Guild Wars 2

So I logged in for the first time in a couple of weeks yesterday (play on Borlis Pass) and in 40 minutes of running around and jumping from waypoint to waypoint, I saw a grand total of 10 other ppl logged in playing. 8 of them were in Lion’s Arch. Never saw one word typed in chat till I got to Lion’s Arch.

Metrica Province had one other player. The big Fire Elemental just danced a lonely dance in the reactor.

Rata Sum? Completely Empty.

Went through all the 1-45 Asura zones and saw 1 other player besides the one in Metrica. So I’m thinking, well maybe it’s because it’s election night. Logged in tonight… Same thing (though I saw 2 players in Metrica this time).

It actually made me sad running through these zones and seeing all these world events spawned everywhere with zero people doing any of them.

Anyway, I’m not trying to bag on the game as I actually enjoyed it when it was bustling with life, but like the header says… Where did everybody go?

Raging Bull.5048:

Most people realized the game is not worth playing and have gone doing something else that actually deserves their attention.

Yeah, like posting on a game that doesn’t deserve their attention’s forums.

I feel like player retention is one of the big issues that Arenanet should focus on improving. People thinking about buying the game might be more inclined to do so if they hear their friends are still playing.

Also, there needs to be “underflow servers” so areas that see little player activity feel more lively.

everyone is lvl 80 now so u can find people in lvl 80 zone or in WvW
aslo there is like 15 server or so , what arenanet should do is make overflow to all zone till lvl 70 maps since its empty

wtf is with all these stupid “where did everyone go” threads suddenly?

there is like 3 or 4 topics like this created in the last few days already, and yet people are still creating the sme topic seeking attentions.

It has been three months since the game release, most people at in their high 60s to lvl 80s farming high level contents to make gold. There are tons of people farming Orr, doing wvw, spvp, dungeons, and the rest are spread out all across the lower level areas.

and to those reply trolls who troll about how players are leaving, or that the game is dying. There are TWELVE full North America servers at 12:14 am. No, the “full” tag represent the amount of players in a server right now. No, Anet didn’t change the cap of the server to make medium servers look like full. No, the game is NOT dying.

and of course, the trolls will just ignore this and continue to talk about how the game is dying if they don’t throw in gear progression, make legendary easier to make, more tokens in dungeons, or give them a free pony after reaching level 80.

Most people moved on after hitting 80, if you haven’t reached 80 yet then it’s deffinetly worth dooing that, but after reaching 80 there is absolutly nothing fun/rewarding in this game to do, spvp is broken at the core, WvW suffers from some very bad design-decitions (nightcapping,commanders,balancing,…) that result in frustation and the dungeon stuff is just too grindy.
Off course the fanboys will tell you otherwise but looking at your friendlist/going to the mists will tell you the truth about the state of the game.

I don’t know. My guild kind of died off… People just disappeared. After getting to know those people a bit and growing a little attached, when they just disappear it can be hard on a person…

And to those showing the US server list. Play on a EU server during EU prime time and you’ll see what we mean.

Weird. My husband and I are running a second set of characters to level 80. We both played the Vigil plotline all the way through (though he was Charr and I was human). Now we’re both playing humans and we’re playing Order of Whispers and the Priory. When the questline merges, we both choose an option that we didn’t the last time…

And it’s like playing a different game. PLUS we have plans to run a THIRD set of characters through, different races, just so we can explore the many story options. We were JUST saying to each other today about how it speaks a lot for the game if we’re willing to run through everything again.

Oh, sure, the grinding stuff is all the same. But seeing as we enjoy the plotlines (even if it is just to shoot our weapons at Trahearne every time he opens his mouth) we’re pretty eager to decide what map we want to get a 100% completion for, not to mention our Dailies, just to get the the next part. Best of all, there is no subscription fee, so when we do get bored, we don’t have to worry about it.

The game is still entertaining and people are around. Maybe you should look at switching servers before complaining about how the game doesn’t fulfill your every expectation every moment of the day?

The game, after hitting 80, is just the same grinding, farming for mats that we’ve seen and done in other MMOs. So, if you’ve invested years in WoW, why would you drop that just to start from scratch in Guild Wars 2, having to do exactly the same type of actions?

Honestly, every time I try to log in and play, I suddenly remember that, no matter how much I love Guild Wars 2 and Tyria, I still have to do the same kind of brainless farming I did in WoW for 2 years and a half, which completely kills my urge to play.

Level an alt? I did, three times. I’ve got 3 level 80 characters and every time I hit the cap, my desire to play that character just died off.

Really, no matter how much you’re willing to defend the game just for the sake of defending it, you have to understand that removing the gear treadmill doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t any grinding. There’s heavy grinding in Guild Wars 2, given that so much revolves around having gold and gold is a pain in the back to get.

Really what Anet should be doing, rather than focusing so much on adding new zones, is to make the lower level zones more appealing to play in. Right now, the smaller population of “dedicated” players that continue to play (not the larger group that “drops in” for updates, Special Events, etc. and disappear again) are all mostly either 1) in Orr/ Frostgorge grinding away (for karma, mats that matter, etc.), or 2) Run dungeons. This means that lower level areas see almost no player activity compared to the “max level” areas, and thus it seems like everyone is gone, the population shrunk, etc.

I mean they even have stated that they wanted the game to be “end game” from level one; wtf happened to that? It feels exactly like every other MMO out there, except you don’t have to really grind for gear (which is a plus in my book). Level to the max level and start grinding away in those events for the little reward we do get…

They should have most, if not all of the zones, relevant to max leveled players. Personally, I see levels in games as completely superficial and completely pointless, but especially so in Gw2. All leveling does is make 90% of the game obsolete.

Yes, they have down leveling, but whats the point if there is nothing players want in those areas? Then again if there were things that players sought after in those areas, why even have levels in the first place? Wouldn’t the combination of both challenge and reward just make those areas “max level” in the first place?

Yeah 4 or more topics about this and not one reply from Anet as to what they are going to do about it. The selling point of the game was doing DE and at release the game was full of people doing them. But like the OP said the zones are just empty and it doesn’t matter what time you login. I can play for an hour before i see anyone or i run into bots.

Gandara still full as ever

I created an Asuran Warrior last night. When I got to Metrica Province it was a complete ghost town (Darkhaven). Such a shame, it put me off playing her and went back to my Necro. Then I went to The Grove to buy a cultural scepter for my Necro and only bumped into 3 people

I can’t help but think the loot drops etc. has something to do with this. BL2 has an abysmal drop rate too (you mostly get garbage. Bazillions of guns but you’ll get the same handful over and over) and now people are quitting because they are tired of no reward for hours spent.

I still think (and always have) that the res-point travel charge is totally counter-productive as it prevents people casually bouncing around a map, so they stick to one area. This reduces traffic through more isolated towns or areas even more.

I know in large towns you get the Asura gates, but this is a minimal nod toward free travel.

@carson

im in my high 60s (lvl 67 to be exact) and i don’t see ANYONE in the zone i’m working on right now. i have the whole place to myself. its actually VERY difficult to get through the higher lvl zones by yourself too, every step of the way you gotta fight something. there’s a bunch of people parked at Lions arch but the map chat is dead, maybe this only happens when im on but alls i see is people spamming for groups.

its quite sad really :/ even when i do see people roaming about their soloing and paying no attention to anyone else. its like people are racing to complete a zone and don’t really give a dam about anything else. really ruins it for me cos i barely ever run dungeons, alls i’ve been doing when i log on is go through each zone.

That is very strange, since I’m always seeing people runing around. I play 3 different chars – one in the starting map, one in a level 35 map and one in a level 60 map. Of course you don’t see that much people as in the high-end map, but I’m always meeting someone. Often we are doing some group events together and than we are parting our ways.

Of course you are not seeing someone at every corner, but you can always meet someone.

This is one of the lonelier MMO games I’ve played. Even back when it was just released you would be with piles of people but not really playing with them, you’re more just corralled together with all the sociability of cattle.

These days it’s even worse, I will log in to my 57 (my highest character) and have most zones to myself save for 1 or 2 others.

As much as I wanted to like GW2 I have basically given up on it.

‘Everybody is 80 so other zones are empty’ is just a poor excuse/lie. The game is too casually made and once you see the most of it well you won’t really have much reasons to continue. Unlike other mmorpgs in the market (including the ones that weren’t a complete success) nothing in GW2 drives you to keep playing..

Imagine what would happen if this game had subs..

@OP

i play on borlis pass too. and after overflows in LA over the halloween event, we are now hitting all times low population levels.

still somehow manage to get rated as high though.

it’s not just lower level zones. it’s orr/cursed shore too.

several guilds took the week off en masse for some reason, others are leaving. idk that that’s it though, i just finished leveling my 2nd 80 last week, and all the zones(all of them because you know you have to do 100% of the hearts in 100% o fhte zones + crafting + wvw to level alts now due to no events proccing and those that do being largely incompleteable). were naerly dead except those ones that were tied into halloween, and only during halloween.

my guildies and i have been focusing on alts lately, and we just run around in groups power leveling each other(in so far as leveling in a guild group can be called that).

arah and grenth have been failing all this past week even when guild groups are doing them for some reason blamed on not enough pugs. i guess. only people you see in cursed shore are the 40 or so people farming plinx.

dirtyklingon.2918:

@OP

i play on borlis pass too. and after overflows in LA over the halloween event, we are now hitting all times low population levels.

still somehow manage to get rated as high though.

it’s not just lower level zones. it’s orr/cursed shore too.

several guilds took the week off en masse for some reason, others are leaving. idk that that’s it though, i just finished leveling my 2nd 80 last week, and all the zones(all of them because you know you have to do 100% of the hearts in 100% o fhte zones + crafting + wvw to level alts now due to no events proccing and those that do being largely incompleteable). were naerly dead except those ones that were tied into halloween, and only during halloween.

my guildies and i have been focusing on alts lately, and we just run around in groups power leveling each other(in so far as leveling in a guild group can be called that).

arah and grenth have been failing all this past week even when guild groups are doing them for some reason blamed on not enough pugs. i guess. only people you see in cursed shore are the 40 or so people farming plinx.

This is Guild Wars 2. The game where you don’t have to grind/farm and everyone is having fun and is exploring the world. Oh wait..

Honestly, it says a lot when most people are making karma by simply waiting for 1 event: the amount of grinding is unbearably high.

I really think people are over exaggerating this non-issue. I’m working on my 4th level 80 at the moment and although the players base if far more fanned out then at launch I still see all kinds of other players coming together to do DE’s ….. or it could be I’m just being stalked…LOL

Even the noob zones have lots of players so either people are re-rolling or new players are still flocking in. That said if you play at off hours for your server then “ya” like every other MMO the world is going to look less populated.

Gauradan.8361:

This is Guild Wars 2. The game where you don’t have to grind/farm and everyone is having fun and is exploring the world. Oh wait..

Honestly, it says a lot when most people are making karma by simply waiting for 1 event: the amount of grinding is unbearably high.

Which is kind of a dumb way to play the game since the fastest way to get karma now is to just do your dailies and the best way to do those is by traveling multiple zones to get the diverse creature kills you need.

ANet built a game that you can find your own path to the best the game has to offer through exploration, crafting, events and dungeons. And you can go back and play any zone that floats your boat.

What ANet can’t fix is MMO players that stand in one spot all day repeating the same event because they perceive it to be the quickest path to whatever their after, then come here and complain that the game is a grind and boring? ….LOL

Logun.2349:

Which is kind of a dumb way to play the game since the fastest way to get karma now is to just do your dailies and the best way to do those is by traveling multiple zones to get the diverse creature kills you need.

ANet built a game that you can find your own path to the best the game has to offer through exploration, crafting, events and dungeons. And you can go back and play any zone that floats your boat.

What ANet can’t fix is MMO players that stand in one spot all day repeating the same event because they perceive it to be the quickest path to whatever their after, then come here and complain that the game is a grind and boring? ….LOL

That’s just ArenaNet propaganda you’ve posted there. The fact is that the game has huge amounts of grinds. It’s obvious people will pick the easiest way of completing those grinds.

ArenaNet said “We don’t want players to grind in Guild Wars 2”. That was a flat-out lie; you need gold for everything, from travelling across the world to WvW, gold which is a pain to acquire.

Besides, to say that you can play wherever you want and get the same rewards for the same time investment is a joke. “Scaled rewards” are a failure. Rewards in this game are a failure. Why? Because dollars that’s why. How would they sell gems if the players were rich?

I feel the same way. I switched to three different servers, and I rarely see any players roaming around, there are bots, but not players. People say they are at Cursed Shore. No they are not. Also could be the poor selection of servers I picked. Cursed Shore and areas around have no day pressence. Neither does WvW.

You think a server that shows High to Full 24/7 would have people in them? They do not. If you do run in a group of players, most likely they are sitting in Lions Arch or Cursed Shore AFK.

So I need a server with a huge day pressence, that speaks english in chat, and on Vent. Any Ideas. this server hopping is annoying? I would like to settle in a guild that does PVE groups as well as WvW on a daily with a huge day pressence.

Gauradan.8361:

Logun.2349:

Which is kind of a dumb way to play the game since the fastest way to get karma now is to just do your dailies and the best way to do those is by traveling multiple zones to get the diverse creature kills you need.

ANet built a game that you can find your own path to the best the game has to offer through exploration, crafting, events and dungeons. And you can go back and play any zone that floats your boat.

What ANet can’t fix is MMO players that stand in one spot all day repeating the same event because they perceive it to be the quickest path to whatever their after, then come here and complain that the game is a grind and boring? ….LOL

That’s just ArenaNet propaganda you’ve posted there. The fact is that the game has huge amounts of grinds. It’s obvious people will pick the easiest way of completing those grinds.

ArenaNet said “We don’t want players to grind in Guild Wars 2”. That was a flat-out lie; you need gold for everything, from travelling across the world to WvW, gold which is a pain to acquire.

Besides, to say that you can play wherever you want and get the same rewards for the same time investment is a joke. “Scaled rewards” are a failure. Rewards in this game are a failure. Why? Because dollars that’s why. How would they sell gems if the players were rich?

I think it comes down to how you define easy. Grinding to me I find hard because it puts me to sleep. Having fun to me is easy. So I do what I find to be fun and that’s discovering new things or finding places I haven’t seen yet.

I don’t know how long it takes for you to GRIND up 4500 karma but I earn that in about 20 minutes each evening along with doing the 5 events I want to do and where I want to do them.

I don’t know if there is some race I should be running or not, but the big difference here is it may take me a bit longer to get the best of the best the game has to offer but I’ll have fun getting there and for those camping the same grind spot day after day …well they might as well fire up a bot.

I hope you see my point, playing the grind game by repeating the same pocket of content is done by choice not design, there are other paths to take if you choose to take them.

drifter.8453:

I feel the same way. I switched to three different servers, and I rarely see any players roaming around, there are bots, but not players. People say they are at Cursed Shore. No they are not. Also could be the poor selection of servers I picked. Cursed Shore and areas around have no day pressence. Neither does WvW.

You think a server that shows High to Full 24/7 would have people in them? They do not. If you do run in a group of players, most likely they are sitting in Lions Arch or Cursed Shore AFK.

So I need a server with a huge day pressence, that speaks english in chat, and on Vent. Any Ideas. this server hopping is annoying? I would like to settle in a guild that does PVE groups as well as WvW on a daily with a huge day pressence.

Try Yak’s Bend, I’m on every night for about 3 hours, I have 3 level 80 toons and still see lots of players every evening from noob zones to level 80.

Ato.9168:

Never saw one word typed in chat till I got to Lion’s Arch.

That is actually commonplace. This isn’t a very social MMO. Been this way for over a month.

Ato.9168:

Metrica Province had one other player. The big Fire Elemental just danced a lonely dance in the reactor.

Most people are 80 or just WvW to gain levels because they have already done those zones and it isn’t “alt” friendly.

Ato.9168:

Rata Sum? Completely Empty.

All home cities have basically been empty. There isn’t any reason to go there aside from Cultural when everything is in Lions Arch. Toss in the fact that there are 5 racial home cities and you dilute the player pool even more

Ato.9168:

It actually made me sad running through these zones and seeing all these world events spawned everywhere with zero people doing any of them.

That’s basically what happens when leveling is so quick. Everyone hits max level and ignores the rest.

Ato.9168:

Anyway, I’m not trying to bag on the game as I actually enjoyed it when it was bustling with life, but like the header says… Where did everybody go?

WvW
Lions Arch
Dungeons
^
Borlis pass player here as well

Logun.2349:

drifter.8453:

I feel the same way. I switched to three different servers, and I rarely see any players roaming around, there are bots, but not players. People say they are at Cursed Shore. No they are not. Also could be the poor selection of servers I picked. Cursed Shore and areas around have no day pressence. Neither does WvW.

You think a server that shows High to Full 24/7 would have people in them? They do not. If you do run in a group of players, most likely they are sitting in Lions Arch or Cursed Shore AFK.

So I need a server with a huge day pressence, that speaks english in chat, and on Vent. Any Ideas. this server hopping is annoying? I would like to settle in a guild that does PVE groups as well as WvW on a daily with a huge day pressence.

Try Yak’s Bend, I’m on every night for about 3 hours, I have 3 level 80 toons and still see lots of players every evening from noob zones to level 80.

Is there a high amount of players in every zone all hours of the day? I too have 3 level 80’s and two other alts in the 20’s. It is becoming relentless when I would like to commit to world events at the Cursed Shore and there is NOBODY in there or the surrounding areas.

drifter.8453:

Logun.2349:

drifter.8453:

I feel the same way. I switched to three different servers, and I rarely see any players roaming around, there are bots, but not players. People say they are at Cursed Shore. No they are not. Also could be the poor selection of servers I picked. Cursed Shore and areas around have no day pressence. Neither does WvW.

You think a server that shows High to Full 24/7 would have people in them? They do not. If you do run in a group of players, most likely they are sitting in Lions Arch or Cursed Shore AFK.

So I need a server with a huge day pressence, that speaks english in chat, and on Vent. Any Ideas. this server hopping is annoying? I would like to settle in a guild that does PVE groups as well as WvW on a daily with a huge day pressence.

Try Yak’s Bend, I’m on every night for about 3 hours, I have 3 level 80 toons and still see lots of players every evening from noob zones to level 80.

Is there a high amount of players in every zone all hours of the day? I too have 3 level 80’s and two other alts in the 20’s. It is becoming relentless when I would like to commit to world events at the Cursed Shore and there is NOBODY in there or the surrounding areas.

I can’t promise you a high amount of players at all hours of the day, there are going to be off hours with low traffic and other peak times like any other MMO.

I play primarily between 8 pm to midnight (Eastern Time zone) and from noon to midnight on weekends and I’ve always found plenty of other players in the same zones I’ve been in, and I’ve been in a range of different level zones.

Logun.2349:

drifter.8453:

Logun.2349:

drifter.8453:

I feel the same way. I switched to three different servers, and I rarely see any players roaming around, there are bots, but not players. People say they are at Cursed Shore. No they are not. Also could be the poor selection of servers I picked. Cursed Shore and areas around have no day pressence. Neither does WvW.

You think a server that shows High to Full 24/7 would have people in them? They do not. If you do run in a group of players, most likely they are sitting in Lions Arch or Cursed Shore AFK.

So I need a server with a huge day pressence, that speaks english in chat, and on Vent. Any Ideas. this server hopping is annoying? I would like to settle in a guild that does PVE groups as well as WvW on a daily with a huge day pressence.

Try Yak’s Bend, I’m on every night for about 3 hours, I have 3 level 80 toons and still see lots of players every evening from noob zones to level 80.

Is there a high amount of players in every zone all hours of the day? I too have 3 level 80’s and two other alts in the 20’s. It is becoming relentless when I would like to commit to world events at the Cursed Shore and there is NOBODY in there or the surrounding areas.

I can’t promise you a high amount of players at all hours of the day, there are going to be off hours with low traffic and other peak times like any other MMO.

I play primarily between 8 pm to midnight (Eastern Time zone) and from noon to midnight on weekends and I’ve always found plenty of other players in the same zones I’ve been in, and I’ve been in a range of different level zones.

well I am going to have to look in that server after my 7days it up on the server I am in now, and hope there is more of a Day pressence. Then the last three.

Simple.. Just like every other MMO game. Most of them have lvled up.

The problem is unrewarding experience in low-mid zones and lack of unique and attractive content on capitals.

The game should scale his dificulty by maps, thats clear, a 1-15 map should be easier than a 80 map. But the rewards should scale up based on your level. If you are 80 in a level 1-15 map you shoul recieve a full 80 rewards items, time to time you recive some high items so you at least can savage something, but mostly you see level 1-30 crap. Going back to starter zones isn`t worth it!

Capitals are great, they all have their unique style which is awesome, but they don`t have anything special (besides some minigames) that could move people to them, that`s called “influential zone” in demographics, and in the map as it is now, the only influential focus of the game are Lion`s Arch and Orr, with a minor population on Frostgeorge.

To fix this you need to divert atention from LA to other cities, making those cities to have something UNIQUE that LA do not have and players NEED, and viceversa of course.

Doing higher level legendary item grinding or quit or isn’t logged on for that 40 mins or you’ve just exaggerated about there being nobody when maybe a few people have passed you. Make your case anyway you like… topic like this are meaningless, just as meaningless as the hyped-topics about GW2 being a revolutionary game before the game was launched. I think it’s strange that the mods. actually don’t merge more of these treads… cuz topics like this have been popping up frequently for the past several days, to which the responses have been repetitively posted in the same tones and coming from the same few people…

I left Yaks Bend after leveling 3 80s because the high level areas were dead. They were rocking on higher tiered servers, but on them you can not get into WvW. I am starting to think there are no balanced servers.

Instead of repeatedly saying “they need to make the old zones relevant to higher lvels.”, perhaps people should actually suggest ways they could go about doing so. I don’t think it’s really that easy. They can’t really add higher level mobs to those zones…that would be problematic for people trying to level if they were just doing their thing and suddenly mob many levels above the intended level for said zone. They could add higher level drops across all mobs in all zones, but then you might run into the issue, again, of the gear and materials that leveling people need not dropping because the loot table would be too broad.

So what do you suggest they do to make you want to go back, if not of your own volition (to help random newbies/alts or whatever, explore…other nonselfish reasons…yeah, I went there, since everyone seems to think everything they do needs to benefit themselves…).

Otherwise, yeah, due to natural progression, these places are going to be kind of dead once people outlevel them…that’s just the way it is.

juno.3968:

This is one of the lonelier MMO games I’ve played. Even back when it was just released you would be with piles of people but not really playing with them, you’re more just corralled together with all the sociability of cattle.

That is very true, I’m exploring all areas again just to shake up the DE’s I do for Karma. In the Sylvari starting area there was me and one other guy doing the DE where the Frog champion turns you into a crab etc. We had to really work at it

I have to admit it was so much more fun than when you have 50 people spamming aoe spells that makes it so you can’t even see the thing you’re supposed to be attacking.

When we done this, I felt like I was looking out for the other guy and would draw the frogs attention when he got downed. I’d never get to do this if 50 players were all spamming an instawin.

Nyaochan.1756:

Instead of repeatedly saying “they need to make the old zones relevant to higher lvels.”, perhaps people should actually suggest ways they could go about doing so. I don’t think it’s really that easy. They can’t really add higher level mobs to those zones…that would be problematic for people trying to level if they were just doing their thing and suddenly mob many levels above the intended level for said zone. They could add higher level drops across all mobs in all zones, but then you might run into the issue, again, of the gear and materials that leveling people need not dropping because the loot table would be too broad.

So what do you suggest they do to make you want to go back, if not of your own volition (to help random newbies/alts or whatever, explore…other nonselfish reasons…yeah, I went there, since everyone seems to think everything they do needs to benefit themselves…).

Otherwise, yeah, due to natural progression, these places are going to be kind of dead once people outlevel them…that’s just the way it is.

Well, half of the map in the game haven’t been opened up yet. Maybe introduce something called a “conquer quest” in which the quest journey starts at the interior of each low level maps and progresses outwards. So some sort of ‘open world dungeon’, with pre-quests starting at the ‘starters zones’ (ie. it’s a good place to make up a storyline anyways… some boy who was captured, a man recruiting for troops to invade a settlement, etc.). In these zones, a party will be lead to secret hideouts and areas on the map which extends to the outer settlements.

FluffyDoe.7539:

Nyaochan.1756:

Instead of repeatedly saying “they need to make the old zones relevant to higher lvels.”, perhaps people should actually suggest ways they could go about doing so. I don’t think it’s really that easy. They can’t really add higher level mobs to those zones…that would be problematic for people trying to level if they were just doing their thing and suddenly mob many levels above the intended level for said zone. They could add higher level drops across all mobs in all zones, but then you might run into the issue, again, of the gear and materials that leveling people need not dropping because the loot table would be too broad.

So what do you suggest they do to make you want to go back, if not of your own volition (to help random newbies/alts or whatever, explore…other nonselfish reasons…yeah, I went there, since everyone seems to think everything they do needs to benefit themselves…).

Otherwise, yeah, due to natural progression, these places are going to be kind of dead once people outlevel them…that’s just the way it is.

Well, half of the map in the game haven’t been opened up yet. Maybe introduce something called a “conquer quest” in which the quest journey starts at the interior of each low level maps and progresses outwards. So some sort of ‘open world dungeon’, with pre-quests starting at the ‘starters zones’ (ie. it’s a good place to make up a storyline anyways… some boy who was captured, a man recruiting for troops to invade a settlement, etc.). In these zones, a party will be lead to secret hideouts and areas on the map which extends to the outer settlements.

Sounds interesting in theory, but once people finish said starter quests for the chains, we’re back to the problem of having no reason to go back.

Honestly, I don’t think this is anything ANet can actually do anything about, since it’s pretty much working as intended. People either need to go back just because, to help friends or explore, or more need to start rolling and leveling alts. Like I said, it’s natural that these places become less populated as players naturally progress. I just don’t think it’s plausible to make the whole world relevant to everyone at all times, at least not as far as keeping people in lowbie areas long-term goes.

The biggest flaw I’ve seen in MMOs recently is that they do exactly what most players want. A quick finish. I mean, how long did it take for people to make it to 80? A month or less? Of course people leave when they have nothing to do once they’ve reached cap and have done all the dungeons to get their armor. I know people got annoyed with grindy games but one thing about them from what I’ve seen is people stayed not for months but for years. Well there’s nothing they can do about that.

The one suggestion I would say they could do is branch out more on the personal story quests and maybe have each race have a story quest that everyone can do that would include each zone which also have a mini boss within them which would end in a 100% map completion.

But yet the servers are “High” and “Full.”

Where the hell IS everyone? PvP?

I think making the rewards scale with level better would help. Maybe not all drops (don’t want to make jute even more expensive ), but gold and karma, with a chance of higher-level drops in addition to the regular drops. Since loot is already calculated individually this wouldn’t mess up other player’s loot tables.

There are definitely some areas I like more than others, but if the loot doesn’t scale with me I need to be playing in level-appropriate areas to get the gear and gold I need. That’s a really strong disincentive for traveling to other areas, especially when travel and repair cost so much.

ANet’s done a good job of putting gold sinks in the game to try to control inflation, but they added the gold sinks to just the wrong thing if they want players to be spread out taking part in the dynamic events throughout the map.

That said, my server can go from lots of people to absolutely no one depending on the time of day. So I really think that has a lot to do with it.

I think making the rewards scale with level better would help. Maybe not all drops (don’t want to make jute even more expensive ), but gold and karma, with a chance of higher-level drops in addition to the regular drops. Since loot is already calculated individually this wouldn’t mess up other player’s loot tables.

There are definitely some areas I like more than others, but if the loot doesn’t scale with me I need to be playing in level-appropriate areas to get the gear and gold I need. That’s a really strong disincentive for traveling to other areas, especially when travel and repair cost so much.

ANet’s done a good job of putting gold sinks in the game to try to control inflation, but they added the gold sinks to just the wrong thing if they want players to be spread out taking part in the dynamic events throughout the map.

That said, my server can go from lots of people to absolutely no one depending on the time of day. So I really think that has a lot to do with it.

Shooopa.5632:

But yet the servers are “High” and “Full.”

Where the hell IS everyone? PvP?

PvP, WvW, dungeons and Orr.

drifter.8453:

I feel the same way. I switched to three different servers, and I rarely see any players roaming around, there are bots, but not players. People say they are at Cursed Shore. No they are not. Also could be the poor selection of servers I picked. Cursed Shore and areas around have no day pressence. Neither does WvW.

You think a server that shows High to Full 24/7 would have people in them? They do not. If you do run in a group of players, most likely they are sitting in Lions Arch or Cursed Shore AFK.

So I need a server with a huge day pressence, that speaks english in chat, and on Vent. Any Ideas. this server hopping is annoying? I would like to settle in a guild that does PVE groups as well as WvW on a daily with a huge day pressence.

Come to Yaks Bend. I always post replies to these server this that dead threads, cause when I play my lvl 80, 51 and 7 toon I always see people everywhere I go. I’m still calling shills (see some of my replies.)

If you’re looking for a server try mine.

Anyway, I’m not trying to bag on the game as I actually enjoyed it when it was bustling with life, but like the header says… Where did everybody go?

Well im right here?

I see 10-20 people at one event… sometimes I see no people. I guess you got unlucky for most of the time I see alot more than I need.

Metrica Province had one other player. The big Fire Elemental just danced a lonely dance in the reactor.

Do you know the solution to that? I do this and it works all the time. Initiate.

I’ll give you mt last example of this. I’m doing hearts leveling my mesmer. Some heart about mess up the orges and their camp. I get to the camp and see two other people avoiding the Orge champion and destroying the furniture to fill their heart.

I take the lead and start attacking without saying anything to the other two. All the sudden they start attacking. I don’t even blink and out of nowhere now it’s like seven people. He keeps going back to full health. Later discovered to be because he was at the edge of his leash range. Lured him into camp killed him. This took 10 minutes to discover though. Originally thought it was the banner he was dropping. While this was happening we were chatting locally and map shouts for help were going out.

In the end there was 15 to 20 people there.

I do this all the time. I can be somewhere and see a champ by himself with no one around and just start hit and running, the people magically appear.

Seems to be people see the health bar go down a tick and start flocking there.

with my lvl 80 I did this with the champ giant in orr.

I also did this with the champ giant shart in orr. Map shout jumped in water my self, started hitting, People showed.

I do this EVERYWHERE.

Try it sometime.

Dis-illusionment has set in. This was not supposed to be WoW but it kind of is with a few added extra bugs for flavor. Rendering is an atrocity. You have OP classes, gear (karma) grinds, grinds for matts. I had hoped for WvW to be more epic. With mass transfers server pride is a joke. Realms go up and down so fast with mass transfers of guilds that there are very few grudge matches. Even if there were you have no idea who you are fighting because names are not displayed. And the bots. THE BOTS! I see more bots than I do actual players. Hacking. I honestly think if they are going to let bots and hackers run rampant I won’t be playing much longer. They destroy the game economy and allow cheaters to prosper. But hey, they are following in some giant sized footsteps left by WoW, Aion, Rift, SWtoR, etc. You think they would learn. Only game I have ever played with no hackers is World of Tanks. They are ruthless with bots and being as it is not a client side game there are no hackers. And in all reality I would rather play a lesser game with no bots and hackers than the best game in the world if it is over run with such.

1) It costs way too much to travel when you are max level. I don’t earn enough to make it worth my while to travel to different areas. I think there will be some improvement if travel costs weren’t insanely high.

2) There is no incentive to go to other areas and it is now a habit to just go to familiar places rather than explore nowadays.

3) WvW is just so much fun. If there’s drama, I just turn the chat off and enjoy the game.

4) Legendaries are just too much work and many people have given up in obtaining them. This IS a problem as legendaries should be difficult, but not this difficult. Those lodestone drop rates are so poor.

5) Dungeons are boring/feel like too much of a chore rather than a fun exploration. No one likes one hit kills even if you’re a vit/toughness build and seeing your companions go down.

6) A lot of people work and are trying to earn extra cash for Christmas.

This game is still a ton of fun. Most of the people that are on my friends list constantly ask me to join WvW rather than somewhere else in game. Occasionally there is a request for a dungeon run, but this got old fast since no one really enjoyed the dungeon runs and it felt so repetitive and boring.

I’m seriously not experiencing any ‘dead’ zones on my server (Devona’s Rest) It doesn’t seem to matter what zone or what time of day/night I log in. I made the mistake of allowing my young daughter to ‘try’ out the game to see if she wanted her own copy and she switched my server. Upon switching back, I discovered that, while there were three medium population servers when I began, there was only one and a hand full of ‘high’ population ones. The rest were full. I keep hearing that they (Anet) lowered the population cap, but I just don’t see it on my server… Or for that matter, on Ferguson’s…something… when I was ‘accidentally’ server switched.

Krustydog.1043:

Dis-illusionment has set in. This was not supposed to be WoW but it kind of is with a few added extra bugs for flavor. Rendering is an atrocity. You have OP classes, gear (karma) grinds, grinds for matts. I had hoped for WvW to be more epic. With mass transfers server pride is a joke. Realms go up and down so fast with mass transfers of guilds that there are very few grudge matches. Even if there were you have no idea who you are fighting because names are not displayed. And the bots. THE BOTS! I see more bots than I do actual players. Hacking. I honestly think if they are going to let bots and hackers run rampant I won’t be playing much longer. They destroy the game economy and allow cheaters to prosper. But hey, they are following in some giant sized footsteps left by WoW, Aion, Rift, SWtoR, etc. You think they would learn. Only game I have ever played with no hackers is World of Tanks. They are ruthless with bots and being as it is not a client side game there are no hackers. And in all reality I would rather play a lesser game with no bots and hackers than the best game in the world if it is over run with such.

This. The game is more WoW than Guild Wars, except instead of stat grinding you have grinding for cosmetics and for gold. Honestly, just because they said they would remove treadmill (which we have no way of knowing it’s true until the first expansion, when they will or won’t increase the level cap) doesn’t mean the grinding is gone. The grind is still very much there and even worse than in other games.

The grind cosmetics you can choose not to do, true enough, but the grind for gold is compulsory, given how much in this game costs gold. If Guild Wars did one thing right it was that you didn’t have to grind for gold. You could have 0 gold and you wouldn’t feel as if your character ruined, because there were no repair costs and travelling fees.

You’d think a sequel would be better than the original. I guess it was unrealistic to expect that from a game built with the cash shop in mind. What better way to encourage people to buy gems and trade them for gold other than keeping them poor?