Guild Wars 2

Yes, there are still new players that join this game. Not many of them come to this forum, and the ones that do are generally lying. But if you are indeed a New Player, the choice of server doesn’t depend on anything you read in this forum.

As a new Player you probably need to worry first about (1) Leveling and (2) Meeting people (I assume you are here for the MMO part of the MMORPG). That being said, your choice should be based on these two factors. Leveling is made more fun when there are others in your zone. Generally you’ll find more PvE players and lower levels in the mid-range and low-range WvW ranked servers. These are usually strong communities (because they are still there) and always looking to pick someone up and help them out. You can also assume that low WvW score = more PvE’rs. This really accomplishes the second goal, because you’ll meet people as you level. Another consideration is whether the server has a public Voice Comm available. If you don’t like or even use voice comm, you obviously don’t care about this, but if you like to chat, it’s good to have a public place to talk to people. Also, if you don’t want to use Voice Comms, any decent skilled PvP guilds probably don’t want you in them.

There are actually far more established solo players than people realize. A lot of solo players don’t even realize they are solo, mostly because they are in small guilds that are not very active. If you are interested in real WvW, being a solo player doesn’t expose you to what you get when you have a strong group of coordinated players to game with. I personally group players in guilds with less than 10 also into solo player category. Often you have some server friends, but following a Commander that you don’t know or using Overflow for fractal grouping generally means you are active enough that its time for find a good group of players to join.

So what server should you join? Honestly, it doesn’t matter. Even the greatest thing since sliced bread will never make much difference in WvW thing. My advice is to stay away from a server with a WvW server queue, and join an established guild that matches your personality and play type. There are plenty of guilds that regularly advertise here and in the Guild Forums. Pick 3-5 of these Guilds that might make sense for you that are all on the same server and then pick that server. If you’re lucky you can convince the leadership that you’d like to dual guild so that you can test out a few guilds, and most guilds are smart enough that players that want to test you out are generally the ones you want to keep. If none of those guilds fits you, either (1) join another server and try out some other guilds, or (2) realize you are truly a Solo Player and any server will do. If it’s (1) keep on trying, if it’s (2) you might consider joining one of the Top Tier 1 servers. At least then you’ll get an active community and a chance to play with competent gamers.

I love the “Group of Friends Guild”. We call these guilds “clans” because they are usually long-standing groups that don’t recruit much, don’t ever break up, and generally play at the same time. Generally, these groups don’t care about WvW scores at all, they just want to fight when they are online.

Your choice as a Group of Friends is easy. Pick the Lowest Ranked Server in Tier 3. You’ll still have an active WvW (running around looking for fights is a bore) but your group will actually make a difference. A dozen organized players can really change the tide in a Tier 3 server. If you find out that the players are absolute dogkitten in that server, transfer to the Second-Ranked Tier 3 server, or even consider the bottom-ranked Tier 2 server. Either of these are great places for a Group of Friends guild.

These posts are my favorite ones on the forum: “Elite Ganksquad Looking for New Server”; “Arena Team Seeks Home”; “We PWN Face and Want to Show You How We Are the Never-Ending Awesome Sauce”.

The funny thing about these groups is they generally aren’t what they say they are. If you are advertising as a Small Elite Group of Players, most of the time you’re just a Guild of Friends. Elite Players generally don’t like small groups, and the ones that do aren’t transferring servers. They like to build a reputation for themselves on a single server, and they will stay there until the server dies.

However, if you are actually the rare Small Elite Group of Players, join the Top-Ranked Tier 2 server or the Bottom-Ranked Tier 1 Server. Generally I’ve found that the top-ranked Tier 1 servers are not winning because they are amazing in combat. They just win because they have a kitten-ton of people. I’m not complaining, but taking Keeps or Stonemist is generally done when nobody is online. That’s when the point game is won. We all know this….. and is the reason why any Tier 1-2 server is going to beg anyone and their mom to come play with them. We had some guys in our TS the other day asking us to come to their server after trying to get ahold of us for two weeks. After telling us how great their server was for 20 minutes and us telling them we were not interested …. they ended the conversation with “the bottom line is we need numbers.”

Everyone needs numbers. You’ll just find the best players in the scrappy servers that fight like caged dogs. Generally these are slightly underpopulated servers. You want to find the best one. Get into Eternal Battlegrounds on reset night on Tier 2 or 3 or join the lowest ranked Tier 1 server on any server. This is the only time that you have no queues anywhere, and you’ll immediately know whether the server you joined is actually worth your “Small Elite Group of Players.”

Everyone wants you. It doesn’t matter what server it is, you post that you have 50 people, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone didn’t just offer you 100g, a seat at a “Council of Blah blah blah” for their server, and maybe even a reach-around. The truth is, they are just trying to take your dignity.

Truthfully, if you have a Large Guild that Can Make a Difference, you also have an Opportunity to Test Some Servers. Send 10 people to a bunch of different servers for two weeks. Band together under the same guild name and see if anyone actually reaches out to you in game. Monitor the performance in WvW and the communication between people. Get together a couple days before the next transfer period, and go to the place that works best. Generally, you’ll do well in the 3d ranked Tier 1 Server or any of the Tier 2s. The reason I don’t recommend the Top-Ranked 2 Tier 1 Servers is not because of them…. its because of you. Nobody wants to transfer into queues. But again, its your guild’s call what ever works best for you.

Forum trolls usually pose as large guilds. They just post to laugh at all the begging for them to join their servers. But still, forum trolls are useful people. And in this single case, I actually know what guild you should join. Go play Family Guy Online. Seriously, its a game you might enjoy.