Guild Wars 2

I constantly get a message my map, that doesn’t seem so empty to me, is nearly empty. And that I have to change maps. It happens sometimes a few times in a hour. When I change maps I end up in and even more empty map. Now I come to think about it, it happens a lot before some meta-event begins. It’s really annoying, because that way I can never ever complete any event since the most events aren’t designed to complete on your own. It all started with the new maps and its driving me crazy. It totally puts me off this game. Design-failure? Need to learn to live with it? Or what?

You don’t have to change maps, you just get an incentive to do so. Specifically with HoT maps players are leaving and taxiing around the clock once certain checkpoints of their respective metas occur. During times like that your map may have its players taxiing to organized maps is why it’ll empty out in moments when it seemed like an active map.

That, and the map you are transferred to simply has more players. Though, they may just end up leaving/taxiing as well for a better map during prime times.

Effectively, unless you’re in an organised map of sort it doesn’t at all surprise me that you’re regularly receiving those prompts since player population is so dynamic.

What to do about it? You can either decline the offer to change maps, or you can start out in an organized map (posted through LFG tool), and you should have more consistent player populations.

That’s baloney. The prompt offers you an incentive to change right now, yes, but your only other option is “Later”. You can’t “decline”, choosing “Later” procs these results:

• The prompt does not go away, it merely minimizes to the right edge of the screen, and the icon is large enough to accidentally reopen the prompt at the most inopportune times. I’ve found posts online indicating that for some people the prompt keeps restoring itself without user input.
• Choosing “Later” starts a timer, at the end of which you will be forced to change maps and this time you won’t get an incentive and can’t tell it “Later” again.

It’s entirely conceivable that etienne is doing something time-consuming like crafting, gathering materials, or waiting for an event to start or NPC to appear. With the ongoing problem I have of the game not respecting my current position (my character rarely is in the same place when I log in as where I logged out), I don’t trust the game to place me anywhere near my current location if I choose to switch maps, and so I don’t. I have no guarantee that I won’t get the prompt again minutes after changing maps, the minimized prompt is very annoying, and if my plans won’t take me to another location before the timer runs out, I log off for the day. It’s a poor design.