Guild Wars 2

I am thinking of buying the HOT expansion. Is the game still fairly busy..or am I going to be running around doing most events by myself..

On EU servers I play at all kinds of hours during the day and evening and all of the maps seem busy, with plenty of groups / taxis on the LFG for metas and HP runs etc. Just remember to use a timer site when you want to do Dragons Stand, so you can find a group and get a map before that meta starts.

Remember, as well, that all the new maps (where many players congregate) can only be accessed with a HoT purchase.

Regardless, as noted above, I’ve never seen the expansion maps empty (on NA). One may be more likely to find them ‘full’ and unable to enter.

Good luck.

dave.5913:

I am thinking of buying the HOT expansion. Is the game still fairly busy..or am I going to be running around doing most events by myself..

I dont know if you want to buy it now, the next expansion is coming out (hopefully soon) and you dont want to get stuck paying XX dollars for HOT when it might just come with the next expansion.

So depends on if you want to jump in right now or wait a few months and get a load of stuff to do.

dave.5913:

I am thinking of buying the HOT expansion. Is the game still fairly busy..or am I going to be running around doing most events by myself..

Depends which events. There have always been popular & unpopular corners of Tyria, places where many go and places where few do.

In the LS3 (newest maps), I always see people about (for a variety of reasons). In the original HoT maps, there are plenty of people for the events with which I think I need help.

If you do decide to plunk down the US$30 retail, here are a couple of quick tips:

• Take an hour or three in the original areas, to get used to your character again. A lot of folks find it hard to transition into HoT areas, so be prepared to rethink your build.
• Learn Gliding ASAP — it’s a game changer for the original maps and a huge help in HoT areas.
• If you do find yourself on a map with few people, use the LFG tool (a tab on your Friends list) to join a group on a more populated version of the map.
• Max the “Pact Commander” mastery ASAP also — the reward is ‘true’ autolooting, which is also a huge game changer.
• Despite my use of “ASAP,” take your time — there’s no rush (and those who do rush seem to have a harder and less enjoyable time than those who take it easy).

the game population are spread across more maps now than before HoT launched, and events in HoT map occur at fixed time, so you will see certain map will have more crowd at certain hour.

The original 3(4) HoT maps are pretty empty during European prime times. You can’t just do something – I don’t envy people who are beginning their journey now (and not 1.5 years ago). If you want to do all the map achievements and events you have to use LFG and/or organize groups yourself. But that was the case from the beginning of HoT anyways.

The maps seem fine to me, I think a lot of people forget that the mega server system means that their map isn’t the only map.

If you use LFG you can normally get onto busy maps doing the events. For example, I did Dragon’s Stand today in the afternoon in EU with no problem.

Because the game uses megaserver system and maps are instanced with a populatio cap, you should expect to use LFG to map hop to a busy ones.

HELLO MATES

i thinking about buy hot too ..

What u really advice w8 for expansion (will be for sure ?)

Or play now hot

and how much hard its getting into raids or fractals .

I have lvl berseker gear ranger but i thinking about boost warrior or revenant so ty for any advice .

If you get it now then you will have the months to play now to get things in HoT BEFORE the other expansion comes out.

Pifil.5193:

If you use LFG you can normally get onto busy maps doing the events. For example, I did Dragon’s Stand today in the afternoon in EU with no problem.

This is the best and only way to find a map where there are a lot of people. The way the mega-server works is:

• Let’s say we start with a single copy of a given zone.
• The software creates a new version of the map when the first copy reaches a certain population level.
• This can go on as more players come to the zone.
• Usually, players will start to organize at least one of the map copies. They form (a) squad(s), and post in Looking for Group.
• Players begin joining the squad(s). If they are on a different map copy they use the Join In feature (right click on someone in the squad and choose Join in [zone name]). This moves them to the map copy which is being organized.
• The side effect of players moving to a different map is that there are now fewer players on the map they left. If there are too few, the mega-server software begins the map closure routine.
• If a given player is on a map where the closure announcement happens, and accepts, s/he will be moved to a different map. This will not in all likelihood be the crowded map, unless that map is the only option. The mega-server software will instead move hi/her to a different, less-full map copy. If enough people move out of that map via LFG/Join In (this is called taxi, or taxiing by players), that map copy will also start the closure process. You can also run into zone closure when a meta-event cycle ends, as people move on to something else.
• Map closures present the illusion that the zone is empty. What they actually means is that there are a lot of people in the zone, they’ve just moved to one or more map copies that is organized.

And that’s why taxiing is pretty much essential if you want to do map meta events in HoT. In core, it’s seldom necessary, as players tend not to taxi to do, say, the Fire Elemental. They will taxi for Tequatl The Sunless, or Triple Trouble.

IndigoSundown.5419:

This is the best and only way to find a map where there are a lot of people. The way the mega-server works is:

• Let’s say we start with a single copy of a given zone.
• The software creates a new version of the map when the first copy reaches a certain population level.
• This can go on as more players come to the zone.
• Usually, players will start to organize at least one of the map copies. They form (a) squad(s), and post in Looking for Group.
• Players begin joining the squad(s). If they are on a different map copy they use the Join In feature (right click on someone in the squad and choose Join in [zone name]). This moves them to the map copy which is being organized.
• The side effect of players moving to a different map is that there are now fewer players on the map they left. If there are two few, the mega-server software begins the map closure routine.
• If a given player is on a map where the closure announcement happens, and accepts, s/he will be moved to a different map. This will not in all likelihood be the crowded map, unless that map is the only option. The mega-server software will instead move hi/her to a different, less-full map copy. If enough people move out of that map via LFG/Join In (this is called taxi, or taxiing by players), that map copy will also start the closure process. You can also run into zone closure when a meta-event cycle ends, as people move on to something else.
• Map closures present the illusion that the zone is empty. What they actually means is that there are a lot of people in the zone, they’ve just moved to one or more map copies that is organized.

And that’s why taxiing is pretty much essential if you want to do map meta events in HoT. In core, it’s seldom necessary, as players tend not to taxi to do, say, the Fire Elemental. They will taxi for Tequatl The Sunless, or Triple Trouble.

That is a very good summary of the HoT map/ LFG process…

guys ? how hard is get into raids ?

Imo it’s a kitten mechanic in the first place to have to use taxiing etc. to do world events. Additionally, many argue that ‘you are in a low populated map be cause of megaservers, so you have to taxi to a map with more population’. What is this kitten? Why don’t they transport me automatically to a more populated map?

ProtoGunner.4953:

Imo it’s a kitten mechanic in the first place to have to use taxiing etc. to do world events. Additionally, many argue that ‘you are in a low populated map be cause of megaservers, so you have to taxi to a map with more population’. What is this kitten? Why don’t they transport me automatically to a more populated map?

Maybe because not everyone wants to be on a more populated map.

ProtoGunner.4953:

Imo it’s a kitten mechanic in the first place to have to use taxiing etc. to do world events. Additionally, many argue that ‘you are in a low populated map be cause of megaservers, so you have to taxi to a map with more population’. What is this kitten? Why don’t they transport me automatically to a more populated map?

The mega-server software could just fill maps rather than spawning a new map when the old one is partially full. There’s a problem with that, though. If there is no room for taxiing, then there is also no room for players to join friends or guild members.

How could ANet solve this? They could make the events scale so that fewer players could complete them. In fact, they did use scaling.

What happens, though, are human issues. A lot of players don’t want to be the one to organize an event that requires some degree of coordination to succeed. So, they seek maps where someone else is already doing the organizing. Add in that a filled meta map is going to out-population the scaling, so the fuller map is going to get an easy win.

My take, though, is that the organization is a bigger barrier. I’ve done the Jade/Guardian meta cycle in BSF any number of times, and I’ve never had to taxi at all. The difference is that there’s no need to organize that event chain.

So, you can call the system bad all you want. However, any solution is going to require draconian measures. Players are not going to take the path of greater resistance unless the game forces them to do so. The most likely ways to do so would be to fill maps rather than spawn new ones when the old is partway full, or to reduce the player caps on map copies. Neither method is likely to be well received.

Don’t get me wrong the very idea of events is a great idea and a lot of other MMO producers introduced it as well. I loved the HoT maps at first and completed all achievements/events within the first couple of months. But I understand people who play off time, want to play alone or whatever and feel a bit off, when they can’t do anything. The idea of meta events on every single map and the few maps they released at first has a lot of people driven off. Understandable, if you ask me.

I play now extremely sporadically (1-2 hours a week if any) and what I see is that in whole Tyria are events no one is doing. That’s the standard case. It’s just there and you don’t really meet a lot of people. You simply can’t expect casual people to check all the timers, taxiing and trying to join a bottlenecked map. It’s just very consumer unfriendly. But this is crucial to just finish the standard procedure in DS for example.

GW2 has a Top 3 MMO population. It’s awesome and always has people playing all modes. I go to Orr for daily, there’s event farmers, I go to LFG to do something, I see HP trains, world boss trains, meta groups. WVW now has more players than ever with the recent changes, major cities always has people etc.

ProtoGunner.4953:

Don’t get me wrong the very idea of events is a great idea and a lot of other MMO producers introduced it as well. I loved the HoT maps at first and completed all achievements/events within the first couple of months. But I understand people who play off time, want to play alone or whatever and feel a bit off, when they can’t do anything. The idea of meta events on every single map and the few maps they released at first has a lot of people driven off. Understandable, if you ask me.

I play now extremely sporadically (1-2 hours a week if any) and what I see is that in whole Tyria are events no one is doing. That’s the standard case. It’s just there and you don’t really meet a lot of people. You simply can’t expect casual people to check all the timers, taxiing and trying to join a bottlenecked map. It’s just very consumer unfriendly. But this is crucial to just finish the standard procedure in DS for example.

I understand your feelings. There have certainly been times in the past when ANet has failed to consider the most likely reactions of players. The HoT price point issue was one such. I’m not sure that they didn’t think about the path of least resistance with Hot map events, though.

The more I think about the way the HOT maps are working out, the more I wonder what ANet could have done differently. The algorithms used on mega-server seem to be placing enough people in new shards to complete events, but people prefer the sure thing, so they taxi. Filling shards one by one would result in a lot more people not being able to Join In than we see now, and that’s very frustrating. Disabling Join In would also work, but that’s not viable.

As I noted earlier, LS3 maps like BSF and EB are not really meta-dominated at all. However, retrofitting HoT maps to eliminate the meta is going to anger the people who do those metas (yes, there are people out there, I’ve done a VB and a DS in the last two days). Also, completely revamping HoT maps would unduly delay Living World and the new XPac releases.

I cannot come up with any way to make the HoT maps more accessible to players who don’t want to taxi. As to core events, well, I still see them completed, but with less frequency than before. As more and more maps are added, this is going to happen, just as it does to other MMO’s.