Guild Wars 2

I have had both positive and negative experiences with the world linking, but I know several players from my small NA world who dislike it intensely. I can understand some of their concerns: lack of world identity, shift towards blob based combat, harder to roam, conflicts with the linked world, etc. It also seems that the linking has been more controversial/disruptive in the EU.

Here’s an alternative. First, revert the links, so each world is independent again. Next, allow each user account to have two worlds associated with it, instead of just one. Call them the Primary and Secondary worlds. Each world can be transferred independently (for gems), and you can play any character on either world. However, there is a restriction; if the Primary and Secondary are in a matchup with each other, you can’t play on the Secondary world during that matchup. That could lock the Secondary out for you for a week or more, or it might have no real effect, depending on which worlds you picked.

This doesn’t directly address population imbalance, but it makes transferring worlds less of a socially drastic decision for the player. I could keep my primary world constant and “roam” with the secondary, or just keep both on contrasting worlds so that I can experience both small and large scale WvW. Some occasional discounting for world transfers could, over time, help even out the population.

There is also an opportunity for a Gem Store upgrade that unlocks additional world “slots”. To prevent exploits, these would need to be subject to restrictions like above (i.e you can’t play on a Tertiary world if it is in a matchup with Primary or Secondary). A true WvW junkie might have slots for each tier.