Guild Wars 2

Ah yes,

Dragonbrand. Wagonbrand. So many renditions of the bandwagon have come and gone. That said, the fact that it is getting CRUSHED in tier 4, when it was once one of the strongest three servers (thereby warranting no server pairing) is sad. This wasn’t an implosion that took place over months, it took place over weeks. An entire server population has been ravaged.

The volatility of servers has a very sobering effect on the WvW community. Every time a server rises and falls with the magnitude of DB, we will permanently lose players from the game. My guess is that 25% of the active WvW community of DB from 1.5 months ago was not in a guild who got paid to leave, is stuck on Dragonbrand, and based on the fall in rankings, won’t bother to log on anymore since the server is a ghost town.

Honestly this is why it’s time to end servers. For good. Make simple maps of R-B-G in skirmish format, and allow people to pick a team for each skirmish. Create incentives for people to join the “losing” team with buffs like higher magic find, increased WXP, etc. Give people a dynamic WvW environment that doesn’t need to be reset every week, isn’t reliant on the politics played by 1-2 guilds, and self-balances based on buffs for people to join the losing side. Friends can still play with each other. Yes, server pride dies for good, but at this point, who cares?

They really shouldn’t rely on server linking as a band-aid to remedy the huge population imbalance in WvW.

There has to be a real mega-server system implemented for WvW.

Dragon Wagon was never a strong server. What makes a strong server is community that a population can thrive off of. All Dragonwaggon ever has was oof hours players that refused to leave the server becasue they liked the name dragon. That facilitated NA bandwagoneers becasue all those players did was ktrain.

The off hours players on dragonbrand have been the most loyal to that server for 4 years, the very thing people are coming in here to complain about the lack of in current bandwagon players. It’s not their fault the server keeps going up and down because NA guilds and players are so finicky. Dragonbrand has it’s community, much like JQ and SoS does with their off hours players since launch.

NA players mass ditching a server hmmm where have we seen that before, oh right, SoR, IoJ, EB, ET, CD, SBI, Mag, AR, Kain, DB multiple multiple times, SoS multiple times, HoD multiple times.

But hey, at least this is probably the last time it will happen to DB.

The rebel alliance has been destroyed, long live the evil empire.

@Radioactive.1248 now we are 6v1 and they teamed up on us for most of reset NA prime.

Gotta say one of them (wasn’t overly paying attention to name tags, kill red names and all) is very proficient in the stun lock game.

It was interesting because they field 50+ blobs and stun locked well but if you got around the rings of death they melted like level 20s in masterwork armour trying to wvw.

They also acted very strange about SM and we 17-22man capped it twice.

Was definitely a heavy fight night with quite a few “wtf was that? There is a million of them” or “holy kitten they have blobs on all sides of us.” At one point at North gate of our keep on ebg, I swear I saw 4 separate blobs.

Strange strange weeks ahead

But you are right as rain, as I’ve been preaching, we got fooked up bad and that apparently across all servers is par for the course, expected for dragonbrand for some strange reason. So much hate

Look at @Warlord.9074 and his venom

They preach that it is a lack of community but we have community. They go back to the ktrain but we have all levels, from scouts to roam to zergs that want fights to point cappers.

And this whole “Dragon” business is just some kind of deep rooted bigotry. You telling me people join Sea of Swords cause it has swords in name and they like fights? Gtfo

The troll is strong around here with some of these “watch them burn” players

Dragonbrand is, was and will be a strong server. We have the mettle and we run strong and deep into enemy lines undermanned and often come out on top.

We were wronged, and we are guildwars 2 players, which means we were all wronged, every single one of you werever wronged in what happened to DB, because it’s a game wide culture and anet supported systems that is slowly destroying the player base.

DB is an example of what can go wrong and what the problems are game wide that needs to be addressed. How many rage /quits will anet allow before it comes to bare that thier total game population in this mode is dwindling.

DB was never a really community. It was more of a gold sink hired help style server that handed out gold to many small ppt guilds to push up to T1. I’m convinced they are responsible for destroying the lower tiers early on because I do know of a few guilds that were very active were bought out by DB.

Then reality hit. Simple.

Well with the kittenhugging, petty leadership and TeamSpeak tyrants lol I’m not surprised that this is happening to ol’ Wagonrband again.

don’t worry. next linking you’ll get a link or 2 and you’ll have to have your glicko adjusted so you move out of t4 because you’ll be too big for that tier. repeating history 101

Exciton.8942:

They really shouldn’t rely on server linking as a band-aid to remedy the huge population imbalance in WvW.

There has to be a real mega-server system implemented for WvW.

That the thing you cant do any thing else but band-aid fix this problem and it will always be a problem even if they ended all transfers because ppl will simply make new accounts where they want to play. That the important part players will always go where they want to and there is nothing you nor anet can do to stop that. A problem that is always shifting needs a fix that can always shift with it that is linking worlds.

Going back to the OP suggestion of getting rid of servers all together. I think it would be worth a look at doing this. I could see letting people vote for the color they want for the coming week and when numbers get to a certain point you just get placed where the numbers are lowest. People in guilds and alliances would just need to make sure to vote early so they go where they want to. Servers are such a mess right now, the game really needs some kind of revamp in my opinion.

i think what will eventually happen is there will be a severe cutback in the amount of servers, and server linking may be a step in that direction. EOTM’s model for example.

you know what killed DB, Within a very short time period a major driver left and a very large guild stopped running. Anet decided it didnt need a link (which it obviously did.) Lack of game planning and bringing in WvW guilds to win and then maintaining a hey lets just go out there and have fun guys, when people brought up actual strategy. Which in turn turned off alot of people because TS admins dictated all of this. NA Drivers deciding not to work with eachother and alot of egos. all of this caused the community to just wreck itself.

Xenesis.6389:

The off hours players on dragonbrand have been the most loyal to that server for 4 years, the very thing people are coming in here to complain about the lack of in current bandwagon players. It’s not their fault the server keeps going up and down because NA guilds and players are so finicky. Dragonbrand has it’s community, much like JQ and SoS does with their off hours players since launch.

NA players mass ditching a server hmmm where have we seen that before, oh right, SoR, IoJ, EB, ET, CD, SBI, Mag, AR, Kain, DB multiple multiple times, SoS multiple times, HoD multiple times.

But hey, at least this is probably the last time it will happen to DB.

Corrections, off hours guilds do ditch server but way less frequent compare to NA’s due to the stingy nature (of not wanting to “waste” gems). However, off hours do fair weathered a lot (though they call that looking for “better” fight but in reality just looking for easy fights) thus off hours individuals tend to stack on servers.

SkyShroud.2865:

Corrections, off hours guilds do ditch server but way less frequent compare to NA’s due to the stingy nature (of not wanting to “waste” gems). However, off hours do fair weathered a lot (though they call that looking for “better” fight but in reality just looking for easy fights) thus off hours individuals tend to stack on servers.

Of course they do, but not to the magnitude that NA guilds do it, basically emptying out the entire time zone. DB, SoS, JQ have all maintained strong off hours since release.

Xenesis.6389:

SkyShroud.2865:

Corrections, off hours guilds do ditch server but way less frequent compare to NA’s due to the stingy nature (of not wanting to “waste” gems). However, off hours do fair weathered a lot (though they call that looking for “better” fight but in reality just looking for easy fights) thus off hours individuals tend to stack on servers.

Of course they do, but not to the magnitude that NA guilds do it, basically emptying out the entire time zone. DB, SoS, JQ have all maintained strong off hours since release.

I wouldn’t say they maintained strong hours. This is because what was maintained was due to consistent inflow of fair-weathers from lower servers. Of course, what NA do is creating unbalance in many short terms. What off hours do is draining the lower servers over long term. Both are issues that need to be resolved to achieve a balanced matchup with varieties.

PS: Isn’t SOS off hours slowly dying off? No longer that impressive OCX server that it claim to be.

SkyShroud.2865:

I wouldn’t say they maintained strong hours. This is because what was maintained was due to consistent inflow of fair-weathers from lower servers. Of course, what NA do is creating unbalance in many short terms. What off hours do is draining the lower servers over long term. Both are issues that need to be resolved to achieve a balanced matchup with varieties.

PS: Isn’t SOS off hours slowly dying off? No longer that impressive OCX server that it claim to be.

Lower servers get drained from all time zones, that’s not an off hour thing, players are always going to go up when looking for more people allies/enemies to play with. SoS slowly dying after 4 years, most of it spent in t2, and after multiple NA time zone implosions, and even losing chunks of their forces over the years to BG and JQ. But give those players no credit for sticking to that server for so long, while we continue to get people on here complaining about server loyalty and bandwagoning issues.

Radioactive.1248:

Ah yes,

Dragonbrand. Wagonbrand. So many renditions of the bandwagon have come and gone. That said, the fact that it is getting CRUSHED in tier 4, when it was once one of the strongest three servers (thereby warranting no server pairing) is sad. This wasn’t an implosion that took place over months, it took place over weeks. An entire server population has been ravaged.

The volatility of servers has a very sobering effect on the WvW community. Every time a server rises and falls with the magnitude of DB, we will permanently lose players from the game. My guess is that 25% of the active WvW community of DB from 1.5 months ago was not in a guild who got paid to leave, is stuck on Dragonbrand, and based on the fall in rankings, won’t bother to log on anymore since the server is a ghost town.

Honestly this is why it’s time to end servers. For good. Make simple maps of R-B-G in skirmish format, and allow people to pick a team for each skirmish. Create incentives for people to join the “losing” team with buffs like higher magic find, increased WXP, etc. Give people a dynamic WvW environment that doesn’t need to be reset every week, isn’t reliant on the politics played by 1-2 guilds, and self-balances based on buffs for people to join the losing side. Friends can still play with each other. Yes, server pride dies for good, but at this point, who cares?

I care about community. I’ve outgrown server pride, although I do miss it at times.

I look for people I enjoy hanging out with and that’s what keeps me playing every day. It doesn’t matter to me if we’re losing, winning or being totally demolished. I come back so I can see the people I like, have some laughs and enjoy myself regardless of the situation.

EOTM provides something similar to what you’re suggesting (removing servers entirely) and I never stay there if there isn’t a commander. I have no incentive to roam or defend things because I only recognize a handfull of people and I don’t feel like I belong anywhere.

Community is an important part of what keeps people coming back each day. While I do agree that the server system is flawed, it’s an issue that many games other than Gw2 face.

Personally I would rather have fun and suffer mildly alongside friends than have fun for a brief period alongside strangers. I’m almost certain that a RvGvB format would see a huge rise in activity for a very short time before burning out completely.

And on the subject of Dragonbrand, Sanctum Of Rall fell even faster from T1 than Dragonbrand way back in the day. They went from kitten the very rock bottom in a matter of days. It’s called bandwagoning as you’ve shown you’re aware and sometimes it’s more significant than other times. At the moment, a lot of the Dragonbrand community as well as people from various other servers such as Tarnished Coast and Jade Quarry, have come to Maguuma looking for easy wins. Maguuma is the flavor of the month and it will fall just the same as Dragonbrand and every other server that gets bandwagoned. But because Mag has a strong core, it won’t fall as hard. The servers that fluctuate wildly are the ones that are the most full of fairweathers and bandwagoners. The ones that fluctuate only slightly are full of players that are in WvW and socializing regardless of their situation.

It sucks to have your server fall apart beneath your feet, I know, I’ve been there. You can’t expect everyone else to give up their homes just because yours got invaded by tourists, though. Either you can leave and look for another place to make yourself comfortable or you can ride it out and wait for things to normalize.

DragonBrand RIP
From the tc overlords zudo,Jason,Betta-Kazo
I hope that the ex tc members are enjoying the sadness of t4.

jason.9548:

DragonBrand RIP
From the tc overlords zudo,Jason,Betta-Kazo
I hope that the ex tc members are enjoying the sadness of t4.

they’re on mag now dying on inc lol some of them anyways

Xenesis.6389:

SkyShroud.2865:

I wouldn’t say they maintained strong hours. This is because what was maintained was due to consistent inflow of fair-weathers from lower servers. Of course, what NA do is creating unbalance in many short terms. What off hours do is draining the lower servers over long term. Both are issues that need to be resolved to achieve a balanced matchup with varieties.

PS: Isn’t SOS off hours slowly dying off? No longer that impressive OCX server that it claim to be.

Lower servers get drained from all time zones, that’s not an off hour thing, players are always going to go up when looking for more people allies/enemies to play with. SoS slowly dying after 4 years, most of it spent in t2, and after multiple NA time zone implosions, and even losing chunks of their forces over the years to BG and JQ. But give those players no credit for sticking to that server for so long, while we continue to get people on here complaining about server loyalty and bandwagoning issues.

Indeed, but the frequent NA guilds movement make those solo transfers counterproductive. In offhours, the guilds don’t transfer that offen, thus individuals stacking has a obvious result.

Oh the bandwagon ended and it fell yet again!?

Go figure…

The wheel spins again?

I don’t think I’ve ever understood the reasoning behind bandwagoning.

Sarrs.4831:

The wheel spins again?

I don’t think I’ve ever understood the reasoning behind bandwagoning.

Its a game and people enjoy winning.

I seen that happen to my first server. One day I looked up and everyone was gone. On the same note DB was one of the worse about not fighting unless it had overwhelming odds in its favor, mass numbers in off hour play for NA, siege humping against smaller servers till they demoralized them into nothing. Karma is a funny thing.

Interesting thread, thanks for doing this.

I know there’s a lot of emotions and bitter memories that the wider WvW community has about Dragonbrand. That’s perfectly okay to have and I’m not going to shoot you down for it. I think one thing we can agree on is that servers have their own distinct culture. Sometimes server culture changes over time and sometimes it doesn’t. If we look at DB during Q2 2015 after the previous collapse—forget about who’s better at duels or zerg fighting for a moment—the only thing Dragonbrand had going for it were a few SEA guilds and one of the friendliest communities around. You would never understand the latter and realize why so many PvX and WvW guilds made the move based off external narratives alone.

When the server was rebooted, there was a mindset that it was to be a community first. This wasn’t easy to do after the previous collapse. NA, EU, and OCX were completely empty aside for a few roaming guilds, and the SEA community was pretty much isolated on their own. We catered to guilds that were trying to rebuild during a time when servers left and right were collapsing from glicko walls, Yaks Bend’s rise to T1/T2 and general burnout from a game mode that the developers paid no attention to. The crazy thing was that people responded to this.

Dragonbrand became a melting pot of players from each server. I personally met with guilds from BP, BG, DH, FA, IoJ, JQ, Mag, SoR, SoS, and TC who were interested in coming over. It wasn’t perfect. At times there was tension between the DB “natives” and newer guilds. Some guilds that came over had bad blood between each other! We also disagreed internally on whether or not we should go up in tiers- that was a big one. I remember at one point even trying to convince folks to transfer to other servers like NSP or SBI in order to balance out the tiers.

This post is getting a bit long and I’ll try to quickly summarize why I think things broke down and to help any other server leaders out there as well. If there’s interest I can cover more details later.

1. Burn out. We kept rising through each tier fighting bitterly to hang on. Rising to T1 and T2 was never part of the plan- it just sort of happened. For folks that had already been running at 100% for months? Pressure builds up. People have real lives, and priorities change.
2. Change in engagement sizes and tactics from havoc-size to zerg-size. Nobody likes to die. There’s a natural escalation in group sizes as you go up the tiers to the point where “it’s all blobs”. Not all guilds are comfortable or able to adapt to that.
3. Guild/militia divide. Remember what I said about recruitment? We sought out guilds, not militia. Late-stage bandwagoners, fairweather players that happen to already be on the server, and few pugmanders don’t make for very good zergs. Lackluster zergs leads to poor morale.
4. Stagnation of game mode. Self-explanatory.
5. Politics. Lack of effective mediation between old guard DB guilds and newer guilds led to disagreements, first guilds to leave the server.

Anyways, my time on Dragonbrand was a blast. Met a lot of very interesting folks and I’ll never forget how welcoming and kind the community is. o7 to my former teammates that actually made the journey and saw things from the inside, and kudos to all the folks on the opposing servers that I (and GFC) had the pleasure of fighting.

To many chiefs not much indian’s, what i meant is everyone wants to be a commander ,every guilds wants to be superior to others guilds always competing each other even they are in same server, this is why sos will never make it to top unless guild leaders on that server will get organized. while on DBs case, same thing people got burnt out of everyday ’s push to be the top dog ,YB is the real deal here they rise and fall ,people wont leave this server cause they got a good commanders not competing each others .

This thread was about DB. Due to the single server allocation and maybe other reasons it has fallen. DB may or may not recover during the next rotation as server partners are re done.

The people who post with the full intent of turning this into a match up thread should cease.

This was never a thread about A timezone vs B timezone, or A server vs B Server.

Hatred vitriol and spam posting may be your way of supporting your server but please tone it down. I thank those few who made clear on topic posts

Good Luck DB hope to see you as you rise back up past us next cycle.

elkirin.8534:

This thread was about DB. Due to the single server allocation and maybe other reasons it has fallen. DB may or may not recover during the next rotation as server partners are re done.

The people who post with the full intent of turning this into a match up thread should cease.

This was never a thread about A timezone vs B timezone, or A server vs B Server.

Hatred vitriol and spam posting may be your way of supporting your server but please tone it down. I thank those few who made clear on topic posts

Good Luck DB hope to see you as you rise back up past us next cycle.

actually this entire thread is troll bait. The OP knew what happened to DB and only posted this to turn it into a match up thread where DB gets trash talked. The OP is from JQ and is the leader of KEK.

Don’t worry, your sever is still in better shape than mine. IoJ was once a mid-tier defensive server, now just a bottom-tier/rank mercenary unit.

[Match up threads are not permitted on the forums. This is now closed, thank you!]