Guild Wars 2

Hi.

I’ve just purchased GW2 and I’d like a little more information before choosing my home world.

1) Do all my characters have to live in the same world or can I choose a different world for each of them?

2) Where can I find information on the best server to fit my playstyle beyond the terse region and level of population indicators? After all, the list is quite long, and there might be other differences between the existing worlds.

3) What are the pros and cons of choosing a world with a very-high population ?

Thanks a lot for your help.

1) Yes, all of your characters will inhabit the same world. Your characters can temporarily “visit” other servers at any time via the Guesting system.

2) Tarnished Coast specializes in role-playing. I don’t know of any other server-specific quirks, but some other posters may have more information.

3) A high-population server will tend, ceteris paribus, to have more “successful” PvE outcomes. There are major events within the game (such as dungeon unlocks, or Orrian temple liberation missions) which require a lot of player participation to succeed. If you’re on a low-pop server, you might need to personally organize such activities if you want to see them succeed; on a high-pop server you can just tag along (or perhaps you log in and find that someone else has already done them for you).

The other thing is World vs World combat. On a high-population server you’ll have more opportunity to participate in huge fight, but there are population caps on each of the WvW maps. If you play during primetime then you may find yourself unable to join WvW when you want to (you’ll get placed in a queue and forced to wait for a few minutes).

On a low-population server you’ll probably be able to WvW whenever you want, but the experience will be different (e.g. 30-person fights instead of 50-person fights).

1.
Your whole account has one home server.
Servers are divided in two regions: EU and NA.
You can guest on any server of the same region. When guesting, you play as normal except WvWvW is only on your homeworld.
Guesting is free, transferring is not.
If you delete all your characters you can transfer for free. (This may change someday.)

2.
This is not a bad place to ask. But if you do, give peoplea bt of time to see your question instead of going with the fastest reply.

3.
Pro: a lot of people. Con: a lot of people. There are people to play with, but it can also lead to queues. The most wanted servers are also almost impossible to get into.

Welcome to the game

1. Yes they do have to live on the same world, but you can guest to other servers easily and for free.

2. There isnt alot of info. As far as I know, the only server with a semi-defined definition is Tarnished Coast, which is the unofficial RP server. Keep in mind that, except for WvW, it really doesnt matter because of guesting. Starter and low level zones on every server Ive guested to seem vibrant as do the lvl 80 zones where current objectives (living story right now) are based.

On larger servers, some events will be in the “win” state much of the time, but there is an up side and a down side to that – the down sides being you may have to wait til the event recycles to do it and, when you do, the zerg will make it less fun. I prefer being on a smaller server where my guild can, if we want, find a temple event to clear if we feel like having some fun (with guesting there if individual players are looking for a more zerg like experience).

3. Because of guesting, the only real disadvantages/advantages to being on a specific type of server are in WvW. The pros are you will see more WvW action 24/7 on higher population servers where they have more people playing at all times. The cons are you may experience queues for WvW more often. Additionally, if you want to feel like part of a team in WvW, you would want a smaller server (which are just as much fun in WvW, even though you may win fewer battles) where you would be one of 20 instead of one of 200.

Hope this helps.