Guild Wars 2

I am at a loss, here. A friend wanted me to play, so I bought the game. His server is Dragonbrand. I cannot join this server. For the past 3 days (At -all- hours of the day), the server has shown as full. I cannot play with my friend? What design decision was this?

I know I’m going to get an inordinate amount of good-will posts protecting the decision, but any choice made by a game developer that limits a player from experiencing the game should not be made.

Am I just expected to waste my time, checking at different insane hours of the night, just hoping to join a server?

First off, you’re likely going to have issues trying to get onto a full server over the weekend. That’s prime playing time for most folks.

What I would suggest is that you stay up late, about an hour past the midnight time for the server’s zone, when players are heading to bed, and try then. Or alternately, wake up really early before the bulk of the playerbase and try then.

For example, Tarnished Coast is a North American server and is constantly “full.” My friend got on by waiting until midnight PST (when those out on the West Coast are finally going to bed), and managed to get on — this was during the week. Another got up super early 7am EST, and managed to get on, again during the week and not on the weekend. Because it`s a North American server that means that three time zones have to be taken into account — East Coast, Central and West Coast.

If you`re going to stay up late to try, you have to wait until the West Coast goes to bed. If you`re going to get up early to try, you have to be up before the bulk of the East Coast gets up.

I`m not sure where Dragonbrand is based out of .. if it`s North America, then I suggest you try what my friends did for Tarnished Coast. If it`s EU, then you`ll have to figure out the times for the earliest risers and latest bedtimes .. and try around those hours.

Good luck! It`s a fabulous game.

If it isn’t an issue for him, then have him transfer to your server.

I do want to say, that it’s not as if they can have a server that can host unlimited people. It’s a popular server with lots of people, and you need to do it like everyone else has to do it when they want to get onto a popular, full server.

Wait, hope, and stay up all night.

You’re not entitled to be able to play with your friend. It’s not Arenanet’s fault that someone is on a full server so other people can’t easily join.

LithePanther.5027:

I do want to say, that it’s not as if they can have a server that can host unlimited people. It’s a popular server with lots of people, and you need to do it like everyone else has to do it when they want to get onto a popular, full server.

Wait, hope, and stay up all night.

You’re not entitled to be able to play with your friend. It’s not Arenanet’s fault that someone is on a full server so other people can’t easily join.

You could’ve stuck with just that middle sentence, there. =)

If server transfers are still free… (I think they are) I might recommend starting a character on a different server and then checking the other server periodically throughout the day/night. This way at least you can still play the game while waiting

Edit: If I remember correctly server transfers only take a minute or two. But there is a time limit on switching again to another different server.

TrooperFox.7314:

I know I’m going to get an inordinate amount of good-will posts protecting the decision, but any choice made by a game developer that limits a player from experiencing the game should not be made.

Each server is able to handle a certain number of players before the gameplay and service starts degrading. As a result, there is a limit to the number of players that can play on each server. If the hardware was able to support everyone who wanted to play the game, I am sure there would be just one server. Think of it like a glass – it can only hold a finite amount of water before it becomes full.

You are not being forced to not play, you have the ability to play on any server that is not listed as full. Because the server your friend is on, and the one you want to move to, is listed as full quite often, you will just need to keep checking back until you can find a time where it is not listed as full. That, or play on another server and have your friend transfer to it. Transfers are currently free but limited to once every 7 days.