything for anyone to do so. Instead you propose a solution that may or may not solve the problem anyway, particularly if guesting is the problem.

Ok then. You have nothing to add. Guesting makes the problem worse. Here’s your plan:
“Hmm, this zone/server seems dead. I think I will just guest somewhere” minus one population for current server, plus one to busier server
Another player comes along who might have just seen the player who just left to guest to another server but instead sees no one “Hmm, this zone/ server seems dead. I think i will guest to a busier server”
Ad infinitum- servers eventually get merged anyway, any new players who pick the lower player pop worlds get discouraged, just move on/quit playing

“Hmm, I’m not getting very good rewards for doing this content. I wonder where I can get better rewards, plus it’s sorta boring here anyway what with no one around. I guess I will just join the world event train”
Again-ad infinitum

No problem here, move along folks.

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

killcannon.2576:

Vayne:

As has been stated before…numerously.

Merge servers- according to you there are not enough people per server to make it seem busy, it was one of the suggestions

Also, as you like to point out- you have no idea if removing clumps would make it seem more lively or not, because there is no way to track populations except by looking at them in the clumps

snip

By making zero changes, as you keep wanting, no one benefits and eventually new players will become more and more frustrated with a lack of a populated world, old players continue to clump up more and more in only certain areas, and the game dies from attrition.

Even WoW understood this, and made substantial changes to it’s leveling areas in order to pull people back into beginning and leveling areas. This game has even better core mechanics to accomplish this task. If it continues this trend, it will have the same layout as any other MMO, despite any kind of mechanic that may be new or interesting: Players in starter areas, a wasteland in the middle, and farming/new content at the end. It’s fine if you enjoy that, but I can get it anywhere.

I appreciate your attempts to do whatever it is you think you’re doing. I’m sure you think you’re being helpful in some way. I know you care about this game, and the community. But essentially the impression you give me is of an individual throwing their hands up in the air and saying “Oh well, what can you do!! Let’s not do anything!”
Put that mind of yours to work and add something useful to the discussion like some others have done, that’s what the forums are here for. I want it to succeed, so I’m trying, why won’t you help me?

I don’t believe the world was much busier before the world events became must do. As I recall there have always been these world is empty posts.

Orr, however, was busy as hell. Before this all happened, everyone was farming Orr, instead of spread out in multiple zones. I think the world is either busier now (at least on my server) or around the same. I’m certain it wasn’t busier back then.

But then, back then guesting wasn’t available and people couldn’t guest, so maybe its’ guesting that’s the problem and not these events.

Merging the servers is replete with problems too. For one thing, for the purposes of WvW servers must be in multiples of 3. That means merging at least 6 servers, because people don’t want to guest.

The solution is in game to go to busier worlds. It’s not hurting anything for anyone to do so. Instead you propose a solution that may or may not solve the problem anyway, particularly if guesting is the problem.

Ok then. You have nothing to add. Guesting makes the problem worse. Here’s your plan:
“Hmm, this zone/server seems dead. I think I will just guest somewhere” minus one population for current server, plus one to busier server
Another player comes along who might have just seen the player who just left to guest to another server but instead sees no one “Hmm, this zone/ server seems dead. I think i will guest to a busier server”
Ad infinitum- servers eventually get merged anyway

“Hmm, I’m not getting very good rewards for doing this content. I wonder where I can get better rewards, plus it’s sorta boring here anyway what with no one around. I guess I will just join the world event train”
Again-ad infinitum

No problem here, move along folks.

I’m not saying that it’s not a problem. I’m saying I don’t believe your solution will work. First, they’d have to take away guesting…they’re not going to do that. People will always gravitate to the highest population servers, this happens in every single MMO. Guild Wars 2 isn’t the exeption…it’s the rule. This always happens. Ask anyone from any game. People gravitate to where the most players are. Anet just made it free to play there.

The solution you propose, making every zone equally rewarding won’t stop people from guesting to other servers, particularly the busier ones. It’s just human nature.

So what you’d have on your server is less people spread out over 25 huge zones, and seeing no one. Why? Because most of them will have guested over to TC anyway. Or Sea of Sorrow. Or Blackgate.

The thing is, while I understand your frustration, I don’t believe that the measure you’re suggesting will fix the problem. Right now the problem is that people may not know about guesting and they’ll see an empty zone. But the solution to playing with others is already in game.

And a fix that fixes nothing, is not a fix.

sostronk.8167:

Anet has the figures. There is 0 evidence. Why? Blizzard tells people how many subscribers they have. Anet thinks its better not to give this kind of information out for GW2. Why do you think that is?

The big difference is other game have to disclose their sub number(income) to their shareholder. Anet don’t “have to” do it because their income isn’t closely tied to their active players.

Which is exactly what your “The solution is already in game” solution does, fixes nothing. And Guild Wars 2 is an exception. The servers for this game shows accounts bound to a server instead of players actually playing on a server. So there is zero way for a new person to know which server is busy or populated because they almost always show as full or very full, while most if not all other mmos rank servers by players actually on server playing.

I’m not frustrated, I’m dumbfounded. I can go back through your posts picking out ones where you agree with equalizing rewards, disagree with people for bunching up, and various other issues where you sorta flip flop. I’m starting to think you just like to disagree with anything unless Anet puts a stamp on it.

Regardless, I’m done here. I made my suggestions and had a good debate with some people on this topic. I’m not getting into quote wars 3.

Some servers are more busy than others and so are some maps.

Generally maps with interesting meta chains have population since those chains are fun and useful for leveling.
Bonus points if the chain ends in a cool boss with a chest.

The event chain meta serves as a concentration point for players in the map.
I do think the solution to the dead zones are more involved meta chains that span the zone- the question is will people do those for fun or will they still just clump up at the loot?
Everyone likes shiny- so add to those events: karma skins to be purchased at the end- a theme for each zone,
add them as rare drops even.

Normalise loot drops in the game so that it is profitable to play anywhere but add cosmetic incentives to do particular content.

That is all I have by way of suggestions

Edit: when PvE culling is finally fixed I think it will make a big difference too- I mean atm people vanish if you are a few feet away- for all I know there might be hordes around

@killcannon

I don’t even think anything you said make sense.

Take for example orr farming. There are really like 50 people farming orr. So what good does splitting those people up do? Give 2 more people per zone?

You know why Anet can’t fill every zone of every server with people? Because there is no solution. There simply not enough player to do that.

And no, Anet have no intention to make every player rich by equalizing rewards. Only reason they don’t mind people bunching up for farming is because really not that many people even farm.